[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami had no love for the cold, in fact her attire was not particularly well suited for it. The black bodysuit that covered much of her body, while admittedly sexy, was only as insulated as could be. It kept out the elements, it didn't mitigate them entirely. A scarf would have been prudent, but Izanami had not had such a luxury given that infernal earth-chan had whisked her off on another mission shortly after she accepted. "When I find that stupid floating disk again, I'm gonna give it a piece of our mind." Izanami muttered to herself, conversing with one of her mechanical dragon heads. It nodded in silent acknowledgement, the other gently breathing a steady jet of flame to keep its mistress warm.

"I am aware you're hungry, we'll find something to eat." She muttered irritably at the other head, still acting as her personal space heater. Her D.R.A.G.O.N. hungered for the living, she couldn't explain it. Any creature would do. Crushed between steel fangs and mechanical jaws, swallowed up and converted into crafting materials and abilities. Like some kind of cybernetic chimera. Izanami didn't fully understand the depths of these abilities, but she did long to kill and eat powerful monsters. To gain their strengths and steal their abilities, the thought made her mouth water and she found herself licking her lips.

Only the sound of battle snapped her out of her daydreaming. The clang of steel and the dying screams of a goblinoid creature. Izanami's nose twitched, she could smell the blood and steel in the air. A slight smile crossed ruby lips, and she turned to head towards the origin of the noise. It didn't take long to reach the clearing, some woman hunched over a defeated creature. "Were you gonna finished that?" Izanami asked, approaching with a heavy sway to her hips. She walked with a confident saunter, first impressions important even in the mountain cold. Her one maw ceased breathing fire, and the other leaned down to scoop up the goblin into its mouth. Shoveling it in, along with plenty of rock and dirt like the bucket of an excavator. It bit down once, there was a sickly snap and a spray of blood, before the mangled creature was swallowed up whole to be assimilated.

"Izanami Ryūzaki..." She extended her actual hand to shake, arms and hands clad in a cybernetic exoskeleton. The metal warm to the touch from her internal systems. "Warrior, Adventurer, Soldier-for-Hire, I'm sure you're used to this song and dance." Her gaze shifted to her left dragon head, the one now dripping blood and dirt from between its fangs. "Yeah yeah, I'll introduce you too." Her gaze turned back to the stranger, slightly more irritated. "And this is D.R.A.G.O.N., it's an acronym. One says hello, the other wants to eat you too." She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, mentally scolding her cybernetic appendages.

[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]"Yeah... I tend to have that effect on people." Izanami said with a sigh. How the stranger hadn't heard her coming was impressive given the fact she stomped around in several tons of metal. "Don't mind if we do." Izanami added as her maw made a meal of the kill. She was fortunate she didn't actually taste whatever D.R.A.G.O.N. happened to eat, though she did get a sense of satisfaction out of i6. Her armor seemed to use whatever material and biomass it consumed to repair, upgrade, and fuel herself and it. Which was good, cause Izanami didn't need fusion cells or whatever other high tech power source she'd hazard such a set of armor might need to run on.

"You get used to it." Izanami added, patting the maw affectionately like a loyal pet. It seems to beam with adoration, despite lacking in any facial features and with limited range of movements. Izanami shook the woman's hand. "Pleasure to meet you too, Argent." Her grip was strong, even minus her armor, Izanami now boasted superhuman strength. Mostly to wield said armor, but that was besides the point. "No." She replied flatly, disappointment clear in her voice. "Only rocks, trees, and cold." Her bloodied maw belched a fiery 'burp' at the word cold.

She couldn't help but snicker as Argent stumbled over how to address Izanami and her armor. "We, us, you. I'm not picky, it's a confusing situation. D.R.A.G.O.N. itself has two personalities, split between the heads. But, it's still subservient, they have free will but also cannot ignore my commands or violate my instructions. No more than your hand can violate the instructions of your brain but your leg still twitches on its own." In every way D.R.A.G.O.N. was a part of her now. "Regardless, I'd love to party up."

Izanami looked at her wrist, as a digital interface appeared like a hologram. Clicking through it she accepted the invite, only for her attention to snap to Argent upon her declaration. "Oh I'm always ready." Izanami replied, her tone darkening as she clenched her fists in anticipation. Her maws slammed once against the ground, then let out a deafening metallic roar. "Rip and tear!" Izanami decried, rushing her foes headlong with fangs bared. "RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!"

