Dragonball M, Chapter 3: In Blood, Bone, and Ash! The Way Forward Unlocked!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Pah..." Etrina muttered under her breath, producing a puff of steam in the superchilled air. Cold was her element, to think she would be cowed by a little bit of a chill in the air was as laughable as Alt Ishtars attitude. Sounded like a violent, sex starved dominatrix.....honestly.....

Suppressing the urge to violently punch the closest target, Etrina instead focused on her own Cyromancy. Expanding a shell around her body and then gentle pushing it outwards several feet....testing the water so to speak to see if she could counter the more magical aspects of this field of cold.

She can and starts to do so, but a voice wishers in her ear.

“A magi? Unexpected. Your spark is strong. Serve me and I can promise you Magic’s you’ve never dreamed of.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Praxat arrives at Capsule Corp and spots Wilhelm, Ochazuke, a beautiful red-haired woman, and a couple of more scientists." Don't mind me I'm just here to pick up some books for research purposes. I'm in the middle of working on a project, "Praxat said.

Char and Wilhelm both nod.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Her butterflies are Parsley go down, and a moving male Oni form farting towards her and Deputy Charco at high speeds amidst the mist.

OOC: Cleric, do not fix this typo.

This must remain canon.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

As the air chilled and the senses dulled, there was one word that can to mind instantly as it was obvious: dangerous. Like a predator closing in all too confidently.

Her allies were here and were ready for the confrontation but she knew this was not going to be an easy feat to topple opponent like this. To make matters worse, she could not fly to get out of the cold which chilled her more then she wanted to admit. Charging is dumb as is and I have no idea what they're fully capable of..




Aleka took a step to help Sarada and her mate, calming her nerves. "If you came for a full course meal you came at the wrong time. I got your back."





The Nosferartu in Karine was insulted this mockery of a creature that happened to look like her friend.

It was true her kind didn't have the hard, seemingly genetic quirk of pride Sayains had but it be a mistake it didn't exist in any form. They did not take to being cowed and bullied, though as loathe as she was to admit the alternate Ishtar greatly surpassed her in every way when it came to raw power. She knew of course knowing in from what she knew but it was a completely other story to sense something for yourself and witness it.

But it didn't matter. She had no intention of dying here if she could help it. Too many things to do and too many people she needed to protect.




Karine planned to stick with the others, it was their only Real chance of keeping themselves from being slaughtered as is. "It's not much, but if we need to I'll have the link ready." Sarada and Ishtar would know she of course meant mental links by her telapathy. It was best to give them a heads up and coordinate then simply do it anyway and catch them off guard. In a situation like this, that short second of distraction could very well be your last.

A dark mist began to spread around the group, though oddly her allies would be able to see through it but not her supposed enemy..in theory. She wasn't sure how effective it would be far as working on them but anything that helped them survive was more then a boon.

A voice whispers in her ear.

“Hmm.....a Bloodkin. You taste...familiar. Ohh...yes, I killed you once.”

[KingofPie]

A beat, then Ishtar finds herself held aloft by her throat, an arm cold to the touch gripping it. Following along the arm is a beautiful Oni, golden eyes the same as Ishtar’s. Her body was different, but the voice and eyes were the same.

“Do not speak her name. I am here, Ishtar.” The voice is cold, the smile on her face dark and twisted.

“Shall we dance?”

Real Ishtar’s throat and body begin to be drained via Vitalmancy as the Ruination Goddess grips her.

This is the point where Sasheem quickly masked his ki and slowly began sinking beneath the ground. As he did sweat dropped form his head. Her pretense alone made him tense up. Made it hard for him to breathe. What was this...?! Not fear...never fear. The Majin didn't even think he could experience that emotion. But in that instant he felt if he acted rashly, it'd result in death. If no fearful, the Majin was always a survivor...but in this instance was their really a difference.

There was. Sasheem would not fail to act. He had a plan. He just needed the right opportunity...the perfect moment to strike.

Her butterflies are Parsley go down, and a moving male Oni form farting towards her and Deputy Charco at high speeds amidst the mist.

Such thoughts were briefly interrupted by the sheer unearthly stench coming from above ground.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The Black Sphere stirred in response to the swell of temporal energy, a second pulse where it detected two worlds linked across space and time. Once more Zurvan had opened the breach, and the last of the displaced would find their way home.

Ochazuke stood a short distance from those gathered, and as the Sheriff rose to lead them on their odyssey to his home, he turned for a moment to face him. Only a few days ago, the man who would pronounce his lethal sentence and call it justice first made himself known to them. They all had a laugh when Zao fell beside himself, when the Sheriff was the one who had been lying to himself the whole time. How many times had he fought the Destroyer? How much had he sacrificed, bearing the weight of his decisions until the most direct and violent one was also the easiest?

He'd fight ruthlessly, do whatever it took without question. It was the Doctor that saw it in him, no doubt. As long as he was held ransom to that small promise in his heart, it was easy to corner him. How ironic that he would free the rest of the universe by shackling it to the path he had succumbed to himself.

