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  1. #4351
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post

    Certainly Lieutenant Blizzar's clever mind and shrewd acumen for negotiating circumstances to his favour benefit him in more avenues than business. From Held's view, he'd brought Willa into his element, though the Red Colonel was not without an answer for the pugilist.

    Notably, The same energy that kept Jack's wounds open now coloured Colonel Rautt's ki, concentrating from the source of it held by her side in her left hand: a longsword with a gleaming blade. Although edge to pommel it seemed rather plain for an artifact of such portent, its power lay within its inner qualities, which synchonized uniquely with her aura and augmented her abilities severalfold.

    Now with Jack out of the fray, the shards of ki that were separating them seemed to move on her command and moved autonomously towards Held, a bloom of fragmented razor petals threatening to detonate where they touched.
    Well, this was a new trick.

    Held had faced Willa before, and it became apparent her technique had evolved. As far as Held knew, she could direct her shards or allow them to ride the wind and exist as a deterrent of sorts.

    And yet, here they were, actively seeking after the Nevadian. He idly wondered if she had directed them for a moment, but the intimate encounter between herself and Blizzar left little time for nuanced control, let alone enough to easily focus an intricate technique against a barely visible Held.

    And yet, it was theoretically possible...But it was hard to imagine the Colonel had improved by such a magnitude. And yet here she was trading blows with Blizzar and incapacitating Jack with ease. Such assumptions were perhaps unfounded in light of new realities.

    Hate was a powerful motivator, as it were. To Willa, the Nevadian and all alien life was seen as invaders focused on nothing more than having this planet bend the knee.

    Which....Was not entirely untrue in a sense, when one--

    Wait, what? Focus. This isn't the time for politics and diplomacy...

    He freed himself from his pontification, attempting to discern the correct course of action.

    The jig was up. The Nevadian sprung from his hiding space, sealing the hole beneath him as his feet touched the ground above. Leaving Jack easily exposed would be far too risky, lest his rest be interrupted by a storm of rose shards.

    Of course, the same problem existed as things were, with Held standing essentially a few yards above where Jack lay, separated by the repaired bedrock. It would have been far too risky to stay still.

    Still, Held felt a slight bit of unease despite himself. The way that weapon melded with Willa did not go unnoticed, although it became increasingly harder to tell what was the energy of the blade, and of it's wielder as time went on.

    ....Is she trying to keep me away from her, or trying to herd me closer.....Well, it doesn't matter...We're on a tight schedule.

    The Nevadian charged towards the barrage of fragments, short spear in hand. His eyes locked onto the scattered shards as he prepared for what may come.

    He would have to pass through them to get join the battle in earnest, it seemed.
    Last edited by Miburo; 07-21-2021 at 07:25 PM.

  2. #4352
    Astonishing Member KingofPie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    As Jack fought to hold on to consciousness, Held's healing aura went to work and put the young man back on the mend. Slowly where the glow reached, the compound fractures in his legs reformed between sinew and skin, and fragmented surface of his shattered right arm began to knit itself together.

    Everything, that is, except for the slash wounds on his left arm and the puncture wound through his left lung. There was something, a sort of microcosm imbued within his flesh that was rejecting the healing energy, like a stent of thorns fixed between the bleeding.

    Like some sort of curse.



    With the Lion's Mane compromised in its activity from the break in her focus, Blizzar's ki-reinforced hook catches Willa stiff across the face, breaking through the barrier with a clean shot. A spray of blood shoots from the Colonel's mouth as he rakes his knuckles across her jaw, the hit taking her off guard enough such that she dropped the hammer from her right hand.

    However, she then planted her feet, and as her empty hand bundled into a steely, gauntleted fist, she squared up and immediately return fire straight into Blizzar's body.


    Buckling her much taller opponent over, she spoke her next words directly into his ear.

    "Seems you're used to skimming off the top, Officer, to recoup your costs," she said, "but you've never had to dig before!"

    With her hand buried in his abdomen, Blizzar could feel energy creeping into her hand, an aura of violence that began to gather silently there and threatening to creep into his armour, the start of the Shatterlock Fist...
    "Dig?" Blizzar almost scoffed amidst the strugglr. "Dear woman, my entire life has been pulling myself up...from...the...dredges...the castaways of society..." he continued, each syllable a struggles as his mind raced with how to push back the inevitable tide of power heading his way. "Ever...since...I was...."

    Small. He was going to say, but from the abrupt end of his speech came an idea. He disengaged as much he could. Knowing he only had seconds to react before the blow came, he made his move quickly. Before Willa's fist could connect, she would find her target rapidly shift in size. With a quick duck as he entered his fourth, nearly long-since forgotten form, he had less than a second to duck the blow before shifting even further.

    The elongated head of the third form. Inefficient for his style of combat. The bulky body of the second form. Far too slow for his tastes. But the quickness. The nimbleness of the first Arcosian form. It lacked in power but he could use that. And so in his minuscule first form. Blizzar began to dance around, awaiting the next strike.

    "As I learned of the destruction of my own people due to their own greed, I could barely stifle a chuckle," Blizzar admitted. "I'm not much like you at all, but I do know struggle...And so will you. This fight has grown much more dangerous for you..." Blizzar commented weaving to and fro. A strange taunt considering his currently vastly weaker power level and present injuries. but as he danced around, he increased his ki output so he'd become a blur.



    Once he found an opening, he leaned in, aiming for a sudden upper cut at Willa's chin, with all the might he could gather in his first form.

  3. #4353

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    Willa's lips split into a ferocious grimace as her close-proximity ki attack struck only air, pausing for a moment with a sneer of utter disgust as she watched Blizzar's body shift and slither backwards through his alien metamorphosis. One moment, he stood a foot or so larger, now he was somewhere near the height of her waist.

    "Do you think I give two shits about where you come from? You didn't give a damn about this world until you cut a deal with him."

    Clearly she found him no less repulsive despite his diminution. Both hands moved to Excalibur's grip, and a smoky purple miasma began to brim about Willa.

    "Mocking the death of your own on top of all of this, if that's what it means to be someone who want to police the Galaxy-"

    As Blizzar streaked in, his blitzing upper struck true. At the same time, Willa had thrust forward, and Excalibur's edge missed by a hair as it shot a crackling beam that pierced through the ancient masonwork littered in the ancient temple ruin, raining dust and fire everywhere.

    "-I reject your hegemony as much as his."

    Behind them, the storm of shards fell in a curiously elegant manner, like the bloom and death of blossoms in spring. Just like a natural design, seemingly without rhythm or pattern, a flow of controlled chaos.

