Dragonball M, Chapter 5: Clarion’s Call! The Signal! The Fate of the Universes!

[bruceleegreyhulk]

As Praxat continues extending her electroreception, she continues doing calculations. ( Does she have to die? Is there not a better way? )Praxat thought.

In her mind, Praxat does dozen upon dozens of calculations of theoretical outcomes of this scenario. The M Fighters find themselves in.( Worst theoretical outcomes we die or either she dies. Best possible theoretical outcome,) Praxat thought

( The only outcome that ends with no one dying Is the outcome where Zaofan's words get to her. With how things are going at the moment. We're heading into the worst possible outcomes,) Praxat thought.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Another flurry of punches was launched at the back of Innana's head, no more slowed than before, oddly enough.

And down below on the ground, there was a veritable mound of tacos.

The punches to the back of her head were certainly a nuisance, but much like the tacos that sat unattended they were ignored for the moment; focused as she was on the Fusion that had jumped in front of her.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

With a jerking motion, Zaofan was hurled into Ochazuke; and Inanna whirled to face the source of the disturbance.



She could feel it dying, Vaikuntha, even as the healing energies that sputtered forth from the Half-Saiyans 'Kizuna' washed over his allies like the waves of the sea; and though none present might realize what this meant beyond 'succor'... Inanna understood that like the Saiyans' fusion, this was in its own way a tacit admission. So she voiced her anger loudly, voice echoing in the minds, and ears of everyone currently standing on Reshlan.

"It is not enough to see me dead? You would kill my attempts at redemption, and damn an entire species in the process?"

The shackles Zaofan had bound her in, began to buckle as she pressed against them; and from within the chasm of fractal spacetime, the Oni that was roared defiantly. "How dare you!"

With a snap, those ethereal chains broke away, and she thrust her hands into the void of broken reality. Talons digging deep into the sinew of existence as she tore her way into the divine realm, Vaikuntha; only to expose that what she had sensed fleetingly was true: the Realm was dying and with it the Elemanti she had convinced to take refuge within. The realm, seemingly opposed to this forceful intrusion attempted to stave her off... but with the power now drained wholly out of it, could mount no meaningful resistance to her as she disappeared inside the dying dimension only for the breach to seal itself behind her.

Not more than a few seconds pass, an eerie silence falling over the battlefield as the awesome power that had been bleeding from the spacetime breach disappeared in an instant... only for a painful keening to ripple across the battlefield as reality buckled beneath the force of overwhelming rage; and Inanna ripped her way back.... only now, she hung above the planet entirely, the rift she tore visible from the surface even if she herself was not.

And from the heavens, her voice carried, dripping with rage, as it echoed in their minds.

"HOW. DARE. YOU."

The keening persisted, as reality- weakened by Sakin- buckled and caved before Inanna; as she plucked from the depths of that dying dimension a world she had promised salvation, Illargi, leaving the world to hang above the Threshling planet as she descended.



What energies this boon had sought to grand, were only partially successful.

Those closes to Totoma received the benefits of this... careless if well-meaning act, while those further away merely saw the aftermath. As the woman descended, fresh off from ripping a planet from its moorings within the prison of a dying dimension; she fell upon the surge of energies washing over the battlefield, consuming them with little care for their source, or destination as she set her sighs on what she saw now- as threats, more than former allies. What else could they be? With their callous disregard for anything not immediately relevant to them in the moment.

Superficial wounds healing swiftly, as the energy she consumed was repurposed for her own ends, Inanna glared at the assembled M-Fighters. "The Threshlings you left to die, along with your ward, and the Elementals... they are safe on Illargi." She continued to speak, both telepathically and aloud, her contempt dripping from every syllable. "I see now my mistake in holding back, hoping that you might help me temper my anger, and pain into something meaningful... but in the end all you've done is add to it."

Holding her ruinic hand to the heavens, she began her assault anew.

"Lampton, I hope you're watching."

As Totoma disappeared into Vaikuntha to follow her commands, Nevanlinna turned to take stock of the situation. Her plan, ultimately, was to provide the others with a trickle of Vaikuntha's power to keep them alive so that they mayhap figure out a solution to this unfortunate predicament. Or, if worse came to worst... make a battle of attrition less harrowing.

Unfortunately, as that famous saying goes, no plan survived contact with the enemy. Or, in this case, no plan survived contact with Totoma.

At first, there was indeed a trickle of succor coming from his Kizuna--all good--and then... then came a literal torrent. This caught her by surprise, but for approximately, oh, four seconds, she judged it to be fine... and then it kept growing, to the point that...