As Sheriff Zaofan rose to continue the fight he left behind, Ochazuke steeled his gaze into his single, living eye and extended him a short nod. His forefinger raised, his thumb drawn back. The seal of the Five Schools held near his heart.

There would be a fight enough ahead for them, but as Zaofan moved to settle his own matters, out of the darkness of the last divergence there was a matter near Ochazuke's mind. As each nexus closed narrowed the distance between them and the Doctor, Ochazuke determined he would return to Capital City with Wilhelm where this had all began. The time would come when they would have to be ready to take the fight to him.



How nostalgic.

He delayed a moment, standing in the side-swept doorframe of Wilhelm's transport. The Capsule Dome stood strong; the weight of the den of insanity he took care to sequester.

One should not know too much about their future. The maddened glaze that fell over Pantaloon's eye as he decrypted the scrawled cipher brought him uncomfortably close to what was stoked in the darkness. One chance meeting was enough to change the moment, and if this was the point of the divergence, he would keep Jinzi from it.

Hidden in plain sight.

Reaching back with barely a strain, Ochazuke lift the larger portion of Wilhelm's equipment from the cargo bay and walked around the craft to meet him.

"Lead the way."

Sheriff Zaofan signs back before stepping through the portal.

——-

Wilhelm nods as he and Ochazuke lug the equipment back in. After they are done, Wilhelm approaches Gero.

“Doctor. A pleasure....as always.”

He smiles and takes her hand, the Doctor grinning back.

“Wilhelm dear, now that Adam is all set up I’ll begin working on dear Karis as soon as possible.”

Wilhelm nods and then gestures to Ochazuke.

“My....friend Ochazuke, Doctor.”

Char looks at him and smiles, holding her hand out.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Editted.

That was......that was a thing.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“What is this? A saiyan? How delightful.”

Ishtar’s voice echoes across the cold, caressing Sarada’s cheek.

“Hmm, what’s your name child?”

Sarada's teeth clenched. "My name is Queen Sarada. Come out and face us! Quit hiding!!"

She moved through the mist in hopes of finding Ishtar or someone else.

Before she can, a form strikes her back with pressure points, paralyzing Parsley and dropping her to her knees, unable to breathe. She briefly sees a male Oni disappear back into the freezing mist.

Parsley grunted and fell to her knees. Her breath was gone, snatched away from a series of phantom strikes unleashed on her back. "C-coward," she wheezed. She fired a blast in the direction she saw the male Oni run in.

Without doubt, that was Marduk. She heard nothing of him knowing any kind of martial arts in the prime timeline; then again, there was little information on him as it was. Regardless, these hit and run tactics were going to get annoying quickly.

'Marduk has hit the scene and he knows pressure points. Beware,' she alerted the others. With that done, she shifted and sat down indian style and began to cycle her ki through the areas that were inflicted by the pressure points in an attempt to breathe again. She was running out of air, so she had to hurry.

[Yun Lao]

One of the ships (the third one) above still holds the nexus, apparently. No other attacks punch through their shields however.

Wintery mist and fog permeates the area, the air growing chilled for thousands of feet around the group. Ki senses suddenly turn blind in the cold and mist, sound is displaced, and even magic senses aren’t working well.

A soft, throaty chuckle can be heard all around them.

“My my......how scrumptious you all look. A tasty morsel or two, glorious. The Doctor said you would be knocking upon my door soon, and lo you are here. Some few of you might even last me a night or two.”

Another chuckle. Her voice is seductive, dripping with want and hunger. It’s Ishtar’s voice too, so the dichotomy of the situation is troubling.

The air grows painfully cold, breathing equally painful. Any attempting to fly would find the cold somehow keeping them bound to the ground, not unlike Ochazuke and Zaofan’s Spider technique.

A spike pierced his senses long before he realized the alternate Ishtar had arrived. Like a barbed vice cranking down on his brain, the boy was nearly seized by the pain.

The **** is going on with my body?

Charco had been aware of the headaches but had yet to investigate their origins, having more than enough on his plate to deal with.

"Enough of this ****..." He growled, doing his best to fight through the pain and disorientation, unaware that it was the concentration of magic that was triggering the Nevadian curse. Said phantasmal weapon emerged from his prone form, slicing into the cold the Goddess of Ruinations permeated.

So cold it burns...

Memories flashed back to his bout with the time's figment of Penhuoqi and her perfected Thyreophora. Like fiery feathers, she had managed to counteract the technique's destructive backlash by breaking off bits and pieces of the aura. It wasn't entirely smart to try and mimic a technique in the middle of a fight, but Charco's pain-addled thoughts didn't provide him with anything more substantial to use. Activating his original, flawed Thyreophora, he quickly advanced it to its second state, his power level rising as his aura erupted into a fiery orange.

"I don't know what the deal is with my other self, but I must have done something good enough to hold off these clowns."

