Untamed/MDZS catch-all

[ze_uwu_jun]

WHO: The Untamed / MDZS cast and friends (enemies, etc)
WHERE: Anywhere, everywhere, including their assigned lodgings and around all towns
WHEN: February
WHAT: Catch-all because the emotions never end
WARNINGS: The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / Mo Dao Zu Shi spoilers; canon-typical violence; event-typical violence. Will add more if it becomes necessary

ooc: Go forth and do the things as they come.

Comments

For Wangji: Heartless childe lives only for battle

[snowsparksjr]

Jin Ling had been alone when he had been attacked. He was an easy target, as imPorts went. All too eager to charge off alone at the sight of something strange. The villain had caught him and consumed his heart, leaving behind the fragments.

One of the fragments is a shadow creature, a neoshadow type with a glowing red dot at the center of its forehead and a chrysanthemum sigil on its chest. It attacks blindly, carrying a distinct gold and ivory sword.

Fairy fled when Jin Ling fell, smart enough to seek aid as soon as there was a situation her master could not handle alone. She searched the streets, barking loudly, heading in the direction of the Porter so that she could seek out other cultivators and bring them back to help.

[secondjade]

He heard the bark, first. Bichen was already drawn - two dark demons already fallen under his blade in the last hour. He still looks ethereally beautiful, the exertion apparently not changing that, but his expression is far more creased and worried than it usually was. He was not used to fighting things he’d never known, before. And these demons were something very new. So when he heard the sound of Fairy’s bark, he immediately looked up at the sound, spotting the spirit dog.

Alone.

He didn’t need further encouragement - he leapt in the dog’s direction, effortlessly crossing two dozen feet in a single leap, and then kept bounding after the dog as she led him back through the chaos.

More demons. This one, slightly bigger than the last, and in its hand—

Suihua.

He shot a sharp glance at Fairy, as if he could ask the dog where her master was, but there was something strange about this demon, too. A bright red dot on its forehead, and on its chest...

Wangji’s heart fell, his chest an empty cavern. No. The boy—-

He sheathed Bichen, unwilling to cut up the demon, and with a swift motion summoned forth his guqin instead, preparing himself.

[snowsparksjr]

The shadow had no such compunctions about attacking. It hurled itself at Wangji, ready to attack.

The stance was Jin Ling's, but the attacks were basic martial combat, no better than a common foot soldier under Jiang command. The demon had none of Jin Ling's creativity in battle.

Fairy kept barking as Wangji stopped, as the guqin came out, as though she could not understand why he had paused. She jumped, prancing back and forth, impatient to run, to take him to the alley where she had left her master. The sword--the monster and the sword didn't matter! Jin Ling was hurt!

[secondjade]

The demon attacked, and Wangji’s fingers flew over the strings, the chord assassination technique sending a shockwave of spiritual power out in an arc from him, directly at the creature. He was about to send a second when he noticed the dog was tying to get his attention.

This wasn’t what she’d wanted him to see?

At the last second, he strummed the instrument again, the shockwave stronger the second time. Either way, he had to subdue this demon. That was clear.

[snowsparksjr]

The shadow was knocked down by the attack, but it made no cry. It fell like a doll, all limp soft limbs, and then struggled up again, resuming the attack with no change in strategy. It was no match for Lan Wangji, but it knew only the blind urge to fight.

Fairy's impatience only rose, whining worriedly and looking in the direction of where she had left Jin Ling. She wanted to go to him, to check on him, but she needed the human to help!

Suddenly she made a surprised little noise, ears perking up as she heard her name called. Jin Ling was awake! She disappeared instantly, teleporting to his side... and leaving Lan Wangji without a guide and without information as to what had just happened.

[secondjade]

The dog disappeared, and his surprise caused a delay in his use of the next chord, the creature getting too close. Jin Ling’s sword lashed out, and Wangji played the chord just in time, the very last second, to throw it back. The music wasn’t hurting it, only slowing it.

The guqin disappeared, Bichen drawn in its place, and the next attack was met with metal on metal, sparks flying as he deflected the blade and then pressed close.

“Jin Ling!” He admonished, hoping the words would mean anything at all.

[snowsparksjr]

The words meant nothing. There was no recognition, no hesitation. Nothing inside the shadow but a blind need to destroy.

It attacked again and again, uncaring, untiring, and never once adapting its strategy when the same attack failed time after time.

Whatever the creature was, the imagery it bore of Jin Ling was only mimicry. There was nothing in there of the boy himself.

[secondjade]

It took nothing.

A single clear strike with his blade, Bichen’s sharp edge cutting through the thing like water.

The creature that was Jin Ling disappeared into motes of darkness, spreading around Lan Wangji like water cresting rocks.

For something that took no effort, Wangji was breathing hard when it was complete, ragged breath in his throat. He swallowed, blade lowering as he tried to process what had just happened. Had that been Jin Ling himself? A mockery of him? He didn’t know.

He searched the area, looking for any clue or sign, but found nothing. He was already turning to go back to the house - to find Wei Wuxian - when he remembered he had a way to message both him and Xichen at the same time.

Sending a voice message to both of them:

“Jin Ling. We must find him.”

Because if they couldn’t, then Lan Wangji has just killed Wei Wuxian’s only nephew.