Scene #6908: The Ardents of Sparda

Owner	Pose
Vergil	The village has gone quiet and cold, wrapped under a layer of snow. Save for some old gas lantern street lights, it's pitch black on this night. Not a single soul is out of their homes, and every single door and window is locked tight. For this small community has suffered multiple murders these past weeks. First was the butcher's daughter. Then the promising athlete about to move to the city. Then the postmaster and the grocer, both on the same day. Each one was mutilated both before and after their deaths, each corpse bearing the word 'SPARDA' on their chest, carved with a blade. And now sightings of a hooded man clutching a sword have terrorized the community. Elite aid was sought, and no one is leaving their homes until the perpetrator is brought to justice. It's been a few days with no sightings, and over two weeks with no murders. Mayhap they moved on? A frightened shriek cuts through the cold air. Footprints brushed by a cloak lead towards the source of it. A woman (the nun at the local church) crunches through the snow with a bloodied shoulder. Dark figures move between the trees and allies in pursuit, tracking her red trail against the white snow.
Majima Goro	The Mad Dog of Shimano isn't running on full cylinders. He's still here, mind you. He's just looking fairly bruised up, with bandages running across his midsection, along his arms, fairly sizable bruise over his one good eye. He's an absolute mess, when you get down to it. But he's here. Sure. Some absolute chucklefuck is murdering random civvies, and that's not kosher. 'sides, this guy must be some kinda loser, eh? There's a guy with a hood with a sword he's told about, and that's pretty high quality chances of being what he's looking to deal with. Of course, as he steps through the village, he realizes the problem. The same problem he literally had two days ago. It's winter, it's snowing, and he's wearing a snakeskin jacket. "Fuck's sake," He says to himself, lighting up a cigarette. The man's conveniently in the woods at the time, in just the right place for the bleeding nun to run past. That, of all things, get his attention, even if the shriek doesn't. --he's from a rough town, alright? "...eh? The hell's going on?"
Gawain	Paladins Search and Rescue is on the case, a unit led by one Warden Gawain. The SPARDA note caught his interest - apparently that was connected to that Vergil? So, armor equipped, flanked by four men in silver power armor with a Paladins emblem and plasma swords at their side, he pushes through the snow, having been nearby on patrol. The screech gets him moving, his squad moving in. They focus on the nun over the pursuers in the trees, moving to try and get to her, keep her moving, and make sure she's flanked by allies. "Sir Gawain, Paladins Warden. Keep moving, we'll fend off your attackers!" And then, as the four powered armored units move to help escort her, Gawain turns as they walk, towards the trees behind him. "Please present yourself, drop your weapons, and surrender at once! These murders have to stop, and we are not afraid to use force to solve the problem if we have to."
Lory Thumper	Gawain is joined on this day by another first responder! As he and his team move through the snow they are followed closely by a small bunny person in full tactical gear, including police riot gear and a belt full of anti-personnel equipment. She pulls one of her twin pistols as that screech goes out, and moves to cover as Gawain calls out the attacker. Then, she waits. If it is that demon she had the misfortune of meeting at the circus...this could be very bad. And very dangerous. "Whatever you are trying to accomplish here, you must know that it can't be allowed to continue! Just surrender and no one has to get hurt!" she says. Even as she gathers a few of her disc grenades, ready to throw them out at a moment's notice.
Vergil	The vague figures in the shadows come to a stop as they are confronted. The nun sobs with relief as she is guided away, only for one of the figures to produce a loaded crossbow and attempt to shoot her in the back! Another produces a brick and throws it through a nearby window, while another lights a molotov and tosses it through the hole left by the brick. Based on the screams coming from the building, there are people inside. "You'll not stop us from resurrecting our lord," one says, before melting into shadow. The rest come rushing out en massed, drawing weapons both improvised and classical. Heirloom swords alongside bike chains. In the light of the flames made by the building, it can be seen that each one is strapped with improvised explosives as well. As they mob the Elites and the nun, attacking wildly, their intent is clear. They are going to stop them, even if they have to kill themselves to do it.
