@Hammerman His appeal is less tall and manly and more short and cutesy. An individual that triggers maternal instincts more easily than anything else. If there's yaoi fanfic, he'd be bottom. Not a shota, but closer to that archetype than the ikemen one.
Bit subpar, but I wanted to get something out before you went again, Dezuel. Also, Yuuki's trying to leverage his shota appeal so hard right now, but I also don't want to randomly mix Japanese words into the post in order to make the context a bit more clear. XD
Yuuki had had his fair share of cloaked villains and ominous messages and cringe-worthy dialogue before. From cackling, moustachioed dictators to undying megalomaniacs to flame-wreathed tyrants, his encounters with massive threats that popped out of nowhere was routine by now. Oh, the 72nd Demon Lord showing up while he was on a lunch date with a new girl? Ok. Oh, a mad eldritch god decided to crash a hot springs event that featured his non-blood-related sisters? Ok. Oh, an advanced alien civilization decided to try out conquering this fantasy world of his during his birthday? Ok.
Honestly, a shrouded figure that pulled him into yet another world, yet another adventure, was nothing to be impressed about. Yuuki, after all, was a hero of all thirteen parallel dimensions, the legendary EX-ranker that was universally beloved and who saved countless worlds, countless times.
Initially, all he wanted to do was to quickly ‘clear’ this objective and get back to his fluffy, saccharine life with his various friends and…closer friends, to have his romantic developments stalled by the weapons that had granted him so much power. Initially, that was all that Yuuki cared for.
Until he realized the nature of the world.
A world where the air was sharper than before, where the grass beneath his feet was soft, more varied, where the night sky was an indescribable array of scintillating lights, countless constellations traversing the heavens above. Every other world he had been in was too perfect or too broken, too simple and too pure. But as he took in a breath of the polluted air, one that had many more flavors than just ‘floral’ or ‘savory’, Yuuki couldn’t help but grin. He had made it back! He was back!
“YES! YES! YES!” He pumped his fist excitedly, brimming with joy. Antikythera could calculate the reality of his home dimension, now that he was here, and from there, he’d be able to construct a gate that would finally allow him to show all his girlfriends the place he called home. Karaoke, All You Can Eat, arcades, the internet, love hotels, ugh, it’d be so d-
Yuuki stopped.
“Made it back, Kana.”
She was just a cat now, wasn’t she? A stray with silky white fur and silvery eyes, a black crescent marking her forehead. No more divinity, no more sentience. His clenched fist opened and he closed his eyes. He’d have to find her again too. Make sure to take care of her properly, even if she was just a cat now.
The youth didn’t even notice that he wasn’t alone until a male spoke up in a rather rude tone. Turning his attention to the military thug-nerd, an individual that looked like a B-grade mid-boss villain that served as some random diversion for the truly charming final boss, Yuuki tilted his head to the side slightly. What a weirdo. Was he from another world too? Further thoughts, however, were scattered at the presence of…normal girls! They were dressed somewhat strangely, but there was no doubt about it! No demon wings, no triangle ears, no purple skin, no gelatinous texture, no overbearing magical power that he could still overcome! They were…
Gah, too close!
As a quartet formed around him, Yuuki’s cheeks flared red at their squeals and their compliments, taking a few awkward steps back. “Ehehe, I mean, I am Yuuki,” he said, diverting his eyes away from their adoration, “So…yeah! Uh, this is Japan, right? Tokyo and a-”
Wait, no, something was off.
“HEY!” sounded the voice of another male, who Yuuki hadn’t even noticed until then.
Blue eyes followed the direction of the man’s gaze, towards another girl who held a…grenade? Given to her by that B-grade villain that was designed specifically to be hated?
He was the ‘real’ Yuuki Kimura.
Which mean that that person was ‘real’ as well.
“Ah,” he called out, “Kyou, don’t be like that! We’re saving those for the big event right? And I spent, like, two weeks making them! Don't just hand them out!”
Turning his gaze and an apologetic smile to the sorceress girl, Yuuki continued, walking over, “Sorry about that, miss, but could you hand it back?”
"Bring some spare binoculars," Brent said, as the trio finally made off. It was definitely a much lower offensive group than he had anticipated, and the fact that Lily wasn't coming along made the proposition of diving into the danger zone all the worse, but...
