Just a Normal Day... [S.S. Star-Crossed]

Out in the city of New Serenity, many of its citizens walked all throughout the streets and sidewalks. Save for the occasional wreckage and rebuilding project throughout the area, it was as if none of the events leading up to the country's current situation hadn't even happened. As the people made their way around the city, one would see people crossing the streets with ease.

They would see groups heading to and fro, conversing amongst one another with glee.
They would see families, school-bound kids, and couples peacefully heading down the streets and towards parks and various restaurants and educational facilities throughout the area.

They would see signs of normal life.

Within the commercial district of Serenity, Matthew Aaron Sanctum was enjoying a little individual quietness on his own while within one of the many restaurants in the area. Though he was seated further back in the building, he had a rather clear view of the front window, and was watching as those outside continued on with their lives. After a moment or so, he closed his eyes, breathing a quiet sigh while reaching over for a cup towards the edge of the table that he was seated at. ...If only things were like this all the time... he thought to himself. His eyes opened slightly as he grasped the cup and lifted it up to his lips, taking a quick sip from it. As he set it back down, he shifted his gaze over to his left wrist.

He took a gander at a horizontal scar located across the back of his wrist, keeping his eyes upon it for a few seconds before sighing and clenching his fist gently.

"Geez... If only..."

Satsui sighed inwardly as she glared at her target through a pair of binoculars. Why is it that I always end up with the targets who actually do things. Why don't they give me one of the easy jobs the recruits get? She wondered as she looked down at her left wrist and punched a code into the small computer interface located there. The outline of her figure shimmered slightly as she disengaged the cloak that had been set up around her. Tsk. Shame this thing works properly... Means I don't get to kill another IT guy. She complained to herself as she stood up slowly, her silver hair falling in their usual twintails as she watched her target via her specialized sight. He seemed to relaxed for this place. An Experiment among humans.

She watched his heart pulse slowly, examining his cardiovascular system for signs that he was a Necro.

There. The discoloration in some of the red blood cells. A few were of a darker color, meaning that he had just recently replenished. Upping the ante on her sight by way of strengthening the frequency her Booster augments ran on, she counted more types.

Multiple Hybrid types. The arrangement of the veins suggests wings and a tail. The dim spots on certain parts of his body mean that he's probably a Cyber as well...She paused for a moment to shift her gaze to the normal people milling about below her. She watched their hearts pulse gently for a few moments before returning her gaze to her quarry.

With that type yield it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume he was a Berserker as well. I'm not seeing any specialized organs, so he definitely isn't a Cryo or Pyro, thankfully. He doesn't have the dark yellow discolorations in his cerebrum either, which rules out a possible Booster.

Means I'm still the only one. Good.

She shifted her vision back to a normal state of view and watched the storefront, observing all she could about this site in the span of time she allotted herself.

Seems like a relatively popular place. It's not quite rush hour yet, so the employees wouldn't be able to recognize specific faces unless that person appeared enough to be noticed. Satsui deducted. She ran a hand over the interface silently for a few moments, her hand punching in another code to activate the cloak for a few moments so she could drop down to ground level for a closer look.

As the cloak faded once more she milled into the crowd, stopping and allowing the throng to pass by her as she picked out bits and details of the inside of the store.

Interesting supply of possible weapons, all left out in the open... I wonder if they've ever seen someone killed with a plastic ladle before. Seeing as how it's left in the open like that they probably haven't. Satsui smirked after a moment, activating her cloak once more and honing her senses in on the cashier near the back of the restraunt.

Let's give our prey a warning shot, shall we? She thought giddily, repressing the urge to laugh as she honed in on the cashier's heart and circulatory system. She activated her Lifter augments and input a single command:

Cardiac Combustion

She thought, smiling in sick glee as she watched the cashier proceed to verily explode right in the middle of the store. Her smile broadened as she turned to walk away, knowing full well just what impression she had made.

Just a few minutes after examining his old-time scar, Matthew leaned back in his seat, intertwining his hands behind his head and crossing his feet beneath the table as he continued his little people-watching activity. In the process, he sighed softly while snaking his hand into one of his pockets and reeling a small music player out of it. After unwinding the earbud wires that were wrapped around it, he plugged it into the player before quickly sliding the wire through the back of his shirt and finally placing one of the buds in his ears. He took a final glance at those around him before going on to peer down at the screen of his mp3 player, sliding his thumb across the screen to cycle through his songs.

