Once it's revealed that Nesley had been the one dispatching the Vahki, Loki releases his grip on Nightbane.
"Ah, Nesley! I'd offer my aid, but it seems your would-be assailants have already learned a rather painful lesson," he remarks, gesturing to the dead Vahki. "Tell me, lad, what was their quarrel with you? Unless there are severe gaps in my memory, I don't recall the Assassins ever having beings of this sort at their disposal."
Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 31st 2022 at 1:21:39 AM
"I have no freaking idea! I was sitting by the nearby river, they suddenly approached me and began firing disks at me out their mouths.", Nesley says as he straps his bat to his backpack.
"I just ran from them at first but they kept chasing me so I had to fight back. I don't know what's going on, but next time I see Pseudo I'm definitely asking him if he knows more about this. As far as I know he's the only one who has Vahki working for him. Not that I think he'd send Vahki to attack me, but-"
One of the destroyed Vahki right next to Nesley sputters for a moment, causing the boy to jump in surprise, his eyes briefly lighting up again. They don't stay that way though, and Nesley, a little salty that he got scared like that, childishly kicks the Vahki that startled him.
As he grumbles, Loki may just get an eerie feeling that they're not quite alone just yet.
Tropique
Flying around in the area are Courne
◊ and Viche
◊, though Viche is, for some reason, wearing a helmet that covers the top of his head.
"You sure you wanna do this?", Viche asks, eyebrow raised. "From what you told me this version of King Vegeta's seriously powerful."
"Haven't been more sure about anything in my life.", Courne grins. "I want to see how far I've come in my training and if I can push him to use his full power against me."
"What if you beat him?"
"What do you mean? Nothing's gonna change if I beat him, I'd still be training."
"Yeah, but would you at least stop your constant fanboying if you beat him?"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?", Courne grins again. Viche just groans, already knowing the answer. His Scouter then goes off and he looks ahead again.
"There he is. I'm staying at a distance, I don't wanna get blown away by you freaks of nature."
"Suit yourself, kid.", Courne says before speeding up, flying towards Vegeta.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Vegeta sees Courne heading his way and wait for Viche to head out -which he notices by ki sensing-. With a smirk, he waits and then fire a big golden energy beam, albeit in base form. His ki spark up briefly beforehand, but the big energy ball should be a clue to Courne enough.
If Courne dodges or deflect, Vegeta smirks slightly and wait. Surprise attacs are any fighter's bane. Good on you.
If Courne failed, Vegeta tsks. If I had been an enemy, you'd be dead. Focus!
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter"Part of me suspects the Shadowed One might be behind this ambush. You don't need my intellect to see that he clearly doesn't share Helryx's noble intentions," Loki replies, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "But at the same time, he's too shrewd to order such a brazen attempt at assassination, and it wouldn't make sense for him to target you specifically if he's plotting betrayal. All that would earn him is Mystia's wrath."
The god of mischief's hand falls to Nightbane's hilt once more, and his eyes dart around in a bid to spot whoever or whatever might have joined him and Nesley.
"Regardless of whether the Shadowed One is at fault or not, though, I suspect we may have company."
Imperial Base
Stray kicks back in his cockpit. He's fine letting them run. They won't soon forget that lesson.
Onyxis
With a sigh, Rhea calls upon Wyrdeer (the blessed one, not Unmei) and rides off. Maybe some day they'll meet again and she'll finally get through to the Hollow Knight... but not today.
Data Freddy
When Cassidy gets close, Data Freddy approaches in turn, still not attacking outright.
If she makes a sudden movement, even an attack, he'll immediately hunker down and shoulder charge forth to trample her.
And if that happens, Charlie will freak out (the other two won't care).
Aurum
At the last second, Hit opens his eyes and begins to dodge. He moves like a blur, zigging and zagging without straying from the central point where he was standing. After a bullet nicks his cheek, he leaps high above his assailants to avoid their further attacks. While hovering, he scans his surroundings.
The mighty assassin lands among the trolls, diving down foot-first to try and smash one's neck mid-roll. He bounces off either his target or the ground, backflipping to land on his feet in front of the monster. All that without taking his hands out of his pockets.
Olivia and Odio
Olivia goes hurtling back like a ragdoll, crashing through a forest.
She slowly rises to her feet, slowly walks back to the battlefield. Her eyes are still lifeless, but now she finally seems to acknowledge Camille's presence. "You don't make sense. I'm not mad at you. I can't undo the mistakes of my past, but I can make sure I never make more. Go kill Katre yourself if it matters so much to you. It's what you want, isn't it?"
