Leo Luster
Leo Luster turns towards the 'houseplant' and groovily points at her with both his index fingers.
" Quiet, in the presence of a hip cat like me? No dice. Indulge and enjoy, baby~"
He then shifts to pointing at Kaila.
" See, this gal gets it."
As Inspector Gadget arrives, and as Columbo, Obese and Shadowman approach as well (the third one of these still peeved), the GREATEST JAGRAS also arrives. Leo Luster turns to look as a beam of frost heads his way...
Only for someone, somewhere close by to quietly snap their fingers and create a magic barrier that protects him from the attack.
Some of the people in the entourage are confused, because Leo Luster didn't do anything yet a magic barrier appeared. They are too enamored by his charm to think further of it though, immediately assuming that Leo Luster is just that amazing that he can will it to happen.
"Such a ray of light... so blinding." , the High Priest of Darkness says.
"I never imagined there was someone out there more perfect than I, but..." , Perfect Cell says.
"True beauty, in every way.", Briganti says.
Leo Luster strikes another pose.
" It seems even someone such as I has some detractors in the masses.", he says while flashing a charming smile at everyone, including the people who aren't happy to see him here.
" How about you let Leo Luster change your worldview, babes. Everyone'll be happier that way."
"Oh, I'll be happy in just a second. Shadowman, grab the tank!", Obese says while cracking his knuckles.
"Sir... the tank is still at the bottom of the ocean."
"What? ... oh, right. Well, then I'll just go kick him in the nuts."
Obese now approaches.
"Some wild animal acting out is one thing, but this..." , Mara growls, grabbing a blade.
"Perhaps some divine intervention is in order.", Sothis angrily says.
The crowd begins to murmur. It seems they're just about to jump everyone who'd dare try to harm Leo Luster. However, the gorilla simply raises his hand to tell them to halt.
" No need, darlings. Leo Luster is impeccable. I'll deal with this. You just sit there and watch, and enjoy yourselves."
"He Does Not Even Need Our Help"
WHOA
"Truly Impressive", Queen says.
"Let's enjoy the show, you lovely peasants.", Green Jr says.
Leo Luster now turns to the GREATER JAGRAS and Obese, as well as anyone else who wants to get physical, simply motioning for them to come at him while bearing the most confident smile imaginable.
"He's so cool...", Bismark comments, hands clasped together.
VS Leo Luster (and... someone behind the scenes?)
Centralis - Luster
The houseplant sighs and digs around in its bag, before pulling out...
...a dead body? It looks down and quickly shoves that back into its bag before pulling out what it actually meant to pull out.
The GMod spawning menu.
uhhhh lets see here what did i leave in here
it spawns in a tank (An Abrams, to be precise...) Then quickly attaches mecha parts to it. And boosters.
its the united states, please hand over your oil
The finishing touch? a boombox blasting this
at full volume. And then, by all violation of physics, said tank/mecha begins to move, drifting despite having legs while it fires its cannon at a rate no cannon should be able to fire.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aeiou: the secondJax
Jax is pleased to see Lolbit again, walking up to the shopkeeper. Noah's question seemed silly to Jax, the Grandmaster at Arms looking over his shoulder with narrowed eyes at him for a moment. He looked back to Lolbit,
"Nonsense! We have hard-earned coin to spend and though we are in a game, you have to make a living somehow. Getting it free is cheating unless it's the Pearl! Speaking of-"
Jax stops talking to navigate the menu to trade, a bit perplexed by the lack of a yes or no option until Lolbit leans in, the Grandmaster at Arms matching the shopkeeper's motion. Jax nods slowly, leaning back out. He had thought spending the pearl on the armor would've been a good idea, but Lolbit's intervention proves otherwise.
Navigating the menu to talk, Jax selects Parting Gift.
Raex
Raex realizes his play was a mistake the instant Narktus begins his approach, shifting through the air much to the surprise of the templar. Dissipating the whip, Raex summons another divine construct, a tower shield erupting from his arm with a flash of golden light. The templar smashes the wireframe shield into the dirt, thrusting it forward at Narktus.
The instant Narktus's fist collides with the shield, it shatters. Raex's constructs had never failed, never broken, even in the face of Chaos Incarnate, yet he had never faced such an opponent as Narktus, least of all alone. The divine energy dissipated, and Narktus's fist continued forward without the slightest loss of momentum, crashing into Raex's face with a force he had never felt, a strength mortal men couldn't withstand.
As Narktus carried Raex's head to the ground, he could feel Raex's skull begin to crack, splintering into dozens of chunks of bone held together only by the speed at which the pair were fighting. The instant Raex's head touches the ground and Narktus keeps going, Raex's neck snaps, his head jerking to an unnatural angle as reality shatters around him. Narktus's fist sunk into the templar's helmet, smashing through his mortal flesh and bone, crushing his head to a smear against the arena's ground.
Narktus has won.
Beat
Your fight is over, Raex.
A gentle, warm presence echoes amid Raex's mind, its words a soothing rainfall on Raex's soul, calling him home, a slight tug on the templar's soul, trying to pull him away.
Not yet.
Raex rejects the warmth, the certainty of peace offered to him, casting it aside as his divine fury swelled, burning away the spirit's grip upon him.
Then your answer remains?
The voice asks, knowing the templar's answer before it passes his metaphorical lips, having heard it many times before.
Death will not have me.
Beat
Divinity swells from Raex, an explosive expulsion of golden energy forcing Narktus's hand away, Raex's headless body rocketing upward with a wild punch aimed properly for the conqueror's chest. Narktus could likely catch the blow, the form being as sloppy as it was. Assuming he did, as he clutched Raex's armored knuckle, a pair of glowing gold eyes, more like floating pockets of intense flame appeared where Raex's head should be. Twin beams of divine energy, concentrated will, and fury erupted from these eyes, attempting to pierce through Narktus and carry him away.
VS - Tilra's own friends.
Sarah and Arlina are off, so, Tilra creates a split-second battle plan. From what she's already seen, Arlina and Flandre and maybe Sarah are the only ones that possess the necessary abilities to defeat her. As it stands, Arlina and Sarah are outside of her reach, so, Flandre it is.
Already, Tilra knows she has a win condition. Everyone else knows, if she can pull off one of her advanced techniques, she may be able to outright win just like that. Even though it's highly predictable, she fully well understands that it remains her best choice.
Against enemies even stronger than the last, she can think of only one technique that guarantees her success. The most powerful attack Tilra has at her disposal. The completed form of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (complete) - 1/10
Preparing to make a move against Flandre, she watches in comical astonishment, raising an eyebrow as Sarah immediately punches the girl's lights out. This strikes her as ironic somehow, even if she isn't sure where the irony comes from.
With Flandre down, she uses Waiting For The Worms, and looks at Emma, Jack, and Cittufeni. Her very gaze rots and decays, god forbid they make eye contact and wither away like days spent napping in the dirt. Even metal will rust away to her glowing red eyes, though, not quite as fast.
