IC || THE LAST CASE || VIDEO

[incriminating]

[From the moment the video feed rolls, the audio is distorted with static and a tinny, dual-toned laughter that lacks any real warmth or cheer. No, the sound is instead cold and cruel, cutting through the tranquil silence of night like a knife, as sharp as the smile that now twists its owner’s lips. Crowing, Tohru Adachi stares straight-on at the

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[tapferkeit]

[This is a scene Link is used to.

He looks over at Adachi. The man's face is still taught with that disfiguring rage, that unbridled bloodlust. The mask must still be clinging to him.

Well... he knows how to break that curse.

Transference.

Link bends to pick up the mask. He feels the deep, sickly thrum of power under his fingertips. His skin crawls. The Triforce on his hand blazes brightly again, shining like a beacon - reacting to the spirit inside. He shivers slightly, but there's no time to analyze every whorl and intricacy in the design and the feeling. He turns the mask over in his hands, hesitates a moment, and then raises it to his face.

Pain sears through him. He doubles over, gasping. His face disfigures, his bones elongate, a terrible scream of agony erupts from him. This is all normal to him - he's felt this before. This is how it always goes. Already he can feel his head begin to fill up with the presence of the creature within. He grasps for it, seizes it, begins to force it under...

... But then it rises again, consuming him, burning him out. His scream prolongs and his back arches to the point of snapping -

There's a flash of light, and when it clears, Link isn't standing on the ground anymore.

He's floating above it, wearing a blood soaked coat. His fingers are claws. His legs taper to feet like razorblades. His face is mostly covered by a mask, bearing eyes that blaze yellow.

The triforce flickers weakly on his hands, before it dies out.]

[incriminating]

[With a hiss, Magatsu Izanagi straightens, studying Magatsu Link with dark approval. Confused, Adachi stares at the hero and goes to demand some answers from his persona, but with a sharp look, the god silences him.]

Command him and this one will obey. He will not be able to resist the call.

[Uncertainly, Adachi glances at Chie and then stammers:]

...k-kill her!

[Hell if he actually expects this to work. Magatsu Izanagi's glaive flies into its hand on an unspoken command and says to its host:]

There is little time.

1/2

[heavyheels]

[WHAT. WHAT. WHAT JUST HAPPENED.]

[heavyheels]

[no, chie, focus, focus! adachi is right there, right within punting distance. if she can just take him out -

she springs into action once again, feet flying.]

[tapferkeit]

[Link is buried there, deep under the consciousness of Magatsu Izanagi and Adachi. He tries to stop it, but his claws tighten around the hilt of his own glaive and he launches forwards, slashing it at Chie in a double-handed swing.]

[heavyheels]

[the weapon lands a glancing blow, knocking chie off her trajectory before she can connect with adachi.

chie hits the ground with a pained cry.]

[incriminating]

[Beautiful. Adachi watches ally attack ally with no small amount of pleasure. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the time to spare to enjoy this spectacle, and, with a nod to his persona, he quietly absconds to the inn.]

[tapferkeit]

[Not missing a beat between attacks, Link's back arches and he launches a burst of Ziodyne at the ground where Chie is. He is aware that Rock is nearby, but he reigns in the overriding urge to attack him too. If only it'd work on Chie too, but his stupid mistake was costing a lot...]

[heavyheels]

[chie has no time to guard. the heavy electrical spell catches her in its wake, shooting through her body as it singes the air and ground around her. she hears a pained scream, and after the fact, recognizes it as her own.]

[tapferkeit]

[There is a split second of hesitation before Link attacks next - only the barest, barely visible unsurety, but definitely there. Possibly enough even for someone blasted with a heavy electrical spell to dodge the swing of the glaive.]

[heavyheels]

[chie's always been quick on her feet, and she's thankful for that quite often, but never as much as just now. she can feel the stiffness from the electrical attack start settling in, but she's awash in adrenaline, and manages to push through the stiffness and the pain and roll out of the path of link's glaive just in the nick of time. she'll be sore as hell tomorrow, but she has to make it to tomorrow first.]

[tapferkeit]

[He round back on her, bringing the glaive around in a low sweep as if to take off her legs.]

[heavyheels]

[chie backflips out of the way, putting a little distance between herself and her assailant.]

Augh, I've had it with you!

[she can feel suzuka gongen stirring; her persona is ready to join the fight again. that familiar charge of blue flame builds around chie, and she leaps into a spinning kick to release suzuka gongen once more.]

Persona!

[suzuka gongen appears, and delivers a blast of ice toward link.]

[tapferkeit]

[Link gives an odd jerking motion as his first instinct is to fly to the side and dodge the ice. However, he slams in some control there and drags his altered form back into the range of it. If the form is hurt badly enough...

The ice spell hits him, but not hard enough. He shakes off the damage and readies the glaive to swing again.]

[heavyheels]

[yikes, chie thinks, this one's tough, too. the glaive is the real problem here - elemental attacks she can withstand for a while, and she lost her weakness to fire when tomoe became suzuka gongen - but she has no armor to speak of, and she would easily end up skewered like ange if she made a single false move.

when link raises the glaive, chie rushes toward him with a hard kick, aiming to knock the weapon out of his grasp.]

[tapferkeit]

[She has impeccable aim. Link's fingers spasm and the glaive fumbles in his grip. It could have been easily saved, but he instead takes that moment to force his hand to his face, scrabbling at the ear area to find the unseen hinge of the mask.]