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2 yrs ago
Current "So curious, Draugr! To make me monologue about my evil plan, that is your strategy?"
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Wolf squinted at Dean for a long... long time after his theatrics. Inwardly she heaved a sigh of relief: that "little bit" of exertion on his part took a huge amount of stress off the other defenders, and all that was really left for them to do was mop up before Wee Little Devil came to take his cut. Outwardly though...

"Next time I gotta come get you, I'm gonna tell Alex about your thing," she jabbed, as a cable tether shot from her cybernetic arm with the loud pop of compressed gas. It found purchase on something overhead, and the cable twanged like a plucked string as it became taut and whisked her away rifle and all. She pulled an eyelid down with her middle finger and stuck her tongue out at him as she swung away.

The woman flew up towards a tall pylon at the edge of town. The repulsor sled parked there rocketed along the pair of tension cables, dragging her off into the darkness past the influence of the local Sun Lamps. The sled's thruster briefly illuminated a large camouflaged structure suspended high over the Earth a fair distance outside of town. It was held up by a spider webs of tension cables disappearing up into the darkness towards a Sun Lamp that was "curiously" not working. A Thresher that had leapt out of the pack energetically at the trio scaling the wall turned into a shower of meat and gore. The *CRUMP* of mass-reactive explosive rounds made Rat's ears ring, and a couple moments later the energetic *POW* of a light duty .50 BMG echoed like distant thunder.

"Shieldtown protects!" he squeaked up at Maire, awe and anxiety ringing through his voice in equal measure... like he wasn't really sure they were the ones Shieldtown would protect.

As if in response to that sentiment, a dark shape swooped through the darkness, just outside the effect of Sun Lamp-overhead. Some residual light glinted off the rounded tips of the trio of armor defeating missiles slung under the drone's central pylon. It banked sharply, and the crackling roar of its turbines suddenly cut the moment of silence as the targeting pod on its nose swiveled to keep them in view. A plume of blue light illuminated the hanging structure for a few moments preceding the distant roar of thrusters as another drone was launched. Little more than a mass of repulsor turbines and stabilizers, manned by a targeting pod and a massive rotary cannon probably ripped straight out of an old military plane swooped out to get an angle on the chitin covered woman flying over the wall.

Back in town, Dean only got several minutes of quiet "rest" before he was approached by more footsteps. A pair of fine dress shoes crunched in the nearby dirt conspicuously loud, though presumably the owner could have chosen to be silent... at least judging by his confident gait. A tarot card curved around Dean, halting in the air as though it had struck something just a few feet away from his "chair." A small ripple of [Force] warped the air as the dark-haired stranger stepped past to sit on it like a stool and light his cigarette. Archer's blue eyes gleamed with amusement at Dean as he took a deep first drag and exhaled with a note of satisfaction.

"Heeeeey there, honey. How ya doing? Can I get you a water? Maybe a snack?"

[Undercity - Forges Outskirts]

[A Fate001 / XianaEvermor Collaboration]



Yue's feet found purchase, though at first they slid uncomfortably on the slick, glass-like surface of Aegis' barriers. It was enough to catch her breath. Thankfully "danger close, giant AOE" and "air mobility assistance required" sounded so similar... Yue punched a black disc in the palm of her gauntlet with three fingers, trailing her hand. The platform splintered as she pushed off and a hammer with a massive hexagonal head materialized in a flash of white as she streaked towards the next platform.

The hammer's head opened up as Yue inhaled. Power coiled in her muscles and the hammer's soothing bass tone rose to a shriek as the [Crimson] thundered loudly around her, spiraling into the hammer's open panels. The head slammed shut as her feet planted on a barrier platform, her body coiled into a low crouch a few dozen meters above the creature.

She launched, uncoiling as she fell like a meteor and brought the hammer down on the creature's exposed back.

Tail smashes the mountain.

A shockwave ripped through the arena, the earth shattered beneath them. An explosion of coarse dust chased the thunder high into the air.

Unable to hold his fields up from the strain, Alex's barriers began to stutter. Dropping to a knee, he pulled his helmet off to gasp at air that wasn't coming through electronic filters. his head was pounding as he gripped at his temples and hissed in pain.

Through pain blurred vision, Alex looked towards the impact site. Yue with her hammer embedded in the hydra's back. An almost picturesque image of a triumphant hero slaying a foul beast. A small part of him that wasn't dealing with the skull splitting pain would have wanted to take a picture. He almost wanted to drop there and finally relax.

Almost.

The moment was soured however when even through his pain addled mind he could see that the Hydra's glow wasn't fading. Shit! The bastard wasn't dead from that?!

He tried to stand, to warn Yue that it wasn't over. What he was met with however was staring down the gullet of one of the Hydra's reptilian heads as it's teeth closed around him. It happened in a blink of a second, so fast that he barely could process how the thing had even managed it.

He could only let out a single word before the titanic jaws snapped shut on him. "Fuck!"

