ShiningSector

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

Travis collapsed in the sand with a sigh, "You know what I meant,"

Awhile longer and eventually Travis regained his strength in his legs, allowing him to finally stand and walk again after a short rest. Zuri eventually returned in their fold, prompting Nemo to declare that everyone here had survived the wreck. However, the way it was worded caused Travis' gut to turn again. There was no sign of Zoey still and the last time he even saw here was while they were fighting Seidon. Further more, he lost sight of her the moment she transitioned him through one of her shadowy portals all the way to the opposite side of the ship. He soon began to expect the worse as he silently delved more on the subject.

Eventually, as they finally began trekking into the jungle, it was then Nemo ambushed him with an unexpectedly personal question. The query certainly caught him off guard but it was nevertheless a needed distraction to keep his mind off of gloomy facts and circumstances, "Technically, I still am a 'student'. I may have mentioned earlier that I'm a Scholar which is one of a few aspects I was required to select from. Given my majors, it was the perfect fit."

"While as a Scholar," he continued, "I would have higher clearance to some of the more ancient and advanced tomes, my main job however is to seek out newer knowledge the Academia does have recorded yet and to research and fabricate new spells or techniques. I'm sure you've already seen some of my personal handiwork in action,"

"You'd think Scholars would have it good, being as we're usually writing reports and not looking for trouble unlike our Ruin or Knight Mages friends; unfortunately, trouble tends to find us. I've been on several expeditions and had to deal with a handful of threats though the most amount of trouble I seem to get in with the most are those Disciples of Salem jerks or the Cultist nutjobs.

Travis paused briefly before picking back up with Nemo's main asking point, “Anyway, the solo expedition I was on was more or less a bust. Too many sacrificial-happy denizens occupying many of my lead research sites and I was reduced to making spells in the middle of nowhere. As you can imagine, Felix showed up and recruited me after that.”

It was not a moment later did Nemo's final comment finally registered with the Untalent, “And what do you mean by looking like a masochist? You mean the hairdo, right? Having a full side of hair practically shaved off wasn’t my idea.”

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

Travis continued away at the literally weighing problem that had befallen him. In a matter of minutes, he had eventually carved through a section of the large metal debris that held him to the sand. His head recoiled into the warm tropical grains as he exhaled in fatigue after having conjured a continuous spell while only using a mustered portion of his available but diminished strength. Travis would've reached into his trench coat for a filled mana crystal in order to replenish his faltering and weakened reserves but the mass of the wreck consumed most of his body and made retrieving any of his items impossible.

Still, the uncertainty of the situation demanded Travis free himself as soon as possible lest danger were to discover his unfortunate and vulnerable state. With a grunt, Travis raised himself up as much as he could and began channeling mana once more into the same arte. Pressing his straitened left hand against the metal, sparks jumped into the air almost instantly as his spell loudly hissed and burned through the scrapped alloy.

Luckily, Nemo had apparently honed in on Travis' unintentional commotion and arrived and offered his assistance as soon as he deduced the Untalent's predicament. Travis himself was quite surprised how Nemo projected his voice past the rattling sound of his worked however having being been silenced by momentary fatigue, Travis, now feeling relieved, managed a passable 'yeah' followed by a more easily readable nod. With a simple display of telekinetic-like magic, Nemo effortlessly peeled away the battered hull Travis had been working on, finally freeing him from the wreck.

Travis crawled away from the debris as best he could before collapsing again for another breather. Travis, having looked over the condition of his lower body and legs, suddenly gave a tired chuckle, "Well, at least they're there still - too bad I can't feel them right now...thanks for the help, Nemo. Good to see you and Raiya didn't become fish food..."

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

The deep echoing growl of the creature beneath them was enough for Travis to deduce that Raiya's attack had only angered it rather than killing it. Per Nemo's clear warning, Travis quickly broke away from his position almost seconds before another tentacle shot out from the ocean's surface. The sheer mass and momentum had developed a large enough wave to slam in to and alter the ship's course. However, the tentacle soon did much worse as it then collided with the ship with tremendous and unrelenting force. The intense impact punched right through the lower decks and devastated much of the main deck in the process. Travis himself was tossed into the air as a result from the heavy hit before his stumbled into roll across the main deck.