God, things are moving so slow today... It's nice, but it's so unnatural... With another flick of his thumb, he gave the song display on his device a final slide before selecting a tune and allowing a few seconds to pass for it to begin playing through his ear. Calmly, he closed his eyes gently, smirking lightly under his breath and nodding his head absentmindedly to the melody while reaching out for his cup yet again. He took hold of it and lifted it up yet again, beginning to drink from it quietly. ...Seriously, though... With how things are, it makes me think-

At that moment, he heard the blood-chilling pop of the cashier nearby, alongside a few sudden screams of horror and shock that accompanied the sound. Instantaneously, he opened his eyes mid-drink, shifting his gaze over to where the source seemed to be. It took little to no time for him to notice what had happened, and, when he did notice, he choked a little bit and spit a little of his drink out a bit before coughing and leaning forward in his seat amongst the quickly-panicking people around him.

"Son of a shit... I just had to jinx it..." he muttered bitterly to himself, clenching his teeth and cringing a little bit. Much like how the others around him had done, he pushed his chair back and stood up, walking forward to examine what remained of the body while looking around. As those who were in the restaurant with him frantically made their ways out, he slid his way over to the cashier and crouched down to look at what had happened.

He narrowed his eyes upon closer inspection. ...Internal damage, and that quickly... he thought. Unless he was secretly a frickin' Kamikaze in broad daylight, someone did this to him. It's fucking obvious, dammit...

Inhaling deeply, he stood back up and took another scan of the emptying building. It was faint, but he caught the slightest shimmer that accompanied the exiting civilians. The sight seemed to confirm whatever thoughts he had, and he growled lightly before stepping his way into the crowd. He teleported outside within the chaos, relocating himself on top of the restaurant building and perching on its edge while glaring down at the streams and clusters of civilians down below.

Unless things in the Phenomenon changed, I know who you are, and I know you're here... Now just stop hiding around and let's take this somewhere more formidable...

Satsui smirked as she weaved between the people in the crowd, deactivating her cloak every so often to make sure she was followed. She was prancing along happily while humming one of her favorite songs. Don't even try to take this weapon from me~... I like you more and more the less that you breathe~ Satsui thought in sick glee as she damn near skipped through the streets, having set her cloak to an alternating timer to ensure she would always be just barely in sight.

As she reached the center pavilion of the city, Satsui canceled the timer and activated her cloak. The clamoring tidal wave of movement and voices making it impossible to see the shimmer in the air as she moved towards the center-most area of the pavilion. Turning her gaze upwards at a nearby rooftop, she activated her vampiric sight in time to catch the bobbing of her prey following.

I~'ve come undone, I think I'll kill everyone. My~ what have I done? Fuck it let's kill everyone.

With the constant bustling of the crowds below, Matt had to admit; it was pretty damn hard to spot the shimmer among the people with all that was happening.

...So with another low, annoyed growl, he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly while leaning further over the edge of the rooftop, activating his heat vision for the meantime while continuing to quickly scan the crowd.

"You may have been brought back to life..." he muttered under his breath, "...but you're still technically dead like I am... So...when you're in a mass of warm bodies..."

He glared over at a spot close to the city square fountain, sighing softly as he spotted the speck of congealed cooler colors amidst all of the warm blobs that were frantically running about by then.

"...You're just a fish out of water."

In what was most likely the same moment in which Satsui brought herself to gaze up at him, the Revolutionary himself stood up, glaring straight back at her as he kept a straight and piercing posture. Behind him, his wings uncurled, spreading out behind him and flapping heavily a single time each.

With that action, though, he disappeared from sight as he teleported another time. Within no more than a couple of seconds, he appeared directly above the Dhamphyr herself. In his right hand was a sort of block-like figure, but it unfolded a bit into the general shape of a gun-like object as he remained above. He pointed it down at her in record time, angling his hand so that the weapon was directed towards the edge of the fountain to which she was closest to, and he held down the trigger to charge the little piece of machinery.

In a matter of seconds, the gun - more specifically, a railgun that Matt personally referred to as "Orion" - fired its first shot, sending the charged projectile within it down and into the midway point between the fountain and Satsui in under a fraction of a second.

Once that was done, he shut his heat sensory vision off and went on to rely on all of more natural features. Knowing of what this girl was capable of from looking at her files during his time in the Phenomenon, he knew that it would end up being useless in just a matter of time.

He warped to an unknown location after the first shot was fired, but still kept close enough to keep an eye on his pursuer.

Satsui's gaze turned to gaze at the impact point as she lowered her gaze and chuckled darkly. She gazed up to the sky and closed her eyes, whispering more lyrics as she revved her Booster augments to maximum capacity.

"I don't mind, no I don't mind, I don't mind the rain. The simple things and subtleties , they always stay the same~" She murmured as she slowly lifted her right hand to her eye, splitting her index and middle fingers so that she could see between them. She smiled softly as her pupil shrank and began to glow a bright crimson.

"I hope I didn't keep you up too long, Matthew." Satsui said in a sickeningly sweet tone as she reached out to sense the hearts of all those in the pavilion, excluding herself and Matthew. "Allow me to fashion us a suitable stage, won't you?"

