Badlands

"Waiting for you actually, I was not going to leave my partner behind. Seems there's some ominous energies in town clashing with some of the immortals who came here with us. Honestly I am not sure if we should stick around with them. We could use them as a distraction to split away and continue the Pilgrimage because a big group like this is bound to attract attention. Though then again we'd be abandoning all those mortals in this area. I am not so sure its even in our nature as Guardians to do that. Ultimately I figure I'd leave it up to the battle expert in this partnership. What's your call Issan?" Raiden explained.

Raiden didn't look as the Gullinberst left merely listened to the sounds of its departure which briefly drowned out the sounds of the battle going on in Pilgrim's Bay. He fingers itched to join the battle, his hand poised to summon his soul transformation.

@Oceo Frose

As the Titan's physical form was relentlessly ripped apart, the two others grinned and laughed mockingly. "Oh, look. His woman's come to the rescue." One of them snickered and pulled a jagged knife from his belt. "Foolish.." Came a voice from behind the woman, as the upper half of the defeated Titan re-formed in an aura of red-orange flames, his soul damaged, but not nearly enough to shatter it. "You'll have to do better than that, come on.." He quipped before dashing forward, slashing at her with jagged, inhuman claws, spouting bursts of fire as they moved through the air. Likewise, the other two surrounded the newcomer, ignoring their original target temporarily as they gripped her arms, attempting to restrain her so that the strongest of the three could consume her soul. "You think he'll like watching his woman eaten before him..? Let's see.."

Petroshka Kent

Acantha almost yelped as the titans ((somehow got her and restrained her without her noticing despite her strings would normally let her see the telegraphed motions of the titans long before they wouldve taken a step) and somehow she didnt do anything about it )) she stared at all of them in disgust. She was about to use her armor as a sort of spike bomb until Astro all but drop kicked one of them letting an arm go free. Quickly stopping the bomb process she used the free arm to form a blade and cut the other titan's arm off to get her free. There was no doubt that he would just heal himself but she was free, now getting some distance between her and the titans she fired off a barrage of a few dozen spiked tendrils at the titans. If they missed they can easily retract and strike again and again offering the titans no room for comfort and if a titan got hit every tendril no occupied with another titan would strike him aiming to tear him apart and shatter the soul. Acantha was out for blood, and she was determined.
Kent Rurnur

As the leading Titan was slammed into the earth, forming a massive, near-fatal crack in his soul, the two others were blown back from the impact, while at the same time having their bodies torn apart from the woman's attacks ((Quit whining Petroshka )). The Titan who had his arm removed struggled to re-form his body, but faltered as he realised how much energy he had used up, grimacing, he fell to his knees when the wounds proved too much to heal at once. Breathing heavily, the leader crawled out from the crater and brought himself up to his knees, glaring wildly at the two Immortals who displayed an unexpected amount of power. "Heh.. they think they can fight back.." He spluttered and coughed, turning to his downed allies, grinning through broken teeth. One of the others pushed themselves up, and began to laugh hysterically. "Right.. foolish Immortals shouldn't meddle in the affairs of superior beings.." He clutched his chest, breathing harder as he attempted to stay on his feet. "I'll make it real clear for you two then.. listen up!" He shouted, the aggression rising in his tone, eyes growing darker and serious. "You wanna mess with us..? Then know for a fact, that means war on Clan Dunehammer." Grinning, he motioned to his companions, and they rose as well, revealing their confidence. "Hm, maybe if you run.. right now.. then you can escape by sea, otherwise.." He began to laugh again, glancing at the other Titans. "He'll be coming for you. No matter where you go, the Badlands belongs to Clan Dunehammer."

Petroshka Kent

Rurnur Petroshka

The Titan who spoke up earlier frowned and clenched his fist, before stumbling briefly, catching himself on one knee. "Hah.. you seem to misunderstand, the situation ain't that complicated. If you stay here even a second too late, you'll both be devoured by the boss." He grinned, looking confident in his leader's abilities. "Maybe you know, or maybe you don't. But the title of 'Badlands Warlord' isn't given out lightly, it's only handed out to the most powerful warrior in the region, someone who earned it through brute strength. Yeah, our leader is one of the Warlords, and he's gonna know something's off real soon, and you better be long gone at that point.." The Titans chuckled, some nervously, some confidently. But it was certain they all had faith, or fear, in their powerful leader. "Make your decision now.. just know that two measly Immortals like you two.. you wouldn't even be able to touch him."

Kent Petroshka

Acantha ignored the threats of the titan instead focusing on their ability to consume souls which was previously a huntsman only trait. Perhaps they were a hybrid of some sort? No that couldnt be, after millennia and eons the races had never had any signs of integrating or diverging. Perhaps it was a skill to be learned? Knowing this skill may be a considerable advantage in the future. but what if it isn't?

