Fantasy Four Suits Volume 3: Shadows Of War

[TPBx]

Athania seemed amused by Wysteria's unorthodox behavior, the fact she referred to herself as "we" seemed to indicate that she had some sort of mental issue. Though she still had the capacity to tend to her wounds so it seemed like she was still alright in the head. Athania nodded in response to Wysteria's concerns and replied, "thanks. I'm pretty sure I know why X didn't deliver me to the medics, they probably wouldn't be able to take care of me given my lineage." Athania then summoned a ball of dysidia by draining the life from a nearby plant, and then crushing it in her hand sending purple sparks flying around throughout the room, hinting to Wysteria the kind of mage she is. "Normal healing magic won't work on me, I guess," she added.

LazyDaze

================================================================================================

Marillys rose up, blood covering his face and uniform. He turned around to see another mage approach him amidst this hellscape of a battlefield. The Homunculus was about to draw his sword with his remaining arm before being smacked in the chest by a high speed attack. He crumpled backwards as his body processed the shock of being hit by such an extreme attack. Marillys immediately coughed up blood as some of his internal organs burst from the impact. Even Marillys, renowned for his incredible speed, was surprised by how quickly this mage attacked him. His body reluctant to stay down rose back up involuntarily. Marillys stared down the mage once more, positioning his sword with a low guard and seeing if he could react faster than this man could move.

Remembrance

 

[Goonfire]

Leolin Hravart III
The shortsighted mockery only served to make the Ace grin rather sadistically. “Your first mistake was underestimating the competition, little ingenue,” he stated while stretching his right arm. He didn’t need his pyromancy to annihilate this ugly bastard. “Discover now the error of your ways!”

Leolin danced in a completely random fashion, relying on his agility to avoid attacks from Adonis. Meanwhile, he flexed the muscles in his arm, rearing up for one hell of a punch. He didn’t ball up his fist yet; instead, he kept his fingers perfectly straight. Once he was far enough away, he drew back further, bringing his punch as far back as his body’s range of motion would allow. He was going to put all his strength into this one powerful blow.

Kloudy

 

[Coyote Hart]

[class=variables] --color: #b7cfda; cursor: url('http://i.imgur.com/ZOrzC.png'), auto !important [/class] [class=container] width: 530px; height: 300px; display: flex; margin: auto; flex-wrap: wrap; [/class] [class name=container maxWidth=450px] width: 300px; height: 100%; align-items: center; justify-content: center; [/class] [class=left] height: 300px; width: 220px; padding: 15px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class=name] font-weight: 900; text-align: center; border-bottom: 4px solid var(--color); width: 120px; display: block; margin: 10% auto; font-size: 18px; position: relative; [/class] [class=imgContainer] width: 100%; height: 90px; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; margin: 10px auto; [/class] [class=img] width: 90px; height: 90px; background-size: cover; background-position: 50% 50%; filter: saturate(70%); [/class] [class=tag] display: inline-block; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color); height: 15px; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; [/class] [class=right] width: 280px; height: 300px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; overflow: hidden; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; box-sizing: border-box; [/class] [class=leftTagContainer] width: 100%; height: 100px; [/class] [class=scroll] width: 100%; padding-right: 50px; height: 100%; overflow-y: scroll; [/class] [div class=variables] [div class=container] [div class=left] [div class=imgContainer] [div class=img style="background-image: url('https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/d9BZiqP4dxCUAX6FIneQjUnkl5XW5zc3UHgoLIt1kiK0LNNrBl-j81gt9oky2CT6-C7XESO5DZDZu-kR6cXfCoXve33CLTjze-jIw8kAMeTo6RYj5iQ=w1280')"][/div] [div class=img style="background-image: url('https://i.imgur.com/TEkOWVz.jpg')"][/div] [/div] [div class=name]ROHAN GOLD WILLIAM CODE[/div] [div class=leftTagContainer] [div class=scroll] [div class=tag]Rank[/div] Will (10 of Diamonds), Rohan (Ace of Diamonds), Amelia (10 of Spades), Raulf (7 of Diamonds)
[div class=tag]Location[/div] Six Years Ago, William's Ace Trials


[/div] [/div] [/div] [div class=right] [div class=scroll] Today was definitely not the best of days. Not only was it partly kloudy, Rohan’s least favorite weather, but he was also going to face a powerful adversary. One that he had no idea if he was going to win against.

Rohan Gold paced back and forth on the platform that he was going to greet William at. It was meant to intimidate the midget of a cryomancer. When he walked up towards him, he would see an overpowering figure of the Gold Standard.

Last night, Rohan had feasted on his favorite food-- flatbread with tomatoes and anchovies. It was his tradition whenever he went up against a challenger, in case he died and was never able to taste the sweet and salty of his favorite food ever again. But Rohan knew that he couldn’t die here-- he simply couldn’t. There was so much on the line. His pride, his honor, the life of his son Henry, the fate of the gang that he had led for over fifteen years, and the prospering empire that he had cultivated throughout the ten years.

Of course, Rohan tried to play dirty to stop William. He brainwashed the Jack to commit suicide against William and thus would lead to William’s execution. But that didn’t work. So then Rohan brainwashed the Queen, hoping that she could do the job. She couldn’t; with a well-aimed blow, she was taken out. And Rohan couldn’t brainwash the King, so here he was now.

Rohan supposed that he was likely lucky as he sat down on his throne of gold. Fighting Will meant that the hollow sword on his hip could be used. He could take Will’s soul, and after a bit of torture, he’d no doubt be the master of ice.

Rohan drew the inscribed shortsword from his robe, running his hand across the smooth blade. It was obviously worse than Amelia, but it’d get the job done.