Shaken from the experience, Travis struggled to get back to his feet but witnessed Nemo engaging the shadowy tentacle that now occupied the deck. Dread returned to his face as the post-explosive haze created by Nemo’s attack soon cleared the field but only to reveal that the tentacle remained intact and hardly even scratched. If anything, the tendril simply slithered back underwater to regroup with its host body.

Just as Travis finally arose did Raiya respond in aggression by firing at the recoiling tentacle with her own spells but little to no effect as well. It was then that she, almost desperately, sought any immediate suggestions to solutions to their endeavor. Given how near alien her expression was, even Travis could easily read Raiya’s clearly forced smile as a growing sign of panic and frustration.

“I’m a scholar, not a monster hunter,” Travis bluntly replied.

He didn’t want to get Raiya’s hopes up through mere speculation. Honestly, her’s and Nemo’s show of force against the creature further proved that he held nothing of anything effective or efficient value that could top any of their displayed efforts. This was an overall bad sign and hopeless situation, further degraded by Nemo’s factual and unoptimistic tone yet he still tried to pass by a quip in the process.

Everyone was then met with the unsettling sight of the all the sea creature’s tentacles rising from the ocean and surrounded the damaged ship. Travis looked around but found no exploitable gap between the tentacles; they were now essentially within the clutches of the monster below them. The ginormous main body of the beast had now surfaced however the dark storm overhead certainly dimmed most of its physical features all but for a pair of red eyes that peered out of the shade of the storm. Travis stared back and took a step behind him before soon succumbing to fear’s paralyzing embrace. It was now evident that the creature was not only here to bring down their barely floating vessel, it was present to specifically kill them all.

In its final move, the creature had then raised all of its tentacles again but now into a vertically dwarfing line up. Once all the tendrils had seemingly reached and disappeared into the tip of the ebony skies, did they then all literally come crashing down against the surface of the ocean. The combined might of the monster’s appendages breaking into the ocean had generated a tsunami the likes that Travis had never seen before. The towering wall of seawater came surging forth completely unopposed and withstanding any resistance laid against it. Before Seidon’s ship was violently consumer and crushed by the giant wave, Nemo had quickly crafted a physical power around everyone he could but in the end, they too were absorbed by the tsunami. So much had happened at once for Travis that by the point of the wave destroying the ship and compromising their position, the only thing he could recall was then instantaneous melding into darkness.

---

Travis finally begun to stir as each of his natural senses slowly returned to him. Unfamiliar and less chaotic sounds flowed into his ears; a far cry of the storm they had previously endured through. The sound of what appeared to be the chirps of seagulls overhead and the soft crashing of wave against a beach began the turning of the mental gears that were his consciousness. Soon new senses came through too such as the salty breeze and the bright light of the sun penetrating past his close blinds of his eyelids. He eventually awoke with his eyes repeatedly blinking, struggling to open up to from the unrecognizable light that he was not used to bathing in for quite some time.

Groaning from the displeasure of light that assailed him, Travis quickly regain most of his most of his motor skills as he naturally turned away from the sun and toward something else that wasn’t as radiant for his still-recovering perception. The carried motion brought forth the feeling of him moving against something warm, soft, and grainy; the sensation of sand as he eventually deduced. Travis’ sight then adjusted and finally he could see was now on a beach. They sky was a perfect clear blue, devoid of any abstract colors and soon indicating that the storm had in fact passed by. He slightly tilted his head to see the green foliage of palm trees and other assorted tropical vegetation directly behind him.

However, as he tried to turn to the sound of the waves ahead of him, something large and notably heavy came into view. It would take him a minute before he realized and nearly panicked as he found himself trapped under a large yet small wreck from the ship, likely a torn off piece of the hull. Travis naturally struggled and eventually managed to free his arms out but found that the remaining part of his body, namely his torso and legs were still underneath the weight of the wreckage. It was certainly an uncomfortable feeling but it was clearly and thankfully not life threatening for the moment. Oddly though, he couldn’t feel his legs at all but he surmised that with the amount of time he lay beneath the wreck, it was more likely blood circulation was perhaps restricted; a fact that he knew he needed to fix soon.