    Strangely beautiful, but surely the Shingan was, for its bearers, an instrument of more than aesthetics. The finest crafted weapon could not conceal its own lethal purpose, after all.

    It started with a small impact as two Rose Flares collided with each other, lighting up the area with an intense, bright flash, as the head of explosions began to cascade rapidly towards Held.

  4. #4354
    Astonishing Member KingofPie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Willa's lips split into a ferocious grimace as her close-proximity ki attack struck only air, pausing for a moment with a sneer of utter disgust as she watched Blizzar's body shift and slither backwards through his alien metamorphosis. One moment, he stood a foot or so larger, now he was somewhere near the height of her waist.

    "Do you think I give two shits about where you come from? You didn't give a damn about this world until you cut a deal with him."

    Clearly she found him no less repulsive despite his diminution. Both hands moved to Excalibur's grip, and a smoky purple miasma began to brim about Willa.

    "Mocking the death of your own on top of all of this, if that's what it means to be someone who want to police the Galaxy-"

    As Blizzar streaked in, his blitzing upper struck true. At the same time, Willa had thrust forward, and Excalibur's edge missed by a hair as it shot a crackling beam that pierced through the ancient masonwork littered in the ancient temple ruin, raining dust and fire everywhere.

    "-I reject your hegemony as much as his."

    Behind them, the storm of shards fell in a curiously elegant manner, like the bloom and death of blossoms in spring. Just like a natural design, seemingly without rhythm or pattern, a flow of controlled chaos.
    "My people were slavers and tyrants. The kind, the likes of you would deem it a noble 'cause to fight against..." Blizzar retorted, charging all of his ki into his fist. "There is no world in which you would respect me. I'm an invader and moreover I'm a bit of a cheat..." He darted forward, racing under Willa to reach her before she took another swing. "But, since I first stepped foot in this world, I never intended to sell out, saved it more times than you can imagine, and do you know why...?"

    Suddenly his key charged fist shot forward at Willa's jaw. As he put all his energy into this punch he quickly shifted back up through his forms, First to second to third to fourth and lastly to fifth, his power increasing with each mutation until a rippling energy arced through the Arcosian's fist.

    "DISTORTED.....GALAXY.....UPPPPPPPPPPPERCUT!"

  5. #4355

    Default Rising from Ruins

    As the battle with the leader of the Red Raiders went on below, Ochazuke found himself pulling upward, and as he scaled the sheer facade before him, his journey was beset by the turbulent outpour of energies and impacts. Yet he forced his view to the pinnacle set before him. Upon a wide pillar, of a span as wide as a cliffside, his fingertips pressed into the porous stone. Much like the remainder of Arthur's kingdom they'd moved in from, the impressions long since eroded could have been indistinguishable, but the graven images carved into its surface - the masonry of human hands. Much like the bas reliefs of the ancient Devas and Asuras gave form to those godly forms who embodied ideas in a manner which words can never articulate, he could feel that the effigies contained within themselves a memory.

    Sure as the length of the leyline that spooled upwards, leading toward the apex of this hidden chamber, so did the grip under his right palm run slick, and flightless, arching back the surface had been gradually spooling concave, forging him to dig his fingers into the broken face of another fallen stone warrior. As he steadied his grip, he looked upward and glanced at the nigh impossible path before him. There was a jagged slash rend through the the ancient rock, the edges cut quite clean. Struck through the pillar climb, the shattered surface now stood at a steep incline.

    Kenshiko had been here, and this was a clear message.

    Ochazuke clung to the expanse. With flight severed, it was a task encumbered not only with the lack of options, but also the time left to him. Each drop of blood from the unhealing wound opened by Excalibur, the timekeeper of life, lost seconds at a time; he knew all too well how the course everything could change across that span. Gritting his teeth he closed his eyes and breathed; Set within himself and beset by an impossible obstacle, with all else failing, the one thing remaining to him was focus.

    The discipline that had forged his path had, at this point, extended far beyond simply technique. Over the long years he'd had ample time to think of how many of the lost days he relived in agony was a fitful conceit. Now that they stood on the precipice of seizing the lost teachings of Zxu'ro, . How fitting that it would be Kenshiko who would try to cut him off in trying to recreate the past.

    So you were still looking back after all, heh.

    Projecting the flow of Leyline energy through himself, as the field of his meditations intersected with the living memory of Vermillion, he glimpsed there the subtle vision; generations past, and a fell power the likes he had not encountered since he first happened upon the Dragon's spiteful grin. Ochazuke beheld the shape of a vision, the living memory of an unbroken line that stretched back millennia in a continuum far deeper than the records engraved through blood and destruction of this place. It was in a word, life, in of itself, enduring and everlasting, the raw untamed power by which the Earth turned upon its axis. This source composed the twisting energy makeup of this place, and somebody had used them to create the very boundaries of this hidden expanse.

    No doubt halfway around the world Zaofan and Sasheem have found its counterpart. Do they fare any better than us?

    How lamentable that there was Time and again he found himself following the worn path travelling in the wake of another. What's one to do if it had been destroyed?

    Ishiki Toei.

    The ancient visages shone red with his ki, the structures rebuilt anew. Rebuilding the road path before him, and stent the wound for a time He grasped them then and pulled, dragging himself upward with a renewed strengt. and the Leyline Memory made it abundantly clear that the Ten Paths led upward.

    It would not do only to restore the severed path, he would have to transverse it and find his own destination.

    Atop the apex of the chamber, Ochazuke pursued the Tiger Master into the riotous gales that shot through the riptide of energies. As he gripped the stone and hoist himself forward in great bounds, he felt and impact issued from above that shook the entire pillar. Her presence loomed, unmistakably so, he would recognize her no matter how far she had fallen; but it was not in her nature to rouse her power to such heights unless there was something in her path.

    By all indications did it seem as if she was alone, only because didn't recognize the source of the power; the very same he drew upon in this moment carried itself upward into seven focal points. As he drew nearer, the shock of energy and the sounds fo struggle filled the air, and when he reached the top. at last he saw Kenshiko, girded in Zxu'Ro's gauntlets and headband, she struck with a fury he'd only once glimpsed; channeled through the steps of the Tiger Master, she struck out, sublime, but she stood against an opponent the like he had never seen. She spread her hands wide, and cast out the Tiger's Crushing Fist that bathed the makeshift area aglow, then shattered with a single stroke into figments of burning glass.

    The memory of life had persisted, what secrets that had been guarded here in the core of Arthur's kingdom moved toward her. It had a shape of a man, ancient and wizened, but the hollow eyes of its masked visage held no living essence as he understood it. Kenshiko pursued once more, and Ochazuke recognized its uncannily the familiar steps as it moved and struck out at its mentor.