She could not claim to know the full volume of energies within Vaikuntha, other than a vague 'a lot, of varying types', but the sheer rate of flow the half-saiyan achieved was astounding and worrying. At seven seconds, she made the decision to reverse her end of the equation--cut off the source, so to speak. Vaikuntha was an extension of her, after all. Or she was an extension of it, rather? It mattered not.

...an extension that ignored her commands.

It ignored her.

The princess was not given to panic, but this, this caused a not-inconsiderable amount of that unpleasant emotion. Okay, perhaps if she went into Vaikuntha and told Totoma to stop or knocked him out, this could be ended. She prepared to open a portal to Vaikuntha...

At ten seconds, Inanna apparently noticed... whatever the hell was happening, dropped Zaofan, and promptly tore her way inside Vaikuntha. While the realm was... acting of its own accord, somehow, she was still connected to it and the psychic shock of it being violated in that manner fell upon her, disrupting her concentration to the point where she was completely unable to do anything except barely catch herself and fight through the pain.

She didn't know how long she was in that state, but by the time that metaphysical shock receded, Ilargi had been yanked from her realm, the... wound Inanna had inflicted upon it was beginning to seal up, and the realm itself was... exhausted. With only those close in proximity to Totoma, so-to-speak, having received any sort of boon. Most distressingly, her attempts at contacting Narayana were met with a defeaning dead silence.

She had no idea how this had happened. Initially, she wanted to blame the half-saiyan, but Vaikuntha had... had acted on its own, so in this situation, she had effectively backstabbed herself? None of this made sense. Couldn't it have chosen a better time to do this?

Nevanlinna took a deep breath and attempted to compose herself. She was still connected to Vaikuntha, and could feel its condition. It was still alive, so to speak. Narayana, her higher self who had once pervaded it, was gone, but it was still... there, and... stabilizing? The sense she was getting was that it had gone into a 'sleep' sort of status, like a living being after a great effort. That was reassuring, and a quick estimation of the remaining power in there...

Ilargi and her people would have been fine. But Inanna could only sense the realm expending a great deal of its energy, so quickly, and so had reached an obvious, to her, conclusion: she knew that she, Neva, could command it, and was the only one, to her knowledge, that could do so, and so had apparently chosen to spite her efforts at redemption by...

...

One would think that a higher being such as Narayana, a god or former god, as it were, would have had the foresight to foresee this. One could be forgiven to believe that it would have some measure of, hm, greater awareness. But no, apparently Narayana was an idiot or... or something. Or had just become so alien that it didn't understand the fine art of timing. In any case, things had gotten worse.

I should have just stayed in Vaikuntha and shared a drink with Held. But no, I simply had to enact interfere in this idiotic battle.

Sighing, she took flight towards Inanna, reaching her just as she sucker-punched... ah, Parlada. Normally, such a sight--Parlada, not the sucker-punch--would be a welcome sight on the battlefield, but right now, emotionally drained as she was from the sheer, utter stupidity that had just transpired, it was just... just a thing.

"...Inanna, if I may... have some words with you before you descend upon me in your rage?" Her normally regal mien was absent, and she was clearly just... shook from having a part of her essentially give her the middle finger. "I would like to clarify that Vaikuntha doing... that... was absolutely not my intention. I wished for a trickle, and Narayana, my... former, at this point, oversoul that pervaded Vaikuntha, decided that it would give all or most of itself."

As mentioned, she was still connected to the realm, and slowly, scraps of knowledge from Narayana were beginning to trickle into her consciousness. Or perhaps she was absorbing it of her own accord. At this point, she didn't know, and didn't have time to exhaustively examine each scrap of memory and knowledge to figure out why in the hell Narayana had decided to... to blow its load all over the battlefield, to use a crude euphemism she had picked up on Earth.

...to be honest, she expected Inanna to simply ignore her words and only acknowledge her presence with rage and violence, at this point.

[MrSandman]

"There's certain rules that let me keep my head low...in this world since you all wished me back. It's sort of like standing in two places at once. But Inanna took advantage of Sakin breaking the laws of the universe," he said grimly. "I might be able to get close enough, but there'd be no way she wouldn't see me coming, she'd pick up the trail because she'd be standing in the same place I'd be when the Grey takes me."

Looking over the hilt in his hand, he tried to make a measure of what, exactly, it was and what he was supposed to do with it, before pulling back the edge of his longcoat.

