But For a Sword (A Matou Shinji Series AU)

[alfheimwanderer]

[X] Cast Levitation on the Enemy and get Phelan to cast as well, so that one of them will lift the enemy so that burns itself out.

---

Thinking that

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Shinji cried as the monster rushed at them, the spell already on his lips - for had he not been the one to suggest levitating the fiendfyre vial that had destroyed its partner. Yet...his spell did absolutely nothing, and though Phelan shouted the spell as well, nothing happened.

In mere moments, it would be upon them...

[ ] Keep trying
[ ] Try to duck under its arms and run past it
[ ] Have Phelan engage it with his sword
[ ] (write-in)

[shanagan]

[X] Try to duck under its arms and run past it

[Dracueri]

[x]Try once more and if nothing happens split in opposite directions firing any spell to force back the charging monster

[alfheimwanderer]

Any movement on this?

[Cassius]

[x]Try once more and if nothing happens split in opposite directions firing any spell to force back the charging monster

[Daiki]

[x] Run.

[Skull Leader]

[X] Keep trying

[alfheimwanderer]

[x]Try once more and if nothing happens split in opposite directions firing any spell to force back the charging monster

---

They try once more, desperation fueling them, for there was really nowhere to run, and this time - this time it worked. The burning, armored corpse was lifted into the air...just in time for a swarm of infection forms to pour out of the vent behind them.

"Oh bugger this," Phelan groaned, instinctively jerking around at the sound. As he turned, so too did his wand, pulling the burning inferius through the air, and Shinji after it.

"What the--" the Japanese boy hissed as he went flying, the staff falling from his hands as it - and he - hit the ground, like the inferius that crashed amidst the infection forms, the roaring hellfire on it leaping to the new hosts hungrily, as they popped off, one after another, in a cacophonous din that would nearly deafened him. They leapt through the air as they burned, trying to get on him, trying to take their revenge, but he reached out and somehow, out of need, called it to his hand, with jet-black lightning tearing from his staff into the armored figure, until it and all infection forms simply...crumbled away into ash, leaving Shinji alone, breathing hard, his fingers tingling.

"Hmhmhm, oh, there you are," Penitent noted, as the strange poltergeist drifted down out of the airvent. At the sound, a spellbeam lanced through the poltergeist's form, with a wave of dark lightning following it - which the poltergeist dodged - as the boys had cast before they could stop themselves. The poltergeist seemed unaffected, however, only looking down at them oddly. "Strange. You are both quite twitchy. Did something happen?"

"D...d...did something happen?!" Shinji sputtered incredulously, feeling his fingers begin to sharpen as he glared at the flippant poltergeist, thinking that perhaps he should just give in to his rage and-- "You--! You little--!"

"Ah ah," the poltergeist chided. "Language. Even if words can never harm me, its bad form for when you're around people, you know. Oh, and do mind those claws - they're not very polite."

"Claws?" Phelan echoed, glancing at from the poltergeist to Shinji. "Matou doesn't have claws." Yet Shinji had twisted around, his body trembling as he fought for calm, . "Hey - what's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Shinji said quickly. Almost too quickly.

"...it doesn't sound like nothing," Phelan said cautiously. "Are you sure you're alright? I uh...I didn't get you hurt, did I? I mean, if you were, you couldn't have done that cool lightning trick."

"Heh...yeah, that's right," Shinji stated, shaking his head. "A trick I'll use on the little ghost if it doesn't explain exactly what happened."

"How rude. And to think I unlocked the next door for you!" the poltergeist huffed.

"...the next...door?" Phelan echoed.

"How many are there on this level?"

"Oh, just two more."

"Two...fine," Shinji grumbled, feeling the rage recede, telling himself the lie that there was no emotion, there was peace, no ignorance, only knowledge. "Let's get this over with."

"Do you need a rest?" Phelan asked with concern."

"No, I'm fine. Drop it already."

