Fantasy Divinity Unbound

[King Castle]

The arc of a blade, hands shift twisting the path. Reverse swing. Breathe. Foot falls, one two. Stance fluid, left right left. Another one dead.

Sebastian heard and heeded the urgency in Koroses voice. Already keeping his distance from the edge of the ship lest an ill wave knock him overboard he was afforded just enough time to don his gloves before their demonic offenders began their assault.

A large build, a long blade and specialized techniques to leverage these strengths meant that he could threaten a wide area while safely out of reach of most foes. By the same virtue's he was fairly well suited to fighting multiple foes. Though perhaps not quite against such overwhelming numbers. To mitigate this disadvantage Sebastian swiftly carved his way to stand beside Zaldir.

"A fine choice! Fire is often the most reliably destructive pick for a weapon." He said merrily even as his blade, carried by it's weight and his strength tore its way through another fiend. "Though our transport prohibits the wide uncontrolled application of the element. Oh! Ahem. CLOSE YOUR EYES MY GOOD FELLOWS!" Raising his left hand upwards to the center of the ship there was a light flash followed by a blur of movement as a steel ball flew above the crew. Hanging in the air briefly as its momentum faded there suddenly came a brilliant searing light like the very sun had descended before the cold steel came crashing down, cracking the old wood of the ship. A cacophony of cries and screams abound as the swarm of beast crashed and flailed in the confusion.

"GATHER ROUND OR GET BELOW! THIS IS THE TIME TO ACT!"

 

[GojiBean]

“Korose! I hope you got something to thin this gaggle of demons down!”

Korose's head turned slightly towards the sound of Aranaea's voice.

"If it were night I'd gladly oblige!" He called back.

His Shadowfare magic was mostly for defense, but over the centuries he'd found ways to concentrate it into offensive schemes. However, this was mostly only possible at night when the entire world was caked in shadows for him to draw from. In broad daylight on a ship out at sea where their own shadows and maybe a few from the masts and railings were all he had, his power was incredibly limited.

Korose knelt down and gently tugged on Elena to kneel down with him, which she did as she huddled up next to his large form looming over her even while kneeling like a mountain.

"Stay here."

Korose gathered his own shadow, Elena's shadow, and the shadow of the masts and used them to encircle Elena completely in a small shadowy bubble. Concentrated as it was in such a small space it had formed a solid body around her like a cage to keep her safe while he stood up and lashed out with a hand which gripped the neck of a creature mid-flight. The momentum almost pulled him off his feet, but he maintained stability before pushing it back around and slamming it head first into the deck. With a quick tightening of his grip and a sharp twist, he snapped its thin neck before stepping on its chest, grabbing its arms below the shoulder, and tearing them out with his bare hands.

The sharp claws on the ends of each hand made for fantastic weaponry as he began using them like short whips to slash at anything that came close to him.

All the while, Ragewave and his crew who couldn't fight had escaped below deck to find as much safety as they could. A few remained with swords and tridents, as well as the water mages who gathered around Sebastian and worked together to concentrate the waters of the ocean into various forms such as small walls and various watery weapons like whips and swords.

"Master! We await your command!" The lead Water Mage called to Sebastian.

King Castle Pantheran Firewind

 

[King Castle]

"Circle formation! When I warn fire make sure the ship doesn't burn!" Sebastian's eyes scanned the swarm looking for a clean target as his mind took stock of their tools. A large white circle swiftly swallowed a row of fiends. Thud thud thud! A shill cry echoed from below deck.

"Never mind that! Aranaea! Could you provide a flat surface that we could hold parallel to something sturdy like the mast or deck? Wide, thin and weak works! Fire!" A white flash and steel barrelled into the face of a beast. Bone gave way as a furious pyre bloomed amid screams. A gentle shower of sparks fluttered down as charred meat splished and splashed into the oceans below. Sebastian palmed the little terror as he looked for the next best cluster to strike.

"And water magi: fight defensively! A wave of water will do wonders if and when-FIRE! They decide to charge recklessly with sheer numbers. OH! AND YOU DOWN THERE! BE A DEAR AND CLEAR THOSE CORPSES! SHOUT WHEN YOUR DONE!"

 

[GojiBean]

Korose continued using the arms he'd torn off from the one creature as weapons to hack at anything that came within reach as he stayed near Elena's little protective shadowy bubble. Several creatures had tried breaking in, to no avail. Concentrated as it was the bubble may as well have been concrete. And their claws, sharp as they were, couldn't match the density of it.

Suddenly, Korose's head felt like his brain had just expanded as an instant migraine took hold dropping him to his knees. And with this development Elena's protective bubble flickered in and out of existence as Korose tried to maintain control over it through the pain searing through his head. Inside the bubble, Elena's eyes widened as she frantically looked about as the little creatures started surrounding it, waiting for their chance.

Relax... And submit.

"... Fuck... Off..." Korose hissed through grit teeth.

Come now. You can't fight this forever.

