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A Hero Tale {Complete}

His foot shifted tightly against the ground. Bruce's twin-like technique was a tad peculiar, and slightly more difficult to follow than Zelriane had expected. He pivoted his body underneath the mace and lifted his left hand, coated in energy, to parry Bruce's sword, all while spinning around and aiming to strike his left hand directly against his stomach, through his defences. His left hand coated itself with agoniki before direct impact, and he made sure to face Bruce's main body, while keeping himself rooted to the ground, and weary of the clones behind him.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane changed his pose again, widening his stance and holding his elbows outwards, while bending his hands inwards. His elbows were locked at small degrees, almost taking the posture of a bird. "Takusan" Zelriane's posture was distorted. As the chains flew towards him, his body flickered to meet them, wary of the surrounding bladed hands, while striking the chain links repeatedly at mach speed.

The chain shattered in several places along its length, rupturing along its length as Zelriane's silhouette bounded around them like an army of green monks. He ultimately darted past the circle that entrapped him, and gained on Bruce quickly. His body appeared in front of the chain-launching swordsman with a spinning motion that pushed the dirt around his feet away once again, but he didn't attack. With the last of Bruce's earliest chains destroyed, his feet were frozen for a split second, as if he were waiting for his opponent to make some kind of move. His stance fluttered, like it was about to change. Despite his overwhelming speed and capacity to predict Bruce's movements, Zelriane was taking great care in his approach this time around. Zelriane narrowed his eyes and waited patiently, fishing for a counter.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane scoffed and tightened his stance as Bruce approached. He took two steps back slowly, and then faded from view. He appeared above Bruce for the briefest moment, dropping down silently with his foot extended, but disappeared again by pushing his body towards the ground behind the stone circle of clones. He landed heavily and changed the positioning of his hands so that they were sideways, vertically paralleled with the ground over one another, and flattened. "Akari" Zelriane disappeared, and in a swift motion, he dashed right through three of Bruce's clones with a cloak of energy sharpening to a point in front of him as he moved. The stone figures were not only split in half by the attack, but visibly disintegrated by the force of his strike. He stopped just next to Bruce and pivoted through another 3 sentinels, destroying them in the same fashion. The movement though, the only part of it that didn't appear as a stream of refracted light was the point in which he turned in roughly 0.4 seconds.

He appeared several feet to Bruce's left side afterwards, and spun in place, clearing the dirt around his feet with a small burst of wind. He postured himself in a similar fashion again, his hands in front of him, vertically parallel with the ground. "Hrmph," he grumbled irritably. Something about that last attack was off. He wasn't physically worn out from it, not in the same fashion that his Zenpou affected him. But he also didn't attempt to strike Bruce with it directly, either. It was a curious charge. Was he holding back?

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Oh yeah, no, I'll be fine," He coughed, patting the now-closed scab over his chest. "We forest people are pretty fuckin' durable. I'll be expecting you to pay me back eventually, barrier bob." Dacer let his head rest against the grass as Tiger began to lead Oz towards the tower. He closed his eyes and sighed loudly.

"I'm gonna take a nap."

Tiger quickly pushed at Oz's midsection, forcing the man onto his back. Quickly, the cat began to sprint towards the tower entrance, expecting Oz to cling to him quickly, so that he wouldn't be thrown off. He was pretty fast, and seemed unaffected by the One with Gaia fusion from earlier.

~ ~ ~

With Jenso gone, and Alvios chasing after Shaidra, Zelriane was quickly left with Bruce. The short speedster slid his foot against the rocky floor. "You should already know this is a futile effort," Zelriane rasped, charging his arms with a light aura of Agoniki, "I am even stronger here, than you've ever witnessed. No matter how long you stall me for, I will reach Jenso longer before he sees Yzeira. Then again, I likely won't have to."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 193 ~

_{One Last Hurrah}

Yziera stood over Oz, poised to erase him. But before he could, his eyes shifted away from the tower, and towards a figure that stood behind him. He stepped to the side as a stream of Ki flew past him, cutting a small hole that quickly repaired itself in his barrier. He turned towards Dacer, who stood upright in his one-with-Gaia form once more, atop Jeff's wind board.

"Hole in my chest, running on fumes, and my hair is fucked."

"On and one with these cliches and boisterous claims," Yzeira interrupted, firing a beam towards him mid-sentence. Dacer grinned and disappeared from view, before landing next to Oz with his bow pointed directly at Yzeira's back.

"See ya." He released another Ki arrow, and it tore through the barrier. Yzeira's body split in half, and faded into a cascade of red smoke, his eyes unblinking, but visibly irritated. His body faded, and he was no more.