    Here at the pinnacle, at the end of their shared legaxy, he now found himself standing before The Shadow of War.



    闘神 の 面影
    Toshin no Omokage
    (Memory of the Battle God)

  6. #4356

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    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    "My people were slavers and tyrants. The kind, the likes of you would deem it a noble 'cause to fight against..." Blizzar retorted, charging all of his ki into his fist. "There is no world in which you would respect me. I'm an invader and moreover I'm a bit of a cheat..." He darted forward, racing under Willa to reach her before she took another swing. "But, since I first stepped foot in this world, I never intended to sell out, saved it more times than you can imagine, and do you know why...?"

    Suddenly his key charged fist shot forward at Willa's jaw. As he put all his energy into this punch he quickly shifted back up through his forms, First to second to third to fourth and lastly to fifth, his power increasing with each mutation until a rippling energy arced through the Arcosian's fist.

    "DISTORTED.....GALAXY.....UPPPPPPPPPPPERCUT!"
    This close to the diminutive Form One Blizzar zipping around at his increased speed, the Red Colonel's eyes widened as the Officer shapeshifted up his metamorphic chain and was hit full-on by the cascade of power in his uppercut. The shock of power erupted throughout the cavern...but strangely it was the ground surrounding them that seemed to take the brunt of the damage.

    The effect of the punch was not in vain, thought its effect soon were revealed. A hail of scattered ki shot upwards, the broken fragments of a hastily conjured Lion's Mane scattering into the petals of the Rose Flare setting off explosions in the distance. His knuckles had planted hard on her jaw, and he could feel them grinding on the bone.

    Yet for all her furious appearance, Willa Rautt still had the airs of a commander, one who calculated gains and losses. Moreover, she was a mindreader.

    She took the hit, the blood blooming would soon begin to swell as crimson fell from her lips. Yet she held her position, for Excalibur's blade now rest against the inside of Blizzar's arm under the shoulder.

    And she was the only one present that could fly.
    Last edited by grampagen; 07-30-2021 at 09:40 PM.

  7. #4357
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    Willa's lips split into a ferocious grimace as her close-proximity ki attack struck only air, pausing for a moment with a sneer of utter disgust as she watched Blizzar's body shift and slither backwards through his alien metamorphosis. One moment, he stood a foot or so larger, now he was somewhere near the height of her waist.

    "Do you think I give two shits about where you come from? You didn't give a damn about this world until you cut a deal with him."

    Clearly she found him no less repulsive despite his diminution. Both hands moved to Excalibur's grip, and a smoky purple miasma began to brim about Willa.

    "Mocking the death of your own on top of all of this, if that's what it means to be someone who want to police the Galaxy-"

    As Blizzar streaked in, his blitzing upper struck true. At the same time, Willa had thrust forward, and Excalibur's edge missed by a hair as it shot a crackling beam that pierced through the ancient masonwork littered in the ancient temple ruin, raining dust and fire everywhere.

    "-I reject your hegemony as much as his."

    Behind them, the storm of shards fell in a curiously elegant manner, like the bloom and death of blossoms in spring. Just like a natural design, seemingly without rhythm or pattern, a flow of controlled chaos.

    Strangely beautiful, but surely the Shingan was, for its bearers, an instrument of more than aesthetics. The finest crafted weapon could not conceal its own lethal purpose, after all.

    It started with a small impact as two Rose Flares collided with each other, lighting up the area with an intense, bright flash, as the head of explosions began to cascade rapidly towards Held.
    The Nevadian's brow furrowed as the Rose tinted explosions manifested themselves, descending and growing closer and closer by the minute. Man and Ki-Construct were poised to meet, the Rose Flares hellbent on their collusion course.

    That was not a contest the Nevadian intended to partake in.

    His eyes grew a deeper shade of crimson as he continued running towards Willa's position. The good Colonel was in his peripheral, the majority of his gaze focusing on the Rose Flares heading towards him.

    Shingan: Kiai!

    Bursts of Ki emanated from the eyes of the Nevadian, over a dozen fist sized geysers of energy rocketing through the air. Even under duress, Held was never what one would consider inaccurate. Perhaps less accurate than his friend Zaofan in this very particular domain of loosing destruction at a glance, but more than sufficiently accurate nonetheless.

    The Nevadian released his Kiai at the Rose Flares closest to him first, hoping to intercept them, setting off the explosions of energy prematurely. With any luck, the intended explosions of the rose petals towards the back, and the forced explosions caused by Held would meet in the middle, causing the bulk of the attack to eat away at itself.

    If nothing else, pushing a few of those annoying petals back, would allow him some precious few seconds to close the distance between himself and Willa.
    Last edited by Miburo; 08-02-2021 at 07:08 PM.

  8. #4358

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    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    The Nevadian's brow furrowed as the Rose tinted explosions manifested themselves, descending and growing closer and closer by the minute. Man and Ki-Construct were poised to meet, the Rose Flares hellbent on their collusion course.

    That was not a contest the Nevadian intended to partake in.

    His eyes grew a deeper shade of crimson as he continued running towards Willa's position. The good Colonel was in his peripheral, the majority of his gaze focusing on the Rose Flares heading towards him.

    Shingan: Kiai!

    Bursts of Ki emanated from the eyes of the Nevadian, over a dozen fist sized geysers of energy rocketing through the air. Even under duress, Held was never what one would consider inaccurate. Perhaps less accurate than his friend Zaofan in this very particular domain of loosing destruction at a glance, but more than sufficiently accurate nonetheless.

    The Nevadian released his Kiai at the Rose Flares closest to him first, hoping to intercept them, setting off the explosions of energy prematurely. With any luck, the intended explosions of the rose petals towards the back, and the forced explosions caused by Held would meet in the middle, causing the bulk of the attack to eat away at itself.

    If nothing else, pushing a few of those annoying petals back, would allow him some precious few seconds to close the distance between himself and Willa.
    The petals fell, and sparked by their impact the explosions bloomed, falling down a path streaked with the deadliest of red thorns cast white-hot in ki-based shrapnel. Deadly efficient and precise in execution...but with their sharp edges came a rather frail construction.

    The Kiai busrt from his eyes pushed the first wave of cascading petals upward and in an instant the cavern flooded with their brightness, a solid flood of blossom light from wall to wall. At the middle distance the lights continued to strobe, the remnants of Willa's defensive partition swirling round and closing nearer to where she engaged Blizzar in close combat.

