Lugubrious

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Guys, stop arguing in the IC already, it's making people upset.

On the subject of RWBY Volume 4, I enjoyed episode 1. Definitely looking forward to the rest of it. The introduction of the villains in the very first scene of the first episode really caught my attention.

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

Frenzy Plant's Elite

The sweat and grime festooning Owen was washed away in a pulse of healing water from Aqua. It left him sodden and still breathing heavily, but reinvigorated. With the back of his hand he wiped water out of his eyes and smirked deviously at his comrade Dmitri, whose heated forearms reacted to the double's dousing by generating steam. ”Was it good for yew, tew?” he questioned, arms crossed as he sat.

Dmitri scowled at him. ”I knew you were gonna say somethin' weird, you dumbass.” He got to his feet, and Aqua backed away. Rolling his eyes, he held out a brimstone hand to help Owen to his feet, but a sudden jerk of the tower forced him to readjust his footing to avoid tumbling over. ”What?” he shouted, full of incredulity, before dashing to the edge of the tower to look over. ”How'd we take a direct hit? What's Hyun doing?”

While Owen grumpily picked himself up, Zander joined the bare-chested brawler near the Keep's rim. ”That wasn't magic. It was a physical blow. Enemies must have reached us already.” Another blow sent jarring vibrations through the tower. Both soldiers watched the Tectonic Blades rising through the nearby streets of Crocus, grown like a sudden, killer forest. Unfortunately, the overall effect was much less than they thought. They watched with some satisfaction as Phoenix Wing's firebird fell from the sky, apparently struck by Hyun's Mundane Spark, but only a couple of the wizards running around on the ground seemed to take any hits from the Unison Raid attack, and those that did were not crippled. ”...Unfortunate,” lamented the Ruby Knight, his tone dark. Another, larger rumble, accompanied by the sound of breaking stone, caused him to pause briefly before he continued. ”We must leave the intruders to our allies on the lower level. It was imbecilic of us to expect the kind of spell that would be most effective on a large army to wipe away small groups of powerful individuals. I will take full responsibility for this failure, as it was part of my plan. We must gauge our competition better.” Knowing better than to try to console him, Dmitri swept across the surroundings. For the moment, not many attacks were coming their way, but whatever had been hitting the Howling Djinn's Keep was almost certainly spelling trouble for his allies below even now.

The six turrets on the tower's top began to fire, accumulating red orbs of flame in the stone pilgrims' lanterns before shooting them out. Frenzy Plant's soldiers, having not been keeping a perfect lookout, instinctively knew that the turrets were responding to an approaching threat and wheeled to face the direction they indicated. Before they could fully address the situation, however, a volley of orange lances flew their way. Zander wasted no time in telling his subordinates, ”I'll deal with those. You two: find the one responsible and make sure whoever it is doesn't reach us. The turrets alone will not be able to take it down.” So saying, the Ruby Knight lowered his weapon and faced the blades head-on. They converged on the easy target, a wall of searing spikes ready to dent armor and pierce flesh. Holding out his empty hand, Zander waited with complete calmness. A single point of space just in front of his palm began to fluctuate, in a manner similar to Hyun's Nullification magic but darker, and moving in a definite spiral. The next second the blades were upon him, but rather than sticking the soldier like nails into the hide of a pig, they vanished into the odd singularity as if sucked up. Every single piece of the magic attack disappeared, and as the last one came in, Zander pulled back his hand. Not a single one of his muscles wasn't strained, and he fought to control his breath. A bead of sweat formed on his brow. Luckily, he needn't hold it for long. A yell rang out as he thrust his arm forward, and the entire Soaring Wall of Blades spewed out of the singularity again, zooming out randomly to fall like rain on the competition below, particularly Trinity and Nolan. Such was the power of Counter magic, the second arcane art mastered by Frenzy Plant's Number Two.

At the same time, Owen and Dmitri locked on to Damian and Joshua, aided by the automatic tracking and projectile fire of the turrets generated by Scarlet. They knew that, while fatigued by the effects of the Unison Raid, they would have a potentially compromisingly tougher time taking any intruders head on. ”Tryin' for a sneak attack, huh? Why doncha go bother someone else? Steel Sky: Delta!” Silver magic circles flashed brilliantly in the air near the tower in a vast, two-dimensional sheet. The next second, however, they became invisible to lay in wait. Not to be outdone, Dmitri flexed his arms. A fresh quartet of new arms sprang from the Asura circles on his back, bringing his total to six. ”Grasping Earth: Alpha!” He clapped each pair of hands twice, and crimson-orange magic circles appeared on the Howling Djinn's Keep, one in the center of each remaining stone block. From the circles, fiery stone arms extended, their burning fingers poised to strike or grasp. ”Even if ain't a Unison Raid, we teammates fit t'gether like peas in a pod! Sword magic an' arm magic that comes from most anywhere—Cut Capers' Variable Array!” Now, in addition to dealing with incoming turret fire, Joshua and Damian had to worry about not one but two layers of traps.

Meanwhile, Hyun and Indigo found themselves in a precarious predicament. Enemies inside the Howling Djinn's Keep already? That couldn't be allowed to happen. Fortunately, the Dragon Fang wizards' manner of entry did not show an abundance of either wisdom or awareness. In the time that it took them to pick themselves off the floor, recognize the threat, and arm themselves, Indigo's anger had already reached its boiling point. ”GET OUT!” she shrieked, looking and sounding just like a vengeful banshee thanks to the distorting wind aura that suffused her. The air pressure inside the tower dropped instantly, and the very next second, a wall of lightning-infused rain and wind smashed into the Dragon Fang wizards at almost point-blank range. If that sheer wall of atmospheric power didn't throw them back out of the tower and into the open air, nothing would. Even Hyun, positioned behind and to the left of Indigo, was forced to cling to the nearest wall for dear life by the fury of the Stormfront.

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.