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  1. #4306
    Astonishing Member KingofPie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Colonel Willa Rautt, the mastermind of the Red Raiders, strode fearlessly before the Golem with an air of fearlessness that came from familiarity as she led Damask on, and the sequestered company within him. Ochazuke stood at attention the moment the rock of the King's Grove began to glow with that strange light. As they followed her, Jack muttered his thoughts aloud.

    "If it weren't for what we're after..." and then the former bandit said no more.

    The Leyline feeding into this place from the outside did not stop at that deadened tree. The roots it fed burrowed death beneath the ancient shale. Damask stood where the silver light pooled with Willa at his side as his very being resonated with the old sealed magic, and they fell into the Leyline slipstream once more, and as matter twisted up with energy, suddenly everything stopped, a sense of weightlessness swept over them, and then they descended fathoms and fathoms below upon a hidden road.

    When they emerged, the darkness was total, the air stale and humid. Then slowly, the cavern began to fill with light.


    Crystal masses extended, jutting beneath a stalactite ceiling. Sourced from the same veinwork of the Grove above, now unobscured. As Willa led them, they filled with a warm light, evidently resonating with her ki, slowly revealing the under the light the scene of a meticulous, years-long excavation.

    Noiseless hover-drones worked to pick ancient treasures from the wear of eons, remnants of a world gone by. Where they stood, dark, calcified walls were pushed back by the gradual picking of the round, globous machines, revealing the skeleton of a civilization. Fluted columns fused partially with the wall, its shifted sections pushing upward, evidently in vain for something had come crashing down on this slice of the world, pushing it from the surface to below sea level. Damask's movements became more gradual, his considerable bulk allowing for nothing but the most delicate passage through the narrows, where knotted masonry etched in the dust walls of the cavern bearing the engraved images of dead, nameless kings, standing before scenes of great strife and calamity engraved behind them.
    Blizzar clutched his stomach. "I'll never get used to this method of travel. Convenient as it is..." The Arcosian paused and glanced around. It was good to have a keen eye, an appreciation, of the finer things in life. With such knowledge one could appraise much more than surface level value, to which these ruins, even to the untrained eye, would obviously rank very highly. But the value such a finding could have towards Earth as a whole was exciting to think about. These people, forced into an unwitting alliance with double-dealing talking snake had so much of their own history, their contributions to the universe at large outright lost or in some cases possibly taken from them. What a kind soul it would take to grant them access to it once more. At a reasonable rate.

    Children and the elderly get in for free...ish.

    In these artisan's memories, lost in the annals of Arthur's kingdom buried deep below the sea, sometimes it took the shape of a man, his eyes bewitching, but gradually as they stode forwards, backwards through these moments of captured time, his shape began to twist in the records of numerous kingdoms that fell to the jaws of one, well-known beast into calamity.

    "The Dragon," Ochazuke said. Even knowing what they knew now of what Evangeline did in all her powers of Guardian to push back against him, even the Martial Apostate was hesitant to say his name.

    Grinthorn.

    They'd began to cross from this chamber to an outcropping overlooking a chasm, when two power signatures began to flood in from the environs, and even where they stood within the body of the golem, they'd suddenly began to feel quite small.

    "Ours won't be the only renaissance," Willa said, as the sounds began to gather, footsteps heavy as lead, followed by a crinkling like falling ice. Held would recognize their presences visually, for they were what he'd gleaned where he'd peered through the rock and earth amid the energies collected here. Golems, one large, dark grey, a faceless effigy of a warrior cast from metal, the other mercurial, a shifting form nigh featureless where its collected presence made itself known where projections of crystal rose and faded.

    "Your brothers have finally awoken," the Colonel continued, "We've been forced to hide for so long, but now my ancestor's legacy has begun to return to this world. In time, we can get it back, Major. Everything they've taken from us, we can get it all back."

    In that moment, a pocket of light swelled. Some distance away, engraved on the far side of a chamber, the crests of animals stood alight.

    The Sign of the Ten Schools. Along with a burning ki signature.

    Red hair slick with persperiation, Kenshiko crouched as she poured energy toward the sigils, bloody gauntlets fastened over her arms and a circlet upon her brow. Silently, the Colonel simply observed with her company of the three ancient Golems.

    "It all starts from this moment."
    "...Ah. There are more, wonderful," Blizzar quipped, glancing aside at the other four. "I suppose it would be a bit far fetched to assume you have a method for controlling these creatures as well. There was a more than hint of lofty ideals buried beneath Rautt's otherwise surly demeanor. One would truly think the M-Fighters, in another time, in another place, would have had an ally in her. But lost was she to her own personal tragedies and prejudices. But lost forever, who could say? Blizzar was always willing to negotiate...when reasonable.

    And speaking of such. Damask. How much was he swayed by this, despite Jack's control, Blizzar couldn't help but wonder. The Arcosian flashed a hesitant glance, saying his thought out loud without so much as speaking a word.

  2. #4307
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Colonel Willa Rautt, the mastermind of the Red Raiders, strode fearlessly before the Golem with an air of fearlessness that came from familiarity as she led Damask on, and the sequestered company within him. Ochazuke stood at attention the moment the rock of the King's Grove began to glow with that strange light. As they followed her, Jack muttered his thoughts aloud.

    "If it weren't for what we're after..." and then the former bandit said no more.

    The Leyline feeding into this place from the outside did not stop at that deadened tree. The roots it fed burrowed death beneath the ancient shale. Damask stood where the silver light pooled with Willa at his side as his very being resonated with the old sealed magic, and they fell into the Leyline slipstream once more, and as matter twisted up with energy, suddenly everything stopped, a sense of weightlessness swept over them, and then they descended fathoms and fathoms below upon a hidden road.

    When they emerged, the darkness was total, the air stale and humid. Then slowly, the cavern began to fill with light.


    Crystal masses extended, jutting beneath a stalactite ceiling. Sourced from the same veinwork of the Grove above, now unobscured. As Willa led them, they filled with a warm light, evidently resonating with her ki, slowly revealing the under the light the scene of a meticulous, years-long excavation.

    Noiseless hover-drones worked to pick ancient treasures from the wear of eons, remnants of a world gone by. Where they stood, dark, calcified walls were pushed back by the gradual picking of the round, globous machines, revealing the skeleton of a civilization. Fluted columns fused partially with the wall, its shifted sections pushing upward, evidently in vain for something had come crashing down on this slice of the world, pushing it from the surface to below sea level. Damask's movements became more gradual, his considerable bulk allowing for nothing but the most delicate passage through the narrows, where knotted masonry etched in the dust walls of the cavern bearing the engraved images of dead, nameless kings, standing before scenes of great strife and calamity engraved behind them.

    In these artisan's memories, lost in the annals of Arthur's kingdom buried deep below the sea, sometimes it took the shape of a man, his eyes bewitching, but gradually as they stode forwards, backwards through these moments of captured time, his shape began to twist in the records of numerous kingdoms that fell to the jaws of one, well-known beast into calamity.

    "The Dragon," Ochazuke said. Even knowing what they knew now of what Evangeline did in all her powers of Guardian to push back against him, even the Martial Apostate was hesitant to say his name.

    Grinthorn.

    They'd began to cross from this chamber to an outcropping overlooking a chasm, when two power signatures began to flood in from the environs, and even where they stood within the body of the golem, they'd suddenly began to feel quite small.

    "Ours won't be the only renaissance," Willa said, as the sounds began to gather, footsteps heavy as lead, followed by a crinkling like falling ice. Held would recognize their presences visually, for they were what he'd gleaned where he'd peered through the rock and earth amid the energies collected here. Golems, one large, dark grey, a faceless effigy of a warrior cast from metal, the other mercurial, a shifting form nigh featureless where its collected presence made itself known where projections of crystal rose and faded.

    It all began to make sense to Held, the massive looming presence sensed from the world above. That enormous enigma concealed by shadow was unmistakable, both in scope and sheer power. It made him think of the tales of mighty Behemoths of Nevada, their sheer power rivaled only by their magnitude and ferocity.

    At the edge of his perception, he noticed the second Golem, evasive, elusive, slithering from one point to the next, before finding something resembling a solid shape.

    "Good Grief..." Held muttered to himself, feeling that they went from setting a trap in wait, to hiding in a box hoping desperately not to be discovered.

    I was hoping we'd get to intercept their plans before she really got going....But now if we reveal ourselves, we're at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, and those things are no joke in terms of power level...

    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post

    "...Ah. There are more, wonderful," Blizzar quipped, glancing aside at the other four. "I suppose it would be a bit far fetched to assume you have a method for controlling these creatures as well. There was a more than hint of lofty ideals buried beneath Rautt's otherwise surly demeanor. One would truly think the M-Fighters, in another time, in another place, would have had an ally in her. But lost was she to her own personal tragedies and prejudices. But lost forever, who could say? Blizzar was always willing to negotiate...when reasonable.

