Fatty Fat Fatso Fat Fat!

[David B.]

These men were completely unlike Kiyr's initial thoughts. They were thugs, banding together to rape, pillage, steal and damage through sheer numbers. They were not trained soldiers, they were just brutes. They had no weapons. Still, they were confident in their numbers, as most are, and split outward to try and attack with fists and rage.

That is, until the blood started.

The Dragons cut into the men with a vengeance, blood spreading into the daylight like a freshly cracked can of fresca. Blades crunched through chests, and it continued to soak the earth.

Strangely, the Qi user began to glow a darker color, and the men who were stabbed got back up to continue fighting. Three broke away to attack Kiyr directly, though her men were there to back her up.

So far, neither side had taken a loss, though mostly due to the enemy Qi user and his bodyguards.

[Kyrie Blaze]

And yet, just because they were thugs, she wasn't going to be sloppy about the clean-up. One may have thought she would be squeamish about killing - murdering - these marauders, but there was no sign of hesitation in her whatsoever. These 'men' were here to destroy what was becoming hers, and she wasn't going to let them kill her fellow Dragons, or any other within the Dragons' claimed territory.

But the changes, the people that had been stabbed getting up, that was a cause for concern.

The source? The Qi user that cut her own power in the first place. With a sharp whistle, she had to adjust her game plan a little more.

"Band together and converge on the main group in the back! Protect your flanks and sixes! Three of the five incoming, snap necks."

There was the chance the Qi manipulator wouldn't be able to use the bodies if they could still move their limbs, leaving them dead and immobile instead of dead and mobile puppets.

She didn't have to wait long for the group on the other side - or the band of four on hers - to start regrouping to push like arrows, straight for the back group. And with three separating from protecting him, Kiyr made sure to put herself out so she was visible, but not able to be separated from her rejoining group, either. She swung to the side, using the wall so she didn't chance getting tagged by the enemy band of thugs, and simply twisted for the outtermost one of the three, just within arms' reach of her group so they could handle two with all three being distracted by her.

She struck out with her foot, a blow to the knee to bring him down before she snaked in to deliver a blow to his throat and deflect any blows before she simply reached in and through to snap his neck, using the wall as a kicking springboard to ensure it was broken to then kick at a second, if her group hadn't been able to immediately deal with them, though they were wholly prepared to follow through her orders, there were still a horde of attackers that got back up.

Kiyr, should she be able to with her team, would strike forwards, not quite taking point but still visible. Still a target, albeit a diversionary one.

[David B.]

The Qi users eyes widened, his concentration going slack as he turned to try and limp away. As he lost focus on his Qi, wounds opened, blood spurting from half of his men as they fell, crying out in pain before death. The four men guarding him stood their ground and would trying and spear through Kiyr's oncoming force to attack her. Three did not make it, though one did, attempting to throw a punch at her face.

One other thing Kiyr would notice as the Qi user fled?

She could feel her own power once again, burning and ready for use.

David continued to watch on, smiling at how she was routing her opponents, most of which were left beginning to flee in all directions. As previously stated- they were ready to trample her, but they were not prepared for war,

[Kyrie Blaze]

It worked.

The sudden awareness of her Qi was like a breath of fresh air. Kyrie's eyes flickered at the incoming punch and she shifted her entire body to the side in one movement, keeping her center aligned with his. At the same time her hands were up, deflecting the blow with her palm on the outside of his wrist and causing him to overextend with her free palm moving upwards to snap his elbow, her hand at his wrist bearing down in a firm grip.

From there it would hopefully be a simple matter of releasing him and snapping his neck with a brutal twist, once again using his momentum against him to bring him down to her level to do so.

She was back up, eyes ahead, her target the Qi user.

She didn't care if she was the one to deal the finishing blow, but at the same time she didn't want to potentially put anyone else in harm's way. She just wasn't sure if he had any tricks up his sleeve and wasn't about to have them face off against her responsibility. Kiyr did a very brief scan over her two teams, mostly checking so see if there were any injuries as she was still on the move.

"My three with me, the rest cover our backs and stay together!"

Breaking free with her group, the second set of four trailing behind for a few paces before splitting and rounding to deal with any remaining, Kiyr took point on this in an all-out sprint that quickly carried her to her limping target where she launched herself in a high jump at his back.

