Lugubrious

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

his team can't make his sword much longer

@Plank Sinatra

not for lack of trying

@Krayzikk

0w0

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

@Zarkun My apologies for any potential malefic implications with my wording. You can be sure that wasn't my intention; I was merely stating that Oblivion is particularly nice to me. What you're saying makes sense to me. Just as you weren't implying that my stuff needed to miss, however, I was not implying that everything needed to hit; just that a little give and take would make for a more fair and thus interesting fight. I also didn't get the impression that you were ignoring me. In your case specifically, I was just surprised at how quickly your characters reached the top.

We're not out of the woods yet. And I thought the blades were acting as an arena barrier? Not an active threat but more of a boundary threat.

@CirusArvennicus

No, they were meant completely as an active threat.

So the both of you know, my Unison Raid wasn't a very complicated attack. It's pretty much 'suddenly, big hot spikes' and that's about it. They will not continue to rise, and nor will they explode, or anything like that. By the next time I post, the Tectonic Blades attack spell is completely over, and they'll be nothing more than hazards should someone happen to fall from the sky. Which may be happening soon, given the number of people converging on the tower.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>

I can make it so that Nolan took a blow from one the blades. I wouldn't mind doing that.

@hatakekuro

That would make me feel a little bit better about what would otherwise be a near-complete waste of time and IC resources.

To be fair, Dragon Fang was already scrambling to get inside XD

@Zarkun

In your earlier post, the last mention of the ascent up was when Jake made the platform to use as an elevator. You didn't even say that the trio hopped on. There was no indication of where exactly they were in the ascent, but given that the tower was floating quite a way up (hundred feet or more), it wasn't exactly a hop, skip, and jump away.

I took one ;____;

@Oblivion666

You posted after I made my complaint, silly, so of course you did. Still, I can always count on you to afford my actions some respect, and I thank you for it.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Cool.. A Unison Raid that took so much power that it's almost put two of my characters out of the competition, and not a single opponent takes so much as a scratch. I get that some characters aren't allowed to be hurt, but come on.

Caits, I know it must be inconvenient to take into account how my character's magic works, but in the anime Nullification Magic can shut down even the attacks of Gildarts. Mundane Spark affects the magic signature of an individual. If it touched Penny's ethernano, it would shut down all of her magic for about a minute. What is this distinction you've drawn between fire magic and phoenix magic? Ignoring the fact that Mundane Spark nullifies all magic, they're not different. Immediately after her 'fire magic' dies out, she uses a big fire spell. Getting nullified wouldn't even be a problem since she spends the next minute having a touching moment with Merlina anyway.

Silicates like obsidian, which I'll go ahead and say the Tectonic Blades were made of, have a melting point of 1200 degrees Celsius, or 2192 degrees Fahrenheit. That's a little more than 1/6 the surface of the sun. That kind of heat is far more destructive and lethal than the Blades would be.

Regardless, what you wrote is dissonant to what Hatake wrote. Since you're GM, I assume your chain of events overwrites his.

A super easy solution would be to pull away from Nolan's attempt to help, take the Spark, fizzle out, and fall to talk to Merlina. However, given how well my suggestions in the past have gone, I won't hold my breath.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

So everyone knows, Nolan's attack doesn't by any means no-sell the Tectonic Blades. Pretty much everyone will have to deal with a few on their own.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Why couldn't we just say that we were fighting on a replica of Crocus?

@hatakekuro

I dunno. I thought we'd be fighting in the arena.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Well I think we have thrown the, try not to cause too much damage plead right out the window.

@Oblivion666

A savvy character will notice that the blades are only erupting through the streets, and not in buildings at all.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Frenzy Plant's Elite

Just as the rain of molten rock began to batter Penny and Nolan, two enemies became three, and the trio vanished behind a projected energy barrier. At first it appeared that Trinity's Spiked Shell provided complete protection from Frenzy Plant's counterattack, but even as the seconds passed, signs of damage began to appear on her wall. That didn't matter so much to the team atop the aerial tower.

”Sir, looks like one more took the bait. We have the chance to knock Phoenix Wing from five to two in one shot!”