Acantha was having quite the headache over this trail of thought until she decided it should be used later to theorize. and came back to reality where the titan was again threatening and Astro was thinking about conventional tactics, again. Looking at the titans over they seemed tired and weakened, maybe Astro caught them while they were exhausted to be this much a push over? Either way their trait was envious to have.

String spikes formed above the titans and swiftly stabbed their limbs effectively pinning them to the ground as she walked toward the mouthy one. Razor barbs formed along the ripe of the spikes and slowly moved toward them. "Tell us everything you know and this'll be swift." She looked at them with cold eyes, no doubt they'd bring up something as cliche as their boss being worst than death or something and try to resist so she added. "Or do you want to help us? Think of the strength, fame and glory you'll gain, all of you. If you defeated "The mighty clan dunehammer's" cheiftain and declared yourselfs as rulers of the badlands? No doubt you all will fail, alone that is" Acantha let her poison words that have gotten her far in life seep into their minds all the while pressuring them with the approaching razor barbs. Kent Rurnur (time for a badlands civil war no? Just to up the chaos a little bit more )

The Titans grimaced in pain as the strings pierced their bodies, holding their cries of agony to keep some remnants of their honour. "Dammit! What do you want! Your fate is sealed either way!" One of them shouted out, while the other two struggled both physically and mentally, coming to the realization that they could meet their end here, causing their loyalties to unravel. Would they 'help' the Immortals in order to extend their lives? Of course, that wouldn't be the way of a Titan, but they hadn't exactly been following the pre-determined laws recently, so it made no difference to them. "C-Come on, let us go.. there's no way you'll escape the wrath of the clan without knowledge from the inside, don't you know? Killing us is as good as killing yourselves!" One of them blurted out, earning himself a look of shock and confusion from the loud one. "Right, we'll tell you whatever you wanna know."

Petroshka Kent

Acantha stopped her strings from moving inward and broke them into thousands of strains making them seemingly disappear. "Good, you're in a listening mood." She turned her back the titan looking astro but just in case had a mass of string that would eviscerate him if he tried anything. "Give me your name, abilities and your influence." She up her hands in the air. "Your knowledge of the land rival clans discontent clan members and other immortals who are discontent with dunehammer's grip on the land." She she was going to orchestrate what she had in mind she would need as mich information as possible. Looking back at the titan with emotionless eyes she stared at him. "You are going to be the figure head of this new clan of 'ours'." Rurnur Kent

The Titan narrowed his eyes in confusion and frustration, trying to figure out what exactly this woman was hoping to accomplish. In the end, any information they gave out would be irrelevant, there's no force in the Badlands that could even dare to stand up against the might of Clan Dunehammer, and these two were delusional if they thought any differently. "Hmph, the name's Groeden, those two are Kasch and Vrille, we're the highest ranked members of the Fifth Warlord's bandit group, each of us controls the power of flames.. though not to the extent of the Boss, of course.. " He spoke slowly, biding their time, knowing that it wouldn't be long before the boss catches wind of the situation. After all, he and the rest of the bandits were holed up just on the outskirts of town, preventing anyone from leaving their newly claimed territory. "And if you insist.. we're only the subordinates of a single Warlord, he's the one with the influence. Rivalries? Discontentment? Nothing of the like, before us, it was an 'unspoken rule' between Titans, that no single clan would claim the Badlands for themselves, nobody would dare challenge us here."

Meanwhile, Jad and the rest of his clan members had spread out across the town, talking with the Mortal population in order to figure out what exactly was going on here. The strongest members stuck with Jad when he approached the strange confrontation, between the two mysterious individuals he transported here, and a number of suspicious Titans, beaten to a pulp. "New clan, you say?" He folded his arms together and grinned, entertained by witnessing a different side of the stoic woman who acted so subtly aboard his ship.

Petroshka Kent

Jad raised his brow curiously, glancing down at the captured Titans, immediately he could detect a strange energy within them. They felt like regular Titans, however that darkness inside them definitely set them apart from any he had met before. "Consume souls? Impossible.." It took a while for him to come to terms with it, could it really be possible? Consuming the soul of another being? "This is what those two were warning us about? The idea of a being that can consume souls is frightening, but they don't seem to have been much of problem to the two of you, after all." He scoffed and walked closer, eyeing up one of the defeated.