Majima Goro	Majima Goro is, luckily, not in charge of defending the nun. The guy wearin' the Paladin merch is, with his armored goons. He cracks his knuckles, as...the figures in the shadow start taunting them. "...Fuck does murderin' people have ta--ah, who cares." He slowly draws a knife from its white, floral-patterned sheath, deciding the most useful possible thing he can do in this moment--which is, conveniently, the most entertaining thing he can do in this moment, is to help fend off the weird remaining cultist guys. He seems to blatantly disregard the obvious explosives, running up to the closest one he can, before spinning on one foot--the ice helps a lot here, holding his knife out as he makes a veritable tornado of himself. He's fast, moving constantly, and certainly a threat to any of the cloaked ones' allies trying to save their friend. "NEHEHEHEAHAAAAHAHA!"
Lory Thumper	Lory's ears perk up tall as that crossbow is produced, and she dives for the nun. "Look out!" she exclaims, pulling her riot shield and trying to intercept that bolt before it can hit the nun. She goes tumbling after the sudden leap and rolls back to her feet before bringing her pistol to bear. "If this 'lord' needs murder to be resurrected, then he doesn't deserve to see another day!" Those that charge the bunny find out that she is an expert martial artist who is extremely quick on her feet and difficult to hit. Her style is best described as Gun Fu as she bounces between opponents. And with those bombs displayed she doesn't show mercy. Even if it ends up not killing, every shot she takes is meant to be a kill shot as she tries to keep herself between the nun and those assailants. "Sir Gawain! Can you get to that building?!"
Gawain	As the cultists attack, firing with crossbows, and Lory moves to intercept the bolt, Gawain spots the molotov going through the window after the brick. He's already getting ready to move when Lory requests him to. "Of course! You two, on me." Gawain points to two of the S&R agents, who nod, as they all charge forward towards the building. If the front door isn't safe to barge in, they literally leap upwards, Gawain using his superhuman attributes, the S&R using thrusters, to just crash through the window and try and get people out. Search and rescue pulls out small fire extinguishers - they're not super powerful or special in any way, but they're worth a shot.
Vergil	The crossbow bolt harmlessly bounces off of Lory's shield as the battle is joined. Majima's knife flashes, cutting through the flesh easily, Lory hops between the cultists, bringing them down with ease. The truth of the matter is, these are no hardened combatants. Indeed, as their hoods fall away in the chaos, most of them are impressionable teens. Not a one of them even tries to detonate their suicide vests. Based on closer observation, they don't seem powerful enough to threaten anyone other than the wearer. Those that aren't left bleeding on the ground surrender once the overwhelming difference in power is made apparent. Gawain and two of his men get into the building and find a husband and wife trapped in their small kitchen by the spreading flames. A fire alarm blares as they blast it with foam, managing to extinguish it. A scorched hole in the carpet and blackened walls are left behind, but they and their home have survived. Back outside however, just as the fighting is wrapping up, a loud bellow sounds as a large men charges the group with a woodcutting axe. But before he can get close, a katana blade sprouts from his chest before being yanked out, leaving him bleeding out on the ground. Behind him was a cloaked, hooded figure, a chilly wind yanking said hood down to reveal slicked white hair and a cold glare. Vergil, the son of Sparda. "The ringleader is getting away," he says, flicking his wrist to cast the blood off Yamato and onto the snow. "The basement under the doctor's office. You all had best hurry before he gets away."
