Descendants of Arcana Base

Kirai: *looks up are the charging rabbit as he closes in, and suddenly, it's not Kirai anymore but a confused Mana clutching her arm from the pain and looks to Whip worriedly*
Mana: W-Whip...?

Whip: Tch!?
*Whip lands before her and skids to a halt*
Whip: M-Mana!?

*Before Whip has enough time to react, Mana suddenly takes on Kirai's malicious smirk, and the bokken-weilding warrior is pierced through his chest by excessively long nails*
Mana: I can't believe you fell for that! *her form shifts back to Kirai, who mercilessly retracts her nails from Whip's chest* I changed right in front of you, and yet you fell for it. Pathetic!

*Whip stumbles a step back. Then another. He uses his bokken as a crutch and touches his chest where the holes are, and suddenly, he looks ready to collapse*
Whip: ...I....failed?
*His eyes glaze by Kirai, where Mana's illusion used to be, and his voice regains some strength*
Whip: No...You're just... a witch....
*He clutches his bokken tightly*
Whip: ...Who messes... with people's heads...
*Whip pushes against the wooden sword and props onto his feet properly*
Whip: But I'm not going to let you get away with it!
*Whip ignores his "wounds", almost as if they weren't there, and blazes past Kirai at a near-invisible speed, again and again and again, until he's running circles around her, and rapidly starts swiping with his weapon from all directions*

Kirai: *at each strike, a wall of dark energy flares up to protect her, but she seems somewhat discouraged by his speed* Damn. I won't be able to hold out much longer... *in an attempt to end his barrage, the dark energy cocoons her in a protective sac before releasing sharp tendrils of energy in every direction*

*Whip's slew of attacks are forced to a halt by the tentacles of energy, and he jumps into a backflip far back to avoid being impaled once more, lands on one hand, pushes off, and then lands on his feet. Quickly and concisely, he charges at Kirai at top speed, skidding left and right to avoid the energy as he thrusts his weapon into the cocoon with all his strength*

*Kirai's shield shatters and the bat takes the hit to her stomach, but she attempts to retaliate by slashing her nails at Whip*

*Roaring with rage the entire time, Whip side-steps the guillotine and hacks at her again with about as much force, prepared to unleash an entire unrelenting assault on the opened illusionist*

Kirai: *in order to stop the rampaging rabbit, she creates a barrier of stone in front of her and takes to the skies in an attempt to dodge the attack* Not much longer...!

*Whip growls deeply, almost forgoing his normally calm composure, and scales the barrier with ferocity and ease*
Whip: You're not getting away from me!
*Whip leaps powerfully from the top of the stone and reaches out for her, both hands outstretched to latch onto any part of her reachable*

Kirai: *the rabbit catches her boot, to which the girl plants her other foot onto his face* Get off!!

*Stubbornly resisting her attempts to kick him off, He grips harder and, all at once, uses her to pull himself upside-down, wrap his legs around her body, and then, with all the force he can muster, swing himself back and pull her into a reverse seismic suplex, spiraling backwards multiple times into the ground*

Kirai: *unable to reorient herself, she falls victim to the attack, and is slammed into the ground painfully* Tch...!!!

*And then, from somewhere in mid-air where he'd dropped it in his rage, his bokken falls into his ready hands. Standing over the now-pinned bat, he pulls back the wooden blade as far as he can, ready to drop it on her head with full force*
Whip: Nobody hurts my Mana.
*He brings it down*

*Suddenly, an unseen force cuts Whip's bokken in half, and actual surroundings begin to filter in, revealing a red hedgehog with bangs covering his blank eyes and obsidian wings apparent*
: Kirai. It's over.
Kirai: Kimitsu! *her eyes narrow* What do you mean, over?!
Kimitsu: You're out of energy. And there's no one left to take revenge on.
Kirai: *her look degenerates to a deadly glare* You didn't!
Kimitsu: She resisted too much. I ended up killing her.
Kirai: *hisses angrily* Mana was my kill! MINE!! How could you take that away?!

*...*
Whip: ...What...
*Breath*
Whip: ...did you say?
*The two pieces of his bokken clatter uselessly on the ground*

*As Kirai's illusion fades, the crimson demon still stands to the side of the seething Kirai in the hall, with Vita and a now-freed Verve looking on in horror to Kimitsu's words. As if Whip is of no threat, he pays no attention to the rabbit and instead trains his blank gaze on Kirai*

Vita: No... Mana is...?
Kimitsu: We need to leave, Kirai.
Kirai: You killed her!? When I specifically told you-!? *her rage cuts off her words, and neither the intruders nor the Descendants seem able to move*

*Whip is at a loss for words and action, and merely stands in place, expression, unreadable. It's as if he doesn't notice the freeze that's afflicted everyone else*

Kimitsu: ...We need to go.
Kirai: Don't think you can just get away with this Kimitsu! I-

*Suddenly, everyone experiences a dulling sensation, in which it feels like they're nothing-- There is no sight, there is no sound. There is no awareness of themselves or the world around them. Just black. Pitch black that consumes them quickly and allows only room for thoughts, before suddenly everything comes into view again and the two are gone*

Vita: *blinks aware* W-What...? What was that...?

*Whip blithely steps forward, again and again with an undead gait, until he reaches the spot where Kimitsu and Kirai stood*
Whip: ...Mana....
*He collapses to his knees. His body slumps forward, and a combination of the shadows from his ears and bangs conceal his face completely. A weak twitching jolts his back every few moments, though no sound comes from him*

Verve: We... failed...
Vita: *approaches Whip and kneels next to him, rubbing his back through his grief, the only idea of comfort she has for him* ...

*Up close, Whip's shallow, discontinuous breathing can be easily heard*
Whip: ....No.... She couldn't....
*He shakes his head violently, clutches his fists, and the throws himself up to his feet and runs. He breaks for the room where he and Verve left Mana to be protected, ignoring Vita's being thrown away from him, and he doesn't stop until he's thrown the door wide open*

*Whip finds the room in ruins, and obvious signs of a fight can be seen throughout the room in forms of fallen bookshelves, shredded tomes, and pools of blood on the floor as well as the walls. To the side, a beaten and battered Mana lies stilly, a pool of blood underneath her*

*A strange noise escapes his mouth as he approaches, trembling with each step, to Mana's side. He sinks to his knees, ignoring the blood beneath him, and reaches his violently shaking hand to touch Mana's face*
Whip: ..........
*He doubles over, holding himself up on his hands and knees, and yells. His anguish escapes him through his lungs, he pauses to breathe, and he yells again. Eventually, he starts coughing, and all at once, breaks down into tears over her unrepentantly. Multiple words that could be her name, or very foul swears, try to force their way through, but nothing comprehensive leaves him*

*The feline, despite all her promises, refuses to stir and bring about some miracle, leaving Whip to his weeping. After a unmeasurable amount of time, the room is suddenly occupied by the four Descendants that the duo had worked extensively with as well as the Royal. Vita is brought to tears and begins to cry into Verve's chest, and the fox weakly rubs her back, a horribly guilty expression on his face. Psyche's hand is in Clear's, allowing him to see what he wants to see, and his expression turns to one of sympathy for the rabbit. Clear closes her eyes, not wanting to see anything anymore. Only Blaze finds the strength to approach the two*

Blaze: (for the first time upon meeting her, her voice is soft and hesitant) ...Whip. I need... I need to check Mana's pulse.