“When is that malnourished dwarf going to get here?” Rohan muttered to nobody in particular.

As if on cue, the malnourished dwarf in question made his appearance as rare and coveted dimensional magic manifested before his very eyes. A portal expanded open and William stepped out. The young noble was fully decked out in his expensive attire, Gloves of Crushing and his two Chaos Skulls Artefact. It was a widely revered fact that William had gained the love of the Diamond Kingdom by not only ridding them of a crypt that was pouring out bloodthirsty specters but also recovering the ancient mummified Artefact buried within. William glanced about the area around the two, taking a moment to register any preset traps Rohan may have implemented, before settling his focus on the taller man in front of him.

"Rohan Gold."

Rohan waved cheerfully at his young challenger. It seemed that William was bent on putting up a show through looks while Rohan put one up through gold and glory.

"Oh hey, you came. I thought you were going to kill me with boredom," Rohan said. He conjured a plate out of the cushion of the throne, and when he reached into his pockets, he took out three magnificent pieces of sushi which he put onto the plate.

"Before we begin, do you want some finger food?" Rohan offered the plate to William. It was spicy tuna, a flavor that rarely would come from his sushi pants.

William didn’t respond and instead looked to the other two Aces present. They shrugged back, so William returned his gaze to Rohan with gritted teeth. This was a mockery of what they were supposed to represent. Here William was, prepared to fight this man to the death, and how did he greet him? With sushi. He even had the audacity to offer him some. If William were more of a vulgar man and not of nobility, he may have spat on the ground that Rohan stood on. He knew many mercenaries that would have several times already.

Instead of granting the Ace of Diamonds with the acknowledgment of a response to his idiocy, William channeled frosty mana into his palms. The portal behind him closed. The other spectating Aces noticed his release of energy and took a greater interest in the battle they were yet to see.

Cyan hues illuminated William’s eyes and he took a graceful step back, employing a basic neutral combat stance with one hand folded behind his back. Equal footing to mount a swift attack or give ground defensively. It was the standard practice amongst the nobility, or at least the part of it that his family originated from. Although these days, the nobility was so sure of themselves they usually never moved with defensive intent. William was more reserved than that.

On his part, Rohan was unflipped by William’s display of martial stance, nor his rejection of his sushi.

“Your loss,” Rohan commented as he bit into a piece of sushi. Immediately, he spat it out onto the ground and wiped his mouth, “Yuck, I hate tuna.”

Rohan knew he was having a little bit too much fun with William. There was a real and severe chance that Rohan would die today. William truly was a formidable opponent-- anyone who felt the air would notice that his ice mana was aggressively overpowering. So Rohan picked up the remaining two pieces of Spicy Tuna between his fingers, dropped the plate onto the ground to let it shatter, and hopped into his own stance. Unlike William’s, Rohan’s was slightly more aggressive. It was something he developed throughout his time streetfighting, and it was for when he wanted to overwhelm an opponent. There wasn’t really a point in putting up a defensive stance if you have superior strength, although that wasn’t really the case as of now.

Rohan swirled his arms in the air, a streak of electricity developing in a circle similar in shape to his swirl. The air began to saturate with static as Rohan prepared to counter William.

“Come at me, kupo,” Rohan challenged. Kupo was a term Rohan usually reserved for those he deemed were just like tools. Rohan intended for William to be no more than a weapon under his control at the end of the battle.

William narrowed his eyes in return and pressed a palm forward in Rohan’s direction. It was a penetrating-type destruct spell in the shape of a lance. William intended to pierce through whatever pathetic defence Rohan could conjure in the short time it would take the lance to travel the several feet between them. In less than a second, the icy polearm shot at high speed, aiming for Rohan’s chest.

Unfortunately, William underestimated just how powerful of a defense a strong offense was. With one flick of a wrist, a bolt of lightning crashed through the lance of ice, sending pieces of ice shrapnel flying everywhere as it plunged aggressively at William. Some of it brushed past Rohan’s face, causing tiny cuts to appear on his cheekbones and face.

But Rohan didn’t really care. As he flicked his wrist, he also brought his arm up in an overhand throw, tossing the two pieces of sushi at William. Moments before they left Rohan’s hand, he primed them into bombs of electricity that were ready to detonate as soon as they got near William. Rohan’s face was alight with glee as he laughed maniacally. William was less enthusiastic.

Possessing the best reactions a mage could have, William reacted accordingly to his adversary’s literally-lightning fast counterattack by generating a wide portal in front of himself. Rohan’s attack disappeared inside. The lightning and the sushi impacted somewhere off into the distance and a dull rumbling came from the force of the energy.

It would soon become very apparent just how William had been so successful in combat all this time. Paired with powerful cryomancy to overpower his opponents and cunning portalcraft magic to redirect attacks too strong to be worth blocking, William’s fighting style was essentially one of overwhelming offense and defense. Simple, yet entirely effective as William had countered Rohan’s assault by spending much less mana than he had in response. In the mage’s combat guide taught in the Royal Kings Academy, one always held the advantage if they spent less mana than their opponent to attack or defend successfully.

Wasting no time to allow Rohan another shot at his failed attack, William allowed the portal enchantment to dematerialize as he channeled cryo-mana through his feet. Slowly but steadily, frost began to creep along the ground from his position. As it edged out in all directions, another wave of energy emanated from William and a wave of ice began to creep out all around him. Rohan would realise as he watched various plants and rocks become cocooned in ice, that the floor was soon to no longer be a safe space the closer he got to William.

Rohan’s eyes darted around as he looked at the creeping ice. There were two choices at the moment-- either he could wait for the ice to creep up and take over Rohan, or he could fight back. Rohan decided on the second option.