Vrille glared at Jad, a fellow Titan, before turning his gaze back towards Groeden, who was being bombarded with further questions from the two Immortals. "How do we consume souls? Not even the Warlords understand the ways of our clan, and how our power is so much more immense than any other.. it's just a blank patch of memory for most of us, after we joined the clan." Groeden frowned to himself, attempting to recall the memory, but to no avail. None of the members truly cared where their power came from, so nobody had dared to question the leader's methods. "The others? Well, the other members of our group lie in wait just outside the city, nobody can leave, you see.. as for the Headquarters? That's a more complex situation, us underlings aren't kept up to date with all of that.." He trailed off, glancing in the distance, hoping it wouldn't be long before the Boss arrived, perhaps they would have more questions if he answered them vaguely.

Kent Petroshka

Rurnur said:

The huntress ignored him, walking past and heading into the tunnel, gesturing for him to follow. "You really like to complain, don't you boy? Why don't you just listen and do your job? Maybe then you'd understand we're not going up against two measly Titans; they're a clan that has the entirety of the Badlands under lockdown. Get it through your head that you can't take all of them by yourself, hopefully we can actually make some progress that way." She slipped into the darkness of the tunnel, making her way into town. This would be a pain, but first things first, she'd need to see who's running things around here.. she was sure there wouldn't be weaklings in control of this town, considering how important of a location it is. "Now that you get it, go ahead and do something useful." The Elder

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(I'm alive, sorry for the delay)Osamu's grins and looks at Yoven. Now we both know if I was like that, the relationship we have would be complete and utter shit. Without my bigass mouth, there would be no one to lecture me until I wanna eat my own ears. He followed Yoven chuckling walking through the tunnel. He could feel the darkness increase as he got closer towards the town. "Go do something useful" she said to him. Useful huh? I'm guessing your definition of useful is something around gathering information and not mindlessly attacking people? I'll see how "useful" I can be. He grins as walks ahead exiting the tunnel. He looks around at all the mortals within the town and grins brightly. So many souls. He thought to himself. He walks towards the smoke and arrives on scene leaning over one of the rooftops. He scopes the scene seeing a total of six immortals. Three were captured titans and the others he assumed were the ones who captured them. He arrived in time to hear most of the interrogation. Hmm this information gathering business is pretty easy. He thought to himself. Petroshka Kent

"The Warlords? They're our leaders, the strongest Titans in the land. Each one has authority over a large number of clan members, just like the Boss has authority over us.. " He paused for a moment, his senses were dulled from taking massive damage all at once, but he could still sense a familiar darkness in the nearby vicinity, was it the Boss? No, the concentration was much less. Either way, he should only have to stall a little while longer. "I'm sure you'll learn plenty from him when he arrives, don't you worry.." He grinned at the man who was currently questioning him.

Petroshka Kent

Meanwhile, just outside of town, Ralak, the Warlord given the title of "Wildfire" rose from his makeshift throne and trudged, barefoot, through the sand, and into the city. He made no effort to warn his subordinates, as he knew exactly what needed to be done. His body glowed with immense heat, burning the hot sand beneath his feet as he made his way into town, causing any nearby Mortals to instantly flee in terror. Adorned with jagged plate armour, with a tight grip on his two massive weapons, used to crush souls and brutalize his enemies; Ralak headed straight towards the group of six or more Immortals, including a number of his own disciples, making his way through the streets and destroyed buildings. This shouldn't take long, he thought to himself.

The Elder Kimona

Acantha was becoming more and more irritated with Astro, asking repetitive questions with obvious answers, she had half a mind to execute him here and now for incompetence. Wondering how he got to command a squad she would never know, perhaps director Nyala is going senile? Just to make it worst Jad from coldtusk is here and Astro just told him everything, as if we were directly allied with them. Her strings also detected another immortal off in the distance observing them (and somehow heard the whole of interrogation despite only hearing one question after being told to go gather information a few posts after the information?) Her strings came into action again this time wrapping around their necks and hands tying them together not giving Jad any attention. "Astro we're leaving to the designated location, we've wasted enough time here." She started walking and pulling her captives with her until she heard, or rather felt the earth shake. and astro being concerned about citizens who were too slow or dumb enough to get out of the city already.

