Clovis Adder happened to be waiting in the room when the two had arrived. There was little reason behind him waiting here out in the open, but it was information he'd hopefully get later in the evening. Even though his heart had sunk upon the revelation that the room was empty, it still managed to race at the opportunity unfolding before him. Regardless of Adder's reasons, the fact remained that he was present, which meant that he had his chance to exact revenge on the gas man. The only thing standing between him and that vengeance was the small fleet of guards scattered around the obscenely large room. Adder was almost exactly in the center, but the guards noticed when the elevator door popped open, moving towards it when they figured out it wasn't one of their own.

"Follow my lead." It wasn't until he heard these words that Devroux realized time had begun to dilate around him. The tension and brewing fight had almost put a thick film over his perception, but the low volume words from Noctis cut through it all like a lighthouse in the night.

Noctis burst forward at the closest guard. It was like a man taking on a lion – the guard had close to zero chance of survival. None of the guards in the vicinity could keep an eye on the man as he moved, but their eyes were able to dart towards him when he appeared attacking his first target. It was this moment that Devroux chose to pursue his own target. The mink wasn't as fast as the long-legged man, nor could he accelerate that quickly, but the speed differential between the guards and him was insurmountable; the gap was closed in a blur by their view, though their eyes were elsewhere at the attack already underway.

The first guard that Devroux came to would survive, at least under his intentions. With the guard slowly turning back to retaliate towards the black mass rushing him, his eyes were put in the perfect position for the mink's fingers to penetrate. Devroux's clawed digits extended only slightly into the man's skull, just enough to burst his eyeballs and permanently blind the man, but not hard or deep enough to scramble his brain. He'd be left screaming in agony, clutching at his face, which made a perfect distraction for the duo as they continued to move through the guards closest to them.

While Noctis would continue to move with blinding acceleration, Devroux used his speed, power, and natural advantages to move about the space more acrobatically. His wings would stay tucked to his back for the most part, only moving just enough to give him a gust of wind strong enough to make flips viable and long jumps possible. Moving around this way and frequently made it hard for the guards to get a bead on him. They were trained, but inhuman, unjustified movements wouldn't ever be easy to track.

Using this movement technique, Devroux launched himself towards the next closest guard, stretching out away from Noctis in a V formation and biting through the crowd of oncoming guards. As he flipped through the air, Devroux drew Yoru from its sheath and cut through his target like butter, the only thing refusing to be cut being the rifle in his now limp and lifeless hands. With Yoru in his right hand and the unarmed, clawed left hand, the mink continued to drive his way through the guards, cutting them seamlessly where possible and clawing their throats when it wasn't. The guards were of a much higher caliber than the men he and Noctis had slaughtered previously, but the amount of fight they could put up was almost the same, save for the guns they were armed with.

All the while, Clovis Adder stood in his position, directing the guards as much as he could, but understandably frustrated with the route the fight had taken. These guards were uniformed and very obviously not under Garrolt Taylor's control. They were the ones tasked with guarding the valuables of the criminals that used the bank, yet even as one of their customers looked on, they couldn't compete with two threats that were a great deal weaker than some of those they regularly did business with. By the time Adder chose to speak up, there were few guards left to mount a retaliation against the attacking duo.

In his current state, Devroux's perception of the world was still distorted. His vision was acting on a level superior to what it normally did, but the sounds of the world around him were fuzzy. Gunfire was muffled and Adder's voice barely made a mark, but everything returned to normal for his last remark.

"All right then, I'm gonna take my time. Let me show you just how bad you kids fucked up." The man was justifiably angry, the gas already beginning to seep from his body. There were guards that were still scattered around the room that could give cover fire, but in a closed room like this, the longer the battle continued, the more they themselves were at risk of being affected by Adder's nauseous gases.

They were still roughly 20 meters from Adder, giving Devroux enough time to check his status before having to worry about the gas affecting him. For the most part, he was untouched with the biggest pain being in his fingertips from the repeated clawing of throats. He couldn't move as reliably as Noctis, but the acrobatic nature of his movements made it hard to get hit, so he was only littered with cuts and scrapes throughout his body. However, nothing keeping him from taking flight if the situation ever called for it.

