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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Hey now, would ya look at that? You ain't raving like a lunatic!" Sasheem sneered smugly, reforming enough of himself to fold his arms. "You know what this thing is?" He asked, producing Jinzi's black card. "This thing's a literal meal ticket! Sasheem only borrowing it..."

For five plus years...

"But it gets you access to some of the best the Earth has to offer! Sasheem can get you a great deal on a buffet so long as you quit bein' A jabroni and help fight off that blueberry bastard, Sackin!"

Sasheem looked up in the sky, towards yet another massive threat encroaching upon the Earth. "Helping fight off whatever's loomin' up there might be a good place to start."

Auroc tenses slightly at hearing his former master’s name, than nods slowly as he looks up. His gaze sharpens, and his mouth forms a distasteful look, as if he’d eaten something sour.

“The Dreadnaught of Mala. Sakin has done it. He has torn open the Ways.”

Auroc actually looks a bit between shocked, scared, and pissed.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"How is this happening?" she gasped when the sun turned blood red. She frowned and halted to a stop. While Avoca was still at the fore of her mind, what was happening before her couldn't have been ignore. She sighed and started sensing for any malevolent signatures nearby. Something had to be causing it, after all.

...

Nothing.

Not that she didn't find any such energies. Rather, she didn't find any energies. "What the...? My ki sense is gone?" Her teeth ground together as frustration was steadily mounting. Things were steadily getting worse with no sign of improving in sight.

She soared higher into the sky to see if she could see anyone who shouldn't have been there.



Tundra spoke without hesitation. "His name is Letchee. Currently, he's in the body of a Saiyan warrior wearing all black armor. He's on a ship to my former throneworld, Tundra Planet 227. These are the star coordinates." After giving them to Sihn, along with nearby constellations so he wouldn't get lost, he added, "If you leave now, you'll likely beat him there."

Sihn nods.

“Very well.”

Sheki’hinah pauses, before slowly closing the lid and eyeing Tundra.

“Even a toe out of line, Tundra. A single toe, and you will be inside the soul cleanser so fast a Saiyan eating at a buffet will look slow. Do you understand me?”


——————

Sarada, unable to sense energy, you cannot seemingly see anyone in the air.


OT: Where are the children located currently?

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Think of this...the GP incarcerated you for your crimes, yes...but think of the reward if your forces instead helped turn the tide against Sakin! Not the benevolent benefactor he claims to be, he seeks to end everything as we know it. Which would mean....everything you're doing now is but a fruitless endeavor."

"However..." Blizzard raises a finger. "Would it not be best if your crimes were exonerated and you were all hailed as heroes?! The payouts alone would be tremendous, but every world you visit, you'll be treated as dignitaries! Receive a hero's welcome from every government leader in every major spaceport!"

The Arcosian tapped a hand to his chin. "That is, if you stand down now..."

Liz pauses, thinking.

“And the cartels? The Syndicates? They don’t like to let people go, Blizzar. My boys and I have done some nasty work for ‘em, know a lot of where the bodies are buried and the like. This all ends like you say, what then?”

She seems interested.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Totoma manages to slow the downward pull of the Lookout, but he can feel something exerting force against him. That sinister sense lingering around.

Eva walks up and lays a hand on his shoulder, her power flowing into him a she helps to ‘pull’ the Lookout back up. The downward pull halts, and the three are now in a stalemate.

Totoma felt a hand on his shoulder and then immediately sensed Eva's power flow into him to reinforce his efforts. Alone, he could only slow its descent, but together with Eva, a stalemate was reached. That sinister feeling was still there, though... what was that? It sort of felt like feeling an evil person's ki, but was more... overt? He didn't really know how to describe it.

Activating his Kizuna with Eva and the others to further bolster his and Eva's efforts, Totoma redirected some of the excess power from it towards the... sinister feeling, reaching out with his ki senses and ESP to... get any sort of bead on it. It was a rough, clumsy effort, and he was probably setting himself up for a jump-scare, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment.