Giving a sigh of frustration "Move it Astro! we don't have time for this!" She started walking furiously away to their designation location which were the ruins she had mentioned earlier. If the titans gave resistance she would form the razor barbs again and this time threaten to cut their heads off. Her temper was being tested again and again and she was not pleased. Even considered glassing this side of the badlands with nuclear fire from Sildorian ships. Rurnur Kent The Elder

The three captive Titans expectedly struggled and shouted complaints, but began growing calmer and more at ease, the more they could feel their commander's presence as he drew nearer and nearer to their location. Ralak snarled in distaste as he found the streets vacant of mortals that he could quickly grab for a snack, his first thought was that his disciples had eaten all of the population themselves; and if this were the case, Ralak would just have to eat them instead. As his pace quickened, the fire from his heated soles spread across the ground and nearby buildings, setting them aflame in a roaring inferno, with each new path he took, he left the surrounding buildings and streets adorned with flames of such power that the stone itself began to erode and crumble. Eventually, he found himself with two Immortals locked in his sights, approaching a set of ruins on the edge of town. He bared his fangs in disgust, seeing the poor state his disciples were in. Obviously they weren't up to scratch, he already made the decision to consume their souls once this business was done with. He cared little for his subordinates fate, however this act of war couldn't be ignored. He would be made the laughing stock of Clan Dunehammer if he allowed a few Immortals to capture his underlings.

With a single swift motion, Ralak lifted one of his hammers, grit his teeth as it erupted in flames, and sent it slamming down onto the desert floor; releasing an enormous column of flame that shot out towards the two Immortals in a straight line, before hitting the nearby ruins and engulfing them in an explosion of fire and pure heat, immediately melting away a majority of the ruin's structures.

Kent Petroshka

Rurnur Petroshka

Acantha frowned when the big titan attacked and used one of the less talkative and most resistant of the three titans to throw him in the path of the fire column infront of Astro's fire barrier as a meat shield in case Astro's barrier wasn't good enough. She then turned to the other two titans "if you two want to stay alive i suggest you run faster!" She seemingly 'unhooked' them from her strings but in reality they were just too small to be felt. and she would use these strings to track them down. "Astro! retreat tactics!" Looking over to the titan she looked around thinking of what would be useful. His soul seemed powerful and he didnt seem reluctant to use high energy attacks. They could perhaps take him on but she'd rather attack him on her own terms and her timing so right now she could only think of what to slow him down with. Placing her hands on the ground in front of her, her strings cut through the underground landscape. on the surface it seemed that an earthquake was happening and the floor was breaking into pieces making the ground unstable. Normal people wouldn't have too much trouble to walk through but to larger beings would prove much more difficult sinking into the broken ground. She had prepared with his seemingly fire capabilities and cut the landscape deep, if he were to attempt to melt the ground that would be pool of lava would be extraordinarily deep, and if he were to try and jump over... well he'd make himself quite the target. Getting up she started to walk away watching if her plan had any affect.
Rurnur Kent The Elder

Lifting his hammer from the shattered ground, he watched as the earth around him began to give way. Unblinking, he tensed his muscles and bent his knees, lowering his stature as his body burst into flames, a bright aura of energy surrounded him, condensed heat energy acting as a barrier between him and the unstable ground, morphing with each step, he walked forward effortlessly even as the ground melted into a molten soup from the intensity of the flames. The Titan who was thrust in the way of Ralak's strike used the last remnants of his energy to wrap around his soul, keeping it from being shattered entirely, however he collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion, only to be picked up by another of the fleeing Titans. Just as the two fleeing the scene were about to escape Ralak's field of vision, he shot them a look; causing both of their souls to erupt in flames, sending them to their knees, unable to continue with their escape. Ralak returned his attention to his two targets, his eyes burning with hunger. This time, he raised both of his hammers and struck the rumbling ground with immense force, projecting a wave of heat, rushing underground with burning energy towards both the Immortals. The flames incinerated the strings spread throughout the earth, melting the rocks and sand as they rocketed forward before emerging from the surface next to both the blue-flame user and the string user, resulting in several gigantic explosions of powerful fire, sending the surrounding area into a blazing inferno.

Petroshka Kent

Raiden looked in the direction of Pilgrim's Bay he could sense and hear a massive fight going down bigger than the ones that just went down. Or maybe the battle has escalated after a brief pause. All he knew is that he had to get in there as he saw mortals fleeing through the tunnel. He looked back at Issan and said "Sounds like they may need us. I am definitely not going to miss this fight now that I am rejuvenated." Raiden explained before turning. He summoned his soul transformation which this was a little more advanced as now he was holding dual blades. Electricity crackled around Raiden as he used his energy to enhance his speed, he took off his body invisible surrounding by the streaks of electricity as he zipped through the tunnel and through the town all the way to the site of the battle. He skid to a stop at the edge of the battlefield to survey the situation.

Acantha let out a breath of frustration as they were blocked off and slowly turned around to face the titan of fire. Her mind was racing thinking about possible routes of escape and extraction while simultaneously thinking about how to stall him with words. Walking causally next to Astro she simply commented so only Astro could hear. "Let me do the talking"
Rurnur Kent Field Marshall