... For a moment at the end, Odio's voice overlaps with hers. She then erupts with the same aura of malevolence as the one surrounding him. "Here, let me make this easy."
She tries to grab Camille by the face and drag her headfirst into Katre to smash them together!
Odio gets skewered twice over, hit by three different elements at once (lightning, ice, and fire from the multiple explosions), and blown away by Katre and Defense.
He lands on his hands, launches himself forward and away from his foes, then rolls to a stop on three limbs, skidding around to face them. "Human decency. HUMAN DECENCY!"
Odio rips out Filia's blade and grips it as if it were his own. "To human 'decency' did I LOSE ALL! A kingdom once glorious, made ruin! By whose fault and how? MY OWN BLIND KINDNESS!"
He surrounds Filia's sword in his own aura and throws it back at her, his power ensuring she cannot retake control of it until it has come to a stop. Then he unleashes another feral roar and lunges at the Doom Hunter. The Lord of Dark, channeling the demonic dinosaur, tries to punch through the demon's energy shield and rip open its entire chest with his claws in a manner fittingly gory for its origins.
—
"No one cares about your sob story!" snaps Katre. "You're messing with someone's head, turning her into a fucking psycho for your own FUCKING amuse-!"
Her attention snaps to the incoming Olivia. If Camille didn't get free or avoid the grab, Katre will get bowled over.
"I, personally, would love to hear more of your tale, but you're an abomination and must be stopped." Troa puts one hand forward and grabs her wrist with the other, shooting concentrated streams of venom at Odio.
Ain nods silently and turns to assist with the Olivia situation, calmly walking to approach as she awaits an opening.
Edited by KiriK on Oct 31st 2022 at 4:06:35 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."Camille is indeed grabbed and slammed into Katre, thinking over at her next assignment for now. Oh... So you're not mad at me, huh?
She ultimately settles on page 6, "fuck it", and stops herself after being smacked into Katre, grabbing Olivia's arm and attempting to briefly overpower by tuning Limit Breaker to the max.
Let me give you a reason to. She says, before attempting to uppercut Olivia far into the air. Should that succeed, Camille leaps far into the air, cancelling Limit Breaker and attempting to send her flying further into the air with a punch to the guts. And then another, each strike displacing great swathes of cloud and shaking the land below.
After four of these punches, Camille attempts to knee her in the chin and hit her with a double axe-handle, meaning to smash her back down some dozen miles away from Katre! Nothing she won't cross in a second or less but hey.
You've always been the faces behind most of my misery, Katre. I've always hated you, with all my heart, after what you did to my sisters, and to the world, and to those I loved. She thinks to herself, face stern.
I've never been able to just take this revenge properly, so... FIGHT! FIGHT ME! OR ARE YOU GOING TO LET THAT GUY LEAD YOU AROUND?! ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE IS A PUPPET! FIGHT! Camille says, extending her arms to the side, lightning flaring chaotically around her. GET LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FIGHT ME!
Edited by Bolded1 on Oct 31st 2022 at 10:13:37 AM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterData Freddy
That is exactly what happens too, as Cassidy is about to go for a sword swing, only to then get trampled. Thankfully her HP system allows her to survive this attack though.
3/4 HP
Cassidy immediately turns back to normal, fading into the ground, and reappears next to Charlie, unaware of her concern.
"That didn't work.", she groans as she rubs her forehead before turning back into the Princess. "Does this guy do the same thing we do? How are we supposed to get past it if it copies us?"
Odio
Now that the pressure on Ovarr has decreased, he gets ready to go back on the offensive. Spreading his massive golden wings, he flies towards Odio while the latter is attacking Doom Hunter. Once he reaches him, he tries to grab Odio by the back of his neck. If successful, he'll speak.
"Speaking as someone who's also lost everything, I understand your rage."
And then attempt to slam him into the ground, after which he'll try to keep going by attempting to bring down his axe upon Odio, going for a heavy and vicious cleaving attack.
"But I don't quite appreciate the way you're DEALING WITH IT!"
If the initial neck grab was unsuccessful, he'll try to slam Odio to the side with his tail instead, upon which he'll go for a leaping axe slash while still saying the things he'd have said otherwise.
Forest
"The Shadowed One? That creepy guy? Does he have Vahki too?", Nesley asks while rubbing his ankle a little. Turns out kicking something made of pure metal isn't the brightest of ideas.