A mere second later, a giant red rune appeared under the feet of all those in the pavilion.
Satsui spoke:

"Blood Bath"

-and the pavilion exploded.

All at once the bodies and hearts of all those humans standing in the area exploded, creating a massive tidal wave of blood that erupted and swept towards the edges of the area. However instead of washing into the streets, the blood moved upwards and crystalized rapidly to create a large bowl-shaped arena. The pavilion grounds were stained red with blood, and Satsui was calmly wandering around. Humming.

During one such stride she approached a stray head that hadn't been blown to bits in the explosion, and kicked it high into the air towards a pair of lamposts. Where it soared between them perfectly.

"And the kick is good~!"

Not too long after the head soared between the lamp posts did Matthew bring himself back into view again. Warping back into view, he appeared to be airborne as he flapped his wings a couple of yards behind posts themselves. With nothing more than the dead man's emotionless gloss in his eyes, he simply caught the head, taking a deep breath before stilling his wings and landing softly onto the ground. He took a moment to peacefully put the poor soul's head on the sidelines before slowly pacing forwards and making his way calmly towards the vampire's location.

"Miss Satsui Bloodborne, formerly known as Marilyn Yuusaka," he began in a monotoned voice. Calmly, he stopped walking when he was a little more than ten yards away, keeping his gaze upon the girl afar. His attention was solely kept upon her, despite all of the blood around him. He admit that the sheer amount of it in the area was a bit troublesome, and would be hard to explain, but he was used to it.

He'd spent more than a decade living through needless bloodshed, after all.

"Don't you worry... I wasn't waiting for too long," he continued on, adding a silent Much to my chagrin, to the end of that statement in his mind. Closing his eyes for a moment, he took another deep breath before opening them yet again, glaring at the opposing Necro afar through narrowed eyes. "...Why exactly do you do this? I get that something happened to you back at the Phenomenon - because...y'know, the records of practically everything are shared to at least the higher ups - but... Really, why do this to innocent people?"

"How else was I to catch the full attention of the elusive Matthew Aaron Sanctum? The guys down in Recon have spent quite a while searching for you, y'know. It'd be a waste if I let you get away because I was lazy," Satsui shrugged and kicked at a puddle of blood. "Besides. It was fun," she added, reaching behind her back to retrieve the two halves of Darkness Incarnate. Twirling them around her index fingers, she focused on Matthew and keyed into the frequencies of his augments, shifting her weight to one side as she did so. "Honestly I don't see the point in protecting the mortals. They'll all die eventually, it's all just a matter of when. In my opinion we should just do them all a favor and wipe them out now. They won't have to see much more of this hellscape then."

Satsui paused for a moment to inspect her hair, which had somehow managed to avoid getting a single spot of red on it. Much to Satsu's disappointment actually.

"Anyway, it was either they died or some poor idiot in the IT department died. And the Director asked me to stop killing the IT guys, cause apparently they're "hard to find" for some reason." She said, her voice almost a whine as she let out a sigh.

"Although that's not the true reason I'm here," she said, stopping the pistols mid-spin as she turned an emotionless gaze on Matthew. "You must've pissed someone off real bad, Enfield. You were at the top of my list this morning."

Midway into the speech that he was listening to, Matthew narrowed his eyes a bit further, his lips curling into a feral scowl as he bore his teeth lightly and a growl rumbled lightly within his throat. "That's the point, though... Everyone's going to die eventually. At least...everyone who's had the luck of staying normal. Just let them die naturally. Let them enjoy their lives, and let the people who struggle be able to be brought back up by someone else," he said in a low voice, crossing his arms. "Life is shit. That much is obvious and true. But it's better to let people enjoy themselves when they can actually get some reasonable downtime and stuff. And also- it's really only a hellscape because people make it a hellscape. Sad to say, I was apart of that, but I've been trying to make up for it ever since I left the Phenomenon because I'm honestly pretty fucking tired of seeing people being ruthlessly and unreasonably pushed around like this."

After he was finally done with saying what he wanted to, Enfield himself shook his head and slowly unfolded his arms. His hands slipped within his pockets, and, after feeling the Booster's effects on his Experimental Types - specifically on the Cyber parts of him - he just sighed while purposely just shutting down his robotic augmentations altogether. They would basically be useless, anyways.

"And also, it's been that way for the past three years or so, Miss Bloodborne," the man added calmly, though continued glaring at the vampire afar. Through the gloss of his gaze was the small spark of life that he still held onto as he lived on through his second life. That spark seemed to be rapidly increasing and igniting into a full-blown flame of annoyance and determination alike. "I was the second member of the Triad, and one of the two people that the Director himself trusted above all. If I wasn't on the top of the hit list, then I'd be pretty damn ashamed of myself."