    And speaking of such. Damask. How much was he swayed by this, despite Jack's control, Blizzar couldn't help but wonder. The Arcosian flashed a hesitant glance, saying his thought out loud without so much as speaking a word.
    The Nevadian chuckled at his Acrosian comrades query dryly. "If we get that lucky, I think me and Jack might need to hit another Casino since his hand is hotter than ever."



    "Your brothers have finally awoken," the Colonel continued, "We've been forced to hide for so long, but now my ancestor's legacy has begun to return to this world. In time, we can get it back, Major. Everything they've taken from us, we can get it all back."

    In that moment, a pocket of light swelled. Some distance away, engraved on the far side of a chamber, the crests of animals stood alight.

    The Sign of the Ten Schools. Along with a burning ki signature.

    Red hair slick with persperiation, Kenshiko crouched as she poured energy toward the sigils, bloody gauntlets fastened over her arms and a circlet upon her brow. Silently, the Colonel simply observed with her company of the three ancient Golems.

    "It all starts from this moment."
    The Nevadian said nothing, studying the expression of the Burning Tigress. The last time they had met, her visage was one of resignation and despair. The time before that--the first time they met--it was pure hatred and fury.

    If any of those emotions remained, they lay hidden beneath the surface, resolve the only thing made manifest upon her countenance.

    Held frowned as he attempted to take so much in at once. Kenshiko was clearly preparing something, and Willa believed this to be the culmination of this effort. 'The end of the beginning' so to speak.

    The Nevadian focused his sight towards the sigils that took up so much of Kenshiko's energy and focus, attempting to discern something about the nature of them.

    "Ochazuke....Any ideas on what this is?" Held inquired. The Crane Stylist had his own method of insight, which may prove able to reveal what the Shingan could not.

    "In any case, I'll be frank." he informed his comrades, "My first instinct is....Kenshiko is at least somewhat distracted, and Willa doesn't expect anything at the moment..."

    Damask had played the perfect Trojan Horse. In a perfect world, they would be able to nullify both the warriors in sync. But....

    How much had the two grown? And what was the nature of the ritual see was undergoing? The power of the Ten Schools was something Held was only vaguely aware of through Ochazuke's concerns about the power falling into the wrong hands, and Zaofan's recounting of their travels and training within that School.

    Beyond that, it was a complete mystery to the Nevadian. If he were to take Ochazuke at his word, and assume Rutt and Kenshiko to be no fools---All of which he did--then what?

    And that was to say nothing of the two massive guardians who complicated things in their entirety. The Nevadian had no idea what they could do, let alone what they would do if the group attacked their masters.

    And yet, it seemed that with every passing moment, every moment they did not act, the advantage shifted further into the favor of the enemy.

    "If we want to take the advantage and try and break things up, I'm not sure we're going to get a better chance than this...."

    Still...I've got a really bad feeling...Being here, I really do feel like I'm in a den filled with nothing but predators...No matter how it goes, it's not going to be a fun day.
    Last edited by Miburo; 10-16-2020 at 11:42 PM.

  3. #4308

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    Blizzar clutched his stomach. "I'll never get used to this method of travel. Convenient as it is..." The Arcosian paused and glanced around. It was good to have a keen eye, an appreciation, of the finer things in life. With such knowledge one could appraise much more than surface level value, to which these ruins, even to the untrained eye, would obviously rank very highly. But the value such a finding could have towards Earth as a whole was exciting to think about. These people, forced into an unwitting alliance with double-dealing talking snake had so much of their own history, their contributions to the universe at large outright lost or in some cases possibly taken from them. What a kind soul it would take to grant them access to it once more. At a reasonable rate.

    Children and the elderly get in for free...ish.


    "...Ah. There are more, wonderful," Blizzar quipped, glancing aside at the other four. "I suppose it would be a bit far fetched to assume you have a method for controlling these creatures as well. There was a more than hint of lofty ideals buried beneath Rautt's otherwise surly demeanor. One would truly think the M-Fighters, in another time, in another place, would have had an ally in her. But lost was she to her own personal tragedies and prejudices. But lost forever, who could say? Blizzar was always willing to negotiate...when reasonable.

    And speaking of such. Damask. How much was he swayed by this, despite Jack's control, Blizzar couldn't help but wonder. The Arcosian flashed a hesitant glance, saying his thought out loud without so much as speaking a word.
    A large bead of sweat crept its way down Jack's face, and when it hit his open eye, he stuffed the blink with his hand with such smouldering irritation, it almost seemed deliberate.

    "You got your beat and I've got mine," he said, "You might be interested in whatever scoop there is on this planet, but whatever happens, I gotta live here with it, understand?"

    He'd never been the chattiest when he'd taken a smoke break, but right now there was something that put him so off he'd not seen the fault in his own condition.

    And he'd flinched.

    From all appearances that seemed to be what pissed him off the most.

    "If it gets too hot...then I'll handle it, alright? Just stay in your lane, Officer."

    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    It all began to make sense to Held, the massive looming presence sensed from the world above. That enormous enigma concealed by shadow was unmistakable, both in scope and sheer power. It made him think of the tales of mighty Behemoths of Nevada, their sheer power rivaled only by their magnitude and ferocity.

    At the edge of his perception, he noticed the second Golem, evasive, elusive, slithering from one point to the next, before finding something resembling a solid shape.

    "Good Grief..." Held muttered to himself, feeling that they went from setting a trap in wait, to hiding in a box hoping desperately not to be discovered.

    I was hoping we'd get to intercept their plans before she really got going....But now if we reveal ourselves, we're at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, and those things are no joke in terms of power level...


    The Nevadian chuckled at his Acrosian comrades query dryly. "If we get that lucky, I think me and Jack might need to hit another Casino since his hand is hotter than ever."
    The mention of bad odds seemed to cut through Jack's foggy state, pulling a small chuckle from the wandering gambler.

    "Ain't ever seen a dealer fold before 'till you brought me to Vegas. What the hell kind of a rule was that anyways, 'The House Must Win'? Gotta say though, it's easier to count the cards when you know the suits and sum of the deck."

    Suppressing a smirk, Jack cupped his hands and blew.

    "But...in this case I'd say we're playing a different game entirely."

    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    The Nevadian said nothing, studying the expression of the Burning Tigress. The last time they had met, her visage was one of resignation and despair. The time before that--the first time they met--it was pure hatred and fury.

    If any of those emotions remained, they lay hidden beneath the surface, resolve the only thing made manifest upon her countenance.

    Held frowned as he attempted to take so much in at once. Kenshiko was clearly preparing something, and Willa believed this to be the culmination of this effort. 'The end of the beginning' so to speak.

    The Nevadian focused his sight towards the sigils that took up so much of Kenshiko's energy and focus, attempting to discern something about the nature of them.

    "Ochazuke....Any ideas on what this is?" Held inquired. The Crane Stylist had his own method of insight, which may prove able to reveal what the Shingan could not.

    "In any case, I'll be frank." he informed his comrades, "My first instinct is....Kenshiko is at least somewhat distracted, and Willa doesn't expect anything at the moment..."

    Damask had played the perfect Trojan Horse. In a perfect world, they would be able to nullify both the warriors in sync. But....

    How much had the two grown? And what was the nature of the ritual see was undergoing? The power of the Ten Schools was something Held was only vaguely aware of through Ochazuke's concerns about the power falling into the wrong hands, and Zaofan's recounting of their travels and training within that School.

    Beyond that, it was a complete mystery to the Nevadian. If he were to take Ochazuke at his word, and assume Rutt and Kenshiko to be no fools---All of which he did--then what?

    And that was to say nothing of the two massive guardians who complicated things in their entirety. The Nevadian had no idea what they could do, let alone what they would do if the group attacked their masters.

    And yet, it seemed that with every passing moment, every moment they did not act, the advantage shifted further into the favor of the enemy.

    "If we want to take the advantage and try and break things up, I'm not sure we're going to get a better chance than this...."

    Still...I've got a really bad feeling...Being here, I really do feel like I'm in a den filled with nothing but predators...No matter how it goes, it's not going to be a fun day.
    Ochazuke had no immediate answer for Held as they drew closer. Though Damask had done well to maintain cover, following the Red Colonel while flanked by his brothers, the hardy pace of the stone giant seemed to be far too slow, and it showed on the martial artist's face.

    Nothing less than complete focus played over Kenshiko's face, and quite unlike the last moments of the raid years ago, fury was tempered by discipline. The Tiger Master channeled immense amounts of energy through herself, and the longer Ochazuke observed what she was doing, so there was a fearful notion of what was to come.

    "The essence of ten core techniques," Ochazuke said. The subtle interplay in her energies was pronounced in a delicate manner, rising in frayed, disparate directions, then lashing together in a united, cohesive whole. Shifting her stance, Kenshiko did little more than stir, and the entire cavern shook around them.

