MelonHead

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

Metz noted the wind kicking up around him even as everything around him seemed to be moving in slow motion. The side effect of his Mana use was something akin to a hyper stimulant, the result, he had reflexes far surpassing his norm. Therefore, he was able to note the danger of the launched sword and avoided it in a simplistic fashion, using the heightened gravity to drag himself to the ground far quicker than normal. His legs purposely buckled, dropping him into a low crouch even as the swordsman seemed to disappear.

“Wha-“ Metz gripped his pistol in both hands and turned, right foot dropping forward in his crouch as his left pivoted to support him as the sword hurtled over his right shoulder and behind him, the point narrowly missing his flesh but its own speed reducing its effectiveness as it was unable to revolve fast enough to threaten him before it was already safely past him. He had caught movement off to his left hand side, and had to react quickly before the dust storm once again severely disadvantaged him. Lacking the required time to even consider how his enemy had ended up in the air off to his left he sighted what he knew was coming, the grenade, and fired with a practiced ease. It was a difficult shot, but aided by the fact that it was an incoming target. The Mage knew he had struck true as his bullet ricochet off the metallic sphere about ten feet from his position and caused it to reverse its momentum, likely broken by the impact as it flew back towards its owner. As far as Metz knew it was an explosive, and sending it back where it came from was ideal.

That was the last thing he saw as the dust cloud engulfed the field, once more returning him to darkness as it buffeted his clothes and forced him to turn away from the incoming winds. He re-cocked his pistol and fired out into the dust in the direction he calculated his enemy would hit the ground, provided he dropped straight down after whatever strange ability he had used to seemingly teleport. Crouched in the stone circle Metz knew he could be face to face with his sword-wielding enemy in a matter of moments, he had to hope his reflexes could save him, from what he had seen thus far the man could be upon him before he had time to cast a spell. He counted out exactly one second after firing, his mind preparing the circle.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

Hmm, might have to sleep on this one. Couple things though.

1. What affect is gravity having? Presumably it's doubling the exertion of Flash-Point, as it's usually carried out without training weights and the gravity of the world is the equivalent of your character having his weights.

2. How did he get in the air using Flash-Point? Presumably the idea is that he can run really fast, not really sure how this translates to ending up thirteen feet in the air unless he can also jump with immense force, which leaves the question of how he isn't flying into the stratosphere. I can buy Flash-Point working on the ground, sort of, but in the air it seems dubious that he can cancel all that momentum. It might as well be a teleportation spell at that point, which is a pretty high tier power for this level.

3. You mentioned the sword was 'spinning' towards Metz, presumably that means its not hitting him hilt first? What part of the blade would be facing towards him if he remained stock still?

Also, as the blades were being kept in the air by some sort of spinning cog thing I don't claim to understand, now that two have left wouldn't the remaining two hit the ground? Can't remember what happened to them.

I'll have a reply tomorrow, but I would like an answer to question 2 and 3, question 1 is ultimately your decision much like me deciding when Metz has ran out of Mana, but Flash Point is a potentially devastating skill, I'd at least like to know if it has any discernible limits, much like Metz being unable to maintain that many spells.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

This is just a hypothetical anyway, but it's worth sorting out some ground rules as we're working with different ideas of magic. I think I have some right to what can and can't be effected by your power, as you used the exact same argument against me when you used nether energy and said it was immune to being energy drained by Fury. My circles have a lot of limitations on their usage, it wouldn't be all that fair if after all the work I have to put in to use them you can cut through them willy nilly.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

I think I explained to yoshua171 that his strands of the Omniverse he cuts the threads that caused or allowed it to exist. Which is why they cease to exist (he basically cuts it from the history books literally.) It only effects magical effects though, so it can't cut a person from existence or anything just from the sword touching them(I mention that much anyway in the CS). He also sees the flow of energy to where it will be in the from of threads. Though I do consider each pillar or stone a separate thread of magic.

Wow, Metz talks even more than Tablurath. :K

@GreivousKhan

What I'm saying is that the rock itself isn't magical, it's actual rock from the ground being moved by magic. Sort of like how you couldn't just make all the shards of rock dissapear just because they'd been given momentum by a lightning bolt. It's the inherent weakness in 'magic immune' characters and the like, at least the way I see it. Magic can be used directly, or it can be used indirectly, for example by throwing a boulder at someone. You can't be immune to a boulder being thrown at you, and once the magic has transferred into momentum it's not magical in nature anymore.

Which essentially makes the Rock Pillar immune to your magic cutting effect once activated.

Metz is somewhat unhinged, he talks to himself a lot, one of the side effects of Black Mana use.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

Tablurath is scary like that.

Well you are already doing better than that Raelis fellow.

@GreivousKhan

Good to know.

Before an argument can arise, I think it would be fair to say your swords shouldn't be able to cut through the rock Metz manipulates. I could buy the swords effect working on fire water or air pillars, if they cut the power source away, however the earth circle works from the bottom and then the momentum carries it up, its not a continuous effect and the rock summoned is ultimately just ordinary rock. (Just read the swords cs, apparently they can cut through rock, but I'm assuming there is a certain degree of realism to how far they can cut through solid rock, seeing as how it's less about sharpness and more about force and your character doesn't seem to have excessively superhuman strength.)