It's only a few moments of that before Tilra melds into her own shadow, and then, erupts out of Jack's, using One Of These Days to morph her arm into a beastly lump of flesh and teeth that expands around him and bites down with beyond-lightning swiftness, all in one fluid and near-instant movement. If successful, it will rapidly devour his energy and add it to Tilra's own.
She is, of course, well aware of their weaknesses, too.
Yatta!Sarah's reflexes are as fast as she is. And as she notices Arlina vanishing, she brings up the necrogloves to block them, bringing one fist over her head per sword to block both. She briefly wondered if Artemis meant to decapitate her but decide it doesn't matter, what's with her aiming for her throat just earlier. Thanks to the toughness of the Necrosword combined with her own skin's toughness, the blades bury themselves, drawing blood but not doing much more than a cut.
Seeing her kick coming, Sarah sees fit to argue her point.
Like you have any room to talk about anger! You literally had an evil side!
And then, Sarah teleports behind Artemis herself, attempting to smack her on either side of the head with her hands. She mean to apply the Necrosword on her face, hoping to blind and disorient Arlina by covering her eyes, mouth, ears and nose with the god-killing matter. It wasn't something that she could do comfortably, but the battle had reached enough intensity that she knew that it was that or dying.
Trying to snatch Arlina's hair, Sarah attempts to fling her upwards, until she's floating just above Sarah. Remember how enraged you got in that fight?! Remember that cackling about you did while fighting Azura? You're just as vulnerable as I am to being influenced! And not even by magic! Your own goddamn ego! Sarah then attempts to slam her left shoulder into Arlina's own shoulder, attempting to send her flying high into the sky.
I'm sorry for your brother, but you're not as detached as you think you are! And that make you just as vulnerable to whatever Gor will do! Sarah jettison herself upwards like a comet, then try to slam into Arlina again, sending her further flying into the air if it hit. At which point, Sarah raise her index, coating the necrosword precisely around it and forming a miniature cannon at the very tip of it. An orb of light appear, small rings of darkness surrounding it.
Sarah try to look somewhat dispassionate as she shoot a big bright beam, with a smaller black mark in the middle, attempting to slam into Artemis to create a big bright explosion of light that light the sky ablaze. It's a flat explosion though, somehow. You'll get to see why.
You'll be one of the first I'll warn. You, Tilra, Cittufeni, Flandre - But if I have to take you out first, I will. Sarah... fire another blast, multiple times, deciding that it was worth it to be cautious.
...
Hub Centralis
Owlman sees the glint of a scope. Uh-Oh. I could use a shield. He could dodge, but with Red Hood being a highly trained marskman, Owlman thought it prudent to take measures. Plus, he didn't mind seeing Kenjaku's powers in action in case that he needed to.
Oh, he had ways to stop himself from getting shot either way, even if they were rather costly. It's just that Red Hood was no ordinary marksman and Kenjaku had kept his own powers a secret from the group. Simply saying he could "command spirits" and sticking to that.
Would he help Owlman? Doubtful. But it was worth a shot. And besides, the owl-themed criminal felt like it was a good shot (hehe) at causing panic. Sniper shot goes off. Crowd is distracted. Kashimo and Crocodile move in to strike a surprise blow. Prepare for a loud noise. With Red Hood watching him, Owlman thought prudent to be vague in his warning. As to not make Red Hood realize where his allies were until it was too late.
Little did Owlman know, he was dealing with Hajime Kashimo, a man who wished to topple the mighty Sukuna from his seat of strength. As he approached Mark, Kashimo's eyes widened in slight surprise and indignation, his fast hands barely catching the gold in time. Mark's strength was notable. Which didn't seem like high praise at a glance, but was actually pretty much that. Or else Kashimo wouldn't be slightly stunned.
But after that, Kashimo adapts quickly, smiling in glee as the golden coin rest in the palm of his hand, smoke lightly pouring out of it. Corrin sees this and is unfazed, though he does decide to very slightly raise his right arm when Mark goes aggro. I don't want to throw hands with you - it'd be difficult to do since hands are what we use to throw things to start with.
Beruka pinch the bridge of her nose, and Crocodile smiles slightly in the background, lightly amused. He draws closer, his massive frame sort of explaining his relatively inactive background presence - he's huge. With a huge fur coat, big scar in the middle of his face and golden hook to complement it. Meanwhile, Kashimo's just a guy, even if some might be tempted to call him a fe-
Kashimo's fist crack against Corrin's left cheek with the power of an artillery cannon. Completly unprepared for this, and faced with a punch that's heavy, Corrin is suddenly sent flying through the crowd and into the restaurant, breaking through the stone arcade and punching through the stone wall right above the entrance. That means he's technically on the first floor, but he was hit with such velocity that, when coming downward, he smash through the floor and into the restaurant room below, crashing on a table in a shower of dust and light debris.
Sparks linger around the nasty bruise on Corrin's face, the young man clutching his jaw in pain. W... what... aww... Left disheveled and stunned, Corrin struggles to get back to his feet, even when his head feels like the slightest movement could make it roll off his shoulder.
As for Mark, Kashimo also hit him with a punch. But since he was more on-guard than Corrin, Kashimo attempts to just fill the gap with a step that borders on Flash Step and then try to slam him in the guts with his palm. It's in an attempt to shove the coin he stole back into his guts, but Kashimo mostly mean to send him flying into the restaurant on the left.
Seeing Kashimo moving into action, Kenjaku smiles. So much for stealth. Just help him with the memory orbs, hm? As the crowd scatters in organized chaos, part of the screams suddenly cease as a miniature sandstorm kick into gear, cutting a clean line through part of the plaza. Having positioned himself, Crocodile attempt to create a bunch of pillars of sand between Kashimo and his prey (plus Mark) and Beruka, Nuue and the rest of the people unrelated to it.
Kenjaku slaps a nearby radio awake to play the song, and then leave the waffle store, running over towards one of the sewer grates. Crocodile doesn't pay him any mind, and neither does Kashimo, who doesn't so much as move even with Crocodile's Sables attack almost hitting him.
The sand Logia walk in in front of the group, adjusting his cigar in his mouth.
You're dumb if you're surprised by any of this. He says, watching as Beruka unzip her cloak. She apparently wasn't, because she had her full-armor beneath. And what's more, strapped to her back, is her Vallite Axe, which Crocodile look briefly interested by. ... Huh. Oversized jacket make sense now. Guess you're smarter than you look.
Out of my way.
Nevermind that. Crocodile flick his cigar away and calmly reach into his pocket to grab another cigar, apparently solely concerned with keeping the "pillars" of sand going.