    It was enough of a warning to get her to break her position, kicking Blizzar back as she raked the tip of her sword across his chest.

    Bounding into flight, she slashed through the air, and a the blade cut across the distance toward Held as he approached.

  9. #4359
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    The petals fell, and sparked by their impact the explosions bloomed, falling down a path streaked with the deadliest of red thorns cast white-hot in ki-based shrapnel. Deadly efficient and precise in execution...but with their sharp edges came a rather frail construction.

    The Kiai busrt from his eyes pushed the first wave of cascading petals upward and in an instant the cavern flooded with their brightness, a solid flood of blossom light from wall to wall. At the middle distance the lights continued to strobe, the remnants of Willa's defensive partition swirling round and closing nearer to where she engaged Blizzar in close combat.

    It was enough of a warning to get her to break her position, kicking Blizzar back as she raked the tip of her sword across his chest.

    Bounding into flight, she slashed through the air, and a the blade cut across the distance toward Held as he approached.
    The Nevadian felt a twinge of annoyance in his heart as Willa took to the skies.

    The longer the battle transpired, the more apparent it became why she was the leader of the Red Raiders. Her tactical acumen, her sense for battle was quite impressive. Even with Ochazukes departure, and Jacks incapacitation, Held imagined it would have been somewhat of a simple task to outmaneuver the Colonel.

    Blizzar was as savvy a warrior as they came, a skilled tactician in his own right. That was to say nothing of the bond the two had forged---although either would be loathe to categorize it as such--over the course of the long years of battle.

    They had such a feel for each others tactics that it was simple for one to complement the other, or to have some vague idea of what type of tactic the other might hope to employ.

    As such, it was a rude awakening to realize just how competent this Colonel was, deftly defending and countering Blizzar, while impeding Held every step of the way. They might as well have been two random warriors who stumbled into one another and decided to face off against her.

    It was unusual, to say the least.

    It was clear enough she had some level of psychic ability---detecting the group so flawlessly from within Damask when their energy signatures were fully concealed was proof of this--but to be able to maneuver on this level, was more than a mere trick of the mind. It required aptitude. Talent and experience.

    As the explosions rang across the cavern, Willa took to the skies before the Nevadian could fully close the distance between where she and Blizzar were previously engaged.

    The Nevadian skidded to a stop, adjusting his course, just as Willa slashed swung her blade in his general direction.

    It seemed pointless to him, at first glace. Nothing seemed to occur. Did she change her mind, or was it a false opening inviting the Nevadian to meet her. It would have been rude not to, and Held was rarely the type to allow a moments hesitation to go unpunished.

    The Nevadian tensed his legs as he gripped the hilt of his spear tight, poised to leap into the--

    What?

    His eyes widened, his leap aborted entirely.

    The slightest ripple through the air appeared scant inches before the Nevadian, and became a slice perhaps entirely unnoticeable to one with less astute eyes. This was the only perceptible hint that something was amiss. The instinct of a warrior however, could sense a great danger coming for him.

    Instinctively, he began to sidestep, diving to his right side in a rather inelegant manner.
    Last edited by Miburo; 08-03-2021 at 06:54 PM.

  10. #4360

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    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    The Nevadian felt a twinge of annoyance in his heart as Willa took to the skies.

    The longer the battle transpired, the more apparent it became why she was the leader of the Red Raiders. Her tactical acumen, her sense for battle was quite impressive. Even with Ochazukes departure, and Jacks incapacitation, Held imagined it would have been somewhat of a simple task to outmaneuver the Colonel.

    Blizzar was as savvy a warrior as they came, a skilled tactician in his own right. That was to say nothing of the bond the two had forged---although either would be loathe to categorize it as such--over the course of the long years of battle.

    They had such a feel for each others tactics that it was simple for one to complement the other, or to have some vague idea of what type of tactic the other might hope to employ.

    As such, it was a rude awakening to realize just how competent this Colonel was, deftly defending and countering Blizzar, while impeding Held every step of the way. They might as well have been two random warriors who stumbled into one another and decided to face off against her.

    It was unusual, to say the least.

    It was clear enough she had some level of psychic ability---detecting the group so flawlessly from within Damask when their energy signatures were fully concealed was proof of this--but to be able to maneuver on this level, was more than a mere trick of the mind. It required aptitude. Talent and experience.

    As the explosions rang across the cavern, Willa took to the skies before the Nevadian could fully close the distance between where she and Blizzar were previously engaged.

    The Nevadian skidded to a stop, adjusting his course, just as Willa slashed swung her blade in his general direction.

    It seemed pointless to him, at first glace. Nothing seemed to occur. Did she change her mind, or was it a false opening inviting the Nevadian to meet her. It would have been rude not to, and Held was rarely the type to allow a moments hesitation to go unpunished.

    The Nevadian tensed his legs as he gripped the hilt of his spear tight, poised to leap into the--

    What?

    His eyes widened, his leap aborted entirely.

    The slightest ripple through the air appeared scant inches before the Nevadian, and became a slice perhaps entirely unnoticeable to one with less astute eyes. This was the only perceptible hint that something was amiss. The instinct of a warrior however, could sense a great danger coming for him.

    Instinctively, he began to sidestep, diving to his right side in a rather inelegant manner.
    The slash cut through the air, the steely flourish sharp, noiseless as it was brilliant, and as Held pivot away a fissure split the ground between his legs, the cresting shockwave clipping him right on the calf as it passed.

    Carrying forth over the ground, the surface was stripped, revealing more of thebejeweled veins set in the bedrock of this place, and its response to Excalibur's energy was notable, in that it seemed to carry it in a manner akin to the Golems outside.

    The same, however, could not be said for flesh; where it nicked him, the fleshwound persisted and blood scattered underfoot as he made his way to join Blizzar.

    A fraction of the Rose Flares remained about Willa. She held the sword of Arthur before her and drew upon its power, and cold fire wreathed her aura. Twisting fearsomely the shards-petals fell like snow to reveal the shape of Willa's energy; the shadow of a Lion.

    "The Earth will no longer be subjugated," the Red Colonel said, "Enough of offworlders carving up our world, no more faceless masters to decide our destiny! The new chapter of our history shall be our own and I'll strike you from it myself!"

  11. #4361
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    The slash cut through the air, the steely flourish sharp, noiseless as it was brilliant, and as Held pivot away a fissure split the ground between his legs, the cresting shockwave clipping him right on the calf as it passed.

    Carrying forth over the ground, the surface was stripped, revealing more of thebejeweled veins set in the bedrock of this place, and its response to Excalibur's energy was notable, in that it seemed to carry it in a manner akin to the Golems outside.