No, they shouldn't be trying to bring down these monstrosities to begin with. Not when the cavalry had arrived, first in the form of Prism's laser beam cutting through the air, striking at the second sun that glowed high above them all, and then with Kadadra's arrive, heralding a telekinetic onslaught that drove the ice giant far away. Captivated by the scene, as well as the unexpected weakness of the skylight that rained power from up above so easily, Brent quickly pulled out his binoculars, a quick jolt of power readjusting the lenses so that he wouldn't be blinded by the light. Hidden within the radiant halo, the arbiter could faintly make out the silhouette of a woman, curves apparent even when light consumed all but the most obvious details.
It was enough though. The Precursors had arrived to take down the biggest threats, meaning that all he had to think about now was...
The crusher mage, the one that could rend space and turn matter into dust. Against a threat like that, even the Precursors would have trouble. Sparrow's golden light, which had always served as a protective shroud, wasn't there, after all, so ultimately...
"Transmit cuff," Brent began, removing the binoculars from his eyes and releasing his arcane grip over the object, "Chris, can you hear me? Fly towards the light up above. There's a person up there who's most likely the subnatural causing the ice golem stuff. Stay at a range and roast her with your fire. Don't worry if you can't land a kill. Prism's here. Over."
With that, he turned to Ernie and Gregory, a faint smile on his face. "Looks like we got a chance after all, eh? What's the plan here? Wanna stop Zoe and Allison from running to their death? Look for the Crusher Mage? Convince Callan that she shouldn't get involved? Stop Hazel before she starts targetting Kadabra?"
"Kadabra can handle himself against one Hazel," Ernie frowned as he watched a conversation among the Evac Team end with Sander speeding off. As long as he got the job done, Ernie supposed, "Crusher can take down a fighter jet and about a dozen guard towers so that's a no-go for us little guys. Cal's got Kadabra to deal with her so she should be fine. That just leaves the two girls, I guess."
A scratch of the head.
"Don't think it'd be a fun idea to get in Zoe's way though."
Quirking an eyebrow, Gregory scanned the room once more as he wondered where Brent expected him to pull more binoculars from. They'd already grabbed the one Brahms had been using, and he was pretty sure they were lucky that it hadn't broken when everything came tumbling down. With a shake of his head, he followed after the other two and clambered out onto the street before pausing to really take everything in.
No shortage of "spectacles" either, but his attention shifted quickly enough towards the other two subnaturals. Rolling his shoulder as he shifted the straps that hung from it, he nodded in agreement with Ernie. "Looked ready to kill something. Unless she's been sneaking off, it's been almost a week since powers got any real use."
"Plane did fall in that direction though, so we might get two birds with one stone if we go to the two. Could be good or horrible."
"Think we can manage," Brent replied, "Two and then forty-five. That's what she told me back in the hotel when I asked about distance. And Allison ran after her as well. If things go real bad...should be able to do it if Allison stabbed Zoe and we knocked her out."
Yeah, he had to remember still. Though Zoe had a ridiculously effective weapon, she wasn't Sander. She didn't have the same invulnerability + jaw-dropping destructive force that he had. Not that much of a monster yet. Nodding once, Brent's hand grazed the handle of each gun holstered to his belt.
"Let's go then. Ernie, are there location markers on that phone of yours?"
"Yeah, course. Yours does too."
Ernie couldn't say he felt entirely sure of heading out after Zoe but if Brent thought it was a good idea...
Right then, Sander landed in front of the group, the ground beneath cracked under the weight of his feet. Red eyes looked up and locked onto Ernie, ignoring everything else. “Come with me, Ernie.” -The blood mage said, voice thick with barely restrained violence.
The buzzcut Aberration took an instinctive step back, eyes widened. How did he manage to--argh it didn't matter.
"Why? What's wrong?" Ernie asked, concerned. Fear crept at the back of his spine but this wasn't the time or place for petty feuds, lest he let his fear have him piss Sander off again.
"You come with me."
A confused frown crossed the balded boy's face. "Do you need me for something? Shouldn't you be helping Cal?"
"Sander," Brent spoke up, taking a step forward, "Explain."
It was a decent choice from a group of poor ones to begin with so Gregory couldn't really complain, even ignoring the fact that he'd chosen to tag along with the two. "There's a pre-"
Raising a hand to shield his eyes from the dust Sander kicked up with his landing, he blinked a few times before looking towards the other two, then at Sander, and wisely decide to keep quiet.
"It's...between us." -Sander gave Brent a blank look, then decided that he didn't want to.
That familiar dread mixed with the fear staining his insides. Was this about Christmas? The APC? Whatever the fuck happened during the Boys Night?
"Are you...going to hurt me?" Ernie asked lowly. If there was an opportunity to break some USARILN rules, it was definitely during the chaos of a battlefield.