'Who and what are you. What do you want?'

[Sub-Zero MKA]

OT: With Maiz in her waterfall temple.

IC:

Sihn nods.

“Very well.”

Sheki’hinah pauses, before slowly closing the lid and eyeing Tundra.

“Even a toe out of line, Tundra. A single toe, and you will be inside the soul cleanser so fast a Saiyan eating at a buffet will look slow. Do you understand me?”

"But of course. I shall be a model citizen," he said with a flourishing bow. Too bad Letchee has to take the fall. Better him than me, of course.

Sarada, unable to sense energy, you cannot seemingly see anyone in the air.


OT: Where are the children located currently?

Nothing, unsurprisingly. Sarada's frown deepened. Something was going on and whoever was the cause had to be nearby. "Tch. I don't have time for this," she grumbled as she started back for the palace. After she made sure Avoca was okay, she'd get in touch with Parsley and see if her observation skills could unravel what was happening.

[KingofPie]

Auroc tenses slightly at hearing his former master’s name, than nods slowly as he looks up. His gaze sharpens, and his mouth forms a distasteful look, as if he’d eaten something sour.

“The Dreadnaught of Mala. Sakin has done it. He has torn open the Ways.”

Auroc actually looks a bit between shocked, scared, and pissed.

"Sasheem has no idea what that is or what it does, but he doesn't like the look of it," the Majin nodded. "Sasheem doesn't really care much about what happens anywhere else aside from Earth but whatever that thing's doing probably won't stop here. But hey, since you seem to know something about it and don't seem to like it much either, how about you fill Sasheem in on just what the hell it is before we gotta part ways?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

She spits some blood from her mouth in answer, fingering briefly a loose tooth.

“Any idea?”

She gestures to the blood red moon.

Parsley didn't respond for a moment. Her heavy gaze fell upon the blood moon, Observational Focus scanning it in an effort to unravel its origins.

...a blood red moon, accompanied by a red sky. "No, it can't be...," she muttered. Shabador Un Balac, Banner of the Crimson was dead. His soul was torn asunder by Binder. Unless there was another of his ilk lurking about, it had to be something else.

Yet, the similarities were too glaring to ignore. "We may be dealing with one of Wolf God's kin."

[KingofPie]

Liz pauses, thinking.

“And the cartels? The Syndicates? They don’t like to let people go, Blizzar. My boys and I have done some nasty work for ‘em, know a lot of where the bodies are buried and the like. This all ends like you say, what then?”

She seems interested.

"Hmm, that is a conundrum," Blizzar scratched his chin, before suddenly lifting his hands and snapping his fingers. "Ah, but of course! I know more than a few government officials myself! All I need to do is line the right pockets, get some paperwork in order, and you and your associates are officially instated as privateers working for the allied planetary systems! Being of business-like mindset, I'll even work part-time as your manager, overseeing day-to-day operations, taking stock, all of the boring, menial work! Why I can even provide you with a new base of operations! For you see, I happen to own a planet that once operated as an old Gun Runner Hideout. Its previous occupants abandoned it long ago, so I see no reason, why I should not grant it to you!"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Cancer smiles and, before Avoca’s eyes, her form…ripples. Hair grows, skin tone changes, fangs shrink and after mere seconds, a perfect replica of Avoca stands before the real one. Cancer smiles down at the bleeding Saiyan.

“And like a cancer, I can grow into anyone. I just need a bit of blood and energy. A prefect duplicate, from your memories, to your energy signal and even down to the genetic level.”

Her grin widens.

“Thank you for the memories by the way. I know exactly where to go.”

She leans in close and whispers into Avoca’s ear.

“It is always easier to turn children than adults, their bodies adjust better, their minds more malleable. When I turn the children, I will remember you fondly. I will remember your taste, autumn dirt mixed with sugar. Thank you.”

She bites once more, laying another paralyzing agent into Avoca, before stepping back and exiting the room, leaving her there to bleed to death, alone and paralyzed with only her thoughts as the blackness starts creeping into the corners of her vision.