"Whoa...ok, Matou - I don't know what your issue is, but we're friends here, ok?"

"...right, right, sorry," Shinji said, shaking his head. "Burning inferius trying to smash my face in doesn't leave me in a good mood."

"I'll bet not," the Earl's son agreed, before tilting his head in curiosity. "Say, can you teach me how to do that black lightning attack of yours? Seems like it would go over well?"

What does Shinji tell Phelan?

[ ] No - its a secret art of the East
[ ] He would, but Phelan isn't the right character class for it
[ ] He doesn't even know how he does it, so he can't teach someone else
[ ] Ignore the question
[ ] (write-in)

On the next floor, there are more combat forms...with wands. To be precise, there are four of them, with one wearing plate and carrying a dragonbone staff, while the other three wear wyvren-hide robes and carry a normal wand.

One has some sort of satchel on its waist, with the glint of potions shining from within.

How will the group approach these?

[ ] (write-in)

[Skull Leader]

[X] Can't, as the magic is a unique magic from his bloodline.

A bit of a lie but with some truth in it. It is an ability he learned cause of his family and its unique magic that can't be taught. Plus this route can lead to the can't teach you phelan but I might be able to teach my children or spouse, so if you really want it in your family...

[X] Send Penitent around behind the combat forms to distract them. Then move as a unit closer to the combat forms so that Phelan can act as the tank and fight them with his sword. All while Shinji gives magical backup behind Phelan and picks them off.

This might not be the fanciest tactic we could do here, but figured we should play to Phelan strength IE Stab and Shield, with Shinji there to help protect Phelan with his magic attacks. Now if we are lucky Penitent will help and be useful...

[Daiki]

[x] Impossible - It's something that came out of a traumatic experience and not the kind of power someone like Phelan should wield.

Too much of a child of the sun for that.

[x] Send Penitent around behind the combat forms to distract them. Then move as a unit closer to the combat forms so that Phelan can act as the tank and fight them with his sword. All while Shinji gives magical backup behind Phelan and picks them off.

Practical over style, I dig that.

[shanagan]

[x] Impossible - It's something that came out of a traumatic experience and not the kind of power someone like Phelan should wield.

[x] Send Penitent around behind the combat forms to distract them. Then move as a unit closer to the combat forms so that Phelan can act as the tank and fight them with his sword. All while Shinji gives magical backup behind Phelan and picks them off.

[Dracueri]

[x]Impossible - It's something that came out of a traumatic experience and not the kind of power someone like Phelan should wield.

[x]Send Penitent around behind the combat forms to distract them. Then move as a unit closer to the combat forms so that Phelan can act as the tank and fight them with his sword. All while Shinji gives magical backup behind Phelan and picks them off.

[alfheimwanderer]

What does Shinji tell Phelan? [x] Impossible - It's something that came out of a traumatic experience and not the kind of power someone like Phelan should wield.

How will the group approach these? [x] Send Penitent around behind the combat forms to distract them. Then move as a unit closer to the combat forms so that Phelan can act as the tank and fight them with his sword. All while Shinji gives magical backup behind Phelan and picks them off.

---

"...its not something I could teach even if I wanted to - and I don't want to," Shinji said bluntly, shaking his head as his jaw tightened, as did his grip on his weapons. "You don't have what it takes."

"You mean, I'm not an obscurial?" Phelan countered just as bluntly, with Shinji flinching at the question.

"I-I don't know what you--"

"Look, I'm not stupid Matou. Given how much talking about your family...bothers you, how Granger made that terribly subtle comment about obscurials back when she seemed like she wanted to kill you, as well as the fits you had when you were staying with us..."

Shinji glowered, his expression stormy given how obvious Phelan made this all seem, until...

"Unsubtle? You of all people are calling someone unsubtle?"

The earl's son huffed at that.

"This and that are two different things."

"Really? I'd love to see how."

