[b][i]Mission Three - Assault on Jinghong Dam - GM Post Part Two[/i][/b]

[b]Jinghong PoW Camp - 10/25/2022, 22:21 to 22:31 UTC+8[/b]

Sui Mang was creative in using her Noble Arm's first abilities, but it was not enough against the raw strength and experience of Sister Marta Rocha, who promptly overwhelmed her defenses, unstoppable force against a very movable object. If not for Marta's desire to avoid killing, the blow would have blasted the novice Arms Master to bloody gibs.

As his comrade was knocked unconcious, Liu Xie looked at how Nil was incapacitated by the noise of battle, and realized that this was truly a one-on-one. So the soldier decided to not hold back, and let go of all delusions that he could bring his enemy alive to Ai Chen. Stabbing his sword of ice into the ground, causing lattices of frost to form at the point of impact, the Chinese Arms Master caused spikes of ice, larger than the local groundwater would have allowed, to erupt from the ground beneath Marta's feet, threatening to impale her without quick action on her part.

Then suddenly, from the direction of Noel's group in the Mekong River's banks, a second sun, twice as large as Huo Ren's, and a sickly, radioactive green, shone, pushing the earlier Artificial Sun to the side and absorbing the latter's solar flares as Huo Ren resisted the entrance of this new intruder. 

[i]"The Downward Descent!"[/i] Liu said in Chinese, then in English, "The Downward Descent - They must be here to aid us! But why is Master Huo defying them?"

Then he looked around to see that every one of his fellow guards were dead, killed by vengeful prisoners, some of who were Arms Masters themselves who had managed to crack their restraints. So he looked at Marta and said, "On second thought, if Master Huo is defying them, they're probably going to ask a high price for their help and I don't want to be 'offered up'. So I'll surrender; take my comrade as well..."

[@Lewascan2][@Gerlando][@QJT][@Amidatelion]

[b][i]Collab Post between [@Letter Bee] and [@Creative Chaos][/i][/b]

[b]Mekong River - 10/25/2022, 22:28 UTC+8[/b]👋

[quote]The light suddenly seemed to dim, while the heat grew more oppressive. Basilia then introduced herself, "Hello, morons! I am Basilia Bernardino, Cristina's abandoned sister, a member of the Downward Descent, and this is an Avatar of Superbia the smallest fragment of the smallest fragment of the [i]leader of the Downward Descent[/i]. And we're here to make you feel like Worf!"[/quote]

[hider=Avatar of Superbia]
[url=https://imgchest.com/p/vj4jd8or948][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/345xcgxp3x7.png[/img][/url]
[/hider]

The Avatar approached Nico, casually putting up barriers of clear, transparent energy with a wave; he wanted the rest of his group to see what was to come, but not be able to interfere. These shields were not just more durable than most forcefields but also had an invisible telekinetic layer that would slow down even the slightest approach toward them... 

Then [i]Pride[/i] spoke in a raspy, acidic tone whose sharpness indicated spitting contempt, [b][i] ”Ah, so you are the one my false friends, my brethren, chose to be [color=f26522]my replacement.[/color] How could they have chosen such a… tunnel-visioned, ignorant young man who does not see the big picture, the forest made up by the trees? Together, we could have led Humanity to Cosmic Bliss; but they chose to reject me, reject [color=f26522]their better…[/color]”[/I][/B]

Nico stopped at hearing Wei’s surrender, only for his attention to be caught by someone insulting him and his comrades. At hearing the voice and seeing its owner, his head tilted at the sheer bravado of what she was doing in this moment. [color=AntiqueWhite][i]Real bold to be talking shit in a war zone. The nerve-[/i][/color] But that train of thought was derailed when he saw the avatar of the leader of [i]Downward Descent[/i] appear through the rift, and he began burning a bit hotter.

As Nico listened to the avatar’s words, his grip on Helios Rod tightened until his knuckles went white. It wasn’t a matter of the false man speaking the truth, even if some of the words stung a little. It wasn’t a matter of Superbia claiming to be his better, because all things considered, it could be true. It was something straightforward, but important to perhaps only Nico. [color=AntiqueWhite]“You know, I’ve gotten tired of this kind of shit. The Zodiacs, Diligence, and now you. All this talk about your superiority above people, as if you weren’t born like anyone else. If you were ‘superior’, I’d be talking to a man, not some coward who fights his battles behind a copy.”[/color]

Nico’s voice never raised above a speaking volume, his tone only showing his annoyance with the situation, but a lack of anger as if he was talking to someone who spilled a bit of water in him. Whether a result of his current overflow or built-up confidence, he was doing a good job of masking any fear he had.

Pride snapped the fingers of his right hand, and a Green Sun appeared in the sky. An Artificial Sun twice as large as Huo Ren’s, which was already the size of an apartment building, pushed the earlier one out of the way through sheer electromagnetic force, ignoring, nay, [i]absorbing[/i] the frantic solar flares from that sun, which was shunted off to the side of the PoW camp. 

Everything except for Huo Ren’s sun, and Nico’s aura powered by both the real moon and Huo Ren’s own Noble Arm, was now colored a shade of green by the light from Pride’s Sun. 

Two beacons; one of frustrated arrogance and one of [i]hope and humility[/i], were the only ones pushing back the toxic sickly glow.