Avoca could only watch with abject horror as Cancer changed into a perfect replica of herself. Not only in appearance, but with her memories, power signature, and even her DNA. With her paralyzed, there was nothing she could do was watch and listen.

Turn my kids? Into what?

It was then that she remembered what Parsley's guide said about Cancer. She had vampire Icers under her control. Those Icers weren't vampires originally, they couldn't have been. They had been turned into her slaves and she wanted to do the same to Garnish and Mais. Probably Kumara, too, though she wasn't sure how useful one year old would be. "...stop...," she pleaded helplessly, but to no avail. She was bitten one final time to make sure she couldn't move before bleeding to death.

Alone.

She was alone. Alone and dying. Bleed seeped out of her wounds at a steady pace. It was the worst on her leg; the main artery was punctured. She could feel herself becoming weaker by the second. Cold, unforgiving darkness slowly crawled into her field of vision.

The corners of her eyes glistened, the only warning given before the tears started falling. "I... don't want... to die. This isn't... how I want to die..."

A Saiyan died in battle. It was a glorious death that proved that they were a valiant warrior who never stopped fighting, even up until their demise. To die while paralyzed and taken advantage of like a weak fool was as inglorious a death as there was.

What was worse, there was nothing she could do to protect her children. Cancer's mimicry was so perfect that she doubted even Parsley would be able to tell the difference until it was too late. Even if she could, Cancer was too powerful to stop her. Mais and Garnish were as good as gone and there was nothing she could do.

"Nothing, huh. How are you this weak?" Parsley's voice echoed in her head. It felt so real, like she was standing right there. She wanted to reach out for her, but her arm would not move. "Help."

"Help? No. Help yourself! I can't always be there to protect you!

Avoca didn't need her protection; she needed her to stop the bleeding. She was going to die! "I...I can't...please"

"You're too clever to let this be your end."

"You're really gonna let some knife-ear do you in? Really?" That was Sarada that time.

She gasped. The pool of crimson blood under her was steadily growing. Her head had gotten light. She was dizzy and her vision was darkening and swimming. Was that death? Parsley used to describe what it was like to die, to take her final breaths. It was always a horrible, harrowing tale that she always imagined would be terrifying to experience firsthand.

She was right.

Two blurry figures appeared before her. It was impossible to see who they were, but that didn't matter. She knew who they were.

She was always the weakest, the slowest, the most vulnerable. She had always been holding Sarada and Parsley back, even if they didn't dare say it aloud. Maybe...

Maybe it would have been better if she just died. Parsley deserved a stronger mate, someone who could keep up with her.

As the blood continued to drain out of her, she started to feel cold. Not the kind of cold that could have been fought off with a blanket, but the kind that chilled her to her soul. It was an ethereal cold that gripped her mercilessly.

Was this what you felt on Turrip, Parsley? Were you as scared as I am right now? Beyond being scared of dying, there was no comfort in knowing she had done all she could. There was plenty she could do, but being paralyzed and completely sapped of energy, she...

Wait...

"Elf Land!" It was the loudest she has spoken since her fight with Cancer started. She had forgotten about the key to Vaikuntha months ago. She didn't even have to touch it or walk through it.

She mentally activated the key she was given, which opened a portal directly under her. She fell through and landed on the plush, verdant grass of a luscious field not far from a bubbling brook.

"I'm sorry, Parsley. I'm tapping out for a while. You'd better know it's not me."

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Sakin's little... proclamation had caused quite a stir on Reshlan. Nothing of the sort that took place on other worlds, but certain sections of the population now had concerns. A large crowd had gathered outside the rebuilt palace, and Nevanlinna now stood on the speakers' balcony in order to address said concerns. From her perch, she gazed down upon her people, flanked by Luop and her mother.

...no, that was wrong. In this situation, she did not want to look down upon. Stepping onto the railing, she launched herself over and floated down into the crowd, which parted to allow her safe landing. Her mother and Luop moved to follow, but she motioned for them to stay where they were--a show of trust in her people. They remained silent, looking at her expectantly.

