mantou

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

@IceHeart Please take all the time you need, GM. There's no rush. I hope things are going okay on your side

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Hope you feel better soon, Winds!

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

I didn't want Gou to be overpowered because I wanted space for character growth and also worried about balancing his powers. But with the latest round I can definitely see how the monsters had to be ramped up early to counter the team.

While it's true everyone does need to have fun, I can see IceHeart's point in struggling to keep up as well. On the other hand, I dont want to just give Gou more powers that will instantly have him decimate half the army either, bc it'd make no sense for him really

edit: Not a problem for me, @Nyxira! Think it'd be good to have another helping hand out

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Gou

---

The disciple runs after Luna, but still manages to arrive a bit late. Nonetheless, as soon as he makes it, he is just in time to witness his former companion materialize! Gou goes to simply slap the robot on the back, and greets him with a grin, "Welcome back, brother of metal." He himself doesn't realize how much he missed the mech, but before he can think further, the scene ahead catches his attention.

A giant... dessert, the size of a small temple. Dessert mechanisms, manned by dessert men. And were those giant insects off to the side?! It was no wonder why the Yuheng Sect. sent him-- only the best disciples could handle such a chaotic mess. Had it been anyone else, perhaps they would have fainted, because the entire place stunk a sweet rot! Absolutely disgusting.

Meanwhile, Gou spots Luna launching herself at the towering dessert, accompanied by a strange brown liquid, and yelling someone's name he assumes he hadn't met yet. Surely it wasn't a fish.

"Elder sister Luna! Be careful up there! YOU ARE BLEEDING!" Just then, he notices Yuri laying on the ground just beyond her. What! How could he have gotten himself into that situation? Gou sprints for the man clad in white, and kneels down to support him up. Perhaps he could heal Luna once she's back down-- though they'd really need to do something about those smelly machines.

"Elder brother Yuri," he extends a hand, mustering up his energy. "Are you alright?" A soft aqua green hue flows out of his hands and envelopes Yuri in a mist. Granted, it would only be enough for the superficial cuts, but at the very least the bleeding would stop. As the healing comes to an end, Gou finds himself exhausted, hands on his knees to support himself as he takes deep breaths to try and regain his chi.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Welcome welcome Nyx! Woker's looking hella swish :)

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Isn't it the alien's turn?

@Searat

Oh oops my bad! I actually forgot hehe. Thanks for the heads-up guys

@Conejitoooo Halloo and welcome! It'd be good to have ya!

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

For sure. I'll have a post up tomorrow morning!

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

@Gentlemanvaultboy Hey, it's all good!

edit: nice post btw. Always cool to see Luna's moveset

DIVINE INTERVENTION

Yu

---

The priest had a moment to breathe with the armor out of the picture. He was a little shaken, knowing very well that he could have been the one to fall had the smoke wavered. There was a sense of relief to be had… but it escaped him much too quickly. The battle was far from over.

Whip ready and tensions high, careful eyes darted between his team. There were no words-- only dead bodies, and the underlying stench of iron mingling with smoke. This unnerved him, but he was at ease to find his allies were managing. Mother Eka as expected made short work of her cultists, with the help of Dhzon, who then made his way to Alistair’s side. Already, more corpses littered the floor. Yu spotted one in particular by the blond priest’s feet, helmet having rolled off to reveal a missing left eye, along with a pained expression. The whip-handler grimaced.

Please, don’t look at me like that.

As if on cue, a head rolled across the floor, stopping in time to cast an empty glance at him. One frantic kick and curse later, it was out of the priest’s sight. More humans were dead, but not because of him, at least. It was a sickening thought, but God's work still needed to be done… it just couldn't be by his own hands.

It was then, with the air heavy as it was, that something changed.

At the door, a woman appeared-- a sister, or so it seemed. Both her posture and the sound of her voice made him question that notion, as they made him nervous in a way he couldn't properly explain. For a moment Yu stood there, speechless, making no effort to hide his disdain. Had their circumstances been different, he would have even scolded her for carrying the nun’s garb in such a provocative way-- intentional or not. Still, aside from her sudden appearance and alarmingly lax demeanor, the priest felt that something else was off about her. Her presence brought along what seemed like a lightness in the air; or rather, the reek of demon applying itself elsewhere. The frown on his face only deepened as he wondered whether that was a good thing.

Deep howls erupted from the hallway behind her, and upon sensing her oncoming demise, pushed himself to move. Surely, he'd be damned if he allowed a church official to die under God's watch.

Lord, I only ask that you help me now.

Yu ran to grab the woman's arm, pulling her behind him as metal swung back through the air. With her out of the way, Jiuzai cracked forward a great distance, steel napping around the first creature's neck. Sizzles were heard as spikes dug into flesh, the stench of burning rot filling the air. The beast thrashed in the whip's hallowed grasp, and even with both hands, proved to be a struggle to apprehend. However, it blocked the doorway, leaving no room for the demons before it to enter. Sweat formed at the hilt in Yu's effort to grip tighter, silently praying for the smoke to work faster. Frustration growing increasingly evident, he shot a glance to the woman at his side.

"Who told you to arrive here alone! Do you not understand how dangerous--"

A pained grunt stopped him mid-complaint.

“Brother Jin!” His head snapped to his senior, whose face spilled blood. What was he doing? Clearly, he needed help. However, Yu's heart quickened at the thought of releasing the whip, knowing it was the only thing keeping the beasts at the door. The holy smoke needed more time to work, while Brother Alistair and Dzhon still had two cultists left.