At least, that's what it seemed like. Dacer looked up at the sky, and back down at Oz. "That was too easy," He grunted sarcastically, falling down on one knee. His form vanished once more, and he collapsed next to Oz, his body facing the sky. The tear, once slowed, had quickly regained its pace. He chuckled and looked at Oz sideways. Tiger strode up next to the bulky man and grew to his full size. "I'm uh.. I'm comfy here, bud. Why don't you take this big lug upstairs." Dacer looked at Oz carefully, glancing at his missing arm. "One helping hand is better than no hands."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelrian opened his eyes and pivoted to the side in response to the continued assault from all three heroes. First the sword and shock wave, he stepped back and let Jenso go, allowing his shockwave to deflect both Alvios' blade and Bruce's weapons, while he circled around the battlefield one again. With his back to Alvios, he kept his eyes open and followed the man through the dust, staying a few feet behind while zig-zagging chaotically. Jenso neared the door quickly, but Zelriane wasn't all too worried, until Alvios flung another attack forward. The ki wave crashed against the edges of the path that lead upstairs, and Shaidra retreated further backwards, turning into a scurry for her life up the stairs. Zelriane stopped hard and spun in place, pushing the sand at his feet away with a circular outburst of wind, along with the nearby debris. Alvios was in pursuit of her now, and she didn't seem too eager to stick around. What was worse, getting to Jenso was no easy task with Bruce watching his back. Not in the way he wanted, anyways. "Stupid little dog," He muttered to himself, shaking his head and turning towards Bruce with his fighting stance readied. "I suppose it's adequate to trust his blade." Jenso had a clear route to escape, while Zelriane shifted his sights over to Bruce. "I will drop you first."

---

~ End Of Chapter 192 ~

"Pyrrhic" A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy RP

Moro stood up with the book that he plucked, or rather, tore from the bookshelves split carefully in one hand. With his other, he turned through the pages carefully. Pictures of lush islands were squished between blocks of text that he wasn't all too interested in reading through. He wasn't too good with the bigger words, after all. The flipping stopped on a set of two pages, one massive series of paragraphs next to a full page painting of what looked like an occupied grotto. It looked occupied, anyways, with people bustling about left and right. He could barely follow the text, detailing the once-prosperous traders that were detailed, but he tried, again, biding his time until his circle was meant to congregate. It was difficult to focus with Toron mucking about the library, though. Moro lifted his eyes from the book every few sentences to glance at the mischief he was getting up to. The spectacle made him feel far less guilty about accidentally toppling those bookshelves over.

...kindly welcomed most settlers and scouts with open arms, expanding their prosper through an interconnected series of trade routes throughout the archipelago...

Moro winced at one of Toron's phrases and huffed through his nose. "Aye'ye idgit," he mouthed quietly, turning back to the final words on the page.

...A lack of scrutiny made their vast fortune forfeit for any who had grief intention. With very few clairvoyant assistance and access to only two schools of magic, it was only a matter of time before their town outgrew its own safety...

Moro sneered at the last sentence, and looked at the picture intently. Some of the people almost looked familiar, even as low resolution blots of ink. His body straightened itself as he heard somebody addressing him. Moro spun around and pushed the book into his bare stomach, as if to hide its contents. A silly reflex, which he immediately corrected. He looked over her head at the wild-man that he'd glanced at earlier and cringed the corner of his lip. "Aye'a- No, I ain't one bit familiar with that wacky-taffy brained fella' miss. There's a bit o' mystery that nun's liable to solve." Moro smiled and looked back down at Candy. "But if 'e's mutterin' truths between those lil' performances of his, we might be here on simila' business. Mighty un's forbid we be sharin' a circle tho. My gears don't work none too fine 'round nuts and screws. His people, the crazy ones, get me mind all jammed. More jammed than these fancy authors, writin' on about..." Moro looked at his book and lifted it slightly, turning the page. "Casus belli an' jus ad bellum" He paused and shook his head. "Come to think, it aint a splash too busy 'round these books today. Could be any number of Claries present." He looked at Candy after using his butchered sub-in for clairvoyants. The thought that she might've been part of his own circle hadn't even crossed his mind yet.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane stood firm with his eyes shut. He didn't need sight. The noises, shifts in atmosphere, and distinct smells that wafted through smoke and dirt were enough for him to at least avoid any incoming attacks. Zelriane's body shot towards the ground, underneath Bruce's attack, while Shaidra phased through it as it reached into her miniature bubble of darkness, before moving backwards, up the stairs herself. As the swords came towards Zelriane, he began to side-step them. To the left and then to the right, he weaved carefully, while making a small amount of progress forward. As several similar figures burst out of the maze however, his senses were momentarily confused. Jenso's smell was there, hidden within the smoke, but there wasn't much else to distinguish him from the rock clones. So Zelriane just began punching, taking out any figures that approached him with a swift series of strikes. The stone clones crumbled into dust upon being struck, and Zelriane darted towards the next silhouette of Jenso that struck his senses. Then, an obvious sign gave Jenso away. He was much faster than his clones. Zelriane changed his focus immediately, appeared behind Jenso, and overcoming his speed with ease. With both hands, he grabbed Jenso's shoulders, and began to activate his Agoniki as Jenso neared the stairwell.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane sighed. "Blather nonsense all you'd like." Zelriane blinked and shut his eyes tightly as the light flooded the room. Shaidra did not, rather, encompassing her entire body in an aura of shadows the blocked the rays of light from reaching her body. Although she couldn't see very far, she stood right in front of the stairwell, waiting patiently, just as she was told. "Unlike you few who push forwards desperately, strapped for time, we can wait here as long as it takes." Zelriane stepped back and took a fighting stance once again. "Approach at your own dismay."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"An overzealous exaggeration," Zelriane spat, crossing his arms. "I am here to reduce your odds of success from practically nonexistent, to irredeemably impossible."