With one wave of a hand, a ball of lightning formed on his fingertips, and just as if he was bowling, Rohan tossed the ball to let it bounce across the ice and slam towards the ice mage’s head. That’ll teach him to not use the cold to creep up on people. William ducked backward and the ball of lightning that was barreling towards him flew past his face narrowly. Maintaining his calm demeanour, he then straightened up again and raised a hand. Cryogenic mana began to build in his palm, suggesting the setting up of a more powerful spell.

Meanwhile, the creeping ice continued on its path outwards in all directions. Frost began to touch at Rohan's toes. Rohan sighed in resignation and channeled mana throughout his body to cause electricity to flow from head to toe. Any ice that touched Rohan immediately shattered. Rohan was cocky but not stupid, and he could tell that William was planning for something, so he held his ground and prepared for the worst.

"Cold Snare."

And the worst came. As William finished charging his spell, eight chains of ice suddenly burst forth from his palm. Splaying in all directions, they snaked out at great speed and homed in on Rohan. Each tried to grab a hold of his limbs in an attempt to lock him in place and channel powerful cryogenic mana into him. Since William had time to charge it, the subspell was at least 2000 mana-strong and incredibly durable as a result. Rohan wouldn't be able to destroy it outright unless he charged up a spell of equal or more power. William was lucky in that sense, Rohan had allowed him to cast the spell, putting himself at a disadvantage. He was sure his opponent would try to dodge the attack or mitigate it somehow, so his iridescent cyan eyes paid close attention to his movements. With perception as powerful as William's, he could even somewhat predict how Rohan would physically move just from his pre-muscle spasms alone.

Rohan’s eyes narrowed as he concentrated his electricity mana. It was just a part of his stubborn and cocky nature that he didn't want to leave his position. His electricity mana swirled around him, entering and exiting his body. The chains of ice grabbed onto him, chaining him up, but it didn't really matter-- the cryogenic mana fought with Rohan's electricity. It would only take a few seconds for Rohan's electricity force to completely block out the chains, and if William attacked him right now, he'd risk being electrocuted.

However William possessed more mana than Rohan, and he knew it. His Ultimate Perception could ascertain exactly how much mana Rohan had at max and how much he currently had. William had more mana in total and had spent roughly the same in spells. This meant he still had more mana left in reserve.

“I promise you a painless death,” William told the man in cold tones.

The aspiring-ace began to channel more mana through his chains now in an attempt to completely overpower Rohan’s electrical mana and freeze him entirely. While the Ace of Diamonds enjoyed throwing up a strong defensive strategy in the form of obliterating offense, Rohan’s reliance on overwhelming his foes with pure power would not work against William. Ironically, it would actually place him at a disadvantage. Rohan was a powerful and skilled man, no one could deny that. But there were always stronger mages out there. Mages like William.

Whether or not William was stronger didn’t matter as much to Rohan. All he knew was that he couldn’t die here.

“Nah, I won’t die from your hands,” Rohan chuckled with a strained breath, “You don’t have what it takes to be an Ace. Not the power, but the heart. You’re just a cold, empty barrel of power, without any traces of humanity.”

At that point, Rohan made his move. He used the mana he channeled in his legs to boost himself up into the air and let himself bellyflop, slamming onto the chains. With his trapped arms and legs, Rohan utilized the strength he built in order to humiliate weaker mages without the use of magic and pushed apart. Meanwhile, his electricity mana, which at that point was meant to keep William’s magic out, stabilized the chains and prevented them from moving. Rohan wasn’t going to let William’s chains do him in.

Instead of allowing Rohan to complete his 'bellyflop', of which William found rather unbecoming of an Ace, the ice mage pulled on his chains sharply. Utilizing his own strength, he yanked back hard with his left hand so that Rohan would be dragged through the air and towards William. As the Ace flew at him, William cocked back his right fist and threw a powerful punch. He was aware of Rohan's reputation as the 'Magi-Crusher', but the title did not faze him. The gang leader was outclassed in almost every aspect.

And at that point, Rohan could tell that William outclassed him. But it would be inaccurate to say in absolutely every aspect. Magical power? Sure. Economic and social degrees? Yeah, Rohan had tortured the teacher until they just gave him a certification. But in age and street brawling experience? Most definitely not. If William was going to insist on fighting fist on fist, Rohan would show that his experience with different street fighting styles gave him the advantage.

Except for the fact that Rohan forgot he was all chained up.

In the brief millisecond that he realized this, Rohan had already crashed into William and his fist connected into Rohan. It also caused Rohan to release all the pressure he had built up inside into a wave of electric might. Fortunately, as Rohan flew backward to crash into his golden throne, he felt the chains shatter.

“You’re a tough cookie, I’ll acknowledge that,” Rohan said as he stood up and tried to shake off the impact, “But you’re just a cookie. I. WILL. EAT. YOU.”

With that final statement, Rohan sent a haphazard set of electricity, bouncing around bizarrely as they aimed to hit William from all sides.

"Tch… Absolute Field." William clicked his tongue in annoyance, unsatisfied that Rohan could still stand.

While Rohan launched his attack, William's enchantment subspell activated in response. It began passively blocking the lightning with auto-barriers of snow and ice. In response, Rohan concentrated his electricity attacks into one larger bolt so that he could push through William’s shields and pressure him to use his portals. The ice mage responded as expected and threw up a portal to allow the bolt to pass out a second portal he had generated at his back. And that was what Rohan wanted. The bolt of lightning bounced off the ground and refracted back towards William, who couldn't react to what he couldn't see. The man took the bolt to the side and was knocked a step back. It was the first time the ice mage had moved his feet since the battle had started.

