The two of them had walked up to Erebus but everything but and including good intentions, and the way they were operating was most stoic. Still, as they inched closer there was always the sneaking suspicion and idea. A dark thought, planted into both Ikanbi and Sia's brains, and Ikanbi knew it too existed within the field for Kuva and Erebus. A lust. A primal desire. A tease, a begging of wrath. The lust for war, to split ones opponent's anew with rife and horrible acts. A vile, twisted, perversion of what could be in the world. This was a path of life Ikanbi, Sia, and Kuva were all quite familiar with. People could turn or be turned at any moment. Everyone they had ever met could be a snake. It was important to recognize, and see them for what they were. Ikanbi always trusted a snake to bite her.
It came without warning, but it was not a surprise. The moment Erebus' shoulder and hand moved at all she brought her palms upwards, and the entirity of her body became coated in a thin layer of arcane magic as a glyph soared about her hands. It coated her, wrapping around every conceivable part of her and provided the only protection she had in the moment and though she continued to sustain the spell, she immediately relaxed, knowing it truly wouldn't help her and that she had done i entirely out of reflex.
Ikanbi saw the world through Khalfani's eyes. She laughed, immediately, directly into Erebus' face as he lifted her from the ground. She did not resist further, she did not swing her arms up to fight back, she merely made immediate, direct eye contact with him as he hoisted her up, then, after a moment of processing, began to speak in an incredibly deep, perfect male voice as her feline cat ears twitched. "It will be years before you ever scare me, pretty boy." She said confidently, and didn't particularly care whether or not it irritated him further, her face revealing nothing but a hearty smile as Erebus rambled on and she interjected her own banter back at him in between breathes. "Sorry, it's just never going to happen, you'll have to do better than just being fast and talking my ear off." She continued and from the corner of her eye she noticed that the display from Erebus had, in fact, rubbed Sia quite the right way with it. She was at a loss for words, truly too stunned to speak, as it would turn out.
Still, there was merit to the actions and words the came out of the Rogue's mouth. His point was made, and it was quite solid. Ikanbi never broke her eye contact though, her smile continuing the entire time he had spoken to her and kept her off from the ground. Eventually, she rolled her eyes and looked Erebus up and down. "I wonder what Khalfani would say if he knew you manhandled the mother of his children" She said casually, continuing with her incredibly bored tone which emanated with absolutely no fear from her vocal cords and diaphragm. "Of course, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." She said slyly and made a display of licking her own lips and batting her eyelashes at him. "It's been a while since I've done things to a hot-headed little white boy." She made a kissy face at him and noticed immediately that the gesture annoyed an distressed Sia.
"You can put me down when you're ready to stop being a little bitch." She said finally, bring her hands upwards and adjusting Erebus' shirt casually. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but you'll never be as scary as a real vampire or demon." She tsked at him loudly and shook her head. "Nice try though." It was a good laugh to her, she could barely contain herself.
Finally, she was set down, and never thought of the words Erebus' had spoken to her again. Her, Sia, and Kuva, they already knew what they were getting into working with Erebus. A snake was a snake, and so were they. It didn't matter, in the long run, the objective was the same. The purge was coming, and whether or not Erebus wanted to be involved, he had already set horrible, horrendous, acidic wheels into motion.
Ikanbi withdrew her knife and stabbed Erebus in the leg with it lightly, just poking him with it, not really breaking his flesh. "See, I can be a dumbass too." She said playfully as they walked into the basement together finally.
After a moment, she did consider something else. "Erebus...are you tainted by pact magic? Does it do things to your blood and make you boil without hesitation like it does for us?" She looked into his eyes again pointedly when she asked. "It's fine, Sia has spells of ridiculousness too, she's actually a little scarier than Kuva anyway." She said with a shrug.
Now, finally, Ikanbi could see the right side of Erebus, the side she knew would be there inevitably, and eventually, and test his mettle on how exactly he intended to present himself. She giggled again, still fearless, and poked Sia with her knife as well, though much harder, to intentionally annoy her. She did it again, surprised that Sia had done nothing to stop her. "Hello, are you there?" She had asked her, trying to snap Sia back into focus on reality and the current situation. It was hopeless, everything Erebus did made Sia ecstatic.
Ikanbi let out a long Sigh and looked back and forth between the two of them as they continued towards the ghosts they were meant to hunt. "You two are really made for each other, not gonna lie." She said finally. It was true. Ikanbi was more of a hippie in a way, and though Sia was shy around Erebus, it was, Ikanbi knew, mostly because Sia wanted to rip his clothes off just as Erebus had just threatened, and do horrible, unspeakable acts with him that were both violent and lewd in ways that made Ikanbi's skin crawl. "Sia is the one that likes getting fifty shades of fucked up anyway." She said with a laugh, ignoring the splendid shade of red which had come out of Sia's face as she said it.
Ikanbi brandished her knife and threw it through a ghost watching it stick into a wall nearby. She went over and retrieved it, then threw it through a ghost so that it continued and traveled directly towards Erebus. It wouldn't do much for damage, but would surely irritate him if he didn't do something to move out of the way. "I am playing chess, and Kuva, Sia, and the rest of them are just pieces. I fear nothing, and no one. I can't. It was removed from me already." She said, and, Sia and Erebus would find, notably, that she never, ever lost her composure through the entire display and conversation with Erebus. Never once did she show fear, never once did she make eye contact.
If the snake was going to turn on her today, he would have to do so knowing that Ikanbi would never, ever, fear him or his words in any capacity. He had no power over her. "If Kuva is in Eternal Nightmare, you should consider half of each of us to be much the same." A smile crossed her face again, and she flipped her knife in her hand whilst staring between Erebus, Sia, and the rest of the ghosts.
Name: A Very Basic Ward
Rank: D
Mana Cost: 25
Requirements: Hunter Magic
Type: Defensive
Element: Arcane
Range: 5 Meters
Cooldown: 1 Posts
Duration: Sustain
Effect: The user will bring their palm upwards and form a magic glyph on one either one of their arms, one of their legs, their head, or their torso, and causing a defensive layer of grey arcane magic to encompass her entire body for every post they sustain the spell with a D-Rank Level of Defense.
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