ShiningSector

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Thadeus and his goons' arrival was indeed an unwelcomed surprise. Just as Travis thought the danger had past, now comes a new and potentially even more dangerous obstacle. True to Felix's briefing and warning, they were out for the Paragons too. Throughout the spat between Thadeus and Raiya, and just as the opposing group's ringleader addressed Travis as an Untalent, he frowned as if taking the referred-to title of his lesser capabilities in such a manner personally. But through that, he carefully stowed the Paragon away into the inner pockets of his coat but not before summoning a unannounced amount of mana and tapping the crystal ever slightly away from any prying eyes.

Now that talks were seemingly over and a fight about regrettably about to ensue, Raiya directed Travis' attention to the more sincere-appearing member of Thadeus' team; Alya, whose name was openly introduced along with the other members by Thadeus himself. "R-right..." Travis unconfidently replied. While Travis had little worries about engaging the undead or earthly constructs, harming humans, even especially those who weren’t holding back their hostility, scrapped against his moral compass about such conflicts.

Ayla approached Travis until stopping several meters away from him. Just as Travis instinctively took a step back and leaned forward into a cautious stance, Ayla vocally expressed a disinterest in stirring up a conflict with him however reiterated Thadeus’ earlier demands once more in her own words, almost requesting him to giving up the Paragon. Whether or not her words held sentimental value, what Travis did know what that she was clearly more powerful than he was and would undoubtedly prove to be a serious threat.

As he made another brief advance, the runes on Ayla’s staff had then begun to emanate a sky-bluish aura in response to mana being summoned. Through the quick motion of her hand, a roundish and transparent construct matching the same aura had then materialized around her. There was no doubt in Travis’ mind that Ayla has summoned a barrier to ward against any of his attacks. It was a rather unanticipated play from his opponent; given his very low default amount of mana he could sustain, Travis was no stranger for previous adversaries to display their capabilities to comparatively intimidate him. He almost mused if Alya was treating him as a legitimate threat or if this was a common strategy for her to enact. Nevertheless, that barrier was now going to be a problem...

“I suppose that makes two of us...I'm not in the hurry to jump into a brawl,” Travis replied as he took a few more steps back as he began to slowly channeled his mana all the while making use of his mana analysis while he can, “but I can’t let you guys have the Paragon, especially not after everything we paid for in getting it.”

And then Travis came back with another reply, a response that even shocked he himself in letting loose, "If you really want, you're gonna have to come here and take it."

Great job you idiot, thought Travis as he imagined him kicked himself for actually goading a likely-to-be-very-dangerous opponent in coming after him, you are now a dead man if she comes after you for that.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

My post is just about done - I should have it up later this evening.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

As "nice" as we can make it.

Travis: "...I'm gonna die aren't I?"

Planning my post out right now - hope to get everything settled tomorrow.

Edit: Erm...Technically today

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Despite the odds of the prototype runic spell failing or worse; backfiring, the spell fired and performed as expected, save for the minor delay. Rune projected a raging blizzard that quickly consumed the earthly construct within its thick cryogenic atmosphere. The golem, caught of guard was almost instantly encased in frost and ice, preventing the golem from moving or responding any immediate threats.

Once the mist of cold and saturated ice particles dissipated, Travis found himself looking up to the golem's figure frozen in place, "Huh, that worked better than I expected," replied a satisfied Travis who was also relieved to see the threat temporarily immobilized.

It was then a minute later that the golem stirred attempting to at first move before concluding its inconvenient state. With a Ignis spell now being casted, Travis naturally gulped in worry, fully anticipating the golem's new target would be him, now that his attack proved to be a liability the construct could not ignore. But the time it took to freeze the golem and its efforts to thaw itself was apparently enough for Nemo to launch his counterattack. Being behind the golem, Travis could only make out a bright light intensifying its silhouette before hearing a loud blast that soon followed with the golem's violent deconstruction.

Sensing the danger, Travis instinctively went prone and tightly covered his head has debris of the construct's natural makeup flew over him. He didn't have to wait long as Nemo took the advantage of the golem's helpless state and relinquished its position of the Paragon, condemning it back into its primordial elements as the rest of the body crumbled away. Once the dust had mostly settled, Travis slowly and carefully arose to see the once intimidating golem now reduced to nothingness with Nemo atop claiming vistory with its confiscated Paragon in hand.

Travis sighed, now fully relieved that they had survived the menacing encounter. Nemo approached him and congratulated him on his efforts in halting the golem. Travis would have openly appreciated the comment and decried his display as luck given the incompleteness of his spell but instead, he nearly yelped in surprise as Nemo tossed the Paragon to him. It was such an unanticipated movement, Travis scrambled in catching and even holding the Paragon as it slipped through his hands more than once. He quickly ans surely secured their prize with wide eyes and exposed clenched teeth, still almost panicking of dropping and expecting the Paragon to shatter. That was, of course, if it was truly fragile.