"Very cunning… I assume these are the strategies you used against your predecessor?" William straightened up with narrow eyes, his expression oddly unfazed.

The portals demanifested. He felt around his ribs and noticed that his Second-Skin barrier had been blasted away in that area, his real skin seeming somewhat bruised. So Rohan was capable of damaging him at least.

Seeing the cryomancer lower his portals, Rohan similarly calmed down with his barrage of projectiles.

"As a matter of fact, no," Rohan said with a sneeze. It seemed that he was going to catch a cold after this battle. "The old fart that was the Ace before me was ineffective. I just punched the geezer to death."

"Of course I can't do that with you," Rohan admitted, "But that'll make killing you more funner!"

Rohan raised his hand, electricity charging in his palm, "You ready to die, Code?"

The intimidation in that statement was ruined however by another sneeze.

"More fun," William corrected, charging glacial mana in his own palm. "It will bring me no pleasure, but this is for the good of the Kingdom."

He raised the palm and continued to charge up mana, the sheer energy traveled down his arm beginning to shake it erratically. Clearly, he was channeling for a big spell.

"Don't correct my grammar, you piece of shit!" Rohan shouted as he channeled his mana from his arm downwards into his chest. With his other hand, he tore off part of his gold throne and lobbed it at William in an attempt to distract him, "And if you think you're the hero to this kingdom, I have some unwelcome news for you. I am the hero, not someone like you!"

Someone like me…? William used his other hand to bat the chunk of the throne off to the side with little concern. It seemed the climax of the battle was at hand, so there was little sense in pulling any punches. William had resolved himself to risk his life for this chance, there was just one absolute of this final trial. Only one of them would remain alive. William intended for it to be himself. Steeling his will, a look of cold apathy washed over his features as the sheer current of frosty mana began to slowly lift him into the air.

He gazed down at Rohan.

“You have never met someone like me.”

All at once, the mana he had been amassing released from his palm in a 50ft wide blinding beam of icy magic. At the same time, Rohan leveled his hand towards the floating cryomancer and let his spell release. It was a purely destructive beam of electricity. Animals, plants, trees, whatever was weaker than the two aces and were too close to Rohan were reduced to ash. The two beams of magic clashed, electricity and ice, yellow and teal, both immensely powerful but neither getting the upper hand in their fight for dominance.

"Of course I've never met someone so blindly and wooed by power," Rohan said with gritted teeth. His blond hair billowed in the wind. "If you become Ace, it'll only be a matter of time before your power makes you think you're above everyone else. I can see that. You don't care about a thing; you're not doing this for the kingdom!"

At that point, Rohan’s inert ability to sense danger was screaming for him to turn around. But Rohan ignored that warning. Why the hell should he distract himself and turn around? He needed to focus on the beam of electricity. If he could burn through William’s ice, he was going to win.

Unfortunately, ignoring his instincts was a mistake. A fatal mistake.

A hand stretched out from behind Rohan, slow and ominous so as to not alert the man. Through the small portal, William revealed himself. He decisively placed a gloved hand on the Ace's head and squeezed. A dull cracking sound was heard.

"You believe this is power. You believe this 'power' is omnipotent. Magic is a means to an end," He squeezed harder and another series of cracks came, this time slightly wet.

"I will use it to instill true power in this kingdom. A power you will never get to see, Rohan Gold…"

The magic beams had stopped now. One final crushing squelch was the finishing blow of the fight before William released the man forth to fall back down to the ground.

"Discipline and duty, Rohan."

It would be the last words the man ever heard again.