    The same, however, could not be said for flesh; where it nicked him, the fleshwound persisted and blood scattered underfoot as he made his way to join Blizzar.

    The Nevadian winced in pain is the unseen seen made its presence felt. He had dodged the brunt of the attack, but the pain radiating from his calf as the blade sliced into it, made it clear his evasive manuever was not all together successful.

    ****....That sword really is quite troublesome.

    Although it was not pronounced, a slight limp could be detected in the Nevadians gait as he made his way to Blizzar, scant feet away, the dual long spears of the Nevadian implanted into the ground slightly behind him.

    Only now did he spare a glance at his wound, blood seeping freely. Much like Jack's, it festered with an odd power.

    He sighed deeply. This would be troublesome. Getting injured on the battlefield was already an annoyance, with Willa's apparent ability to neutralize his healing transmutation only compounding things....

    But her ability to suddenly manifest that same manner of attack at a distance made each move made that much more risky, with the consequences that much more dire. It was little surprise Jack ended up in the state that he did once she got a hold of their ancestral weapon.

    He spared a glance at Blizzar, who mostly seemed unharmed, save for a light slash across his chest...Teeming with the same energy that plagued Held and Jack.


    "....That sword of yours must really be something special if I can't undo what you've done." Held spoke, technically to Willa, but more for Blizzar's benefit. "I guess I can't fault you for being a bit cocky...."


    A fraction of the Rose Flares remained about Willa. She held the sword of Arthur before her and drew upon its power, and cold fire wreathed her aura. Twisting fearsomely the shards-petals fell like snow to reveal the shape of Willa's energy; the shadow of a Lion.

    "The Earth will no longer be subjugated," the Red Colonel said, "Enough of offworlders carving up our world, no more faceless masters to decide our destiny! The new chapter of our history shall be our own and I'll strike you from it myself!"
    The Nevadians eyes narrowed as Willa channeled her power, her Ki rendered not only visible to the naked eye, but taking on the visage of one of earth's mightiest creatures. Normally, he would have moved in to attack, but something about this Lion....

    It seemed odd to the Nevadian for a moment. Out of place. For a moment. It somehow detracted from the unease Held felt in the face of the attack, somehow jogging feeling that he had forgotten something important.

    "I see." Held replied, a curt tone replacing his more even, diplomatic tone. "And after you manage to eject us, and defeat that man, and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity for earth, what then? Revel in the chaos and bedlam? Are you going to stand down and vanish into the sunset, making way for someone who has the aptitude to lead? Will you let the people decide?"

    Ah. That's what it was.

    "You don't strike me as the type. You can paint this whole plan as a revolution against the galaxy as a crusade against Tyranny and injustice all you want, and perhaps it is to say, Kenshiko and your men. But you're more cut from your fathers cloth, I believe. "

    Held had almost forgotten that Willa was the daughter of Battersea. Held had never faced the man in combat, and Willa did her best to conceal these facts it seemed. It was only revealed--No, discovered--during the World Tournament ages ago. It was a rather startling revelation when he was informed of this fact.

    Held was not alone in this sentiment, and it seemed to be a source of consternation between the colonel and her master Sargent, last Held had met them. It seemed time healed all wounds.

    "I had originally assumed that your hatred of this government was so deep that it overrode your ability to think strategically, but I'm beginning to wonder if your strategy was simply to repel the entire galaxy so you could take helm of this planet yourself. If that were the case, the issue isn't that Earth is being dominated, so much as the fact that you're not doing the dominating..."

    Held would normally not bother to be so blunt in his assessments. Diplomacy came naturally to him, after all. But Willa's claims seemed at odds with reality, and what he knew of her, he could not help but prod. It would have been foolish not to, honestly.

    Willa seemed to be quite the tactician, able to deftly conduct herself on the battlefield. However, a fragile ego seemed to lurk behind that keen mind at times. Speaking to her might create just enough of an opening for Blizzar or himself to exploit.

    Or, alternatively, it might backfire spectacularly. It was a gamble, just like any other.
    Last edited by Miburo; 08-11-2021 at 04:50 PM.

  12. #4362
    Astonishing Member KingofPie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    The Nevadian winced in pain is the unseen seen made its presence felt. He had dodged the brunt of the attack, but the pain radiating from his calf as the blade sliced into it, made it clear his evasive manuever was not all together successful.

    ****....That sword really is quite troublesome.

    Although it was not pronounced, a slight limp could be detected in the Nevadians gait as he made his way to Blizzar, scant feet away, the dual long spears of the Nevadian implanted into the ground slightly behind him.

    Only now did he spare a glance at his wound, blood seeping freely. Much like Jack's, it festered with an odd power.

    He sighed deeply. This would be troublesome. Getting injured on the battlefield was already an annoyance, with Willa's apparent ability to neutralize his healing transmutation only compounding things....

    But her ability to suddenly manifest that same manner of attack at a distance made each move made that much more risky, with the consequences that much more dire. It was little surprise Jack ended up in the state that he did once she got a hold of their ancestral weapon.

    He spared a glance at Blizzar, who mostly seemed unharmed, save for a light slash across his chest...Teeming with the same energy that plagued Held and Jack.


    "....That sword of yours must really be something special if I can't undo what you've done." Held spoke, technically to Willa, but more for Blizzar's benefit. "I guess I can't fault you for being a bit cocky...."




    The Nevadians eyes narrowed as Willa channeled her power, her Ki rendered not only visible to the naked eye, but taking on the visage of one of earth's mightiest creatures. Normally, he would have moved in to attack, but something about this Lion....

    It seemed odd to the Nevadian for a moment. Out of place. For a moment. It somehow detracted from the unease Held felt in the face of the attack, somehow jogging feeling that he had forgotten something important.

    "I see." Held replied, a curt tone replacing his more even, diplomatic tone. "And after you manage to eject us, and defeat that man, and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity for earth, what then? Revel in the chaos and bedlam? Are you going to stand down and vanish into the sunset, making way for someone who has the aptitude to lead? Will you let the people decide?"

    Ah. That's what it was.

    "You don't strike me as the type. You can paint this whole plan as a revolution against the galaxy as a crusade against Tyranny and injustice all you want, and perhaps it is to say, Kenshiko and your men. But you're more cut from your fathers cloth, I believe. "

    Held had almost forgotten that Willa was the daughter of Battersea. Held had never faced the man in combat, and Willa did her best to conceal these facts it seemed. It was only revealed--No, discovered--during the World Tournament ages ago. It was a rather startling revelation when he was informed of this fact.