As the hydra began to move, Yue leapt back. The hammer dissolved into white light as she witnessed the creature snap him up in its jaws. Time stopped, her heart was pounding. Throat raw. She was screaming something... maybe just screaming.

It's happening again.

Yue's vision was tinted red. The [Crimson] stormed around her, lashing out at anything it could reach, splintering the ground at her feet, smashing at the rubble. She felt the tremors in the ground... maybe it was just her body shaking uncontrollably.

It's happening again. The monster won't stop.

She stood next to where the Sword of Justice had landed, embedded half way into the rubble. It sang, even through the time dilation, battered by the [Crimson] escaping her. She hesitated to grasp it, hands shaking.

It's happening again. I'm losing someone.

Get a grip. The barriers were still active, though they were dissolving. He would probably live... if she acted now. If she acted right now... RIGHT NOW!

I can't fail again...

It was a flash of motion. All at once she and the sword were gone. With a thunderous CRACK the head holding Alex was severed, and for a split second she was crouched on one of Alex's failing barriers. It shattered as she launched; lightning raked through its second neck, crawling down its spine as the head flipped away and she touched the second barrier for the barest moment.

She launched diagonally, ripping the sword of Justice savagely through the skull of the feline head. Her momentum pushed her into a crouch against Alex's last barrier directly over the beast's exposed heart. She felt her body slam hard into the suit's limiters, and every indicator on her HUD flashed red as she broke through.

Dragon roars.

Yue was carried by a bolt of lightning, plunging the sword to the hilt into the creature's heart. Her HUD lit up like a Christmas tree as the wind was knocked out of her. Time resumed, and for a second all she could see was lightning crashing all around her. And then as something hit her, she blacked out.

The world had been plunged into darkness. Alex struggling against disgusting, undulating wet flesh and muscle. He had tried to grip, to claw and fight his way out of the hydras throat. Desperately trying to find purchase only to have his grip slip again and again as he slid towards the things stomach.

Panic drowned his mind, the mental pain becoming nothing but numb white noise. Sparks of blue light flickered around him in disjointed geometric patterns. Alex didn't feel like he had control. His mind was burning And his bones felt like static.
That's when the darkness was suddenly filled With noise.

Without his helmet, Alex had no way to drown out the volume of the Apex's core detonating. His saving grace being still lodged in one of the hydra's necks. Which was currently flying through the air along with the hail of gore that was what remains of its once resilient body.

Alex clawed his way out of the gaping neck hole gasping for breath. Everything felt wrong, his head was so overstimulated. His ears rang and everything looked blurry. He wasn't of much use, probably couldn't even stand up straight. despite everything his body was probably unscratched and he had the energy to Spare. Screw that though.

He was just gonna lay down for a bit. And god help any other beast that tried chewing on him while he caught his breath and waited out the pain.

[Undercity - Stoneworks Interior]

[A Chaotix14 / XianaEvermor collaboration]



Of course the place she'd mention was that place, and by process of elimination there really was only one person it could be. "Yeah, that would be the place where your person of interest and the shapeshifting menace that came to harass you earlier got into a fight, at least I hope there aren't multiple of those running amok." Raudd explained as he grabbed the rock and gave it a little toss with some spin. Could be turned into a nice trinket, but likely much more work than it's worth given the hairline cracks on it.

Zolya buried her face deeper into her drink as Raudd continued. "So as you might have guessed I have a pretty good grasp on who your person of interest is. Arranging a meeting on the other hand that's going to be complicated. There will have to be a significant benefit to the person in question for a meeting to be arrangeable, and money or fire crystals aren't going to work for that." For Raudd this was just business as usual, except in this particular case he didn't know exactly what his represented party would need. That would be his sisters part, he just needed to pull out what was on offer.

ID nodded, contemplating their answer. Moreover, she was processing their mannerisms as they spoke. Clearly this person was under their protection for some reason, or her presence in relation to them was alarming. She considered her response carefully.

"Maybe it would ease your conscience if I explained what I do," she began. "As I mentioned, I'm extremely sensitive to any disruption of the natural Manascape. I follow these disturbances to uncover the source, and if necessary sort out any natural cause and restore the balance. Sometimes I find artifacts or people and... I collect the shiny things," she explained with a bit of a sheepish sigh.

"People are interviewed to determine their knowledge of the Awakened World, if any. Afterwards, I either help them find a mentor so they can learn to properly control their magic, or try to convince them to stop using their powers," she concluded.

"I can sense your concern for this person. I assure you I have only their wellbeing in mind: anyone who can cause a disturbance that warrants my investigation without training is a danger to themselves and others. Don't trouble yourself, however: I understand that trust is earned. For the time being, why don't we focus on what I can do to compensate for the damage that I caused."

Neither of the siblings quite knew what to make of the statements and suggestions from ID. Zolya just gave her brother a quiet nod as he glanced over to her for advice. Secret organizations weren't uncommon among the mage society, but she came on quite strong in her desires to pull this particular mage to her side, especially given this particular mage has been under the protection of the Black moon society... As of 20 seconds ago. Regardless arranging a meeting likely wasn't going to cause any harm, providing the meeting happened on their turf.