Majima Goro	Majima idly wipes his knife off in the snow. The ones he's cut down are, weirdly, probably going to be fine. He's not an especially deadly fighter, for a variety of reasons you really shouldn't look into too closely. Still, the rest of them surrender, and he gives them an expression. A distinctly angry, yet somehow bored expression. "Eh? The fuck you doin', eh? Ya think you're bigtime thugs, but a couple o' ya go down and ya start pleadin' for your lives? Get the fuck outta here, you disgustin' kids! Get back in school or some shit!" He shouts at the remainder, just in time for a man with a giant axe starts charging towards him. He grins, and the knife is waved around. Yeah. Alright. He's down to fight axe-man. ..Axe man just died to some other shmuck. Some hooded man with a knife. "...Eh? ..Should I...hold on a fuckin' second." He looks away a moment, as if checking into something. "...Arright, but I'm not doin' any 'shooeh pippis' or doin' any infiltratin, alright?" The advantage to being Majima in this situation is that the casualties and innocents are literally someone else's problem. "...So, seein' as though I didn't buy the fuckin' tourist map on my way in, you're gonna go that way and I'm gonna follow your ass, alright?"
Lory Thumper	It was hard to notice in the thick of battle with adrenaline pumping, but when the fighting dies down and the group starts surrendering...Lory is pretty horrified to see not only that they are just teens, but that she may have ended some of their lives. "Th-they're...just kids?" As soon as they surrender she is on her radio. "We need emergency medical attention, as soon as possible!" she says to the dispatcher, though out here she isn't sure how fast advanced medical services might be available. She can't do anything for them herself... She flinches and leaps back as that bellow is heard, and she is about to take aim again when that sword appears. Vergil. Her frown is pretty big upon seeing him. Even if it seems like he might not be responsible for the murders here, she isn't about to extend that demon any trust. "He's right. We'll follow you. As much to make sure you aren't behind this as the fact that we don't have a tourist map." she says, her eyes watching Vergil the whole time. "That's what you do, right? Kill people for no good reason and then disappear?"
Gawain	As the couple are rescued, Gawain stays a moment to make sure they don't need medical attention, before exfiltrating the building. As Vergil arrives, though, Gawain frowns, but as he /attacks/ an enemy, Gawain wonders. He'd have no reason to do that if he was involved. He doesn't seem like the big ruse type. "Ease off him, Chevalier. We need to cooperate. Head onwards, fast. I'll treat these wounds real quick and we'll catch up." Gawain directs the others towards the doctor's office, and then he and his Search and Rescue squad move to stabilizing wounds. Not making them comfortable and able to spring right back up, of course, but their medical kits will prevent these teenagers from bleeding out to their deaths. AFter that, Gawain will move to catch up with the others at the doctor's office.
Vergil	"You came to stop them, I assume. You did not bother to learn the layout of the town? Foolishness," Vergil says, before shooting a disdainful glare at Lory. "I thought this one died for a good reason," he says, gesturing at the body of the axe wielder before sniffing. "But I suppose if the good officer disagrees, I should have let him attack you." He nods to Gawain. "Try to keep up," he says before vanishing in a flurry of blue. He doesn't even leave footsteps as he gudes everyone through the sprawl of alleys between the charming little stone houses. They eventually arrive outside the doctor's office. It's a former barbershop, even having the barber pole outside. Vergil hops a stone fence and walks over to a wide-open cellar door. "Here." It's dark down there. Dark and cold, with the air scented with copper. Gurnies fill the stone hill, each one spattered with blood, and arranged around a summoning circle. Pale corpses hang from chains as a hooded figure fusses with a trunk at the back. "Going somewhere?" Vergil asks, prompting them to turn around. The figure is a man with a scar on his chin. "Ah, Vergil... thank Sparda, one that sees sense. Thank you for guiding these lost lambs here so we may dispose of them," the man says, drawing a cold laugh from the half-demon. "I do not know if we have met human, but I am here to kill you. You'll not defile the name of my father any longer." The man scowls, and suddenly throws down a flashbang while chanting in an alien tongue. The blinding white light becomes tinged with red as the bloody circle in the middle of the room comes to life. "I CALL YOU FORTH, DEMON, AND BEG YOU SLAY THESE INTERLOPERS!" As senses return, something is within the circle. It stands on four bow legs, with a single massive arm arising from its back. On its face it wears a golden mask, with a long tongue lolling out. With a giddy cry, it jumps at the Paladins and Majima! And only them. Because Vergil is gone.