"My people, I know recent... messages have given rise to concerns about the motives of both myself and my offworlder friends," she said. "However, I can assure you that this Sakin is naught but a deceiver. He would not raise you up to godhood, but rather reduce you to mere slaves yet again. I will admit, I cannot make you an offer as grand as godhood... merely that I ask you to look within your hearts to remember that I have never, not once, acted against you."

"When the Phyrigian drought descended upon the land, who was it that gave voice to the voiceless and entreated the lords and ladies of unaffected lands to redirect their excess crops and water to those who truly needed it?"

The crowd responded, almost in unison. "You, your highness!"

"And when rogue nobles conspired to steal your farms and businesses, rendering you not even serfs, but slaves, who was it that uncovered and unraveled their foul plot?"

Again, they responded, with more fervor. "You!"

There were many such instances she could list.

"I could go on, but I'm sure that each and every one of you can remember many other times I have acted on your behalf when no one else could or would. Perhaps personally, in some cases," she said. "Sakin's words are sweet, yes, but they ring hollow, and I ask you... how do you know he tells the truth? He is simply a voice from the ether, whispering honeyed words directly into your minds. If you would turn on me, who has always been on your side, often to my own detriment, in favor of an unknown voice from a person of unknown origin and character, then so be it. But I, for one, have faith that the Threshlings, free of Auroc's influence, are not a people so keen to turn their backs on one who has shown her people nothing but loyalty and love in favor of voices from the sky.

A murmur rose up in the crowd, as her people discussed the matter amongst themselves. Soon enough, they seemed to reach a consensus...

That murmuring became a cheer, and some in the crowd yelled over that cheering (amazing, given how loud it was,) offering anecdotes about various matters she'd helped them with, either personally or simply as part of a group. And she remembered each and every one of those times, her heart swelling to see those people--her people--now doing so well, in small part due to her efforts years ago.

Although being the center of attention like this, much to her surprise, felt... rather uncomfortable. But then, she had spent approximately two centuries living as a magitech hermit in Vaikuntha, so being around people at all was rather uncomfortable. In a good way, if that made any sense at all.

After some more interaction, the crowd dispersed, and she returned to the balcony.

"That was risky, your highness," said Luop.

"Yes, it was... but also necessary. I needed to show them that I truly do not consider myself above them. I am a public servant, not some cloistered royal or noble dictating from on high."

Her mother stepped forth. "It worked splendidly... you're quickly coming into your own as a leader."

"Speaking of, please mobilize the knights and imperial guard," said Nevanlinna, as she strode back into the palace. "We may need to fend off... interlopers soon, or at the very least, ride to the defense of our allies, unofficial as they are."

Her mother nodded and left to attend to that matter. She was still the queen and her official authority still exceeded Nevanlinna's... although her own popularity with the people far exceeded her mother's. Less-so with the nobles, since she had often worked against their interests over the years, but the Knights, at least, largely respected her, if only because of her sheer martial and magical might.

She sighed. "What a troublesome individual, this Sakin..."

[grampagen]

"Tch. One of us. She's someone who value friendship until that friend stands in her way," Sarada said, a biting edge coloring her words. Friendship was a novel idea to someone so willing to cast aside untold eons of it for the pursuit of a fruitless goal. Asha'rah's win-at-all-cost mindset cost Indar'en his life, the universe its GoD, and mortalkind their chance at a fair shot at a safe existence.

How many problems would have been prevented had she just kept her nose out of her creation's business? More than she could count. She had thought very hard about that over the last few months during her isolation and had no desire to go over the same points again. Her conclusion would have remained the same, anyway.

"If we know Sakin needs her and she's still here, I'm assuming destroying her simply isn't an option." If it wasn't, then taking her with them was the right call. What they decided to do with her after that was up in the air. If it was up to Sarada, she would receive further punishment for her idiocy. It wasn't just a mistake; it was a willful decision that cost untold trillions of people throughout the millennia. That wasn't something she would forgive so easily, nor should anyone else. Being stripped of her station wasn't enough. Not by a long shot.