"Hmm yes, the damages. As mentioned earlier I'd like to have you perform some enchanting work, but to make sure this arrangement works for both of us I have some questions. Assuming all mana needs are provided what's the amount of mundane fire affinity materials you could enchant to low level magic materials in... Hmm, let's say an hour, and would that be one large singular piece or can it be a fine powder?" She asked the lady as Raudd finished his coffee.

"It depends on the quality of the source material," she answered after a while, after considering their request carefully. "Without going into specifics... what you're asking can be done. The amount is inconsequential as long as the source material is free of contaminants. Powders are less than ideal: they tend to carry trace contaminants from the tools that were used to create them," she explained, casually spreading some sparkling red dust onto the table. She traced a magatama into it and a handful of rough kanji before reaching over and placing the sheared rock in the eye.

"The more contaminants in the source material, the weaker the enchantment... Affinities also matter: Fire and Water are opposed elements, so fire aspecting something that will be diluted in liquid (like ink or paint) will result in an weaker overall affinity," concluded ID, pressing her fingertips to the edge of the illustration.

"However, contrary to traditional enchanting conventions... I've found the two most important factors of material enchanting are the quality of the base material, and the preparation of the area. Everything else has a negligible effect on the final product." ID tilted her head a bit, making direct eye contact with Zolya. The mana surrounding her shuddered and swirled. An invisible breeze stirred the room, and ID illuminated brilliantly in the [Immaterial], not unlike a star. Wisps of amber rose out of her skin, caught up in the breeze to disperse around the table and after a few moments she was sitting in the center of a small, but strong Domain of [Fire/Light].

A vent in her mask clicked open, and she gently breathed into her free palm. A snap of her fingers created a spark and ignited the gas, which she let cascade onto the stone. A surge of mana pressed the flames and a substantial amount of her Domain into the stone, flashing the dust and the design onto the stone's surface. ID let the rest of her Domain fade into the background noise and get reclaimed by [Nature] as she rolled the now strongly aspected stone towards Zolya.

"Will that suit your needs? A sample with fewer contaminants would result in a stronger enchantment, but much more than that will require a specially prepared area."

Zolya carefully took the stone to her hand, observing it for a little while. "Do you know what kind of rock this is? She asked her brother. "Not a geologist, but it's not an igneous rock, if that's what you're asking." Raudd replied with some annoyance at the magical bullshit he just witnessed.

"Common shale, bit of limestone. Some concrete and other contaminants," she answered blithely. "The imbuement process gives me some knowledge of the makeup of the material."

After looking over the stone a few moments longer and dwelling on the design left over on the stone Zolya spoke up once more. "Am I right in assuming that damage to this design on the stone will weaken or even ruin the enchantment? As you might imagine an important detail with all the carving done to the runestones you've seen outside."

"That would be the case if this were made with traditional methods, since the array would have been the anchor for the enchantment.

"The array runs throughout. Cut it up a thousand times and it will remain unbroken. Crush it to powder, dilute it to ink, paste, chalks, thread. Matters not: the material is the anchor for the enchantment. It's saturated; same as if it'd formed naturally in a Domain. The array is the medium, the crystal dust a binding agent. The imprint is a byproduct of the process. Anything can be enchanted, not just what an array will survive on," she explained, with a hint of passion in her voice. ID cleared her throat anxiously after a second.

"That sounds just about perfect for my purposes." Zolya mused before taking another sip.

"Sorry... anyway... I have a condition: I will freely give any enchantment that you desire. If you wish, I can also stop by and trade my goods when I'm in the area. However, none of your pets, friends, family, or other affiliates may follow me," she stated, holding out her hand. It came alight with mana, forming kanji on her palm [盟約]. "This pact will be binding, and if it's broken I'll know. Do we have an agreement?"
Rat hustled. While scampering on all fours he was surprisingly quick. His breath came in gasping pants as he darted over and around Threshers and other creatures burrowing up from beneath them, all the while, the swords that chased him slashed at anything that got too close. The reinforced steel walls of Shieldtown had begun to crest over the hill. The thunderous stomps of re-purposed construction Frames resonated through the distance as they swung huge slabs of concrete and steel to funnel the swarm into narrow, reinforced corridors.

A fissure opened up in front of Rat and he skittered to a halt just in time, leaping back and grasping instinctually for purchase he might pull himself up onto. His spindly fingers grasped something firmly, though rather than pulling him up to safety, he was swung in an arc at the end of a floating sword, cleanly slashing the emerging Thresher in twain. He stood, dumbfounded as his gaze slowly switched between the weapon and the slain beast. His eyes became wide as dinner plates as he sucked in a breath.

"RAT HAS PROWESS OVER THE BLADE!!!!" He shrieked triumphantly.