    Held was not alone in this sentiment, and it seemed to be a source of consternation between the colonel and her master Sargent, last Held had met them. It seemed time healed all wounds.

    "I had originally assumed that your hatred of this government was so deep that it overrode your ability to think strategically, but I'm beginning to wonder if your strategy was simply to repel the entire galaxy so you could take helm of this planet yourself. If that were the case, the issue isn't that Earth is being dominated, so much as the fact that you're not doing the dominating..."

    Held would normally not bother to be so blunt in his assessments. Diplomacy came naturally to him, after all. But Willa's claims seemed at odds with reality, and what he knew of her, he could not help but prod. It would have been foolish not to, honestly.

    Willa seemed to be quite the tactician, able to deftly conduct herself on the battlefield. However, a fragile ego seemed to lurk behind that keen mind at times. Speaking to her might create just enough of an opening for Blizzar or himself to exploit.

    Or, alternatively, it might backfire spectacularly. It was a gamble, just like any other.
    Following Held's lead, Blizzar shot his own barb as he began to pace the floor, "Now let's be fair, Held. I never had the displeasure of meeting Willa's father but from briefing reports, he was purported to be indescribably petty and altogether lacking in self awareness. A violent brigand to who abused his power for his gain and his gain alone, any other reason was simply pretense..." Blizzar drifted off, stopping his strut to put a hand to his chin. "I say, perhaps the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree after all..."

    "It is a bit of ironic, is it not? The good captain, takes the helm and sinks the ship," Blizzar added, one arm clutching the other to distract himself from the pain. The Arcosian stood up and with some effort pulls off the most dismissive shrug possible. "Drive away the very Xenos that saved your planet time and time again. I'm, sure given time the survivors of Earth's next disaster will find it in their hearts to forgive you, if any remain at all."

    "How do you think you will go down in the annals of history, Rautt? As a hero? Will you rewrite the victories of Earth's true saviors out of fear that this planet's prodigies were not the only ones among them? OR that it wasn't you, who instead cowered in your caverns, bitterly laying forth twisted schemes, allowing the very world you want to save to suffer?" The Arcosian lieutenant began to slowly clap. "All hail the chosen one! The Subterranean Seneschal! Arthur's descendant, the Do-Nothing Queen! If her rule would match but a third of her spite, her barren empire will last generations."
    Last edited by KingofPie; 08-13-2021 at 04:33 PM.

  13. #4363

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    Quote Originally Posted by Miburo View Post
    The Nevadians eyes narrowed as Willa channeled her power, her Ki rendered not only visible to the naked eye, but taking on the visage of one of earth's mightiest creatures. Normally, he would have moved in to attack, but something about this Lion....

    It seemed odd to the Nevadian for a moment. Out of place. For a moment. It somehow detracted from the unease Held felt in the face of the attack, somehow jogging feeling that he had forgotten something important.

    "I see." Held replied, a curt tone replacing his more even, diplomatic tone. "And after you manage to eject us, and defeat that man, and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity for earth, what then? Revel in the chaos and bedlam? Are you going to stand down and vanish into the sunset, making way for someone who has the aptitude to lead? Will you let the people decide?"

    Ah. That's what it was.

    "You don't strike me as the type. You can paint this whole plan as a revolution against the galaxy as a crusade against Tyranny and injustice all you want, and perhaps it is to say, Kenshiko and your men. But you're more cut from your fathers cloth, I believe. "

    Held had almost forgotten that Willa was the daughter of Battersea. Held had never faced the man in combat, and Willa did her best to conceal these facts it seemed. It was only revealed--No, discovered--during the World Tournament ages ago. It was a rather startling revelation when he was informed of this fact.

    Held was not alone in this sentiment, and it seemed to be a source of consternation between the colonel and her master Sargent, last Held had met them. It seemed time healed all wounds.

    "I had originally assumed that your hatred of this government was so deep that it overrode your ability to think strategically, but I'm beginning to wonder if your strategy was simply to repel the entire galaxy so you could take helm of this planet yourself. If that were the case, the issue isn't that Earth is being dominated, so much as the fact that you're not doing the dominating..."

    Held would normally not bother to be so blunt in his assessments. Diplomacy came naturally to him, after all. But Willa's claims seemed at odds with reality, and what he knew of her, he could not help but prod. It would have been foolish not to, honestly.

    Willa seemed to be quite the tactician, able to deftly conduct herself on the battlefield. However, a fragile ego seemed to lurk behind that keen mind at times. Speaking to her might create just enough of an opening for Blizzar or himself to exploit.

    Or, alternatively, it might backfire spectacularly. It was a gamble, just like any other.
    The Lion Shroud made of the Rose Flare its mane, wreathed in heat and violence did Willa's aura became true to her name, and when her powers manifest they struck up ike a sentient storm within the ruins of Vermillion. At first it had seemed the show of power drawn from Excalibur itself had ascended the Red Colonel to a place beyond reckoning, and Held's words beneath notice

    Of course, the M-Fighters, having long since defied what was ordinary or conventional, and when spoken to she who brought the gathering storm, to say his provocation had been received...

    "I am not my father." Her hands twist on the grip of the longsword, and a purple thunderbolt struck the ground. "He was a means to an end!"

    Plasma tethers from the power she held struck through, filling her energy projections with a vicious, deathly intention.

    "Do you think that prancing fool even knew what he had?! All the money and love of the world, and he could only pretend at being a king while licking the President's boots!"

    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    Following Held's lead, Blizzar shot his own barb as he began to pace the floor, "Now let's be fair, Held. I never had the displeasure of meeting Willa's father but from briefing reports, he was purported to be indescribably petty and altogether lacking in self awareness. A violent brigand to who abused his power for his gain and his gain alone, any other reason was simply pretense..." Blizzar drifted off, stopping his strut to put a hand to his chin. "I say, perhaps the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree after all..."

    "It is a bit of ironic, is it not? The good captain, takes the helm and sinks the ship," Blizzar added, one arm clutching the other to distract himself from the pain. The Arcosian stood up and with some effort pulls off the most dismissive shrug possible. "Drive away the very Xenos that saved your planet time and time again. I'm, sure given time the survivors of Earth's next disaster will find it in their hearts to forgive you, if any remain at all."

    "How do you think you will go down in the annals of history, Rautt? As a hero? Will you rewrite the victories of Earth's true saviors out of fear that this planet's prodigies were not the only ones among them? OR that it wasn't you, who instead cowered in your caverns, bitterly laying forth twisted schemes, allowing the very world you want to save to suffer?" The Arcosian lieutenant began to slowly clap. "All hail the chosen one! The Subterranean Seneschal! Arthur's descendant, the Do-Nothing Queen! If her rule would match but a third of her spite, her barren empire will last generations."
    "And what the **** would an extortionist know about revolutions?! You don't build anything, you chase disasters and fleece the wounded for profit!"

