Packmaster (Samantha/John)

[Augustine]

One wolf dead, and another harried by a barrage of bullets, the second beast could only snarl and dart out of the way to the shade out of sight. It wasn't dead yet, but it was out of the way giving John a chance to open up on the manwolf. Bullets piled into the thing's backside as it advanced on Samantha. There was a snarl but perhaps simply because of momentum it kept charging towards her, only for her to dive out of the way, that strange mist wreathing her body once again as she unleashed another round from Black Betty, that thunderous boom shaking the trees.

Then another wolf leaped towards her as she came to a stop, fortunately she was able to duck under it in time, before something grabbed the back of her vest and hauled her up into the trees again! The manwolf's claws slammed into the ground where she had been, and clawed backwards in frustration, before a snarl saw it turning its attention back to John and charging towards him directly! Samantha wasn't going to be an immediate help here as a crackle of lightning saw Roulette snap off towards the wolf that had tried to leap at her, stunning the beast in place so she could drop down and slam the bayonet of Black Betty through its skull!

[John Black]

That ability Pro was using sure was something strange to behold. It was certainly more unique to him than what his sword had been doing so far, and it left him wondering just what exactly his sword could do. It had unleashed a wave of force moments ago, but was that all it could do? From what he knew of the sword, it was manifested from a demonic dragon, so surely it could do more than expel a simple wave of force. Or so he assumed anyway, otherwise, he felt the simplicity of the ability would have been somewhat underwhelming in his mind.

But the very thoughts brought red-gold flames to the blade as though his thoughts had injured its pride and brought anger in the form of a flame-wreathed blade. It was rather startling to see since he hadn't been sure what to expect and the blade was suddenly engulfed in combusted flames that were waiting to be used. His reaction was at least contained to a mild flinch of surprise, though if hadn't he might have dropped the sword entirely.

Well, that was certainly useful. It would have been even more useful yesterday when a fire could have been a good source of light. Although he was a little worried about starting a forest fire, the weather wasn't too dry, so he hoped that things would not get too wild.

However, he only had a moment or two to collect his thoughts before the big wolf charged his way, holstering his gun.

This time he had a little something different in mind for how he wanted to attack. Digging his feet into the ground, and posing his blade for a strike before he leaped to meet the beast with Earth-shattering force, leaving the ground behind him disturbed as he met the wolf mid-leap and brought his blade down with immense power in an overhead cleave aimed to take the big wolf in the upper body, unleashing those flames soaking his blade with explosive energy, heat gushing from his blade in an elemental wave of hellfire meant to engulf the big wolf.

[Augustine]

Whoa, there was a neat trick. Samantha blinked as the rookie's sword seemed to catch fire, it almost seemed like she could feel the heat from here. The great wolf charged at him, snarling as he brought his sword in in a brutal clash and...she brought a hand up to shield her face as a tremendous boom sounded through the woods. As for the great man wolf? It was knocked rolling across the ground. Its snarl was cut off into a yelp and it went tumbling, rolling through the trees before slamming into one, its fur smoldering and burning like coals in a stove.

Samantha though had eyes on something else, snapping Roulette up and letting off a shot, fire streaking through the air and detonating with a much less impressive boom as it snapped into one final 'ordinary' wolf, sending the thing tumbling backwards to lay still as Samantha jumped from the trees to land near John. She opened up the chamber, letting empty casings fall out of the revolver as she looked towards the wolfman.

The thing looked badly burned and scorched, half of its face burnt away practically, but as was the nature of devils it wasn't quite dead yet, although it very nearly was, snarling as it tried to wearily stumble towards them. "Nice work there rookie, care to do the honors?"

[John Black]

John took note that wolf fur burned well. The scent was likely horrific, burned hair never smelled good, but the effects were pretty undeniable at least in this instance. Leaving the biggest wolf a charred husk of its former self, clearly weakened to the point of near uselessness.

He also took note of Pro's bullet streaking colorfully through the air. He'd seen her shooting her gun a few times of course, but he had not really been focused on its effects until that moment, noting the small explosion with a blink, as it killed the last of the smaller wolves around them. He might ask about some of what happened through the fight, her abilities, much like those of his sword, seemed to have evolved.

At least in his case, he expected things to happen eventually. He knew that abilities often awoke in half-demons like himself because he was naturally part of the supernatural world. And his sword being created from a defeated demon would continue to gain new abilities the stronger it became with him. But as far as he knew Pro was entirely human. So where did her abilities come from? How had she been flying around like that; as if being pulled by something? What even was that ability? It was so curious to him.