"DEEEEAAAAAN~~! Vi and Jade are down for the count, along with half the defenders," Wolf shouted as she pounded on the door of Alex's home. The Synthflesh of her cybernetic arm resonated through the reinforced structure. She sighed, leaning on her rifle as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pull a strand of white hair out of her sweat slicked face. "DEAN! I swear to Gods, if you are not bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth when I break this door down... We're seriously short handed out here! I need help!"

Wolf groaned at the notification chirp from her earpiece. Her left eye flashed red as she flicked through the viewpoints of the drones hovering over the wall. She took a knee, turning and hefting her enormous rifle up into a firing position. She closed her right eye. The HUD flashed orange as it synced to her weapon, displaying the reticle and firing solution. The weapon rocked against the recoil dampeners in her cybernetic arm as she squeezed the trigger. A thunderous *BOOM* thudded against the structure as the shockwave from the weapon's discharge showered Dean's entryway with dust and peppered the structure with gravel.

The 20mm canister sailed over the wall, only just clearing the edge as it detonated and showered the swarm in brilliant flashes. She racked her second shot, adjusting her aim. A second crash of thunder sent a shell arcing over the wall where it detonated near the side of one of the swarms in a brilliant plume of dust and fire. The concussion wave hurled a group of stray Threshers that had broken away from the pack towards the the funnel.

"DEEEEEAAAAN~! Wake! Up!"
"Omigosh, Rat!" Rat cried as he scurried towards the turmoil, seemingly unheeding of the danger. "Where been?? Come to find Rat, rescue we have!" Explained Rat to Rat... though not the Rat they knew, a different Rat... though Rat they be all the same.

Dressed in the same rough tunic, baggy canvas pants... though the stains differed in location they were identical down to the knapsack secured over one shoulder.

"Absconded! Impounded!! Templar have come, crusade is at hand!!"

"Oh Gods! Oh no!"

"Oh no!" Echoed Rat. "Rescue us!"

"Rat will! Scurry this way, Rat!" Beckoned Rat. Rat hesitated for only a moment as the Cat-Kitty set upon one of the beasts, taking a quick glance to make sure his path was clear. That was all it took, a fissure opened up behind the other Rat and a tentacle whipped out, grabbing his ankle and dragging him into one of the threshing mouths of the swarm of flailing creatures that spilled out.

"Rat, no!!" Screeched Rat, reaching towards the scene in a futile gesture.

"Rat delivers... For Fred...," gurgled Rat, as the Threshers fought savagely over his corpse.

"For Fred..., echoed Rat solemnly as he clutched his knapsack. For a long moment he just stood there with the carnage erupting all around him, dumbfounded. He took a deep breath and seemed to snap out of it... long enough to start panicking again at least. Rat flailed his arms and started running, in circles at first until he seemed to catch his bearings.

"East! EAST!! SHIELDTOWN PROTECTS!" He screeched, while running for a gap between Threshers.
[ Titan’s Fall, Eagle’s Nest, R&D Division, Laboratory 3]

[A ZombiesAnHyenas / XianaEvermor collaboration]



Oh my fucking GOD! I’m so BORED! Sovereign, I’m so so BORED! I’ve been spamming this dumbass for TWENTY MINUTES! I send one letter, and then I send ONE word, and he STILL isn’t answering.

Felix paced around his work station, the base of his A.R.I. goggles hovering on a thin metal stand. The goggles were in their component parts. There were capacitors, a twin pair of what looked like overly complicated motherboards, and other assorted pieces of technology.
Even then, he could see the HUD that accompanied the goggles. His eyes bloomed with a gentle golden light, irises segmented with lines of luminance. The implants he had, eh, given himself, were still operating at maximum … Maximumness.

Sai probably knew the word. Speaking of.

There was a circling symbol in the top leftmost corner of his vision, indicating an incoming response from the chattiest AI in the hemisphere.

Would you like me to forward your messages to his location, mister Lanning—

Felix! Man, Felix! Please. Jeez. Just… call me Felix.

A moment of silence… Then.

As you wish, mister Lanning.” Sovereign replied, causing Felix to throw his hands up in both agitation, and amusement.

Yes, could you send my messages directly to his location?” He groaned, collapsing into the seat in front of his goggles.

There was a moment of silence, before Sovereign beeped an affirmative.

It took a few minutes, before Felix FINALLY got a reply.

Who the fuck is this?! This is a private line!

Well… That was rude of him! Felix took a moment to piece his A.R.I. goggles back together, using his eyes to type on a keyboard that floated up in his HUD.

Yeah hey hi, FINALLY. My name is Lux Discord. You can call me LD! Uh. Don’t scream.

What? What the fuck does that mean?

And with that wonderful exchange complete, Felix closed the connection. His attention returned to the world at his glowing fingertips, a smile spread over his lips, as he spoke aloud again.

Hhhhey Sovereign. Could you direct me to Sai’s current location?

… What‘s the magic word, mister Lanning?” Murmured the AI, polite, but tone colored by the sound of a cheeky, shit-eating grin. Felix could almost see the digital canines…

The magic word is, ‘oh wonderful digital space daddy, could you please direct me to where the other wonderful digital space daddy is?’” He replied, smiling ever so sweetly at the open air.

