[b][i]Mission Two: Siege of Mischief Reef[/i][/b]

[b]PLA 'Foreign Volunteers' Division - 10/11/2022, 19:11 UTC+8[/b]

The ship's decks were lit on fire for one second, but the vessel vanished just before Callie can take her shot, with everyone who had been inside falling down to the sea for one second... two seconds... And on the third, Mei Yuanyuan's ship blinked back into existence again, but this time it was turned sideways, presenting a full broadside towards Qingshe's position, or where she had reckoned that was. At the same time, Qingshe herself might notice that a giant eagle made up of shadows was fleeing [i]northwards[/i], carrying on it everyone who had been part of Mei's crew except for Sohrab, who had vanished.

Either way, Mei's ship was firing once more, able to present a full bank of magical cannons at the decoys, hitting two of them in one volley and lighting them up into fireballs, even as she realized that Qingshe [i]did[/i] outmatch her. If she stayed, especially now that she only had Sohrab, she'd lose, and one of the few things she hated enough to care to avoid was [i]losing[/i]. So the female captain turned her ship around, presenting its rear to her foe as one last show of spite, then moved northwards to join the rest of her battalion, finally sending a signal to the PLA Navy and Air Force using a portable radio that had been belted on her waist.

"Mei Yuanyuan here, from the Chinese Foreign Volunteers Battalion," she spoke with a bit of sarcasm. "We were sent by High Command to save your asses. We're circling up north to join up with your ships; be ready."

She didn't add that she had been doing their jobs and attacking the supply ships they were supposed to be keeping out. In fact, if they didn't care enough to know that she was there to help them, and if no one informed them, then it'd only make them angrier to tell them they had been falling for, well, a diversion.

As for her crew, which were now flying [i]towards that ASEAN diversion fleet[/i], one can now see how many people Mei had been transporting; 35 folks, 5 - 15 which had a visible Noble Arm, all cramped together on a giant bird that seemed made of shadows, a bird conjured up by a dark-haired man whose curved sword materialized wisps of darkness that shaped themselves into a flock of smaller shadow birds.

[hider=Anui-El, the Priest of Birds]
[url=https://imgchest.com/p/qb4zd3l3yjm][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/g4z9cvppen7.png[/img][/url]
[/hider]

Sorhab then reappeared, stabbing his sword through a spot just behind her, plunging it through a... Portal? Dangit, it seems that she had almost been outsmarted, she, Mei Yuanyuan, former Disabler! 

Oh, well, such is life; there were advantages to the belief that nothing mattered anyway.

[b]Municipality of Lingayen - 10/11/2022, 19:12 UTC+8[/b]

Myron visibly froze as visual data about that man was fed, and his next words were, "That's Anui-El, the Priest of Birds. He was part of the old 'Malikate''s last holdouts in Syria and Northern Iraq; when I was 18 and caught trying to infiltrate the last Malik's palace, the Malik gave him to me to be..."

[i]Desecrated. That's the best you can say about what he did. But why should you say it? To get sympathy?,[/i] his own guilt spelled the words in his head. [i]It'd be cheap if you got it. Besides, Sorhab rescued you before it got too bad, didn't it? Threw away his years of loyal service to the Malik and his position as second-in-command to save you -[/i]

Myron changed the subject and said, "And one of the people on that bird is Sorhab; he's the former second-in-command of the Malikate. He has been serving the Hammer of Masters since he was fourteen - Now he's twenty-six. His Noble Arm is a sword whose power is to render himself invisible and intangible, but he cannot physically interact with the world in that state so he has to deactivate it to attack others." 

Then the Ex-Disabler added, "He can be kept out with Noble Arms or barriers made from Occult Programming Language, though..." 

[b]BRP Ramon Alcaraz - 10/11/2022, 19:13 UTC+8[/b]

Callie's portal had been stabbed with a sword, a middle eastern blade that would hold open the miniature portal her "Charter" had made, before a voice said, in English accented with a little Farsi, "[i]The Malik's[/i] power functioned in much the same way. How strange that you have a Noble Arm similar, yet different, to what his' was?"

This voice, clearly male, echoed through the portal, "How strange that Myron is working with the daughter of his enemy..."

[b][i]Unnamed Chinese Corvette - 10/11/2022, 19:13 UTC+8[/i][/b]

Noel and Indra made quick work of the Chinese marines and officers inside the PLA Navy's Corvette; if Nico was there as well, the work would be even quicker, with the bridge being easily taken and hijacked. Then... The doors of the captain's cabin closed on their own, as the sprinklers turned on despite there being no fire, splashing the three with water. Then, several of the circuit boards snapped off on their own, and electricity sparked.

The pain would follow unless they had some countermeasure against it; some way to heal fast or just dampen the suffering.

What was the reason for this phenomenon? Well... Not even Myron would know, at least not now. All the while, Mei, Sohrab, and Anui-El were flying towards the diversion fleet, having abandoned the supply ships to Qingshe...

[@SkyHresvelg][@Aisede][@Lewascan2][@Sniblet][@Conscripts][@Gerlando][@Creative Chaos][@Nimbus][@Landaus Five-One][@QJT]