All but throwing herself at the Frostlings, Izanami pounced the first one she could reach. Grabbing it by the neck with an armored hand and slamming it down into the snow. Her right hand quick to begin pummeling it in the face. It's compatriots rushed to try and free their kin. Her twin maws latched onto the torsos of two assailants. One bashing it repeatedly against the ground as the other trashed violently in the air like a dog with a chew toy. Izanami seemed completely oblivious to the blood splattered across both her body and her armor in the carnage of the melee.

[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami looked up from the mangled frostling pummeled beneath her in the snow. "I got here, when I got here. Earth-chan said kill, so I went to kill!" Her tone was sharp and agitated, Izanami was not fully herself in combat. It was when she cut loose. Leaping up from her kill, she came down with a crash slamming her twim maws in the snow. The shockwave sent several frostlings flying, with several more crushed beneath her. One tried to make a sneak attack from behind, charging her with spear in hand. Her metallic tail lashed out and skewered it between the eyes.

"Level is just a number! Rip and tear until it is done!" Again she repeated her mantra, turning in place and throwing the skewered frostling with the momentum as it soared into its companions. D.R.A.G.O.N. was half the reason Izanami had acclimated so quickly to this new world. It handled much of her combat performance, each head acting semi-autonomously unless directly controlled. One raised itself to shield her from a volley of arrows, the other unleashing a jet of flame on the frostling archers who dared take aim at her. "Crush... Kill... Consume..." Izanami muttered under her breath, speaking through gritted teeth. As she moved across the battlefield her armor snatched up defeated foes, snapping them in two and swallowing them up. Fuel for her rampage's momentum.

Izanami raised a hand to shield her eyes from the flash of light. A beam emitted from Argent's lance piercing clean through a frostling. "Gotta get me one of those." She said with a sneer, envious of the weapon. A part of her wondering if it could be integrated into D.R.A.G.O.N.'s systems. Though she shook her head, dispelling such thoughts. They were partied up, they were allies. Focus on the enemy. She turned and planted her feet, using her tail as a brace to form a tripod as her twin maws raised up to shoulder level and unleashed twin beams of flame ahead of her. The snow in the path of their blast was melted away leaving an unnatural line in the terrain. Any frostlings caught in the attack were currently very much on fire.

[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami didn't humor Argent's reaction with a response, too focused on the thrill of combat to fixate on her bad attitude. Every slash of her clawed gauntlets, every slam of her armored maws, every lashing from her tail or stomp from her feet. It all got the blood pumping like nothing in her life before. Even the frostling blood dripping over her outfit was intoxicating. The scent of blood filling her nostrils, spurning both herself and her armor to greater heights of ferocity.

"D.R.A.G.O.N.…" Izanami spoke matter of factly. "Dynamic Raiment Augmented for Grand Operational Neutralization. It is adaptive armor designed for the intensity of battle, and little else. All utilitarian or egalitarian functionality is stripped out in place of raw martial prowess." Izanami slumped her shoulders, that twin fang blast had taken a lot out of her. Black smoke vented out the backs of D.R.A.G.O.N.'s maws, and wisps of black smoke poured out her own mouth. Her breathing for more labored as she allowed herself a moment to recover.

"It runs on anything organic as a fuel source. Biomass. Flesh, blood, bones. It isn't picky, and neither am I. And it uses anything inorganic to repair itself. Stone, metal, plastics. Raw ore seems to work best, but that's hard to find." As she spoke one of the armor's heads was systematically biting the spear tips off the slain frostling's weapons, the other devouring their bodies wholesale. "The main advantage of this is I can eat crafting materials, ripping them straight from the monsters I kill. Absorbing their powers, their strengths, their abilities. Making them my own." In that way she was more a chimera than a dragon, and amalgamation of the strongest foes slain and the most recent monsters consumed. "I hope these frostlings give me their agility... but I really hope we find something bigger to kill."