[b][i] ”I can see why my brethren like you,”[/i][/b] Pride said, [i][b] ”Fearless, grounded, free from the sense of self. You are truly [color=8dc73f]Humilitas[/color] personified. Now face your doom!”[/b][/I]

And a beam of green radiation blasted Nico full-on,

[color=AntiqueWhite][i]Clear mind, sound body, burning spirit. Focus.[/i][/color] Upon hearing the beam of radiation, he launched himself forward evade the radiation and close the distance with a Wildfire strike, instead of turning back and retreating. In the state he was in, it would be easy to run away from Pride, if not more sensible. But in his spirit, he knew that the only way to survive was moving forward. Even if he was too slow to fully evade the radiation, he was confident in his ability to heal through at least a bit of the damage.

Where the radiation [i]had[/i] hit, there were small patches of blackened skin, patches that in real-time, began turning into tumors; skin cancer. These not only caused pain but turned his regeneration against him, as this cancer fed on the natural power of his Noble Arm and its additional regenerative capabilities.

The Hero of 1988, Angelito Jaime, had a similar condition; he had smoked so much that his lung cancer benefited from his Arms Master Survivability.

But to make it worse, Pride had drawn [i]another[/i] Noble Arm, a sword identical to Nico’s Helios Rod, only it was black and platinum, as opposed to white and gold, and parried the youth’s blow with this.

Pride laughed, a nonchalant guffaw that mocked his would-be assailant.

[b][i]“So you are worthy of becoming Humilitas, my replacement, after all,”[/i][/b] he seemed to grow larger, darker, before continuing, [b][i] ”I will extinguish you from this world, and deprive it of hope. There will be no better tomorrow, not when I was denied [color=8dc73f]my role[/color] in bringing it about!”[/I][/B]

Pride then hunched his back, and several [i]spider legs[/i] burst forth from it as his humanoid form changed, engorged, and transformed itself into an unholy mix of human and spider.

[hider=Drider Form]
[img]https://imgur.com/YvRIUgJ.jpeg[/img]
[/hider]

Then this monstrous form launched itself at Nico!

Nico considered his options in rapid succession, stoking himself up hotter and hotter. At this point, his immunity to his own fire was the only thing keeping him from burning to a crisp in an instant, but that was what he needed at the moment: to be untouchable. [color=AntiqueWhite][i]Big spider man, and not the good spider man. Legs or body, but one must go. Focus, Makri.[/i][/color] When Pride launched itself at Nico, he planted his feet on the ground and waited for a perfect moment. [color=AntiqueWhite][i]Just a little closer…[/i][/color]

The moment the monstrous thing was close enough for Nico to reach with the edge of his blade, he took a step back and focused the heat that was building within him into just the cutting edge of Helios Rod. [color=AntiqueWhite]“Fall forever, since you’ve got so much pride to drag you down.”[/color]

Even the glow of his dual state vanished for a moment as he put maximum focus into this singular moment in time. [color=AntiqueWhite][i]Now or never, do or die time. Burn up.[/i][/color] At with that, he stabbed forward into Pride, letting loose a focused version of his usual Wildfire Dance strike, this one meant to pierce rather than slam into a target. Something only made possible with the sun and moon on his side, and the utter clarity this power gave him.

Pride lifted two front spider legs to block but found them hewn off, the clean cuts bleeding wisps of smoky darkness. The green sun flickered, but the monstrous spider-human regained its poise as it spoke, [i][b]“Fool; do you not see? You merely present yourself as an irresistible opportunity for my former kin, those I once loved as though they were my flesh and blood! With every show of the qualities they fail to live up to, you whet their conviction that only you can complete their ranks!”[/b][/i]

He then gestured for Basilia, and with a quick motion, she drew her black sword and opened another portal that the Avatar of Superbia crawled into, although she stayed a while longer and said to Cristina ([@Digmata]), “Sister, remember our power; the power that will make you pay for your betrayal.”

She then sneered at Nico as she put one leg into the portal, “You’re a very unlucky man, to be desired by so many. Maybe you should sin more? That way you wouldn’t be so irresistible…”

And she blew him a kiss and jumped into the portal, which sealed itself.

The Green Sun faded, leaving behind Noel and Myron, who were surprised at the events, Henri, who could potentially have cut the battle off by banishing Superbia’s Avatar with Fighting in Shade but might have accidentally hurt Nico as well, a disappointed Ernesto who had just seen Nico steal [i]a fight he probably wanted[/i], Cristina, who was probably struggling with her sister seeing her as a traitor for skewed reasons, and Nico himself, now more desirable to some of the people he most hated… 

The glow of flames within Nico’s body returned as Superbia and Basilia retreated, his focus fading away along with the white-hot glow of Helios Rod’s edge. The mercenary stumbled at Basilia’s words, chuckling. “Lady, I don’t need luck, or to sin any more than I already do. I’m just fine as is.” As soon as the portal closed, Nico let out a triumphant laugh, barely catching himself as he fell to the ground. He propped himself to his knees with Helios Rod, smiling where the portal was.

[color=AntiqueWhite]“Don’t care about who’s listening, the burns, or nothing like that right now. It was all worth it to be the hotel worker that made a god have to retreat.”[/color]

If Nico had looked at Noel that very instant, he would see the eighteen-year-old wiping a nosebleed with a white handkerchief…