"Maybe, but Koorimaru's the only one that's stepped into the Remnant's head...er, scratch that, reverse it," Zaofan replied, still uneasy at the mention of destroying the downed goddess. That's twice now... "What she said all those years ago was tactless, and I think we can agree, quite unexamined. They were also the words of only a third of what the real Asha'rah was. I have a distinct feeling we've only ever been around a part of the story."

Of course, with the Mind of the Remnant shunting away the remaining aspect of their more familiar goddess to the mercy of her Soul's Genesis, he didn't really have a rebuttal for the panic in the sky.

Before Sarada could answer the challenge, something she wasn't really in the mood for, a sinister power crept into her senses. And it was right below them. As in, right under the Lookout! "What the hell?!"

She transformed to Super Saiyan 2 and moved to check out what it was from a safe distance. Goddamn it, now is not the fucking time. As long as my clone is back home, I'm only at half power. Worse, she couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was happening on Sarada. Damn it, I shouldn't have left. Every fucking time I leave, something goes wrong. By that point, Parsley and Avoca would have likely made their way back. As soon as whatever the threat under the Lookout was taken care of, she needed one of them to give her a status update.

Zaofan and those on the Lookout can sense…Auroc? And Sasheem next to him. They can sense the Cask battle still ongoing, but lost if the other hotspots seem to be contained. The massive appearance outside of Earth of the creature was daunting, its energy bathing the planet like a foul feeling of unease.

And there was one more feeling. Something sinister lurking below the lookout.

The Lookout had been positioned back to float over the ancient location of it’s original, stationary, home. It was still free floating, mind you, but the ruins of the once massive tower that had connected to it lay far below them. As such, checking the bottom out was easy enough, and as Sarada does so she doesn’t actually see anything.

But the feeling persists.

And then Sarada is calling, plummeting down to Earth like a puppet who’s strings had just been cut. Not only that, but some sort of impressive, sinister force had also cut her voice off as she finds she cannot shout out either.

"Wh-whoa! Okay, I know that wasn't here before, what the heck?!"

Just when he'd been ready to literally run and bring the fight everywhere around the world that was asking for it, it seemed fate had conspired to fall its clutches on the Guardian's residence directly. Sighing, Zaofan wrung his hands around his staff for he found he could not leave, and as Sarada went over the edge of the Lookout, gravity seemed to invert itself as they were slowly pulled to the ground.

"Sarada! Oh my sweet Kami!!!"

She lands, roughly, but the platform holds.

She still cannot speak or fly. And…..is the Lookout getting closer?

————

Eva meanwhile, standing on the Lookout, frowns.

“Something is wrong. The Lookout……I think it’s moving….down…”

Totoma felt a hand on his shoulder and then immediately sensed Eva's power flow into him to reinforce his efforts. Alone, he could only slow its descent, but together with Eva, a stalemate was reached. That sinister feeling was still there, though... what was that? It sort of felt like feeling an evil person's ki, but was more... overt? He didn't really know how to describe it.

Activating his Kizuna with Eva and the others to further bolster his and Eva's efforts, Totoma redirected some of the excess power from it towards the... sinister feeling, reaching out with his ki senses and ESP to... get any sort of bead on it. It was a rough, clumsy effort, and he was probably setting himself up for a jump-scare, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment.

'Who and what are you. What do you want?'

Through the fog of sinister aura, Zaofan searched for Sarada's presence. C'mon, c'mon...

It seemed fruitless at first, and as the distance closed the presence seemed to become only more dreadful. Then Totoma reached out, offering his strength to everyone else here.

Prime Sarada landed hard on the platform. Ugh. Okay. She rose to her feet and directed her platform to rise back up to the Lookout. Wait, it's coming down? In all the time she had been coming to Earth, with as many times as she had been on the Lookout, she had never once seen it descend. It always hovered high above the Earth. In fact, she wasn't even aware that it had a base station, but the ancient ruins of what looked like a tower that matched its design showed otherwise.