Izanami was still eyeballing the trinket as Argent recounted her affection for the item. "Upgrade it into a twin linked set of blaster cannons." She teased, licking her lips. Both of D.R.A.G.O.N.'s heads trained on the trinket. She then scoffed, batting a hand dismissively. It was rude to eat people's items, or people for that matter. She'd have to settle for frostlings for now. Maybe she would ask Argent where she got it from, and go track down her own. After this mission at least, one armored step at a time.

"Yes, they do that." Izanami said as Argent seemed impressed by D.R.A.G.O.N.'s wrath. She clenched a fist and smacked it against her chest, as Izanami coughed up more black smoke. "Heartburn." She admitted aloud, voice a bit raspy. "D.R.A.G.O.N.'s armor-core is buried in my chest." Her eyes locked onto Argents, the jokes about Izanami's chest wrote themselves. "And not there either, next to my heart." She stood up and arched her back, arms pressed against the small of it. Izanami had rested enough, all systems were nominal, energy reserves full. It was time to press on.

"You and I have very different definitions of 'clean.'" Izanami joked, the clearing was slick with blood and burnt corpses she deigned to consume. She gave a curt nod, beginning to trudge forward in plodding steps. Speed was not Izanami's forte, strength was. "Yes. I hunger for battle. We should press on." It was as literal as it was metaphorical. For Izanami coming off the bloodlust of combat was like coming down from a high. Everything seemed dulled and muddied by comparison. Adrenaline was her drug, and her armor assured she received plenty of it.

As the two continued their trek, Izanami glanced over at Argent. "No. Explain." She stated harshly, not longer in the mood to mince words not that she had come down off her battle high. Arms folded beneath her impressive bust and dragon heads pointed down at the ground at her sides. She knew what a combo was, but she didn't know what a 'combo' was. Earth-chan and its damned augmented reality was like a videogame with no instruction manual. And Izanami couldn't just look up a guide online. So she listened keenly to whatever Argent had to say. If anything it gave her something to focus her mind on, droning out D.R.A.G.O.N.'s ceaseless whispers. At least until she found more enemies to slay, and the thrill of combat returned.

[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]A chuckle escaped ruby lips, Izanami shook her head and tossed back her hair. "Yeah, most just stick to that." Her armor's full name was a mouthful, the only reason she even remembered it was because the armor-core was uplinked into her mind. Hence the 'neuralization' part of the acronym. What it thought, she felt, what she thought, it recorded. In a lot of ways it was now like her backup brain. Like an external hard drive... imbedded in her chest, containing a battle hungry AI. Izanami didn't dwell on it much.

Izanami glanced over at the knife, as did both maws. Studying it with eyes and sensors but seeing nothing too out of the ordinary. "Moon powers?" She replied simply, wondering what exactly moon powers entailed. As Argent slashed the blade around in demonstration, Izanami raised a hand, and a maw, to shield her face. "Just keep it to yourself. My body is armored, my face isn't." She did not want to learn if D.R.A.G.O.N. could regenerate facial injuries if she could avoid it.

The normally stoic Izanami blushed slightly as Argent recounted her blade's origins. It had been hers before everything changed, which sounded familiar. Too familiar to be coincidence. "D.R.A.G.O.N.'s armor-core was the same for me. Before the change it was... well." Her blush deepened, and she turned to avert her gaze. "It was a Mecha Cyber Solar Dragonzoid Action Figure, the 78cm tall die-cast plastic model based on the Solar Dragon Ranger's Mecha Cyber Dragonzoid from season two of the series. Limited production run, mint condition, single digit serial number." She coughed into her hand. "D.R.A.G.O.N., show her." The near maw to Argent snapped open wide, its teeth acting like hologram emitters, displaying a spherical hologram within the diameter of its open jaws.

Within the holographic sphere was projected the model of the original Mecha Cyber Dragonzoid toy, which then began to glow. Then the curvaceous silhouette of Izanami appeared, arms outstretched like a default model T-Posing. The action figure condensed into a seamless orb, which moved to overlap Izanami's chest on the diagram. Out from it circuity and wiring rapidly coursed through her body. Rewriting organs, integrating with muscle, skin, nervous tissue, even organs. From her upper back sprouted the harness that contained her mechanical tail, her twin maws, and exhaust vents. The display then showed all of this retracting back within her, the armor-core pulsing ominously as D.R.A.G.O.N. awaited reactivation.