"...well, I'll do my part, but I'd prefer it if I knew I could make a sure cut."

At his side, he revealed the blade sheathed at his hip: Excalibur, the Sword of the King.

"Showoff." Etrina replied as she only slightly suppressed a smirk. "Fine...seems I'll need to stack the deck a bit more on my end to match." With a gesture of her free hand, the hilt flashed from Jacks grip and appeared in hers. "....listen, I know what I'm doing...and I know its risky. But given the circumstances, a measure of risk of all but inevitable. Taking the easy road is what got us here." Her gaze drifted back to Inanna in the distance. "We can't save her by cowering and praying for a easy solution...and she wouldn't accept that sort of solution even if we had it. So I'm going to beat the piss out of her until she does."

Turning her attention back her to spellwork, she gave but one side glance to Jack before putting the entirely of her focus into it. "...and no more dying or I'll kill you."

---

"Fate and Time
Two sides of the same coin, linked and yet separated.
Without Fate, Time is a tempest without direction
Without Time, Fate is a stillborn forever locked in the womb
One shapes the river, the other carves its twists and turns.
They are domains, separate but united. Dancing in unison but individual in existence."

Etrina stands before the images of Inanna, She who stalks and Sakin. The pale light cast by their images illuminating her stoic face. Behind her the man known as Tsenoh whispers quietly to himself, but not so quiet that the mage cannot hear him.

"Time has a will of its own, much like your friend. Like her, you cannot bend it at your whim without great effort.
That is your weakness as a Tempus Magi. You wield your power as a hammer. You work against time and not with it."
You cannot push against the flow and not expect such a complex dance to stall. Such is why the manipulation of time is always at a cost.
But there is always a path less travelled, if you know where to look."

"Its...."

Tsenoh paused, then placed a finger under his chin and sighed.

"Nevermind, as desperate as we are. This is something no mortal can achieve. I'm sure even the Kais themselves would be hard pressed to overcome such limitation. By design I might add."

"What would you know!" Etrina broke her stare and huffed. "...and don't start telling me something only to stop in the middle! By the gods this is the most useless vision I've ever been a part of."

Tsenoh lets out a chuckle in response. "I'm sure you think that way now....but one day, perhaps. We all have dreams that make no sense to us in the present, consider this one of those and commit it to memory."

".....Well?" Etrina took a moment to wipe the annoyance from her face before asking.

"Well what?" Tsenoh responded in amusement.

"Talk! I'll judge if something is impossible or not with my own two ears...."

--------

God Ki and True Magic
Spiraling endlessly towards a point in front of Etrinas chest.
A magic sigil carved into the ground around her feet, its magic infusing itself down into the ground of Reshlan.
Deep down, interfacing with the shadow of spellwork both past and present.

Etrina closed her eyes, shutting out everything beyond the spell taking shape.

Fate
The myriad of Spider threads
Time
The Infinite branching streams

Bind the threads to a single weave
Merge the Rivers to a single confluence
Become the point through which they flow
The past, present and future of this fixed point in space.
Channel their flow and find the destination
To find that one Fate where they may all see its conclusion
and guide them home...as their balancing point.

The spiral of God ki and Magic merged into a point, and then spiraled inside Etrinas chest.
The Mage took a deep breath.
Exhale.
Visualize.
And...

Pain.
White hot, soul tearing Pain.

Outcomes screamed in her ears.
Threads pulled her soul to shreds.
Timelines ripped her body and spread it to the winds.
There were no numbers, numbers did not matter. There was only infinity, and the infinite burden of suffering that came with it.
...and yet...through will was certainly not in short supply, it would be more stubbornness that would see it through to the end.
As many things in the life of that one egotistic speak of a mage.

----

The threads of fate, for those upon Reshlan, had been knotted together. No force outside would decide their fate but them.
The streams of time, for those upon Reshlan, had been fused together. No force outside would decide the path but them.

With a cacophonous scream that echo'd far further then one should have imagined, the sky above Reshlan flashed with a silver shimmer.
At its focal point, Etrina body erupted in focused temporal energy. For some it was but a moment, but for her....it could have been anywhere from a moment to an eternity. Regardless...
When the tempest dissipated, Etrina stood in its wake...eyes shimmering, body aglow with the energy of time itself pouring through her being.

If the lightshow haden't been enough, a feeling of temporal dissonance flooded over Reshlan...along with a thrum of pressure in the air surrounded the now empowered time mage. With a gesture, Bojack is lifted from the ground at her feet and brushes along her fingertips as it ascendeds...empowering it with some form of temporal.