"I can be subtle if I want to be. Amber is my twin after all," Phelan reasoned. "I just don't like that kind of thing."

"What kind of thing?"

"The whole business of hiding who I am and what I want, of pretending to be nice, only to pierce an enemy when they least expect it," Phelan explained. "We're a bit like the weapons we wield, I guess. She's the patient one who does only what is needed, slipping past people's defenses and keeping them off balance. I prefer the straightforward approach."

"Wearing people down or overwhelming them with your personality, you mean?"

"...it works, doesn't it?"

"...fair," Shinji conceded, before shaking his head. "Right. We've been talking too long. We have some undead to er..." Kill somehow wasn't the right word, so...

"Turn into worm food?" Phelan suggested, with Shinji twitching at his companion's choice of words.

"...something else, please."

Phelan glanced at Shinji oddly.

"Don't like worms?"

"Not the way my...sister does," the Japanese boy said coldly.

"...your sister likes worms?" Phelan questioned. "You mean Selina, or--"

"The one in Japan," Shinji replied, shaking his head. "She's rotten enough inside that she might as well be infested with them."

"...not the most pleasant image, admittedly."

"Wasn't meant to be. But well--"

"--fine, fine, I won't call them that if you're hung up about the word. Wouldn't want to open that can of--"

He stopped just short of completing that sentence as Shinji stared at him with cold, dead eyes.

"...ok, ok, I get it. Less talking, more...making the undead...redead."

"Phelan?"

"...yes?"

"Shut up."

To vent his frustration, Shinji found himself eliminating the next few groups of inferi with his dark lightning, tearing them apart one by one as they tried to charge at him, to overwhelm him with speed and power. His dark flames and cutting arcs of shadow cared little enough for armor, the weapons his foes carried, or numbers, everything they touched was erased - though this was far more wearying than he liked to let on.

By the time they cleared out the floor and made their way to the lift, Matou Shinji was moving much more slowly than before, his limbs feeling heavy - or was it that there was less of him to pull those limbs along? It felt like there was less anyway, but he didn't know for sure.

It reached the point that Phelan actually asked if he was ok.

"I'm fine, really."

"If you say so."

With that, they stepped out onto the next floor, where there were more combat forms...only this time, instead of swords or other weapons, they had wands. To be precise, there are four of them, with one wearing plate and carrying a dragonbone staff, while the other three wearing wyvren-hide robes and carrying normal wands.

What made Shinji worry most though, was the half-open satchel of potions on the waist of one of them, with the potions inside...

"...those are Fiendfyre potions," he heard someone say. Himself, actually, as he began to curse silently. "Any ideas?"

"...we could send the ghost?"

"Excuse me!" the wraith - Penitent - sniffed. "I am no mere ghost. I am a poltergeist. To accuse me of being such a limited being is quite--"

"We could send the poltergeist?" Phelan corrected, his voice a forced whisper.

"I say. How rude - I have done so much for you, identifying the threats, opening doors, and now you want me to hurl myself at these wand-bearing abominations? Are you quite mad?"

"...would you rather distract them, or would you rather I erase you with my dark lightning?" Shinji asked mildly. "The choice is yours."

"Y-you...! Well, if it has come to that, I suppose I can do your bidding. Just this once."

The poltergeist drifted forward towards the inferi, the gleam of its knives quite cold in the light as it approached silently - then struck, drawing the attention of all four enemies as it grabbed something from one of them.

Spellbeams blazed through the air as Phelan and Shinji advanced, with the sword-armed boy slashing one in the back while Shinji used his dark lightning, a move that seemed to go well until--

It was a quiet sound, really. A mere tinkle amidst the din of battle, but it was that sound that sealed Phelan's fate, as a vial of fiendfyre potion struck the ground right in front of the boy, the volatile liquid splattering onto his armor and igniting.

What will Shinji do?