    The crystalline channels of the Vermilion Ruin resonated with her. They responded to each living presence as they passed by, but now awash with ki of this intensity, they carried the energy toward the wall.

    "Zaofan, Sasheem, Balon and I found something just like this halfway around the world." Ochazuke replied to Held. "From all appearances, it was a sanctuary where the Master left his mark. The standards of the Ten Schools of Zxu'ro."

    Ten symbols lined the wall in arrayed in ten points, a ring within a rings. The outer ring, starting from the top, moving clockwise: Turtle, Snake, Crane, Tiger, the sigil of the Dragon School bridged their path toward the inside.

    Five sigils, though forgotten and lost to time. The energy rounded to the Wolf, then to the Bear...

    The stone shuddered, its facets catching the light of the cavern for a moment, overlapping with a shadow. In intermittence, fading translucent for instants at a time, the wall was little more than a shape within shade, revealing a long cavern of darkness that stretched beyond, then flickered in and out of existence.

    Lion, then Phoenix filled next with the light issued through the heart of Vermilion.

    Disturbed dust and debris poured down the edges, a dark door fading in and out in a disrupted state of being. It was as if the cave itself had woken to consciousness, struggling to remember a path beyond this sealed wall, and the way beyond was almost visible now. Every time the channel neared opening, a presence thrummed past it in the waiting darkness, a swelling of enormous, sleeping power.

    "...so we found your girl," Jack muttered, "Ought to snuff her out while we have a chance."

    At that moment, Ochazuke took a step towards Jack, and the atmosphere in this confined space suddenly became all the more claustrophobic.

    "Damask," he said calmly, "Bring us closer."

    Without a further word, the Golem seemed to move reflexively.

  4. #4309

    Default Rising from Ruins

    "So you finally decided to show up, did you, Major?"

    Damask lumbered forward ahead of his company and joined Kenshiko. Strands of red stuck to the perspiration on her face, her burning eyes carrying upon a determined visage. Even peering through Damask's eyes secondhand, Ochazuke was swift to fall on guard, but when the Golem's view shift to surveying the path of the Vermilion Leyline into Zxu'ro's gate as it fluttered in and out of existence.

    "Even with the relics gathered, passage into the chamber has yet to stabilize," Willa explained. "We've been at this for hours."

    The Tiger Master let one last throw into the earth, then stood to face her superior officer.

    "We?" Her lips stretched thinned, fangs bared. Colonel Rautt stood at ease, and raised a hand dismissively.

    "I speak for our company. Now, the residual ki your student left behind, will it be enough?"

    At the Red Colonel's query, Kenshiko folded her arms, then callously kicked one of the resonant crystals toward the wall. The shining shard passed through the veiled image, this phantom path, but its light was soon swallowed up by the distant darkness.

    Suddenly, without prompting from Jack's command, Damask spoke.

    "...cannot force....the Leyline path," the Golem offered. "To chase it recklessly will lead to doom."

    A smoldering growl left the Master Sergeant as she peered into the flickering darkness before her.

    "That's why it has to be me. I'd passed the techniques on to the rest of the unit, in time, they'll teach others," Kenshiko replied. "But nothing will change if we keep going on like this."

    "The way forward is open," Willa said. "You have your orders. Go now, and godspeed."

    Standing tall, Kenshiko's battle-hardened frame shook, as if in noiseless, mocking laughter.

    "Colonel, you know just as well as I do that Kami has got nothing to do with us." Willa briefly tilt her head to one side as Kenshiko continued. "Like everything else, I'll just have to get there on my own."

    The obscured path to the secrets of the Master of the Chimera school was now revealed, a deep well of silent power calling to those who beheld it. Channeling her power into an aura that seemed to escalate to match it, in an instant Kenshiko moved in.

    "Whatever part in our destiny she has to play, I'm sure she will find it."

    As she stared ahead after the channel her Sergeant had passed through, it gradually resolved itself to a solid wall once more, nine emblems ablaze, Willa reached up and rested her hand against Damask.

    "Isn't that right, Cousin?"

    Damask's face hardly moved as she coursed the Shatterlock through his broad body. Shattering the hollow chamber, spilling Ochazuke, Jack, Held and Blizzar out into the cavern as the granite golem was torn in half. Before his legs could fall, crystalline spikes pierced through the veins in the rock and pinned them in place, leaving the Stone Sentinel to drag himself forward on his upper body, even as he lost one arm to this. Pulling forward on his remaining hand, the Golem put himself before Jack and their company in a desperate attempt to protect his sworn leige. Willa, eyes glazed, apparated her war scythe as she stared between her Guardian and her blooded quarry.

    "Fancy a smoke, do you? Had I known you'd brought others, I'd have brought you a pack."

    Jack swore under his breath as Willa raised her hand. On heavy steps, the Steel Warrior strode forward behind her.

    "Apologies, my old friend, but I know you understand most of all."

    Damask's eyes lit with a surge of power, and an inhuman yawp escaped his stony maw as he sprung his titanic remains from the ground, raising his hand up against his brother and seizing a gauntleted wrist. For an instant, the metal seemed to buckle around the stone as its grip tightened. Yet like his kin, the helmed metallic warrior's expression was unreadable.

    Then the steel softened and pooled around Damask's rocky fingers as it shifted its shape, displacing its solid form and reasserting it elsewhere as he lift the shattered torso off the ground. Where the Steel Warrior grasped, Damask was ground to dust.

    "This is bigger than any one of us, for it's our very world at stake."

    With contemptuous ease, the Steel Warrior then hurled Damask against the wall of the cavern, shattering the remains of his already broken body and condemning him to fall into the pit below like so many other forgotten relics across the ages. The stone fell, silent as it was swallowed by fathoms below, the only thing remaining in his wake the shudder of droplets that fell from the stalactites overhead.

    Pulling himself from the wreckage, Ochazuke rose and wordlessly loosed a Dodonpa from his finger at Rautt's blindside. The pick-end of her cybernetic warhammer struck out behind her into the beam, and the energy broke apart and collapsed into itself.

    "Commendable strategy, sinking your fingers into my friend and forcing him to move against us." Her repartee was bright, but her gaze was wide, hateful, and filled with a wrath that was barely held in check. "Is this your Guardian's bidding? Pitting us against each other while he marshals the world to his will?"

    Ochazuke leaned forward, his guard raised in a stance.

    "You're the mindreader, why don't you tell me," he grunted. "That's how you managed to convince your Raiders you had all the answers even as you'd poisoned their minds."

    "Did I, now?" Willa drew her weapon to the ready, her red armor shifting, giving her the look of a beast roused, determined to protect her territory with terminal prejudice. "How easily your faith is shaken. After all, it looks to me like you're the one who brought the aliens into the affairs of our world, Ochazuke."

    Willa stepped backwards, casting her hand before her, and fine, spinning shards of energy filled the cavern with an uncanny glow. One of the excavation drones they had passed earlier strayed from its automated route, and was quickly cut apart. Held would remember the technique that sank the Capsule of the World cruise ships so long ago: The thousand falling petals of the Rose Flare.

    "Thousands of years ago, this is where it all began to go wrong." To her left, the Steel Golem pushed toward them, trammeling over the broken remnants of its fallen brother. Sudddenly, behind them, a sound like cracking ice rang out as its Crystal counterpart pushed its way through the walls. Jack had only a split second to react, crossing his katchin knived together as a ki-reinforced column struck him and struck him across the chamber toward Willa, his path covered as he was swiftly surrounded by the finely controlled energy petals.

    "This time, it will end on our terms." Twisting the shaft of her warscythe, its servomotors trilled with a mechanical whirr. "Let's go."

  5. #4310
    Astonishing Member KingofPie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    "So you finally decided to show up, did you, Major?"

    Damask lumbered forward ahead of his company and joined Kenshiko. Strands of red stuck to the perspiration on her face, her burning eyes carrying upon a determined visage. Even peering through Damask's eyes secondhand, Ochazuke was swift to fall on guard, but when the Golem's view shift to surveying the path of the Vermilion Leyline into Zxu'ro's gate as it fluttered in and out of existence.

    "Even with the relics gathered, passage into the chamber has yet to stabilize," Willa explained. "We've been at this for hours."

    The Tiger Master let one last throw into the earth, then stood to face her superior officer.

    "We?" Her lips stretched thinned, fangs bared. Colonel Rautt stood at ease, and raised a hand dismissively.

    "I speak for our company. Now, the residual ki your student left behind, will it be enough?"

    At the Red Colonel's query, Kenshiko folded her arms, then callously kicked one of the resonant crystals toward the wall. The shining shard passed through the veiled image, this phantom path, but its light was soon swallowed up by the distant darkness.

    Suddenly, without prompting from Jack's command, Damask spoke.

