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With the Nabasu so far away, and the only two able to accurately deal with it besides herself being so distant, Ary opts to try to give Hinagiku a better chance at dealing with the Babau. She spares it a glance, eyes narrowing in the light, and quickly analyzing the field. "The Babau's posture is off to the right. The snow's probably deeper on that side." She then releases her shot towards the Nabasu after giving it a moment to 'get away' from Valaria again and maybe feel a little safer.
The nabasu once again struggles to get away from Valaria, but she cuts deftly into the demon with her enchanted starknife, mauling its bicep nearly in two. Frustrated, the demon holds its ground and lunges at her with its sharp teeth, but the tiefling holds the demon off with her two blades.
Meanwhile, Anevia fires on the nabasu, only to get distracted by the babau and miss wildly. She attempts to regain cover, but it is too late- the nabasu realizes she is there.
Valaria is up!
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As Anevia dives headlong into the snow like the fox she is, seeking to gain a bit more cover, there's an audible groan as the snow isn't quite so deep as she expected.
Not able to see the antics on the ground very well, Val continues with the plan. Seeing the Nabasu weakening, she unleashes her full fury on the thing, hoping to bring it down before one of the demons sees through the illusions and leaves her vulnerable.
Valaria's starknives breeze past the nabasu, leaving a narrow score that slowly opens into a gory weal...
Ehren is up!
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Ehren blinks when the babau suddenly appears before him, but it is blown away far too quickly for him express any proper alarm. With the demon out of the way, he is able to complete his summoning spell without interruption. Gesturing to the sky, he sends the motes of light swirling around his hands - larger and more numerous than ever before - hurtling in the direction of the enemy army. In midair the lights coalesce, and in flash there appears a large creature, held aloft by a pair of immense feathered wings.
In truth, Ehren knew very little about griffons. But in summation, he knew that they could fly, that they were big, and that they had plenty of sharp and pointy parts. Fortunately, at the moment those were the only things of relevance. The druid thinks for a moment, looking at the three airborne demons. Umestil was a very tempting target, but while Valaria seemed to have the nabasu handled, the sooner they had it dead, the better.
"The one that Valaria is fighting, kill it!" he commands while pointing his staff at the nabasu, trusting the griffon to understand his intent if not his meaning.
With a deafening screech and a flap of its mighty wings, the griffon flies through the air past Valaria and right into the critically wounded nabasu, viciously tearing into the demon with beak, talon and claw.
With the griffon having flown off to do his bidding, Ehren turns his attention back to the nearby babau. He promptly slams the butt of his staff into the ground, pouring his energy into the ground and causing the ground beneath the demon's feet to jolt suddenly, throwing off its footing.
The nabasu shrieks, moving back and forth in midair in a desperate effort to avoid the griffon's sharp claws and beak... it is only partially successful, wrenching itself away from the griffon as it digs its claws deep into its skin.
Whump! The babau is thrown off of its feet with the force of Ehren's spell, falling face first into the snow.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah, except for Valaria who is 100' away and adjacent to the nabasu, and 5' away from the vrock, who flanks her. An illusionary storm obscures Valaria partially from view. With Valaria is a summoned griffon adjacent to the nabasu.
Hinagiku is adjacent to the prone babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Ehren and Xanderghul are each 20' away from them, though not adjacent to one another.
The heroes stand 120' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image. They "battle" with an immense army of schir and tiefling, while their commander, Umestil, stands 20' above the battlefield as if on an invisible platform.
4 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions. The nabasu and vrock fly 60' in the air. The nabasu is adjacent to Valaria, but the vrock is 5' away from her.
Your own army is nowhere in sight.
Isilme is up!
Isilme releases the illusion again, having it morph into a version of her as a Raelis and then an elf, pointing over towards where she's standing. Isilme waves at the Vrock when it turns to look at her as the illusion vanishes in a puff of smoke. she yells at the top of her lungs at the Vrock, the normally melodic, lilting celestial of an azata tinged with discordant tones that convey a clear sense of disgust.
As she finishes, she drops her bow and draws her rapier, imbuing it with a portion of her arcane power. She then raises her free hand, making a quick gesture and uttering the words to enchant the party with haste.
"We may be having some more company in a moment," she whispers to the group, grinning as she brandishes her rapier in preparation.