Also, you may have picked it up in the last fight, but the way Metz' pillar spell interacts is that he pictures a spot in his mind and then casts the spell with the desired effect, the magic only enters the spot he has chosen once the spell is finished and has no prior signature there until that point. Once it's placed you can see it with your magical sight, or when it's in his hand, but you could probably guess both those things without magic sensing.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

“Fuck, so much for lightning, his swords eat it.” Metz spat, completing the Earth Circle which appeared around him with a four foot diameter. It hardly seemed fair to the Mage, who had just witnessed the only spell he was confident could hit the man be consumed by his sword without a trace. Still, no point getting demoralised just yet, or maybe there was, as his protective spiked rock field broke down around him. Apparently the change to the terrain was set to some indiscernible time frame, and was now breaking down to sand and dust and returning to what it was before. Unfortunate, but it had served its purpose, the rock shards had done some form of damage to his enemy at any rate.

On completing his defensive spell he saw his enemy had manifested some kind of conjured swords, an unfamiliar ability but with an affect Metz had seen used before. He expected the weapons to be launched at him, furthering his problems, but instead the man had to hit one with his own weapon to launch it skyward. Unlike many opponents, Metz perception was not supernatural, but with mana rushing through his body his perception did supersede its normal limits. With that in mind, the drawing of the grenade at his opponent’s side did not go unnoticed, and with such weapons being common in Felenr before the Departure he recognised the threat it posed.

His right hand shot to the pistol at his hip and drew it, levelling it at his enemy. Two spells in quick succession had drained a worrying amount of mana, but he figured he must still be working roughly on half power at the least, it wasn’t time yet to ready another spell but to go on the defensive.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

Your character was lucky, had Metz been preparing to use any of his pillar spells standing still would have been the worst thing to do. Convenient though.

Also I'm pretty glad the environment changing shard is a thing, otherwise that dust cloud was pretty much GG.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

“Hah, cute.” Metz muttered, immediately holstering his pistol and dropping low to one knee in one motion as the dust cleared. The action set him at eye-level with the tallest of spikes, but more importantly it braced him to the ground as he drew both palms up in the direction of his rapidly flailing enemy twelve meters ahead of his new position. This was going to be one hell of a bang.

He unleashed the lightning bolt from both hands, sliding backwards a few feet even with his precautionary measures. The noise was impressive, shattering its way through an assortment of rocky spikes as it spat towards his enemy in a tri-fork of lightning, his magic left a trail of devastation as rock was hewn and shot at his foe like bullets. Not only did he have to contend with three streaks of lightning about half a foot apart but the mess of rock and debris that came with them, threatening to pierce and maim in every direction. The centre fork was dead centre, the left may hit an arm and the right likewise, but it was the tops of the rocky spikes that shattered and spat towards him that posed the real threat. It was a cloud of debris not unlike a shotgun blast that came with the bolt of lightning.

“Deflect that, dumbass.” Metz spat vehemently, picking himself off the floor and weaving a new spell as a precautionary measure, an Earth Circle.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

Well that’s shit. Metz thought, as Mana suffused his system and the dust kicked up around him. There’s not a whole lot of hope in a battle when your enemy can move a sword faster than a bullet can fly, hell, even spotting the damn thing should have been near impossible. It suggested reflexes many times beyond his own, perception beyond his own, speed far beyond his own. To reliably deflect a bullet was nearly impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but he’d just gone and seen it. All of this told him he was facing what could very well be a mix of his previous two opponents, the speed and perception coupled into one sword wielding maniac. As his view of his enemy grew obscured, he knew he could be in danger of being struck down by an opponent too fast for him to see. The answer was simple, give himself an advantage.

He weaved quickly, preparing a bolt for use. It was the fastest projectile he had, and always a sure-fire bet when facing off against enemies who could move faster even than his bullets. As of yet, he’d yet to find someone quicker than light itself, and on that day he knew his death was nigh. His second trick was simplistic really, he needed the terrain on his side to limit his enemy’s speed, and the shard in his right hand was perfect for just that. He imagined a scene etched in his mind, the Impaler’s Field, an ancient battleground from Felenr that he knew well. It was characterised by waves of spiked rocks some reaching waist high that essentially made the area impassable at speed and difficult even to walk across. It was not dissimilar to rock pools on earth, but at a far more extreme level. The area around Metz rippled and changed, leaving him with an escape route of clear land directly behind him for twenty feet, but otherwise making the area near inhospitable for his enemy who ran out in the dust. With his vision obscured Metz had no way of knowing where the man was, but he was confident the changes would last long enough, and more importantly slow his enemy significantly enough, that when the dust settled he’d be an easy target.

The dust was still thick, but slowly beginning to clear almost as soon as it had come, as the area almost five hundred feet in every direction moulded into the spiked death-trap Metz had imagined. If he was lucky his enemy’s speed would turn against him and he’d be impaled in the dust, if he was less than lucky the dust would clear and he’d get to use the bolt or his pistol on the sword wielder.

Nexus of Worlds- Final Round

<Snipped quote by MelonHead>

So when is that post coming?

@GreivousKhan

There it is, I believe that shot would be considered prepped, considering.

Also my own posting will be less than stellar this week, got two essays due for next Thursday, I'll always let you know what's going on day-by-day but finding the time for a whole post during crunch time might be questionable.