[ Jiang Cheng has never been on a mission here before, but he doesn't feel the same sense of fear and uncertainty as he's sure some of his fellows do. Although he is uncertain, definitely a little on edge, fighting of the nature he's been told about isn't unfamiliar to him. Even if it was almost twenty years ago he had fought in a war, he had fought against corpses and night creatures and all other kinds of dangerous things. He could handle this.

That's what he keeps telling himself, at least.

It's disappointing that he doesn't have Sandu with him, and that certainly makes Jiang Cheng more on edge, looking frustrated more than anything else as he takes in the rest of the equipment on offer, but he has Zidian. The ring on his finger is noticeable if only because he keeps playing with it, idly letting the fingers of his other hand stroke over the metal.

The briefing does make him uncomfortable, clear by the frown on his face, but at least he's aware of these sorts of things. Fighting demons, monsters - he can do that. For a first mission it could be worse, could be something he's entirely unfamiliar with, so at least he has some kind of knowledge on his side. From what the others are doing and saying - well. It doesn't seem like anyone else is quite as optimistic as he is, if that is even the right word for it. ]

[ The drop is uncomfortable to say the least, and Jiang Cheng feels somewhat out of his depth as he wraps his mind around being suddenly there; flying with swords is one thing, but he's still not used to the very real nature of the train and what it means to be a passenger. It's not enough of a distraction to make him completely oblivious to the creatures in front of him, though, and his eyes narrow as he takes them in.

They're there, faster than he could have anticipated, and he definitely has to breathe in to take them all in. It's not like fighting fierce corpses or night creatures or anything like that - these things are completely unknown to him, a foreign body that he hadn't even thought to imagine. He had no reference for it, nothing other than what he could picture - and that was wrong.

It's not enough to terrify him, not when he's far too used to fighting, but it's enough to put an edge of fear in him. At his side, Zidian crackles, ready for fighting. ]

[ Fighting is what Jiang Cheng knows, at least. Fighting is what he was trained to do, alongside leading his Sect, so when it comes to using his whip to put down monsters he thinks he has a good grasp of it.

It's a confusing mix between being too close and too far away, Zidian whipping across the creatures that dare to get too close, Jiang Cheng himself shouting at anyone who gets themselves into too dangerous a situation. He might not be Sect Leader here but he can't help the way that he intervenes, a natural response to working with other people - whipping the heel of a creature to stop it getting too close to someone else, moving to let Zidian crackle across a demon's skin to make sure someone else has a moment to hit a blow. It comes too naturally for him to even think about it, moving with his whip with familiar motions that shows just how trained he is with it.

The demons might have their toxic whips, but Jiang Cheng has his lightning one, and he uses it well enough. It's versatile enough to wrap around heels, necks, shapes and twists of the bodies of demons, dragging them here and there so that he can twist and kick and, hopefully, keep them far away from the city - not that he's aware of what's going on inside.

He just hopes it's worth it. ]

[ It's during the fight that something happens that has Jiang Cheng looking more like he saw a ghost than a demon. The days have been getting longer and he's not been sleeping as well as he should be - a mixture of being on edge, being somewhere new and the constant presence of too many versions of his brother to handle breathing down the back of his neck. It all comes to a head when, in the middle of battle, he can feel himself being sapped, as if the energy inside of him is being taken away.

As if someone is reaching into his chest and smothering his golden core.

It's a feeling he recognises - a different kind of intensity, a different sharpness, but something that makes him panic more than he would like to admit, the sudden fear of losing something so significant, so important, making his eyes widen and his hand shake. He goes for the nearest demon and wraps Zidian around it, bringing it close and twisting his hand to tighten, tighten - until there's no life. Even his spiritual weapon seems weaker now and he shouts, a roar of anger more than anything else, as he turns to the next one.

It's almost blind fury, but there's something sharp in his eyes; anger, but with purpose. ]

( Find him resting, refusing to eat (other people need it more!) or otherwise having a general breakdown. Feel free to PM/plurk me too! )