Majima Goro	Majima rolls his eye, shaking his head as he follows along. "...Eh? I look like a detective t'you or some shit?" He does not vanish in a flurry, and he absolutely leaves footsteps. Heck, he's not even as fast to keep up as, say, Lory likely is. Still, there they are at the doctor's office. Or barber. He remembers, dimly, that there's some whole connection there. Like, barbers used to be doctors in Europe, or some shit? That's why the red and white pole? Whatever. Not his problem. One could pretend Majima's stylish enough to look away before the flashbang goes off. But we should not, and he is not; he staggers for a brief moment, long enough for the summoner to vanish, and Vergil to vanish, and a.... uh. Whatever the fuck that is, Majima thinks. That is an absolutely whatever the fuck that is. Well. "...Can't it ever just be a fuckin' place fulla dumbasses with knives?" He complains loudly. That said, 'getting the hell out of dodge' is one of his major expertises. He's not just moving out of the way--he's actually dancing, bopping his head to an unseen rhythm. Alright. Fuck do you do about a giant demon with one arm, four legs, and giant eyeballs lodged all over it? ...Oh, well, that question solves itself. But first, he's going to stay on the defensive. He's gonna need an opening, and he's got two others to get him that opening. He can wait.
Gawain	Once they've been treated, Gawain catches up with the group. His team jumps the fence, and heads down deep and dark. They light flashlights as they do, and when they reach the staircase, two stick behind to make sure no one can follow after them or ambush them from behind. The other two, and Gawain, approach. As the cultist calls out to Vergil, knowing him, Gawain raises an eyebrow, but as he suspected, Vergil denies allegiance to this man. As the demon is summoned, Gawain and his two units will be that offensive to give Majima an opening. The two break out plasma swords, lighting them up, as Gawain summons Excalibur Galatine to his hand. Twisting the sword in his hands, holy sunfire blazing from it, he moves forward to strike into the demon, the two officers coming in on either-side of him for a three pronged strike. Of course, you can't /actually/ attack someone from three directions with a /single/ sword. That's silly. That's why they have three swords!
Lory Thumper	Lory lets out a soft 'mmph' of annoyance as Vergil speaks to her, and another follows as Gawain tells her to stand down. "One doesn't outweigh dozens..." she mutters back as she follows after him. It takes a bit of work though, since he keeps vanishing and doesn't leave any tracks. They reach the supposed doctor, and Lory points her weapon. Her ears perk at Vergil's claim that he is here to kill the doctor, and at h earing that Sparda is Vergil's father. And then, flashbang! She is fast enough to look away...but big ears like hers are pretty hard to shield against the sound attack, and that alone is enough to completely disorient the bunny for several seconds. When she looks again there is a grotesque demonic creature before them. And Vergil is gone. "So much for helping with the doctor, huh?" she calls out, then pulls both pistols and starts firing at the demonic entity. Gauss rounds that verge on light speed start lancing through the air. "You alright over there, Majima?" she asks, noticing he's having a bit of difficulty.
Vergil	As the fight is joined, Gawain would get a report from the two he left behind. "Sir, the man in blue just came running past us. He took to the roofs. Advise?" The demon moves in strange aways, crawling and twisting as its arm flails about, grabbing one of the gurneys and hurling it at the group. It seems to dance in its own way too as it pursues Majima, only to get skewered three ways at once by Gawain and his crew, and filled with holes by Lory. Concerningly, these wounds barely even seem to stagger it. An eyeball sprouts from the palm of its hand, before being immediately crushed, sending caustic juices splattering around. "Yes, kill them!" the man shouts before producing a blood bag, cutting it with a knife, and letting the contents spill on the circle once more. It begins to glow again, and another one of these things starts squirming through.
