The Lure Awakened (Private, Xald and Lani, Joinable with Permission, T-LG)

Collapse, xe did not. After stumbling a moment, however, xe offered a thumbs up, coughing and fighting the pain in xir side. Waving a hand dismissively, the meister gestured towards the soul, slowly raising to xir feet. "I'll be fine. Eat. You'll need the strength."

Claire reached a hand out and snatched the soul out of the air, eating it with little ceremony before starting to take a few deep breaths. "Justice, can you walk?" She asked, holding her meister with one hand and shifting the other, in case they were beset by stragglers.

"I'll be fine," xe said, standing slowly. "I'd say it's best to head back after tonight and send someone else in, though." Laughing softly, Justice straightened, cringing, and held xir hand out as though it were holding the pole of Claire's weapon form. "Let's finish this, though."

Claire transformed back into her weapon form, not wanting Justice to be without support. She sighed softly across their connection, the angel statue on her weapon folding its arms before locking back in place. We're going back, Justice. Just head for the hotel and keep your head on a swivel. She asserted, not wanting her meister to get hurt more than she already was. As if punctuating that idea, a shadow above them blocked out the moon, and a large, dragon-like figure cried out, the same echoing, keening cry from earlier that caused Claire's weapon form to once again shiver.

Protest cut off by the sudden appearance of what was apparently a dragon --- why of all things the kishin egg had managed to twist that heavily, Justice was hesitant to question --- the meister groaned. Nodding in affirmation, xe held the scythe defensively before xir, limping back the way they came, Perception on full alert. "If we come across any, I'm still fighting them." Xe asserted, unwavering in that regard.

Claire sighed at her meister's combativeness, but kept herself from saying anything. She simply focused on helping guide Justice through the woods, silently praying that they wouldn't encounter anything scarier than an errant deer.

Perhaps she should have wished for something different, or perhaps, instead, the runners of fate thought that they had some sort of sense of humor. Near the crossroads they had forked at, Justice began noticing something with xir vision. A slight curse escaped her, followed by a string of them as a figure appeared from the trees. Appearing red with xir perception on, the meister dropped such and readied Claire as best as she could, eyes narrowed at the twisted hybrid of a being. It appeared mid-transformation, not fully corrupted but certainly close to getting there. Hunched over, it looked at them through solid black eyes, appearing only to be able to focus when staring at them dead-on.

The small angel on Claire's weapon form shifted, hands covering it's eyes as Claire groaned, the sound echoing out into the real world and sounding like metal scraping on metal. "Justice... Justice I can give you enough strength to run... Just run." She insisted, not wanting her meister to get hurt any more than she already had.

"What did I tell you?" Xe asked aloud, stubbornly non-compliant to the weapon's wishes as xe started pumping xir wavelength at her. "I can handle the fight. It looks fast enough to be able to pursue us if I don't, besides which."

The beast's mouth opened, appearing to unhinge as it let out a screech that could shatter glass. Wincing, their options were robbed as it charged. Swinging Claire's scythe blade in a wide arc, mistimed due to an underestimation of its speed, Justice managed to knock it to the side. It all but flew, weighing next to nothing, before whirling and charging them again.

Claire immediately boosted them into resonance, her blade casting a rainbow light throughout the area. The kishin started bounding on trees, trying to keep them guessing as to where it was going to strike from. As it drew near, it looked like it suddenly blurred out of existence as it began to move faster than they could perceive. Piggybacking off of Justice's perception, Claire suddenly called out. "Behind us!" As the creature appeared behind Justice and to the right, it's claw coming down towards Justice's right shoulder.

The meister spun instantly, pulling the scythe blade closer as xe did so. Using the momentum of the turn, Justice swung Claire's weapon form in a wide arc, jumping back slightly when xe realized just how close the beast has gotten. Teeth grinding and a light curse escaping, xe held onto the polearm handle tightly, trembling as xe fought to keep xirself from bleeding. Good catch.

The Kishin leapt forward, aiming to pounce and maul Justice to death, only to stop mid flight, a strange gurgling sound coming from it's mouth. It slowly looked down, finding Claire's blade lodged sideways in it's chest. It screeched once more, before exploding into a tornado of dark energy, it's kishin egg soul at the center.

With a flick of the meister's wrist, Justice tossed Claire towards the soul, aiming for her to transform and consume the glowing orb. Panting slightly, xe worked to catch xir breath, ready to be done with the ordeal but far from prepared to back down from a fight, should another one come forth.

Claire transformed and skidded to a stop in front of the soul, picking it up and eating it with an impolite slurp. She sighed softly, then turned back to Justice, transforming once she was close to her Meister so that Justice could use something to hold herself steady.

Justice and Claire were out of Roanoke before daybreak, heading up to Norfolk to meet the DWMA private plane so they could return home. Their mission report was brief, but extensive. They didn't see it, but they had felt how many Kishin had made the small island home, not to mention the dragon that had flown over them. It was decided that they were going to be recalled indefinitely, and that a pair of more...unconventional students were going to be sent.