The idea in this being - as she tucked her legs up - to land with her shins on his shoulders, tighten her legs, and using her momentum and his to make him stumble, throw her upper body forwards as if to roll, and cause him to topple as she twisted slightly to the side, enabling her to break free and land.

And if everything was successful, with her own roll after separating, would rise with daggers of shadow in her hands to deliver a finishing blow after rapidly moving forwards and...almost pouncing on him. It would either be a smooth plunge into the back of his neck and brainstem, or a more messy one with her dagger plunging up beneath his jaw (which would probably do enough to kill him as it was), the other in a reverse-grip to slice and press down across his neck.

Her team, of course, to keep her from being attacked by suddenly-protective enemies. The other team of eight kept their eyes out, but redirected themselves after she caught up with the Qi user to do the same as her other group of four had.

[David B.]

The man ran down an alley, and disappearing into a door. Darkness would lie beyond. As Kiyr ran in, her four men followed closely, the rest standing and guarding the entrance to the alley.

The lights flipped on.

Twenty more men stood around them, disguised as civilians. As the door slammed shut, they removed their outfits and revealed-

Red arm bands. The mark of Barker.

Her four men were set upon, one dragon going down easily as a blade plunged into his side. The rest put themselves around her as they were surrounded, the original leader speaking.

"Alright you two. Death before harm gets a glance at her. Kill as many as you can."

Nods all around. Their eyes were steal- Dragons in heart. They were prepared to die, and the Barker men who were drawing blades were prepared to help them along-

When the wall imploded.

Through the smoke from the explosion, the shadow of a man could be seen, hair moving lightly. The dust was kicked up around them, and the ten coughed, though were undamaged. A voice-

"After we take your lives, your bodies will be hung along our border, so your friends and comrades can understand the wrath of a Dragon."

Wind blasted the dust away, revealing the Storm Dragon. Behind him stood one hundred men, shoulder to shoulder, filling the street. In their eyes was ice, and on their lips- Death. Their hands had wicked makeshift blades and pipes, bats with nails. The Qi user, seeing what was happening, stared wide eyed.

This was not how Barkers men promised this would go.

"KILL THEM ALL! NO QUARTER!"

The hundred soldiers would rush forward, David at their lead.

The twenty would turn to meet the Dragons, though three of them would attack Kiyr and her crew.

((I remove ability to control the Barker troops to me alone- Kiyr can control them as well.))

[Kyrie Blaze]

Allowing him to live was potentially more harmful than helpful, and thus, Kiyr continued. With her first footstep into the gloom, everything screeched inside of her to turn back. T was such a strong feeling, this feeling of wrongness, that she rapidly exhaled and blanched. Something in the shadows was wrong, but at this point, she simply wasn't strong enough to pinpoint what or even how much or how many. Taken from the deep dark of the room, weapons manifesting in her grip as she and her group arrived in the room.

But it was much too late to turn back.

Kyrie uttered a quiet word of caution as the lifts snapped on...but even then it was too late. Far too late. Fabric rustled and swept away. And Kyrie saw red. Literal red armbands.

Her heart gave one weighted thus as time stood still and rapidly fluxed forwards. They were leapt upon. A gasp. A gurgle. A splash of blood.

Red.

A wash of it against the wall and before The blonde could regain her balance to launch a personal counter with her blades she was currently keeping, her remaining three had boxed her in. She didn't utter a sound. No snarl. No hiss. No sound of pain. A weight settled on her shoulders, and Kyrie took a slow breath, icy and cutting eyes focused on the group of twenty. Eerily calm and quiet, that crystalline blue gaze promised justice.

Kyrie didn't even blink as they made the call to keep her safe at all costs; she would fight alongside them, though she also supposed the bulk of Barker's forces would be drawn to her...and for what other reason than to extinguish a Dragon on the rise?

She had no time to brace herself as the wall imploded, throwing dust, dirt, and debris everywhere. She didn't know whose reinforcements they would be, but for now tugged the trio in more tightly with a firm, reassuring grip on eah of their shoulders, the blades let go...and Kyrie used the dust as a distraction to disappear into her trio's shadow, coughing softly even within the alternate plane. She watched and listened as David's disembodied voice drifted amongst the sea of dust and strained light, and could breathe easier as the dust swept away and she saw exactly what type of reinforcements he brought.

She waited, held within her comrade's shadow. And when she transferred shadows to one of their opponents, appearing behind to cut through a hamstring and fly into a roll to attack another before disappearing back into their shadows, hoping she had made the right choice this time. She was not willing to lose any more. There would be retribution: it would be swift, without remorse, and without anger.

