Everything happened all at once.

At first, Nico’s general plan was to wait for Tian Fei to start back talking, and hope that his senses would be able to lead him in the general direction of their assailant. He considered grabbing one of the black and green volcanologist suits he saw a few people wearing. If not for his safety, maybe just for the ventilation. Nico had heard what volcanic ash does to tourists who try Mount Etna, and it wasn’t a good thing. Then he snapped back to reality, and saw something that shocked him to his very core. It caught him so off guard he lost his footing, stumbling around on the beach. It didn’t seem like a delusion, but it was the one thing that made him feel genuine terror, through all the adrenaline and pure chaos of the situation.

He groaned, putting his comms in his pocket for safekeeping. [color=AntiqueWhite]“Why is it snakes?!”[/color] Out of everything that could happen today, “snakes” were not on the list.  He figured Qingshe being the Zodiac’s Snake was just metaphorical, but this was flat out excessive. There were even massive onyx and green snakes being used as megaphones on a dark spire, definitely the work of the A-Rank. He turned and took slow and deep breaths, trying not to panic or hyperventilate. And then a glacier came and hit the volcano, throwing him out of his panicked state.

[color=AntiqueWhite][i]You know what, I’m not going to ask now. This is yet another issue for future Nico.[/i][/color] For now, Nico considered a new plan. If he knew anything about volcanoes, it’s that them being cold made them dormant. And a good-sized chunk of very cold stuff happened to land around where the artificial volcano was. The gears in Nico’s head began turning, as he formulated a new scheme.

[color=AntiqueWhite][i]Helios Rod can slice through anything like butter. But I never tried it on ice. Maybe I can-[/i][/color] He’d ask Qingshe to help him, or maybe the twins, or-. Then Tian Fei came out of her hidden hole, probably to gloat. Nico prepared to go on the when Noel beat him to the punch. Someway, somehow, the stars aligned and they got a clean chance. His new issue became what would happen to that lava, and the [i]literal[/i] ton of snakes around him. He ran as far as he could from the volcano, hoping for it to not collapse if or when Noel kills Tian Fei.