"Go....Bojack." Etrina whispered.

Empowered runs light up along its length, and slowly the staff begins to spin upon its center point....first in a figure 8, then faster, and faster. Becoming a blur, then a translucent sphere illuminated by a single point of light at its heart. As it rose into the air above her.

[KingofPie]

The punches to the back of her head were certainly a nuisance, but much like the tacos that sat unattended they were ignored for the moment; focused as she was on the Fusion that had jumped in front of her.

The next swing of Blizzar's fist had a bit more oomph behind it....but instead of aiming at the back of her head, this one was targetted at her eye with an intent to press inward with a speed and force most intense. Except, Blizzar was not present, and like before all signs of the attack vanished as quickly as it began with no sign of the Arcosian being present. His voice was heard however.

"I don't suppose this is at all inconvenient for you is it?" he inquired. "Which is a good thing. I'd rather you have your wits about you."

[grampagen]

With a jerking motion, Zaofan was hurled into Ochazuke; and Inanna whirled to face the source of the disturbance.

The Wing of the Phoenix School that guided his technique to capture and mitigate the pressure wave carrying upon Inanna's first escalation pinned his position; Ochazuke had been braced to hold fast against the force which threatened to destabilize space itself, to shunt the energy tearing from the Oni That Was and contain any further damage from the combat. The moment Zaofan's blood loosened his grip and he was torn from her hand, he'd been forced to break the stance he held.

His martial brother in this piteous state would not do to remain here, and as he acclimated to the velocity of Zaofan being thrown into him, Ochazuke righted the momentum as they descended. Where they landed in the palatial grounds scratched to dust, Ochazuke sat him up.

"With me, Zao. Focus your ki," he said.

Though the knowledge of the ancestral school passed to both, they had each of them interpreted the teaching in a different way. While Ochazuke's Hoyokusen raised the Phoenix wings to soar through trepidation and take it for his own, Zaofan's Ho-ou Sosei was a sacrifice to render new life, even if were from his own ashes.

You've already given more than enough this day...for this planet, and for the rest of us...

Synchronizing techniques in an instant, Ochazuke captured the Martial Chef's own healing ability and threw it back into the meridians of his ki system, and the subsequent overcharge healed his wounds with such sudden forcefulness it seized his breath and body for a long moment. Loosing several exhales, Zaofan tilt his head, and a long clot of blood emptied into his lap.

"...where...where is she...?"

The swelling over his eye and nose gradually faded, and with slow, painful blinks, the scales fell from his eyes and he recovered his light.

Only for the both of them to look upward to the hole in the sky.

And from the heavens, her voice carried, dripping with rage, as it echoed in their minds.

"HOW. DARE. YOU."

The keening persisted, as reality- weakened by Sakin- buckled and caved before Inanna; as she plucked from the depths of that dying dimension a world she had promised salvation, Illargi, leaving the world to hang above the Threshling planet as she descended.



What energies this boon had sought to grand, were only partially successful.

Those closes to Totoma received the benefits of this... careless if well-meaning act, while those further away merely saw the aftermath. As the woman descended, fresh off from ripping a planet from its moorings within the prison of a dying dimension; she fell upon the surge of energies washing over the battlefield, consuming them with little care for their source, or destination as she set her sighs on what she saw now- as threats, more than former allies. What else could they be? With their callous disregard for anything not immediately relevant to them in the moment.

Superficial wounds healing swiftly, as the energy she consumed was repurposed for her own ends, Inanna glared at the assembled M-Fighters. "The Threshlings you left to die, along with your ward, and the Elementals... they are safe on Illargi." She continued to speak, both telepathically and aloud, her contempt dripping from every syllable. "I see now my mistake in holding back, hoping that you might help me temper my anger, and pain into something meaningful... but in the end all you've done is add to it."

Holding her ruinic hand to the heavens, she began her assault anew.

"Lampton, I hope you're watching."

"That...that's..." Zaofan stammered as Ochazuke took in the view above. It had been scarcely a day in the reckoning of this time, but even from this distance, the chaotic shifting of the biomes beneath its skies were immediately recognizable. The craggy fissues under the shadow of Cloche; the shiftin dunes in the wake of Gaineamh; the refractive oceans of Oighear; the firepit aflame at the hearth of Lasair; and the glitteing corpus of Criostalach.

Volatile patchworks in the trail of the Elemanti who dominated that eternal space, resurrected from a dead world.

"Illargi. She's pulled it from Vaikuntha."