At first, he tried to call for help but still found himself too weak to speak. Additionally, he further deduced that he had no idea where he was exactly and how close he was to the others that were swept ashore. As grim as it was, he also accepted the possibility that they may not have made it at all. Still, he had work to do and it would start by freeing himself from the wreck that has him partially pined to the beach.

For another few minute, Travis wrestled with his mana well in trying to promote the flow of mana through his body. Sparks jumped from the tips of his fingers as he tried to concentrate on casting a particular spell that he could use to free himself with. Awhile longer and eventually he had accomplished in casting a typical welding spell as a hot red-glowing field surrounded his right hand. Travis positioned his hand at a loosened section of the wreck and then pressed against, causing the metal to ignite into sparks as he began cutting through it. Because of bright effects of the spell, Travis used his free hand to isolate his eyes while allowing him to still oversee his progress. As an added bonus, the spell’s bright sparking brilliance would’ve been far too difficult not to notice or hear for anyone if they were in the vicinity.

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

Travis looked up and eyed the top of the ship where the barrier emitter, his original and still present objective, was located, "Right. I'll have that generator down," he replied as he moved away and headed back up the stairs to the upper deck.

It only took Travis a few minutes until he found the remaining emitter located at the very back of the ship, just as Nemo had claimed earlier. He strolled up to the device and looked it over, up and down. Travis knew a few things when it came to machines however the implementation with mana had intrigued him in how it functioned and regulated the technicalities of the flow of mana. However the machine seemed somewhat crude in design and the groaning sound it resonated almost sounded as if a part and came loose and rattled against the inner moving components. In the end, there wasn't much to learn from the generator and with that, Travis backed off and distanced himself from it.

After placing Lori's rifle on the ground, he took one of the used mana crystals from his trench coat and grasped the crystal within his left hand while raising his right hand and directed his palm towards the emitter. Travis exhaled and began channeling mana from the crystal and poured its reserves in through his palm. One he was sure he had accumulated enough mana, he then chanted, "Antennes..."

A crimson circle soon materialized before his right hand, emitting a radiant glimmer within its holographic design as Travis turned his open hand into a clenching fist. He would slowly rotate his fist like one would turn a doorknob and each segment he cleared in the circle drafted a small white sphere at each point. Travis managed to clear the first section without too much trouble but then encountered resistance as he tried to clear the second point, moisture beginning to secrete from his shaky knuckle as he neared the next segment. Eventually, he reached the second and acquired another glowing icon as a result and decided to cease any further progression in to the circle's paved architecture.

Travis let out another exhale before drawing his right fist behind him and then swinging his arm into a throwing motion, "Burst Bluss!" he chanted at the exact moment his grip released and produced a bright red sphere light.

The flare-like object screamed threw the air as it was thrown towards the emitter. Upon contact with the shield generator, the flare had immediately detonated, engulfing the device in a large echoing explosion of concentrated mana and fire while the first light of Travis' circle vanished. The first detonation held enough force to toss the ravaged emitter in to the air where a second detonation occurred right afterwards, obliterating the remains of the device and consuming the last white node in the spell.

Travis took another step back and gently fell back on to the floor of the deck while observing his explosive handiwork. Admittedly, the spell he had conjured was by far the most destructive in his diverse arsenal of artes. However, it was a demanding spell that consumed large amounts of mana before it could properly case. While he knew how to use the spell, many of his Talent classmates could conjure the spell far faster and more efficiently than he could; a fact that made the spell for him unviable in combat. Nevertheless, the spell was enough to get by and its implementation saw more useful applications such as demolishing obstacles such at large decayed debris that blocked a potential passage way.

With the last emitter out of the way, Travis watched as the barrier that surrounded the bridge deteriorated, almost melting until there were no trace of it. With an exhausted sigh, Travis took the mana-powered rifle from the floor and rose back up while tapping into another crystal as he made his way up to the bridge. As he reached a few feet from the entrance, Travis couldn't help but notice that he was unsupported. While there was no longer anything stopping him from accessing the bridge, he however didn't know what was on the other side. Surely if anyone was in there, they would have known by now that the barrier had just collapsed and should understandably expected unwanted company.

