ShiningSector

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

After finally departing from a seemingly never-ending staircase leading deeper to the earth, it was then that Travis and his other teammates arrived at a problematic dead-end. Before them was a presumably massive crevice with little indication of how far down it went. His light spell could only illuminate so much of the cavern that only a few notable details could be identified. What was made obvious once the had arrived was the presence of what seemed like a river below them which trailed off to an unknown destination. The more intriguing fact however were the narrow pillars that stood out from the racing stream.

With no appealing option to cross the gap, it seemed that the only way forward was to use the tops of the pillars as actual stepping stones. The problem however was that he, and maybe Zuri too, was not the most athletically nimble person of the group unlike Raiya. There was a chance he could make it across but each hop or jump had to have been carefully planned, given how small each pillar was. He unfortunately did not have the balance nor the confidence to traverse the small platforms. Raiya eventually came to the same conclusion and vocally presented her concern with the situation.

However all wasn't lost. Unlike Raiya, Travis was decently trained in some creation spells along with the retrofitting of constructs through multiple artes. Before replying, he overserved the water below flowing around the pillars, noting the mist and water molecules that consistently sprang forth.

"I have a couple of ideas," Travis began, "With the amount of moving water beneath us, there should be enough moisture for me freeze the surrounding base around each pillar up to their apex. I predict that should enlarge the overall platform size of each pillar we'd have to hop on to. Should make things moderately easier for us slowpokes."

Travis then placed his left hand on one of his tomes, "Of course if you don't mind waiting, I could conjure up our own mobile platform that should ferry us across, would take time to get it ready though."

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

It didn't take Raiya long to confirm that aroma of the room they idled in was essentially vacant of any foreign scents. Travis knew the idea would likely fail but he couldn't blame his teammate entirely for the idea falling apart; the entire place thus far was impossibly devoid of any impurities or indications of age. The mere pondering of the fact bothered him, making the Untalent question the exact reason in to going through so much trouble in maintaining such a clean image, even when the owners were more then likely deceased.

Travis sighed just as Raiya unleashed her displeasure upon one of the golden trinkets which pinged across the room's smooth surfacing floor before finally scraping against something rough and unkempt. He turned around after registering the difference of the sound - Raiya also picked up on the anomaly though only visually and determined that the stairway was actually not apart of the room's décor and instead served as a hidden passage. The assumption was sound as the cobblestone surrounding the descending stairway lay uplifted and broken; a conflict to the room's otherwise perfectly intact state. He agreed too this seemed to have been the handiwork of someone that had only just recently been through here.

He approached the stairway and took the moment to analyze it before signaling his candlelight spell to position over the stairway to better illuminate its sinking steps, "no objections from me. We should get a move on."

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

"There ya go!" Travis said in acclaim of Zuri's effort, "now just maintain that flow. Nemo and Raiya should be-"

Before Travis could finish his sentence, a loud explosive sound coming from outside rang out through the hallway, cut him off and nearly shook him to the ground. The Untalent however managed with little effort to remain standing and turned to face the entrance, now clouded with dust and debris particles. Travis wanted to go back and investigate, but he knew he and Zuri couldn't leave their statues unpowered without the doors ceiling up due to their would-be absence. Annoyingly still was their that manadials were still being interfered with and therefor couldn't be used in anyway to communicate with their teammates outside. Feeling the hopelessness washing over him, Travis gave an irritated grunt and kick the statue before turning to face the entrance once more, now witnessing the doors beginning to slowly close

"Nemo? Raiya? What's going on out there?!" Travis called out.

No one answered immediately but after less than a minute of silence, Travis could then vaguely hear the voice of Nemo from outside. Travis couldn't make out Nemo's words to well but after seeing Raiya rush into the hallway before the doors closed behind her, he came to the assumed conclusion she was ordered to enter the temple, possibly to back he and Zuri up before they were separated from the outside. It was likely now that Nemo was currently engaged the aggressing members of the Church, hopefully just one of them.

Travis then backed away from his statue after feeling its aura vanish, signifying that the construct was no longer responding to his mana circulation. At Raiya's commanding remark, Travis hurried behind her just to keep his candlelight spell with them has they traversed the dark hallway. They eventually arrived into large room littered with trinkets of jewels and gold, fitting for a royal palace. While a pleasant sight, he concurred with Raiya's deductions on what this room's true purpose was. The gold pieces seem real enough and Travis couldn't detect any trace of any visual foul play cause by any illusions. Whoever owned the gold though was beyond him; considering Nemo's earlier history lesson, there was a chance that the treasure strewn about was not owned by the original owners of the temple but by pirates long ago. Whether the case might by, Travis was hesitant of touching any of the rich fortune before him fearing there was a likelihood of it being booby-trapped.

However, their main problem presently was where to go. There were three closed entryways before them and a spiraling staircase leading to another room before them. Raiya then opted a rather unorthodox method of finding their desired path by, literally, sniffing it out. It technically wasn't a bad idea. Certainly a weird one; albeit inefficient too, though the concept of identifying the scent of decayed or burnt surfaces and even residual mana traces was a doable method of locating their path. Travis meanwhile scanned the lit room for any other hints while he aimed down Nemo's shotgun in anticipation for any more threatening surprises.

"I hope that nose of yours is a good one then," Travis replied, sounding somewhat doubtful but nevertheless going along her technique.