Despite his face being hidden behind the mask, Zander's comrades could tell that he wasn't so certain. ”I disagree. Look. The firebird's heating up.” While Nolan destroyed a few of Owen's magic circles, apparently not concerned by the vast array of other ones positioned in a sphere around him and his friends, Penny was intensifying her fire. ”Owen, do you think you should spring the trap?”

An annoyed sigh came from the southern fencer. He lowered his blade and replied, ”Nope. If I lay in now, she might melt all my swords. Better t'save my power for a li'l while.” At this, Frenzy Plant's Number Two nodded in approval. The enemies of Fiore's top-rate war guild could afford to waste their attacks, but no such frivolity could be exercised by soldiers manning the Howling Djinn's Keep. Not a single punch had been thrown and not a single spell had been cast between two opposing guilds yet; if all eyes were on Frenzy Plant, they needed everything they could get. Thinking about this irritated Zander. When would the other guilds turn on one another? His strategy banked on the eventuality that one guild would try to take advantage of another by stabbing it in the back as it went after his own guild. Perhaps, in performing such a grandiose act of self-assertion, the army of General Sanders had erred in making itself a target that everyone would team up to take down. A worrying thought, he reflected as he watched more figures on the move down below.

Being in the air, the soldiers did not feel the tremor of earth, but they heard it, and before long they saw it as well. From the streets of Crocus two massive hands emerged, crumbling cobblestones and heedlessly knocking around whatever had been sitting there as they stretched into the sky to grab the Howling Djinn's Keep. Out of the five, none had an answer to this unique attack, and the tower shook as the two giant mitts latched on. On the bottom floor, Hyun sprang into action. One of the hand's thumbs had found a hold right next to the doorway, so she jumped out onto the limb of earth and pointed her flamberge downward. ”Mundane Surge!” A stream of white distortion surrounded the blade as she plunged it into the earth, and like a hypodermic needle injecting a tranquilizing serum into someone the weapon pumped nullification magic into the arm. Of course, the raw material didn't change at all, but Hyun's work removed Jake's magic from it to render it inert earth no longer under his control. Still, the hands did not budge. Their grip remained strong. Hyun clicked her tongue and made her way back into the tower before shouting up, ”We're stuck fast! Dmitri should use his backup plan!”

”Dear Hyun...do you lack imagination?”

The eyebrows of the normally-stolid swordswoman shot up as she saw Indigo floating toward her. Until now, the sorceress had been practically locked in place, channeling her Whitesky Eye to keep the Howling Djinn's Keep aloft. Abandoning her post meant that the tower would soon drop—or, it would have to anyone else. Hyun knew that to change up the plan meant Indigo had come up with an idea, and she trusted her completely. Nevertheless, she was compelled to beg the question, ”What are you doing?”

Indigo shrugged. Such a casual gesture seemed bizarre coming from a woman surrounded completely in wind, her eyes a brilliant off-white and the arcane symbol of a stormy eye on her forehead. ”If our noble opponents want to give me a rest by holding up my tower for me, who am I to say no?” Smiling cheekily, she shouted up the tower to the others, ”Don't attack the hands! This is my chance to even the odds.” As she said this, the sorceress held out her hand, and a book appeared in it. Instantly another Indigo appeared, this one dressed in brown. With the tome in hand, this clone began to summon more books, and in a matter of moments the bottom floor of the tower was cram-packed with Indigos, each sporting a different color and a unique tome. Hyun knew their names: Plum, the holder of Nosgoth; Scarlet, the holder of Defense of the Ancients, Vert, the holder of Wolfenstein, Aqua, the holder of Subnautica, and Ash, who held A Tale of Two Songs rather than her usual The Order. Unlike mindless fakes or throwaway clones, they gave off the eerie impression of alternate versions of Indigo rather than manufactured copies.

Each had a job to do. Scarlet, Aqua and Vert immediately began to climb the innards of the tower, making their way to the top to join Zander, Dmitri, and Owen. Ash seated herself against the wall, waving cheerily as Sepia sealed her in a protective layer of earth. As the cornerstone of the magic that allowed the doubles to exist, she needed to be protected. Plum, Hyun, and the true Indigo made their way outside the tower to take a look at the situation.

