Cottonmouth

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo continued running down the stairs of the outpost, but quickly figured that he'd never make it down in time. Nemo quickly vaulted over the railings and dropped down to one of the lower bars. He swung back and fourth before dismounting to gain as much distance from the wave as he could. He was just in time to escape from the sniper post before it was smashed and thrown overboard from the ship. With a somewhat flashy mid-air flip Nemo landed safely back on the deck.

Nemo took cover behind some of the containers away from the rest of the group members. He used his manadial and broadcasted to the entire group. "He might have the home turf advantage, but it's not an impossible fight. Water is conductive, so that gives you an advantage over him Raiya. Seidon's a powerful mage, but in the end we have more manpower overall than him as well. I'll just have to crack out some of my more reserve spells. Zoey, if you're able to distract him later on with something it would probably allow me to get a shot off." Nemo explained.

Afterwards Nemo began to whisper an incantation into his glove and waited for a response. Seidon seemed more than happy to wait until someone showed their face before attacking again, but it was uncertain how long his patience would last.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Seidon quickly noticed the knives, his gaze was already towards the sniper tower because of the loss of his sniper. However before the knives could reach him Seidon raised his right hand upwards, causing one of the puddles of water created during his entrance to change shape. It rapidly shot up like a wall to block the blades and trap them inside the water before collapsing back to the deck. As soon as the blades touched the water, the whole body of liquid was briefly magically electrified, something Seidon took note of.

The Captain let out a gruff snarl before raising both of his hands up this time and then moving his right arm towards the sniper tower in a push like gesture. Afterwards his quickly turned and did the same with his left towards Travis. He still hadn't spotted Zoey or Zuri.

Two of the pools raised from their placid state, one first going towards the sniper tower, and then other raging towards Travis in waves, roughly ten feet tall and wide. Should they connect directly, it wasn't an attack that could kill, but definitely break bone from the impact.

---

"Knives? Really?" Nemo said, looking to Raiya. "I think it's gonna ta... oh shit run." Nemo continued before suddenly interrupting himself when he saw the wave attack approach. He turned around and started to run down the stairs. Because of the unstable state of the tower, as soon as the wave would collide it would surely tip over and crash down on the deck.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo looked over to Raiya and leaned up against the railing of the tower, seemingly unafraid of causing it to tip over. He winced when she brought up losing her hand. "Oh Raiya, if you wanted to get your hands on fancy materials like that you should've said something earlier. Sacred silver, mythril, whatever unobtainanium you need, I'm your guy. But it'll come at a price." Nemo replied.

---

While the rest of the group would enjoy a small period of rest, things had been going south within the bridge.

"GODDAMN SWINE!" Seidon's voice boomed out before he smashed a sea blue mug filled with unknown liquid all over one of the control panels. It was unclear if he was referring to the intruders, or his own crew after their failure. But his temper had grown just as wild as the storm.

With Seidon were the two Church leaders, Father Stockton and Galvadon. They stood at each side and a little bit behind of the good captain, watching the wreckage. "You promised us safe passage Mr. Seidon." Spoke the elder Stockton. He had a slightly raspy eerily calm voice.

"Is that so? Well last time I checked you looked pretty damn spotless to me, your highness. Unlike my crew... and my ship! Which both are being destroyed to keep your prissy arses out of harms way!" Seidon spat back angrily.

"I suggest you watch your tongue Kapitan." The younger Galvadon stepped in.

"I suggest you spare me your empty threats, whipping boy. I'm not intimidated by you or that glorified soap in a sock you call a weapon." Seidon quickly shot back at him.

"I ought to have you flayed for that..." Galvadon replied at a quieter, more serious tone. He tried to hold back his anger and gripped his golden flail by it's handle tightly.

"Enough. Both of you." Stockton said. "The Captain is just feeling a bit heated from what's just transpired. I'm sure you can come to forgive him for that John." Based on Stockton's tone it came off more as a threat than a attempt to rebuild bridges between the two. Neither of them really wanted to push this further to see the consequences. "I suggest you take care of our little problem Mr. Seidon. Because if it continues to hinder our plan I'm going to reconsider your usefulness to the Arcanocracy."

After a few moments Seidon's angered attitude let up and he emitted a gruff chuckle. "After all the damage they've done to my operation, it would be my pleasure."

---

While it was hard to notice with the storm, streams of water began to magically flow out from the ship. Some coming from the bridge, some flowing from the hole Raiya opening up on the deck, some even up from the side of the ship. All of them began to pool together in an open area on the middle of the deck. The intensity of the streams began to increase until it was hard to miss even with the storm.

Nemo soon noticed the peculiarity. "I don't think that's going to be necessary, Raiya." He replied.

