hadriel_logs | my heart is a furnace

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my heart is a furnace

Who: Fox and Caedra (edit: plus whoever's here for the fallout!)
What: For all Caedra's done to make the residents of Hadriel suffer, Fox takes revenge.
Where: The north island
When: Post-monster event, nighttime
Warnings: Violence, body horror, mentions of character death, allusions to childhood abuse.

It's a dangerous plan. Fox knows it is, but he knows he's all out of other options. So with the ring given to him by Rage hanging around his neck, and his katana in hand, the masked teenager has to face the confrontation that's been eating away at him for months. He hasn't even sent a calling card-- he's not stealing a heart this time, and while this may be about justice, he's acting alone, not on the behest of the Phantom Thieves.

It takes time to track down Caedra: her movements are unpredictable, and it's made all the more difficult by the city being split into islands, and by his preference to move under the cover of darkness. After a few nights of unsuccessful searching, he manages to track her down to one of the rocky beaches where they're surrounded by sea -- where there's nowhere for her to run except to the water, or through him.

He steels himself, and emerges from the shadows, eyes bright with anger behind his kitsune mask.

"Caedra! Your cruelty ends here."

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No explanations, no excuses, no justifications for her crimes. Caedra absolutely wasn't human, and it would almost be refreshing compared to the terrible humans whose hearts he'd stolen. Almost, but in a way, it's a reminder that she's more monstrous than all of them.

It's not immediately clear to him what the hex does. He grits his teeth and shakes his head as if to clear it, and when that doesn't work, lifts his blade to dart at her. His movements feel sluggish, but he's already committed -- he has to at least try to land a hit or two before she dodges away. Against an enemy more powerful than him, he knows he has to be fast, and figure out a way to outsmart her with his plan before she can destroy him.

It's remarkable how quick he still is. Caedra darts to the side, circling rather than trying to retreat from that long blade, and tries to dart behind him, hoping to drive the point of her rapier into his retreating back. It's not an ideal target, there won't be much force to the strike if it connects, but she can already imagine the necrotizing effect of the blade itself tunneling its way into his flesh and killing the tissue of his kidney, his liver.

If she hits, that is. And in case she doesn't, she makes a quick swipe with her hand, cutting the air and triggering a single second of head-splitting psychic pain from the hex.

"Put your toy down and I'll show you mercy," she calls out, insistent. An utter lie.

Fox sheathes his sword after he misses the hit, and twists away as he sees her moving to try to pierce him from behind. He avoids it successfully, but snarls at the psychic pain from the hex, clutching his head.

He has to do something about the hex, even if he can't lift it. So he draws on his Persona, his mask vanishing in blue flame to materialise an ethereal robed figure behind him.

"Come, Goemon!"

With a sweeping gesture, Goemon casts a Sukukaja spell on Fox, before disappearing again, the mask rematerialising. When the thief next turns to strike again at Caedra, the sluggishness behind his movements is gone.

The appearance of such a creature is enough to cause Caedra to stumble backward along the cobbles before she quickly regains her footing and crouches as if ready to spring, though she has a hand held outstretched rather than her sword. But before she can try to immolate both of them in catastrophic fire, the second, larger, creature vanishes again. An illusion? Must be, since the mask is the constant - it isn't something simply lurking invisibly behind the boy for backup.

But she knows now that she needs to take this far more seriously than she had been. This isn't just a swordsman, he's a spellcaster - and she was not anticipating the effect of the casting. Yusuke's sword catches her across that arm as she tries to twist away, slicing her sleeve and sending drops of black liquid flying through the air and onto the rocks.

She stands with her back to the water again now, having dodged the swing, and she's eager to finish this quickly before the boy can do serious damage, as who knows what other magic he possesses? She draws energy from her ring, from the gift bestowed on her by the demon lord she loves, and darkness rushes up the blade to cloak her in shadows, granting her what appear to be a pair of broad ethereal wings. Again, she drives the rapier toward him, seeking blood, ready to force all of this gathered power straight into him should she succeed in making contact.

There's a feral grin on his face as he sees her stumble, taken offguard by the appearance of his Persona. The rush is almost as gratifying as when he'd seen the fear in the eyes of Madarame -- when he'd first called Goemon and forged the contract. I am thou, thou art I. The world is filled with both beauty and vice...

Fox can't enjoy the upper hand for long when he sees the darkness cloaking her, and he shifts immediately to the defensive. He's able to raise his blade, but with a katana it's impossible to parry the brunt of the hit; instead he quickly sidesteps, looking to slam the pommel of his katana into her stomach hard while holding the sheath to guard his flank from her rapier.