Devroux wasted no time making the first move. He knew his attacks weren't useful against Adder but moving the gas around was for the best. With a swing of Yoru he sent a blade of wind in the gas man's direction, easily covering the distance and displacing the gas the he had begun to expel, dragging it backwards towards the guards still stationed at his back. Adder himself was in the way of this slash and with his eyes conceitedly closed, he was struck, but yet again it had no effect and he simply resolidified in place.

Gunfire rained down on both Noctis and Devroux from the remaining guards. They had taken a moment to come to grips with what Adder was doing but had taken up arms once again. Their initial shots missed, but they were close enough to get Devroux moving again. The mink could only move around randomly trying to dodge bullets until Noctis made his move. As slow as he was, Noctis was the only one that could open up on opportunity to attack.

The blade of wind that Devroux had released had carried some of the gas back towards the guards immediately behind Adder. They had begun to cough and wheeze almost exactly like Noctis and he had during their first encounter with Clovis Adder. Yet, while they struggled to find the strength to convey cover fire for Adder and their comrades, some of the other guards hadn't been hit by the gas and were still able to get dangerously close to hitting their targets even in their movements. These unharmed guards were Devroux's first priority, even as Noctis rushed the boss with the initial blade of wind. With the gunshots becoming increasingly accurate, Devroux was playing against the clock in how fast he could take out the guards while still being around to help Noctis with Adder before death met both of them.

The attempt, however, was still made. Noctis rushed forward to butt heads with Adder head on and Devroux dove to the side, strafing around Adder's position while methodically moving towards the nearest guards. Taking out one after the other, he'd move in a counter clockwise rotating in order to move around to the guards while ignoring the ones in the middle of Adder's gas. With Noctis and Adder rotating around each other in close-range combat, this just so happened to put Devroux in the perfect position to play a major role in taking down Adder while still completing his mission of dispatching the guards that were left alive.

Noctis launched the Kiridashi towards Devroux from the other side of Clovis Adder, who dissolved through the blade and met Noctis physically for the second time in their brief exchange. Taking the hint through the den den, the mink pivoted in his dead run and ran straight for Adder, catching and tossing the kiridashi as soon as it came within reach. The knife left his hand, flying through the air and straight into the throat of the guard that was only a few meters from the trio. With the rotation of the toss, the mink spun completely around, Yoru now coursing with electro, and sent a thrust towards Adder while he was entangled with the long-legged man.

Yet, even with Noctis' extreme preparations, Adder wasn't so easily fooled by the duos' tricks. He dissolved away from the blade, releasing Noctis from his grip and letting the sword piercing through the gaseous mist. Devroux was only barely able to restrain himself before his blade would have pierced his partner, not fully expecting Clovis Adder to have dodged as seamlessly as he had. The man's eyes were pinned on Noctis during their grapple, yet he had reacted instinctively to the killing intent coming at his back. It was impressive, at least to what Devroux knew of combat so far.

The gas man reformed several meters from where they had exchanged blows. The confidence on his face that he had been displaying up until now was gone, traded out for a baffled – almost wounded – expression. His abdomen was soaked in blood, representing the wound he should have received had he not gone intangible to Devroux's strike. The mink looked on as the man clutched the wound, yet it didn't make sense along with everything that he had seen up until then.

"What did you do?" Adder asked, his voice now shaky in confusion with the situation.

The plan was to wear out his ability to go intangible, but that shouldn't have happened so soon. The exchange with Noctis was brief and he should have had plenty of time since their last meeting to regain some of his lost stamina. Devroux contemplated, but ultimately any rationalizing of the situation was pointless. The fact was the Adder was injured and, as far as he knew, their plan was working. The point was to just keep the pressure on and not let him escape.

With the guards now dealt with and Adder injured, Devroux could stretch his wings for the moment. It was only long enough to beat them a couple times and clear the area of the gas that Adder had been constantly emitting. One can only hold their breath for so long, and unlike Noctis he hadn't had to be held in place within the gas. The mink looked at his long-legged partner for reassurance that he was okay and capable of continuing.

As planned, Noctis was taking to the front line and using his rapid movements to keep Clover Adder distracted. The long-legged man was taking substantial damage in attempting to do so, but the wounds would have been far greater if his distraction hadn’t allowed Devroux to take care of the remaining guards casting cover fire for the gas man that couldn’t be hit. However, because Devroux had prioritized the guards over the plan the two had made while in the Nil District, Noctis was taking more damage than he should have all while being forced to hold his breath through all of it. Now that the guards were taken care of though, Devroux could join his partner by going on the offensive.