He was aware that humans could obtain or awaken supernatural abilities too, but in his mind, it seemed much more rare. Perhaps it was simply an effect of spending time with the supernatural, or maybe she was related to someone who had power before herself? Bloodlines often had a major impact on one's abilities as far as he knew, and whether powers would be awakened within someone.

But he was distracting himself too much with these thoughts right now.

When the question came to finish off the leader of this pack of wolves he nodded. "I'll deal the final blow then." He agreed before approaching the big wolf for what he hoped would be the final time, dashing at it within the last twenty paces before whipping his large sword up and around to bring it across the large wolf's neck in one clean sweep, cutting in from the burned side of the throat in the hope that the lack of fur there would make it easier to cut. But if he failed the cut, then he intended to crush its windpipe to kill it.

But assuming the cut went well and he was able to cleave through the tough hide to spill demon blood and kill the final wolf, he'd look back to Pro once the wolf dropped. "So do you think this is all of them, or do we still have more wolves to chase down?" He asked unsure himself. He supposed they would need to look around and make sure either way. But curious of her opinion.

[Augustine]

The greater wolf would of course not simply lay down and die, but there was nothing it could do to surprise or threaten John at this point. It would try to lunge towards him, but too slow, too weakened. He'd be able to cut its head clean through as long as he cut clean and hard. Samantha was barely paying attention to the rookie as she pulled out a cigarette and her lighter. She was at least looking, just in case something weird and fucked up happened, but her concern was more about the environment around them than the dying beast in need of being put down.

Taking a drag from her cigarette she looked out at the trees, and then up into the branches, before her eyes fixed upon something odd. A singular raven, sitting in a tree and staring down at them. That was bizarre, there was nothing else around, the fighting and gunfire would have frightened any normal bird or beast into hiding or fleeing. There certainly wouldn't be one casually sitting out in the open and staring at them.

Samantha acted without thinking. Roulette snapped up and a bolt of lightning snapped from the revolver's barrel. However the raven had already taken off, the shot scorching the bark of the branch and continuing on past the canopy as the raven cawed out and soared away. Coincidence? Maybe, but the thing had moved the moment she started lifting the revolver. "Tch. Nothing's ever simple is it?" She muttered quietly to herself, exhaling the smoke from her lungs.

"C'mon Rookie, let's get back to base before something else comes crawling out of the shadows."

[John Black]

John didn't hesitate to bring his considerable strength to bear with the final slash of his sword even when the big wolf attempted to lung at him. His only mercy was to make the final death as swift as he could. Considering the pain the burned wolf must have been in, he might have considered it a blessing had their positions been reversed.

He watch the blade cut through, and the blood spray free as the final wolf finally fell before stepping back to let the body topple over with a soft sigh.

He looked to Pro, giving a little nod before sheathing his sword. He looked in the direction of the flying raven, and the scorched branch that she had shot. He took that to be the reason for her sudden sourness. The bird must have been suspicious, which likely meant that while they had beaten the pack of wolves for now, this mission probably still wasn't over.

"Alright." He agreed to heading back, assuming that "base" was the battle bus. He wondered what Tolya would think of this situation. Was there more to what was happening than met the eye? It seemed that the raven had been watching them, at least that's what he gathered from Pro shooting at it. Did that mean they were being monitored? And if so, by who, and why?

Whatever the case he figured they intended to discuss plans when they got back to the bus to relax and recover, now that today's battle was done.

[Augustine]

Despite having told him it was time to head back, Samantha didn't move yet, staring up at the tree that the Raven had been perched in. "Let me ask you a question rookie." There was a pause as she took a deep drag from her cigarette, before exhaling the smoke slowly out of her nose.

"Where'd these wolves come from? Why didn't we hear anything about the big bastard back there until today? You think something that loud and massive wouldn't have added to the reports?" What she was getting at was patently obvious. That thing had only been summoned after their fight the night before with the main pack. Meaning someone had brought it and the other wolves in deliberately...and they didn't know who.

"Tch. Looks like my job's not done yet." With that she'd finally get moving, placing Roulette back in its holster as she started to head back to where the bus and Tolya would be waiting. At least this time she hadn't gotten an arm used as a chewtoy.

[John Black]

Those were all valid questions. The report he had gotten had explained the presence of demonic wolves, but it had not been much more detailed than that. A large wolf such as the last they had slain had never been mentioned. Which almost certainly meant that it was a recent addition to this situation.

"If these wolves were places here at the behest of another, I am curious what their purpose here was supposed to be. I was under the impression that these wolves simply came from hell and chose to make this forest their home, which was causing trouble for the local humans. But if these wolves are being put here I would have thought that the purpose would have been greater than to simply cause a bit of strife in the community." He mused while following along, all the while considering what else they would discover while investigating the situation. He expected his report would be interesting by the time this was all over.