Kashimo rolls his eyes at the gawdy song and begin stepping towards the restaurant with Corrin inside. Discarding his apron, he reveal it was somehow keeping his staff hidden from sight, the man unfurling it as if it were a much more glorious weapon than it already is.
Heh? You're still down?
Owlman shrugs at the chaos and decide to just glance at Red Hood's position, daring him to take his shot.
...
ALSO HUB CENTRALIS
Flandre will wake up without her memories. By that, I mean she'll be standing where she was before she saw Sarah's signal.
This mean she'll also be holding up her reward - the spear Gungnir. Blessed with the ability to home in very accurately on a target and find a weak spot on its own, on top of being able to return to the user's hand or having magic channeled through it. It's shaped after a certain Odin's Gungnir, Gor's way of irony.
It's a very powerful weapon. And one of importance to Flandre.
But somehow, having it will feel right.
Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 1st 2024 at 11:27:00 AM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter"That was more of a corruption than anything, alright?"
Arlina retorts, her voice noticeably straining to stay monotone, staggering a bit as the Necromatter covers her face before she grabs it and tears it off, leaving it to swarm back towards Sarah.
This leaves enough time for her to get thrown into the sky by the shoulder charges, both of her blades slipping from her hands and fading away...
Just before the giant laser would hit, Arlina warps one of her wings to take the brunt of the impact, though in doing so the wing is noticeably burned. She flings herself up- but then the other blasts come. Once they stop, her wing is reduced to an ashen stump, her body noticeably burned.
"You wouldn't get it. I've fought Mahito before. Learned what the Church could've been before you ever decided to investigate it!"
Arlina's coat falls off as her voice raises to a yell, revealing a hole burned straight through her. This doesn't seem to faze her at all, though. She throws herself high into the air, putting more and more distance between her and Sarah for what she's about to do next.
Deity Magic: World Barrier EX+
Arlina's eyes glow a bright gold.
"But maybe you're right. I'm not fucking perfect. At the end of the day, I was human, once. And I still have human emotion, no matter how much I try and deny it. But I won't just roll over and die. I have to win- to carry myself forward and stop what's coming. So I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but there's no other choice."
As Arlina raises her hands to the sky, an enormous Astral Sphere appears high in the air, a golden light breaking through the normally starry barrier. As Arlina points downward, she lets out a deep breath as she utters some words.
"For everything, everywhere. Radiant Starlight Beacon."
The entire sphere compresses itself before letting out a giant beacon of godly light upon the island, tearing stone, water, and plant life alike apart into nothingness. The beam continues for a full 20 seconds before it finally stops, leaving Arlina taking in heavy breaths from the sheer effort, though she's quickly recovering as she exchanges mana for stamina. Her right arm is turned to stone- an attack of that caliber has more than just a cost of mana, it seems.
Centralis - Market
Nuue lets out a brief yelp of surprise as the sandstorm kicks up, grumbling as she's forced to land. She notices Crocodile and pounds her fists together.
"Hey! The lady said to get out of her way, so I suggest you do!"
Nuue grips onto her dragonstone tightly is enveloped in a black-and-purple light as she transforms into her full Fell Dragon form.
She rears back before...
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
...letting loose a huge roar, a dark aura spreading from her and into some nearby corpses. They twitch back to life, lifting their bodies and swarming Crocodile, aiming to pummel him with their fists or whatever bits of rubble they've snatched from the ground.
Nuue angles her wings to shield her allies from the storm, but doesn't attack directly yet. There seems to be energy gathering around her, however.
Edited by RainbyPlays on Apr 1st 2024 at 5:43:40 AM
aeiou: the secondJust as Red Hood was about to pull the trigger, all hell suddenly breaks loose in the streets below. A brawl over what was probably more than just a bit of stolen food? A sandstorm in the middle of the city? He was beginning to trust his hunch about Kenjaku's suspiciousness more and more.
"Damn sand is getting everywhere," Jason mutters, realizing he wouldn't be getting a shot at Kenjaku with the latter's position obscured so heavily. So instead, he was going to stick with his original target.
Keeping his sniper rifle aimed squarely at Owlman, Red Hood squeezes the trigger and sends a bullet flying straight towards the Crime Syndicate's answer to the Dark Knight.
Edited by IchigoMontoya on Apr 1st 2024 at 2:43:43 AM
Avar-Laren
Sebastien had to admit, the General seemed oddly... merciful at times. She could have easily killed them today and while normally he'd ascribe it to gloating or ego, something felt off.
No time to dwell on it though, he leaps back as he draws his recently upgraded Gnashing Flammenschild Dual Blades and uses them to block the Nargacuga man's own Dual Blades. He REALLY wished he brought Mona or Brutus now as he attempted to use the clashing of blades to quickly kick his opponent and force him back.
Luster of Leo
The GREATEST JAGRAS sneers at Leo Luster, before standing up jankily on its hind legs. It roars and its fists get coated in green slime before it attempts to pulverize the Kong in a series of rapid fire punches. Each punch also leaves behind green slime on whatever it hits, which soon detonates rather explosively.
Hub Centralis
Flandre blinked. Had she been doing something? Her instincts were still on edge as if she had been in a fight but she doesn't remember being in one. Weird.
She doesn't dwell on it very long, considering what's in her hand catches her attention. Gungnir.
It's not her sister's obviously, doesn't look quite right and the magic doesn't feel the same. But it's unmistakably another version of the spear, Laevateinn in her other hand glowing dimly in recognition of its fellow. She dismisses Laevateinn in favor of doing a few two handed practice swings with Gungnir.
Polearms were always more her sister's thing, but she had some practice with them. She took off towards the SDM for now, intent on getting some further practice done now. Perhaps fate was for once working in her favor...
Hub Centralis but Corn
Sometimes he wished he could go a week without shit like this happening. Drury Walker simply sighed in exasperation as he weaved between the panicking crowd. He could probably just go home and forget about all this but well, when someone kills you that tends to leave a grudge. So out of pure spite for Kenjaku he resolved to mess with whatever operation was going on here. He suspected Kenjaku was behind it, seemed right up that weirdo's alley.
For now he simply vanished into a nearby abandoned shop to get suited up.
"That was a pointless encounter with a pointless person."Christnight Battle Royale
Emma hears out both of them — oddly enough they're the two people outside of Sarah she doesn't hold any automatic prejudice towards and—
"If I win, none of you will—"
She feels the gaze and immediately shoves Jack away and leaps from Cittufeni to absorb a sudden burst of heat to cocoon herself against the attack.
Tilra strikes Jack before she can make a choice. Either way, she's more inclined to side with both of them at the same time and then go against their backs at their mightiest. She can't expend any power right now, she tackles through her own ice wall and begins running away, leaving a trail of frost in her wake. The more competent she becomes at fighting with neutral to negative output, the more her weakness against the cold mitigates.
She tries to enter into Jack and Cittufeni's comms through telepathy, though her signal is spotty.