"Zoey? Zuri? You guys down there?" queried Travis as he spoke through his manadial, "I could use some help up here securing...the...oh what now?!"

Travis' voice trailed off just has he started to feel the entire ship begin to shake followed up by an extraordinarily load sound seemingly originating from the bowels of the ship. The Untalent however believed it was perhaps much further down, below the vessel itself given how the almost organic sound reverberated through the ship's hull. Filled with a growing sense of dread and seeing as though a new threat was upon them, Travis abandoned his plan an storming the bridge and raced down to the main deck once more.

Just as he regrouped with Nemo and Raiya at the front tip of the ship, whom he had assumed already dealt with Seidon since they were back on the main deck, a massive-sized tendril quickly erupted from the ocean's surface and towered over the cargo ship. Travis' mouth fell open and terrified awe as he observed the single tentacle looming over them almost a quarter mile away before retracting into the deep. As if on cue, the overhead storm intensified with the waves becoming more aggressive and lighting clashed over the dark clouds above. One illuminating strike lit up the sea and momentarily revealed a much large entity swimming below them.

"Holy shit," Travis verbalized in dismay as stared at the titanic creating beneath the vessel. It was then that Nemo expressed a near sense of hopelessness regarding the threat before them which caught Travis' unamused attention, "really not what I want to hear right now."

Raiya voiced her own kind displeasure of Nemo's comment and unexpectedly opted to engage the underwater creature. The idea of attacking such a massive creature Travis was incredibly daunting and far more dangerous than anything they had ever encountered thus far. It terrified Travis to even consider participating in a fight, worse even getting eaten if we wasn't crushed first by one of those tentacles should the siege the ship. The more he thought about it, the more his conscious pleaded with him to run.

Miraculously, Travis actually followed Raiya on to the edge of the ship, however instead of firing into the depths of the stormy seas, he chose to take aim in anticipating for physical counterattack. While holding his fire, Travis turned his head to Nemo, "I hope we have an actual plan here!"

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

Travis suddenly found himself experiencing the brief sensation being tossed across the ship, seemingly with no apparent reason or cause at all. He quickly collided and rolled on to the upper deck of the ship, closest to the bridge. Managing himself up, he spun around and looked over the railing to see Seidon still action and unceasing in his mad attack. Travis swore that Seidon had took aim at and casted water spell capable to cleanly tearing into any substance it came across. He recalled himself coming under the attack with little way of evading the spell's deadly upshot until he saw nothing but ebony. Now he stood upon an unfamiliar position looking over the main deck of the ship.

Given the shadowy visual cues he discerned through the moment that transpired, he quickly deduced and concluded that it was Zoey that transitioned him to safety; Surely this was one more favor he now owed to her in addition with renewing his back-up mana supply.

Before he could take another shot at Seidon, Raiya had leapt in to the scene with a startling follow-up blow, concluding with her literally disarming Seidon with a massively-sized sword of charged mana and plasma. Nemo then made his move and closed distance with the Captain before executing a powerful strike that sent Seidon flying across the deck. Seeing the events unfold, Travis quickly made his way on to the main deck where he could get better support the team.

Upon stepping back on to the deck did Travis and everyone else found Seidon having mysteriously vanish after his entranced pools gave a false impression of a large attack after violently contorting in to a raging mass which eventually dispersed harmlessly without retort. Travis eyed his surroundings having learned a lesson from fighting Roy earlier but became clear that Seidon had bugged out once Nemo confirmed the Captain's whereabouts. For now, it seemed they had a small moment for a breather before giving chase.

As he waited for Zoey's anticipated appearance and everyone else to form back up, he approached Nemo from behind and stared down the hall past the hatch and saw the bloodied trail left by Seidon, "Call it a dumb question, but where'd you think he's running off to? Surely his best advantage is out here and not down there."

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

Pretty sure this illustrates my feels and reception to @Dawnpath's post quite well.

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

Sorry I 'lied'. I ended up burning myself out last night. Hopefully this makes up for it.