Until he could figure out Penhuoqi's secret, he was on the same timer as normal; in other words, he needed to get his ass in gear. Leaving the evil Ishtar to gloat to the others, Charco instead turned his sights to Marduk, seeking the intercept the other Oni with a punch before his foe reached his alternate self.
-------

Combat Information
Thyreophora, Second State: Active
Current PL: 2,175,000
Posts Until Detonation: 3

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

A beat, then Ishtar finds herself held aloft by her throat, an arm cold to the touch gripping it. Following along the arm is a beautiful Oni, golden eyes the same as Ishtar’s. Her body was different, but the voice and eyes were the same.

“Do not speak her name. I am here, Ishtar.” The voice is cold, the smile on her face dark and twisted.

“Shall we dance?”

Real Ishtar’s throat and body begin to be drained via Vitalmancy as the Ruination Goddess grips her.

All at once, the call-out -- for that is what it was, truly -- was answered swiftly, and though she responded as expected; Ishtar had no time at all to react before she was lifted from the ground by her throat and felt herself being drained. More proof than anything, that this Goddess of Ruination was well beyond everyone here. Despite this however, through the cold, and against the hand that gripped her throat, Ishtar strained to speak. "... so it was Sekhmet. Not so different then, our paths. Was it the choice, then ?"

As the question hung in frozen air, Ishtar struggled in her alter's grip a moment before the ground beneath her exploded as spires of jagged Earth rushed up to impale her. Though with the difference in strength ... all the glowing-horn Oni could do was hope that the attack would serve as a distraction so that she could lash out with Katchin-coated claws in an attempt to break free.

[Tami]

Her butterflies see Parsley go down, and a moving male Oni form darting towards her and Deputy Charco at high speeds amidst the mist.

Trying hard to stay calm and not panic, Cyanna still reacts in an attempt to stop or slow him down. Her butterflies keep track of this Oni, relaying his position to her. Using that, she gets bead on him (Line of Sight) and fires off a Braided Blast at the approaching Oni.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Neva sighed heavily. It seemed the alternate Ishtar had shrouded the area in a cold, draining mist, keeping the group from flying, while also gradually weakening them. How... bothersome. Given the sheer power this Ishtar wielded, clearing it herself would be a slow, arduous task, but perhaps she could thin it, lessening its effect.

Pressing her hands together and taking a deep breath, her figure shimmered, then split, creating a clone. Even doubled up, Nevanlinna knew she wouldn't be able to clear the mist, but it should at least double her effectiveness.

Focusing her power, her aura burst into existence. At first, it was a dull blue-white, as per the usual, but it became a brilliant orangeish-red and took on a flame-like quality as she, and her clone, activated the Aura of Fire. And then she and her clone began expanding their respective auras.



As the aura slowly pressed outwards, it struggled against the mist, 'burning' the energy comprising it, yet being drained in turn. Hypothetically, more mist would rush in to fill the void and be burned away, and so on. It should, with time, reduce the mist's density and effect, allowing the others to fight more effectively and be drained less.

[MrSandman]

She can and starts to do so, but a voice wishers in her ear.

“A magi? Unexpected. Your spark is strong. Serve me and I can promise you Magic’s you’ve never dreamed of.”

"Shocked to face a magic user are you? What....Did you eat the rest in this timeline?" Etrina expanded her aura to its limit now that she knew it was working, then summons magical energy into her hand.....gives her surroundings a quick scan, making it seem as if she'll do something with it, but then lets the spell vanish from her hand. "I'm flattered, and tempted too I suppose..........but I'm not going to take you at your word on that, I've got a big imagination. Your gonna have to show me how good your magic is if you want me to consider hmmm?."

[MrSandman]

Sarada's teeth clenched. "My name is Queen Sarada. Come out and face us! Quit hiding!!"

She moved through the mist in hopes of finding Ishtar or someone else.



Parsley grunted and fell to her knees. Her breath was gone, snatched away from a series of phantom strikes unleashed on her back. "C-coward," she wheezed. She fired a blast in the direction she saw the male Oni run in.

Without doubt, that was Marduk. She heard nothing of him knowing any kind of martial arts in the prime timeline; then again, there was little information on him as it was. Regardless, these hit and run tactics were going to get annoying quickly.

'Marduk has hit the scene and he knows pressure points. Beware,' she alerted the others. With that done, she shifted and sat down indian style and began to cycle her ki through the areas that were inflicted by the pressure points in an attempt to breathe again. She was running out of air, so she had to hurry.

"Hey. Parsey." Erosa's voice whispered in her ear. "Hold still a moment....I'll put something on this to help ero."

She feels something warm and moist being applied to the area struck. Whatever it was, it seemed to have an immediate healing effect....but with the id being invisible at the time it was difficult to determine what.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Hey. Parsey." Erosa's voice whispered in her ear. "Hold still a moment....I'll put something on this to help ero."

She feels something warm and moist being applied to the area struck. Whatever it was, it seemed to have an immediate healing effect....but with the id being invisible at the time it was difficult to determine what.

Erosa's disembodied voice floated in from somewhere nearby, followed swiftly by something warm and wet pressing against her back. There were very few things it could be; and given certain... activities she had experience in, there was only one thing it could be.

She was short on breath, even though it was returning by the second. But, she needed to make sure this one thing was clear, "I swear... if you're... licking me... I will kill you."