"For the record, I'm on board!"
If she needs a chance at dealing damage against Sarah, she needs a century's worth of stockpiled power in this fight without expending a single joule of energy into attack or movement. One to rival a Star Generator.
Pucci
"You yearn for something, adventure, yet a roadblock presents itself in your attempt — the likelihood of battle. That is the something I can help you with that is within my ability"
Lucas is delighted at Pucci's curiosity but his neutral expression probably leaves a lot open for the holy man to interpret.
realLeo Luster
"You aren't a cat, though. Which is a good thi- woah is that what I think it is?"As far as Kaila is concerned, Leo is just some overconfident dude using NPCs to prop up his ego, while the real cool guys are the houseplant with a tank (plus US jokes) and JAGRAS with its whatever its attacks are, but it includes a frost beam so it's clearly literally cool.
The overgrown mouse clambers onto the mecha as it's being assembled, her claws clinging onto the metal better than expected. Then again, she is nimble. Once atop, she holds her arms out, sparkles surrounding her for a moment before something appears right in front of the tank.
A lightning icon with a circle around it.
◊
The moment the tank touches the icon, it should speed up significantly, accelerating towards Leo Luster. Also, the icon disappears, cos it's one-use only.
"Now we're talking!"
Kaila raises her paws again. This time, she focuses a bit and slings a cloud of sparkles in the direction of Leo Luster's crowd. Whoever is hit by it will find themselves shrunk to about half their size.
Edited by Hotpizza on Apr 1st 2024 at 9:20:27 PM
<FUCK.>
Tilra went almost directly for Jack, and from his perspective, that is the absolute worst thing that could've happened. Emma did manage to save him from the initial withering gaze, but he had to deal with the attack from his shadow by himself - his instincts kicked in and he moved as quickly as he could to evade capture, but in his base form, he's not fast enough.
That isn't to say he's helpless. The moment he realizes he can't get out, Jack goes danger close and attacks himself with several of the Boreal Bomber's cryogenic grenades, forming a thick layer of ice around himself. It stings like hell and saps him as badly as just taking the energy siphoning attack would've, but at least it means the only thing Tilra can get from him right away is some crunchy ice shavings. Trapped in a shell of his own making, Jack weighs up his options.
<Okay. My only hope of having backup is to work with the very same power absorbing enemies I wanted to eliminate first. (Tilra) definitely sees me as more of a threat if she's willing to target me over them, and there's no way I survive long enough to potentially team up with (Sarah or Artemis) when it's my base self against these three... Now, how do I get out of this situation?>
Jack ponders for a moment, then grabs his depleted uranium sledgehammer and smashes the ground underneath himself at full force. Thanks to freezing it up earlier, he can at least go downwards once he's freed up some space. As he uses this very awkward digging setup, he begins setting up for awakening his stronger states again, flames smoldering on his body that react with ice shards around him to produce steam... And, of course, radiation levels beginning to rise around himself.
The fact that only 140 characters are allowed here is honestly so disappointing to me.Mark sees Corrin get suddenly attacked by the person chasing him, confusing him immensely.
"Wait I thought you were on his side?!"
He staggers back from the gut punch but manages to block with his chained arms in time. Kashimo's punch was strong enough to send him flying backwards but his feet glides smoothly across the ground once momentum slows down, but his hands twitch violently as a result of the sorcerer's passive cursed energy.
He realizes this is the second time he's had to deal with a bastard of lightning, but he's more focused on the coin since Kashimo did return it to him.
"What kind of dumbshit rejects payment after they eat their food?!"
Mark tosses the coin into the air and rapidly flails his chains around, slamming the coin with his small hammer to blast the coin through the pillars of sand whilst the blonde sprints back to fight.
realNot that it could. Or so I would have said earlier. For it appears that my luck has gone the way of a lost babe near a deep body of water - endlessly searching for new depths to sink to. The bloody “politics” and backstabbing of the cult of Bhaal, I could at least anticipate, sad at it is to see an inelegant leech like Orin make it to seats of power she should have no business glancing upon. But Ketheric’s disappearance, and especially that of his Netherstone, is a far worse occurrence yet.
Swaddling an infantile psychopath into compliancy is frustrating but only a matter of patience and finding the right piece of raw meat to offer her until she is no longer needed. Making do with Ketheric simply vanishing, Netherstone included, disrupt our plan beyond repair. Nevermind the loss of his undead army, useful fodder to the Absolute’s cause - without all three Netherstones, the Cult of the Absolute and Faerun are both dead. And not even Bhaal or Myrkul will be pleased with the rise of the Illithid Empire.
Unfortunately, worldly and spiritual means of tracking down Ketheric had failed. And not even his advisors within Moonrise Tower knew of the reasons behind his disappearance. Why, they appeared quite unnerved to know that even my considerable resources could not pin down our vanishing undead. In the end, failing to find a solution in the mud of Faerun or in the stars of the sky above, it was the voice of Lord Bane that informed me that Ketheric was gone from this world, in a manner that happened to leave the Dead Three themselves befuddled, because of how literal "gone" is.
However, Lord Bane alone informed me of a trail. Whatever forces had taken Ketheric, they left a trail to another world. A nexus of a sort, I believe. And further then, into an artificial world, crafted by a wizard with prowess matching a deity. Acting prudently, I dispatched some of my agents there - But what came back was an inhuman entity, wearing a man’s skin as clothing. It told me that Ketheric had been “borrowed” for the sake of an experiment, and that the fate of Faerun mattered little to it - the Netherstone, it spoke, it could part with. It wasn’t important.
I only needed to acquire it in said experiment.
The entity appeared to be potent in forms of sorcery unknown even to me. And I dared not be imprudent in my dealings with it. I managed to negotiate a deeper understanding of the situation by playing to the creature’s ego. Ketheric had become the grand villain of a sweeping tale in a “world of worlds”, leading an army of undead and plotting to unleash them upon all realities, with the source of his immortality not a chained Aasimar but a potent fruit he shielded from aggressors, with the help of some particular undead ghosts infused with memories of "departed ones".
The creature was very much like a politician of my dear Baldur’s Gate in that it was fond of talking and talking, with any substance within its words only known to itself. What I could understand was that it had sent groups of adventurers against Ketheric, letting them shatter themselves against his undead might or that of his allies so as to “test” before the final experiment.
I soon understood that I was to be a part of the next experiment. My only objective was to grab the Netherstone - its location revealed to me earlier and I would be able to freely exit the world and go back to Faerun, clutching the means to save it from harm. To partake willingly in that experiment was obvious insanity; I had no reason to trust the abomination’s words, not when it had been so cavalier in describing some of the most gruesome deaths that Ketheric had inflicted upon “intruders”.