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

"If she was using an amplifier, I think I could trace it out but the latter would be helpful too,"

Making good on his statement, Travis casted a projection spell used earlier to decipher Seidon's runic lock. As how the lock was holographical disassembled so did the rifle as well. Aside from the obvious mechanical workings, he quickly narrowed down a number of systematic spells and runes put in place. The multiple characters installed into the inner framework alluded to the weaponizing of an offered mana amount before being fired by the rifle's own mechanical physics in conjunction with the main casting rune. Travis marveled at the design and was pleased at the intrical working of how the weapon worked. While he morally didn't support it, he could not deny it's splendid composition of magic and mechanisms.

Sure enough, Nemo was right about the amplifying portion of the rifle that made it deadly. He soon found the verse section that helped magnify the shot's power as it was casted. Without it, the ensuing discharge would have had little kick to it and if anything, only carried enough punch to perhaps knock someone down but not actually injure them in the process. Luckily, the amplifier was integrated with the rifle but its considerable complexity made the weapon difficult to use if one didn't properly know how it worked. But for Travis, seeing the artificial blueprint was the same as reading an instruction manual.

It was then that Zoey finally reappeared with his mana crystals seemingly filled and recharged, "Thanks, Zoey. I owe ya," said Travis as he retrieved the crystals back from her.

Per Nemo's orders, Zoey was already on the move again and engaged into a diversionary tactic while Nemo and Raiya began planning and processing their next moves. While having figured the mana-empowered flintlock out, Travis soon came upon a strange realization of the maan crystals he had received back from Zoey. They felt much colder than he had anticipated and gave off an unusual aura that he hadn't anticipated on encountering. It was clear her method of recharging the receptacles was much different than how he had done so previously. However whether they were any more effective than before was unknown to him. Unfortunately he quickly realized that he had no time to inquire Zoey of her handiwork as Seidon as another, much larger tidal wave than before came barreling down on top them.

"Oh, here we go again." Travis growled as he reactively summoned up several cryo runes and casted them.

As like last time, the cryogenic vapors spewed forth from their runes and melded with the crashing water, effectively freezing it. However Seidon's wave held more momentum than he expected and preventing Travis' spell from stopping the attack entirely. Instead, the attack caused the frozen portions of the wave to loom over he and Zoey like an arch as the surge of water harried over. The attack eventually passed harmlessly but not before mutating Travis' efforts from stopping Seidon's attack in to consuming a portions of the containers into a mass of ice and this limited their options and assuming new cover.

"Time to go!" Travis openly declared as he broke cover from the frozen containers.

For the moment, Seidon's attention was back on Nemo and soon Raiya as Travis caught her preparing a new and powerful spell. Seeing an opportunity before him, Travis slid in to a small gathering of box before scrambling to aim the Lori's former rifle at Seidon. Having stowed the crystals Zoey had recharged away, Travis decided to bring one of them out to replenish his reserves.

"Alright, just line 'er up...channel the mana" Travis spoke aloud has he been beginning drawing from the sliver-shining mana crystal supply. As he anticipated, the crystal's strange aura over took him briefly and carried an almost alien sensation. It felt empowering but didn't radiate any sense of rushing strength, instead it felt cool and calm. He momentarily thought if this was a bad idea to utilize a crystal bearing unfamiliar qualities but Travis soon disregarded his worries having confirm the rifle was now priming and was ready to fre, "now, cast the spell and let it fly."

Travis felt the stock of the rifle into his right shoulder as the weapon discharged, shooting a sizable beam of light unseen from its previous use against them. The pronounced shot sped forth and was already upon Seidon's mass. Travis was unsure how effective his shot was but he hopped his intention was knocking out Seidon's defenses would come through, leaving him open for Raiya's own attack.

The Marauders (A new Adventure)

Took a lot longer than I thought but its up. Again, please let me know if I should change anything.

The Marauders (A new Adventure)

The Captain’s initial question was odd at first. Gue’rach could have reactively gone into specifics regarding his suit’s capabilities but knew better in the end that this was not the time to detail such irrelevant facts and foresaw an intent behind the query. The follow-up question confirmed his suspicion as the Captain sought his opinion and likely his interest about putting a few holes into the attacking ships, provided the firing solutions would be offered from his crew mates.