    "...cannot force....the Leyline path," the Golem offered. "To chase it recklessly will lead to doom."

    A smoldering growl left the Master Sergeant as she peered into the flickering darkness before her.

    "That's why it has to be me. I'd passed the techniques on to the rest of the unit, in time, they'll teach others," Kenshiko replied. "But nothing will change if we keep going on like this."

    "The way forward is open," Willa said. "You have your orders. Go now, and godspeed."

    Standing tall, Kenshiko's battle-hardened frame shook, as if in noiseless, mocking laughter.

    "Colonel, you know just as well as I do that Kami has got nothing to do with us." Willa briefly tilt her head to one side as Kenshiko continued. "Like everything else, I'll just have to get there on my own."

    The obscured path to the secrets of the Master of the Chimera school was now revealed, a deep well of silent power calling to those who beheld it. Channeling her power into an aura that seemed to escalate to match it, in an instant Kenshiko moved in.

    "Whatever part in our destiny she has to play, I'm sure she will find it."

    As she stared ahead after the channel her Sergeant had passed through, it gradually resolved itself to a solid wall once more, nine emblems ablaze, Willa reached up and rested her hand against Damask.

    "Isn't that right, Cousin?"

    Damask's face hardly moved as she coursed the Shatterlock through his broad body. Shattering the hollow chamber, spilling Ochazuke, Jack, Held and Blizzar out into the cavern as the granite golem was torn in half. Before his legs could fall, crystalline spikes pierced through the veins in the rock and pinned them in place, leaving the Stone Sentinel to drag himself forward on his upper body, even as he lost one arm to this. Pulling forward on his remaining hand, the Golem put himself before Jack and their company in a desperate attempt to protect his sworn leige. Willa, eyes glazed, apparated her war scythe as she stared between her Guardian and her blooded quarry.

    "Fancy a smoke, do you? Had I known you'd brought others, I'd have brought you a pack."

    Jack swore under his breath as Willa raised her hand. On heavy steps, the Steel Warrior strode forward behind her.

    "Apologies, my old friend, but I know you understand most of all."

    Damask's eyes lit with a surge of power, and an inhuman yawp escaped his stony maw as he sprung his titanic remains from the ground, raising his hand up against his brother and seizing a gauntleted wrist. For an instant, the metal seemed to buckle around the stone as its grip tightened. Yet like his kin, the helmed metallic warrior's expression was unreadable.

    Then the steel softened and pooled around Damask's rocky fingers as it shifted its shape, displacing its solid form and reasserting it elsewhere as he lift the shattered torso off the ground. Where the Steel Warrior grasped, Damask was ground to dust.

    "This is bigger than any one of us, for it's our very world at stake."

    With contemptuous ease, the Steel Warrior then hurled Damask against the wall of the cavern, shattering the remains of his already broken body and condemning him to fall into the pit below like so many other forgotten relics across the ages. The stone fell, silent as it was swallowed by fathoms below, the only thing remaining in his wake the shudder of droplets that fell from the stalactites overhead.

    Pulling himself from the wreckage, Ochazuke rose and wordlessly loosed a Dodonpa from his finger at Rautt's blindside. The pick-end of her cybernetic warhammer struck out behind her into the beam, and the energy broke apart and collapsed into itself.

    "Commendable strategy, sinking your fingers into my friend and forcing him to move against us." Her repartee was bright, but her gaze was wide, hateful, and filled with a wrath that was barely held in check. "Is this your Guardian's bidding? Pitting us against each other while he marshals the world to his will?"

    Ochazuke leaned forward, his guard raised in a stance.

    "You're the mindreader, why don't you tell me," he grunted. "That's how you managed to convince your Raiders you had all the answers even as you'd poisoned their minds."

    "Did I, now?" Willa drew her weapon to the ready, her red armor shifting, giving her the look of a beast roused, determined to protect her territory with terminal prejudice. "How easily your faith is shaken. After all, it looks to me like you're the one who brought the aliens into the affairs of our world, Ochazuke."

    Willa stepped backwards, casting her hand before her, and fine, spinning shards of energy filled the cavern with an uncanny glow. One of the excavation drones they had passed earlier strayed from its automated route, and was quickly cut apart. Held would remember the technique that sank the Capsule of the World cruise ships so long ago: The thousand falling petals of the Rose Flare.

    "Thousands of years ago, this is where it all began to go wrong." To her left, the Steel Golem pushed toward them, trammeling over the broken remnants of its fallen brother. Sudddenly, behind them, a sound like cracking ice rang out as its Crystal counterpart pushed its way through the walls. Jack had only a split second to react, crossing his katchin knived together as a ki-reinforced column struck him and struck him across the chamber toward Willa, his path covered as he was swiftly surrounded by the finely controlled energy petals.

    "This time, it will end on our terms." Twisting the shaft of her warscythe, its servomotors trilled with a mechanical whirr. "Let's go."
    "Ugh, such a shame," Blizzar grunted, using his telekinesis to sweep off any dirt and rumble that had fallen upon during the groups' unceremonious tumble from the confines of Damask. The remains of whom were tossed into the cavernous abyss, just as unceremoniously. "Now, I feel more the fool for assuming any of this could he handled with some degree of amicability."

    He briefly looks back to where Damask's remains had been tossed. He couldn't say he cared much for the golem beyond it's existence as a living technology, a fascinating relic from the depths of Earth's history. And yet....even in a life dedicated to duty, to be be kicked to the side by it's own kin under the orders of a fanatic. But to be buried here...perhaps it would've been what the Golem wanted. In either case...

    Blizzar looked over to Held and Ochazuke. Jack was occupying Willa at the moment and thus the Golems would be left to them. Blizzar tapped his chin for a moment and glanced between the two. "Perhaps Held and I can attempt to take them on while you search for a way to tail your tigress? What say you, Ochazuke?"

  6. #4311

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    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    "Ugh, such a shame," Blizzar grunted, using his telekinesis to sweep off any dirt and rumble that had fallen upon during the groups' unceremonious tumble from the confines of Damask. The remains of whom were tossed into the cavernous abyss, just as unceremoniously. "Now, I feel more the fool for assuming any of this could he handled with some degree of amicability."

    He briefly looks back to where Damask's remains had been tossed. He couldn't say he cared much for the golem beyond it's existence as a living technology, a fascinating relic from the depths of Earth's history. And yet....even in a life dedicated to duty, to be be kicked to the side by it's own kin under the orders of a fanatic. But to be buried here...perhaps it would've been what the Golem wanted. In either case...

    Blizzar looked over to Held and Ochazuke. Jack was occupying Willa at the moment and thus the Golems would be left to them. Blizzar tapped his chin for a moment and glanced between the two. "Perhaps Held and I can attempt to take them on while you search for a way to tail your tigress? What say you, Ochazuke?"
    The light swelled within the crystals embedded within the cavern as Willa's Rose Flare swelled to bloom, a sea of ki shards separating the group from Jack as the Red Colonel advanced on him, the broad hammer end of her war scythe raised as the gambler threw up his guard as it came down, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Willa struck through the plume, shattering a part of the ancient foundation in the follow through, and it seemed this Grave Magic had done the trick, until Jack was forcefully re-apparated the moment his presence struck the wall of thorn and petals suspended in the air detonated, throwing him out of his vaporous state and blowing him backwards to Willa.

    Through the hole in the screen of explosively charged ki petals, they could see Jack's right arm and sider were bloodied from the impact, before the Rose Flare reassembled itself, and through the torrential screen of violet, violent energies they saw Jack spring away, just barely a step ahead of his distant cousin as they clashed.

    It was not more than a few yards away, yet it seemed so far as The Iron Soldier advanced on them, its arm shifting into a greatsword.


    "I'd say I would, provided I could get there," Ochazuke said, before turning about face and cleaving the edge of his hand through a crystal spire.

    The shards were sent flying, then suddenly arrested their momentum as they flew and seemed to sink into the nearby wall, and shot out a barrier of crystal spires that coalesced into a bladed wall between where they stood and the Gate of Zxu'ro.

    The second of these earth-spawned opponents was less manifest than the other, but its presence seemed to be more immediately detectable by their ki sense. It seemed higher than their own, but more than that, even as Ochazuke struck it, it did not diminish , only recede to a hollow shape racing through the light, coursing a path within the rows of glassy protrusions rising from the rock-veins. The Crystal Phantom traced through the spiderwebbed rock, followed by a faint crackling...

    Then, silent but for the scraping of its joints, the Iron Soldier brought its blade down upon Blizzar.