I gave myself time I knew I had in scarce quantity to think about it. With the third Netherstone gone, my dear associate replaced by a shapeshifting half-wit and punishment awaiting me if I were to contact a powerful third-party to dispose of the rogue Brain, I could only accept. For, facing total annihilation and a scenario where I was almost certain to die, I found the latter scenario preferable, if only because of the scant possibility of survival in being almost certain of dying.
Unfortunately for me, I was meant to be a part of a random squad, with no possibility of fetching powerful associates. And through the passage of time were different in my world, I feared what Orin could do in my absence. This also forced me to take my own Netherstone with me, lest she acquire it. The chosen of Bane are hardly fit for meager spywork or mercenary work -if anything, we’re the ones paying for those- but yet I would need to knowingly become a pawn in some insane game.
Preparing myself adequately, I made my departure a very private matter. And hoped to return very soon - on top of that, I had the creature swear to me, through a “Binding Vow” -a particularly unique sorcery that should be absolutely written down- that success on my part (by getting the Netherstone) would compel it to obey one command of mine as efficiently as it could. It did not bother with what should be done in case of failure, for we both knew my odds at success were slim, though it is obviously underestimating the might of Lord Bane.
As I am writing this, I’m about to depart from Baldur’s Gate and into a portal that will bring me to the nexus of the world, the “Arena”.
The Black Hand shall seize its rightful price - and I will emerge from this trial a stronger, worthier Chosen for the god of Tyranny.
So say Lord Enver Gortash.
...
Other World
Sarah take to the sky after her rival, likewise struggling to keep her tone simply passionate instead of irritated and angry. How could Arlina have sat on the truth for this much time?
But I was the one to take action against the Church! I was the one to unite a team against the Pillars! I maybe didn't lead you to victory, but I-we have done more damage to the Church together than you did despite knowing about it for all that time! How could you ignore that brainwashing freak for so long?! Sarah doesn't show any sign of fear, instead flying after Arlina. She was a tad frustrated, stopping her from simply assessing the threat and backing down to be at a fairer distance.
She had the upper hand on Arlina so far, by her estimations. She just had to keep hammering at her until she fell - Because she knew that Arlina was dependent on a particular resource to keep going. But that very same resource fed her spells that could instantly turn the tables. So Sarah wanted to keep going some more.
Unfortunately for her, Arlina is able to get off her massive Kill Sat faster than Sarah could reach her. And it was an attack of such potent range, speed and power as to make the Sister unable to dodge. Like even teleporting couldn't take her away enough from it.
Yet Sarah's face remain perfectly measured. Coldly facing down the annihilation wave about to impact her.
For she had a perfect match to bring to the test against Arlina's godly light : the Necrosword, its inky blackness surrounding Sarah and holding firm against the divine punishment. Golden cracks still run over its surface as Sarah desperately try to hold up inside, light piercing through said crack to directly engulf her, burning her. The sheer strain of cancelling one of Arlina's strongest moves is getting to her, for her own mastery of the Necrosword is lesser than she'd like to admit.
As yet another crack cause light to blast her in the chest, Sarah hold strong by thinking of THOR's screech of horror. Of all those hapless people, worlds, that MALGOR had consumed. Of the friend she had to coldly strike down just now. And, yet again, of THOR. THOR, who had been valorous in battle. THOR who, while ill-advised, had organized a strike team to "rescue" her from the Time Patrol. THOR whom she had introduced her own children to, while fighting his own kids.
Their father was dead, carved-out by the black hand of a cruel living universe, left to be used as a bomb to devastate the world he had sought to protect. And unlike Ragnarok, there would be no world for his children or for the next generation of mortals - only a cold void, assimilation by Gor at best. And maybe someone would say the other Odin had invited this upon himself, but that mere thought made Sarah grit her teeth.
I'm the one who's sorry.
Two tears briefly roll down her cheeks as she focus intently, the cracks closing in around her as the overwhelmed darkness of the Necrosword suddenly reach forth to engulf all of the enormous pillar. The golden beam become an obsidian pillar, emanating no light or sound, before it shatters and break apart entirely, the World Barrier having been entirely consumed by the sinister Necrosword, but not without dealing significant damage to the Proto-Symbiote.
Huge chunks of soldifier necro godlight scatter across the ruins of the island, falling down into the sea below or the land like cataclysmic meteors - the result of Sarah sweeping her hand to the left to break apart the pillar, glaring at Arlina from her position.
As this happens, the uplifted chunks of debris caused by Sarah's stomp start falling down from the sky, clad in enormous flames, leaving out trails of fire behind them like comets, filling the sky with jet-black projectiles falling down alongside a seeming rain of fire. Through all this, Sarah can hear Arlina's heavy breathing. And as Arlina start trading mana for stamina, the nearby meteors are blown apart, because Sarah is right in front of her, having moved so fast as to mimic her teleportation, her face inches from Arlina's with her green eyes bearing unto her with great severity.
She immediately try driving her fists into Arlina's chest, rolling her head back in the meantime as she attempts to land a major blow that, she think, could end the fight.
Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 2nd 2024 at 4:12:08 PM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterAvar-Laren, Church, HC
The DB-Poacher grinned as his weapons came into conflict with Sebastien’s own, a clank ringing out. The latter’s foot kicked into his chest and drove him back a few feet. The Poacher wasted no time in triggering Rage (shitty name but better than fucking “DEMON MODE” bro), flipping his weapons into a reverse grip while a flaming aura overcame him. He zipped towards Sebastien and unleashed a flurry of cuts and slashes aimed at his torso, howling incoherent angrish all the while.
——
Cittufeni’s damage sensors detect minor corrosion as Tilra’s gaze falls on the group, and makes an easy connection between cause and effect. Already he’d plotting up methods to blind Tilra or disable her eyes in some way, but he had other things to worry about: she’d teleported into their midst with an attack on Jack, and Emma was now fleeing the scene while the other man was hiding his head in the sand.
Organics display cowardly tendencies when faced with threats. Noted.
Cittufeni hopped backwards, a leap that covered some forty feet of distance before coming to a stop at Flandre’s unconscious form. Crouching down while keeping a close watch on Tilra, he reached a hand swarming with blackness to the avatar of destruction…then drew away. He rested the injured arm on his knee, narrowing his gaze and tilting his head.
"If you won," he called out to her, "what would you do with the memories?"
——
"Can’t go three days in this place without some shit going down." Lily sighed, watching the events before the trio unfold. She moved quick and suppressed her own fear—the strongest of the three would need to be calm and composed, that was what Cardell taught her. She pulled Liam by the wrist and pushed Raphael, leading them to a side alley. "Stay here, don’t move from this spot unless you absolutely need to. I’ll be quick about this, I promise."