It wasn't good. Even though only a moment had passed, worrisome new developments were aplenty. A truly extravagant amount of miniature ash drills swarmed straight for the tower. Indigo pit a finger to her mouth, calmly thinking about the situation. ”I can see every single one of them,” she told Hyun frankly, as if admitting something. ”Since we're being held up, I expanded the Whitesky Eye and lessened its attack power. The atmosphere within a fifty foot radius of the tower is mine.” She waited for the drills to approach. ”I wonder...would we be able to combine our magics to create nullification storms? That's something to try out another day. For now, I'm going to whip up something wipe away the ashes. Please disable one of them.” The air surrounding her began to pick up. ”Hrah!”

Instantly a tide of air crashed into the oncoming fusillade of ash drills. Lightning suffused the windstorm as well, its crackling energy messing with the cohesion of Nolan's many projectiles. With a final yell, Indigo caused the gale to explode outward. By her calculations, the enemy's attack should have been destroyed and left to sprinkle harmlessly on the city below, but she couldn't say for certain until the dust cleared. Behind the rushing storm came a single pinpoint of brilliant white—a Mundane Spark, headed straight for the trio of Penny, Nolan, and Trinity. It homed in on them, ready to indiscriminately strike the first magical signature it came across. That tiny mote of light came with a promise: one minute of total inability to use magic on whoever allowed their ethernano to come in contact with it first.

At that moment, however, Indigo's other comrades were also at work. Three on top of the tower had become seven, and each double raced to do her duty. Scarlet constructed six stone statues of pilgrims evenly spaced around the tower's edges. Each pilgrim's lantern contained a red crystal that would automatically shoot explosive bursts of red fire at enemies that got too close, just like turrets. Sapphire prepared her water magic to heal if necessary, but Vert opened her tome and underwent a hair-raising transfiguration into a werewolf, becoming a canine monster in ragged green robes with a mane of platinum-blonde hair. When she howled, waves of green magic surrounded Owen, Dmitri, and Zander, heightening their magical power. ”I feel...powerful! What a lucky turn of events that Mrs. Afina got to break away and summon her doubles so soon. Whaddya want gone first, commander?”

Zander pointed his ruby arming sword straight down over the edge of the tower. Down below, but rising with decent speed, was a platform with three Dragon Fang wizards on it. ”We've got uninvited guests. Let's give them a warm welcome, and a stern reminder: we are not to be trifled with. In fact, let's make it plain to everyone. Cut loose.”

Owen and Dmitri glanced at one another, knowing just what that phrase meant. The southerner grinned. ”Hell yeah! Cut Capers gonna give 'em what-for!” Penny's blazing light and Nolan's vast dark stared at them from across the sky, but Owen and Dmitri smiled. ”Don't matter if the rumors are true and they got Second Origins. We got somethin' they don't.”

The pair each took a deep breath. ”Don't make it weird this time, bro,” Dmitri muttered as the two performed a bro-fist, then clasped hands. Owen looked at Dmitri as though he were crazy, but not for long. Magic began to flow through the two soldiers, evidenced by waves of silver and orange power flowing between them, and it coalesced into a single point between their palms. Together, they declared, “We dedicate this victory to Xyster, the heart of our team. Unison Raid: Tectonic Blades!”

They held out their hands. A massive, two-layer magical circle blossomed in front of them. It hung in the air, blazing with a steely, fiery sheen, for a moment before it exploded into thousands of shards. These shards shot straight down toward the earth, where the Dragon Fang wizards had placed themselves as they ascended. The little sparks, however, didn't do much, and mostly went past them into the ground. After the sparks buried themselves there, however, the ground began to shake. It suddenly cracked open, and from the seams a field of gargantuan sword blades sprouted at impossible speeds. Made of black, igneous rock and surrounded by fire, they rose to obliterate the Dragon Fang wizards from below. However, they did not stop there. More blades shot up like a wave traveling across the ground, erupting from the streets like titanic weeds. They attacked the Phoenix Wing fliers as well, and in their heedless path even threatened the grounded members of Dragon Fang, Phoenix Wing and other guilds', who could very well be caught in the firing line.