Nevertheless, he snaps back to attention when Loki mentions there may be someone else here. Just as he does, mist begins to spread across the area. The sky becomes cloudy to the point of blocking out most natural light. Nesley grabs his two Friends' Yo-Yo's out of his pockets, one in each hand, and glances around as he moves closer to Loki, figuring they should stick close to one another.
Neither of them will be able to see anyone yet. But it's clear that Loki was right, someone or something is here.
Tropique
Vegeta'll have something to be pleased about today, as Courne shows no difficulty in swiftly evading the attack.
"I was gonna ask if you'd be willing to spar with me, King Vegeta. But I guess I don't need to ask anymore, huh?", Courne asks, looking good to go as he powers up. He doesn't immediately attack, just in the off chance that Vegeta says no after all, but he's still ready to fight in the much higher chance that Vegeta's up for the idea.
Viche lands on top of a tree in the distance. He closes his helmet straps around his chin.
"Last thing I want is for this thing to get blown off of my head by their fight.", he mutters to himself.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Vegeta smiles, but slightly, the "interested but still think he can kick your shit in" kind. Good! I would not want a weak student.
There's only one way to really see the results of your training, is there? Vegeta smiles, and then yells, a fierce aura appearing around him as he enters his full available base power, lifting up a lot of dust around him. Which should be easy beans to detect since Courne should have excellent ki sensing, but several signatures appears out of the smoke, similar to Vegeta's, blasting out as, well, energy blasts.
Vegeta himself then appears amongst these, smirking as he attempts to headbutt Courne to send him flying at the ground!
Edited by Bolded1 on Oct 31st 2022 at 10:31:03 AM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterHe glances around a few times when he senses multiple Ki signatures, but he's not fooled, not even using his Scouter to pick out the right signature as he answers the incoming blasts with some of his own. Gowasu had taught him more than enough about Ki, even if most of it was through making tea for the guy. But Courne had been patient, and somehow it had eventually made sense to him, elevating his his spirit and Ki sensing.
Which is shown here in the fact that he remains perfectly calm and is able to evade yet again when Vegeta comes flying in for a headbutt. He does a half-spin to the side to barely avoid Vegeta, then attempts to land a powerful kick to send Vegeta flying back down.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay."The hell are you talking about?"
Nicole returns Olympus' Wrath to its sheathe, cracks her neck, and takes a moment to transform into her Draconic form. With a fierce roar, she rockets towards Odio before launching into a series of Arcane Magic-enhanced punches and claw swipes.
"It wouldn't surprise me to learn he secretly had Vahki under his command," Loki replies, drawing his black-bladed sword and readying himself for whatever might be approaching. "Now, unless you know a friend of ours with a flair for dramatic entrances, I suspect this new arrival might not have benevolent intentions."
Vegeta is kicked down, and he does groans in surprise, although he immediately returns to the fight, cloaking himself in his aura and dashing in for an up-close fight.
Not bad! He says, preparing a visible punch with his right hand, only for his knee to shoot up to Courne's chin before attempting to punch him in the face with that fist!
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterEBGO
Rumia follows him, thinking along the way."Umm, maybe I could try putting darkness on both ways down there..." she says. "And go the way where he isn't making a bunch of noise."
Rumia then does as she says, shrouding both pathways down to the basement in darkness. Splitting it like this isn't something she's used to so it's taking concentration.
Into the Gorzone
"Hey thanks-" Murasa goes to say to Tiktaq'to only to be interrupted by the Nihilighaunt's lunge. She manages to dodge thanks to the fighter blasting it in its ugly face and she resolves to keep better spatial awareness. One nasty hit and she might just end up too incorporeal to be any help. She doesn't pay the whole talk of divines any mind, she's not the most devout member of the temple anyway. Instead she decides to let force do the talking, spinning her anchor around to throw anchor shaped projectiles seemingly made of water though capable of cutting through hardened metal, at the big ugly dudes.Greener Tidings
It is the Warp's nature to be fickle, often working against even those born from its energies. So it's either that or Tzeentch being a shithead that causes a tank sized blue and green behemoth bug to literally drop in on the Malal chaos warriors, towards the edge of what can generously be called their battle line. Fortunately, it's already dead. Unfortunately its highly corrosive blood is going to try and melt those caught underneath who weren't just crushed to death outright. Even more unfortunately, its friends aren't dead.Another mighty Carnifex
◊ stumbles towards them, seemingly confused as it reflexively charges their line with its heavy scything talons like the world's biggest can opener upon seeing an army of cans. Another stands beside it, carrying ranged bioweapons instead. It readies a heavy venom cannon to start raining crystallized poison on the enemy while firing maggots from its deathspitters, the ravenous maggots or their slimy toxic blood dealing pain to the enemy.