"Lils, wait—" The youngest of the twins protested, but she shook her head before he could finish. "Lily, I want to help—"
"Keep Raphael safe, then." She departed quickly after, emerging from the alley and passing through a crowd running towards one of the exits. She fixed her gaze on Mr. Crocodile, reaching her hand out and grabbing onto a lone handle hovering around her. Wrapped in faded parchment with ancient texts in another tongue inscribed upon them, the grip was akin to a sword’s, and indeed as she took hold of it, a hilt and pommel appeared on either end. The hilt was of a raw white color, luminous and brilliant amidst the lantern-lit market, while the pommel was a deep blue and seemed to catch the moon’s image in it. Lily pressed her other hand against the hilt and pulled it away, the sword’s blade forming between her palm and the hilt as she did. It radiated the same shining white light on the edges, like the sun’s corona, but the blade itself was a dark reflection of the night sky above, complete with stars that shimmered in the darkness.
This was Lun, just one of two ancestral blades passed down through generations. The other was Sol; personally, she liked Sol more, but alas, during the night she was constricted only to Lun, and vice versa.
"Hell’s your problem?" She yelled out, marching ever closer to Mr. Crocodile. "Can’t just let people enjoy their meals?"
With great power…you know the rest.Arlina's eyes momentarily widen as she sees the light blacken and shatter, falling in chunks around the island.
"I wasn't strong enough then. Limited by a power I had unknowingly harvested. Now it's gone- shattered. I can fight things like that now. I didn't want to wait this damn long, alright?! How the hell do you think I felt!?!"
Just before Sarah can land her hit, though...
...Arlina's being momentarily flashes white just as Sarah hits, the only indication of what she just did.
Martial Magic: Greater Counter
While the resulting impact isn't eliminated completely, half of it would be thrown back at Sarah. Arlina uses the possible recoil to throw herself upward further- forming her arm into a rapier-like blade- just like she started off with the first time she fought Sarah.
She strikes forward multiple times, each one faster than the first before she finishes with morphing her arm into a more normal blade and swinging it with all of her might at Sarah's head.
"Back when I first found out, I had repressed most of what I'd done before. I tried to be carefree- but that doesn't work here. I have to be the force of balance against annihilation, just like I've had to do so many times before..!"
Tears stain Arlina's eyes. She's... crying?
"I-I didn't want any of this. I wished I could've been normal. But childlike ignorance of the truth would just get me killed sooner rather than later. My brother... My parents... My friends... I don't have anywhere to run anymore. If I don't succeed here, then I've failed everyone who died to protect me!"
aeiou: the secondSarah is half-unsurprised to see Arlina being able to undo her slam, and she yell in pain and surprise at half her attack power being thrown back. Because "half-unsurprised" means half of it had to be genuinely not planned for. Whacked in the face with half her own power still hurt Sarah, and she end up reeling back while clutching her forehead. Instinctively, she lash out with several lightning bolts from up close, but Arlina is able to barely dodge them as she vault up to her.
Sarah end up shanked in a few spots, barely dodging a random stab to the head that carve out a big red line on her left cheek. Stunned and almost overwhelmed, Sarah's able to work through the pain. Arlina was down one arm - she wasn't. And in making a sword out of her left limb, close-combat was going to be easier. With her superb reflexes and sharpened close combat skills, Sarah's green eyes wander over to the rapier and she snatch it out of the sky by sticking the blade before the index and middle fingers of her own hand.
It only happen an instant, with Sarah certain that Arlina had the means to keep going, and then her fist snap forward into Arlina's left rib with the means to break her concentration. At which point, Sarah try flinging her rapier to the side as she pulls her arms back to try to hit her with a series of clean, powerful, quick and efficient blows. Big messy punches wouldn't work, and she steel herself for another use of Martial Magic.
One jab to the jaw with her left fist, one more jab to the jaw with her right fist to drive Arlina to the left, where Sarah has already raised her left leg to try to kick her in the neck, hooking her foot around Arlina's neck to take her for an overhead spin and send her flying down towards the ground, with Sarah trying to smack her back with an aerial stomp.
Whoever win this is right. Sarah says, a way of conceding that she understood Arlina's words but that said words wouldn't be enough. They needed to conclude that with their fists.
Should she succeed at all of those, Sarah then does not approach Arlina, instead flying down amongst the countless comets and necroasteroids coming down all around them, her thin silhouette a difficult thing to keep track off amongst all that chaos. Coming from the heavens, spears of lightning (thunderbolts) try to impact Arlina again and again, aiming to keep her distracted, staggered and presumably waste mana trying to dissipate them.
And, using her powers, she has a few of the meteors head for Arlina, by way of punching or kicking them.
Preparing herself for what she might do next, but not experiencing anything that might have caused her to hold back, Sarah eventually touch what remains of the ground and immediately dash towards Arlina, punch held back to try and take her out of the fight while she's busy!
Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 2nd 2024 at 7:15:37 PM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterArlina is knocked back, her entire lower body being severed as she's hit with the punches. She grits her teeth, losing so much of her body finally taking its toll on her dulled pain. She goes flying into the ground, forming a shield of magic to block the oncoming bolts. It cracks, and at the last meteor impact, it shatters into quickly-fading shards.
"F-fine then. I guess that's one way to settle this."
Arlina's last remaining wing is tattered, and she's still laying in the crater she'd been slammed into. Seeing Sarah heading for her once more, she has to make a split-second decision. Just as Sarah reaches her...
Scribe Magic: Reconfigure
"Ultima: Burst."
She takes the extreme power of Ultima and unleashes it all in one strong blast forward, her left arm withering from the sheer magical output- making a huge new expanding crater in the ground once she's done. Afterwards, she's left gasping for breath, utterly exhausted from her last resort.
aeiou: the secondChurch
Tilra notes, nobody has attacked her back yet, which is good. She raises an eyebrow in exertion, the fleshy beast that her arm has become increasing in size to pursue Jack with the smell of sulfur and the sound of fleshy squelching, growing through the ground like tree roots made from muscle and bone.
No amount of radiation is a danger to Tilra in amounts not vastly superlative, and that goes for the monster as well, its jaw, lined with teeth, biting down again and again as it pursues, trying to take as much of his energy for itself as it possibly can take.
?None of us will what? Tilra says, looking Emma's way. Her eyes don't rot to withstand the gaze of, but she looks angrier than she's ever been, eyes wide.
Tilra wants her memories. She is not a machine or a being of flesh, not a cyborg, or a monster. She is something else, something almost entirely unique, sharing characteristics of machine and star-eating beast. Of course, she wants her memories, because she's never had to be without them, never lost a moment of her life that she cannot now recall.
But that is not her motivation. Perhaps it is saccharine, excessive of her, but Tilra is inspired. By Sarah's heroism and strength, by the will of the arena's power to see things through, by the task entrusted to her by Anne and the weight of expectations placed on her by her mother's power. And of course, she doesn't want to lose, but that hardly matters as much as what she could do if she won.
She could tell everyone. She could tell Sarah, who could tell everyone.
