Nine Swords

Jenn's head snapped up, her gaze following the growl to their attacker, just as he hurled an incorporeal red missile at Alex.

"Someone -stop- him," she hissed. They were being attacked in broad daylight on the street in New York. Lucky chance this guy had been lurking around the Agartha portal, or had he been expecting them? She didn't have time for mental chatter, so she shut it down and focused.

There wasn't enough blood in play (for which she was grateful at the moment) to fuel her spells. She drew on her own blood again, paling visibly as she let more of the glyphs vanish and tried to hold every member of their group individually in a smaller, sturdier version of the shield she'd used on Elania.

It might not be doing any good, but until someone stopped this guy from sniping them one by one, it was the only thing she could think of to do to try to keep the team on its feet. Healing, if needed, would have to come next.

Her magic was starting to stain the air as well, leaving trails and swirling red envelopes in its wake. They were going to draw way too much attention at this rate.

"Tom..." In Jenn's mind, he fixed these things. He'd take care of it. If he was paying attention? She looked around for him as she stood up again next to Elania.

Tom snarled in response to the growl, turning in time to see the loitering man pull a spear out of nowhere and chuck it at Alexander. Well that sure as hell wasn't friendly. There was someone else too. Someone around the loading dock. He didn't have time for that now though, deal with the guy throwing spears around first.

By the time that Jenn called his name, he was already taking off towards the man, quickly covering distance with his teeth bared and his hands balled into fists. He extended one of his arms out in front of his body, pointing it towards their assailant. Chains of green energy coalesced in the air between the two men, aiming to wrap around the attacker and jerk him off his feet and towards Tom.

Used to receiving cryptic assignments, Silas shrugged as he steps through the Agartha portal leading to New York. He was also used to having to be ready for action as soon as his feet hit the ground when he arrived, so as he exits his "feelers" are up to give him a sense of where he is.

Anger, Malice and Hatred blast his empathic senses, as well as Pain, Determination, Fear and Care. The wave of emotions is enough to almost send him to his knees. He had not felt emotions that strong in a long time. Acting on instinct alone, he focused his attention on the source of Malice and Hatred. Now he had to let his Physical senses catch up with his Empatic ones. His eyes fell on a man standing on the loading docks just as he hurled a spear of of red energy toward someone. "Magick, I would know the feel of that anywhere." he thought to himself. "And Dark Magick at that. This creep doesn't even care it is in the view of the Mundanes. I have to try and stop this..... Now!" he whispered to himself.

Closing his eyes he pulled from the essence around him and from the Essence of Magick itself. The ground beneath the unknown magick user shimmers slightly and releases an almost invisible red vapor [Liquidation] meant to make the person in it violently ill and weak as a sick child. Opening his eyes, which are now glowing bright red, a shield of blood red energy surrounds him as a side effect of the spell he just cast.

Kleopas kept his head down as the shit hit the proverbial fan, blood magic was being used here he could tell immediately. He went cold as he felt it encompass his body and his breath started to come out raggedly as he fought off a panic attack. Instinct was screaming at him to get away, to anywhere away from where he was.
However he shielded Elania from the crossfire, trusting that the others could deal with their assailant quickly and without further support.

The next seconds were lost to Alex's memory. The next thing he could recognize, was the agonizing pain of being knocked on his back. Whatever spell had hit him, still prickled his skin, burning at his muscles.

"Damn combat blood magi," he thought.

Attempting to lift his his arm, he found himself unable. Immobilized and weakened, anger surged through him. This would end badly if he couldn't even communicate. No longer did he fear death; only being a burden to the rest of the team.

Unable to act physically, he attempted to reach out within the psychic planes. Throwing his thoughts towards their own blood magi. He could feel Elania's distorted aura returning to a stable state. He focused his thoughts towards Jennet.

>Jen, I can't move here. Is there anything that can be done?< His voice would sound raspy within her mind: clouded thoughts made it hard to communicate. She wouldn't be able to respond psychically, but at least she might be able to help him recover.

As the man at the end of the dock's attention had shifted from her, to Alex, and possibly now Tom, Elania used this moment to attempt to come to her senses. she reached into her purse, removing a pistol that looked almost comically large in her hand. It was of an old soviet design, highly experimental, and quite effective in her hand. With Kleopas still shielding her, she aimed with both hands, carefully, making sure no one was in the way before she even thought about squeezing the trigger, she leaned over and spoke into Kleopas' ear.

"Cover your ears."

When the path was clear, she fired. Three shots, aimed at the shoulder of the arm which threw the magical spear with the clear intent of taking the arm from him. Three shots which were not anima at all, Elania had no active anima, she had not yet received this gift. These were bullets which could not be manipulated in a similar fashion by the attacker... nothing but lead.

[Round 5]
The man in the plaid grey shirt takes three rounds to his chest and arm, as he is being pulled toward Tom. Its now the attacker that seems disoriented and stunned. He is now within melee range of Tom. [[Arc has no conditions and is free to take actions normally.]]

Jenn saw Arc able to move again, Elania firing her gun, and Tom about to get his hands on their attacker. She could feel a pulse in the air around her as a new arrival drew magic, but he seemed to be on their side.

Her healing had been unnecessary, the magic and blood wasted. The remaining glyphs on her arm flickered out of existence. She cursed herself silently for being a useless baggage. She knew damn well Sonnac only sent her along because Tom wouldn't go without her. Here they were in a crisis already, and she was as useful as a spare armadillo.

She dropped back and got out of the way, since it seemed to be the only helpful thing she could do. She took cover behind a column on the ramp into the loading dock.

Silas (Blood-Born) had to do a double take briefly as the target of his spell is suddenly jerked away from the spot where he stood. Something was definitely amis here. The emotions in the air were still swirling vigorously and if he let his guard down for a second Silas would end up on the ground from the onslaught. Cautiously he makes his way to where his target had been to try and get a better grasp on the situation and maybe help if he could. His presence, as far as he knew, was still unknown to those participating in this scenario. This could be useful if he timed it right. As his eyes focused to the light outside, he saw several familiar faces and a situation that was far worse than he expected.

The rush of the emotional storm and seeing that some of his allies were in trouble triggered a surge of energy that pulsed through his body. His eyes now ablaze with mystic energy, the air around him literally becomes charged with static electricity as he sends a blast of lightning [Thor's Hammer] hurtling toward the man he had targeted a few moments earlier.

Elania looked around, still on the ground, Kleopas still near, though at this point, she was wondering, with the last bit of consciousness she was holding on to, whether he was in trouble, or she was. She saw Tom, face to face with the assailant, she saw her shots hitting their mark, And Alex rising to fight again, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jen safe, after coming to her aide, and Silas, closing in on the fight. Weakened from what she thought was a mental attack (and a substantial crack on the head), she felt her consciousness slipping again, and managed to pat Kleopas on the back, twice, uttering the words "thank you", and slipping out of consciousness, passed out on the concrete.