The world within that liminal space had served for some time as a training ground, though the denizens of that world beneath their eternal sky had been less than welcoming. Yet the mention of Nevanlinna's strange realm only brought more panic to Zaofan's sensibilities.

"The Threshling civilians! The Queen told me they were sequestered away in the previous battle, but--!!"

Immediately, the both of them scanned the planet for signs of life.

OOC: Need Cleric or Ramza to inform this, if you'd please.

"Showoff." Etrina replied as she only slightly suppressed a smirk. "Fine...seems I'll need to stack the deck a bit more on my end to match." With a gesture of her free hand, the hilt flashed from Jacks grip and appeared in hers. "....listen, I know what I'm doing...and I know its risky. But given the circumstances, a measure of risk of all but inevitable. Taking the easy road is what got us here." Her gaze drifted back to Inanna in the distance. "We can't save her by cowering and praying for a easy solution...and she wouldn't accept that sort of solution even if we had it. So I'm going to beat the piss out of her until she does."

Turning her attention back her to spellwork, she gave but one side glance to Jack before putting the entirely of her focus into it. "...and no more dying or I'll kill you."

When the hilt disappeared from his grip, Jack twitched uneasily for a moment before resting his hand upon the scabbard of Arthur's sword.

"...is this one of those situations like the butterfly and the hurricane," he stumbled, "because it might not be about what you've got in the deck, but the hand you draw."

Of course, with the sore subject of his passings, each from being in proximity to this gang - and picking up a few hardheaded habits through the years - he grimaced with visible discomfort with how casual Etrina seemed about it all.

"...well, so long as that's all, whatever it takes to make her stop..." he muttered numbly, "Excalibur's got in it a very specific charm, one that's lasted through the ages of Vermillion and from what Ocha tells me, part of the Amdapour age as well. Figure that's got to be worth something more than nicking someone...seems like you'll need all the charms you can muster though."

Though he'd brushed upon it, passed through the veil and was lucky enough to have friends that would pull him back through twice, even, the smell of death had all but grown stronger. At this moment where the realms intersected, it filled Jack with a cold, crawling sensation. It was as if he was alone in the Northern Wilds again and the shift in the air brought with it the scent of the season's first rain.

The threads of fate, for those upon Reshlan, had been knotted together. No force outside would decide their fate but them.
The streams of time, for those upon Reshlan, had been fused together. No force outside would decide the path but them.

With a cacophonous scream that echo'd far further then one should have imagined, the sky above Reshlan flashed with a silver shimmer.
At its focal point, Etrina body erupted in focused temporal energy. For some it was but a moment, but for her....it could have been anywhere from a moment to an eternity. Regardless...
When the tempest dissipated, Etrina stood in its wake...eyes shimmering, body aglow with the energy of time itself pouring through her being.

If the lightshow haden't been enough, a feeling of temporal dissonance flooded over Reshlan...along with a thrum of pressure in the air surrounded the now empowered time mage. With a gesture, Bojack is lifted from the ground at her feet and brushes along her fingertips as it ascendeds...empowering it with some form of temporal.

"Go....Bojack." Etrina whispered.

Empowered runs light up along its length, and slowly the staff begins to spin upon its center point....first in a figure 8, then faster, and faster. Becoming a blur, then a translucent sphere illuminated by a single point of light at its heart. As it rose into the air above her.

As Ochazuke and Zaofan sought out signs of life from the last of the Threshling people and Jack began to render about himself the Grey Mantle of Grave Magic, upon both sides of the battlefield the strange icon of infinity would be remiss to be ignored. There at the pinnacle above Inanna and the Saiyan Fusion

Yet as ever only one thought came to Zaofan's mind, and though his heart swelled no blush reached his face as the temporal escalation had begun.

What are you going to do...?

OOC: Are the Four Foci around the battlefield somewhere, and if so where might they be?

[bruceleegreyhulk]

( Hmm, I wonder what the active part of my electroreception is going to pick up. Now that I extended its range. What all I'm going to pick up?) Praxat thought.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The civilians are ok on Illgari.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

( Hmm, I wonder what the active part of my electroreception is going to pick up. Now that I extended its range. What all I'm going to pick up?) Praxat thought.

With the massive energy disturbance in the air, your senses are having a hard time parsing info.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

With the massive energy disturbance in the air, your senses are having a hard time parsing info.

( Hmm, a massive disturbance is making it hard to analyze info. No, matter I just have to focus harder. Wait, is it wise for me to push through this?) Praxat thought.

