Shirin blinked, before her cheeks flushed slightly.

[b]“Oh, um, that was the training. For Immortals, at least.”[/b]

It appeared that, all things considered, Cacophony Concord’s devs certainly didn’t think that an intensive, realistic training experience was something that players would want to commit their time to. Leave job training and day-long orientation to real life, and all.
[sub][@Cu Chulainn][/sub][hr]Through his reddened vision, through the thick whistling of his broken mouth as it drew in air, Raime steadied himself and prepared to aim, but neither he, nor Amulak, could find a line. Ames and the frogman were quite literally locked in mortal combat, as the red-haired warrior tried everything in his skillset to break free. But his proficiency laid in weapon use, not in grappling, and straining against the slimy monster’s muscles felt like trying to bend steel. The salt water rippled and rose, as Klein fell faster and faster.

Such a human missile, however, was intercepted by another.

Shooting out from beneath him, Magpie snagged Klein by the arm, having leapt seven feet up into the air to catch him. Still within the realm of her Nuclei, the momentum of the flaming wildman was arrested by the brawler, before she twisted her body and sent him flying towards both frogman and Ames like a bowling ball. And though Klein’s own strength was the lowest of all the frontliners, when combined with the physics of being slingshot from the sky by superhuman strength, even a monster magnitudes mightier than the party would be bowled over.

Ames, freed at last by the great impact, tumbled into the salty waters, system-guided reflexes causing him to roll onto his feet again. Magpie, a step less graceful, ended up falling on her elbow instead, her funny bone striking the sandstone dancefloor and causing an electrifying numbness to shoot up her arm. And what of Klein? Crashing alongside the frogman, monster and immortal tumbled onto the reeds, twenty meters away. The spearhead was lodged deep into the monster’s side, but the rest of the weapon had simply broken from the tremendous impact and the splinters turned to ash before they could lodge themselves in Klein’s skin. Blood, bright and warm, seeped out from the creature, and for three long seconds, it laid upon the ground, unmoving.

Then, it hopped back up on its feet, towering over Klein.

It looked down upon the burning man, then towards the unmovable brawler, before finally settling upon the scout with the smashed-open face, still grasping onto their crossbow. Its lips turned out, exposing its gums in the facsimile of a human smile.

[b]“Respect,”[/b] the frogman said, flicking a white disc onto the ground. It clattered, bounced, and settled beside Klein’s face. The image of a tiger, filled with restrained violence, stared back at him.

And in another step, it disappeared once more, leaving the party alone on the riverfields.
[sub][@Searat][@Psyker Landshark][@Yankee][@OwO][@Shovel][/sub]