Satsui's smile grew slightly. "Ara ara, is that a hint of annoyance I hear? Do my actions frustrate you that much Matthew? And here I thought you actually somewhat appreciated my presence for a time. Guess the time you spent listening to me whine before I went "nuts" hasn't surfaced in a while has it?" She prances around for a few moments before stopping and tilting her head to look at him. "Strangely enough I can barely recall a time where I might've had a crush on you... Satsui shrugs, "Oh well. None of that matters anymore, just remnants from when I was too soft and "kind-hearted" to really make the most of myself. Oh, yea. Did you know that the human body actually reacts like a balloon under certain conditions? That's how I made people explode. I just make the blood in their bodies inflate rapidly, and nature does the rest. Just a fun fact in case you ever wondered." Satsui finishes, calmly playing along with Matthew's stalling for a bit as if she did this all the time. Normally she'd have already gone for the kill already, but she had to be cautious around this one. He was on par with her on terms of strength, so she had to make sure she would win.

Matthew just stood his ground, only moving his head to keep a sharp on on Satsui. "In all honesty? You bet your fucking ass, yeah," he replied with little to no hesitation. The spark within his gaze had shifted into the beginnings of a full-blown wildfire, and, because of that, if one were to look into his eyes alone, it would be hard to tell that he was a Necro from the sheer amount of life swarming throughout them. "You're right about the annoyance factor, and how I actually liked talking to you back then. I mean, I always talked to the newbies, but it was really rare when I found someone that still kept their positivity about them. That was honestly something I liked about you."

He fully turned around a bit by the time that Satsui had reached his back in order to continue watching her. Although he clearly heard everything he said, he just continued to peer over at her and acted as if some parts of what she said hadn't quite reached him.

...Specifically the description that actually allowed her to do what she did to the very people who stood in the city just minutes ago.

Matthew closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head silently as he seemed to calm down a little bit in the midst of the situation. When he brought himself to look over at the girl yet again, the spark was still there, but was slightly doused as the annoyance seen within his eyes was toned down so much that it was barely even there anymore. "It's a shame that what happened to you actually happened and changed you altogether, though. I can't really say that I felt anything more than a sense of companionship with you through the talks we had, but who knows? With how much I actually liked talking with you instead of almost everyone else there, that probably would've changed if you didn't go completely loony."

"All things come to an end. That's the only lesson I've learned since they gave me this chance. They breathed new life into me, I may as well use it to try something else out. I played the good girl last time, and frankly that got a bit boring for my tastes."

Satsui giggled lightly as she slowed down in her stride, turning her crimson gaze to the sky above as she smiled wistfully. "Y'know what's funny? How I've been standing around talking on such a perfect day for killing." Satsui said lightly, snapping her arm up and firing a single round at Matthew experimentally. Any retaliation would be blocked by a wall of blood that would crystallize in front of her almost instantly. As a bonus counter, she also adjusted her blood to a semi-viscous state in preparation for having to harden it quickly.

As Satsui lifted her gun, Matthew narrowed his eyes and muttered an inaudible statement under his breath while quickly folding his wings around himself. He felt the impact of the bullet collide with the metallic plating covering them, but it the damage was minimal. Sighing softly, he closed his eyes while still within the cover of his self-composed barricade. "Yeah, all things come to an end..." he spoke softly, his tone seemingly sounding a bit reflective of the past. His wings opened slightly, and he just directed his gaze towards the vampire before him through the space that they created. "It's always the good things, though... It's honestly really sad..."

With those words, the man known previously as Arashi Iyoski during his earlier days in the Phenomenon swiftly unfolded his wings with a rather hefty gust outwards. Rather than advancing forwards and showing signs of a counter attack, however, he just gave his past-time conversation partner a solid and slightly sorrowful look before shaking his head and flapping his wings again. The force of the movement send him soaring back another ten yards or so, and he skid along the ground for a few feet more before smoothly stopping in a faint crouch. His right hand hovered over the corresponding blade of his Castor Twins, while the other simply remained opened and at his side. Thanks to the combat gauntlets that he wore, however, it still added to his alertness and defenses.

"...Come on... Just stop this, Marilyn," he called out calmly. In comparison to how he spoke earlier, his voice was significantly tamer, especially when he hovered over the usage of the other's birth name. "Things may be different now, but I still consider you better than the rest. What you're doing now may be horrific, but I know for a fact that you weren't always like that, and there's no changing that. ...The other side of you is still there, no matter how far gone she is by now. I know it. And so long as she's still in there, there's still a chance for her to come back. I obviously won't act like a sitting duck and wait for death to take me out a second time, but... So long as she's still in there, I don't wanna run the risk of hurting both of you, no matter how much things have changed."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Compassion has no place on the battlefield y'know. Complicates things, impairs judgement. Makes people weak." Satsui said as she lowered her gun slowly and took a step towards Matthew. [color:22c5=ae0000]"Honestly, how do you know there's any heart left in me? How do you know it hasn't rotted away or turned to stone?" She went on as she drew steadily closer to Matthew. After a few moments she stopped, leaving only about ten or so yards between them as she tilted her head to one side inquisitively.