The sister stood behind him, suspicious, but harmless thus far.

"If I let go now, it will mean trouble for all of us," Yu hurriedly explained through gritted teeth, suppressing the tremble in his voice. "Please, if you can, go and assist our brothers..."

Something clicked. It was then that he realized why the smoke seemed ineffective, and why their opponents only fought harder than earlier. The window was broken during his struggle... all the fresh air pooled in, and precious smoke leaked out. Frantic, he called out across the room.

"Mother Ekaterine! I can't hold them for much longer!"

Hoseforn’s Academy for Gifted Adventurers

Chef’s First Taste of Blood Combat

---

Amused after the running-and-getting-shot-at ordeal, he still had plenty of energy to spare. While standing with the rest, the blond magus wiggled a finger through the hole Sir Dex’s arrow had made, appreciating the wear’s very first battle scar. Next to him stood Ixius, from who he felt the air shift around in waves, almost feeling indecisive in its nature. A push and pull of... mana? Was Ixius feeling sick, perhaps? It bothered the aura of his own, but he ignored it, settling on making him some chamomile tea after class. The red-eyed boy glared at him with killing intent, but the meaning flew over the blond’s head as he happily raised two thumbs up in return. Right, he just needed some hot tea!

”If you fell behind today, push harder tomorrow. If you truly want to be adventurers you must always push forward, until you succeed or you die.”

Sir Vermont sure knew how to get his students feeling inspired. Even though the boy had never thought of fighting someone, let alone partake in a fight, the teacher’s words had him more than ready to take people on. Then, the lithe Drow professor, Ma’am Maya, took a step up. Starry-eyed, he was doing his best to keep up with the pace of the demonstration, but ultimately failed. Still, he did pretty well to imagine the in-betweens, the boy’s naivety shining through as he recalled memorable scenes from stories he’d read. In the middle, sparks flew, and their professor was all but a blur. In no time, the giant pieces of wood gave way to the professor’s skill, causing Calven to erupt in cheers and big claps.

---

“Greetings Calven Fallard, would you like to begin the newcomers’ training regiment?”

“Hello~” Calven carefully approached the mannequin, unarmed but in high spirits. “And yes, but first, look!” He waved his empty hands in front of him, hoping that this dummy would give him an experience to remember. “No weapons! And you only have my skill level, so I’ll go easy on you. Together, we’ll have my combat up to par with Ma’am Maya in no time! Alright?” Almost as if to doubt the plan, the dummy lightly tilted its head. The chef took this gesture and smiled, assuming his opponent understood him. “Alright!”

Readying his uninformed stance excitedly, he dusted off his fists, brandishing his weapons for the day. In turn, the mannequin took its position. “Okay, here I go! Don’t get knocked out too fast, or it’ll be too easy!” Through the air moved a fist, approaching at the speed of a tired old man. For a moment, the dummy seemed confused. It shook its head. It then proceeded to take note of the boy’s fist, still clumsy in its slow-moving trajectory. If wooden beings could sigh, that's what it did, and then slowly stepped to the side. The chef’s punch completed its route, thoroughly missing the wooden body, granting it a thumbs-up from the boy. Continuing their lesson, the dummy seemed almost tired as it put in effort to match Calven’s painfully naive strikes. On the other side, the chef was happy to be learning combat for the first time!

Just then, a glint of metal flew past, whizzing through the blond’s hair and landing with a thunk right in between the dummy’s eyes. A knife? Perhaps from one of his classmates trying to help him out? Odd as it was, he decided to leave it there and continue on.

As if a switch flipped, from lax to solid, the dummy tensed its battle stance when it looked back to Cal. “Uhh… that was a great dodge! Now hit me back--” It seemed to need no instruction as its foot immediately found a home in the mage’s chest. A rough gasp came from the boy as he was knocked back, wind completely having left him. “Wait!” A hand shot up to his chest, feeling to make sure his ribs were still intact, and took this moment to regain his breath. Thankfully, his shock significantly numbed down the pain, but something was clearly wrong. What the hell was going on? This was far beyond his capabilities!

The wooden body readied its stance again. “Hey! Look at me! I can’t keep--” Words cut short, his vision suddenly dimmed as the mannequin swiftly retracted a fist from Cal’s face. Though the boy yelped in pain, he could not react before a third hit came in the form of a knee to his gut, sending him back-first to the ground. So powerful was the strike that he laid there motionless for a long while before he rolled to his side and spat out a little mouthful of blood.

The ground provided respite for about two seconds before the mannequin approached him again, slowly yet ever so menacingly. Panicking, the stars floating around in the boy’s vision scattered. A jolt of adrenaline shot through his pained body as the hunk of wood turned its face to the student, glaring actual daggers at him, knife sticking out and all. Still on the ground, he needed to think fast. He stuck out both arms to pull himself forward, willing his legs onward as he crawled his way to one of the professors. Though the dummy was slow, no effort was needed for it to catch the boy’s ankles and drag him back to their post.

“Wait! Wait wait wait!” the chef’s legs thrashed helplessly in his opponent’s grasp, clawing at the ground in a lame attempt for control “You’re supposed to help me learn! I can’t learn if I’m dead! SO DON’T KILL ME!”

"Calven Fallard, please do not try to exit the training circle. Rest assured, we are not required to kill you. Would you like to take a break?

"Huh?" the student stopped his clawing and sighed in relief. "Ah yes, please. Give me a moment. And could we perhaps turn down the difficulty? It's like you were fighting somebody else back there..."