According to what the mink knew, Adder was beginning to tire out and that was the entire reason that the electro-coated thrust had landed a hit on him. His actions didn’t represent that of someone that was tiring out though as he began to move more assertively. Rather than staying on defense and throwing a punch when Noctis opened up, Adder was moving in a way to actively hurt the man. His natural battle prowess combined with both his sixth sense for dodging and the intangibility of his gaseous form made him the completely dominant form in the battle between the two men.

They were moving fast and while Devroux could keep track of their movements, he wasn’t throwing punches fast enough to break up their fight and give Noctis the edge he needed. He’d have to swing Yoru faster and more convincingly to make a mark in the fight beyond what was granted to him by Noctis, but acting on the openings that were granted was still extremely important given their current situation.

Devroux had leapt forward, using his wings to propel him a greater distance, just as Adder had thrust his knee into Noctis’ gut. Whilst in mid-air, the mink thrust his weapon once more, again coating it in electro for an added bonus, but this time the opening Noctis had granted him wasn’t enough. The concept evaded his knowledge as Yoru gave off a loud clank as it came in contact with Adder’s solidified form. The blade didn’t pierce the man’s skin, nor did he turn to gas.

Adder, releasing his grip on Noctis, turned around to deliver a backhand straight to Devroux’s cheek. The force of the strike didn’t deal a great amount of damage, but the strength of the man attacking and Devroux’s light build sent him flying nonetheless, toppling to the ground roughly five meters away.

“You landed a lucky shot, rodent,” Adder goaded. “It won’t happen twice.”

Normally, Devroux didn’t take to insults. They were often witless attacks by those putting on fronts, but in this instance, he had already lost to Clovis Adder once and had just been struck again, so the verbal assault left a mark. Not to mention that being called a rat, as a bat mink, was a personal insult that wouldn’t stand. The mink got up off the floor, rubbing his cheek as if it’d help get rid of the numbed feeling, before lifting Yoru into a defensive stance.

Noctis was lying at Adder’s feet, but that still allowed plenty of room for Devroux to move around and do what he would with the air. Slashing at the air in front of him, the mink released another slicing gust of wind in Adder’s direction, slightly raised off the floor as to avoid hitting Noctis, and then directly jumped into the air, beating his wings to take flight. The room was large, which allowed him to use the air for an extra vantage point. Throwing the gust of wind would clear some air for Noctis hopefully but was mostly to serve as a distraction to allow him to take flight.

Yet, even as he rose into the closed sky, Clovis Adder remained a threat. The man’s lower body turned gaseous and gravity no longer took effect, letting the man rise to meet Devroux in the sky, albeit at a slower pace. It was yet another insult to a man that believed the sky was his domain, causing the mink to rush at him at full speed, swinging Yoru at Adder’s mid-section without fear of repercussion.

Adder opted to remain solid, however, throwing up his arms to take Yoru’s slash head on. With another clang, Yoru was stopped in its tracks and deflected. Adder simply wanted to show superiority, but he wasn’t fast enough to land a hit either. Devroux could wiggle his body with the help of minor adjustments from his wings, the constant beating keeping gas from his lungs, yet he himself couldn’t land a decisive blow on Adder without Noctis’ help.

Luckily, with Adder in the air, Noctis was surely freed from a gassed area. The last problem remaining being that if the gas hadn’t taken his consciousness, he’d have to somehow reach 25m into the air in a room that didn’t grant him any walls to climb.

Adder's Haki: 5/10 (+2 per turn with Ken and Buso active)

The battle with Clovis Adder was heating up. Noctis had had his chance in the spotlight and now it was Devroux’s turn, but it wasn’t something that his partner was going to give up willingly. The wind slash given by the mink allowed the long-legged man enough breathing room to take a breath and get up, taking a powerful – yet very reckless – path to join the two fighting in the sky. As Adder and Devroux clashed with Busoshoku Haki versus an electro coated Yoru, Noctis found his chance to intervene.  

