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[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Character(s):  Auron, Sinspawn, Open
Content:  Auron goes to check things out and finds things might be worse than he could have imagined.
Setting:  Around I-6
Time:  Afternoon
Warnings: Violence

Pain was nothing new to Auron, but the pain he had felt during the night was one that worried him.  It was the feeling of some unknown force tearing at his insides, attempting to rip him apart piece by piece while he struggled to keep himself together.  Someone was trying to gather pyreflies; to what end he was unsure.  Only one from Spira--a summoner--would have the ability to do this, and unless someone had arrived without his notice, Seymour seemed the most likely culprit.  But it was best to investigate matters first before coming to a conclusion.  This could all be coincidence...

But he doubted it.  A building had been felled already, and it wasn't a leap to guess that people had died.  Seymour or whoever was doing this had created something.  What that something was he needed to answer.

Comments

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

The answer - or at least part of it - was easy enough to find. True, most of the Sinscales had moved out of the area and Sin itself was also elsewhere, but there were still signs of what had happened to be found.

One of the Sinspawn to be exact, and not one of the Sinscales either. No, this one was all spikes and iron, footsteps thudding heaving against the ground as it drew nearer. And, as with all fiends, it would attack once it drew near enough, anger leading it ever on.

Whether or not it was immediately recognizably as being Sinspawn might be unclear, but it's intent? Could hardly be more obvious.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Any other thoughts or speculations Auron might have had were cut short with the Sinspawn's arrival. As soon as he felt the tremors, he withdrew his arm from his coat, turning around to face the fiend while dropping into a fighting stance. He gave it a once-over. It was large and, more importantly, armored. That would have to change.

Auron put his hand out in front of him, concentrating magic into his blade. The area around him glowed cyan before the light shifted to the katana, and he rushed forward, bringing the heavy sword down in a wide, powerful arc. All he needed was a nick and the Armor Break would take effect. But he didn't wait around to see if he had hit the Sinspawn, instead moving into a more defensive position, watching the creature and waiting for it to retaliate.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

The problem with being large and slow was that, well, you were large and slow. Consequently, it didn't manage to get out of the way of the Armor Break, screeching in rage as the sword crashed into it.

But it wasn't going to be going down so easily, even with its defenses somewhat diminished. It still had its size and an impressive array of spikes, after all. And the best thing to do when one has spiked arms is to hit things with them - or at least, that's what the Sinspawn's opinion was, as it lashed out at Auron with both arms, fully intending to land at least one hit with spiked backsides of its arms.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

There was a loud clang as arm met katana. Auron never fell, but he felt the vibrations all the way up his arm and he had to grip the blade tighter to keep from dropping it. He had slid back a little from the force of the blow, lines marring the ground from where he'd dug in his heels.

With a loud grunt, Auron shoved away the arm, quickly stepping to his right to avoid the other arm. He had hit it, at least, which would make it easier to take down. The entire time, the unsent was scanning, always scanning, trying to find a weak point. All armor had chinks in it, it was a matter of finding a hole.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

The Sinspawn, on the other hand didn't seem all that impressed or bothered by the shock that had no doubt traveled up its arm as arm had met sword. Then again that was perhaps to be expected in this particular case. While the spawn were all capable of at least some form of thought, it wasn't exactly easy to impress or bother any of them.

And, as one would expect, there were indeed weak spots to be found, hiding behind those well-armored arms.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Auron spotted them quickly. The challenge would be getting to them before those arms got to him. From the looks of things, it seemed as though he wasn't going to be able to get in a good hit without the creature attacking. And so Auron waited.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

Not at all surprisingly, the Sinspawn didn't waste very much time at all before attacking again, great arms swinging in once again, seemingly unaware of whatever Auron might have been planning.

Then again long term planning had never been a strong point for any of the Sinspawn, so it wasn't much out of the ordinary.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

The moment he had an opening, Auron swung his katana, burying it into the soft flesh on the inside of the Sinspawn's arm. However, he was left no time to dodge with this action, and he was caught in the blow, immediately crumpling to the ground from the powerful strike.

He recovered quickly, fighting through the pain and reaching up and grabbing tightly to the katana's hilt. Losing his weapon was definitely not an option.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

There was a screech of pain from the Sinspawn as the sword dug deep, each of its three mouths sounding a slightly different note. But the damage had been done all the same, as what served as the Sinspawn's blood dripped sluggishly onto the street. It certainly wasn't going to be getting the same amount of power out of that arm at least, although it wasn't useless just yet.