Hinagiku readies herself as the babau stands up. Her careful aim is rewarded with a satisfying thud as her kick connects with the demon, but she is scalded by the monster's acid-coated skin. The babau then lunges at Hinagiku with its teeth, but is momentarily stunned by a quick shot from Anevia's bow - its hand is shot clean through, causing it to drop its spear.
Meanwhile, far away, the griffon savagely rips into the nabasu until it falls unconscious from its many wounds. It falls to the ground and dies on impact, its body vanishing into a cloud of black smoke.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah, except for Valaria who is 100' away and 5' away from the vrock. With Valaria is a summoned griffon adjacent to her
Hinagiku is adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Ehren and Xanderghul are each 20' away from them, though not adjacent to one another.
The heroes stand 120' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image. They "battle" with an immense army of schir and tiefling, while their commander, Umestil, stands 20' above the battlefield as if on an invisible platform.
4 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions. The vrock flies 60' in the air. The nabasu The vrock is 5' away from Valaria.
Your own army is nowhere in sight.
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul moves towards the babau and Hinagiku, trusting in Ary, Anevia, Valaria and Isilme to take out the enemy vrock. He lets go of his crossbow with one hand and reaches out with the other one, and a crackling whip made entirely of energy falls to the ground, coiling there where there is space. He brings his hand up and arcs the whip at the babau, hoping to wrap the whip around the babau's neck.
The whip cracks and spins around the babau's neck, wrapping around multiple times and then wedging in place. Xanderghul pulls on his end of the whip and the babau feels its life-force leaving it.
Xanderghul's whip wraps around the babau's neck, slowly sapping its strength away from it.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah, except for Valaria who is 100' away and 5' away from the vrock. With Valaria is a summoned griffon adjacent to her.
Hinagiku is adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them.
The heroes stand 120' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image. They "battle" with an immense army of schir and tiefling, while their commander, Umestil, stands 20' above the battlefield as if on an invisible platform.
4 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions. The vrock flies 60' in the air. The nabasu The vrock is 5' away from Valaria.
Your own army is nowhere in sight.
Hinagiku is up!
With one short but slow experation, Hinagiku rids her mind of the pain, she would now take even more care in avoiding the oni's slimy secretions. Seeing her foe shaken by Xanderghul's crackling whip, she decides to press the advantage, striking it with her feet, knees, and elbows to avoid touching it with her bare skin as much as possible.
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Though Hinagiku struggles to see the babau in the supernatural darkness it has created for itself, she ruthlessly batters the demon with strike after strike. Her final blow is a kick to the head, leaving the demon stunned. She steps back, her feet burning slightly from the babau's acidic flesh.
Umestil and her army turn and run south, back towards the bridge until they are out of sight from the heroes, though Valaria can still see them 140' away from her. They leave only the giant wasps, who continue to stupidly attack the illusionary soldiers one after the other. As they vanish into the snowstorm the cavalry finally arrives, thundering past the heroes on their way to engage the army to the south and spraying them with powdery snow.
"Cheers, love! The cavalry's here!" Annabelle calls out cheekily as she rides past on Blossom. She takes a quick swipe at the babau Hinagiku and Xanderghul are fighting with her glaive, but she is riding much too fast to be accurate at all.
The vrock vanishes from Valaria's sight and reappears flying twenty feet above the heroes and the thundering cavalry. The vulture demon sneers.
"Kahaha! I hat glizg di kugug da atimbum uti ugh am ilkúshdul, ashorzai. I hat shunk am noshushug shârz dol nu bi arzum botul!"
The heroes stand together with Ayavah in the midst of their cavalry as it thunders past, except for Valaria who is 100' away, 60' in the air. With Valaria is a summoned griffon adjacent to her.
Hinagiku is adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them.
The vrock flies 20' above the heroes and cavalry.
The heroes stand 125' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image.
Umestil and her army are now 240' away from the heroes and are completely out of sight (except for Valaria, who is farther south than the rest of the heroes).
4 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions.
Round 5!
Ary and Anevia are up!
"He still favors his wing where Anevia clipped him!" Ary calls out to her allies, before continuing in Celestial, yelling loudly enough for the Vrock to hear.
Immediately after calling out her bluff, Ary releases her arrow which wiggles through the air in a nearly unerring arc for the overgrown vulture demon.
Anevia slips quietly amongst the crowd of cavalry, clumps of snow still clinging to her hair. Once she's below the Vrock, as she moves past a horse and slips into a shadow, the shadow seems to deepen as her arrow launches towards the fowl demon.