He doesn't want to kill her. Driving her back is the goal, and so he can't let her gain ground for an instant.

Curse that newfound speed of his. She'd been impressed that he could compensate well enough on his own but this boost of power is still something she'll have to learn to take into account - and quickly.

The pommel slams into her and she grunts with the impact, taking another step back toward the ocean from the sheer force, before she whirls and tries to stab right up into his gut, seeking any opening she can find. Thrust, twist, thrust again until her blade finds him one way or another as if the blade itself thirsts for his mortal life, to rot away at the flesh itself. Meanwhile those illusory wings of hers stir the air as if ready to leap right at him - animate darkness that seeks to rush right back down that blade and crush every bone in his body.

Yusuke has fought against Shadows and monsters plenty, but a more intelligent foe like this is taking all his concentration to even keep up with. Even with the boost from Goemon, dodging and riposting against her attacks is the most he can do, and at one point he's a fraction too slow, a burning pain biting through him as the blade gouges through his side. He can smell rotting flesh, and ordinarily the knowledge would make him retch, but the adrenaline is already making him feel disconnected from it. He can't stop.

The leaping attack sends him knocked off his feet as he staggers to dodge, his blade clattering from his hands. He tries to sweep Caedra off balance as she lands with a low kick, before rolling to one side to grab his sword before she can land a finishing blow.

So too is Caedra not quite used to fighting someone of this level of talent. A swordsman who fights honorably might find it refreshing but for her it's just frustrating. Isn't he dead yet? She felt her blade sink in, knows that it's more than enough to cripple most people. But whatever he had cast earlier seems to help him roll away alive and well, though likely gravely wounded.

She's so relieved to have landed the hit that she mis-times the jump over his kick, for the boy has long, long legs and is moving much too quickly. As she stumbles over his leg she tucks and rolls to the side, landing in shallow water though back on her feet. The shock of the cold sea is a surprise too, but she overcomes it as quickly as she can and holds her sword ready should he somehow get up and come after her, while once again triggering the psychic shock from her hex with a wave of her hand. With any luck, that will keep him down long enough for her to get back over there and finish him off.

The moment she's pushed into the water had been the perfect opportunity. Had been, but a trigger of that psychic energy sends him staggering, interrupting the concentration he needs to summon Goemon and finish this.

"You-- won't win! I won't let you!" he snarls at her, hoping to make her hesitate. If he can just buy a second or two of time...

Ha - as if he has the power to allow or deny her victory. It's a ridiculous notion to her, one who both revels in chaos and makes her own fortune through it all with sheer skill and willpower. So what if he's fast and carries a sword? She's killed countless others like him before. He's just a swordsman with haste. Annoying, but not dangerous.

Encouraged by that stagger, and by that silly habit of talking while fighting and therefore distracting himself, she rushes him, splashing through the shallow water with her rapier poised at his heart to strike him dead - or so she hopes.

She doesn't trigger the hex again, and that's all the opening he needs. He knows he needs to act now, or he won't get another dodge in, the rotting wound in his side and the spell wearing off will all slow him to a fatal end.

"Goemon! Now!" He raises his blade, but it's just a distraction, a last-ditch means to defend himself if this fails. His mask melts away in blue flame once more and Goemon appears, casting a Bufudyne spell on their foe, sending a huge tree-like pattern of ice shooting out of the water and shattering painfully into its target with the force of knives or cold shards of glass. Starting with her feet and the water around her, the ice freezes, too, aiming to immobilise her just out of reach.

Caedra raises her rapier swiftly as if to parry but realizes too late the movement was a bluff. Even before the false gods ripped away some of her innate defenses, cold was something she never fully adapted to defending against and the shards strike well as they shatter and slice, hissing and steaming as they contact black ichor.

The pain is agonizing and Caedra screeches in horror and tries to teleport away, thinking of nothing more now but to flee and return to finish this idiot off later, but the ice races upward before she has time to act. It coats her in a thick fractal network of frost, and she is held in place. Her feet are anchored to the beach by the thinnest sheet of a frozen wave - but the ice holds firm.

Fox's Persona vanishes once more, and he can only stare for a second in disbelief, as if frozen in place himself. Against all the odds, it had worked.

When he's sure she's immobilised, he sheathes his blade in a swift movement, then retrieves the bone ring carried around his neck. He slips the ring onto one of her fingers, so that -- if it works -- she will remain frozen for a month.

It may only be temporary justice. But it is, finally, justice of some kind.

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my heart is a furnace

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