"No." -Sander said too quickly, abhorred. But he didn't really elaborate, just staring expectantly at Ernie -"No reason to, now."
Geh. At least he was honest.
"Then why do you need me?" the buzzcut boy returned, getting irritated. This roundabout talk was wasting time, "Do you want me to be a bloodbag? Where are we even going?"
Palpable tension and tangible fear, even though no fists were thrown about, even when expressions were neutral. As the exchange continued, questions outnumbering answers, Brent found himself wondering instead about how far gone Sander was now. How much blood had he consumed? Was he sated, or did he still want more? If he was going to take Ernie by force, what could they do to stop him?
If this was between the two of them, was this really the time for this bullshit?
"If it's personal, leave it for after this situation's over with," Brent said, "Shouldn't you be protecting Christmas anyways? Callan, Chris, Hazel, and Zoe are all off fighting these things. We have no one who can shield our healers if you're here too."
"No." -Sander protested, frowning at the mention of Christmas. He couldn't stay with his roommate during this fight. Not for long. Because Callan needed him too. But he could at least keep an eye on Ernie.
"No." -He said again, with more certainty as he took a few steps toward Ernie -"He comes with me."
Ernie forced his feet to remain still as Sander moved closer. But even so, he couldn't help but look downwards to avoid the sight of those blood-red eyes.
"This is a waste of time," he muttered. Sander clearly had bad intentions that he didn't plan on revealing. But every moment spent on this stupid debate was time spent away from the battles that needed the vampire's presence. Ernie looked up, resignation in his fearful eyes. "Tell me where you're taking me. I'm not moving otherwise."
"To fight. With me."
Oh.
So this was how he was going to die, huh? Ernie felt the strength drain from his body, whatever little resolve he had crumbling away. It made a stupid amount of sense. Of course he'd die by Sander's hand. It should have happened in that APC a week ago anyway. Guess miracles couldn't last forever. Ernie took a shallow breath as his mind slowly mulled over the implications of his mortality.
"Helpless as always."
The world was always spinning around him without his say in the matter. He had no effect on it, positive or negative. No power to prevent his inevitable demise. With a clenched jaw, Ernie practically pitched the bag of spare guns he'd hefted along at Brent's feet. Dead men couldn't shoot. They'd need it more than him.
"...Stay alive, okay?" he whispered to the Arbiter, wishing that he had more eloquent last words to say.
There was too much happening in him. Fear. Frustration. But most of all, an eerie acceptance. He'd never deserved to live this long. It was time to just suck it up. Ernie stepped to Sander, obviously bitter about the turn of events.
"Let's go already."
Brent's gaze went to Sander, to Ernie, to the guns that were dropped at his feet, and then, back to Sander. Sander, with those red eyes that boiled with so much repressed violence, who just spouted out something that made no sense whatsoever. Ernie? In the front? With him? Wasn't this just a...
"Sander." The arbiter took a deep breath. He didn't want to take that gamble right now. Didn't want to play roulette with the possibility of invincibility. "What. The. Actual. Fuck. There is actually no fucking benefit at all to bringing Ernie alongside you. He can't even catch up to you! And look around, jackass! The ice giant is getting plastered by Kadabra, the sky bitch is getting roasted by Prism, and all there's left is the airplane crusher and a goddamn multiblock pudding monster that's just gonna gurgle along like a retard while you swim inside its shit."
His hand strayed to the stun gun, but ultimately found itself on Ernie's shoulder instead, a grip that was too tight to be merely 'protective'.
"Seriously, Sander, in this situation, you do not fucking need Ernie anywhere near where you're going. Cut this shit out, please." Another deep breath. "And Ernie, I have no idea what sort of beef you have with Sander, but don't kill yourself over it. Now let's go and follow the original plan, yeah?"
Brent's objections seemingly took Sander by surprised, the blood mage slowly turned to face him like he had noticed the Arbiter just now. After a few moments of silence, Sander finally replied, expression carefully blank-"You don't understand...I'll watch him."
Ernie remained silent. Sander wanted to watch him fight the ice giant? He wasn't sure about anything anymore. His shoulders tensed at Brent's grip but other than a sharp intake of breath, there was no response from the Aberration.
It was useless to try and outrun Sander. It was useless to fight back.
"Yeah, I DON'T understand, because you DON'T explai-"
Before the Arbiter could protest again, Ernie smacked away the hand and jumped onto Sander's back, holding him tightly.
"Go," he barked, "Quickly!"
