Eleven was too distracted with their target to see Ratatosk eat shit behind them, probably for the best. They wouldn't have let that one go for quite a while.

Thud - it slammed into the drone, a pale blur colliding with the ground hard. It refocused its eyes, searching for any hint of weakness and - hey, that's an entirely different guy? Sick armour though.


It was a little disorienting, but the strategy didn't have to change to much. It began to mouth at any gap it could make out in the muddied chitin, hoping to rip open any soft meat on Cyneweard's chest and neck.

ROUND 2/?

ATTEMPT: biting at cyne's neck/chest and praying
DEFENSE: quills along spine
INJURIES: emotional

The situation quickly devolved into combat. The Valkhounds could never leave well enough alone, it seemed--they had to come destroy what they had worked so hard to build, and to interrupt them whenever they worked to repair the damage done.

He couldn't do much in terms of physical combat, but the strength of the Hive (A/N: haha) was in its wide range of skills. Be strengthened, Jinyi though to the Drones locked in combat, and called up a surge of magic to reinforce their strength. Have the confidence to know that whatever you attempt, it shall be bolstered!

ROUND 2/?

ATTEMPT: boosting hive rolls
DEFENSE: infested ground, resistance
INJURIES: a bit annoyed

They noticed. Of course they did. They had reached a point not long ago where they felt the presence of that abhorrent white fungus taking over the forest and had stopped their growth at that point, working out a way to get through without putting their entire network in danger. Lichen had warned them well, and they were taking that warning to heart.

But then they decided to trample into their territory. They had been watching them - of course they had, they watched all within their reach. They identified the two that spread it - a humanoid figure and one that reminded them of Lichen but with more fur and pointier ends. And louder. They could feel the harsh vibrations of its voice on their caps.

And also, it felt the others walking by. Brushing against the trees they infested and dripping oil on their caps that they couldn't get off. Disgusting. The network shuddered in anger and watched these as well as they walked upon them...and just above their heads, they began to fight.

The Chorus had never seen a fight before (technically it hadn't seen anything really, besides what it saw through The Consul's eyes) and watched with both frusteration and interest. It's "gaze" narrowed in on Virosa, the corruption spilling from that one was truly wretched, and the fungal spread upon the others was both horrifying and infuriating. How dare it create such a cursed mockery of their kin? (of course, they killed and ate their own kin if it got in their way, but that was not relevant here) It did not care for what they were fighting about. But they were fighting upon its ground. The land it had claimed.

It had not been injured yet, but it was only a matter of time before claws shredded one of its caps or a body squashed them or this foul magic corrupted them.

It watched, carefully, and the Consul, too, approached quietly and crouched under a bush not far away, watching with his own beady eyes, through which the Chorus also observed. Ever part of this fight was privy to its gaze.

(just watching like a creep)

The hound was in his face, snapping molten jaws warped by horrific scarring. He recoiled internally. Hideously disordered beast. Her attacks were clumsy and easily blocked by his armor, although he cringed as he heard teeth scraping imperfections into it. But he couldn't let himself get caught up these irrelevant thoughts. He had one objective. Defend his family. Eliminate anything that posed a threat to Order.

He had dropped his clearstone blade when Eleven tackled him- which wasn't a problem, since he had perfectly functional claws.

He swiped quickly at the sensitive-looking scarred areas of her throat and snout, hoping to make her flinch and draw back.

ROUND 2

ATTEMPT: Swipe at face/neck (note: boosted to barely by strength of the hive)
DEFENSE: Drone armor
INJURIES: Bruised back

@V-Chaos-Eleven [pretty sure this thread takes place after El got her burns but lemme know if i need to edit]

It hastily swiped blood and mold away from it's snout (ew ew ew ew ew) before surveying the chaos the battlefield as quickly descended into. It was definitely not going after it's original target- not while he was zipping through the air like an annoying gnat, anyways. A third drone had manifested out of seemingly nowhere, and was now tussling with Eleven. She had that handled, probably? She could easily tear his throat out, why hadn't she done that yet? "GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!" It'd shout at her as it raced past, towards her original target.

The weird faceless one was currently just kind of... standing there. Had he done something? Or was this one around just for decoration? Whatever the case, Ratatosk would attempt to slam its skull into one of his obvious, vulnerable-looking leg joints, hopefully to keep him from running away.

ROUND 2

ATTEMPT: Headbutt Jinyi's knee
DEFENSE: Enchanted spiked collar, quills
INJURIES: Bruised nose

@Jinyi

He was speed and precision built into a keratin-plated missile, his loud mouth the shriek of it approaching an obvious target, and yet a rigid mind meant he lacked homing capabilities. Air rushed past spearing arms, and their points failed at puncturing anything but his own ego. A discontented rumble welled up his throat: this giant Oilslick was putting on an excellent demonstration of its nature, slippery like most of its cowardly brethren. Then red eyes widened, his breakneck approach preventing any evasion of the cloud of nastiness gusting toward him.

Burns weren’t new to Ace, corrupted ones especially; even now, hide repaired by a long transformative hibernation, he remembered the crackling heat that battle-addled stick had unleashed upon him and how it lanced through skin and muscle. It’d been a strike of concentrated corruption in all its sickening glory. This, however, was more sly and invasive. As dark spores settled over him, at first he snarled at the unwanted shower, ignorant of its purpose.

"Really?" Had he been in less of a combat situation, the Drone might’ve thrown his head back and fully sunk into a dramatically judgmental display. "I get that you snotrags aren’t much for baths, but come on! There’s enough going on without you shedding your filthy self all over the place."