"I think... that can be arranged, Mr. Lanning.” Came the response, vindictive and serious, playful and vicious in equal measure.


[Eagle's Nest - Lobby]



”Ma’am? Ma’am?! This isn’t… Ma’am, you can’t just-,” one of the security personnel stammered nervously as he was half dragged through the front doors by a well dressed blonde woman. His arm was hooked in hers and their fingers interlocked in what was clearly a forced handhold.

"Oh don’t be so stodgy, my brother works here. He’s late for our lunch date. Besiiiiides, you’re escorting me aren’t you? How much trouble could I get into?" She deflected dismissively, her designer heels clacking authoritatively on the marble. She perked up as her golden eyes swept the lobby and landed on Archer, who was sitting at the front desk with a labored expression.

"Oh! HERM-... LO! DEAREST…. BROTHER!" She forced awkwardly, when Archer met the pair with a gaze that said I’ll kill you, right as Felix was exiting from the elevator.

"What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing… ‘Fabian!’ We had a re-ser-va-tion," she quipped, impatiently.

"This is a restricted area," replied Archer curtly, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at the guard.

”U-um…”

"I’m being escorted," she replied cheekily, holding up the guard’s hand.

Felix, in all his glory as it were, simply watched. His eyes locked first on the ‘guard’ in question. Poor man looked extremely uncomfortable, and while Felix would’ve wanted nothing more than to laugh at his predicament…

Sometimes being a not-a-huge-prick took precedence.

And so did the luminous limbed lackadaisical ‘laze-about’ laboriously lumber over, in the way that a man who barely stood at five five could lumber. Which is to say; Felix slid in between the guard— Douglas, that was his name!— and whoever blondie was.

His hardlight fingers pried her digits away from Douglas’, and instead filled her hand with Felix’s as he smiled warmly at Archer. Then his gaze flicked to the blonde who now found her fingers held tightly in Felix’s grip.

The other hand dipped around to clutch at her side, as Felix’ voice leapt into the air in a horrific mockery of Sairyn’s accent. “Oh muai lahve muai lahve, woaiye donchew leave dat poor sod alowne, eh?

”That you would deign to butcher the Queen’s English in such a manner is… you do the nation’s education system a disservice, Mister Lanning,” Sovereign whispered into Felix’s HUD.

He held a smile for a moment longer, before he cackled. And spun himself around to fill up her vision and hide Archer. He took a bow, raised her hand, and kissed the knuckles of her fingers. His other arm had slid behind his back, seemingly to commit to the part. Never mind that he was clearly showing Archer that his fingers had become claw-like, and decidedly more ominous.

No but seriously, good, ahhh… Morning? Evening? Day! To you! How are you, miss…?” He intoned, straightening and keeping his other arm behind his back in a gesture of formality.

The woman shivered and blushed as Felix took her hand, and for a precariously long moment she just regarded him, her golden eyes iridescent… a trick of the light? Her glossy lips slowly spread into a sly smile before she leaned to look at Archer over Felix’s shoulder.

"Daphne-"

"And who do we have here, ’Fabian’?" she asked with smug curiosity.

"Daphne, no!" Archer flustered, uncharacteristically.

"He doesn’t look like a Daphne," she retorted. Archer spluttered out a few syllables, causing her to giggle maniacally as she met Felix’s eyes again. "I don’t think he remembers your name," she informed in exaggerated offense. She spun on her heels, hooking Felix’s arm and walking towards the door.

"Let’s go. Tell me about this," she grinned, gently flicking the hardlight projection with the back of one of her manicured nails. A wave of iridescence traveled up one of his arms and down the other, bursting gently out of his claws into a kaleidoscope of golden butterflies.

His eyebrows shot upwards as the butterflies leapt from his claws. Taking amusement in the fact that she effectively knew what was happening… And also apparently knew Archer. He turned and winked at Archer, eyes darting towards the communications indicator on the counter top, before he returned his gaze to ‘Daphne. “I think you might be right! I’m wounded! Wounded!! I can’t believe this!” He chirped, bursting into a fit of chuckles.

Felix sighed as they walked away, focusing on the butterflies of light before snapping his eyes to meet Daphne’s. His gaze was intense, and no more or less kind than a cat's, if the feline was inspecting a mouse.

Tell you about this!? I’d much rather know how you made the butterflies happen! That was magical!” The sound of Archer choking behind them sent Daphne into a fit of giggles.

I assume it’s more ‘esperness’ than ‘deviantness’, unless I’m wrong? Oh! I’m Felix by the way,” Felix rambled, thoughts clocked into overdrive as amusement and curiosity overtook him.

"In a manner of speaking," she answered slyly.

[UnderCity - Forges Region, Outskirts]

[A Fate001 / XianaEvermor Collaboration]



A small moment of hesitation: Yue felt the impact of Alex's punch from where she'd been standing. She hadn't seen any telltale blue flash of his barrier ability. Admittedly, she was paying much more attention to the Hydra and the fight. For the time being she dismissed the thought so she could focus on her job in this maneuver.