  7. #4312
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post


    Damask's face hardly moved as she coursed the Shatterlock through his broad body. Shattering the hollow chamber, spilling Ochazuke, Jack, Held and Blizzar out into the cavern as the granite golem was torn in half. Before his legs could fall, crystalline spikes pierced through the veins in the rock and pinned them in place, leaving the Stone Sentinel to drag himself forward on his upper body, even as he lost one arm to this. Pulling forward on his remaining hand, the Golem put himself before Jack and their company in a desperate attempt to protect his sworn leige. Willa, eyes glazed, apparated her war scythe as she stared between her Guardian and her blooded quarry.
    The Nevadian grunted as his body impacted to stone below. They were made, perhaps from the very start. By waiting to strike, it seemed as if they had allowed Willia to spring a trap of her very own, under less than ideal circumstances.

    He looked upwards---



    Damask's eyes lit with a surge of power, and an inhuman yawp escaped his stony maw as he sprung his titanic remains from the ground, raising his hand up against his brother and seizing a gauntleted wrist. For an instant, the metal seemed to buckle around the stone as its grip tightened. Yet like his kin, the helmed metallic warrior's expression was unreadable.

    Then the steel softened and pooled around Damask's rocky fingers as it shifted its shape, displacing its solid form and reasserting it elsewhere as he lift the shattered torso off the ground. Where the Steel Warrior grasped, Damask was ground to dust.

    "This is bigger than any one of us, for it's our very world at stake."
    ---Just in time to see Jack's protector, Damask, turned into so much rubble. Despite Damask being a mere automaton as far as Held could tell, he felt displeasure at his loss. They hardly were friends, but he had crossed paths several times before. Infact, they had met upon the Capsule Of The World, the cruise ship that heralded his chance meeting with Jinzi and Zaofan, and the start of his journey. In that sense, Damask served as an momento, as needless as it was. It was then that Held realized the nature of his displeasure.

    With that, Held pushed such thoughts from his mind.


    With contemptuous ease, the Steel Warrior then hurled Damask against the wall of the cavern, shattering the remains of his already broken body and condemning him to fall into the pit below like so many other forgotten relics across the ages. The stone fell, silent as it was swallowed by fathoms below, the only thing remaining in his wake the shudder of droplets that fell from the stalactites overhead.

    "Did I, now?" Willa drew her weapon to the ready, her red armor shifting, giving her the look of a beast roused, determined to protect her territory with terminal prejudice. "How easily your faith is shaken. After all, it looks to me like you're the one who brought the aliens into the affairs of our world, Ochazuke."

    Willa stepped backwards, casting her hand before her, and fine, spinning shards of energy filled the cavern with an uncanny glow. One of the excavation drones they had passed earlier strayed from its automated route, and was quickly cut apart. Held would remember the technique that sank the Capsule of the World cruise ships so long ago: The thousand falling petals of the Rose Flare.

    "Thousands of years ago, this is where it all began to go wrong." To her left, the Steel Golem pushed toward them, trammeling over the broken remnants of its fallen brother. Sudddenly, behind them, a sound like cracking ice rang out as its Crystal counterpart pushed its way through the walls. Jack had only a split second to react, crossing his katchin knived together as a ki-reinforced column struck him and struck him across the chamber toward Willa, his path covered as he was swiftly surrounded by the finely controlled energy petals.

    "This time, it will end on our terms." Twisting the shaft of her warscythe, its servomotors trilled with a mechanical whirr. "Let's go."
    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    He briefly looks back to where Damask's remains had been tossed. He couldn't say he cared much for the golem beyond it's existence as a living technology, a fascinating relic from the depths of Earth's history. And yet....even in a life dedicated to duty, to be be kicked to the side by it's own kin under the orders of a fanatic. But to be buried here...perhaps it would've been what the Golem wanted. In either case...

    Blizzar looked over to Held and Ochazuke. Jack was occupying Willa at the moment and thus the Golems would be left to them. Blizzar tapped his chin for a moment and glanced between the two. "Perhaps Held and I can attempt to take them on while you search for a way to tail your tigress? What say you, Ochazuke?"
    His train of thought was disrupted no sooner than it had began. Blizzar spoke his name, snapping him from his stunned state from the impact upon the stone, and the unexpected reversal of their fortunes.

    "Attempt is certainly the key word." Held replied with a grumble, pushing himself up from his knees, into a standing position more becoming for a warrior.

    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    The light swelled within the crystals embedded within the cavern as Willa's Rose Flare swelled to bloom, a sea of ki shards separating the group from Jack as the Red Colonel advanced on him, the broad hammer end of her war scythe raised as the gambler threw up his guard as it came down, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Willa struck through the plume, shattering a part of the ancient foundation in the follow through, and it seemed this Grave Magic had done the trick, until Jack was forcefully re-apparated the moment his presence struck the wall of thorn and petals suspended in the air detonated, throwing him out of his vaporous state and blowing him backwards to Willa.

    Through the hole in the screen of explosively charged ki petals, they could see Jack's right arm and sider were bloodied from the impact, before the Rose Flare reassembled itself, and through the torrential screen of violet, violent energies they saw Jack spring away, just barely a step ahead of his distant cousin as they clashed.

    It was not more than a few yards away, yet it seemed so far as The Iron Soldier advanced on them, its arm shifting into a greatsword.


    "I'd say I would, provided I could get there," Ochazuke said, before turning about face and cleaving the edge of his hand through a crystal spire.

    The shards were sent flying, then suddenly arrested their momentum as they flew and seemed to sink into the nearby wall, and shot out a barrier of crystal spires that coalesced into a bladed wall between where they stood and the Gate of Zxu'ro.

    The second of these earth-spawned opponents was less manifest than the other, but its presence seemed to be more immediately detectable by their ki sense. It seemed higher than their own, but more than that, even as Ochazuke struck it, it did not diminish , only recede to a hollow shape racing through the light, coursing a path within the rows of glassy protrusions rising from the rock-veins. The Crystal Phantom traced through the spiderwebbed rock, followed by a faint crackling...

    Then, silent but for the scraping of its joints, the Iron Soldier brought its blade down upon Blizzar.
    "Look alive!" Held shouted to the Arcosian, as he sprung from his position. The Acrosian found himself being sent flying to the right by a push kick from the Nevadian, using Blizzars body to force himself backwards, flipping head over heels to avoid the Iron Soldiers blade.

    We don't have time to waste. Kenshiko's on the move and we're running out of time....We're hemmed in with those Giants, and Willa...

    In the middle of his somersault, he threw three capsules behind him, and with a puff of smoke they erupted.

    Three spears appeared. Two long, silver and gold spears, along with a second silver spear, half the length of the others. Their points pierced the ground below as they landed upright.

    The Nevadian landed feet first, somewhat heavier than he would had he not moved to assist his comrade, stumbling slightly backwards, his mighty spears acting as a wall to balance him.

    Well, here we go....

    He reached to his sides, gripping the handles of the silver spears, preparing for battle.

  8. #4313

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    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    "Look alive!" Held shouted to the Arcosian, as he sprung from his position. The Acrosian found himself being sent flying to the right by a push kick from the Nevadian, using Blizzars body to force himself backwards, flipping head over heels to avoid the Iron Soldiers blade.

    We don't have time to waste. Kenshiko's on the move and we're running out of time....We're hemmed in with those Giants, and Willa...

    In the middle of his somersault, he threw three capsules behind him, and with a puff of smoke they erupted.

    Three spears appeared. Two long, silver and gold spears, along with a second silver spear, half the length of the others. Their points pierced the ground below as they landed upright.

    The Nevadian landed feet first, somewhat heavier than he would had he not moved to assist his comrade, stumbling slightly backwards, his mighty spears acting as a wall to balance him.

    Well, here we go....

    He reached to his sides, gripping the handles of the silver spears, preparing for battle.
    Quick instincts pushed Blizzar through a forceful dodge as Held's maneuver parted the both of them from the Steel Sentinel's blade, that for its size seemed to fall in an uncanny silence. The speed of its blade parted the air before sound could be imparted, stopping just short of clipping the stone floor of the cavern with mechanical precision.

    Its power was difficult to measure exactly, but the way its featureless helm moved, it was clear its perception matched the power it brought to bear.

    The more visible energy seemed to travel through the very earth around them, an abstract shape slithering through the jeweled path veining the rock. It circled around the three of them as easily as a shark threshes the waters for its prey.

    And further along, the sound of steel clashing upon steel echoed further down the cavern, energies clashing as the Red Colonel pursued her quarry, and the storm of fluorescent petals bloomed as it followed.

    Then from the walls, twisting spires of crystal shot in from either side of their group. Ochazuke threw out a series of Flash Cutters, in response, and their razor-edges burrowed and twisted around the spikes, sawing them into fragmented diamond-dust that diminished their reach. Suddenly, they began to flicker, and disappeared as they were absorbed.

    "We need to get past them," Ochazuke said, "and then there's Jack. Willa has not been idle, and he has something she wants."

  9. #4314
    Astonishing Member KingofPie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    It was not more than a few yards away, yet it seemed so far as The Iron Soldier advanced on them, its arm shifting into a greatsword.