The streams soon formed into a gigantic mass of spinning water, akin to a whirlpool out of a body of water, before suddenly losing their form and dispersing out on top of the deck, leaving pools of water in it's wake, as well as Captain Seidon himself. He stood right in the middle of where the strange whirlpool once was. He seemed to be mostly unarmed, except for a decorated wooden cane.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Raiya's attack gave Lori little time for escape. While it indeed had a charge period, that period wasn't as theatrical as most were to tip her off on what was coming. No dramatic incantation, no looming noises of death. And because of that and her disabled state, she stood no chance of moving out of the way. The only thing she saw before her lights unlit was the plasma spear ripping another hole through the wall, intent to do the same thing to her next.

After the magic spear passed through her, no doubt mangling her body, it kept on going. It passed through the last wall of the outpost and continued on a slightly downwards angled path. It connected with the deck of the ship right next to some shipping containers, causing the spear to explode with a blast that would make Nemo proud.

A large hole opened up on the deck, thankfully the spear didn't continue on far enough to cause the ship to sink. The contents of the container were strewn about from the blast as well. Given Seidon's title as a artifact smuggler, one could only guess how much they were worth prior to being mostly vaporized by Raiya's attack.

---

Nemo leaned over to look through the hole Raiya had made, giving him perfect view to stare straight down all three holes that were created. "Ooooh, now that was pretty impressive Raiya." He said as he rapidly clapped his hands together in awe. His clapping was cut short as the outpost abruptly shifted. Apparently Raiya's spear had made it a bit unstable. Nemo paused for a moment, waiting to see if they were going to tip over. Once he was sure it was just a false alarm he finished his clap for a couple more seconds, this time at a much more careful quiet tone.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo continued up the stairs. "Travis distracted the sniper long enough for me to get a shot off. If she isn't dead it's going to be a lot harder for her to snipe without a scope." Nemo explained. He tried to use his manalysis as he ascended the roundabout stairs up to the top of the outpost, but came up with no reading on the top. Signifying that Lori was either dead, or using a advanced aura hiding technique. Nemo wouldn't find it hard to believe it was the latter since she was a sniper, a spell like that would prove useful.

As soon as Nemo reached the top and rounded the corner, he found the place Lori had been sniping from. Directly behind the railings she had her rifle propped up on was broken glass shards, some bits of metal, and trickles of blood, but no body in sight. Nemo kept a deadpan face despite the realization that the sniper was still alive. He quickly tried to make a guess on where she had gone to, but before he could formulate an idea his eyes lingered on to the metal shack of the outpost. He couldn't see inside from where he was standing, there was a metal wall with no window blocking his eyesight from peering in.

Nemo breathed in through his nose, sniffing the air a couple times like an animal looking for a scent. Apparently he had found something, because immediately after Nemo used a basic spell to abruptly slide himself backwards without friction, just in time to dodge out of the way of a blast tearing through the wall Nemo was previously standing by. Nemo made sure to bring Raiya with him out of the way if she had made it all the way up the stairs with him.

The lack of any wall made it easy for Nemo to see Lori now, if only for a brief moment in between the wall bursting open and Nemo sliding out of view. It gave him all he really wanted, confirmation his shot had hit. Her large runic gilded flintlock styled rifle was missing it's scope now, and she had a black bandanna quickly wrapped over her head and covering her right eye that was faintly stained red. She was not only wounded, but her shooting eye was decommissioned as well.

Besides that her outfit was rather standard with the rest of the crew. A rugged uniform with a worn brown leather jacket. She had long messy blonde hair, one remaining blue eye, light skin, roughly 5'5", and looked to be in her mid twenties.

Nemo readied his rifle and waited out of sight, careful not to make any more loud movements to tip off his position.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Travis' distraction garnered Lori's attention, she quickly adjusted his rifle to spot him. She figured that he was making a final move to try to save his trapped comrade, just as she had anticipated. However just before she could fire her runic musket, Travis' runes began to discharge. While they didn't hit her from her outpost, the bright lightning disorienting her scope, throwing off her aim on Travis. She fired nonetheless, sending another heavy explosive round down range at him as he made his way towards his next cover.

---

As soon as Nemo heard the first sound of Travis making his move, he took a deep breath and popped out from his cover with his rifle shouldered. Moments later he fired off his own shot roughly at the same time Lori executed her own, though the sound of Nemo's was significantly dampened by the suppressor.

The distance between Nemo and Lori made seeing or hearing the results of his attack nearly impossible, except for the abrupt absence of the glint of her scope. However to Raiya, she would be able to hear the sudden break and crack of glass after the whizzing of the single bullet. Nemo didn't miss, his bullet had traveled the full way before piercing straight through Lori's rifle-scope, the only thing Nemo could see from his position.