"Whatever habits I have that may still remain from when I was weak don't really care much. I'm still the most instantly lethal of all the elites, so I don't really care too much.

In all honesty I don't even have to be in the Phenomenon. I choose to because they give me the things that would be stained red if I got them myself. In return they give me the opportunity to kill people on a regular basis.

Speaking of the Phenomenon, have I ever told you how many different ways you can make someone scream in agony? It's really quite astounding." Satsui giggled for a moment and looked at her proposed opponent over the distance between them.

"If you're trying to stall for some so your friends can get here it won't work. I chose this day because I get a few days to myself next week. This also needed done." Satsui shrugged once more as she shifted her weight again.

"To each their own opinion..." Matthew replied lowly. As Satsui pressed onwards, he merely stood as he was. The only movements that he made was the slight, gradual turn that his head made as he watched the girl grow nearer. "You say it makes people weak... I say that it strengthens you. For me, it actually helps to make better judgments. ...It helps me to choose the right thing to do, and that's why I wanted out of the Phenomenon."

As the opposing Necro stopped in her tracks and went on, Enfield himself just remained quiet, listening to what she had to say. Once she was done for the meantime, he shut his eyes gently and shook his head once. "...You don't have to tell me, really. I've mulled over basically everything in the textbook, by now. It haunts me and urks me to say this, but I've actually seen worse than all of this," he went on, gesturing at the field around him. The hand that he used to do so would fall back to his side afterwards, and he directed his gaze back over to the vampire afar. "And I'm not stalling- you'd know for a fact if I were. I'm really being completely serious, here. You may say that there isn't anything in that supposed, stone cold abyss of a heart that you claim to have rotted over the years, but I know that there's still something there."

He paused, sighing softly.

"...Also...if there were rumors floating around about you actually being able to be feeling sad or stuff like that, then that's only going to make my beliefs even stronger, and that's why I know for a fact that the old you is still in there," he said, shrugging. "You say that the old you is as good as dead... That what you are now completely replaced her. ...Honestly, though... If you were really that bad, then there wouldn't even be any rumors saying that you felt anything other than sickening, sadistic glee- especially if they were about you feeling sorrow and having your quiet moments."

"Rumors are what they are. No point in proving them right or wrong, because people are shallow and beleive what they want." Satsui shrugged nonchalantly. "And if you've seen worse than this I really want to know what you did," she added after a moment of silence.

She sighed and swung her arms in a wide circle, a habit that had carried before she went crazy and one that indicated she was bored. "Damn, I think the blood is starting to dry now."

Matthew watched the person before him quietly, blinking once as he directed his attention towards her arms as she nonchalantly wove them around. His tail twitched lightly at the sight, and a slight, wry smile tugged at his lips for a single moment. I guess old habits never die... he thought silently to himself. A sigh left his lips as he slowly crossed his arms.

"I doubt that I'd be telling you what I've done anytime soon," he began, "especially since I seldom tell my deeper secrets to even my closest friends. I may still believe that you can change again, but that doesn't mean that I'll trust you enough to tell you those kind of things. ...Not until things have changed enough for me to be able to trust you again." He paused for a moment, just peering over at Satsui silently before nodding her way a single time. With his next words, he went on to directly address the fact that he knew that the girl was getting a bit bored, since, even after all of these years, he seemed to remember her little behaviors from their conversations. So, he spoke again, saying: "But anyways, your boredom is your problem. I'm probably about to jinx myself right now by saying this, but I'm surprised you haven't done anything else to at least try and take me down. If I were any other person, I'd be dead already. ...Dead again, at least. But...we both know that I won't go down so easily, so I would've at least expected that something else would be happening by now. More fighting against my will, and shit like that."

Satsui's eyebrows raised slightly as she chuckled darkly. "How can you be sure something hasn't been happening?" she giggled in an overly-light tone of voice just before Matthew would've felt an intense electrical surge from each of his augments. Satsui was outlined in a dim green, and was specifically targeting each and every single one of Matthew's augments and additions with a full-frequency blast from her Booster nodes.

A lesser target would die from the surge, but Satsui knew Enfield wouldn't. She trusted him just enough to know he wouldn't die this easily. What she was really doing was making it far easier for her to kill him, as any action that involved an Experimental Augment or addition would be extremely hard to perform due to the massive waves of interference she was sending out. In fact, the only thing she hadn't targeted was his brain. She still wanted him to put up some sort of a fight after all, and scrambling his brain wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Let's see how long you last without any of your little tricks, shall we?" Satsui giggled again as she performed a backflip, sending four more rounds at Enfield as she reached the apex of the flip, and then spinning around to fire another three from behind her back.