"That's the gist of it." Izanami said as the hologram faded, her right maw snapping shut once more. Her expression turned to a scowl at the remark. "I have a cybernetic set of jaws that happily eats creatures twice my bodyweight in one bite. Nothing about me is healthy. But your organs aren't made of nano-woven carbon fiber steel now either." She coughed up more smoke, it always tasted greasy and oily in her mouth. "Heartburn monster. Very funny, we're all laughing." Neither she nor her parasitic AI were laughing, her voice was completely deadpan. "Just a high core temp is all. D.R.A.G.O.N. puts out a monstrous amount of heat. This weather is actually good for my cooling systems, even if it still makes my skin cold."

Izanami was too proud to admit Argent's idea wasn't completely stupid. Something with a high heat resistance would help her greatly in that department. Maybe a lava monster, or a literal dragon. Possibilities abounded, as she contemplated a future meal to rip and tear. Turning her attention back to Argent as she offered up a situation report. "The caves. Something big hopefully lives there. Like a bear, or a troll... something worth consuming that isn't a stupid ice goblin." If frostling was all she walked away with after this mission, Izanami would consider it a total failure.

Listening to Argent ramble on, Izanami felt for the first time outclassed, as the woman rattled off abilities and techniques. A hand rubbed at her chin, the other resting on a broad hip. Her tail's constant swishing the only thing giving away her agitation as she studied the conversation with eyebrow raised. "I see." Came her only response beyond nods of acknowledgement. "I just have this." She held up one of her maw's close to Argent's face. The teeth began to rotate rapidly, making the mouth akin to a set of enormous chainsaws.

"Like I said, [Rip and Tear]. I was being literal. This is how I extract crafting materials from stronger monsters. You do not want to be hit by it." She began to count on her fingers as well. "I'm also swimming in passives. [Core Activation] to block damage, [Hardened Scales] to reduce physical and fire damage taken, [Dragonflame], [Harmonize Trait], [Enhanced Activation], you get the idea." Izanami paused, her stomach growling, "Just need to rip and tear more powerful monsters. Fill out my Armor Trait Slots."

[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami looked confused by the reaction. "I bought it. That's how I got it." One hand on her hips, the other gesturing as though it were obvious. "It cost more than a luxury car. I used my allowance that week." Argent still wasn't getting it. "Izanami... Ryūzaki. Ryūzaki. Yamata Ryūzaki. Ryūzaki International." She would pound it into her skull if that's what it took. "Father's company made everything before the Event. Electronics, cars, ships, planes, high speed rail, weapons for the military." She sighed, now she was making herself miss it all. "Not that any of that matters anymore. Japan is lost to us, and I haven't seen either of my parents since E-Day."

All this talk of the past was making her sentimental. "Yeah." Izanami added flatly, inspecting her armored maws. "Your brother has good taste. I hope he's safe in all of this." The jaw opened and snapped shut, as if she was clenching and unclenching her hand. "Well, most media companies are gone. Hell, most countries are gone. No ones exactly making much of anything anymore. Everyone's just, trying to get by. We all are pawns in a game by you-know-who." She wasn't going to invoke the wrath of Earth-chain, that thing was like an AI boogeyman even if it acted all cute. The power to reshape the world and it acted like this was all a game. Maybe one day she could devour it, and put right all that was put wrong. Maybe...

As the two approached the cave, Izanami couldn't help but smirk at Argent's reaction to her blades. "Right." She repeated the woman's reaction with a haughtiness to her tone. "Rip and tear." She added playfully, snapping together the jaws making a rather horrific sound as chainsaw teeth gnashed against each other. "You're not wrong though. Crush, Kill, Consume. Fight, Kill, devour. More missions, more battles, more monsters. No different as what you're doing just with extra steps." And hopefully extra payoff. Izanami paused as she inspected the cave entrance. "I don't need luck, I have D.R.A.G.O.N.." She replied, brightening the intensity of the lights and LEDs that illuminated her armor. Enough to serve as a curvaceous torch inside the dimly lit ice cave.