Claw Rends.

Yue focused upwards, and the tendrils of lightning seemed to gather loosely towards the tip of the sword. She stepped forward, letting the sword drop to gain momentum before she swept it forward and up into a crescent, landing back in the high guard. The sword bit into the earth and carved through it effortlessly, unleashing a narrow shockwave that ripped through the terrain. It crashed like thunder as it swept the arena; lightning viciously raked the creature's body, blasting armored plates off its torso and burning its fur to cinders.

She followed behind it, slipping through the narrow window of frictionless vacuum behind the shockwave. The creature thrashed, shattering its binding and whipping its tail around as it twisted itself back upright. It impacted Yue's torso, lighting up her HUD like a Christmas tree. Her whole side went numb despite the shock compensation and the Sword of Justice spiraled into the air still singing its crystal tone. She grabbed hold of the tail reflexively, and was driven into the ground.

Alex winced as the barrier holding him flickered t of existence and dropped him to the ground. He hadn't had the time to really recover from that [Scream] and the rapid breaking of his constructs was straining him. He desperately wanted to rub his temples to try and alleviate the headache he had been trying to ignore from the start of the fight.

Yue had taken a solid hit from the Hydra. And Alex had just about had it right there.

Fight now, patch up later.

Huffing angrily, Alex looked around for anything he could use while his telekinesis was essentially on cooldown. All there was were the busted up chunks of ground from the fight. . . Which happened to include a lot of sizable boulders of bead rock.

Monkey throw rock? Monkey Throw Rock.

He scrambled over to one of the stones that had to be nearly five times his size and a few tons of mass. Part Of the boulder protruded out into a rough point. Perfect.

Just as the Hydra was about to begin coiling itself around Yue, he slammed the boulder into its back, shattering on impact and damaging its scales and spines. The earthen shrapnel was quickly followed by Alex slamming his own body onto the beasts damaged hide, ripping And tearing at anything he could get his hands on.

Did... he just throw a rock? She was too buried beneath the mass of the creature to see exactly what happened, but she felt the impact and saw the shards of rubble fly past. Things weren't adding up... the secondary impact gave Yue enough space to get back to her feet, however. She shelved the nagging thought again. As she took a deep breath, the pins and needles sensation of muted pain signals prickled her lungs uncomfortably. [Crimson] welled up out of her skin as she felt her muscles coil.

Fang Pierces

The Hydra's armored plates cracked beneath her hands as her fingers crushed into the creature's tail. By the time it had whipped a head around to deal with her she lunged, pulling the tail taught. Just as it was about to whip her away, she planted her feet, splintering the earth and heaving the creature over her head. The force with which she slammed the creature back into the ground pulsed through the rock and echoed loudly throughout the arena as its three heads knocked together.

The tail whipped up suddenly and flung Yue into the air. Time stopped... what now? Yue thought furiously as her altitude was rapidly becoming unmanageable: she was moving at quite a clip. Right. Eliminate or suppress ranged attack, alter trajectory, vector to "safe" landing area. She dug four disks out of her utility pouch, loading them into her Strategem launcher in sequence. One was aimed at each head, and the fourth some distance to the side, hopefully out of the creature's reach. Yue exhaled, time resumed.

"Pommel Flash to Fists of Vengeance, then Meteor Slam!!" screamed Yue down at Alex. All at once, as the heads turned up to her mouths agape, one exploded into a deluge of sand, and the middle was buried in rapidly hardening foam. Something tiny shattered a few meters away from the creature's final head, ejecting a primed flash grenade into the air in front of its face.

Alex stopped his pummeling of the beasts back armor when he heard Yue's next callouts. He really wasn't gonna question how she was gonna blind the thing when she launched a bunch of stuff out of seemingly nowhere at each head, including a flash bang,. [Pommel Flash] . . . flash bang. That was one way to mimic a Paladin skill. Alex took no time to bound off the Apex's back as it tried to stitch itself together, flinging his arms out in a wide arc towards the disoriented hydra head. He might be durable but being blinded or deafened wasn't something he could just shrug off. Thankfully his helmet had built in protection.

Feeling a sort of second wind hit, Alex spread a long pincer of hard light out from each arm, subsequently slamming them together to catch all three heads in a telekinetic vice. He slammed to the ground hard but quickly got enough footing to begin pulling at the cluster heads as if they were a stubborn dog on a leash. No splitting mental pain was a good sign, but he was instead gritting his teeth as he tried to pull against a creature whose entire body might as well be one dedicated muscular machine of death.