Some serious shit was about to happen, she just knew it.

She quickly ascended on her platform up to the Lookout Plaza. She created several more ki balls and used them to form words. "Can't talk. Can't fly. Lookout is about to land on old tower."

"Oh! You're back! Ha ha!"

Freshly energized, Zaofan knew he couldn't do any less than trust they they had his back; and so there was something he could do in return.

It was a real crash course in Banespells last momebts, but if he understood the principle correctly, maybe this would be the foundation from which Heka could flow...

"Alright...let's all stand together and show this....this thing, what for."

Combined with Kizuna, perhaps everyone on the Lookout would be able to illuminate the manifest darkness that had shrouded the ground below them, and face the emergent threat that had come.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

She manages to land near the GP offices located on Earth.

Praxat steps off the ship and puts her blindfold over her eyes. Then Praxat uses her sense of electroreception like a radar.

[grampagen]

The maser strikes, but no damage seems done. Neither does the main artillery fired upon the massive creature. The Coldlight’s main gun seems to also bounce off it.

The Wave Motion Gun however, does strike and seem to blow through what’s wr barrier it has and stagger the creature.

"Direct hit!" Spirits were high across the circumference of the Earth, only for a moment, however, as the gargantua had merely stopped.

Braced atop the Orbital Ring, the site of another one of Capsule Corps' many emergent prototypes, an experimental engine was cradled there. A product of the Big Ghetti Star's engineering, it had been perpetually gathering and storing energy that empowered this entire planetary defense grid.

It wasn't enough. The Commander knew it. With the fighting on the ground slowly shifting their way, Kenshiko weighed the options before them.

"Get it back online."

Officers on the Orbital Ring communications array were silent in disbelief.

"If we fire again we'll need to draw more power than we have right now! We'll have to sacrifice the planetary shield!"

"And if we don't we may never get another chance at it while that thing moves ahead. Once it moves into our range, who knows what kind of shit will happen? I don't intend on letting the thing get past the moon."

With that, she hailed the battleships that had gathered.

"Coldlight. Gotengo. This is EDF Command. Do what you can to hold that thing off!"

Despite the steadfast, decisive orders, some part of her spoke this for her own benefit. They'd been trodden on long enough before Sakin pulled himself out of his hole. She knew it...and so did Ochazuke.

"Cheh. So that's the Wave Motion Cannon Pantaloon mentioned," came the echoed reply, thought-waves rearticulating themselves into audio transmissions, "Enough to strike through the barrier...but it's a waste."

The bore-bowed vessel turned on a dime, advancing from the trajectory it had launched from to meet the Dreadnought head on. As it passed, a faint aura seemed to follow in its wake, feeding directly from the residents of the Big Ghetti Star promenade and into the Gotengo. With the neural connectors interfaced with the machine, the core of its design was to make piloting as easy as a wave of a hand; why wouldn't the body of a martial artist be receptive to energies with an affinity for shaping ki?

With a crew of specifically trained officer-adepts manning the technical stations, the aura surrounding the Gotengo roared to life as it strafed and fired on their foe.

"Don't be a damn fool! What are you trying to pull off?!"

"What does it look like? I'm going to kill it."

As the next salvo of fire fell upon the giant, the shells exploded with their payload. Technology reverse-engineered from the detritus of past battles in the atmosphere, the Chaff of the First Race had locked the planet in space at a fixed interval of time. Now Ochazuke bombarded the Dreadnought in an attempt to keep its position fixed.

[Yun Lao]

Eva meanwhile, standing on the Lookout, frowns.

“Something is wrong. The Lookout……I think it’s moving….down…”

"Nice..." The sarcasm left his lips in weary resignation as he trudged towards the edge of the Lookout, grimly hoping that there was something worth punching behind this.