Majima Goro	Majima Goro needed the moment. Specifically, to pull out a can. The can is labelled 'Tauriner Maximum' in appropriately gaudy Japanese. While the other two distract the demon, he's...absolutely slugging it back. You can actually see his throat move. And then, he rears his head, letting out a more triumphant noise. "There we go! Neheheh! Now we're partyin'!" That's when he catches on fire. You know, the weird fire. The weird purple fire he catches on sometime. Lory's seen it, the tanto in his hand reflecting as he blithely ignores every signal in his body asking him to stop moving quickly. The eyeballs are..exploding into acid, so maybe those aren't the weak points he thought they were--but that just leaves one weakpoint, right? Specifically, he's barreling himself directly towards the demon's front. He feints out an initial attack from the monster, before... Leaping up onto it. He's got his knife, and he is a whirling dervish of 'trying to separate the neck from the mask', even as his bandges grow a little redder. This is, certainly, from the demon's blood. Nothing else. He's fine.
Gawain	As Gawain gets the report, he copies on his radio. <"In what direction? Keep your post, if you see him again, report."> Gawain feels he could take a more proactive stance, but...he believes it'll be fine. Vergil's probably planning something to attack this man, right? Or get at him? Gawain has hope that Vergil's words aren't for naught. And so, he focuses on the demon and the criminal in front of him. His front two are about to attack the demon, when instead, Gawain signals them towards the man. They both charge him, trying to disrupt his ritual and his blood spilling, as Gawain charges, jumps on the one squirming through, kicks it down, and moves to slam the back of his blade into the ringleader and force him back. All three were damaged by the gurney throw, power armor creaking and Gawain oofing, but right now, their focus is on stopping another demon from coming through. Shouting to Lory and Majima... "Take out the first one! We'll deal with the sorcerer!"
Lory Thumper	When Majima catches himself on supernatural fire, Lory figures he's more than well enough to handle himself here. So, she leaves the first demon to him and as the second rises she turns her attention to the doctor. "That's enough of that!" she says, but has to drop quickly to the ground to avoid the gurney throw. Gawain is after the summoner now, so she nods quickly to him and pulls out a small number of yellow discs from her belt. "Yes, sir!" she says to Gawain before throwing them. They explode around the demon that Majima is climbing, causing a bit of damage. But more importantly, covering it in riot foam. The quick drying foam is meant to restrict movement and make it easier to take down a target. The bunny cop follows that up with more shots from her gauss pistols, aiming for the legs since Majima is trying to remove that mask in his own way.
Vergil	"Sir, he seems to be heading back towards where we first engaged the hostiles," the guard reports to Gawain. Majima hops up on the demon and begins rapidly gaining style points as he carves at its neck from its back. Its tough, but not tough enough to take too many of those. It begins to writhe and buck to try and dislodge the yakuza, but Lory's retraining foam pins its legs down, letting Majima open up a deeper and deeper cut until the head detaches and the demon slumps. Gawain slams into the ringleader and disrupts the summoning. The emerging demon is cut in half at the waist before its arm can squeeze through, so it's left writhing on the ground unable to do much as it bleeds out. The scarred man staggers back, cut off from the circle. He looks furious, veins bulging as he begins to spit at the Elites. "Fools! Don't you understand?! Demons are our /betters!/ What does a few small lives matter if they mean inviting them back?! If you are so concerned with the risk they pose, let me free to resurrect Sparda! He would ensure peace between our races!" Footsteps comes from the stairway down as Vergil's voice issues. "Do not speak that name again, fool." He looks mad. And bloody. "Lord Vergil, I beg of you, help me in resurrecting your father! Sparda was-" He is cut off as a phantasmal blade launches at him from the air around Vergil and buries itself in his shoulder. Over the sounds of his screams, the demon speaks "I told you not to speak that name. Now die." And unless stopped, he crosses the cellar in the blink of an eye and takes the man's head.
Gawain	As Gawain gets his response, his eyes widen, and he heads up the stairs, dashing through the room with superhuman speed. He has the two men up top come with him, while the other two are to contain the scarred men. But this is their first sortie, so the cellar two aren't ready to react to Vergil. They're not going to be fast enough to stop him from killing the man, even as they rush in his direction. Vergil would be done and gone by then. Because Gawain, meanwhile, is heading back to those they left behind with treatment. They're still alive, right? They have to be, right?