Nemo immediately began to walk towards the outpost, using the bolt of his rifle to cycle another round in. Even without any real confirmation on his hit he seemed confident there wouldn't be any more attacks on the group. The silent stroll allowed Nemo to notice the storm had been picking up even more, causing the ship to rock in every direction from the tides. The rain and wind began to increase as well, making it harder to see. But by his guess, they still hadn't reached the threshold that would bring them to the paragon yet.

Soon enough Nemo reached the outpost, finding Raiya in her suspended state. "Looks like you're in a bit of a sticky situation, huh?." Nemo commented as he walked up and used his gloved hand to touch the magically effected area, causing the spell to gradually dissipate in a wave until Raiya was freed. "Just because I said I'd protect you doesn't mean you should be so reckless." He added before he began a trek up the outpost stairs to check for the body.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Lori suddenly felt like somebody had turned off all the lights, she knew she had been blinded. But after hastily applying powder to her face that looked just like the anti-magic powder Roy had used early, she found her vision had returned for good. She quickly looked back down her scope, still seeing nobody out in the open. The hindrance had caused her to miss Raiya falling in her trap however, until the electric charge went off.

Knowing that Raiya had fallen in the stasis rune, Lori considered what to do next. She decided instead of trying to finish her off, she'd wait and see if any of the other intruders would make any erratic moves to try to save her, putting them out in the open for an easy shot. After all, Raiya wasn't going anywhere soon.

---

The charge had alerted Nemo, and after he peaked his head out for a quick look he was able to discern what had happened. Once Travis finished his status update, Nemo brought his own manadial up to his lips and whispered back. "Try to draw her fire and it should distract her long enough for me to get a shot off. Don't worry, I'll only need one." Nemo un-slung his rifle from his back and waited for Travis to make a move. Raiya's predicament meant they were no longer able to take it slow.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

The blast in Travis' cover and near death experience made Nemo think it would be better to to get this done as soon as possible. "I don't care which one of you takes out the lights, just get it done before there's nothing left to hide behind." He said, hearing the faint whistle of another blast approaching the group. Nemo used his warp to shift himself up to more cover just in time to escape his previous hiding spot before it was torn to shreds by the blast.

The short time he had to look in between cover he could make out by the glint that the sniper was still at her high up outpost.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo looked over to Travis. "If all of her shots are magic, then it's likely I could defend us against them with my absorption spell, even if they're designed to penetrate barriers." Nemo replied. Afterwards he spawned a rifle of his own from his inventory, a highly customized vintage bolt action sniper rifle. The most notable change that wasn't solely dedicated to gaudy looks that Nemo had made to the weapon was that the entire barrel had been integrated with a suppressor, increasing the size but not the length.

"It's possible I could try to take a shot at her then as well." Nemo said as he loaded a round in the chamber. "Going lights out wont be much of a problem for someone who can see in the dark." Nemo added as he slung the weapon around his shoulder by the sling. "Usually I'd just try to take out her nest with a spell, but I'd be out in the open for too long to get it off."

Before Nemo could say any more another shot whizzed out from across the ship, growing louder and louder until it collided with Travis' cover, taking a decent sized chunk out of it.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Roy was hit by Travis' attacks, his last ditch had failed him. He never thought the untalent would be able to use a magical dash maneuver. The first lightning strike had knocked him unconscious, but the second had finished him off. The strikes coupled with the draft blew him across the deck of the ship until he heavily collided with a metal shipping container. Afterwards he slid back down to the floor and slumped over, dead.

---

Nemo stepped back out to the deck and looked around to get his bearings. Not far off he saw the rest of the group, with Roy's body laying on the floor. He walked over to them and got a better look at the body. "See." Nemo said, looking up to Zoey. "I knew he wouldn't be too much trouble for you three." He finished.

Nemo rested his thumbs in his pant pockets before continuing. "With Decker gone that only leaves... one left of Seidon's crew. Lori Mizzen, the sni-" Before Nemo could finish he cut himself short when he heard a loud bang of a gunshot ring out. Nemo quickly cocked his head to the side and outstretched his arm in the direction he heard the shot from, just in time to use his gloved palm to block and absorb a heavy blast of energy. "-per."

"I think it's time to take cover." Nemo announced before dashing away and rolling behind a metal container, narrowly dodging another speeding blast that hit the floor and tore up the sheet metal. Before he hid Nemo was able to get a better look at where the attacks were coming from. At the other end of the ship where the shield generator was he spotted the white glint of a scope perched on top of a high up outpost.

"Anyone have a plan?" Nemo asked from his cover. "Travis, you're the thinker right?"