"Discipline and duty…"

~~~​

Discipline and duty… discipline and duty… discipline and duty…

How funny that William-- or should he say the new Ace of Diamonds grant him a lesson at the final moments of his life. Of course, Rohan had to learn discipline. If he had been more careful during the battle, he probably wouldn't have died to the stupid parlor trick of going behind someone's back. As for duty… what was his duty? It had to be to protect the empire that he had grown, right? Why else would he be using every fiber of his being to hold onto life, even when he should be dead?

His duty was to protect his empire, to make sure that it prospered throughout the next few decades. But if one were to die, so goes their contributions to the world. It would all slowly unravel like the string on a spool of threads. So Rohan couldn’t die. He simply had to figure out some way to survive.

Rohan couldn’t see, for William’s attack had destroyed his eyes in the process. But that didn’t matter, he knew what he was trying to find. With a trembling hand, Rohan drew the prototype of the soulstealer sword out of his fighting gear. He raised it into the air, right above his heart.

This was his second chance. His chance to learn discipline and his second chance to fulfill his duty.

Rohan let gravity do the work as he stabbed himself in the chest.

Three or four hours later, the Klouds above darkened and became Stormy, releasing a downfall onto the battlefield, saturating Rohan’s dead body with the sword sticking out of his chest, as well as the crumbled golden throne behind him.

A swordsman, wearing a black oil coat trudged through the crystals, the craters, and the uprooted earth to arrive a small distance away from the former Ace of Diamond’s body.

“Looks as if it didn’t go too well for him,” Raulf Einstadt said, “His arrogance led to his demise.”

“No, wait,” Amelia, the sword on his hip said, “I don’t sense any dysidia rising from him. He’s still alive!”

Raulf sucked a deep breath of air in through his nose and released it from his mouth, “Please don’t tell me he’s in that sword.”

Raulf took an uncertain step forward and tugged the sword out of Rohan’s body. He faced it and said solemnly, “Rohan?”

“Who’s Rohan?” an annoyingly familiar voice asked from within the sword, “My name’s Phantomsong!”

“What sort of crack addict name is that?” Raulf made a weird face, “Also, did you stab yourself with a prototype?”

“I’m telling you,” Phantomsong said, “I’m not your friend Rohan. I’m Phantomsong!”

“You’re insufferable,” Raulf said to Phantomsong, not believing the sword's words in the slightest, “Who are you really?”

“Phantomsong!” Rohan said with his deeply irritating voice. There wasn’t any reason for his sudden cheerfulness other than the fact that he knew that he was going to have a second chance. A new chance at life.

William Rundell Haus Code, watch out. Someone’s coming to get revenge.

[/div] [/div] [/div] [/div]

coded by shady. Collab with Kloudy

 

[vielpotato]

Operation Spell-Pierce
(The Spade Kingdom - Rynhil Capital)​

Time: 0800, 21st Sept
Location: The Spade Capital
Objective: Seek and Capture

. . .


It was early morning, the chirping of finches and the call of seagulls reminded the guards that the coast was comfortably nearby. The Spade Kingdom had not seen the worst of the war, surviving the impending crusade with relatively small casualities and damages. The coast was a reassuring reminder that even if the terrible Argossian menace were to march across the kingdoms to take from them their livelihoods, there still existed a route of escape should the need to regroup and reconquer their fatherland arose. Of course, no one spoke such thoughts allowed, the first priority was to defend their walls, their cities and their capital with every breath left in their bodies. But it was a conflicting anxiety that still allowed one to hold onto hope in the face of absolute anihillation. The Argossians did not take prisoners, captives or slaves. They only killed. Burned. Erased...

A guard manning the walls of Rynhil stirred his spear to attention, shook from his thoughts as the watchmen at the gate called up to him, announcing visitors. From the looks of them, they appeared to be a fairly unorthdox collection of misfits. Or perhaps 'misfit' was the wrong word, they each had a unique feel about them in their haphazard clothing that the guard couldn't quite place. They seemed normal enough as they stopped beside the toll booth for the city, so he shrugged and returned his attention to scanning the grassy horizon for any glimpse of an approaching hostile army. One could never be too vigilant these days, between rumours of the Royal Flushe, the Argossian invasion, the Jokers and even the rise of more and more raider bands - it was impossible to maintain a peaceful life for long. Who knew what evil was creeping under your gaze, waiting for the right moment to strike?

. . .

"I want the Kingsguard with me! Gather your wits and remain vigilant."

The Captain of the Kingsguard had been tasked with defending Rynhil and its treasury from plunder and destruction. Fenros Maneshield, a fearsome rank 10 who had once been a promising contender during the Kings Tournement before the war. Since then, he had pledged himself to serve and protect the Spade Kingdom with everything he had, earning himself a high ranking position as the King's right hand man. With an overly large halberd in one hand and an imposing crested kite shield in the other, Fenros held a stoic air about him as his stony gaze swept the main hall leading to the treasury. He would personally see to it that no one could lay a hand on their precious wealth, or the beacon of the Spade's most prominent hero in history's legacy. The Deep Piercer, a legendary weapon still spoken of in stories, laid to rest within the safe holds of this treasury where none may tamper with it. It was with this responsibility that Fenros felt the most pride, his unshakeable will emanating from his presence in waves as he was certain that he was ready to die defending this relic of the past. Several guard dressed in heavy armour dotted the hall's walls, weapons sheathed but eyes sharpened.

The Kingsguard was filled with a small retinue of rank 8's, numbering 30 in total and scattered around the palace. Fenros had his own telepath on hand somewhere in the castle, in case he needed to contact reinforcements. Jason Ghens, a rank 7 telepath who, as all professional telepaths could, could send and receive messages between cities. He also possessed a second subspell, one unique to his magic school, where he could contact a group of individuals at once. Although the range was short, he was confident he could reach the majority of the Kingsguard if need be. He was their alarm system. Without him, organising a defence against intruders would prove more difficult for Fenros than necessary. But he was protected, so it the Captain felt no anxiety towards it. No matter who it was, they would face the cold steel of his blade and they would feel the righteous fury of his mana.

"For the King! For the Spade Kingdom!"

His cry was echoed in practised response from his soldiers.

vielpotato AI10100 Athanas

Cass paused for a few moments, covering his eyes with his hands and trying to block out all external stimuli. He always did this when there was a lot of information that needed processing, it helped him focus without external stimuli occupying his mind. He began making a mental list, the steps having been repeated a hundredfold: "A slayer must be able to take all factors into account, at any time. Only then can he outsmart his foes."