Amidst a pause in their movements, Noctis reached to grab Clovis Adder in mid-air; something that the gas man wasn’t liable to let happen. With brute force he shoved Devroux off, rerouting his haki to his leg in order to deliver a kick to the mink’s mid-section before once again returning it to counter Noctis. The Busoshoku kick delivered a force a caliber above the backhand he had given Devroux before, sending him hurling towards the ground. Devroux’ body hit the concrete floor with a gruesome thud, knocking the wind out of him and sending him tumbling for a moment. The only luck involved in the situation was the fact that his head hadn’t collided with the floor, so he was still conscious, albeit wounded.

The gas hadn’t managed to touch him, but Devroux needed a second to gasp for air and refill his lungs. Before he was fully recovered, he took a running start in order to return to the air. With a few beats of his wings he reached top speed, swooping over Noctis and Clovis Adder as they tussled together. Using his wings for their strength, he only wished to build at least a momentary current over the two to waft the noxious gas in a certain direction and relieve some of the tension on his partner. Once that job was done, the mink furled his wings and landed hard on the ground, sliding forward on the pads of his feet before catching his balance and flinging himself back in the opposite direction, again careful to keep his wings in tight to avoid pulling the air and messing up the effort he had just given.

“Let’s go, Adder. Let’s wrap this up.”

As he approached, Devroux only heard Noctis say this, unaware of the previous portion of their conversation, but it was an ironically prudent time for him to intervene in their fight. He approached Clovis Adder from the rear, gripping the hilt of Yoru with both hands in order to give a strong, two-handed horizontal slash to the middle of Adder’s back. The mink used as much strength as he could muster in an attempt to deal a decisive blow against the man that he had recently wounded, but the effort he put forth was once again met with failure as the man melted into gas around the sword. It was proof that Adder’s ability to phase through physical attacks wasn’t completely out of gas, but that other responses were only necessary if they met the proper criteria.

The sword had slid through Adder’s gaseous body, the swing carrying Devroux’s arms across like a batter swinging for the outfield. In this moment the mink caught a glimpse of Adder’s face. The man hadn’t turned to counter, but he was completely aware of the mink’s impending attack and had simply chosen not to counter it. But now, in the whole in Devroux’s form, Adder struck out with a right straight directed towards the mink’s jaw. This attack, however, was in full view. Reacting instinctively, Devroux shifted his shoulder backwards even mid-slash and tiled his head in order to let Adder’s attack pass by his neck. In the same brief moment, he decided to return the favor and bring Yoru back through the same route.

Yoru was a double-edged blade, meaning that with only a slight adjustment in grip it could slash in exactly the opposite direction. The lightweight nature of the weapon only made it that much easier to direct his full strength into the second strike, this time adding the effects of his innate electro into the blade. The initial strike had failed with the only convincing blow taking place with electro active. Adding it now wasn’t out of knowing it would be effective, but that there was no better time to test the impromptu theory than then.

Yoru, sparking with electro, struck Adder’s body with another indecisive blow. However, although another wound hadn’t been added to the gas man’s body, the sound of metal hitting metal was the only signal that Devroux needed to know that his theory was accurate. For a split second the mink’s eyes narrowed as he understood the meaning of what had happened, giving Adder the only signal he needed to take the battle a little more serious. Rather than throwing another punch at the mink or returning to melee combat with Noctis, the man emitted a large cloud of dark green gas to blanket the immediate area. The mist quickly moved out from his central position, wafting over Devroux who was right next to him and everything else within a 25-meter zone.

As the gas moved out Devroux jumped back. The sudden expulsion of such a large amount made him gasp, forcing him to inhale some of what he had avoided breathing for so long. It wasn’t a large amount, but the powerful effect of it made him light-headed almost immediately. The mink beat his wings frantically trying to clear the area and move himself out of the gas while it concealed him from his foe.

“I’m really going to fuck you both up now,” Clovis Adder shouted from cover. The man was very clearly distressed that he had a weakness as natural as electro, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

When he was finally able to find some air to take a breath, Devroux brought his hand up to his ear and clicked the den den to speak. “The electro is it. He’s still able to phase through attacks, but he has to physically block an attack that’s electro. As long as I can pierce him, it should deal damage.”

With the gas blanketing the area and Clovis Adder hiding within, the problem now was finding a way for the duo to use the information that they had. Wings and wind slashes could only do so much against such a volume of gas. Devroux thought, but the best idea he could come up with was finding something that would make Adder come out himself so that they didn’t have to chase him within.

