The 42nd Gecko

The Enlightened War

War is a brutal affair. Death. So many other facets that inspire horror in man, but that alone is frequently enough. How many are the people and the things, the cultures, crushed beneath uncaring death in war? Yet War is also a romantic affair it seems, with glory and victory praised, tales of heroism told round every hearth.

What if the war didn't need Death? What if the warriors of this battle were so far beyond mortal ken, that death could not touch them. What if their skills surpassed the need for the numbers of armies, or the stone walls of cities, allowing the battles to happen far from the fragile things of mortals? Such are the skills of the Practitioners, wielders of Arete, Ki, and Mana. Their battles are wondrous and organized, honorable, and fair. The people may look on with wonder and amazement as dragons of water or one man made ten clash in the sky, without covering children's eyes or fleeing in terror.

Three houses fight with each other, not for dominance, but to prove their values are the truest road to enlightenment. The Thousandfold Golden Paths, masters of Arete, seek enlightenment through the pursuit of the most esoteric secrets of the universe that defy all logic. The Coiling Dragon Betwixt Heaven and Earth, masters of Ki, seek enlightenment through finding their place in the cycle of life to become one with all. The Omnimental Circle, masters of Mana, seek enlightenment through codifying complex laws of physics made simple and malleable. These three fight to prove the strength of their ideals. And in the ruins of the Precursors, they seek their destines. But all this without malice. Without death. Truly, it is an Enlightened War.

If one doesn't look very hard, that is.

The War of the Three

Atarah

Atarah stepped into the strike with the same side as Utada's swing (so if Utada was swinging with the right hand, Atarah stepped forward with her right foot) being more or less all aggression. This made Utada's swing from just slashing at Atarah, to landing across her entire back, even so far as the hilt aimed to crack against Atarah's shoulder, due to the short length of a Gladius. Atarah threw a hook with her right arm, not to strike Utada or parry, as Atarah's short reach wouldn't allow an attack, but to bind Utada's arm. Atarah aimed to throw her fist under Utada's elbow before Utada's slash could finish, and then pull it up and forward as it landed. This would bind their arms together by the time Utada's slash landed, allowing neither one of them mobility with their arm.

Of course, to time this bind in such a difficult to dodge manner, Atarah had to accept the slash across her back. By stepping into the blow, and making it so the hilt would land against her shoulder, she slightly would reduce the momentum, but otherwise, it would land at full strength. Save for the crucial detail of Atarah's magnetic aura and exceptionally tough skin. Being nearly immune to metal weaponry, Utada would find that last millimeter of distance nearly impassable with the whole blade landing across Atarah's back, resulting in a superficial scratch, rather than a vital armor breaching blow. And the longer the blade stayed close to Atarah, the more its systems would fry from Atarah's demonic corruption and magnetic aura.

If this had been successful, Atarah would hold Utada tight, while she aimed a punch towards the small of Utada's back with her free hand. This was aimed towards one of the weakpoints Soft Shadow Style had marked, and if it landed on target, the shattering wave of demonic energy would be activated, and Utada would take heavy damage, even through her titanium cloth skin and armor. But meanwhile, to distract her from this, Serah continued her advance. The best deception was one that could become the true attack, and the lance was gripped by a hand of earth and thrust forward for another SSS created weak point, this one located roughly where the heart would be on a human, attacking Utada from the front.

Serah kept her momentum in check, so that if Utada say, detached her arm to dodge, or Atarah hadn't succeeded at the grapple, she wouldn't impale Atarah. On the flip side, Atarah went all out, activating her Maximum Effort to boost her physical speed and power as much as possible right from the start. "Victoire's already got the battlefield covered in roses, you've already lost! This is just for stealing my prey!" Atarah shouted, anger and aggression oozing from her palpably.

@Banana@Lmpkio@floodtalon

Miyu

Happyverse

Still Overly Dramatic BGM

"That doesn't sound like horrible idea, but I dunno, I almost wanted to build it myself. Get away from society for a little while. Start from the basics, re-invent everything from the ground up. Given my clinical immortality and lack of need for food or shelter, I could just devote all my time to it. I'd never catch up to someone like Hohenheim doing things that way, but I'd feel better about myself, and, eh, it's not like being the second one to discover something makes it any less fun to discover if you do it independently. But, in the more immediate comfort sense, it would make sense to try to find a job and some roommates. Let's see what we can see, eh? I'll see if I can sense any vast quantities of water. Hopefully I won't lead us to a sewer or water main." Miyu stopped for a moment and focused, casting her Circle wide to try and sense around for a large body of water. Of course, sensing so far out was very imprecise with Miyu's technique, and Miyu accidentally got a read on a fresh sea food place with a giant aquarium.

"Shall we?" Miyu motioned.

@KoL

The War of the Three

@KoL

Mephilius: "Wait, you pay us?"

RILD: "It's a metaphor."

Mephilius: "A metaphor for what?"

RILD: "For not murdering you gruesomely. One moment while we discuss who gets the honors."

The War of the Three

@Lmpkio Wasn't Mephilius there the whole time and just didn't bother to do anything?

The War of the Three

@KoL No rush, I think we're fairly good at amusing ourselves.

The War of the Three

Atarah

Utada would have one critical sign that something very bad was about to happen, as she reloaded, she would hear the shrieking crack of breaking stone. She'd have a moment to react before Atarah's lance burst out of the ground at what was hopefully no longer her position. But then a moment later, Atarah herself would burst out at a different location. She would be sensing Utada's position from below, expecting Utada to dodge upon hearing the stone cracking, and herself aiming to burst from the ground behind Utada as Utada dodged away from the more obvious attack. A fairly simply trick with some weaknesses, but not necessarily a bad one. And hey, if Utada didn't dodge, she'd be impaled. Regardless of whether it worked, Utada might have more important things to do than sustain fire at Marie.

@Banana@Lmpkio@floodtalon

Miyu

Happyverse

Still Overly Dramatic BGM

"Well..." Miyu's eyebrows raised at Lillian's handiwork. "That is a very direct and scientific way to go about things. I doubt you'll have much trouble figuring stuff out."

"So, anything you want to see or look for before you try to find a location to settle down? Or you looking to keep wandering?" Miyu resumed walking, using her oar as a walking stick. "I myself wouldn't mind finding a place by a sea or river. Hopefully such land won't all be already claimed."

@KoL

The War of the Three

I mean, it's not particularly surprising that you don't have to add things to your bio, seeing you have the ability to come up with whatever spell you want as long as it's thematically appropriate once per battle. And most single categories of Victoire's abilities are more expansive than other character's entire power lists. Most people who manipulate an element have 3-4 things they can do with it, you have 3-5 elements you can do everything with. For example, in your succubus power list, if you used your shapeshifting to give yourself a physical boost, you would literally have Fran's entire power list minus equipment, and then a whole bunch of powers on top. Just Victore's Succubus nature, if given Fran's equipment, would be stronger than Fran on every metric.

The War of the Three

<Snipped quote by The 42nd Gecko>

I get that. I just felt that perhaps it would be best to make it evident, lest people start think that yarn balls are the major currency of the Happyverse.

@KoL

Yarn balls aren't the major currency of the Happyverse? What? I was promised cats.

The War of the Three

@KoL And while both you and I understand that, Miyu doesn't, hence why I noted that she hadn't seen or had misinterpreted the man's expressions.

Currently she's in "things are so strange and surreal I'd accept anything" mode.