With the great fields of Tectonic Blades on the assault, Dmitri and Owen drew apart, and both collapsed, panting. Even with their boosted magical power, the drain of a Unison Raid combined with the effort exerted already meant that neither felt particularly good. All the same, Tectonic Blades was a Unison Raid attack with tremendous power and speed, enough to decimate the competition with a little luck. Zander observed them warily, then turned his eye back to the scene of destruction currently facing Phoenix Wing and Dragon Fang in particular. To weather this attack would be a ludicrous feat, but if they did, Frenzy Plant would be in a bad situation.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

This'll be fun.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Frenzy Plant's Elite

In their bastion in the sky, the soldiers waited. Dmitri could only do so a short time before he ground his teeth. ”Why aren't they doing anything? Barely anyone's moved!” Scarcely had the words left his mouth than he narrowed his eyes, having spotted a black stream on the move. Only one person's impetuousness and magic suited that oncoming haze. ”Ah! Spoke too soon. First on the chopping block's none other than Nolan Waltz himself!”

Zander snatched up his blade, having come to the same realization only a second sooner, and leveled in in the God Slayer's direction. ”The very one we wanted to take out as fast as possible...and all alone, it looks like. Yet it can't be this easy. He must know we know that his power increases as he gets angry and hyped up. To try and take us on by himself right at the start...be on your guard.”

A fiery stone finger was outstretched as Dmitri pointed. ”Look! He's not alone. Firebird's coming along for the ride.” He shrugged. ”Makes sense that the two fliers would attack together. Still, makes our job a hell of a lot easier.” His veins began to glow with volcanic heat. Taking his cue, Owen took the opportunity to couch his rapier in order to cast a spell. Neither of them took any notice of the ashen orbs hurtling toward the Howling Djinn's Keep. Not even Zander, most careful and deliberate of protectors, paid it any mind.

At the very bottom of the tower, a lone woman watched from the floating fort's doorless entryway. Flamberge in one hand and parrying dagger in the other, she glared at Nolan and Penny when they launched an attack. Her eyes tracked the fire-infused projectiles as they drew ever near her, and Hyun muttered to herself, ”The insolence of it. Instantly splitting up and trying to attack us when we've got every advantage...what do you take us for!?” She assumed a pure offensive stance, holding her jagged sword above her head. ”Maybe this will teach you imbeciles the price of arrogance.” With a kiai, she swung her blade, and a wave of white distortion passed from the metal into the air. It traveled quickly, leaving no trace in its wake, and it grew in size as it did. Nolan's ash orbs, with Penny's explosive flames hidden inside, screamed toward Frenzy Plant's tower, but when they collided with Hyun's wave they fizzled out like candles snuffed out between someone's fingers. All they could do was hiss weakly before vanishing, completely nullified.

Though they almost certainly couldn't see her from this distance, Hyun gave the two members of Phoenix Wing a condescending smile. She lent an ear to listen, and in quick succession heard her allies call out,

“Steel Sky!”

“Hekaton Meteor!”

“Scarlet Sunbeam!”

The air glimmered in a broad area around Nolan and Penny. Magic circles appeared by the dozen, and from each protruded a long rapier blade. Quite suddenly, the sky around them was filled with spikes. From his position atop the Howling Djinn's Keep, Owen watched carefully, ready to summon walls of spike-protruding magic circles from afar in order to cut off a foe's attempt at escape. At the same time, Dmitri brought to life six flaming magic circles, from which launched large hunks of molten rock at high speed. Barely contained in solid, meteor-like form, they would return to lava if subjected to any trauma. Like cannons firing in sequence these circles launched the meteors at the area defined by Owen's bladed boundary. The icing on the cake was Zander; his outstretched ruby sword began to glow with brilliant red light, and from its end burst a laser beam about six inches in diameter that effortlessly closed the distance between the warriors of the two guilds. Though difficult to aim at this range, the Scarlet Sunbeam would not be fun for anyone hit by it. Just as planned, the enemy fliers were in a predicament: in order to avoid the agonizing heat of meteor and laser alike, they would need to dodge or counterattack. Any dodging risked impalement on Owen's floating remote blades, however, and any counterattacking meant either spreading lava or attempting to take the brunt of a concentrated laser straight on. All the while the tower floated closer. By now, it had left the arena, much to the chagrin of the captivated audience.

Hyun continued to observe, ready with her blades to cancel any more magic attacks that came her guild's way. She wondered what the enemies would do to counter three calculated spells at once, but she figured they'd find a way somehow. Still, the absolute defense her Nullification Magic afforded her guild plus the brutal ranged offensive of her allies, which many might have underestimated, added up to a seemingly flawless strategy.