Adder's Haki: 9/10 (only Ken or Buso left for the next turn)

Noctis and Devroux had been defeated handily by the hand of Clovis Adder back at the house in the Ninth District. The surprise reveal of his gas abilities had proven to be an insurmountable advantage for him then, made all the more so by the fact that they had fought in such an enclosed space. With the careful planning and even more careful movements, the duo had managed to pull the upper hand in the current fight with the gas man, but the man himself was doing a fair job of not letting that advantage show. The nature of his abilities meant that he could compensate for his lack of physical attributes, forcing Noctis to take the initiative in the fight and continuously absorb Adder’s focus in order to create openings and draw on his confidence.

Clovis Adder had dosed the area in a massive cloud of his noxious gas and although it had managed to get a small amount into the mink’s system, the room they were fighting in wasn’t as compact as a house. The cloud was large, yet there was ample room to move around. However, moving was only half of the problem with a gas cloud such as that, the second being that the gas man was concealing himself within. While Devroux wheezed and tried to catch his breath against the small amount of gas he had inhaled, Noctis again took to the front line in order to distract Adder; a tactic that had been employed numerous times already by both of them to try and split his focus and make combat easier.

The raw advantage that Clovis Adder had forcefully taken by expelling such a large cloud of gas from his body was nullified the second he took the bait of Noctis’ goading and let overconfidence take control. Exiting the gas cloud, the two clashed, but the few seconds that Adder spent choosing whether or not to exit is what would prove to be his downfall. The knockout effect of the gas had caused Devroux’s legs to become shaky, but the small amount and time to breath made it so he could at least fight through it and remain upright.

The mink rushed towards where Clovis Adder and Noctis had once again met with fists, Noctis now lying on the floor, but Adder turned to hit Devroux with the same air wave he had just used against the long-legged man. He was forced back, but it wasn’t an attack that seemed like it was intended to wound; more like it was a tactical type of skill meant to push people around and exert dominance. Devroux wouldn’t be discouraged, tucking his wings in tight and moving forward once again. This time, when Adder threw the gust of wind it would be met with a slicing gust from its target, cutting the attack and nullifying each other in mid-air, just long enough for Devroux to close the distance and put himself in front of Adder.

After figuring out that electro was the key to taking him down, Devroux wasn’t willing to pass up on the chance. Again, coating Yoru in electro, he struck out, swinging his blade haphazardly at the gas man that was forced to defend against it. Adder had previously showcased the ability to be able to seamlessly dodge and predict attacks like those with a sixth sense, but unbeknownst to Devroux his stamina was running dry. Clovis Adder was instead being forced to divert the remaining energy to Busoshoku Haki in order to stop the electro from landing a decisive blow.

A slash towards Adder’s neck was met with a clang from an arm block. A slash towards his mid-section was met with the same. Devroux poured on the pressure, forcing the gas man to respond to each strike lest he choose to take damage. Block after block, clang of metal on metal repeatedly reverberated through the room before it suddenly didn’t. Adder had pulled backwards to avoid another slash, but his movements weren’t fast enough to completely avoid the blade. Yoru, still coated with electro, swiped across the man’s arm delivering a shallow slice to his forearm, but it was enough for Devroux to know that he was out of energy.

Twisting his grip and adjusting his stance effortlessly, Devroux lunged forward, thrusting the electrofied Yoru at Adder’s abdomen. The gas man wasn’t nearly fast enough to dodge it, especially without the help of Kenbunshoku Haki, and the electro kept his intangibility from working as it was supposed to. The blade piercing through Adder’s gut, jutting out the man’s back. The wound wasn’t decisive enough. It was grave and eventually would prove fatal, but the nature of Clovis Adder’s abilities meant that a delayed death was the best route if he was going to die at all.

The electro could stop the man’s intangibility, but it couldn’t stop his use of gas. He started once against pouring out copious amounts of the noxious fumes into the air in order to take out anyone that chose to stick within. After the amount of slashes Devroux had thrown in order to get to this point his breath was running out but moving away meant they’d be back to square one. He had to hold Adder there and simply hope that Noctis moved fast enough to end it all before the gas could prove fatal, though the mink couldn’t spot his partner through the gaseous film.


Adder's Haki: 10/10 (He's donezo.)