As the surges began coursing throughout his body - specifically for the test-altered areas - Matthew glanced down and examined himself almost nonchalantly. For a normal being, the feel of the shocks running all throughout the body would be absolutely excruciating. For a Necro, though, the pain was practically negated. Even with the level at which the shocks and the frequencies were at, the only thing that the Revolutionary felt was a few shivers and pokes.

Nothing more than a tickle.

With narrowed eyes, he even shifted his gaze to his right arm as he lifted it. The limb turned a couple of times as he scanned it, and he sighed. After giving the corresponding hand a few flexes and clenches, he allowed it to fall back to his side as he gazed over at Satsui. "Mind you, I was meaning something more physical, and not under the surface," he spoke back calmly. Taking obvious note of where things were about to go in just a matter of seconds, he slowly assumed one of his own, personal battle stances. With the right hand, he drew one blade of his Castor Twins, while his remaining, gauntlet-clad hand remained opened and in front of him. Altogether, his figure was turned to the side, and he leaned forward a bit on his left leg in preparation. "You do all this like I had no idea of what you were gonna do... It would've happened sooner or later, so I'm already ready for what you've got for me..."

Almost patiently, the man waited until his opponent-to-be had made the first move. By the time that she had become airborne, he was still waiting, but simply kept his glare upon her as he leaned a bit closer to the ground in preparation. As the first two bullets of the quadfold were fired, he instantly snapped his figure around in an arc, swiftly swinging his right sword about and slicing clean through each of them with such speed and calm tenacity that it would most likely cause a majority of the other Elites to become unsure of themselves. In regards to the remaining two bullets of the initial group, he just quickly danced around with a sort of flawless and memorized grace to dodge either of them.

When the next three made their ways across the way, Enfield opted to dance around the first two as he had just done with the prior two, and simply took a strong step forward and towards the last one before cleaving it like how he had done earlier. He took a deepened, silent breath, listening to the rattle of the last bullet as either half clicked and skid across the floor behind him on either sides. After a second or so, he straightened his stance to stand up, keeping his full attention on the Bloodborne as he constantly tightened and loosened his grip on his sword to get a feel for his Berserker attributes again. Despite how he could function fairly well without it and could more than likely just rely on his own strength, it was good to have a backup sometimes.

And he knew that he could free at least some of his Type restrictions.
...Because...well, it isn't like years of training gets you nowhere.

"You should know better than most of the other people back at the Phenomenon that I can actually fare pretty well on my own," Matthew replied. He took a moment of silence before cracking his neck and standing still, but went on to suddenly clench his left hand soon afterwards.

In the next movement, he actually shot the aforementioned fist upward, and just clocked himself in a self-inflicted uppercut with a frightening amount of force. Following the action, he let his head tilt to the sky, and he laughed quietly while moving his jaw a little bit before letting his head tilt back to its natural angle. It was only a fraction of a second before he repeated the action with just a bit more force, and, while his head was tilted upwards again, he released what seemed to be a cross between a sigh and a tired laugh.

"You can try to tie me down as much as you'd like to, Marilyn... You'll never shut me down to zero percent for anything, though. After all, I wasn't appointed to be the Second-in-Command of the entire Phenomenon through all of those years for nothing..." he said in a casual, and seemingly unaffected voice. Contrasting to the vibe of his movements from just minutes prior, he slowly tilted his head down to catch a glimpse at the vampire afar, but the way that he did so suggested a speck or two of instability. Just for a moment, though.

...A single, Phenomenon-reflecting moment.

Truly unafraid of what would come in the next moments, he rolled his shoulders before suddenly thrusting the bottom of his sword's handle forcefully into his stomach. From the first, self-inflicted strike, he already felt at least his Berserker genes loosening up. ...And by this third hit, it was more or less beginning to feel like it normally did. Of course, he'd keep it at bay unless he either really needed to use it as a backup supply, or if he just really, really felt like using it.

Following this strike would be a low and slightly amused chuckle. Completely different from his earlier, pacifist vibe, he peered up from the hunched stance that he assumed from the latest strike that he gave himself with a more altered, spine-inducing and disturbance-reeking aura. Though small, there was an obvious, frightening, and lunatic-bearing grin etched upon his lips. Truth be told, what he had been saying earlier on had been genuine and true. However, he was getting a bit pissed.

...And if history showed anything, Matthew tended to show a different side when he got pissed.

"Like I said~ earlier, I don't wanna do this... But~, if I absolutely have to, I'll try to make this fun for both of us. You said that you wanted to see what I've done before, so I'll let you get a glimpse of the man behind everything that happened~."