For one, the way by which they had been transported here was utterly ingenious, and he had to give credit to whoever had that idea.
However, the fact that they were here when in Valencia there was the battle to end all battles was mayhaps, uh, petty of them
Since his queen had asked for it, though, he had to oblige her. He was no stranger to the political and cultural importance of this box, and loss thereof would surely damage the reputation of the corrupt Spade royalty.

To this end, he began formulating a plan based on what they knew about the guard detachment, and of how many allies were currently in play. Finally, he removed his hands and opened his eyes, now with a determined look. His hands fidgeted with a card.
"Friends, I am well aware of the difficulty of the task at hand, as well as the potential risk. Το this end I'd like to thank you all for putting so much at risk for something whose benefits might not be immediately apparent. Now, let us set to work.

The plan I propose is relatively simple, however it relies moderately on luck being on our side. I have given this quite some thought but cannot settle on a safer option. First, we use some of the servants to lure the telepath away from the main force, mayhaps under the pretense of a private task set by the current regent. Once he is away, we must...dispatch him posthaste. I am aware you may find the thought of such cold-blooded murder highly distasteful, I most certainly do. But we must endure, for the queen. Now, it is wholly possible that he will have shielding amulets, or amulets that send distress signals. if he has either of those we must abort, as our presence will become known. On an unrelated tangent, Jake, if there are any jokers in the region that might be of use, now would be a great time to contact them.

Should the element of surprise be maintained, then our task has become easier. We must dispatch the guard patrols, one at a time. We do not lack enough destructive magic to make this possible, thankfully. The bodies we can dispose in Samael's dimension, but we must keep their clothing: Their disguises will be useful later.

Once we have dispatched as many as possible, then we will start a ruckus with the servants above, to make it seem as if though there is a joker attack happening. One of us will have to pretend to be wounded and go beg the others for aid, claiming that the regent is under duress. Of course, the leader and some of his men will stay down, but at least some will go to intercept the "intruders". We tackle this smaller group once they're out of range. Then, we disguise as them, get as close as possible to the remaining guards, and strike.

...I admit, it requires a lot of wishful thinking, and there's still plenty of risk involved, but I got nothing better. If any of you have any better ideas, now would be an amazing time"

His planning over he moved over to Declan, palming him the card. "You're not as durable as the rest of us, you're gonna need this. Activate it when something's about to hit you, and you'll be safe for a brief while. If you time it right, you'll even get more powerful, too. Just remember, it's one use. So don't rely too much on it" He did his best to give him a reassuring smile.

AI10100 vielpotato

After ensuring they went in safely, Jake made sure to check his surroundings before letting everyone relax and talk. Without much time passing, Cass was the first to speak, if one wished to call it that instead of a waste of oxygen.
Jake and Samael couldn't hide their expressions as Cass began to explain his 'plan', however. "Samael will go in first," started off Jake as Samael walked into one of his own mirrors, "and gather servant uniforms for him and Declan. Cass and I will pose as guards, and we will wait for another mirror to come before we head to the vault. While we wait for them to get there, we shalt find the little mouse and silence them before anything can be said. Declan, if you find a source communicate it with us please." As soon as Jake's monologue was finished, the mirror grew in size as Samael climbed out with a new clothing on. "Inside is the servant's quarters where outfits are located for us. All servants are under us, so no worries for us there. Realize that all of the guards, inside the castle at least, are not ours." Samael then handed out the layout of the map, at least the portions that the servants had access to with symbols resembling unknown rooms from different hallways. "Memorize this, and then burn it from the fire inside the room. Declan, follow me so we can find this room. Best of luck to you guys, and may you find the whisperer and silence them." Samael extends the mirror before bowing to them and beckons them to walk in and change.
AI10100 Athanas

 

[Coyote Hart]

​

The young Joker fiddled with his thumbs at the back of the dozen Jokers as preparations were made. Unlike the other Jokers, Cilantro didn't make any attempt to converse. Nor did his sour expression -- what many people would call "resting bitch face" -- encourage any conversation. He didn't join the Jokers because it was a social party. He was going to help topple the Four Suits, and hell with it, even if he was a fifteen-year-old rank 4 that couldn't lift a sword to save his life, he'd still find a way to fight for liberty.

With Samael's reappearance at the place where everyone was waiting, Cilantro perked to attention. He was a shrewd boy, but he didn't have a damn clue how to strategize, so listening to the older, wiser men that were in charge was more for survival than choice. It seemed that the plan was to make a quick beeline towards the treasury room and steal the spear. In and out, quick as they came. Cilantro liked that.

As Cilantro pushed through the group of Jokers and into the mirror that Samael had opened, he was confounded by the different change of atmosphere. The castle walls were pristine and carefully built, made to insulate the castle during the winter and cool it down during the summer. The ground was a lush carpet that felt like moss underneath his feet. Even the servant outfit that Cilantro donned felt more expensive than anything he had ever worn-- even the fancy performing outfits that he had grown up with it. For a mere peasant turned Joker, this all felt so...

... disgusting.

All his life, Cilantro had grovelled to the dirt of the ground, doing his best to survive. A day's worth of bread was sometimes lucky to come by. Even when he was adopted into the circus, the food they had was nothing fanciful. Since they traveled around a lot, the circus usually relied on dehydrated and salted foods to ensure they weren't spoiled in the long journey. However, desiccating the food usually meant that there was hardly any flavor left. Sometimes, if he was lucky, Cilantro could find himself at a gigantic wooden table enjoying a hearty slice of cottage pie.

All the while, during his suffering and meager moments of happiness, it weighed deeply on Cilantro's mind just how much the royals in the towering castle had. Cilantro imagined them as fancily dressed noblemen, laughing as they cheerily ate at a table replete with a prodigality of cakes, grapes, wine, steak, and all the fancy shit that nobles were able to afford. It simply wasn't fair.