During his bout of whinging, the damage crept along, gathering into a full body itch. Once it began burrowing into him, that’s when the corrosive pain commenced. Whatever elegance remained in Ace’s glide faltered as he seized up. His face twisted into a grimace, realization etched into it.

A curse pushed past gritted fangs: "Slick spawn of a piss puddle!"

Too late to shake anything off when it’d already taken root. Nevertheless the fungus patches blooming over every inch of him demanded some sort of swift action. Wings flared out and swept back against his sides again, and he lunged once more, glare locked back on target. This attack didn’t stay straightforward for long, though, as the launch slid into a spiral rapidly gaining momentum. He aimed not directly for the Chaos beast, but past it; let it guess at whether the wound would come from his arms or the stinger-tipped tail coiling into a deadly whip with his spin.

ROUND 2

ATTEMPT: A little swift stinging action
DEFENSE: Nope, he's a fighter jet, not a tank
INJURIES: Moldy

@Virosa (Sorry for the wait!)

Jinyi had very little time to maintain his magic as the very long (but thankfully not towering) beast charged straight for his legs. At least both the others seemed to be doing well against their respective opponents, he thought, before spotted fur and a green-eyed snarl came hurtling into physical range.

He had a split second to make his choice. Instead of rising into the air and getting himself out of range, Jinyi narrowed his focus onto that... what Ace would probably call an 'ugly mug', coaxing Order's own fungus to burst into bloom in the soft tissues of its nose and mouth. A revenge, in a way, for the dripping Valkhound's attack on Ace. Then its momentum crashed fully into Jinyi, bending his knee in a way it had never meant to bend. The Drone collapsed to the ground in the wake of its charge, leg crumpling underneath him and gasping at the bolt of brilliant pain shooting up from it.

@V-Agate-One

ROUND 3/?

ATTEMPT: manifest fungus in Agate's nose/mouth
DEFENSE: resistance, infested ground
INJURIES: one knee out of commission

The larger, flying drone chattered funny words back at it. The corners of Virosa's mouth, Black-lipped and dripping, twisted upward. "Do all of you... Talk this much?" It enjoyed it, mind you. Don't stop quipping now.

It waited patiently for the Skyreaver to complete his circle, watching its own infection sprout from his pretty white hide with delight. He made to attack again, regaining his speed quickly. In the moments it had to react, it prepared a spell, the flesh on its left side, under layers of fur and vines, began to boil.

Virosa turned slightly, exposing its left flank, before the that side of the body exploded into writhing, hungry tentacles, hopefully protecting the more important meat.

ROUND 3/?

ATTEMPT: manifesting tentacles where it expects ace to hit
DEFENSE: lingering further back, otherwise none
INJURIES: always a little sick and weak

@Ace

Rat shouted something that was probably supposed to be supportive, Eleven couldn't really tell right now - it was busy full-body wrestling with the bizarre knight under its claws - Wow, this feels familiar, doesn't i- NO. NO. NO IT DOES NOT. We're not THINKING about that right now. We have a job to do.

Eleven was now permanently unable to fight any man without at least one homosexual thought. God. Fucking. Damn it. Nails raked across the gnarled, sensitive skin on its face. Not helping. The pain prickled and ached, blood cells sighing as they were forced to clot this wound again. Its head was not in the game.

Instead of going for the throat, it went for an arm - the one that had held his sword before he dropped it. Eleven snapped and pulled at the limb, hoping to clap its jaws around the shelled topside, and rip into the soft meat his gauntlets were hiding.

It did not play out like that, unfortunately. Cycles ago, when it was still new to the world, it had a traumatic encounter with a living chest, and the tongue it had used as a weapon. The memory of it consumed its brain as it managed to, accidentally, shove Cyneweard's whole forearm in its mouth, doing no physical damage. Psychological damage? Probably. At least it wasn't thinking about gay sex anymore.

ROUND 3/?

ATTEMPT: No more arm, okay? swallowing whole arm instead.
DEFENSE: quills along spine
INJURIES: emotional+, cuts over its face and neck

@Cyneweard edited for crit fail

The fungal blooms did their damage, tearing away at Ace's pale flesh as they oozed away. Yet even so, they proved incapable of diminishing the attitude programmed into his very cells. Fangs clenched together drew apart to allow a sharp bark of laughter out as he rushed by his adversary. "No, the dear old lady made me as a special order. Skyreaver—the one, the only, the best rushed onto the front lines. And don't you forget it, sickbits!"

This last jab he threw in upon witnessing the repulsive burst of tentacles from Virosa's side, never one to pass up the opportunity to openly express disgust against foes. A pleased hum rose in his throat at the satisfying sink of his stinger before momentum swiftly yanked it out again. Such a sudden thrust might not allow the full extent of the cold flame encompassing it to be felt, but who knew what agonies even momentary exposure would result in; battles few and far between as of late, there hadn't been too many chances to test his weapon on a proper target.

Soon as he completed the strike, the pressure couldn't be let up. Ace wheeled around and switched the next attack to his forelimbs. They sliced straight for the back of the Valkhound's head. For once, not a word was spoken, but a telltale gust would no doubt serve as sufficient alert if it wasn't already attentive to the flyer's movements.

ROUND 3/?

ATTEMPT: Slashes to the head
DEFENSE: You think he's actually thought of that yet?
INJURIES: Moldy

@Virosa