Sander was surprised, and for the first few seconds, he had almost shifted his shoulders to throw Ernie off. But his rational mind won out in the end, so he gave Brent one last nod before dashing off with Ernie clinging to his back.
And like that, they were gone, Sander bounding away at speeds much faster than he'd ever be. There was still a stinging pain from where Ernie had slapped his hand away. God, it sucked how he had so little influence over anything. Brent pulled up the bag full of guns, amethyst eyes smouldering with frustration.
Goddammit.
Once again, all he could do was expel words.
"ERNIE! YOU STAY ALIVE TOO! NO BUTS!"
Whistling to himself as he watched the duo quickly move elsewhere in the city and out of sight, Gregory then turned to Brent and the bag that'd been left behind. "Still going after the two?" he asked as he held out a hand for the bag.
Brent turned and nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said, handing over the miniature armory, "Ice golem's out of our league. Let's move."
Slinging the bag onto his shoulder, he unzipped it and began to rummage through the contents after nodding for Brent to take the lead. "They move anywhere in the last minute?" He thought about tossing aside a few of the extra firearms before remembering they were probably spares for the Arbiter's power and instead settled for trying to sort through the different calibers. "Why the different handguns?" he muttered after holding up two different magazines. Though it seemed like .45 was someone's personal preference given the amount of magazines he could find for it.
"Yeah," Brent said, flicking out his phone. "Slower though. Debris might have gotten them. I'll g-"
"Brent, I'm gonna need you to come down here. Bring a gun, and tell me when you see me. Over."
He stopped, giving Gregory a look. "Sounds like Zoe's not that far gone yet," the arbiter remarked, before jogging off. "Transmit cuff. Zoe, what's your plan here?"
"Being crushed by debris might've snapped her out of it," he replied with a shrug before zipping up the bag and following after Brent.
"Transmit. Long story short, I need you to shoot through me and into its heart. I'd rather just put some blood on a bullet then fire it, but you won't get here in time and I can't outrun this thing anymore. I'd rather you don't come too close anyway. Personal reasons."
Personal reasons? Stigma. But even if her stigma was acting up, what sort of fucking plan is that? Taking one last glance at the map, to once again ascertain how close they were and how close the blob was to them, Brent turned to Gregory, shaking his head. "Guess it only snapped her out of it momentarily," he smiled, "There any particular reason you have long hair, Grego?"
Blinking a few times, Gregory's expression looked troubled as he scratched at his head for a moment. There we- How wa- Brent's voiced snapped him out of his thoughts and he grabbed a few stray strands of his hair that was blowing around as they moved. "None that matter right now. Plan to use it instead of her blood?"
"Damn, great minds think alike," the arbiter grinned. "Let's pick up the pace then. Transmit cuff, Zoe, Allison, we're going down the main road right now. Meet up with us."
"Oh, yeah, I signed them over for sponsorship money, you should see what I got for my eyes. Have you got a point, or are you just gonna be an asshole?"
"Yeah, got hell of a better plan than just shooting you and hoping you don't pass the fuck out from shock. The slime's slow but it's thick, and you only have a range of forty five, what, meters? Yards? Bullets don't pierce that deep through solid material, and you're not gonna be protecting anyone with another hole in your body. Seriously, there's hair and there's trees and there's a hell lot of other things you can infect outside of yourself. Meet us up and we'll figure something better out."
"If only we had someone whose power was to bypass that kind of limitation on equipment. Yeah, my range sucks - how the hell is moving away from this thing gonna help that? It's getting stronger as it goes, and soon it'll be too big for me to do anything plan or no plan. My leg's sprained anyway; I couldn't outrun it if I tried. Besides, I thought I made it clear that I don't want to go anywhere near you guys."
"You did make it clear, but that didn't stop Allison, did it? The slime isn't tall enough to take buildings, Zoe. We'll go up on one of those, or get Chris to carry us. Horizontally, forty five meters is nothing, but vertically? And in terms of shooting off heavy objects far distances...well, Grego can definitely do that."
A breath could be heard, hissing through the cuff.
"You meet up with us. We get on a reasonably high building. We use hair as the carrier. Grego serves as launcher, I serve as spotter. We wait for its brain-y parts to get into your forty five meter killzone. We launch the hair, infect the slime, thoroughly kill it off, and if shit goes sour, we call either Siena or Chris for evac. Everyone lives, giant slime dies, and we get to get the hell out."
"Brent, I'm not trying to keep you away for my benefit." Zoe sounded angry, but there was a hint of fear behind it. "You know why I didn't see the rubble coming? I was trying to stay the fuck away from Allison. Only reason I'm showing any kind of restraint is that my leg got screwed up. It'd be bad enough if I wasn't pissed at you right now, but as we stand it's 50/50 at best."