Korose ignored the voice in his head and picked up the arms he'd been using as weapons once more. Forcing himself to his feet against the throbbing in his head he made his way to the bubble and knelt down next to it to pass one of the arms through to Elena who, for obvious reasons, was loathe to so much as touch it.

"Take it. Just in case."

Elena nodded and reluctantly took the arm, visibly disgusted from the contact with it, and tried to hold it like he was in the event she had to swing it around. Meanwhile, Korose stood up once again and took a deep breath.

Did you ever wonder why they're not attacking you specifically?

Again, Korose ignored it.

You'll find out soon enough.

If they wouldn't come to him, he'd go to them. But the arm he was still using was already beat to hell and looked about ready to break into a hundred pieces if he hit something with it again. But if this headache didn't go away soon he'd be of even less use than he was now. It was taking everything just to hold Elena's bubble together against the throbbing in his head. And if the little buggers wouldn't come near him he couldn't do anything either physically or magically. Not without risking Elena being exposed to them long enough to potentially do harm, or worse.

"Gods be damned!" He growled.

Meanwhile, inside her bubble Elena had noticed Korose's predicament. Despite not knowing what could be done to help him, her left hand, currently gripping the fabric of her shirt over her heart, began to emit a subtle white glow which she remarkably took no notice of.

King Castle Pantheran Firewind

 

[Firewind]

Aranaea looked at Master Sebastian with a raised eyebrow. “Can I?“ she asked sarcastically as she grabbed two more planks of wood to get to work on getting something wide enough. “You lot keep stalling them whilst I do this! That goes triple for you Brother!”

Zaldir looked at his sister with a side eye as he swung his fiery weapon, cleaving two of the demons in two. “I’m going to need more then fancy flashes, shadow trickery and my own sword then!“ he shouted as he began fishing around one of the pouches on his belt. He was fishing for one of a handful of steel marbles the size of a walnut. He never tried it with various Magical spells being thrown around at once so he wondered how this was going to pan out as he tried to find a nice spot to throw it.

The midst of a battle was no easy feat to experiment with such a simple thing with a magic circle generation essence, but what choice did Zaldir have? He hurled it towards the area in front of Korose and Elena where a group of demons were gathering, where there was the small area patch of a shadow coming from the mast. The Marble glowed with the surrounding mana of the blind elf’s magic.

“Oi Korose! Giving you a helping hand! You got twenty seconds! Make it count!” He shouted as within a six foot radius of the marble’s contact with the deck, a magic circle appeared and small tentacles of shadow grabbed at the demons in it.

”Fuck me! It works!” Zaldir shouted in elvish.

“Language Zaldir!” Aranaea shouted as she got the item Sebastian requested ready. She was feeling a bit winded from making such an object but she had Zagaroth and the others to help cover her to say the least.

 

[Pantheran]

Zagaroth had been hoping to make his way below the deck, however the demons kept coming at them. While it looked like their numbers were getting smaller, they were relentless. He was still close to Aranea, and seeing her focus on aiding others with her alchemy creations, he couldn't just leave her alone and defenseless. Because even if the thief preferred to run and hide, his time on the streets had taught him a few things. Firstly: when possible, help those weaker than yourself, and secondly: never make a woman mad. And being already on bad terms with some of the group, he didn't want to risk angering Aranea by leaving her fight alone.

So, gritting his teeth, he sliced one of the demons coming at him. His right arm was already getting tired from holding the sword. But suddenly he saw movement from the corner of his eye. One of the demons was right behind Aranea, its mouth open with sharp teeth, ready to bite her left shoulder from behind. Quickly grabbing one of his throwing knives with his left hand, he threw it past her head and hit the demon right onto its chest, sending it backwards and pinning it onto a wooden beam.

That was all he had time for, before shifting his focus back at the enemies closer to him.

 

[GojiBean]

Korose's head turned at hearing Zaldir's voice calling to him. And he could hear the sounds of small objects hitting the deck not far away. What he hadn't expected was how his mana was activating the magic within. And because it happened so close, one of the tentacles of shadow wrapped around Korose's left leg and yanked him off his feet.

Lips pulled back in a vicious snarl, his head turned right towards Zaldir.

"You bumbling moron!!" He shouted.

One of the demonic creatures next to Korose which was ensnared by the trap tried to use what little freedom of movement it had to lash out at him. Korose leaned back to narrowly avoid its claws raking his chest, and grabbed its flailing arm before using all his strength to rip it free of the socket. The creature's black blood spewed everywhere, including across Korose's new shirt, and across his face forcing him to spit some of it out as he rubbed the back of his arm sleeve across his mouth and tongue.

... Fucking-...

Korose growled under his breath about the sun being so high up in the sky and casting such tiny shadows around everything. If it were either morning or evening, or even better if it were night time, he'd have more than enough shadows to make use of to maximize his effectiveness. But as it was now, at almost high noon, there was almost nothing.

But their numbers were thinning. Just a little bit more and they'd get control of the situation and send the creatures packing.

Firewind Pantheran King Castle