Off Some Rails [B-Spirit Hunt]

(Hey, this takes place during this thread. Mao went off to take care of something. This is that something.)

Hey, Kita…

The childlike voice of Mao’s newest spirit did not hesitate to make herself apparent as the girl descended the ladder back into the tunnel that she and two people she’d rather not make mention of had taken as a sort of…shortcut or something to get to the Digital World.

Well, a more accurate way to describe this would be that Xenica had been taking Akari. Mao had her ways of getting to there and from there. God knows what reasons the blue-haired bitch had for making her accompany them aside from having killed the saddest excuse of hired help of all time. “What’s up?” She mumbled, having reached the bottom of the ladder. The spirit’s voice continued to echo.

There might be a piece of me nearby. Er. A…totem, I think? Yes, those…I know we’re mostly here to dispose of one of the guys following us, but…Keep that in mind.

If anything, it was likely buried in the walls somehow again. “Right.” Mao told herself (and Arcadia) as she continued on. It felt a little bit like retracing her own steps—trying to see where the unseen assailant lurked.

And for good measure, she swiped her hand through the device to become the gray beast she had become earlier that night once more. Healed from the necrosis and all. The beast began to lumber forth as Mao would have, but the Arkadimon already could tell something was up here.

Why did it feel like what she was looking for was everywhere at once?

The answer made itself simple when a strange noise caught the ear of the Arkadimon, and she turned to find a strange, mummylike creature with a really, really stupid piece of headwear (was that a fucking bandana or a turban?) very literally emerging from the shadows themselves with a gun in hand and metal adorning it’s bandage-wrapped body.

And rather than taunt her or anything like the Argomon?

Mummymon opened fire. Blasts of energy roared forth from the gun right at Arkadimon, who could only retaliate in kind by firing a Cursed Vision from it’s forehead in return.

Five pellets had struck Arkadimon, but the blast tore through the Mummymon’s arm and forced him to retreat into the shadows, his aim having been thrown off enough to cause more of those bullets to end up being shot into the walls, and the ceiling. “Get back here.” The beast snarled as it reached a hand towards where the mummy had been…Only to find nothing there.
Well, it became a small bit clearer as to how this…thing operated. But that didn’t mean Mao could start getting complacent here in the slightest. While her form began to regenerate the searing wounds that had been caused by the gunfire, the beast began to grasp at the debris that had been strewn about by that scuffle. A hefty chunk of concrete…And she hurled it towards the darkness.

The sound of rock shattering…But nothing else.

Kita…The totem’s close by…Maybe if we lure him a little closer to it, he could expose it. Then maybe we could have the firepower needed to---

To win? Maybe. But he’s probably literally all around us by now.

Such was already true, as the Arkadimon felt something LEAP onto her back and plunge a knife into her. “Eye for an eye.” It whispered, before it leapt off and fired another salvo of rounds from the gun as Arkadimon feebly turned to get…peppered with more bullets.

Arkadimon herself began to glow a sickly green as she lurched forth. The Mummymon was making an effort to get distance from her, but the power of freakishly long arms was on the side of the Bewitching Beast tonight, Mao grabbing at the Mummymon as the tendrils located along her forearm pierced into the flesh of the gunman.

What he lost was her gain. The Arkadimon hurled the Mummymon forth into the wall, and he actually made contact with the concrete and cracked it. Audibly. The Arkadimon wasted no time with coming in close to finish it, before a curious thing happened.

The chest of the Mummymon ruptured, a black and red shadow bursting forth as the mummy became nothing and was replaced by a large, monstrous, three-eyed bird. It wasn’t as large as the tunnel, but it almost came up to the goddamn ceiling.

The more educated knew this monstrosity as Velgemon. Mao Kita did not. It wasted zero time in diving for Arkadimon and slamming into it, before it rammed the gray champion-level hybrid into the opposite side of the wall with it’s beak.

It did it again. And again. Before finally, it hurled Mao away. Now, to note? She had been regenerating her wounds this entire time. Yet, she had also accrued a large amount in such a short time. As the beast began to lumber away, Mao saw a glowing object in the rubble that had been gathering up throughout this tunnel brawl.

There!

Perfect.

“Still alive…?” The beast chittered as Mao began to move. It was a slow crawl. She said nothing to the monster as the hand of the Arkadimon made contact with the spirit totem—an item that looked vaguely like a gray and more matured version of this form.

“No matter. I’ll rip your fucking entrails out. I’ll squash you like a bug. I’ll avenge him, starting with you. Then comes that Sanagi bitch!”

The Velgemon turned, and it’s eyes began to glow red. It seemed as though it was about to actually make sure to double-tap, until…

“Slide Evolution: Arkadimon.” Mao hissed, her voice and that of Arcadia’s mixing. The Arkadimon rose before it began to molt in front of the Velgemon, the champion level’s body giving way to a gangrenous-colored beast with purple wings and enough tendrils to give one cause for concern.

It was as large as Velgemon, but that didn’t matter in the slightest. There was fear in the beast’s eyes as it attempted to dive back into the shadows, yet it was stopped by Mao making her move. The Arkadimon ran forward, quickly at that, and lashed out with it’s hands, the tendrils slicing at the hide of the Velgemon and interrupting his concentration.

To say the tide had been turned was…a bit on the nose. Before his eyes, the Arkadimon was regenerating a good amount of the damage he had dealt earlier. Both with the strike she just landed, and…innately, it appeared.

He had to run. He did. Yet, every time he tried, the Arkadimon kept lashing out with it’s tendrils, eventually realizing it could do something far worse. The chest cavity appeared to open up and begin to suck…anything in. Rubble. Feathers. Bits of himself. Even if he hadn't been fully consumed by that Dot Matrix, he had been crippled severely. Which left him open for the Arkadimon to stalk forward slowly. Menacingly.

Before she grasped at the beak of the downed Velgemon, raised her claw...and went for the eyes.

To put things simply?

The Spirit Wielder that had attacked Mao Kita after she descended that ladder was not walking out of the abandoned part of the subway in one piece.

And she had attained another form on top of that.