    The phantom cloud stretched, its power swelled, and the Lion's Mane moved through a roar in silence. But the only sound she heard were those. Slow. Mocking. Claps.

    "You can't negotiate with cancer. I mean to cut it out and scour it clean, whatever it takes."

    Slowly the aura rendered a shape, first a regal mane, then fangs about her person. But shaped by the Lion's Roar containing Willa's rage, the Rose Flares struck and exploded at once and the Raider's aura became kindling for a piece of the old magic, the Arthurian line rendered it in her true colour.

    Red.


    The burning shape surrounded Willa in explosions in perpetuity, and as it stalked toward Held and Blizzar, the ground beneath its feet shattered and quaked. Within it all, she conducted the movements of this King of Beasts by the movements of Excalibur.

    She swung out, and the construct slashed before her.
    Last edited by grampagen; 08-14-2021 at 04:51 PM.

  14. #4364
    Retired Overlord
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    “I could not help feeling that they were evil things
    mountains of madness whose farther slopes looked out over some accursed ultimate abyss.
    That seething , half-luminous cloud-background held ineffable suggestions of a vague, ethereal beyondness far more than terrestrially spatial
    and gave appalling reminders of the utter remoteness, separateness, desolation, and aeon-long death of this untrodden and unfathomed austral world.”


    HP Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness

    The air was empty and cold, void and lifeless. Only the pale light, muted by the darkened grey overcast, showed the frozen hellscape for what it was....a graveyard of empires. Long buried under death and ice and snow. Rigid remnants of stone and ruin lay torn from the earth, exposed not unlike the exhumed remains of some long forgotten grave, leaving only the fresh wounds that bleed old earth upon the white snow...stained not brown, but a dark shade of purple that betrayed the corruption masked beneath.

    The wind picked up in a sudden blast, cracking what remained of a frozen pillar and blasting snow and ground in a blinding spray that muffled the bright flashes of light but not the cacophony of thunder that accompanied them.

    A young woman flew through the storm, propelled by forces unseen in a effort to create some distance between them and some unseen foe. High in the sky behind them a growing blue point of illumination slowly overwhelmed the storm around it, then like a gun shot it pierced the snow showered heavens, parting the clouds and tearing the sky down around it as it twisted....a bright azure nail, spinning a vortex of wind and snow at its rear.

    The figure spun, golden hair and cape pulling against the wind as golden energy crackled in her hands and expanded as she pull back...letting lose a scream as she spun, twisting her arms as a massive mallet of golden magic coalesced and struck the nail in the side just moments before it would have drilled a hole straight through her. The nail was thrown wide even as the force of wind behind her buffered the young girls form and sent her spiraling like a fly in a hurricane. The blue light vanished into the distance, sinking deep within a desolate peak....with only a moments silence before the summit was tore off in a violent explosion.

    Above her, the sky had been parted and in its void floated the woman that had been, in many ways, her mother.....in many other her teacher....and above all.

    Her Queen.

    Morgan righted herself as the storm passed, then spread her arms wide as magic crackled, buckling the force that held reality in check around her as it materialized hundreds of cannons...pulled from a multitude of ages, all of them thudered a glaze of golden fire into the sky....yet seemed either out of reach as the queen flew skyward, or insufficient to even pierce the magically saturated air that surrounded her form, born of the crystalized form of eons old twisted magic.

    With a causal smirk and a wave of her hand, a blue nail pierced through the space in front of Queen Persephones Palm...struggling for only the barest moment as space seemed to stretch in vain against its outerworldly touch before yielding with a explosively blast of force that threw the queens hair and robes backwards with a force of wind. Downloads it flew, bouncing against air and changing direction in an unreal mockery of the forces at play. Rather then strike Morgan it danced at near blinding speed through her cannons....destroying them in swatches while blasting the girl with gale force winds from its repeated fly-bys.

    Caught in the eye of a storm, Morgan brought her magic defenses up...but it was in vain. The end would come in a flash and no barrier she could summon would save her from the full might of her....former queen.

    Salvation would not be found in magic that day....at least not magic of her own.

    Rather....something one could find in a palace of creation, roasted in the hot fires of a burning chefs soul unbound. A Pot-Au-Feu like none before it.

    Zaofan, once but a traveler to a forgotten kingdom, bared his fangs against the last dregs of its fallen lineage....or rather his oversized flaming griddle. Striking it with his staff to coat the end with a wreath of flaming magical essence from that which he had trapped.

    "You call yourself the Guardian of the World? Look at what you're doing! You're destroying everything said you'd protect!"

    For a moment, weather it the words themselves or the defiant voice who flung them, fueled the spark of something particularly seething in the cold eyes on the long lived Queen. She turned away from Morgans struggles for but a moment, and had to immediately bring her arms up to catch the warrior cooks pole as if extended....the magically heated end causing the hand and glow white hot and semi liquefy around the end. It wasn't enough to move her....but in the end his intent was to use her as a glorified vault point as the pole pushed him towards the real battle in the distance.

    ----

    In the snowy mountains, the land had been risen....tore from the earth to create a gaping wound where one could look down and see the remnants of hell itself. A endless otherworld temple city of Orichalum machines and nightmares....its heart a twisted shard containing the primordial piece of a void born beast that had fallen in an age when the great wyrms still ruled the land.

    Further above....a lone man stood resolute, hands forming a window downwards as the souls of countless remnants flowing around him. Some battered his form as an enemy of their land, others flowed through him as a beacon of light in the darkness, and some joined their power to him seeking peace after a lifetime and beyond chained in darkness.

    He had sought to loose them all from their prison with a single strike, A kikoho into the great shard and a a Kikojustu into the heart of the machinery to blast the temple apart at the foundation.....a one-two punch of devastating destructive power. His kihoko had lanced downwards, piercing the superstructure and cutting its way through multiple levels of the old tomb before cracking the chamber around the massive shard of old power and striking it true.

    The chambered reverberated with a hollow chime as the beam struck, and for a moment the it was akin to a beam of light dissipating against a pitch void.

    ....then the shard began to vibrate, cracking in multiple places as energy began to leak....followed by an ear shattering tear as those fractures expanded and cracked the crystal down the the middle. The void inside reacted to the creation outside for the first time in eons.....

    Moments later, Ochazuke detonated the Kikojustu.