His usual overlay of hardlight flickered back into existence. As the floating plates reformed, long spiked hurried themselves into the ground to anchor him in place. The Hydra redoubled its efforts to buck and thrash in his "grip". "No you don't Fluffy, just Need you to stay riiiiiight there for a few more second you ugly bastard"

Yue flailed awkwardly as she hit her apex and began to tumble. Even with the stabilizers deployed, the Drachenmail had a much different aerodynamic profile than her previous suit design and it threw her balance off. The pillowy green mattress of sour apple gelatin that was blooming off to the side of the arena suddenly felt miles out of reach. A twinge of panic lanced through her chest: Even with the impact compensation, if she landed awkwardly she could easily get hurt.

Looking back up, It quickly became apparent that Yue didn't have the means to replicate any form of aerial movement skills like he could given her current trajectory. Couldn't have that now. he mentally pushed and started creating a myriad of walls and platforms in the air around the hydra up and out towards where Yue was currently falling from. For someone that moved the way she did, it might as well had been a clear runway.

"DON'T YOU DARE MISS!! Alex yelled half jokingly, only having a hint of edge in his voice despite the circumstance.

[UnderCity - Stoneworks Interior]

[A Chaotix14 / XianaEvermor collaboration]



Of course the place she'd mention was that place, and by process of elimination there really was only one person it could be. "Yeah, that would be the place where your person of interest and the shapeshifting menace that came to harass you earlier got into a fight, at least I hope there aren't multiple of those running amok." Raudd explained as he grabbed the rock and gave it a little toss with some spin. Could be turned into a nice trinket, but likely much more work than it's worth given the hairline cracks on it.

Zolya buried her face deeper into her drink as Raudd continued. "So as you might have guessed I have a pretty good grasp on who your person of interest is. Arranging a meeting on the other hand that's going to be complicated. There will have to be a significant benefit to the person in question for a meeting to be arrangeable, and money or fire crystals aren't going to work for that." For Raudd this was just business as usual, except in this particular case he didn't know exactly what his represented party would need. That would be his sisters part, he just needed to pull out what was on offer.

ID nodded, contemplating their answer. Moreover, she was processing their mannerisms as they spoke. Clearly this person was under their protection for some reason, or her presence in relation to them was alarming. She considered her response carefully.

"Maybe it would ease your conscience if I explained what I do," she began. "As I mentioned, I'm extremely sensitive to any disruption of the natural Manascape. I follow these disturbances to uncover the source, and if necessary sort out any natural cause and restore the balance. Sometimes I find artifacts or people and... I collect the shiny things," she explained with a bit of a sheepish sigh.

"People are interviewed to determine their knowledge of the Awakened World, if any. Afterwards, I either help them find a mentor so they can learn to properly control their magic, or try to convince them to stop using their powers," she concluded.

"I can sense your concern for this person. I assure you I have only their wellbeing in mind: anyone who can cause a disturbance that warrants my investigation without training is a danger to themselves and others. Don't trouble yourself, however: I understand that trust is earned. For the time being, why don't we focus on what I can do to compensate for the damage that I caused."

Neither of the siblings quite knew what to make of the statements and suggestions from ID. Zolya just gave his brother a quiet nod as he glanced over to her for advice. Secret organizations weren't uncommon among the mage society, but she came on quite strong in her desires to pull this particular mage to her side, especially given this particular mage has been under the protection of the Black moon society... As of 20 seconds ago. Regardless arranging a meeting likely wasn't going to cause any harm, providing the meeting happened on their turf.

"Hmm yes, the damages. As mentioned earlier I'd like to have you perform some enchanting work, but to make sure this arrangement works for both of us I have some questions. Assuming all mana needs are provided what's the amount of mundane fire affinity materials you could enchant to low level magic materials in... Hmm, let's say an hour, and would that be one large singular piece or can it be a fine powder?" She asked the lady as Raudd finished his coffee.

"It depends on the quality of the source material," she answered after a while, after considering their request carefully. "Without going into specifics... what you're asking can be done. The amount is inconsequential as long as the source material is free of contaminants. Powders are less than ideal: they tend to carry trace contaminants from the tools that were used to create them," she explained, casually spreading some sparkling red dust onto the table. She traced a magatama into it and a handful of rough kanji before reaching over and placing the sheared rock in the eye.

"The more contaminants in the source material, the weaker the enchantment... Affinities also matter: Fire and Water are opposed elements, so fire aspecting something that will be diluted in liquid (like ink or paint) will result in an weaker overall affinity," concluded ID, pressing her fingertips to the edge of the illustration.

"However, contrary to traditional enchanting conventions... I've found the two most important factors of material enchanting are the quality of the base material, and the preparation of the area. Everything else has a negligible effect on the final product." ID tilted her head a bit, making direct eye contact with Zolya. The mana surrounding her shuddered and swirled. An invisible breeze stirred the room, and ID illuminated brilliantly in the [Immaterial], not unlike a star. Wisps of amber rose out of her skin, caught up in the breeze to disperse around the table and after a few moments she was sitting in the center of a small, but strong Domain of [Fire/Light].

A vent in her mask clicked open, and she gently breathed into her free palm. A snap of her fingers created a spark and ignited the gas, which she let cascade onto the stone. A surge of mana pressed the flames and a substantial amount of her Domain into the stone, flashing the dust and the design onto the stone's surface. ID let the rest of her Domain fade into the background noise and get reclaimed by [Nature] as she rolled the now strongly aspected stone towards Zolya.