And now, Cilantro was standing inside that very castle and experiencing firsthand just how much they had. Even the servants lived better than most peasants! It felt really good knowing that Cilantro was going to help to take away a treasured heirloom from the royals, to show that their high and mighty throne wasn't meant for them, it was meant for everyone, powerful or not!

But first, Cilantro found himself struggling with the sash that was supposed to go around his waist. Cilantro was able to transfer his countless rows of darts from his belt onto the sash, but now he was finding that he was having trouble actually tying it. It simply wouldn't stay ahold, and when it did, it was a monstrosity of a mess that would never fit in with the other castle servants. Not as if a child like him could ever fit in with the servants in the first place.

"Could someone help me with this?" Cilantro pleaded, looking around the room of Jokers hoping that someone could do something as rudimentary as tying a knot.

vielpotato AI10100 Athanas

 

[vielpotato]

[class=Notes] // Forward slashes are comments and do no show up in the final design, these are to help you find everything easily and explain some code as well. These comments must be with in a class or script tags in order to be hidden, from what I know// // Long URls are images # followed by letter and numbers are Hex codes or color codes.// // This code does not show breaks unless is shows the
code When typing responses to rps, be aware that when you press enter it will not show that you did. You'll have to use the
tags// [/class] [class=BackgroundPicture] Background:url(https://d39l2hkdp2esp1.cloudfront.net/img/photo/162968/162968_00_2x.jpg); Padding:30px; //The background image that become the border// [/class] [class=BackgroundColor] padding:20px; background-color:#fbe7d1; Color:Black; //the solid block of color that makes the border appear as a border all your content will be in this box// [/class] [class=Name] float:right; margin-bottom:10px; text-align:center; border-radius:5px; background-color:#142740; padding:5px;color:#fbe7d1; width:calc(100% - 15% - 20px); //The Box around the name// [/class] [class=Img] border-right:10px SOLID #fbe7d1; border-bottom:5px SOLID #fbe7d1; width:15%; float:left; //this class has a border to create a false margin so the horizontal lines don't appear to go behind the image if you change the back ground you have to change the colors here too// [/class] [class=Image] border:1px SOLID #142740; line-height:0px; //The border around the image// [/class] [class=Line] border-top:1px SOLID #142740; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:5px; //The tiny lines everywhere// //You can see here they have a set width, which is the shorter length, the bottom two lines have a specific 'style' which overrides what happens here to make them full length. if you need longer lines, copy and paste the style from the bottom two (be careful, they float right, making them too big at the top messes the code up) If you need the bottom lines to be shorter, delete the Style=" and such// [/class] [div class="BackgroundPicture"] [div class="BackgroundColor"] [div class="Img"] [div class="Image"] [/div][/div] [div class="Name"] The Bloody Baron[/div]
After being told off by the "King of Diamonds", the Baron thought not to help someone so rude to him. In turn, the Baron ran off as his bloody creatures split in half to continue to gather blood for him and slaughter more foes. Meanwhile, the Baron skipped his way -traveling hundreds of feet each 'step' he took- to a fellow assassin who was looking to duel the beefy man from the enemy side.
Need some help dealing with Mister Regeneration?
This conversation, despite being a distance away, was done internally as the Baron talked to him with telepathy. I can get him in the girlfriend zone to weaken his resistance to our magics. But make sure as soon as you can do something, you do it. There's no way I can compete without magic, that much is apparent with his looks and seemingly pure regeneration without the assistance of magic.
The Baron walked up to the big man himself, though and just nodded his head at him. "Do you want to fight fairly, sir, and go into your little anti-magic zone?" I don't know how long I can last in there, so when I feel like I'm about to loose I'll head out and we shalt fight together as one. [div class="Line"][/div] Interacting: Marillys and Art| Mentioned: TPBx Remembrance | Located: In that spot, you know the one [div class="Line" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div]

Code by @AgWordSmith

[/div]

 

[Count Brimstone]

Throm was aware of the men's presence well before he actually encountered them, mainly due to his habit of using a low level constant Owl Breath: Art of Perception while he traveling as an almost afterthought. Throm learned at an early age that true blindness and ignorance lead to a quick death when having skills that put a target on your back.

He signed in frustration at the apparent leaders demands. Before he entertained his with an answer he made a completely clear thin plane of glass-like ice that hovered and covered his back from the archer that aimed his weapon at him with a sneer. Along with two equally clear needles of ice about an inch long that hovered one on each of his sides aimed at the two henchman at the man's sides.

Not wanting to start his pilgrimage, to assist the elves, off poorly he did his best to give the gang a way out. "Look," Throm started clearly annoyed at the entire situation. "I am on my way to help raise the living conditions and the general well being of the Elfin-folk as a whole. I do not with to sully those intentions by shedding the blood of the very same ones who I've come to help." He looks each of them in the eyes as he spoke to get his point across. "If you would kindly get yourselves out of me and horse's way or better yet lead me to the nearest town so I can begin my work. There will be some coin in it for you and as a added bonus I won't leave your corpses to rot on the path for someone else to clean up."

Mechking

 

[AI10100]

Callum

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"The search for knowledge drives us all."​

location: Yisstra's Grove
interactions: Ambiloquous Kloudy
mentions:

​

Callum's smile faltered as the air around them tensed. "Perhaps it is." He responded. He was well aware that he was not welcome in the group anymore due to his prying. The contract was either very confidential or its prize money was big enough that they wanted it all to themselves. He understood that much and he was perfectly fine with it. It was just out of curiosity after all, so he wasn't particularly bothered.

Callum looked down to observe the plant in the man as it slowly stopped thrashing around and began to take root. Ah. Such a deadly substance but one that the forest has made to feed itself. It would seem that the forest itself is the one that's capturing adventurers - to sustain itself with the foolish and the brave. It wouldn't be far fetched if some other plants would begin to take root on the corpse, such as mushrooms and the likes. Which makes him wonder, would such plants be edible enough? Only one way to test a hypothesis.

Jana snapping at the dwarf snapped him back to reality and he looked between her and the dwarf. Letting out a light but nervous chuckle, Callum placed a hand on her shoulder. "Because we have other things to do." Callum responded for them as he began urging his companion to start moving towards the entrance of the Grove. He'd rather not have a bunch of hostile adventurers - tired as they may be - fighting them. That was the last thing he needed. After all, facing the Grove needed their full strength.