[ ] (write-in)

[Skull Leader]

[X]Step up and place Shinji between the surviving inferi and Phelan. Continue to blast them with his dark lightning until threat is gone. Then try to remove the fiendfyre with a controlled burst of the his power to burn the potion fire off.

[Dracueri]

​[x]Step up and place Shinji between the surviving inferi and Phelan. Continue to blast them with his dark lightning until threat is gone. Then try to remove the fiendfyre with a controlled burst of the his power to burn the potion fire off.

[Daiki]

​[x]Step up and place Shinji between the surviving inferi and Phelan. Continue to blast them with his dark lightning until threat is gone. Then try to remove the fiendfyre with a controlled burst of his power to burn the potion fire off.

[alfheimwanderer]

​[x]Step up and place Shinji between the surviving inferi and Phelan. Continue to blast them with his dark lightning until threat is gone. Then try to remove the fiendfyre with a controlled burst of the his power to burn the potion fire off.

---

It was impossible to put out fiendfyre.

Every wizard who studied the Dark Arts at all knew that. Oh, perhaps one could force it to move aside, or change it into something else, if one was an unmatched master of transfiguration (as Albus Dumbledore was said to be), but otherwise, once someone was stricken with Fiendfyre, the wretched flames of destruction would burn until there was nothing left, with no amount of potion or flame-freezing charm, or water capable of protecting someone from its effects.

As such, every wizard knew that trying to save someone from even the smallest tongues of hellfire was useless, that one shouldn't even try, as it would usually lead to them being consumed as well.

Of course, Matou Shinji was no wizard, as he would be the first one to argue, and so when Phelan was splattered with the liquid fiendfyre, the boy wasn't about to leave his comrade to die...even if Phelan had left him to suffer the consequences of being found next to a corpse, but that was another matter.

Yet what could he do? Already, the fire was spreading up Phelan's leg, even as it melted the chainmail he was wearing, with the boy trying his best not to scream as blistering hot metal and flame seared his flesh to the bone.

"...go. I'll take them with me," Phelan ground out, gasped out, more like, as his limbs began to tremble. "I'll be fine. Its...its just a bit of pain, right?" The boy staggered as one of the inferi blasted him backwards with a spell, putting every ounce of will he had into staying upright. "I'll--"

"NO."

Phelan had only a second to realize that his friend's voice was...off somehow, before a sense of utter wrongness filled the air. He could barely breathe, barely move, barely feel anything else as something like black smoke flashed into existence, wrapping about his body, smoke that...

What.

No...smoke couldn't catch fire, could it? Smoke couldn't...

Wait...what? The smoke was withdrawing, following...following in the wake of a figure which looked almost like Matou Shinji, if Matou Shinji were some sort of demon king, a being wrought not of flesh but shadow and flame, an avatar of vengeance and rage whose eyes bled infernal fire.

"NOT THIS TIME."

Phelan staggered, falling on his arse at the shock of hearing the voice that emerged from the mouth of his...friend?, a voice that was like a hundred dissonant voices speaking together, the unearthly screech underlying what was audible assaulting his mind, making him want to close his ears, close his eyes, close everything in the face of death, a monstrous figure, half-insubstantial and riddled in spikes, with claws sharp as knives taking the place of his fingers, cloaked by unquenchable flames.

The figure SCrEamED, and every foe in the hallway - even the poltergeist, said to be unkillable - was unmade, as the hallway seemed to spark, eerie holes torn into the world by the whim of the dark one.

And then everything was quiet, and the monster turned to look at him with its terrible gaze, sharp, sharp teeth gleaming in its maw as...

"CAN YoU ConTInuE?" the voice hissed, almost...pleasantly, with Phelan blinking, because was about the last thing he had expected to hear from...from a demon.

The boy's mouth opened, closed, opened, closed, and finally opened again to say "Yes."