"Will that suit your needs? A sample with fewer contaminants would result in a stronger enchantment, but much more than that will require a specially prepared area."

[UnderCity - Outskirts, Stoneworks Region]



"Why??" Snuffled Rat, as he drooped forlornly under Maire's arm, staring back in the direction of the Stoneworks. "Rat was almost safe. Why did you make us leave? Safe space! We must make for safe space!" he whimpered. "Stoneworks, Shieldtown, anywhere! Didn't the Cutting-Lady see? Angry-Munch? The one that glows? Never alone! More will follow! Giddy-go, Cutting-Lady! Can't stay here!!" whimpered Rat, wriggling desperately in the Templar's arms.

"The ones that chase, and bite will be here soon!" wailed Rat. "Rat can't wait here! Rat can't wait here," he screamed, as he began frantically trying to wrestle himself free.

A mass of enormous teeth and muscle exploded from the earth just a few dozen meters away, like a whale breaching the surface of the ocean. The creature slapped back into the gravel, streaking directly towards J-3, its massive mole-like fore-limbs propelling it through the rock as though it were water.

[Ares Palisades - Sector 7, Titan's Fall, Texas - USA]



Rice. Salmon, filleted perfectly (of course). Cucumber, sliced thinly.

Onion, diced. Red Cabbage, shredded. Some Hijiki seaweed.

Sweet chili citrus sauce... some edamame and avocado. Dash of soy.

Sairyn garnished his bowl with a mango slice and sprinkled sesame seeds over the top before returning to his chair across from a blandly dressed SINS agent. He glared as the agent looked up at him with some surprise. Sairyn could see the agent's eyes flick down to his lunch from behind his generic knock off sunglasses.

"Oh, shit! When you said you were making food I didn't think Purgatory's Kitchen was happening behind me," he chuckled. Sairyn only raised an eyebrow at him in the awkward silence that followed. "Soooo...."

"You bought a hot dog," Sairyn answered, cutting him off with his mouth full. There was a note of annoyance in his voice, but truthfully he was grateful to have a few serene moments to sort out his manic thoughts and plan his next move. Maire was a capable agent, and a quick review of the fight footage revealed that she fell though the plate gap on purpose, though to what ends he wasn't sure. It was inconvenient that she was out of touch, but he wasn't worried that she was hurt.

"Right...," the agent replied, with a small sigh of defeat.

Yue was the more troublesome of the pair. It's not that she wasn't capable, but since the incident Yue's mental health was tenuous at best. It didn't help that the staff psychiatrist seemed to have it out for her. Sairyn didn't have any authority in that department so there wasn't a lot he could do about that... not yet at least. She'd buried herself in work, and more or less cut herself off from other work relationships. The only person in the office that could get her to regularly open up was Archer... maybe Felix. She barely spoke to Ion anymore (a fact which Ion reminded him of frequently), and Echo was still in HR limbo following his injury-forced retirement.

Sairyn stabbed his chopsticks into the bowl with a flick of irritation as he stared out the window towards the Ares HQ building. He'd known Yue the longest, but personal relationships were a thing... that happened to other people. That didn't mean he wasn't desperately wanting to charge into UnderCity guns blazing to find her. Fuck anyone who got in his way. Without confirmation of her location all he had was an educated guess that she was down there, however, and being wrong could end up making whatever Maire was doing much harder unintentionally.

"He's just staring at us," sighed the agent.

"That's what we want him to do," answered Sai between mouthfuls. SINS had called him in to help with a surveillance operation, since they'd gotten a tip that Ares might be receiving some kind of illicit shipment. They needed someone to fly a drone over the area they'd been tipped off about which... really anybody could do. Flying a stealth drone through hostile, heavily monitored and guarded territory without sending any detectable signals that would tip Ares off to their presence, however, was something only he could do. "The longer we have his attention here, the less likely he'll notice something amiss elsewhere," Sai answered, chewing noisily after shoveling rice into his mouth. The agent gave him a distasteful look, which cracked a smirk in one of the corners of his mouth.

"It's fucking creepy though, he's done nothing but stare at us and drink coffee... I'm almost convinced we're actually watching a looped recording."

"Tag his window with the laser mic," he instructed, raising an eyebrow. The agent aimed the device at the opposing building, and for a moment a few hushed voices came through the speaker. The silhouette waggled his finger at them, placing his other hand on the window. His image blurred, and the speaker erupted in a loud buzzing. Sairyn snorted when the agent gave a startled jump. "How convinced are you now?"

The agent glared at him. His phone chirped. Sai watched him blink behind his dark glasses as he checked it.

"That's probably for me..."

"Wh- This is a secure line on a private network?!" He blustered. Sai shrugged. "41 messages?! Who the fuck is Lux Discord??"

"This is why you should've let me keep my phone," quipped Sai, smugly.
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