Prime Sarada landed hard on the platform. Ugh. Okay. She rose to her feet and directed her platform to rise back up to the Lookout. Wait, it's coming down? In all the time she had been coming to Earth, with as many times as she had been on the Lookout, she had never once seen it descend. It always hovered high above the Earth. In fact, she wasn't even aware that it had a base station, but the ancient ruins of what looked like a tower that matched its design showed otherwise.

Some serious shit was about to happen, she just knew it.

She quickly ascended on her platform up to the Lookout Plaza. She created several more ki balls and used them to form words. "Can't talk. Can't fly. Lookout is about to land on old tower."

It had been some time since he had seen Sarada... at least, he thought so. It was difficult to decipher whose memory was whose when it came to the events surrounding his birth, but he was somewhat sure it had been as Rex. Still, her message confirmed all he really needed to know as he peered into the darkness, spotting the ancient tower that she had mentioned.

"Maybe, but Koorimaru's the only one that's stepped into the Remnant's head...er, scratch that, reverse it," Zaofan replied, still uneasy at the mention of destroying the downed goddess. That's twice now... "What she said all those years ago was tactless, and I think we can agree, quite unexamined. They were also the words of only a third of what the real Asha'rah was. I have a distinct feeling we've only ever been around a part of the story."

Of course, with the Mind of the Remnant shunting away the remaining aspect of their more familiar goddess to the mercy of her Soul's Genesis, he didn't really have a rebuttal for the panic in the sky.



"Wh-whoa! Okay, I know that wasn't here before, what the heck?!"

Just when he'd been ready to literally run and bring the fight everywhere around the world that was asking for it, it seemed fate had conspired to fall its clutches on the Guardian's residence directly. Sighing, Zaofan wrung his hands around his staff for he found he could not leave, and as Sarada went over the edge of the Lookout, gravity seemed to invert itself as they were slowly pulled to the ground.

"Sarada! Oh my sweet Kami!!!"


Through the fog of sinister aura, Zaofan searched for Sarada's presence. C'mon, c'mon...

It seemed fruitless at first, and as the distance closed the presence seemed to become only more dreadful. Then Totoma reached out, offering his strength to everyone else here.


"Oh! You're back! Ha ha!"

Freshly energized, Zaofan knew he couldn't do any less than trust they they had his back; and so there was something he could do in return.

It was a real crash course in Banespells last momebts, but if he understood the principle correctly, maybe this would be the foundation from which Heka could flow...

"Alright...let's all stand together and show this....this thing, what for."

Combined with Kizuna, perhaps everyone on the Lookout would be able to illuminate the manifest darkness that had shrouded the ground below them, and face the emergent threat that had come.

"Suppose this would be as good as any time to try this out."

Energy flowed into his palm as he pointed a hand down beyond the Lookout's edge and he invoked the memories of light and heat, raising the temperature around him as his ki aura was literally lit aflame.

"Solar Shot"

The usual green hue of his energy grew paler and paler until it was a brilliant white like a supernova going off. Firing it off, the blast hurdled toward the darkness like a blazing meteorite, illuminating everything in its downward path.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Totoma felt a hand on his shoulder and then immediately sensed Eva's power flow into him to reinforce his efforts. Alone, he could only slow its descent, but together with Eva, a stalemate was reached. That sinister feeling was still there, though... what was that? It sort of felt like feeling an evil person's ki, but was more... overt? He didn't really know how to describe it.

Activating his Kizuna with Eva and the others to further bolster his and Eva's efforts, Totoma redirected some of the excess power from it towards the... sinister feeling, reaching out with his ki senses and ESP to... get any sort of bead on it. It was a rough, clumsy effort, and he was probably setting himself up for a jump-scare, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment.

'Who and what are you. What do you want?'

A…force, like a strong wind heralding the flames of a forest fire, blows into Totoma’s mind and it is only Eva’s presence that prevents him from being overwhelmed. Such hatred, such….otherness. The minds at the other end are terrible, filled with far too many angles and alien concepts.