"...GoOD. FOlloW."
So Phelan did, following as best as he could as what...he thought was his friend set a very grueling pace for a wounded man, though he dared not complain or fall behind, as the world itself was beginning to fall apart around them, as if the very existence of whatever Matou was corrupted it. As they passed, pockets of unreality began to form, holes in the fabric of existence, which Phelan made sure not to fall into.

What happened next, well...

To make a long story short, Matou's dark powers tore through everything that stood in their way, allowing them to obtain the keystone and activate it...seconds before everything dissolved into nothingness, depositing them back into the classroom, where Shinji's...transformation seemed ready to lunge at Quirrell...before the Japanese boy lurched backward, and with a shuddering screech, reverted slowly to his human form.

Quirrell, who was putting away his wand as he looked upon this, shook his head with a frown.

"...I have a number of things I would like to say about this," the Professor said after a few moments.

"...we passed, right?" Phelan asked, thinking to address the most important topic first.

Quirrell blinked.

"...I suppose that technically, you did retrieve the keystone and activate the weapon to destroy the inferi in the tower," the Professor noted with a deep sigh. "Even if the tower, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists."

"You...didn't say...it had...tobeintact," came a near whisper, as Matou Shinji pulled himself to his feet.

"Ah, Mister Matou...you destroyed the world I see," Quirrell commented. "Again," he added with a wry twist of his lips.

"...this...this happened before?" Phelan asked, swallowing.

"Oh yes, Mister Noel. Your friend Miss Granger would know a lot about that."

"Gr...huh." Well...he supposed that if he'd seen Matou look like that, he would have been freaked out as--

"At least he didn't actually try to kill me this time. It seems his time with Miss Moore has been most productive."

"He...he tried to kill you?!" Phelan heard someone ask - wait, no that was him asking. He glanced over at Matou. "Is...is that true?"

"I don't remember anything of the sort," Shinji said stiffly.

"Yes well, amnesia is not unheard of when one transforms into an obscurus, now is it?" Quirrell inquired, with Shinji looking away. "Still, perhaps that was partially my fault. I had no idea his relationship with his family was such a can of...worms."

Shinji growled, but did nothing, not wanting to make a bigger mess of things.

"In any case, yes, I suppose you two did pass," the man admitted with a thin smile. "Meaning you will be captains of opposing teams for the upcoming challenge. I suggest you think about who you may want to recruit for say...a raid on Azkaban."

"...isn't Azkaban supposedly unassailable?"

"Mister Noel, nothing is unassailable," Quirrell said matter of factly. "Though, Mister Matou, if you use that power during a raid, I will penalize your entire team, do you understand?"

"...yes."

"Good. With that, I will give 10 points to Hufflepuff for doing the impossible and snuffing out Fiendfyre. And I'll only take off 5 from each of you for wrecking the scenario. You do realize I will have to recreate it from scratch?"

"...sorry," Shinji muttered.

"Wait, why am I being penalized?!" Phelan exclaimed.

"You're a team, aren't you?"

And with that, they were dismissed.

Perhaps a talk is in order with all the people who know the secret. How will Shinji do this and who will he invite?

[ ] write-in

[Daiki]

[x] Use the Kitchens (ask Miyuki to cast the Muffliato charm) - Invite Miyuki, Amber, Selina, Natsumi, Phelan and Ernie.

Miyuki (she can explain how Shinji doesn't attack friends)
Amber & Natsumi (have both witnessed his "weak" side and the way he struggled to control himself)
Selina (greatly helped him getting a hold of his powers through intense focus)
Ernie (so he isn't singled out of the group - and it's better to tell him upfront what's up rather than him coming to his own conclusion)
Phelan (for obvious reasons)

[Dracueri]

​[x]Use the Kitchens (ask Miyuki to cast the Muffliato charm) - Invite Miyuki, Amber, Selina, Natsumi, Phelan and Ernie.

[Skull Leader]

[x] Use the Kitchens (ask Miyuki to cast the Muffliato charm) - Invite Miyuki, Amber, Selina, Natsumi, Phelan and Ernie.