( Might, get a migraine if I tried to push through. Only one way to find out,) Praxat said.

Praxat pushes electroreception in an attempt to push through the massive energy disturbance in the air to analyze info. ( I'll stop pushing my electroreception if I notice I'm getting a migraine,) Praxat thought.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

A black butterfly floats on the tempest winds on Reshlan. It flies high, its size barely bigger than a single zeni coin. Its markings, black and blue, blend with the sky as it pushes against the turbulent energies that crackle across the sky.

It is not a normal butterfly. Said creature trails behind it faint divine energy. Divine, yet just slightly twisted. Just a note off in its symphonic existence. No, it’s no normal butterfly: it is Sakin’s eyes and ears and mind. The technique of scrying it not new to Angels, but having been stripped of his title and many of his powers diminished, gazing into his staff’s crustal ball was no longer a good enough scrying method. Instead, garnered from Fife’s skill set, he cast the sacred butterfly to be his eyes and ears.

Sakin watches. He watches, plots, and can almost not believe what he sees. He watches, and plans change and plots grow.

He watches and smiles.

Parlada's magic sense detected the scrying spell that had taken the form of a butterfly. It was a dark perversion of the silvery butterflies Eva used as messengers, just a beat off of being the same. She didn't know how she came about that technique, but she had her ideas. In that regard, there were very few people who could have possibly been on the other end.

Her otherworldly senses followed the trail that lingered between master and spell, a thin ethereal string that tethered the two together. The distance was great, but not insurmountable. It carried her third eye across vast light years of empty space. Stars and planets passed by one by one as she mentally crossed the gap in an instant, until, finally, she reached the source.

"Sakin."

It came as no surprise. Ever since Sarada and Parsley were kidnapped temporarily by Alakazah's son during the penultimate moments against SWS and her demon, she had been acutely aware that he was aware of the very same thing that had been made abundantly clear: they had the best shot at defeating Sakin. He knew it, they knew it, and he knew they knew it. His insistence on keeping an eye on them throughout the day, even going so far as to attempt to pit the entire universe against them as well as empty the Way Between Worlds was proof of it.

She didn't know what his plans were beyond using Asha'rah's body and Genesis to gain "ultimate power", but with the battle on Reshlan and them being as delayed as they were, those plans were due to change and likely grow. "Damn it, you foo-"

This...



Was terribly unwise.

The second Parlada's focus wavered, Inanna pounced like a predator on unsuspecting prey. The orb of energy that had been charging above her was quickly reabsorbed, and repurposed; and like the dual technique from Sasheem, and Lantro, her now glowing fist connected with the Fusion center mass.

As her attention rerturned, she found Inanna far closer than she would have liked. An energy-enveloped fist crossed the suddenly far shorter gap faster than she could react and struck her in the chest. Upon impact, she felt her sternum snap in half and with it, several ribs shatter. She was sent careening and slammed into the ground forcefully enough to leave a sizable trench behind.

Her eyes squeezed closed as pain radiated through every corner of her chest. While insight was key to any battle, obtaining it in the middle of said battle came with undue risks.

Saiyan Grit

She grimaces as her ribcage knitted itself back together. Not enough to be truly and completely whole, but enough that she could breathe and fight without trouble. She rose to her feet and cracked her neck. Being caught off guard that way hurt like a bitch, but it gave her an idea.

Prodigy's Talent

A slight blue shimmer sparkled and danced around her. Then, she laughed. "You really have no idea what's going on, do you?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parlada's magic sense detected the scrying spell that had taken the form of a butterfly. It was a dark perversion of the silvery butterflies Eva used as messengers, just a beat off of being the same. She didn't know how she came about that technique, but she had her ideas. In that regard, there were very few people who could have possibly been on the other end.

Her otherworldly senses followed the trail that lingered between master and spell, a thin ethereal string that tethered the two together. The distance was great, but not insurmountable. It carried her third eye across vast light years of empty space. Stars and planets passed by one by one as she mentally crossed the gap in an instant, until, finally, she reached the source.

"Sakin."

It came as no surprise. Ever since Sarada and Parsley were kidnapped temporarily by Alakazah's son during the penultimate moments against SWS and her demon, she had been acutely aware that he was aware of the very same thing that had been made abundantly clear: they had the best shot at defeating Sakin. He knew it, they knew it, and he knew they knew it. His insistence on keeping an eye on them throughout the day, even going so far as to attempt to pit the entire universe against them as well as empty the Way Between Worlds was proof of it.