Those were just the vanguard though, a massive serpentine creature
floundered on the ground behind them, like a fish that suddenly found itself in the middle of a desert. The surrounding smaller creatures fared similarly, moving in a disarray until the serpent's eyes glowed as the unseen hive mind guiding them reasserted control. The Trygon Prime quickly extended the synaptic control over the other organisms present, the up till now merely reflexive Carnifexes now attacking with more purpose to their movements. Two Tyranid Warriors
backed them up with their smaller weapons, one firing its smaller venom cannon while the other charged in with scything talons, surrounded by a swarm of 10 Hormagaunts
all aiming to start ripping and tearing the enemy. While those all charged the enemy, the Trygon Prime stayed back. Acting as a sort of impromptu honor guard, a Genestealer
◊ brood of 4 surrounded it, ready to pounce on anything that would threaten it. Alongside them was a third Tyranid warrior, ready to gun down any enemies attempting to close in using its devourer.
The hivemind, despite many misconceptions, wasn't just a mindless beast. It could tell that it would lose this fight, with outnumbered and already damaged forces that were now suddenly cut off from the original hive fleet. A tactical retreat was needed. The Trygon Prime roars before diving down, moving through the dirt as easily as a fish in water, the Genestealers if not occupied by enemies would hop down behind it, the Tyranid warrior moving in last. The tunnel would quickly collapse behind them, the rest of the Tyranid force left to cover their retreat by fighting to the last.
Edited by shroobot3000 on Oct 31st 2022 at 2:24:38 PM
"That was a pointless encounter with a pointless person.""I know a few, but they don't tend to make fog.", Nesley notes as he gets ready.
Everything is eerily silent for a little while longer, to the point that they may begin to wonder if there's anyone even here.
But then a chilling laugh suddenly rings out
all across the area, lightning striking down from the heavens to illuminate a nearby hill, upon which stands none other than a terrifying knight dressed in black, holding a blade and a flaming pumpkin.
Usually that's not really anything special, but the thing that makes the knight so terrifying is that not only does he have no head, but he's also the one laughing despite having no head.
He spares no time after his evil entrance, as his horse immediately starts charging towards Nesley and Loki.
Nesley's reaction to this may not be one Loki would expect from the boy. He just goes completely pale, looking terrified.
"Is... i-is... is that a... z... z... ZOMBIE!?"
... oh... this is probably an awful way for Loki to learn that Nesley is apparently terrified of zombies.
Courne dashes in as well, though this time he's the one taken by surprise. He gets kneed in the chin and then immediately punched back.
He recovers his flight control quickly though, and decides to meet Vegeta in close combat, attempting to go for a good old-fashioned DBZ punching-and-kicking exchange.
Edited by DevilPsyco on Oct 31st 2022 at 11:09:29 AM
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Vegeta gleefuly engages in the timed traditions of throwing punches and kicks at lightning speed, smirking right until Courne manages to land a punch on his face, driving the prince back. However, he quickly recomposes himself, putting his hands up and blasting away with great soaring golden beams, carving a destructive line through the Tropique sky.
He then continue to blast at Courne with his famed Vegeta Technique, which consists of
TATATATATTATATATATATATTATATATA!
Despite this, as he fires ki blasts by the hundred, Vegeta seems calm, his facial expressions and movements normal.
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterHeadless Horseman
Oh boy just wait, it gets worse for Nesley, because here rides the new and improved Líf
◊ on his GHOST HORSE,
◊ which gallops in, whirls around and throws a kick at the Headless Horseman with its hind legs!
"Do you know anyone among the living with a pumpkin for a detachable head?"
Stepping in front of Nesley, Loki raises Nightbane and prepares to meet the headless knight's attack head-on.
"This could be Mara's doing, although I doubt he plans on telling us if that's indeed the case."
Then Lif arrives, eliciting a sigh from the half-Jotun trickster.
"Oh, damn, there's two of them."
Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 31st 2022 at 3:21:21 AM
The Headless Horseman gets pushed back by the kick, but his horse does not falter in the slightest, keeping its balance.
The Headless Horseman lets out another chilling laugh, then suddenly throws his flaming pumpkin at Loki and Nesley, after which he turns to Líf and starts slashing at him like a maniac.
Since Nesley is still frozen in place due to fear, Loki will have to deal with the pumpkin, which will combust into flames the moment it touches anything.