And it wasn't going to give up the offensive just yet either, attempting to strike at Auron with its uninjured arm.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Once he had regained his footing, Auron wrenched the sword from the monster's arm, twisting slightly as he pulled in order to leave a larger wound. He was able to dodge the next strike for the most part, though not quick enough to keep his arm from being clipped by one of the spikes.

He winced, glancing down only to assess the damage. A gash across his bicep, not too deep. He had received worse. He ignored the blood flowing down his arm, and attempted to bring Masamune down on the other arm as he stepped forward, blade awash in the red glow of a Power Break.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

To its credit, the Sinspawn did at least attempt to avoid the blow this time - the last time that sword had come at it glowing it hadn't been particular comfortable. Sadly, for all its efforts it didn't quite manage to get its arm entirely out of the way in time, as the sword came crashing down on what could have called its fingers, if it had had proper fingers. Or proper hands for that matter.

But regardless of whether or not it had hands, the fact remained that the Break had hit and the spawn was not at all pleased.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

There. It wasn't defeated yet, but at least now Auron could focus less on dodging and more on attacking. The spikes would still be a problem, but the Sinspawn wouldn't be hitting as hard as it had been before. No further Breaks would be needed. Auron had never been particularly good at magic and it was doubtful that this fiend had some of its own.

The ex-guardian then went in at full force, starting with the arm on his blind side and trying to render it completely useless. The other would come next, and then the body. He would take damage from this strictly offensive endeavor, but that was what his previous actions had been for.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

Auron's assumption was indeed correct - the Sinspawn had no magic of its own, relying instead on pure force. And since that had served it well enough before it didn't really have a plan of action designed to deal with the fact that its strength and defenses had been diminished, if it could even tell such a thing in the first place.

But in either case, it hardly mattered, as it swung its arms in again. It had managed to make the man bleed after all, surely it could manage to do so again, all it had do was try.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Auron ignored the arms as best as a man with two giant spiked arms heading for his body was able. Each strike left its mark on him, and the Sinspawn would get the blood it was searching for, miniature red rivers flowing down his bare arm while the sleeve of the other was being ripped apart. There were welts to be sure, and they would become rather nasty bruises at the end of it all. But as a Warrior Monk Auron had been taught to continue to fight beyond pain, and he continued to hack at the beast, a long cycle of slash, slash, be knocked over, block the crushing blow, return to his feet, and continue ripping the Sinspawn apart.

But he was beginning to tire. Even he had his limits, after all. This would have to end quickly lest he make a lethal mistake. One more opening. One more strike. It was all he needed.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

Auron would get the opening he needed. After all, even the Sinspawn wasn't able to attack constantly - it was still bound by the restrictions that bound all living things and the damage it was taking was beginning to leave its mark. And with the power break added in as well it was beginning to slow down - arms dragging and slowing even as it tried gamely to finish off its prey.

But even this was a struggling effort and left far more holes in its defense that it would have ordinarily liked. But no matter. It was do or die and it always had been, regardless of which of the combatants was to die. And should it be the one to fall, there's always be another to follow it sooner or later.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Auron watched it for awhile, waiting for just the right moment before he changed his grip on his sword, the point straight out in front of him and the flat parallel to the ground, and rushed forward, attempting to drive the blade in to the Sinspawn's body in a final, all-or-nothing attack.

[summoning-sin.livejournal.com]

As expected, the blow did precisely what it was intended to, piercing deep into the spawn's body. But between the breaks and the damage that had it had accumulated over the course of the battle that was more than enough to finish it off for good, body slumping limply to the ground only to shatter into pyreflies seconds later.

And, coincidentally, confirm what Auron was likely expecting in doing so, if it hadn't already become clear over the course of the battle.

[kotetsu-blade.livejournal.com]

Auron finally dropped to his knees, heaving exhausted breath after breath and driving his sword into the ground in front of him in order to keep him steady. He eyed the pyreflies with distaste. It was as he and Braska had thought. Damn.

This changed everything. Auron reached into his coat and pulled out his journal, recording a message and keeping the device nearby for responses. He could get himself healed later. He'd gone longer with worse.