She didn't know what his plans were beyond using Asha'rah's body and Genesis to gain "ultimate power", but with the battle on Reshlan and them being as delayed as they were, those plans were due to change and likely grow. "Damn it, you foo-"



As her attention rerturned, she found Inanna far closer than she would have liked. An energy-enveloped fist crossed the suddenly far shorter gap faster than she could react and struck her in the chest. Upon impact, she felt her sternum snap in half and with it, several ribs shatter. She was sent careening and slammed into the ground forcefully enough to leave a sizable trench behind.

Her eyes squeezed closed as pain radiated through every corner of her chest. While insight was key to any battle, obtaining it in the middle of said battle came with undue risks.

Saiyan Grit

She grimaces as her ribcage knitted itself back together. Not enough to be truly and completely whole, but enough that she could breathe and fight without trouble. She rose to her feet and cracked her neck. Being caught off guard that way hurt like a bitch, but it gave her an idea.

Prodigy's Talent

A slight blue shimmer sparkled and danced around her. Then, she laughed. "You really have no idea what's going on, do you?"

The butterfly, almost reacting to her brief examination, almost seems to….shake as if in laughter. Your senses almost get…amusement from it.

It flits high and away, angling towards Etrina and others.

[Miburo]

I should have just stayed in Vaikuntha and shared a drink with Held. But no, I simply had to enact interfere in this idiotic battle.

As the Nevadian traveled through the Vaikuntha towards the outside world, he became aware of several sensations which did nothing more than serve to confuse him.

A connection to Totoma. His Kizuna no doubt, flowed through his body, filling him with power. In this strange place, it was not exactly easy to judge distance, let alone who or what was present. Still, Held could vaguely sense his presence, as if the telltale sign wasn't enough.

Still, it was quite odd. It was needless, as things were. It had been a long day, to be sure. But not so long as to require additional energy to get through the day.

Even more disconcerting to the Nevadian, was the faint humming that seemed to appear across the Vaikuntha as he traveled to the surface, and the resonance that his spear had emitted in response. Sparing a glance to his right, he could sense an unfamiliar type of energy flowing from the walls of the dimension, into the essence of his spear. It was being siphoned off?

No....It was being imbued? The flow of energy was clearly shifting into the spear of its own accord, fusing with it on a molecular level. Was this the result of the spell? Unlikely. Nevertheless, Held could sense the spear strengthening even further, as if it had finally stabilized into its true hardened form.

Suddenly, just as quickly as it had begun, it had ended. The tap was shut off.

For the entire location it seemed...It was hard to describe, but Held became very aware of the Vaikunthas attempt to stop him from exiting.

...Is this cause I raided Neva's Alcohol Closets? I mean, I only brought so many capsules, and if she cared, I imagine she would have been more...direct.

Well, perhaps that was incorrect. It was as if an escalator had suddenly stopped. He was not being prevented from leaving by any means....the dimension simply seemed to be very unenthusiastic to aid him in his trek.

A closer look revealed how the dimension, once brimming with life and energy, now seemed to be on the last dregs of its power, like a corpse bleeding out.

It was simply as if the entire place had somehow stagnated and shutdown....Which was very unusual. Held didn't even know such a thing was possible, given the feats that Nevalinna had treated as a trivial matter previously.

Totoma's sudden Kizaru and the Vaikuntha's odd charity and slumber; Each would have been odd and a coincidence on its own, but together, served to make the Nevadian far more anxious coming out, than he had been going in.

.....For that matter, shouldn't he be out already? He had been traversing the halls of the realm for several minutes, when in the past it had been the span of seconds that got him from one place to another.

You've got to be kidding me. What the hell is going on in this place....

The Nevadian sighed in frustration. If the exit did not seem to be forthcoming, he would have to make one himself. Presumably repairing this place would be simple enough, so Neva wouldn't be *too* upset. Besides, he could likely help her figure out why her realm was malfunctioning.

The Vaikuntha was in essence a barrier of some sort. There were very few barrier the Nevadian found himself unable to penetrate.

Spear in hand, the Nevadian charged forth. He reared back the weapon as energy surged through it.

"Piercing Horn!"

[grampagen]

The civilians are ok on Illgari.

To their relief, the people of Reshlan yet remained.

"Among the Elemanti, the knights should be able to fend them off. But it will not do to have them witness the destruction of their planet from this distance."

So spoken, with the length of what they had yet to do, Ochazuke pulled out one of the senzu pastries Zaofan prepared before they'd left earth, split it and offered him half to replenish their stamina.