Courne has no choice but to bring up his arms in a protective x-formation as the blasts head his way, as there's just too many for him to completely avoid. And with both of them fighting at their full power (in base form), he can't really shrug these attacks off without transforming. And, to be honest, there's probably an unspoken contest going on to see which one of them can force the other to transform first.
But as he gets pelted by Vegeta's Technique™, he figures he can't just stay on the defensive without giving up too much of his stamina, so he goes for a reckless move: he creates a (decently strong) Ki barrier around himself, then barrels towards Vegeta. If he reaches him, he'll attempt to unleash a powerful Ki blast to send Vegeta flying.
It's not an Electro Ball Ki attack though, so Vegeta won't get temporarily stunlocked if he gets hit. While the attack is one of his regular ones, he feels like it'd make things unfair if he manages to continuously trap Vegeta with them. As such, he had decided even before finding Vegeta that he wouldn't use this attack unless he's back into a corner.
Vegeta has seen the attack before, so he may figure this thought process out without Courne having to say anything.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Líf parries the blows with his new sword, the Arcane Éljúðnir (named after the hall of Hel), casting a shower of magic sparks with each collision. He does not speak. He is utterly focused on the fight.
He tries to make an opening with a fierce swing at the Headless Horseman's sword, following it up with an impaling thrust!
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."As Vegeta's techniquetm continues to devastate the area, Vegeta notices Courne's way of ridding himself of it, and smiles. Although he prepares the next phase of what might be training, might be a genuine beatdown fight, hard to tell. But as the attack slam into him, Vegeta decides to go against the grain and teach Courne hell of a lesson!
Vegeta's scream intensify the closer the blast get to him, and before Courne can realize what's happening, the "sky" shakes as Vegeta throws his head back, his hair turning golden as his aura briefly takes gargantuan proportions. The ki blast then bounce off it, as Vegeta closes the distance and attempts to hit Courne with a devastating punch to the guts, the kind that makes the sea below explode as Vegeta attempts to cap it off with a surprising bicycle kick, of all things, to smack him down there.
Not all fighters will play fair and hold back transformations if they don't make headway, after all.
Vegeta then stands over to the area, daring to go against his own lesson by watching over Courne, engulfed in the golden aura of Super Saiyan.
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterLoki cleaves the flaming pumpkin in half with a swipe of Nightbane.
"One's an enemy, the other doesn't seem interested in letting us know if he can be trusted..."
Turning his attention back to Nesely for now, he taps the boy on the shoulder.
"Lad, after everything you've been through, you should be able to handle even the most intimidating undead monster."
Nesley doesn't seem to snap out of it yet. This fear may run a little deeper than Loki thought, and this is the worst possible way to find out.
The Headless Horseman also doesn't speak, he merely continues to laugh like a raging lunatic. Líf gets his opening though, and the Headless Horseman gets impaled through his torso.
Upon which the Headless Horseman immediately laughs again before swinging to try to hit Líf in his sword-arm's shoulder, moving back a little in an attempt to make it harder for Líf to pull his sword back out of the Headless Horseman's armor. Forget zombie, apparently this is more akin to a ghost because even a zombie would've flinched from that.
... wait, maybe letting Nesley realize that will help him calm down enough to either start fighting or, at least, start running away.
Courne gets forced back by Vegeta's aura, then gets gutpunched hard enough to be stunned for a good while and cough up spit, allowing Vegeta to kick him down into the water.
"Ouch.", Viche mutters, wincing a little for Courne.
Courne stays in the water for a few seconds, but then comes charging back out, now clad in the same golden aura and sporting the same golden hair that Vegeta has
◊. He tries to go for another punch-fest, but this time he has lightning running over his arms. They also won't stun Vegeta if he gets hit by them though. Instead the lightning is making Courne's punches faster, as well as giving them some extra oomph behind them.
Edited by DevilPsyco on Oct 31st 2022 at 11:59:30 AM
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay."Mindless brute!" Líf buckles from the blow, but he just... turns the blade of his sword off and pulls it back that way. His steed then backpedals, circling around the Headless Horseman.
Edited by KiriK on Oct 31st 2022 at 6:58:21 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

Another psychic explosion happens and a Vahki arm, with its blade still held onto, goes flying right past Loki. That was way too close.
The last Vahki currently present collapses from the damage it took. As for the culprit, they stand under the shadows of a tree, turning their head to stare right at Loki with eerie, glowing red eyes.
Just when it looks like Loki is about to get attacked though, the culprit walks into the light, revealing himself to be Nesley
◊.
"Loki!", he calls out, sounding relieved, his eyes no longer glowing red. "Am I happy to see you!"
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.