The next few words were called across the clearing in a loud tone of pure confidence and coyness, and, as Enfield drew the other half of the Castor Twins, he stood boldly as he assumed a more open stance. His grin grew a bit larger as he eyed Satsui, and his hands constantly loosened and tightened their grips on their corresponding weapons as he spoke a final time in a calm, yet bestial and even demonic tone.

"Get ready to meet Arashi Iyoski...the Enfield Storm, and the former Vice-Director of the Chaotic Phenomenon~!!!"

Satsui giggled in pure glee as Enfield finished up his little performance. Truth be told throughout the entire time she had just been patiently waiting, something that never happened. The attack she had performed earlier had just been a little something she cooked up to provoke him into getting more serious, and that was just what had happened.

*Ahahahaha! That's it, Enfield, let me see the power you have stored up there. I want to see you get your blood pumping," Satsui urged, clapping excitedly as large streams of red lifted from the ground to form a pair of beautifully ornate wings attached to her back. Technically calling them "wings" was an overstatement. They were more or less just massive shards of crystallized blood suspended in an area field behind her.

Checking the amount of ammo in her magazines, Satsui smiled broadly as she felt a giddy sensation travel down her back and making her shiver. She let out a satisfied sigh as she closed her eyes and waited. When she opened them again a few seconds later, they were glowing crimson and the pupils were nothing more than tiny slits in a bloody abyss. Her fangs had elongated, and the blood-stained gravel around her was levitating slightly off of the ground. There was also a steady hum in the air as her Booster abilities revved on a frequency alternate that from the one used just a few moments earlier.

"Come at me, big boy. I wanna see just how fun this can get."

Seemingly matching his opponent's level of jubilee, Matthew's grin stretched ever wider, and he narrowed his eyes with a rather dangerous gleam in his eye. He leaned forward and closer to the ground, his legs moving a bit as he assumed a low, lunge-like pose with either sword of his kept closer to his flanks. "Your request is my command~!" he responded with an amused and sing-songy compliance. Like moments prior, his voice still maintained its growling and demon-like sound, and, after he spoke this, a loud cross between a laugh and a fearsome, bestial roar rang out through the clearing.

Not a second later, and as his little battle cry still continued to echo throughout the city square, Arashi Iyoski at his finest took a sudden and sharp step forward as he appeared to begin to bring himself into a sprint. However, rather than following forward with the next foot, his very image actually flickered and distorted wildly before he himself warped from view, despite being seemingly held down by the Booster afar.

Seemingly.

In a split second after he had vanished, the first thing that Satsui more than likely would have seen would be a flash of black and a eerily radioactive-like green; a stream and blur of Enfield's then-transformed eyes as he suddenly vaulted in front of her and lunged forward. The sight would only be apparent for a fraction of a moment more before the Storm himself vigorously swing the right blade of Castor Twins towards his target at a frightening speed, and only followed a movement with the left Twin in a mimicked movement. Within a matter of seconds, he would have picked up the pace for a few more revolutions, constantly slashing and bringing his swords around in a mad flurry of attempted strikes.

Whether or not any of them so much as scratched her barely, though, he would have eventually ended the streak as it was by activating the cybernetic thrusters in the soles of his feet - once more, despite how his own augments were supposedly deemed to be decked down a bit - and blasted himself backwards several feet. All in all, he stopped himself in the position that he had initially started in: in a lunge-like pose with his body hunched over and his chest relatively close to both his front knee and the ground. Slowly, he sheathed both of his swords and slowly tilted his head in such a matter that suggested a sense of curiosity and amusement for what would come soon afterwards.

The innocent twitch of his tail only emphasized this.

Satsui's eyes, which had once again closed as Arashi began his streak, opened fully to reveal just how broken the Crimson Princess had become. They had dilated to a rather scary degree, and there wasn't even a single scratch on the Dhampyr as she chuckled softly for a few moments.

"Ah ha... Hahaha..." Satsui chuckled, power radiating off of her in waves as she seemed to focus her gaze on her opponent. Seemed was the key word however, as her eyes were flitting around wildly. Satsui's body was shaking as she continued to chuckle, the volume of which had begun to steadily increase as the level of power did as well.

"Ahahahahahaha! Hahaha, AHAHAHAHA!" She laughed hysterically, her face one of unbridled, sadistic glee as the number of crystal shards behind her multiplied rapidly. She was radiating power, but only smirked at Enfield as he stopped in stance.

"Come on, Enfield. I know you've got more than that in you. I want to see it all, Satsui cooed as she swayed unsteadily, clearly in a more unstable state than she had previously been in as she raised her right pistol and trained in on her opponent from across the way. She lazily closed an eye and squeezed the trigger, the gun making a dull click as she mimicked the motion her arm would have made from the recoil.