As Nemo talked to Raiya about something almost personal sounding, Travis removed his attention from the scene and refocused on the Paragon in his hands. The ungodly-saturated mana-infused gem within his grasps bore a asymmetrical shape as it emanated a very luminescent light from within. While it wouldn't have been noticeable from a distance, the light that glowed within the Paragon's crystalline form seemed to move and mutate as it would if it were reflected from the surface of a body of water. It was almost a wonder if this mystical object was alive to some degree. Whatever the case it may be, it was evidently clear of the immense power he could feel throughout his body just by even holding the Paragon. It was almost alluring for him to exploit the crystal's potential and use its power for his own. But he knew better than to stoop so low than to expand his own gain and satiate the desires created by his own weak mana reserves. If anything, his true satisfaction would be the Paragon's eventual full inspection and examination once they get back to Felix's mansion.

With Nemo and Raiya finally done and now regrouped, Travis openly commented on their accomplishment, "Now that we have our Paragon, I think its time we head out and get it back home."

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

@ShiningSector
Just as a heads up we're waiting for you before continuing.

@Cottonmouth

Understood, I'll have a post up soon.

Transformers - One Shall Fall

Iz here

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Travis raised an eyebrow as he stared at Raiya, responding to her unusual gesture and remarkable calmness as she casually sat on her knees and observed Nemo and the golem have at it. It was almost as if the presence of the monstrously sized construct didn't even faze her despite its appearance taking the group by surprise and awe moments ago. What exactly was Raiya even thinking allowing Nemo to engage the golem by himself? Travis on the other hand however was still on edge as he helplessly watched the fight; unsure of Raiya's words in not assisting but at the same time hesitant to get stuck in without a game plan.

It was then Nemo that grabbed his attention by vocally requesting the he distract the golem. "O-on my way!" nervously replied Travis has he rushed around the golem's flank.

The idea of getting anywhere near the Paragon-powered construct in all of its intimidating attributes was something Travis really didn't want to do. As he closed distance behind the golem, the larger it became and the more dreadful the situation Travis was personally interpreting became. Once he got himself in positioned, he looked up at the stern of the golem, Travis frantically brainstormed how he was going to "disrupt" the rocky behemoth as Nemo earlier suggested. Large spells were definitely out of the question due to expensive mana requirements and some of his more trickier arts demanded time that he clearly didn't have. So what could he do?

His backdraft rune spell could work; it had plenty of power and with such little mana requirements, he could effectively cast it more than once. But then again, what good did a spout of fire have against earth? The attack would of likely just darken the golem's minerals hide in soot. Overall; not very effective. Anything else?

A second later, Travis recalled his cryo spell he was still orchestrating. Much of it was still incomplete and how it would be casted would still a rough idea. In fact, the completed work was merely a rough draft and that was about it. But what if it did work? It was an extraordinary long shot but it if did work, it was theoretically possible to affect the golem in a big way. What was here to lose aside from a backfire or being squished? Travis then quickly produced his notebook and aggressively turned the pages so he could see his work. As he gazed over the notes, the more looming the thought of wasting time was as he stared at the pages

Screw it, he though as he stretched the notebook open and placed his palm on the page containing the experimental rune. With a mental verse, he then imprinted the markings to his own hand before kneeling down and applying both palms to the first and gravle beneath him.

"Here goes nothing!" Travis announced to Nemo has he charged the rune with a supplement of mana.

If this spell was like its fiery counterpart, the slightest application of magical energy would immediately set it off and it was at that moment Travis braced for the sudden shift in casualty to occur. Seconds would tick on by and Travis would soon open one of his eye to examine his surroundings, only to find nothing had occurred. Nothing had chilled in temperature, nothing frozen. No spell.

"...Well, fu-"

Before he could finish openly cursing his frustrations did an unexpected spark of mana jolt from his fingertips. Travis only has a second to observe the strange phenomenon before everything in front of him, including the golem, vanished in a huge plume misty and cold white.

Transformers - One Shall Fall

"You sure that's wise letting them go on their own to Iacon?" Turbulence interjected over the comms just as Prism announced that their separation from the convoy.

While the Junkions did appear harmless and willing to assist them in their endeavor, Turbulence still carried doubts about them. With larger events soon to be approaching, he wondered if the radio-obsessed denizens could take care of themselves, especially in a fight. But more importantly, maintain responsibility in ferry their fallen leader to Iacon.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"Ah, shit!" Travis yelped as he frantically launched his entire mass out of sights of the golem's destructive counterattack.

By a mere second, Travis had managed to propel himself out of the way as he felt the sting of the intense heat from the stream of pure energy casted by the golem. As Travis scrambled to pick himself up from the ground, he nearly missed the clear transparent fumes that radiated from his coat, signifying how close he was from the beam that nearly incinerated him.

Just as he heard Nemo called out his "insurance" of handling the situation and seeing his comrade distract the golem further, Travis turned to Raiya, still feeling edgy about being nearly vaporized. "Any better ideas than a full-on assault?"

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

The gollum analyzed the stone before it was tossed, assessed it wasn't a threat and allowed the stone to hit the Paragon. The stone disintegrating into tiny pieces of gravel on contact.

The gollum turned its focus towards Nemo, and send a physical punch in Nemo's direction.

@Prodigal Son

Gollum really got beefy all of a sudden. =D