A sigh. "I get it, okay? I'm not dumb, I know that there are better ways to fight and safer ways to kill this thing, but I'd rather risk my own neck than snap on you. And that's ignoring the fact that I'd probably get shot for it too. Believe it or not, I have no intention of getting myself killed."
"Yeah..." His manner of speaking slowed. "I understand that. But Zoe, I don't want you to risk your neck, and I'd rather bet on your ability to control yourself than to leave you to go at this alone. If things start getting real bad for you, Allison can stop you for a bit, and I can safely knock you out afterwards."
"Let's try working together. We won't take this down without doing so."
There was silence for a long moment.
"I can't walk quickly, so try not to meet anywhere too far down the street. We should probably still have a healer too, in case I lose it. Just-- keep an eye on me, alright? If I start using my powers..."
"I'm support. Keeping an eye on everyone else is what I do."
The tree is 10 meters tall, and will grow at a rate of five meters per round if not hindered in some way. You can safely assume that everyone is more or less healed up and ready to do shit. Kari's attempt to arrow Lenier away failed mainly because Lenier's Cowl was just a collection of bandages bound around his body. There was no loose cloth. Probably could have done better by smacking him with a tree instead. There is no noticeable increase in miasma 'production' from the tree. Compared to its size, the miasma it generates is looking fairly small.
@Patches@Flamelord@CyanideSweetie Bounding from one piece to another, Lenier’s jet of flame struck the skeletal beast head on, blue flames causing white bone to bubble up, cancerous growths emerging upon bone even as its own regeneration kept up. In the few moments they were airborne, the Daybreaker and the monster looked as if they were at a standstill, the organic-decomposing flames and the deathless regeneration refusing to give way, but that tie was broken by a golden ballista, smashing into the side of the being. The size of a tree, the flying log easily bisected the monster, a heavy crash sounding as it pierced through the adjacent building.
Another arrow whizzed by Lenier, grazing and cutting into his back, but that small annoyance was nothing compared to the rubble that fell upon the three Daybreakers after their fleshy bodies slapped against the ground.
And, for a moment, at least, it was quiet.
CRACK.
Was it just the sound of the mangled body of Io dragged itself out of the concrete slabs that pummeled her into a pulp?
By the time the Demon of Progress had made it to the scene of the fight, the bones in her fingers had long mended themselves, leaving only red viscera still clinging onto her knuckles. The dust at the scene of the battle still remained, the weak-willed winds that blew through the abandoned metropolis not sufficient in dispersing the clouds, but standing there, the terrible form of the anomaly they faced was clear in front of her.
It had put down its roots.
A mere shadow still, the manifold branches of the monster reached for the Scarlet Moon, a white tree growing greater and greater at an exponential rate. With no flames to hinder its regenerative capabilities, and no defined ‘shape’ to put a stopper on how much it grew, more and more branches pulsated outwards, while thick, knobbed roots pushed down and out, pushing aside rubble and fracturing cement.
There was no longer any remnant of the scavenger that the scepter once was. Nothing but a glint of metal hanging from a lower branch, iron gleaming crimson.
@Rune_Alchemist Despite her survival and her charge, there was still no sense of urgency within the movements of the skeletal hulk. A low reaction speed? No experience with Daybreakers before? Or just a general apathy? Regardless, at Cerise’s charge, it raised one fist and swung it down.
Beneath her feet, the ground quaked as the road shifted upwards, dirt and powdered stone bursting up like a geyser as the wide slab worked like a seesaw, one end pushed deep into the dirt while the other end rose, sending Cerise airborne at the same time that the mighty blow of the Tyrant caused it to ascend.
There was little room for mobility in space, and it was clear to Cerise that she was now on a collision course with the skeletal juggernaut.
And yet, all Versomme did was drive her on further, the burn of digestive acids eating at her more rational thoughts.
Standard mythological tactic for countering regen is the cauterization of the wound. And how powerful the regen is more dependent on regen speed, really.
@Hammerman Mind Reading or Mind Control are forbidden. Influencing the mind, though, is a gray zone, especially when it's passive and it's only set towards one emotion. Heck, you can argue that just being able to interact with others is a form of influencing the mind. Either Dez overlooked it or was fine with it.
Yankee,
Altered Tundra,
Alisdragon911,
stone,
VitaVitaAR,
Animal,
LanaStorm,
Ohm,
Haha,
Shovel