    "I'd say I would, provided I could get there," Ochazuke said, before turning about face and cleaving the edge of his hand through a crystal spire.
    "Quite," the Arcosian, narrowed his eyes, taking a fighting stance as he faced down the iron monstrocity.

    The shards were sent flying, then suddenly arrested their momentum as they flew and seemed to sink into the nearby wall, and shot out a barrier of crystal spires that coalesced into a bladed wall between where they stood and the Gate of Zxu'ro.

    The second of these earth-spawned opponents was less manifest than the other, but its presence seemed to be more immediately detectable by their ki sense. It seemed higher than their own, but more than that, even as Ochazuke struck it, it did not diminish , only recede to a hollow shape racing through the light, coursing a path within the rows of glassy protrusions rising from the rock-veins. The Crystal Phantom traced through the spiderwebbed rock, followed by a faint crackling...

    Then, silent but for the scraping of its joints, the Iron Soldier brought its blade down upon Blizzar.
    The goings on briefly distracted Blizzar, that he nearly didn't catch the blade of the golem before him, swinging down on him with a swiftness he did not entirely anticipate.

    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    "Look alive!" Held shouted to the Arcosian, as he sprung from his position. The Acrosian found himself being sent flying to the right by a push kick from the Nevadian, using Blizzars body to force himself backwards, flipping head over heels to avoid the Iron Soldiers blade.

    We don't have time to waste. Kenshiko's on the move and we're running out of time....We're hemmed in with those Giants, and Willa...

    In the middle of his somersault, he threw three capsules behind him, and with a puff of smoke they erupted.

    Three spears appeared. Two long, silver and gold spears, along with a second silver spear, half the length of the others. Their points pierced the ground below as they landed upright.

    The Nevadian landed feet first, somewhat heavier than he would had he not moved to assist his comrade, stumbling slightly backwards, his mighty spears acting as a wall to balance him.

    Well, here we go....

    He reached to his sides, gripping the handles of the silver spears, preparing for battle.
    Luckily, Held's sudden kick was enough to get him out of the way, thought Blizzar didn't quite appreciate the kick's suddenness. "OOF!" Blizzar spat, clutching his side as he shot the Nevadian an irritated look. "A simple warning will do next time, my friend."

    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Quick instincts pushed Blizzar through a forceful dodge as Held's maneuver parted the both of them from the Steel Sentinel's blade, that for its size seemed to fall in an uncanny silence. The speed of its blade parted the air before sound could be imparted, stopping just short of clipping the stone floor of the cavern with mechanical precision.

    Its power was difficult to measure exactly, but the way its featureless helm moved, it was clear its perception matched the power it brought to bear.

    The more visible energy seemed to travel through the very earth around them, an abstract shape slithering through the jeweled path veining the rock. It circled around the three of them as easily as a shark threshes the waters for its prey.

    And further along, the sound of steel clashing upon steel echoed further down the cavern, energies clashing as the Red Colonel pursued her quarry, and the storm of fluorescent petals bloomed as it followed.

    Then from the walls, twisting spires of crystal shot in from either side of their group. Ochazuke threw out a series of Flash Cutters, in response, and their razor-edges burrowed and twisted around the spikes, sawing them into fragmented diamond-dust that diminished their reach. Suddenly, they began to flicker, and disappeared as they were absorbed.

    "We need to get past them," Ochazuke said, "and then there's Jack. Willa has not been idle, and he has something she wants."
    "Agreed," he stated, turning his attention towards the Iron Golem and rearing an arm back. "Let's start with you, my metallic friend." Dashing forward while keeping low to the ground, he let off a high speed hook at the iron golem's ankles in an attempt to not the creature off balance.

  10. #4315
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Quick instincts pushed Blizzar through a forceful dodge as Held's maneuver parted the both of them from the Steel Sentinel's blade, that for its size seemed to fall in an uncanny silence. The speed of its blade parted the air before sound could be imparted, stopping just short of clipping the stone floor of the cavern with mechanical precision.

    Its power was difficult to measure exactly, but the way its featureless helm moved, it was clear its perception matched the power it brought to bear.

    The more visible energy seemed to travel through the very earth around them, an abstract shape slithering through the jeweled path veining the rock. It circled around the three of them as easily as a shark threshes the waters for its prey.

    And further along, the sound of steel clashing upon steel echoed further down the cavern, energies clashing as the Red Colonel pursued her quarry, and the storm of fluorescent petals bloomed as it followed.

    Then from the walls, twisting spires of crystal shot in from either side of their group. Ochazuke threw out a series of Flash Cutters, in response, and their razor-edges burrowed and twisted around the spikes, sawing them into fragmented diamond-dust that diminished their reach. Suddenly, they began to flicker, and disappeared as they were absorbed.

    "We need to get past them," Ochazuke said, "and then there's Jack. Willa has not been idle, and he has something she wants."
    Good Grief....This situation gets worse and worse by the second.

    They went from having the element of surprise, to being enveloped in a most dangerous trap. In his periphery, he could sense one of their number encircling his companions and himself, content to keep them contained for the moment, but poised to strike in an instant.

    Ochazuke was correct, he surmised. There was the slightest divide. The Serpent and the Gargantuan one before them, made for a powerful duo, impeding their progress with their very presence. And yet, Jack was not so stymied, and they paid him little mind as Willia went about her work.

    It almost seemed as if destroying Held as his companions had almost as much value as containing them.

    Why would it not be? With every moment that passed, Kenshiko and Willa became closer to their goal, and thus victory was achieved on their end.

    The Nevadian focused the might of the Shingan upon the Serpent, swimming freely within the earth like eels beneath the sea.

    He gripped his Spear tightly as he plucked it from the earth, taking measure of his target in the time it took to blink.

    The Long Silver Spear was hoisted overhead a moment later, aiming marginally ahead of the path the Serpent took. Hitting it squarely, or causing it to collide against the weapon; Both were acceptable to the Nevadian.

    Piercing Horn!

    The weapon flew from Held's hand, gliding through the air with terrifying speed and precision as it went towards it's unseen prey.

    I've never been spear fishing on this planet, come to think of it.....I suppose this is as good a time as any.

  11. #4316

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    Deeper into the subterranean kingdom, a thick haze bloomed, and pursuant razor's petals swiftly cut through the veil. Colonel Rautt's heavy footsteps echoed as she stalked, her scythe held at the ready.

    Suddenly from the side, flames shot from Jack's mouth as he flew in with a Hot Streak! The Gambler's wildfire rose with all the fury that remained in the cigarettes he hadn't smoked, only to be trumped by Willa's hand as the Shatterlock split straight down the middle as she grappled with him using a single arm.

    "That smoke, I've only heard rumours of it," she mused, "Grave Magic, was it, little Cousin?"

    Jack, his left arm dangling limp, bared his teeth as he sucked in a breath, and with a flash swiped a katchin blade across Willa's gauntlet, forcing a release.

    "Yeah, well some of us make good on our second chances," he said, "Or don't you know going down the same old road is what's called crazy!"

    The Red Colonel stripped the armour from her hand. The strike was deep enough to draw blood in a shallow cut on her forearm.

    "Don't be so sure. Sooner or later, I always get what I want, and you have something that belongs to me."

    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    "Quite," the Arcosian, narrowed his eyes, taking a fighting stance as he faced down the iron monstrocity.

    The goings on briefly distracted Blizzar, that he nearly didn't catch the blade of the golem before him, swinging down on him with a swiftness he did not entirely anticipate.

    Luckily, Held's sudden kick was enough to get him out of the way, thought Blizzar didn't quite appreciate the kick's suddenness. "OOF!" Blizzar spat, clutching his side as he shot the Nevadian an irritated look. "A simple warning will do next time, my friend."

    "Agreed," he stated, turning his attention towards the Iron Golem and rearing an arm back. "Let's start with you, my metallic friend." Dashing forward while keeping low to the ground, he let off a high speed hook at the iron golem's ankles in an attempt to not the creature off balance.
    Blizzar's knuckles struck the metal dead on, a clean shot, but the Iron Soldier seemed to not so much as budge. Much like its departed brother, Damask, its body was indeed built of rather mundane elements, but something imbued within it from times long past, that same force which animated it, carried with it the golem's true source of power.

    Ordinary metal would have buckled, yet like the body of a ki-adept, its properties were enhanced accordingly.

    Still, the Iron Solder was molded and constructed, and as Blizzar's hook landed, he could feel the gaps of the joint close, and its movement seized, if only for a moment. It was not one solid piece, but an series of interlocking parts.

    And it was uncannily quick, as its other boot swiftly drove up to punt the officer.


    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    Good Grief....This situation gets worse and worse by the second.

    They went from having the element of surprise, to being enveloped in a most dangerous trap. In his periphery, he could sense one of their number encircling his companions and himself, content to keep them contained for the moment, but poised to strike in an instant.