His suit had minutes previously detected aggressive changes within the Monroe's orientation despite him hardly feeling the effects. He concluded that the ship was taking evasive action in an attempt to escape the pirates efforts in boarding the vessel. Shame. Gue'rach would have liked to have greeted the pirates in person but it was evident that the Captain was not going to give the raiders any advantage over his vessel and would rather fight head-on if necessary. It was the not the fight he had anticipated on, however the notion thrilled the Auval’kotor warrior nevertheless and made him all the more eager to join the fray.

"I would enjoy the challenge," Gue'rach brassly replied.

Gue'rach immediately stowed his weapon to his suit's magnetic seal, seeing as how his Thomu Felma, however dangerous it was to any bipedal organism, would do very little against the hulls of raiding ships, even in their decaying states. With his crewmates probably nearing their analysis of the pirate vessels, he took no relaxation of the situation and hurried over to the hanger's armory, each heavy his footfalls resonating across deck. Pulling back the armory doors revealed a decent collection of ordinance pieces, ranging from hand-operated cannons to spare ship-weaponry and secondaries. He made his choice upon dialing-in the unlock code and authorization for one of the secured weapons, prompting several mechanical arms to unfold and extracted a deployable autocannon from the store's confines. Assisted by his suit's limb enhancers, Gue'rach grabbed and hoisted the heavy piece over his shoulders and began jogging toward the hanger doors.

Upon arriving, he eased the heavy weapon off and rested between his right arm while interacting with the hanger door controls. The facility alarms soon blared with warning beacons beginning to rotating in their respective corners of the hanger, warning any unprepared personnel that the premise was about to be depraved of oxygen in preparation of the hanger doors and their bulkhead seals to unlock and retract for vacuum exposure. Luckily for him, he was the only one present. After the warning had passed, Gue'rach could see his HUD's environmental survey advising him of the declining oxygen levels within the hanger though the report ultimately didn't mean much to him since his suit had already secured a breathable atmosphere for him.

Once the hanger finally became airless and all essential hardware such as the fighters were locked to the floor securely did the last airlocks slide in to the hull along with the doors. Gue'rach's suit, reacting to the encompassing changes of the environment quickly magnetized to the floor's surface just as he began to feel weightlessness of gravity trying to take over him. He grabbed the autocannon again and slowly made his way out the hanger door and on to an extended plank where he then positioned himself and armed the now featherweighted weapon over his arms.

Eventually, the machine known as Nexus soon contacted him with the targeting solution data the Captain had promised earlier. Targeting information quickly filled his HUD, highlighting his quarry designated as Alpha with constantly shifting projectile paths as the Monroe continued down her slippery maneuvers. His suit already began assisting him as he took careful aim at his first target and allowed his crosshairs to sync up with the first solution. As Nexus pointed out, it was clear the pirate vessel in his sights was in bad shape with noticeable structural wear and missing external components. Still space worthy overall but certainly not ideal for combat, especially for what it was about to endure.

"Very well," Gue'rach responed with a hint of insistent glee, "they'll rue they day they've chosen their prey so poorly!"

Having been granted the order to engage, Geu'rach wasted no time and squeezed the firing mechanism of autocannon. Despite the effects of the vacuum of space suppressing all sound, Gue'rach could still register the muffled localized discharge of the weapon firing. A second passed by and the round went right on target, penetrating the hull of the pirate ship's low bow and instantaneously detonating. The ensuing explosion tore a noticeable hole in to the vessel as fragments of the weakened hull became spaceborne thanks the ensuring decompression.

Gue'rach roared in triumph as he set loose another shot, this one driving in to the starboard section and blasting out a large gash into the ship. The savage result exposed two decks to the void and threw anything that wasn't properly sealed in out in to space. The exact amount of damage or casualties he was inflicting was unbeknownst to him from his distant position, whoever he remained focused on each solution and continued his assault upon the injured raider, progressively dismantling the Monroe's foe with each successful impact.