Boom. Hee hee hee," Satsui giggled as she pulled her arm back.

In the following instant something intriguing happened. An impressive total of seventy-three bullets materialized at different heights out of the blood caked on the ground. Each one of these bullets materialized at different heights, and at different distances from Arashi. In the same moment, all seventy-three Blood Bullets launched at near Mach 1 speeds.

...and the psychotic bitch was giggling the entire time.

For the most part, Enfield just continued to keep his gaze upon Satsui as she stood from afar, even as the bullets began to form and levitate. It wasn't until a few seconds before they all began to rain down towards him that he bothered to give them all so much as a mere glimpse from the corner of his eye, and he just shifted his attention between them calmly and innocently. As his lips curled into an open-lipped smile, he snickered constantly under his breath as he stuck his tongue out and narrowed his eyes a bit more.

As the bullets began tearing through the air, the bestial hybrid simply drew both of his swords out yet again in a single, fluid movement, which resulted in several of the bullets being split in half. Of course, that wasn't all that he did. Following that initial movement, the former Triad member began to dance swiftly with either blade of the Castor Twins spinning vigorously within his hands to deflect the crystals that came at him. While he handled the bullets coming for him towards the front with relative ease, he did actually seem to be letting some of them slide, but those that passed his defenses did so just slightly, and ended up scratching him here and there without opening wounds deep enough to create a blood-induced path. During the time in which he allowed this to happen and continued to deflect and negate the other projectiles, he spun and dance to and fro within his little barricade of attacks. Although he didn't quite use much of his Hybrid features during the process, he did allow his wings to assist in deflecting some of the bullets behind him and towards his flanks.

By the time that the last of the bullets were taken care of one way or another, Arashi was crouched closer to the ground in a seemingly frozen fighting stance. Save for the gentle rise and fall of his chest and back as he breathed in and out after the little event that he experienced, he stood still and with his blades bore out in front of him. Moments after, however, he slowly looked up at Satsui with the same gleam in his eyes as he began to spin Castor Twins idly within his grasp. As he physically felt his Berserker attributes begin to kick into a higher gear as they both fought against their Booster tie-downs and registered the sheer amount of small yet compiled cuts that he had just obtained, he also gave the generators close to the areas beneath his shoulderblades just one or two revs before allowing them to subside and grow inactive once again. Just a simple act to keep them functioning.

Much like earlier, he just stared at Satsui patiently, his tail swishing to and fro slowly as he did so. The narrowed green of his eyes glowed eerily as he waited for anything else.

Satsui laughed in even more glee as crystal shards continued to materialize behind her. She clapped in mock applause. "More of that! That's what I like to see!" She shouted happily as the blood on the ground began to slowly crystalize. Satsui checked the magazines in her guns one more time before shrugging.

"Although it is a bit disappointing you haven't decided to retaliate quite yet. I was expecting to have at least one cut by now, but I guess the great Arashi lost his edge after he left. The man I knew would've cut me apart without giving me the time of day," Satsui giggled again. "Oh but that's right... You don't fight much anymore do you? You turned into a pacifist bitch" She spat, several spires of crystal blood firing up around Matthew as she said the last word. Her lips curled into a snarl as a couple more Shards joined her already massive stock.

"You aren't half the warrior you were in the Phenomenon now. And here I was expecting a decent fight."

To those words, Arashi merely continued to give his head its tilt, and he blinked a single time in innocence as the smile from his lips slowly and finally disappeared. His tail - which had been swaying to and fro behind him as he waited - finally came to a stop, and it maintained a slightly curled look as it hovered as it was. "Eeeeh...? Oh, that~. Well, you're prooobably wrong there, actually," he responded at first, his tone sing-songy yet again despite the lack of amusement he had within his expression. "Aaaaaafter all~... Like I said about you, once you inherit a persona for yourself, it~ never quite goes away. Soooo... Yepper! Good old Arashi is still here!"

He stuck his tongue out for a moment, and the slightest trace of a smirk returned to his lips as he snickered feverishly and knocked the side of his gently as if he were tapping on a piece of wood.

"Yep, stiiiiiiill here! Just isn't really coming out right now- not all the way, at least. After all, even Arashi had some hesitation when fighting. I mean, don't get me wrong- both of us love a good spar every so often, but when it was with someone that we actually got attached to... Ooooooh. Nah. Nuh-uh. It hurt, so unless it was a completely lost cause, we'd do nothing. ...Liiiiiike right now, actually~!!!" Yet again, he giggled while beginning to absentmindedly spin his swords around him at an even more vigorous pace. While doing so, he eyed Satsui with some amusement. "Why, though~? Awh...c'mon, is it really such a crime to try and restrain yourself for someone that you care about? C'mon, you can't tell me that it is...!" he added, almost with some sort of whine.