"Bombs away!" she calls from just behind a horse's flank.
Ary's poise is masterfully maintained as she releases an accurate shot, while Anevia's stealthy maneuver connects, scoring a hit for her and a gory wound in the demon's wing...
It's unlikely the army had time to set up traps given how long they've occupied the bridge.
The bridge's buildings consist of a barracks, a small blacksmith, and a watchtower.
Valaria is up!
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"Do not press forward, rely on your ranged weapons in volleys!" she calls to the cavalry. "The schir will decimate us if we try to rout."
Val looks down at the vrock and then at the moving demon army. "I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one..." she mutters. She spins in midair and promptly divebombs the bird-like demon.
Valaria dives through the air at the vrock, leaving a wound slick with gore.
With the nabasu dead and with its summoner too far away to convey any new orders, the griffon shifts its attention to the next closest enemy. Paying Valaria no mind, the noble creature swoops down on one of the hapless wasps and tears into it with a wild flurry of attacks.
Meanwhile, in his offhand, Ehren conjures a snowball and lobs it at the hovering vrock. It makes contact, the compacted snow battering the demon and leaving a large welt that only partially heals over.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah in the midst of their cavalry as it thunders past. Valaria flies 20' in the air above them, adjacent to the vrock.
Hinagiku is adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them.
The heroes stand 125' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image. 4 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions. Ehren's summoned griffon is locked in battle with one of the wasps, which is in critical condition.
Umestil and her army are now 240' away from the heroes and are completely out of sight.
Isilme is up!
Isilme dances through the charging cavalry nimbly, making use of her enhanced speed, moving towards the weakened Babau and winding up standing next to Hinagiku. As she reaches it, she lunges, her gleaming rapier thrusting towards the creature's head in an example of flawless swordplay.
"Nothing I can do about it now, it is Xanderghul's spell, it will last a while yet!" she calls back to Ary, not bothering to respond in celestial.
she calls out to the Vrock again
"Come on down here you cowardly turkey-demon. Still too afraid to engage an Azata?"
"Hey! Hey! Wait for me..." Ayavah whines, maneuvering through the cavalry and after Isilme with considerably less grace.
Isilme's arcing lunge cuts through the air with an ominous whoosh, connecting with force, and slowly driving the life from her unfortunate foe.
Xanderghul holds tight onto the limp lash, pulling it taut so that the babau's neck is properly strangulated. There's nothing worse than a babau that isn't being strangled to death. He pulls tightly at at the same time, he speaks to it. His words are laced with magic, making his words seem seductive... desirable.
"Gul'zg puk gil shurb búmb shu glari lal glil? Bi goshul but i'li rurbutak búmb shul p@%@ shu rúl hil...ba gish'zg i gashal izg ank búmb pi gil?"
"Doesn't lying down seem just so nice right now? The darkness spell you're maintaining just seems like so much work...why don't you dismiss it and just lie down?"
Meanwhile, his limp lash continues to suck the life out of the poor, helpless babau demon.
It's unclear if the babau can hear Xanderghul at all - it simply sags there, half-limp, its eyes slowly going dark.
Amidst the thundering and chaotic cavalry there is one point of contrast: Hinagiku who moves with calm and harmony despite her rapidly changing surroundings.
Unafraid of being trampled, Hinagiku continues her attack on the oni facing her. She uses Isilme's precise strike as diversion, and kicks at it multiple times.
"Yes, Commander!" calls Captain Halse as she rides past on a beautiful palomino outfitted in intricate barding.
The cavalry draws their bows and thunders past, running straight through Xanderghul's illusion. The heroes can still see them in the distance. Though Umestil and her army are now completely out of sight, the sounds of a raging battle can be heard to the south.
Meanwhile, the wasps continue to attack the illusionary soldiers. The one wasp engaged with the griffon buzzes angrily. Once roused, it wastes no time, stabbing the majestic creature in the chest with its enormous stinger and inflicting a nasty looking wound.
The vrock lets out a horrific, ear-splitting screech, freezing the majority of the heroes in their tracks. Now free to move as it wishes, the demon lands beside of Isilme. Its blood red eyes burn with malice.
"Ibi ghizg i glil, pashi uti," it snarls.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah. Valaria flies 20' in the air above them.
Hinagiku and Isilme are adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them.
The vrock sits adjacent to Isilme. He threatens Xanderghul, Ayavah, and Hinagiku, but is not adjacent to either of them.