    A Scream sounded, one not heard as much as felt, and within the deep hole before him was a brilliant light so intense Ochazuke would be momentarily blinded well before the blast wave drove him upwards. From a distance the mountain seemed to expand momentarily, then collapse....as if taking one last breath before the ground ignited, a wave of energy blasting out and tearing the ground asunder as it passed over the mountain and then ruins below.

    High above him....The Queens Empowered form, already in combat with her age old mortal enemy, would feel her limitless fount of energy vanish but a moment before the shockwave below washed over the two. She stumbled, her superior smirk fading as she seemed to...and long last...be lost for something to say.....and amiss the chaos, a form was quickly approaching the two from the rear as Zaofan was closing in. Above them....the floating mass that had been broken off the top of the mountain began to drop, falling into the Yucatan Crash that has been forming between it and the ground.
    Last edited by MrSandman; 08-19-2021 at 05:19 PM.

  15. #4365
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    Quote Originally Posted by grampagen View Post
    The Lion Shroud made of the Rose Flare its mane, wreathed in heat and violence did Willa's aura became true to her name, and when her powers manifest they struck up ike a sentient storm within the ruins of Vermillion. At first it had seemed the show of power drawn from Excalibur itself had ascended the Red Colonel to a place beyond reckoning, and Held's words beneath notice

    Of course, the M-Fighters, having long since defied what was ordinary or conventional, and when spoken to she who brought the gathering storm, to say his provocation had been received...

    "I am not my father." Her hands twist on the grip of the longsword, and a purple thunderbolt struck the ground. "He was a means to an end!"

    Plasma tethers from the power she held struck through, filling her energy projections with a vicious, deathly intention.

    "Do you think that prancing fool even knew what he had?! All the money and love of the world, and he could only pretend at being a king while licking the President's boots!"
    Well, he had certainly struck a nerve. He could feel himself tensing as Willa's malice was made manifest, flowing outward from her being and into her constructs.

    "We can't save Jack without that sword."The Nevadian told his Acrosian companion in a low growl, lips unmoving as he spoke through his teeth.

    Willa's ire had been set lose, expressed not only in the clash of swords and fists, but the wielding of words as well. This allowed Held and Blizzar precious moments to get on the same footing with one another.

    Held had thought to counter her claims, pointing out that she had little qualm joining up with her departed father at the World Tournament, despite her disdain of his qualities.

    Quote Originally Posted by KingofPie View Post
    Following Held's lead, Blizzar shot his own barb as he began to pace the floor, "Now let's be fair, Held. I never had the displeasure of meeting Willa's father but from briefing reports, he was purported to be indescribably petty and altogether lacking in self awareness. A violent brigand to who abused his power for his gain and his gain alone, any other reason was simply pretense..." Blizzar drifted off, stopping his strut to put a hand to his chin. "I say, perhaps the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree after all..."

    "It is a bit of ironic, is it not? The good captain, takes the helm and sinks the ship," Blizzar added, one arm clutching the other to distract himself from the pain. The Arcosian stood up and with some effort pulls off the most dismissive shrug possible. "Drive away the very Xenos that saved your planet time and time again. I'm, sure given time the survivors of Earth's next disaster will find it in their hearts to forgive you, if any remain at all."

    "How do you think you will go down in the annals of history, Rautt? As a hero? Will you rewrite the victories of Earth's true saviors out of fear that this planet's prodigies were not the only ones among them? OR that it wasn't you, who instead cowered in your caverns, bitterly laying forth twisted schemes, allowing the very world you want to save to suffer?" The Arcosian lieutenant began to slowly clap. "All hail the chosen one! The Subterranean Seneschal! Arthur's descendant, the Do-Nothing Queen! If her rule would match but a third of her spite, her barren empire will last generations."
    Held's face went blank as Blizzar made his feelings known. So deep were his barbs, that even Held, as implacable as he was could not help but feel some manner of second hand embarrassment for Willa, having been dismissed so casually an in-depth. Any words that he considered using against Willa now seemed unnecessary and insignificant.

    "...Uh...Y-Yeah." Held said warily, uneasily as he regained his composure.

    Good grief......He really doesn't pull any punches with sort of thing, does he?

    "And what the **** would an extortionist know about revolutions?! You don't build anything, you chase disasters and fleece the wounded for profit!"

    The phantom cloud stretched, its power swelled, and the Lion's Mane moved through a roar in silence. But the only sound she heard were those. Slow. Mocking. Claps.

    "You can't negotiate with cancer. I mean to cut it out and scour it clean, whatever it takes."

    Slowly the aura rendered a shape, first a regal mane, then fangs about her person. But shaped by the Lion's Roar containing Willa's rage, the Rose Flares struck and exploded at once and the Raider's aura became kindling for a piece of the old magic, the Arthurian line rendered it in her true colour.

    Red.


    The burning shape surrounded Willa in explosions in perpetuity, and as it stalked toward Held and Blizzar, the ground beneath its feet shattered and quaked. Within it all, she conducted the movements of this King of Beasts by the movements of Excalibur.

    She swung out, and the construct slashed before her.
    The formation of the blazing beast was so immense in its explosive radiance, that Held found himself shielding his eyes, only for a moment. He was dumbfounded--if only for a moment--at what the Red Raider had decided to wield against them.

    It was at this moment, Held had began to wonder if perhaps they had poked a bit too harshly at the bear--or Lion, as it were.

    She very swiftly went from barely contained anger, to ice cold fury. Words were deemed insufficient at this juncture. Only blood would satisfy Willa.

    ...Well....getting her off her game was the goal. So Mission accomplished, I suppose.

    Had Willa been gracious enough not to orchestrate the operation of the Ki Beast so immediately, Held might have taken a moment to marvel at the intricacies of it's formation, before devising some sort of plan to dispatch of it.

    As things were, it stalked towards it's prey in a manner that one would expect from the King of Beasts--on earth, anyways--shattering stone with each step, before raising a paw to slash them into oblivion.

    To this, the Nevadian froze for a second, as if struggling with something.

    Damnit.

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he focused his energy, glancing at the earth beneath him. His energy dissipated, the Nevadian thinking better of it as the tip of his spear touched the ground.

    Runic Art: Transumtation!

    The earth beneath the feet of both Acrosian and Nevadian suddenly jutted upwards by several yards, creating a platform that ran about eye level with the beast. If nothing else, it would give them a moments reprieve from the pain Willa hoped to deliver.

    .....Knowing our luck, she can pass on that strange energy to her Lion as well. Last thing we need is to get bisected by it.
    Last edited by Miburo; 08-18-2021 at 11:05 AM.

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