The electricity coursing through Yoru extended to Clovis Adder when he was impaled, disallowing him from being able to use his intangibility. Try as he might, the man couldn’t pull himself away from the blade without causing more harm to himself than good. Dead to rites, Noctis came barreling in with a kick aimed at his chest. The solid attack would have normally dissolved Adder, but Devroux’s electro current was working for the both of them, allowing for the long-legged's charged Hakai to deal a direct blow to him, sending him reeling across the floor in a bloody finale.

Noctis was the first to move to check the corpse while Devroux swung his sword to clear the blood and sheathed it calmly where it belonged. Halfway towards his goal, Noctis collapsed to his knee, wounded. The mink managed to make it out with mere bruising thanks to his partner taking to the front and handling Adder’s frustrations, so the least he could do in repayment was check the gas man’s corpse in his stead. Devroux calmly walked over to where Adder lay, passing Noctis on his way, and overlooked the corpse. But Adder wasn’t dead.

He was lying on the ground motionless simply because he was far to injured to continue to struggle. His eyes rolled to rest on Devroux as he came near, sputtering blood rather than a full verbal response. Clovis Adder was bleeding profusely from the hole in his chest, a concave dent from Noctis’ kick accompanying the open wound. He was dead, but Devroux wanted the satisfaction of killing him for himself.

Coursing electro into a foot, he rested it on the man’s throat, gripping it tightly and making sure there wasn’t any fading to gas in a last-ditch effort to survive. With the electro keeping his body solid, all Devroux did was apply pressure, crushing the man’s throat and killing him almost instantly, making good and sure that the problem of Clovis Adder would never return. But once the deed was done, the effects of Adder’s gas finally took over. The residual air was still hanging with it, forcing Devroux to wheeze and cough as he tried to pull in air to make up for the lack thereof during the fight. Luckily, what hadn’t drifted off to the rest of the room wasn’t potent enough to knock him out completely; only strong enough to cause minor discomfort.

Catching his breath, the mink stumbled back over to where Noctis was kneeling and collapsed to the floor next to him. After the fight and the walking, the exhaustion had taken its toll and he was happy to lie down, even in the heart of an enemy stronghold.

“He’s done now,” Devroux said, replying to Noctis’ earlier question. The work had created a nudging feeling of hunger within the pit of the mink’s stomach. Be it stress eating or true hunger, he was urged to ask, “If you still have an apple, it’d be greatly appreciated.”

After a brief pause, he spoke again, “After a minute’s rest, we should probably leave before someone finds us.”

Devroux caught the apple he was tossed, quickly taking a bite, ignoring the momentary disgust with the amount of bruising. The fruit was soft and overripe, but not yet rotten and edible enough to consume, and so he did. Noctis did the same with his own apple, his face quickly distorting into disgust and tossing the apple back. His fruit must have been a great deal than the one he had kindly given away, but it was too late to offer it back now.

Noctis got up and began to collapse, puffs to gas shooting out from where his limbs began to dissolve. The scene was awe-striking as Devroux watched a man who had just been pummeled start to show signs of the man that had been able to casually glide through physical attacks. Noctis hadn’t disappeared completely, finding his way back to the material plane within a few minutes of his newfound abilities showing themselves. But the fact that he reformed only solidified Devroux’s interest in the occurrence.

The mink silently followed Noctis back to the elevator they had entered with. Along the way, he contemplated what had just happened. Noctis had somehow gained the abilities Adder had shown without learning them, but he hadn’t dealt the killing blow in order to gain them that way either. The only thing that happened between them pausing to rest and Noctis turning to gas was that they stopped for a snack. Noctis ate an apple, albeit a disgusting one.

The apple. It wasn’t much of a theory. The man’s abilities had to have transferred somehow, but to go through a fruit first? The long-legged man literally consumed superpowers? It was a ridiculous concept, but it was also the only viable theory that the mink could formulate with the information he had. The duo entered the elevator and turned to face the closing door, Devroux spotting something that dragged his mind completely away from the fantastical events he had just witnessed.

On the other side of the room, distant yet visible, was a man wearing a white suit. He and Noctis had killed everyone in the room save for a single, blinded guard and now one living witness. However, having not seen him before and without Noctis to notice, he’d never know that it was Garrolt Taylor who had watched the events unfold.


[EXIT]