As he chewed slowly, the dry, tacky dough would ameliorate little more than that as he lift his eyes to the planet hanging in the sky above.

"At this juncture, it may not be us that decides the outcome here."

When he heard the implication, the chef's shoulders sagged.

"I can't," he said, "After promising they'd be safe after She Who Stalks, after what's happened now because of us, I have no right to ask that of them."

"Perhaps that is all the more reason that the fate of Reshlan should not depend on us," Ochazuke replied, "It's not about us saving face, understand?"

Beyond than the separation of gods and mortals, they'd reached out to peoples from different star systems to bring them more than a warning. Here on Reshlan where it had all began, they'd transversed that climate of fear that separated their peoples across the stars to prove to them that there were those who would listen.

"To make them more than merely witnesses, helpless to watch the universe fall around them. That was the reason we set out to unite the Known Universe. Even if it's for a moment, you can give that to them, Zao."

"Yeah, but against that...?"

"Cheh, don't be daft. You know as well as I that it won't be decided by power."

"...alright, I'll have to...try."

Ochazuke clapped a hand over Zaofan's shoulder, standing at the ready to defend his brother as he made his preparations. The stance was made, the roots made solid with Reshlan, but as he raised his hands to the sky, looking to the distant world that house the Threshling people he felt little more than a beggar's shame.

Please...I don't want to ask this of you, it's not right, I know. But this is your world, your home. If you have any faith left in us to fight in your stead, then I'll do everything in my power to bring this conflict to an end...

From this distance, he had no idea if the Threshlings would see, sense, or feel the plea*, and doubt lingered in his heart as he tried somehow to will his sentiments into becoming true. The White Cloak by now was mere tatters loose upon the pauldrons dyed by his own blood. He was always foreign in these parts anyway, but the White Knight of Reshlan fell away, and only the man stood there, reaching out and listening as he desperately tried to give them a sign of hope*.

OOC:
Genki: Status???
Heka: Status:???

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

To their relief, the people of Reshlan yet remained.

"Among the Elemanti, the knights should be able to fend them off. But it will not do to have them witness the destruction of their planet from this distance."

So spoken, with the length of what they had yet to do, Ochazuke pulled out one of the senzu pastries Zaofan prepared before they'd left earth, split it and offered him half to replenish their stamina.

As he chewed slowly, the dry, tacky dough would ameliorate little more than that as he lift his eyes to the planet hanging in the sky above.

"At this juncture, it may not be us that decides the outcome here."

When he heard the implication, the chef's shoulders sagged.

"I can't," he said, "After promising they'd be safe after She Who Stalks, after what's happened now because of us, I have no right to ask that of them."

"Perhaps that is all the more reason that the fate of Reshlan should not depend on us," Ochazuke replied, "It's not about us saving face, understand?"

Beyond than the separation of gods and mortals, they'd reached out to peoples from different star systems to bring them more than a warning. Here on Reshlan where it had all began, they'd transversed that climate of fear that separated their peoples across the stars to prove to them that there were those who would listen.

"To make them more than merely witnesses, helpless to watch the universe fall around them. That was the reason we set out to unite the Known Universe. Even if it's for a moment, you can give that to them, Zao."

"Yeah, but against that...?"

"Cheh, don't be daft. You know as well as I that it won't be decided by power."

"...alright, I'll have to...try."

Ochazuke clapped a hand over Zaofan's shoulder, standing at the ready to defend his brother as he made his preparations. The stance was made, the roots made solid with Reshlan, but as he raised his hands to the sky, looking to the distant world that house the Threshling people he felt little more than a beggar's shame.

Please...I don't want to ask this of you, it's not right, I know. But this is your world, your home. If you have any faith left in us to fight in your stead, then I'll do everything in my power to bring this conflict to an end...

From this distance, he had no idea if the Threshlings would see, sense, or feel the plea*, and doubt lingered in his heart as he tried somehow to will his sentiments into becoming true. The White Cloak by now was mere tatters loose upon the pauldrons dyed by his own blood. He was always foreign in these parts anyway, but the White Knight of Reshlan fell away, and only the man stood there, reaching out and listening as he desperately tried to give them a sign of hope*.

OOC:
Genki: Status???
Heka: Status:???

A trickle, then a stream of energy seems to slowly build up as the Genki gathers once more, the Threshlings once more giving all they had.

A faint silver butterfly lands on Zaofan’s shoulder and warmth blossoms through him as energy pours into him from distant Earth.