    Ochazuke was correct, he surmised. There was the slightest divide. The Serpent and the Gargantuan one before them, made for a powerful duo, impeding their progress with their very presence. And yet, Jack was not so stymied, and they paid him little mind as Willia went about her work.

    It almost seemed as if destroying Held as his companions had almost as much value as containing them.

    Why would it not be? With every moment that passed, Kenshiko and Willa became closer to their goal, and thus victory was achieved on their end.

    The Nevadian focused the might of the Shingan upon the Serpent, swimming freely within the earth like eels beneath the sea.

    He gripped his Spear tightly as he plucked it from the earth, taking measure of his target in the time it took to blink.

    The Long Silver Spear was hoisted overhead a moment later, aiming marginally ahead of the path the Serpent took. Hitting it squarely, or causing it to collide against the weapon; Both were acceptable to the Nevadian.

    Piercing Horn!

    The weapon flew from Held's hand, gliding through the air with terrifying speed and precision as it went towards it's unseen prey.

    I've never been spear fishing on this planet, come to think of it.....I suppose this is as good a time as any.
    The Shingan successfully tracks the path of the entity as it moved through the rock, and when the bolt of silver struck its path, it seized.

    The spear had struck an ethereal body and left it pinned in place...and sudddenly the cavern itself began to tremble, the crystal spires seeming to swell in place, rising through shifting rock into a fearful shape.


    The silver spear had affixed the Serpent into a body of that strange, ki-reactive mineral, the shaft sticking out of its throat. Light gathered in its crystalline maw as it hurled a projection of hard, constructed energy at him, like white fire gathered in the shape of a blade lashing out from its fangs.

  12. #4317
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Blizzar's knuckles struck the metal dead on, a clean shot, but the Iron Soldier seemed to not so much as budge. Much like its departed brother, Damask, its body was indeed built of rather mundane elements, but something imbued within it from times long past, that same force which animated it, carried with it the golem's true source of power.

    Ordinary metal would have buckled, yet like the body of a ki-adept, its properties were enhanced accordingly.
    "..." Blizzar paused, as if frozen in time. "Ah...a miscalculation on my paaaaar-!"

    Still, the Iron Solder was molded and constructed, and as Blizzar's hook landed, he could feel the gaps of the joint close, and its movement seized, if only for a moment. It was not one solid piece, but an series of interlocking parts.

    And it was uncannily quick, as its other boot swiftly drove up to punt the officer.
    "-aaaaaargh!" Blizzar shouted, launched into the ceiling by a swifter-than-expected kick from his metallic foe. His carapace was possibly the only thing protecting him from a cracked or worse internal injury but it wouldn't hold for a long against too many more direct physical assaults, Blizzar wagered. It seemed he had vastly underestimated what he was facing. It was no simple golem but a complex mechanism or perhaps many mechanisms, working together in tandem in ways he perhaps could not comprehend without the assistants of one more specialized in scientific endeavors.

    Such ingenuity, lost to Earth's people, it was a shame really. Ant to think...if there was somehow a way to reproduce it, he could revolutionize the planetary defense system he'd developed for Earth. Blizzar peeled himself off of the ceiling, figuring if perhaps he could bait it into revealing a bit more of how it worked, he could find a way to conquer it. He launched himself forward, facing the Iron Soldier once more and hovered a few feet from the ground before adopting his Dirty Gamble stance. His posturing now loose and appearing more open somewhat, the glint in his eyes may have made it seem as if he were about to throw a punch but nothing betrayed his aim.

    Suddenly without warning, he swung his left, his target not entirely certain but it was assuredly somewhere on the Golem's body. The right shoulder, the left, or the upper torso.

  13. #4318
    Lin Kuei Grandmaster Sub-Zero MKA's Avatar
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    Default The Seditionist

    Quote Originally Posted by Sub-Zero MKA View Post
    “I'm not sure if you heard, but there was a... disturbance on Callion. They quashed it themselves, but it almost was a thing we needed to deal with here.”
    The next day, Sarada traveled to Callion to not only assess the damage done to the viceroy’s home with her own eyes, but to also speak with the would-be seditionists who had the stupid and foolhardy idea to try and overthrow Vocado’s government. The more sensible Callion Saiyans, led by Callion herself, quashed the uprising themselves before the rebels had a chance to even think about engaging Vocado’s army.

    The will of the people was loud and very clear. They wished to stay within the Empire and reap the benefits of membership. So far, things were looking better than they ever had during Pinrit’s rule. She would admit to no small mote of pride that her provisions and reformations were already having positive consequences. Just from flying over the main streets, she was seeing more half-breeds freely walking outside with their heads held up high than she did the last time she was there. That time was also the first time she had ever been there.

    Her declaration the day before in the Meat Market and display of her newfound power reached the far edges of the empire. As she walked through the streets en route to the prison, people stopped and stared. It wasn’t the first time she had been stared at; the last time was more due to the woman walking beside her. That time, the gazes were more sneering and brimming with xenophobic mockery. Accompanied by insults and the display with the execution of the half-breed painted and done up to resemble Ishtar, these people left no doubt how they felt. Currently? They were practically cowering in fear.

    She felt no small bit of amusement at the sight of people gawking in shock and awe. As much as she wanted to gloat, it wasn’t becoming. Not anymore. Maiz’s words to her months ago after her first meeting with Pinrit still rang in her head. She needed to act more like a Queen who happened to be a teenager and less like a teenager who happened to be sitting on the throne. Mocking people because they weren’t as strong as she was would have been inappropriate, even if they had it coming.

    The prison was a nondescript white building with large silver doors leading inside. It only had one floor above ground, which had no windows with the exception of a pair of large panes in the front. The majority of the prison was underground, like all Saiyan prisons. There were enough cells to house over a thousand inmates comfortably. Any more and problems would arise. Any further inmates were sent to one of the four spare prison planets that were kept just for the purpose of housing any overflow.

    “Your Highness,” greeted the officer sitting at the front desk.

    Sarada nodded once. “Is the prisoner ready?”

    “I would say so.” He gestured at a pair of officers, prompting them to escort her down to the lowest level of the prison, where the most powerful prisoners were kept. It also happened to be where the majority of Pinrit’s rebels were being held.

    Each of the ten underground levels housed one hundred prisoners. Each cell was equipped with triple reinforced walls and power dampeners. The guards wore mechanical bracelets that negated the effects of the power dampeners, allowing them to maintain the upper hand.

    Prisoners were treated well, all things considered. They were given three square meals a day, a warm bed, three hours of television time, and limited access to training facilities to keep their strength up. It was one of the few things that had been uniform across the Saiyan worlds even before the empire was established. Rehabilitation was the aim of incarceration. It was Sarada’s goal to increase the rate of rehabilitation of inmates to at least 75% in five years. Currently, it was at 58%. Not bad, but it could have been much better.

    The elevator car stopped on the final floor. The doors opened, introducing to Sarada a loud and rowdy commotion. Dozens of voices joined together to create a nearly deafening roar of defiance. At the head of it all, to the surprise of absolutely no one, was Pinrit. He was banging on the blue energy wall keeping him enclosed in his cell and screaming at the top of his lungs. His words were too unintelligible for her to understand what he was saying, but she still felt that it was nothing worth anyone’s time.

    “Tch, animals,” one of the guards snarled just before Sarada’s presence caught his attention. “Your Highness!”

    Sarada nodded and began to move toward the end of the hall where Pinrit’s cell was located. Every time she passed by a cell, the boisterous cries of the occupant petered out into complete silence. Every time, until the only person still speaking out of turn was Pinrit; even he had been reduced to a mere mumble, as if speaking in a library.

    She stopped a few feet from his cell and simply stared inside. For a time, she said nothing.

    It was the first time she had laid eyes on Pinrit in person since their tumultuous meeting a few months ago. She couldn’t help but wonder if the rebellion and attempt at a coup could have been prevented if she had handled the meeting better. Insulting him didn’t help, that was for sure. If she had, as Maiz said, cajoled him into seeing things her way, maybe the sedition could have been avoided.

    At that point, that thinking was nothing more than playing the what-if game. She hadn’t handled it well, and the sedition had happened. Mato told her Pinrit and his were charged with treason, a crime punishable by death if she saw fit. She probably shouldn’t have come to a decision so quickly. It was a serious thing, as was the death penalty. Even if she didn’t like Pinrit, or Callion as a whole, she wasn’t going to take it lightly.

    It was Pinrit who broke the silence first. “Well, if it isn’t the mighty Super Saiyan,” he spat. “Come to shove your newfound power in my face?”
    “You’ve been a real pain in the ass, Pinrit,” she said in response. “A coup, hm? Quite the ballsy move; more than I thought you were capable of.” She was almost impressed by the sheer audacity. “Sedition carries a death penalty, as you well know.”