The heroes stand 125' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image. 4 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions. Ehren's summoned griffon is locked in battle with one of the wasps, which is in critical condition.
The army's cavalry is 200' in the distance.
Umestil and her army are now far away from the heroes and are completely out of sight. The sounds of battle can be heard to the south.
Anevia is up!
Supernatural abilities are magical but not spell-like. Supernatural abilities are not subject to spell resistance and do not function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated (such as an antimagic field). A supernatural ability's effect cannot be dispelled and is not subject to counterspells.
At 1st level, a bard learns to counter magic effects that depend on sound (but not spells that have verbal components.)
Each round of the countersong he makes a Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing) skill check
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Anevia hears a shrill screech and looks around somewhat confused. She feels like she can hear an echo of an argument in her head. "Mommy, daddy, please don't fight..." she mutters as she slips through the snow to behind Ayavah. Once there, she lines up a shot between the bard and the Vrock, once more seeking to take the Vrock offguard with a wellplaced shot - this time, going for the leg.
Anevia takes a quick shot at the babau - her arrow spins through the air and strikes the stunned creature true.
The wasp's sting only seems to enrage the already vicious griffon. It digs into the giant insect, literally tearing the creature into pieces and littering the ground with insectoid parts.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah. Valaria flies 20' in the air above them.
Hinagiku and Isilme are adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them.
The vrock sits adjacent to Isilme. He threatens Xanderghul, Ayavah, and Hinagiku, but is not adjacent to either of them. (See battlemap for details.)
The heroes stand 125' away from an illusionary army of 50 soldiers, two groups of illusionary rangers conjured by Xanderghul's major image. 3 giant wasps fly 10' feet in the air over the illusionary soldiers, but are not intelligent enough to understand that they are illusions. Ehren's summoned griffon likewise flies 10' in the air over the soldiers.
The army's cavalry is 200' in the distance.
Umestil and her army are now far away from the heroes and are completely out of sight. The sounds of battle can be heard to the south.
Isilme is up!
Isilme ducks around behind Hinagiku and conjures forth a giant cloud of golden flakes of metal, filling the air around the Vrock and Babau with them.
The vrock swipes at Isilme as she ducks behind Hinagiku but she shoves it aside with her buckler. She showers both the vrock and the babau in golden flakes, but their vision is ultimately unhindered by the spell.
The babau gnaws and claws at the limp lash, desperate to get free from the wizard's spell, but ultimately can't do anything at all to it.
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul pulls the limp lash extra tight this time, trying to really choke the life out of the babau. The fewer resources he had to use on this creature, the better!
While he juggles that, he turns around and, with his other hand, gestures at the vrock that had landed among them. He makes as if caressing an invisible orb in his hands, arcane phrases that sound like mud dripping out of his mouth dropping from his tongue. Then, he swiftly clenches his hand and crushes the orb, and the vrock feels an invisible force crush it inwards, cracking and creaking its bones.
The babau's knees buckle and it falls unconscious, though it is still held partially up by the limp lash.
Xanderghul begins to cast his spell, so the vrock raises its claw high in the air and brings it down in time to catch his midsection, throwing him off-guard and canceling out the spellcast. At the same time, Xanderghul's illusionary army vanishes from sight.
In the distance, the cavalry raises their bows in an attempt to fire, their steeds running them out of the heroes' line of vision. A great battle can be heard to the south.
The army has vanished, so the giant wasps turn their attention to the griffon. The three enormous insects buzz angrily and fly quickly towards it, surrounding the creature within a few seconds. They stab the griffon several times with their enormous stingers.
The vrock chuckles sinisterly, flapping its great, foul wings until it is directly above Hinagiku and Xanderghul.
"Thrishosha ashorzai, kraghak dushank am bul, bushi il glishushi nu lúsh..."
And with that it rips and tears through Isilme with great force, despite Hinagiku's efforts to interpose her body between the demon and her friend. As it unleashes its pent-up fury on the cocky illusionist spores rain down on the small group, latching into the heroes' flesh with tiny barbs.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah. Valaria flies 20' in the air above them.
Hinagiku and Isilme are adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them.
The vrock is directly above Hinagiku and Xanderghul, and adjacent to Isilme.
The heroes stand 125' away from 3 giant wasps flying 10' feet in the air. They are engaged in battle with Ehren's summoned griffon. Two of them are flanking it.