She trusted Sarah. If it was Sarah who was going to win, then maybe, she would allow it. But for everyone else, their word simply is not good enough. In the face of these overwhelming circumstances, Tilra's trust is just not enough!
And there needs to be a show.
Why was that?
Why do they all want that?
What is Moebius?
!Tell all of you! Tilra shouts out to Cittufeni, !And then I don't know!
She frowns.
?How do you plan to fight a god?
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (complete) - 2/10
Yatta!Argh...
Corrin hears panicking and shouting about as he recovers from being punched in the face. For all his toughness, he can feel that the impact has rattled his brain quite fiercely, and his hand slips as he attempts to get back to his feet. He decide to solve the problem by burying his fingers into the pavement, slowly getting back up by also grabbing a nearby table to pull himself on.
He's reassured to see that Kashimo does not exploit his helplessness to attack weaker bystandards, although he's moreso grasping for a silver lining. And beside, those who are able to escape the restaurants are quick to return when they see that pillars of sand are blocking the way. With some brave staff appearing to lead as many clients as they can another way : a door in the kitchen, leading to the back alley, granting them and the clients an easy way out of the battle via the alley.
Sadly for them, there are many more people also fleeing for the higher grounds, convinced that they might be able to access the other establishment by simply jumping to the other roof. Corrin would love to help them, but he felt like that'd be something of an handicap to them - obviously, Kashimo was going his way.
Shaking his head to dispel his fear, Corrin wipe his lips clean and get up. He had no Yato on him - and he could call it to him, but it'd take a while. With the others busy, he'd have to handle Kashimo the crude way.
Who are you and what do you wan- A rush of air, his "sixth sense" screaming of him, a shadow suddenly obscuring his sight. Corrin's barely able to get his head out of the way as Kashimo swing a fist his way, the young man wanting to back up but finding himself unable to - for he bump into panicky customers right as Kashimo is approaching him for another blow, a maniacal smile on his lips.
One that'd cleave a hole right through those people.
Visions of violence and bloodshed run through Corrin's mind as he hesitate on what to do. Why are you doing this?! He says, raising his two hands to catch Kashimo's staff. To his surprise, the strength behind it is great, but not quite as great as he'd imagined it'd be. And though the pavement crack at his feet, the young man is able to stop the attack in a way that spare the people close to him.
Even Kashimo seems taken aback for the briefest of seconds, although his agreeable surprise fade into a frown quickly enough.
His attacks are heavy! I'm stronger, but what am I going to do? Corrin think, sweat falling down the left side of his head - mixing with some blood left by Kashimo's punch.
He's stronger than me, but he's a complete amateur. Should be easy.' Kashimo think, face inexpressive as he start putting in more effort into overpowering Corrin. Corrin retaliate by trying to simply overpower Kashimo back, but in doing so, he leaves his stomach exposed. Something he remember a second after Kashimo painfully drive his left knee into his guts. Corrin freezes as the pain travel through his entire body and explode in each extremity of his body, the young man's mouth left open and completly agape, a shocked expression on his face.
Kashimo's staff slips out of his hands as a result, Corrin lowering his arms in pained shock. Kashimo beholds him for a moment and casually raise his staff over his shoulder to whack Corrin in the nose and mouth with, hitting him with such strength that the weapon bend and end up thrown out of Kashimo's hand entirely, spinning in mid-air with the rotation rate sufficient to lift an entire helicopter, where it to be placed on one.
The Sorcerer's happy to just snatch it out of the air, crouching down as he drags the staff's tip unto the pavement before whacking Corrin in the chin with it a second time, the momentum of the staff strenghtened by Kashimo's sheer strength as he hit Corrin with it. The young man is flung through the air, some teeth being knocked loose from either impact as he's sent flying through the building's floors... and then falls back down, punching new holes into the floors as he goes;
This make the building creak somewhat ominously as Kashimo approach Corrin, staff resting on his shoulder, one hand on his hip.
Argh... Corrin groans, clutching his mouth in pain, turning to glare at the approaching Kashimo. Despite his state, his body is raring to go, and so is his mind, but a profound laziness seizes Corrin as he attempts to get back on his feet yet again. A profound refusal to get into a fight again, even at the cost of his life (potentially), so as not to harm another human being.
This was Corrin's first serious fight against a human since Nohr. Why was this evil striking him now? The Prince found himself unable to move past his convictions as Kashimo approached him, lowering his staff to smack the tip of it unto the ground - one time every five steps, punching small holes into the pavement.
I heard you were strong - but that fire of you has died down, hasn't it? Kashimo says, slowly gaining on Corrin. His hand goes to his pocket, as if bored. Not that it was that much of a fire, being smothered like this. The electric Sorcerer raises his staff overhead, preparing to bring it down upon Corrin.
Beruka is unaware of this, but knows that she probably should get there anyway. Attacking Crocodile with a fierce blow that could have cut his head off, she's unsurprised to see that his confident was warranted. For his body part as she swings her axe at him, Beruka being just barely fast enough to see his flesh become shifting grains of sand, moving in perfect unison to create a gap for the axe to harmlessly fit through.
The zombies have even less of a shot : their fists and kicks and objects hit sand, and nothing but sand, completly harmlessly. Which is why Crocodile also appear to be pretty unintimidated at what Lily has to offer to the fight, glancing at it in mild interest and chuckling.
Oh no, you've brought a sword. Lighting up his cigar by way of scratching it against his golden hook, Crocodile set it in his mouth and, with his hand freed-up, he draws his arm back, smiling smugly. What am I gonna do? Sables. A spinning miniature sandstorm appears hovering above the palm of Crocodile's hand. And his sarcasm become a much more straightforward attack shout as he throws a shredding sandstorm into the zombies and Nuue.
It'll shred the zombies's bodies to bit in itself, albeit it'll first carry them outward to slam into Nuue. And though the Fell Dragon is probably a bit safe from that, the sand attack also run the risk of dehydrating her outright.
Beruka dodge it by going to the left, jumping at Crocodile at superhuman speed. She isn't intimidated by his sand body thanks to her Vallite Axe, but Crocodile himself part his body again and try driving her hook straight into her stomach - something she's able to negate by slamming her axe handle into it, driving Crocodile back despite his sturdier stature. As he's flung into a table, he pass through it entirely, dissipating into sand briefly, his floating head hovering over a mass of sand that quickly pull back into a human body.
Heh
Lily will be free to observe anything that could be used around her to overcome a man made of sand. But she'll need to be careful : Beruka might not last long given that she isn't immune to his powers either.
As for Owlman, one of Kenjaku's Spirit Cursed leap in front of him, taking the bullet as Owlman jump back into his building. There, he vanish from sight. Unlike Killer Moth, he's rented a room in advance and modified it to suit his needs, meaning he's quickly gearing up within the bowels of the building.
This mean that Owlman does not make it to the fight quite this round. But that doesn't mean he isn't a menace.