The seventeen men closed ranks, leaving themselves room to maneuver, but considering they were outnumbered at least five to one, but still within closed ranks so they could protect their backs. They were seasoned fighters, at the very least. And, considering many if not all sported white hair...

...it wasn't going to be the slaughter it had been in the streets.

[David B.]

David closelined the first that came close, crushing his throat.

No holding back. No waiting to let them see what he could truly do. No games. No playing. They had planned to kill his friend. They killed one of his men. Davids hand, long and mighty, would stretch out into the room and steal the breath from the bodies, the lives they had left to live would fall at his feet. Kiyr started in, and a clash of bodies to each side of him told David that his army was in the battle now, but be would not risk lives.

He seemed to float among the people, using the wind to carry his pace at a blur, a ghost in the room. He would seem to vanish and reappear, always where he wasn't wanted. He broke the second mans neck, tore the jaw off another man in a spurt of blood and threw it, embedding the bone into another mans skull before using the palm of his hand to shove it into his brain. Anothet one swung with a bladed arm. He caught the wrist and pulled, kicking for the chest at the same time. The mans arm was ripped off- not torn from the socket or broken- ripped the fuck off. The guy cried out in horror as he fell back. David moved after him, hitting him over the head with his own arm repeatedly. The ranks of Barkers men were thinning- only two Dragons were down, and the last five Barler soldiers were against the wall. David covered in blood, stomped through his group and approached them. They dropped their weapons and fell to their knees.

"We ask for merc-"

A swath of wind flew across all of their throats, severing them and spraying a red burst of blood into the room. He watched and they choked and their bodies pitched forward, twitching, as blood spurted from their necks and formed pools under their bodies.

He gave heavy breaths as they stilled, watching until they stopped moving.

"Right wing. Take these bodies and hang them along even intervals across our borders. Once they fall from rot, pile them in the middle of the street and burn them."

Fists clasped to hearts as thirty men moved forward to begin taking the bodies. He turned to Kiyr, staring silently a moment.

"Are you okay?"

Before she could respond, a man would get up, one who had played dead, and try to run. A dragon caught him easily and brought him forward. It was the Qi user from earlier. The Dragon asked if he should kill him. David glanced at Kiyr.

"We could use information on how he got here, though leaving him alive may be more dangerous. Ill leave his life in Kiyrs hands."

[Kyrie Blaze]

Before they had a chance to rally, to display their power, half at least fell to the floor from the suffocation alone as the air was skillfully stripped from their lungs, sucked out by force. The other half hardly stood much more of a chance beneath David's unchecked wrath.

Kyrie, even, pushed the limits of her stamina. Blades reshaped and reformed, and she worked to finish off the three pests, starting with the two she had disabled. A blade to the throat, slashed quickly with no care for the hot spurt of blood. Her second after she closed the gap to the first she had disabled was plunged through an eye into his brain.

"Hold him." Kyrie commanded, rising and pulling another two blades out of a mix of her own qi and her shadow.

A tiny frown sparked over her lips and she turned to the last attacker that had split off, controlling her breathing and striding forwards quickly. Her eyes were hard chips and she thrust the next-to-last dagger through his throat and back just as quickly, tearing twice through the vulnerable flesh that was exposed as one of her trio pulled back his head, the other two holding fast to the man they had managed to wrangle down on his knees.

The blood poured but all Kyrie's response was a stony blink as they let the body fall. She pivoted to regard the wholesale slaughter that was David's handiwork as the last five begged for mercy.

Mercy that wouldn't have come from either of them.

Even with the abrupt end of the battle, Kyrie did not let her neutral and guarded expression slacken. She regarded David with her wide blue eyes, blood-splattered and soaked as he was--just not to his extent. She hardly blinked at the orders, but with David's quiet observance it wasn't so much a waver but that he would be able to tell by the flicker of her eyes that some part of her was not okay.

But she refused to show it.

Movement, a sneaky rustle and abrupt patter of feet caused her to whirl, switching her grip upon her blade with her hands up. Kyrie's eyes completely froze over and she gazed, once again impassive, at the Qi user.

She started forwards at a measured pace and stopped, eyes and manner deadly still and quiet.