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

While Travis did accept Nemo's offer in lending a firearm to him, he wasn't expecting to receive a long-barreled shotgun. Travis' eyes widened with his expression shifting to a surprised, near jaw-dropping look; if anything, he was anticipating something much smaller such as Nemo's revolvers. Although, Travis certainly wasn't against using such a weapon, having already utilized Lori's rifle hours ago, the familiarity of the weapon in his hands lingered still.

Upon closer inspection of the shotgun, it was apparent to Travis how much care and decorative effort Nemo had put into the weapon. Not only was the weapon elegant, Nemo had even gone into detail about its destructive capabilities, ranging from shattering magical barriers to flat caving right through them based on the cartridge used. While eight shots seemed limited, it seemed fair given its role for busing open defenses.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to look after it. I reckon this'll come quite in handy," replied Travis as he took hold of the shotgun and its ammunition.

While they travelled deeper into the jungle that seemingly became less dense with each meter elapsing, Travis and everyone else would’ve began seeing an increase in the number of ruins and older structures as they converged on the center of this ancient civilization. The mere thought of where they were nagged at him, had their manadials been free of whatever interference they were encountering, Travis believes he could possibly narrow down a few likely old civilizations that should have inhabited the region. Eventually, they arrived before a larger building that stood at the center of the decayed village. However, the sanctum-like structure appeared as if it had been built and completed just recently without any sign of wear or tear. Given the state of the smaller buildings that surrounded it, its seemed nearly alien in comparison.

“Strange,” Travis thought aloud but expected no reply, “no indication of aging or temporal decay whatsoever and yet there is no one around to be able to manage it. Given the interference on our manadials, could this too be the work of a Paragon…?”

He then watched as Nemo closely inspected one of two shrines that each hosted a large crystalline statue of an unrecognizable figure. It soon became evident that the statues were made up of manacrystals just as Nemo touched the artificial hand of the statue before him, causing the entire figure to light as a response to his mana flow. With one of the statues now glowing, the doors to the ancient structure reacted and partially retracted into the walls. It was now clear what they had to do.
With Raiya walking up to the second shrine and powering its statue, the doors finally separated and revealed the entrance inwards. Beyond the entrance was notable pathway shrouded in darkness seemingly uninterrupted by the sunlight that beamed inward. Even before Nemo had ordered Travis and Zuri to investigate the inner hallway of the structure, Travis was already able to deduce that there as method of ensuring the doors outside remained retracted without Nemo or Raiya’s involvement,

"I suspect the mechanism inside shouldn't be too different like the setup out here. This should take too long,” declared Travis as he armed himself with Nemo’s loaned weapon before proceeding inward, "let’s go Zuri."

Already a few steps in and Travis could quickly tell they were running out of supporting light. Figuring that it was inevitable, he soon pooled a portion of his mana into his left hand and tossed a newly created ball of light that floated above them while illuminating the entire passageway, “that should get us going for a bit.”

After walking a few meters into the ancient establishment, did they finally come across a set of similarly build statues that mirrored the one outside. With the quick use of his advanced light projection spell, he soon confirmed the statues here provided the same functions as the ones outside after the spell pointed out the mana pathways and the mechanical components that controller how the doors opened and closed. He then turned to Zuri.

"It’s the same principle as the setup like we saw at the entrance," said Travis has he placed his left hand on to the statue’s right palm, causing the manacrystal figure to light up as he began channeling mana, “think you can charge that statue over there? That should keep the doors open and allow Raiya and Nemo to come in.”

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

"I appreciate the compliment," replied Travis before following up after Nemo’s reasoning, "I'll try not to boast, though Untalents do have to compensate for something at least since many of the performance tests aren't segregated. Therefore, it is expected we compete with other students, including Talents."

As they moved deeper down the island, Travis figured why stop given how everyone weren’t bringing up any other topics aside the one initiated by Nemo, "yes, there is a social food chain though I suppose it can't helped as the Untalent population is pretty small in comparison so some tension is expected to arise."

"However, I feel the impression of the Societas Academia being an elitist school that brings down the incapable and unfit is really undeserving. I won't deny the few cases that pop up but it’s certainly not that bad. Many of my close colleges back there are Talents too," concluded Travis.

After presenting his part of the topic, Travis and everyone else soon arrived into a wide-open space within the what was likely the center of the island. Between them and a notably a taller land mass was a series of deep canals and trenches, as flowing with rushing water supplied by the waterfalls that spilled from the center island. It was even more likely that was there main objective.

However, a problem that briefly presented itself was the obvious case of traversing the active lanes of water that stood before them. Unless one would be able to fly or walk on water, there weren’t too many options to be had when dealing with the aggressive currents without being swept away. Even Travis’ cryo-rune wasn’t as effective when dealing with such an active stream and the best he could hope for were merely the creation of a few isolated Icey surfaces behaving as stepping stones.

Nemo on the other hand provided the seemingly more efficient action of knocking down one of the local trees and repurposing it as a makeshift bridge. While not as colorful nor subtle as Travis’s would have put it. After a word of caution, everyone began making their way over the trunk of the fallen tree without too much difficulty. It was then that Nemo summoned another subject, one that initially stumped even Travis initially.

"...I thought it would be obvious that I don't carry any weapons," Travis bluntly replied, almost sounding unamused even.

After he cleared the tree and stepped on to the other side, he then faced Nemo and continued, "nevertheless, I lost that intricate rifle back there and considering whom we may eventually run in to... I guess I won't say no to having one just in case."

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."