On the one big path that lead to an exit out of this madness, traps go off along the way, having been planted by Owlman before. Big bright flashes of light that confuse and frighten the Arenagoers, but does not kill them. For Owlman is aware that overindulging himself will remove potential hostages.
By making people run back to Crocodile or even Kashimo, or him, he can more easily get them into danger.
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterCentralis - Market
The zombies go flying back, though Nuue covers her front with her wings, making the sandstorm buffet against them but not do much else.
"-hey! I was using those!"
She spreads her wings out and begins to flap them, aiming to try and dissipate the sandstorm, but it also clears the air a bit for her next attack.
Taking a deep breath in through her nose, a dark fire builds up within her mouth, before she unleashes a torrent of flame at Crocodile, said flame so hot that it starts to melt the sand inside the storm into glass- the same thing she assumes would happen if she were to catch him inside of it. Once she finishes her breath attack, she keeps moving her wings, trying to keep the sandstorm off of everyone else.
"Why are you doing this, anyway?! I just wanted to eat some food and see friends, and you ruined it!"
I'm pretty sure someone else (though on the other side of the sand wall) has asked that, Nuue.
aeiou: the secondLeo Luster
Leo Luster jumps as the GREATEST JAGRAS comes in to strike, hoping over its punches and somehow staying up there. No way is he accomplishing this with charm, the way he's floating almost seems to suggest like something's physically holding him up. The punches do connect with something though, as they have an impact, but it seems to be against something invisible.
The explosions happen either way and send him flying up a bit. Obese waits as Leo Luster starts falling back down, ready to go for his coveted Nut Punch™.
However, the 'houseplant's' rapid-firing isn't exactly ally-friendly, so Obese gets shot in the ass and starts running around while shrieking in a very undignified manner. Shadowman, having remained on the sidelines with the affected audience, facepalms.
As Leo Luster is about to land, he hears the mention of oil. And the capitalist part of him that is Bluster Kong forbids him from ignoring that. He lands as Inspector Gadget's fireworks go off around him, only adding to his charm.
He then jumps onto the spinning tank/mech.
"So, cool cat, what was that about... oil?"
His hair briefly shimmers for some odd reason.
As for the crowd, they are all too enamored by Leo Luster to pay attention to their surroundings. As such, literally all of them get hit by Kaila's cloud and shrink to half their respective sizes.
—
Clover
◊ now also hears the various kinds of music. Upon reaching the center of the Hub Centralis, they get affected by Leo Luster's charm and start to dance. We all know the one
◊.
Columbo notices them. He concludes that Clover must really like that dance, they were doing it last time they met too.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.From behind his helmet, Red Hood blinks in surprise. He knew Owlman probably wasn't someone who'd fall to a sniper's gunfire so easily, but he hadn't been expecting an inhuman shield to suddenly throw itself between the bullet and his target. And if Owlman had gone inside the building to gear up, Red Hood suspected he had wisely chosen a room without an obvious window someone could try shooting him through.
"Great, looks like I'm gonna have to walk into an ambush."
Strapping the sniper rifle to his back, he retrieves a grapple gun from within his jacket and fires it at a nearby gargoyle. With the grappling hook in place, he takes a running leap before swinging over to the rooftop where Owlman had been standing moments earlier. Once he's landed, Red Hood quickly stashes the grapple gun, then draws one of his trusty pistols as he looks for whatever entry point Owlman could've used to make his escape. All the while, he remains alert in case Batman's twisted counterpart decides to try ambushing him from the shadows.
Leonine Lustersaurus
Angel is gallivanting about when EGADS its LEO LUSTER.
Of course, being a HIGHLY SERIOUS CHARACTER, she is IMMEDIATELY taken by his incredible wits and charm and of course the highly specific bristle of his incredible moostache.
but what's this?
Something STRANGE occurs, as a part of Angel comprehensively rejects the unadulterated sauce of the master rizzler.
Angel splits into two beings: One, the essence of seriousness, who is spirited away by Leo's pure swagtastic swagger.
The other, the mighty and powerful Angel.png
in all her incredible high-fidelity glory, who resists Leo's impeccable charm by the power of sus jokes and low-budget fan projects!
Angel.png slides into battle, bobbing up and down as she says "Stop right there! Your charm has done enough damage. I will be your opponent!"
unfortunately, before Angel.png can fight Leo Luster, herself tackles her all the way to intrigue, where they fuse back together with embarrassingly large amounts of memory of the occasion. Then she leaves the scene, beca
Yatta!

Arlina's focus is drawn for a split second as she notices the clone. Enough for her to get sent flying back down into the earth thanks to Sarah's elbow strike. She doesn't show any signs of pain on her face- she's dulling her pain so much that the only thing that would hurt anymore is a direct attack to her soul. But that's besides the point.
"Funny. I used to think that way, too. Anger over losing someone I knew so well."
Just before Sarah can stomp her further into the ground, Arlina teleports out of the way, appearing right behind Sarah and swinging both of her swords down at Sarah, one after the other. She ends it with a strong upwards kick, which she'll also do if her swords manage to get blocked.
"My brother died because of me... It drove me to the point where I was horrified by myself."
Her aura is mostly 'divine' mana now, bearing almost no traces of normal magic. Sarah might not be able to sense it, but she would be able to feel and see it- golden light wisping off of Arlina's skin, differently than the light emitted from Godseeker.
"...but I learned something in the years after that. Not every battle is mine to fight, just as not every battle is yours to fight. To put it plainly... You're angry. Scared. Impulsive decisions will lead you to nothing but ruin, Sarah. You're not cut out to face Gor, a god that manipulates others through their mind. If Azura was able to influence your mind with mere mortal magic, do you stand a chance against something that's even stronger?"
Vandalon
"S-should be fine... My arm's limp... I can't really feel it..."
Lute looks at Phillip with worry.
"That painkiller I gave you shouldn't have dulled your entire lower arm... Phillip, can you move it at all?"
Phillip tries to move his arm, but it doesn't respond- not even a twitch.
"I can't move it at all... Merga?"
Merga glances over before speaking.
"I'm afraid to say all of the connecting nerves of your arm have been severed, Kindred. Unless these medics can regrow such tissue, you may need a replacement arm."
Phillip's eyes widen.
"C-can't you just... y'know..."
"Heal it as if nothing happened? I'm afraid not. The healing I do to my body would not work with you- your body would simply reject the new tissue."
Phillip glances down at the ground, but Lute lifts his face back up.
"Hey, hey. We'll get through this. Even if you need a new arm, I'll be right here beside you the whole time, okay?"
Lute smiles warmly, enough to get Phillip to smile weakly in return.
"...thanks, darling."
They continue onward, Lute still supporting a weakened Phillip as they walk.
Edited by RainbyPlays on Apr 1st 2024 at 1:19:08 PM
aeiou: the second