"You have nothing to offer that can save your life. You will die today. You do not get to be taken anywhere, you will speak here and now. The only 'choice' you can help to make for yourself is how we take you from this world. Tell us what you know, and why, and how."

When she spoke, she kept her tone even, with only slight inflections on her words. Perhaps even soft. But there was no doubt that what she said, she meant. Not even her small size nor her wide blue eyes could dampen her promise. This was already a dead man in her eyes. The only thing he was even remotely 'good' for now was a small amount of information. He was not even worth the effort to be angry with. She only wanted to ensure he no longer walked this plane of existence. She did not look at David or the other Dragons, but kept cool eyes focused on him. No Vengeance. Only Justice.

[David B.]

The man shook.

"I-If i'll die anyway, why should I tell you anything? You want knowledge- heres a tidbit- there are more of his soldiers in this land than you think!"

He spat at Kiyr, but still had a hefty fear. He wanted to die, and was attempting to push her into anger and killing him, rather than through torture.

[Kyrie Blaze]

'No vengeance...only justice.'

With a tempering breath in, Kiyr's gaze remained fixed and calm. He would die, but there was no need to be rash about it. Even though part of her definitely wanted

"Continue. Or I am certain one of my fellow Dragons can find me something blunt that I can use to dig one of your eyes out of your skull... Bit by bit."

Her head tilted slowly to the side, but she did not reach up to wipe away the spit mixing with blood. Her game face was on, and though her eyes were hard chips of ice, she was composed and serene on the outside.

[David B.]

David stepped to her right shoulder, just behind her, and made a show of picking up a steel pipe. He would hold it up for a second and squeeze, a harsh metal grinding sound coming from under his palm. When he dropped the pipe, it gave a resounding clang and displayed the outline of his fingers, deeply indented.

"My fingers are strong enough to remove his eyes, I think."

The man had paled even more at her words, and looked terrified at Davids. He licked his lips, shaking.

"L-look...im a low level informant. T-they only told me they have people in your lands, in the Crows- everywhere. Some in high level positions. I-i didn't get anything else! They had us smuggle them over the border and...uh... And went from there! I swear to God! And there was a woman! Blonde, long legs. She was going t-to your base! Thats all I know! Please don't kill me! I can help you, i-i'll turn spy! I swear!""

He started to cry and struggle again. David said nothing and gave no hint as to what she should do.

[Kyrie Blaze]

Kyrie didn't even glance to David at the display, nor did she do much more than blink owlishly, as if she was considering. With a twist of her wrist, a black spoon appeared and vanished again. If not David's fingers, her qi would work.

Or her own hands, though the idea was distasteful, she wouldn't flinch away from it.

With the continued information, however, it opened new questions.

She didn't want him as a spy. With how rapidly he switched sides he would simply flee back to them and there was no way Kiyr wanted Barker and his men to have more information and ways in than they already did.

"Stop. Listen." Her voice was deceptively soft but commanding all the same. She continued as calmly as ever. "I want to know your routes, your ways in--you said you and yours smuggled 'them' in, you obviously know more. I want to know more about this woman than 'blonde and long legs'. If you know that much, chances are you know more. A better description, a call name."

An eyebrow arched very slowly. Almost as if she was tiring of leading him on to the things he needed to tell them; but blue eyes were watchful. The sooner he was dealt with, the better. He just kept on saying things that made her think there was more.

[David B.]

He started tearing up.

"Listen lady I'm a runner. I show up, bring them in, then leave. No planned route, just get them in deep and walk. This was my first job. I...I can tell you what her goal was and that's it. Her planned position. But if I tell you, will you let me go?"

Again, David stood, saying nothing.

[Kyrie Blaze]

Part of this was killing her. He could have had a family--or he could be just a really, really good actor. She seemed to consider his plea, and stared into his eyes for what was probably an unnerving and uncomfortable time.

Finally, she blinked, and responded, seeming to confirm: "Peacefully."

'I promised one thing to you.' Kyrie took care when she wagered with her words. She would let him go, in the sense that she had already told him the conditions. She simply told him how.

[David B.]

Unfortunately for both the man and Kiyr, he took that word to mean she would let him leave without incident. He nodded, trusting her.

"She was looking to work her way into an Elders friendship. I overheard that before leaving but I swear to God I don't know anything else. Can...can I go?"

David was no longer paying attention. He had looked to the ground and walked off a few feet. An Elders inner circle...Aryn? Bastille? Olesya?

Who....?