Majima Goro	Majima basically got to murder a hell demon. He's alright with that. Hell demons aren't 'a man', and his streak of never having killed a man remains intact. Still, now his pants are kinda ruined with demon blood. He bow-leggedly stumbles off of the demon, idly trying in vain to wipe the blood off the black leather pants. "...Aiyah, eh? ...I ain't fightin' those things all night, did ya--" Well, looks like Vergil's back. Majima's just got a brow raised as he's arguing with the cultist that Gawain just absolutely wrecked. Huh. Why didn't he think of just attacking the cultist summoner? Sometimes he's a dumbass, y'know? Oh, well. "So, eh--" He offers to Vergil. Y'know, long after the murder. "...Was that actually the guy, or is there like a whole cult left we gotta deal with some other fuckin' time."
Lory Thumper	Lory's eyes widen as she hears the radio chatter as well. This guy here is scum, and while she might not take his head herself she really isn't going to feel bad if he loses it. But, the kids back there... Lory is off like a shot. She may not be cross a room in the blink of an eye fast, but she is still very fast at a run. "Please be okay, please be okay..." she is murmuring like a mantra as she races back toward where the injured and surrendered youth were left behind. But, she isn't hopeful given what she saw was Vergil did to people who's only 'crime' was being pigs. The mannerless kind, not the police or barnyard kind.
Vergil	Gawain and Lory abandon the cellar, leaving Majima alone with Vergil. With the ringleader's head removed, they're the only two here. Vergil stares impassively at the decapitated corpse before turning his head to Majima. "Merely some weak-willed humans falling under the sway of one who learned some minor demonic arts," he says before investigating that bag at the back of the cellar. Within it, he finds some manner of badge and tosses it to the ground before Majima. It depicts a sword, or a halberd depending on how you look at it, with a pair of horns and a wing. "As I thought. An exile from the Order of the Sword. They too, worship my father. But I could not exactly call them misguided in their methods, so I leave them be." He offers Majima a light nod. "Thank you for your assistance. I do not believe there shall be any more murders here. But should you find any more that use the name 'Sparda,' I shall come along if you call." He turns, and slashes the air with that katana of his, creating purple tears in it that bleed out to create a portal, which he steps through. At the same time, Lory and Gawain arrive at where they left the cultists. They find the nun, on her knees and praying while the married couple speak frantically to the police over the phone. Strewn on the ground are the corpses of the cultists, each one lacking their head. Those too lie about, having been neatly severed from their bodies. And as if to mock them and their sacrificial methods, a great 'V' has been carved into the snow and cobblestone street.
Majima Goro	Majima doesn't really get a chance to talk. It's not a situation he's used to. This 'Vergil' guy or whoever pretty much throws a badge at him, babbles about...who knows what, and then teleports out. There's a moment. He smacks his lips. "Arright, whatever the shit that guy's on 'bout." He shrugs, kneeling down to pick up the badge. He tilts it a little to glint in the light, before weighing it in his hand. Yeah, this might work for his purposes. He can just glue a magnet to the back, and it'll hold crap to his desk. That'd be about right. With that, he starts to whistle, slowly making his way out of the basement. What the hell just happened? No clue. Not his problem.
Gawain	Gawain, as he finds the bodies, kneels over them. Heads off. He can't do anything about that. He frowns sharply, steps over to the V, stares at it, and then looks up to the sky, as his four men finally rejoin him. Vergil must be stopped. Now is obviously not the time, but...he's too dangerous. He can't be trusted for cooperation, either.
Lory Thumper	Lory skids to a stop as they reach the spot, and...she just stares sadly and quietly for a few moments before slowly walking around them, looking for identification. And if there is none, she makes sure to use her body cam to record each face, so that they will be able to eventually identify them and bring the families of these poor misguided kids some small measure of closure. She also records the V. Really the entire scene. If Vergil ever faces justice, it could prove valuable evidence. "Maybe that Staren guy can do something?" she asks Gawain.