Umestil and her army are now far away from the heroes and are completely out of sight. The cavalry has run past, and is out of sight, due to the heavy snowfall. The sounds of battle can be heard to the south.
Round 6!
Ary & Anevia are up!
Ary drops the arrow in her hand into the snow as she reaches into her pack, pulling out another vial of holy water, which she quickly throws at Hinagiku's feet, hoping to catch her allies in the splash - sure, they'd be cold and wet, but they wouldn't be growing vines from their skin.
Cloaked in the snow, Anevia fires an arrow once more as she dips through the snow, she narrows her eyes as she fires not only into the darkness of the babau but through the sheet of white. "Aaaaugh. HE WAS RIGHT THERE." she grumbles as her shot goes flying past.
She then valiantly treads through the snow, once more heading straight for the Vrock. Just as she gets into range of his swing, she ducks low and handsprings backwards with a laugh as the thing's claws reach out towards her, "Two can play at that game. So close, too!"
Ary tosses a vial of holy water into the fray, sprinkling the heroes with the blessed liquid, and scalding the vrock somewhat in the process. The spores coating their skin shrivel up and fall away.
Valaria is up!
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Val dives down to attack the vrock again, her knife aimed to cut open the creature's back.
Ehren blinks, realizing that he had inadvertently dropped his staff to cover his ears in a futile attempt to block out the horrid screech. Coming to his senses and recognizing the situation Isilme was in, he quickly picks the staff back off the ground.
He then proceeds to wave a hand over his head in a circular motion, casting a blessing over his companions. The druid steps out of the spot he was standing, leaving two indentations where his feet had been. When they touch the unmarred patch of snow next to him however, they do not break through - almost as though he was as light as a feather.
Meanwhile, surrounded by giant wasps, the grievously wounded griffon flaps its wings, struggling to remain aloft.
Isilme tumbles away from the vrock.
Valaria flies through the air, ducking beneath the vrock's outstretched talon. With a malevolent glimmer, her starknife displays a perfect arc on the way to its target, leaving a deep wound under its arm.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah. Valaria flies 5' in the air above them.
Hinagiku is adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them, and Isilme is 15' from them.
The vrock is directly above Hinagiku and Xanderghul, and adjacent to Valaria.
The heroes stand 125' away from 3 giant wasps flying 10' feet in the air, hovering above Ehren's griffon, who has plummeted to the ground.
Umestil and her army are now far away from the heroes and are completely out of sight. The cavalry has run past, and is out of sight, due to the heavy snowfall. The sounds of battle can be heard to the south.
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul huffs. He hasn't realized that the vrock was so close, and he hadn't counted on the possibility of his spell failing. Empowered by Ehren's magic, he takes a step out of the drift and onto the top of the snow... Away from the vrock. He waves his hand in the vrock's general direction, knowing that it is more or less handled at this point. A trio of sizzling purple force missiles fly out of his extended hand to pummel the vrock.
Xanderghul backs out of the vrock's reach, his feet just barely touching the top of the snow. He fires off three magic missiles at the vrock.
The heroes stand together with Ayavah. Valaria flies 5' in the air above them.
Hinagiku is adjacent to the disarmed babau, who is shrouded in a 20 ft radius hemisphere of dim light. Behind Hinagiku is Xanderghul, holding onto the babau with a limp lash. Ehren is 20' away from them, and Isilme is 15' from them.
The vrock is directly above Hinagiku, and adjacent to Valaria. It is 10' away from Xanderghul along a diagonal.
The heroes stand 125' away from 3 giant wasps flying 10' feet in the air, hovering above Ehren's griffon, who has plummeted to the ground.
Umestil and her army are now far away from the heroes and are completely out of sight. The cavalry has run past, and is out of sight, due to the heavy snowfall. The sounds of battle can be heard to the south.
Hinagiku is up!
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The screech, it came with a flashback, a memory of darkness and cold: a memory of hezrous. Hinagiku winced, and for a moment, she was frozen in confusion and dropped her weapon. Finally recovering from the ordeal, Hinagiku comes to her senses, only to realize things had not been going so well, Xanderghul was under attack. Stumbling, she tried to deflect the oni's blows, with little success. Still recovering, she also tries to protect Isilme from the oni's onslaught.
Finally, Hinagiku draws a deep breath, readies herself, and jumps up to grab onto the demon's leg, and grabbing for a moment, she uses her knees and knees to strike at it.