She followed along her companion, red glow illuminating the cave. Listening to every crack and shudder of ice. Her high heeled feet puncturing ice at her feet with each piercing step. "I like this cave less inside of it." Izanami whispered under her breath, she didn't like to consider the repercussions of her fire on its structural integrity. When Argent spoke up, she killed her lights. Nodding as she, and her twin maws, inspected the beasts. She gestured with her hands, mechanical appendages remaining still and motionless as not to make a sound. "I'm only good at the direct approach. I couldn't sneak my way into a convention for the blind."

Izanami pointed to the pillar, then to the ground below it. "I'll draw them there, you be ready to strike. Oh, and I may not have told you everything." She added, holding out her arm to demonstrate. Black carapace covered her hand and forearm, denser and stronger like a suit of ebony scales. "Dragonscale. Active ability. I can take a beating, but I'm indestructible. Let's make sure we make this quick or I'll run out tools. My cooldowns are not short."

Waiting for Argent to sneak off, Izanami mentally checked over her systems in preparation. Fuel: 98%, Reserve Fuel: 100%, Combustibles: 100%, Armor Integrity: 100%. She breathed out, slowly. Sometimes battle required more than savagery. It required tactics, precision, stratagem. Discretion was the better part of valor as they say. Izanami stepped forward, lights brightening back up filling the chamber with a soft red glow. "HEY DUMB AND DUMBER, OVER HERE!" Izanami yelled, hands cupped over her mouth. Her metallic jaws revved up, chainsaw teeth spinning as she gnashed them together. The two heads let out a deafening metallic roar. If that didn't get the brute's attention, nothing would. Izanami took her stance, as the hulking creatures began to lumber towards her angered by the intruder within their territory.

[attr="class","adrie-c"]

[attr="class","adrie-img"]

[attr="class","adrie-img2"]

[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami braced herself to halt the charge of the two lumbering beasts, only for Argent to make her move. The first slumped over dead, gone in an instantly. She was loath to admit she was impressed. That left one running at her, which was good. It meant she had fewer limbs she needed to grapple. Izanami took a wide stance, her tail helping to anchor herself like a tripod. The yeti collided with her, as she raised D.R.A.G.O.N.'s maws to catch the impact. The yeti and Izanami locked grips, its meaty paws slamming into her mechanical jaws with enough force to drive her back.

Metal talons and claws on her armored boots made a sound like nails on a chalkboard as she was pushed back. Her armor's passive absorbing most of the direct impact. She grit her teeth, eyes locked with the taller creature. The two opponents each grappling to overpower the other. Izanami being pushed back slowly by its brutish strength. The yeti let out a roar, slobber and rancid breath washing over her face. She responded in turn, spitting in its eye before her tail dislodged from the ground and came striking over her head like a scorpion's tail. It pierced through the yeti's eye sock, causing the beast to howl in pain. Izanami smirked, as she began to rev the chainsaw teeth of her jaws. "Rip and tear."

Latched tight around the yeti's wrists, D.R.A.G.O.N.'s jaws began to saw through fur, flesh, and bone. It made a terrible sound, though not as awful as the beast's howls of pain and rage. It tried to pull itself away, blood squirting from a ruined eye socket as it wretched itself free of her tail. But it was too late, Izanami's jaws sawed the creature's hands clean off. They fell as a bloodied mess, before her jaws moved to lock tight around its neck. Closing tight, grinding with hellish fury until the yeti's head from removed from its body. It's decapitated corpse crashed forward, Izanami stepping back not to get crushed. "Well, that was fun." She said contently, wiping some of the blood from her leotard with one hand as she held up its head with the other. "And this, is a much more fitting meal than frostlings." One of D.R.A.G.O.N.'s maws clamped tight round the head, crushing the skull between its jaws and swallowing it up whole.

Izanami hopped up onto the body, sitting down to rest for a moment as her maws began to make good progress on devouring the corpse. Tearing off large chunks of fur and flesh. "You my friend, do an enormous amount of damage." Izanami admitted, pointing her finger accusing at Argent. "Remind me never to tell you to watch my back." She said with a sneer, before exhaling sharply. "Gimme a moment, gotta catch my breath. Cooldowns..." Steam hissed out the exhaust vents on the back of her armor, all the while she tried to listen for anything approaching. Which was, admittedly hard over the sound of running chainsaws.