    “It doesn’t matter,” he said despondently. “You and Mato and the rest of the fools on Vocado have completely killed everything that made us so feared.” He frowned and looked away. “The Saiyan race as we know it is dead and you killed it.”

    Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You don’t get it. Those things that made us feared are the same things that made us weak. I’m trying to return us to our former glory, the glory we basked in before Otatop fucked everything up. We can’t get there until we rid ourselves of all the toxic mentalities that were doing nothing but hindering us.” She frowned as she regarded him. “Pinrit, your planet is looking better. It’s not good, but it’s better than it was a year ago. Your children are learning with up-to-date textbooks and teaching techniques. People are training with modern philosophies and are getting far stronger in a few days than they used to in several months. People are working, making money, buying goods and stimulating the economy. Everything about this world has improved leaps and bounds. Why do you keep trying to stymie Callion’s growth?”

    He didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

    She knew why and didn’t let up. “The philosophy you espouse with such reverence reduced us to a shell of our former selves. Before I ran off, a time when the old ways were still very much enforced, Tasure was still the strongest Saiyan alive with a battle power of only 70K. The Saiyans during Vocado’s day were all in the hundreds of thousands. Even the children were strong.” She shook her head. “Otatop cut our balls off and called it our birthright. All we have now is unfounded pride in garbage strength. Most Saiyans will die without surpassing 1K. Most can’t even dream about reaching the pinnacle of our race.”

    Her power suddenly swelled as her golden aura exploded to life. If she hadn’t had anyone’s attention, the legendary form attracted whatever eyes had been directed elsewhere. Her cold green eyes bored mercilessly into Pinrit, who was even more speechless than he had been mere moments ago. “Is this what you’re willing to toss away to placate your empty pride, Pinrit? This could be you, if you work hard enough. If could be anyone. If someone like me, a CTC washout and a slave who ran away from her fate, can become a Super Saiyan, surely a king can. Or, have you become so complacent that you would rather mire in mediocrity? Anything to keep from accepting that the previous way of life was wrong, right?”

    Sarada kept her gaze on him for a silent few moments. The entire time, he looked at the floor and trembled with anger. Or, perhaps it was the struggle to maintain his faith in what he believed in in the face of overwhelming evidence that those beliefs were wrong. Regardless, she felt she gave him more than enough to think about.

    Her power fell away and her hair returned to its natural brown hue. Without another word, she turned on her heels and departed.

    Pinrit wasn’t someone worth executing. Quite the opposite, in fact. He had the ear of the people on Callion, or at least he thought he did. Whether he actually did or not wasn’t particularly important to Sarada. She intended on keeping him alive so he could have a change of heart. It was going to take a while, but she felt she hit him right where her words would hurt the most: his pride in his power. He was still the strongest person on Callion, but in the face of a Super Saiyan, he might as well have been a child.

    That was her goal, to turn her most vocal detractor to her side. If he came, he would bring most of the others with him. When that happened, it was going to be full steam ahead toward a brighter and more unified future.
    DBM | Sarada | Parsley

    ROLL TIDE ROLL!

  14. #4319

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    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    "..." Blizzar paused, as if frozen in time. "Ah...a miscalculation on my paaaaar-!"



    "-aaaaaargh!" Blizzar shouted, launched into the ceiling by a swifter-than-expected kick from his metallic foe. His carapace was possibly the only thing protecting him from a cracked or worse internal injury but it wouldn't hold for a long against too many more direct physical assaults, Blizzar wagered. It seemed he had vastly underestimated what he was facing. It was no simple golem but a complex mechanism or perhaps many mechanisms, working together in tandem in ways he perhaps could not comprehend without the assistants of one more specialized in scientific endeavors.

    Such ingenuity, lost to Earth's people, it was a shame really. Ant to think...if there was somehow a way to reproduce it, he could revolutionize the planetary defense system he'd developed for Earth. Blizzar peeled himself off of the ceiling, figuring if perhaps he could bait it into revealing a bit more of how it worked, he could find a way to conquer it. He launched himself forward, facing the Iron Soldier once more and hovered a few feet from the ground before adopting his Dirty Gamble stance. His posturing now loose and appearing more open somewhat, the glint in his eyes may have made it seem as if he were about to throw a punch but nothing betrayed his aim.

    Suddenly without warning, he swung his left, his target not entirely certain but it was assuredly somewhere on the Golem's body. The right shoulder, the left, or the upper torso.
    Pursuing Blizzar where he had been booted away, the Iron Soldier lift its right shoulder back, its sword braced to swing soon.

    Thus, the Dirty Gamble's strange punch struck the closest target, the Golem's left shoulder.

  15. #4320
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Deeper into the subterranean kingdom, a thick haze bloomed, and pursuant razor's petals swiftly cut through the veil. Colonel Rautt's heavy footsteps echoed as she stalked, her scythe held at the ready.

    Suddenly from the side, flames shot from Jack's mouth as he flew in with a Hot Streak! The Gambler's wildfire rose with all the fury that remained in the cigarettes he hadn't smoked, only to be trumped by Willa's hand as the Shatterlock split straight down the middle as she grappled with him using a single arm.

    "That smoke, I've only heard rumours of it," she mused, "Grave Magic, was it, little Cousin?"

    Jack, his left arm dangling limp, bared his teeth as he sucked in a breath, and with a flash swiped a katchin blade across Willa's gauntlet, forcing a release.

    "Yeah, well some of us make good on our second chances," he said, "Or don't you know going down the same old road is what's called crazy!"

    The Red Colonel stripped the armour from her hand. The strike was deep enough to draw blood in a shallow cut on her forearm.

    "Don't be so sure. Sooner or later, I always get what I want, and you have something that belongs to me."



    Blizzar's knuckles struck the metal dead on, a clean shot, but the Iron Soldier seemed to not so much as budge. Much like its departed brother, Damask, its body was indeed built of rather mundane elements, but something imbued within it from times long past, that same force which animated it, carried with it the golem's true source of power.

    Ordinary metal would have buckled, yet like the body of a ki-adept, its properties were enhanced accordingly.

    Still, the Iron Solder was molded and constructed, and as Blizzar's hook landed, he could feel the gaps of the joint close, and its movement seized, if only for a moment. It was not one solid piece, but an series of interlocking parts.

    And it was uncannily quick, as its other boot swiftly drove up to punt the officer.




    The Shingan successfully tracks the path of the entity as it moved through the rock, and when the bolt of silver struck its path, it seized.

    The spear had struck an ethereal body and left it pinned in place...and sudddenly the cavern itself began to tremble, the crystal spires seeming to swell in place, rising through shifting rock into a fearful shape.


    The silver spear had affixed the Serpent into a body of that strange, ki-reactive mineral, the shaft sticking out of its throat. Light gathered in its crystalline maw as it hurled a projection of hard, constructed energy at him, like white fire gathered in the shape of a blade lashing out from its fangs.
    The Nevadian found himself transfixed by the sight, for only a moment. He had high expectations for whatever sailed the earthen sea beneath...

    But he had never expected the sheer mass and might of the Leviathan that had emerged. It's crystal carapace was quite study, able to withstand even the might of Held's ki enhanced spear blow, and what more, it seemed to be assimilating some of that energy into it's own form.

    It was bewildering, and terror would have taken hold of a less resolved mind, it's focus scattered to the seven winds.

    For Held, that fear was instantly ground into nothingness by calm, graceful, resolve, a mind only concerned with how to accomplish it's goals.

    Not that the Serpent had any intention of allowing the Nevadian to contemplate such a mystery, as it loosened it's breath of sword and flame.

    Instinct took over, only informing the mind as the Held dashed to meet the attack, spear in hand. Perhaps that was for the best, as the mind would have stopped to consider the variables. The speed of both Serpent and Warrior, the intensity of the attack, the risk of failure---

    As things were, such details were mere background information. The Sight of the Shingan, and a Warrior's Intuition, strengthened over countless life and death encounters made such calculations mere justifications.

    If it took my spear like it was nothing, there's no guarantee any of my other ranged attacks will be more effective, especially if it goes beneath the surface....

    At the moment when a clash between flesh and power seemed inevitable, the Nevadian dropped backwards and down into a baseball slide legs first towards the enemy, his spear tucked beneath him.

    The spear dug it's point into the ground, and the Nevadian pressed it deeper into the earth, propelling himself upwards at a diagonal angle, slightly below the area the Serpents breath targeted.

    Unicorn Knows No Restraints!

    Energy amassed itself around the legs of the Nevadian as he corkscrewed towards the Dragon, or more precisely the spear embedded within the dragons armor. If his throw was insufficient, perhaps the entire mass of the ki enhanced projectile that was his body would be enough to allow the blade to pass through, hitting upon the tip of the shaft like a hammer upon a nail.
    Last edited by Miburo; 01-13-2021 at 01:23 PM.

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