"Good day gentlemen." He offered as they began walking away.

As they slowly reached the entrance of the Grove, Callum gestured for Jana to stop for a moment before attempting to collect a couple of berries and then putting them inside the flask for safekeeping and further study. Once he managed to collect them, he put the lid on and put it inside his backpack before heading further inside the Grove. "Alright, here we are Jana. Let's do this before we lose nerve." He kept an eye out for anything that exuded any particularly stronger magic but also kept himself alert for anything that might attack them.

[/div][/div]

codedbycrucialstar | hidden scroll​

 

[AI10100]

Declan

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"A promise is a promise..."​

location: Castle of Spades, Spades Kingdom
interactions: Kloudy vielpotato Athanas Coyote Hart
mentions:

​

Declan listened to Cass's spiel. It was a rather solid plan that involved stealth, stealth and more stealth as well as a good ability to kill before anyone can notice. The main problem would be when something throws a wrench in the plan and everything goes to absolute shit. But hey, that's a risk they're all willing to take. They wouldn't be here if they were afraid of risks. And honestly? Declan was rather excited about it. He's broken into noble houses before and took off with some good loot - but never a royal castle before. The most 'breaking in' that he did was when it was allowed by two queens.

But this was the real deal. He was running with an entire team who would break into a vault and steal the most valuable artifact that the Spades have. It would be the biggest heist he's ever done! It would be a really good experience for everyone too and Declan can barely contain his excitement as they waited for Samael to emerge from wherever he went. He was rocking on the balls of his heel when Cass bounded towards him and gave him a card with instructions. Declan beamed a smile at the man and made a 'thank you' gesture as he pocketed the card. Jake then went on to speak and Declan nodded at his order. He was sure that the telepath was far better than him - dedicated professional telepaths had it more powerful but they weren't going around shooting guns after all - but once they take him out, everything would be much easier. No alarm system, no reinforcements. Easy.

Declan listened intently to Samael and gave a salute when he was ordered to follow the mirror guy. They weren't close by any means but they all shared a common loyalty to Guin and that was enough for Declan to trust him. It will certainly be quite an experience. He raised a finger to signal for Samael to give a minute as he headed inside the servant's quarters to change into his own set outfit to match with Samael. At least the servant's uniform gave him enough space to hide both of his handguns inside without it bulging out and giving it away and placed Cass's card inside his pocket. He adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves and then his vest and nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied. He was about to head out when he noticed that one of their younger Jokers, Cilantro, was having trouble with his uniform.

He headed over to the young teen and tapped his shoulder and gestured for him to stay still. With that, he grabbed both ends of the sash and deftly tied the knot, patting it twice once it was finished and tidied up. He gave the boy two thumbs up and then immediately moved to Samael. "Alright, I'm all prepped and ready to go. Lead the way Samael." He waited patiently with both hands behind his back, adapting quickly into the servant disguise. It wasn't his first time pretending to be one and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

[/div][/div]

codedbycrucialstar | hidden scroll​

 

[TPBx]

The Battle of Leadership

“The best for our people? For our survival? William, have you gone completely mad?” Arimand was going to scold the Ace more, but he was interrupted by a large amount of ice heading his way. “Everyone, attack from behind!” With gritted teeth, he severed the telepathic connection and focused on blocking as much as he could with metal barriers. Still, he could only protect those closest to him and hope that the other shield mages could react on time. As the barrage ended, Arimand finally slowed down. An intense pain crept up over his entire body and his nose bled stronger than ever before. As Arimands vision began to blur, a medic sprinted up to him and applied a healing spell.

“King Dornwell, have you been injured?”

Slowly stabilizing himself, Arimand inspected his body only to find it unharmed. “No, I have not been hit and it does not appear that I am under the influence of a spell.”Feeling rather drained, he subconsciously grabbed his bag with mana stones for a refill.

“If you have not been hit, Acting Commander, I would recommend for you to not use more mana stones. It appears that you have contracted mana sickness and further-”

“More will just lead to unconsciousness, I am aware.” Inspecting the bag in his hand, Arimand wondered what to do with it now. “Assist the others, I will need these stones for something else…”

​

“You’re not under some spell. But I digress, I see more have come to challenge me.” The Beast of the End leapt on top of the platform that Ethan looked down from and roared. It’s golden maw opened by splitting into four and revealing a being that could only be described as the summation of all horrors. It called down more pools of darkness across the land.

Now focused completely on the beast, Arimand’s eyes widened in shock as it revealed the entirety of its monstrous nature. His shock was however overtaken by rage when he saw who stood beside it, Ethan Lenor Kaloronos, former King of Diamonds and traitor of the highest order. “I see that you have returned from the dead, only to join them once again. Simply pathetic, seeing you leading those that have destroyed your home and your people. But you were always a selfish and sub-par King after all.” A sadistic grin overtook Arimands face, he had no plans of facing Ethan, but his beast needed to be distracted. Arimand ordered his golem to position itself underneath the platform, taking a low stance, ready to lunge upwards or counter anything from above. On the platform, an individual revealed himself behind Ethan. Rising from the floor, the Master Assassin stood to his full height and pointed one of his swords at the traitor king.

"My name is Syl'vellone. Your life is forfeit for payment."

A twisted grin overcame his calm features as he twirled both swords at his side. One was dripping with a dark-green liquid and gave off noxious fumes, while the other seemed to ember and smoke temperamentally. Gripping both tightly, one in a reverse grip, Syl crouched low with excited anticipation. It was not often that he revealed his true personality, but this contract was simply too interesting. Not only a king, not only a traitor to the royalty, but also the Argossian Empire's military commander during this invasion. It was a target too high in value to Syl for money alone to interest him. The challenge and notoriety were more than enough. He licked his lips.

"Mors Vocet…"

Ethan then stuck his hand into one of the pools of darkness beside him to draw from it an ornate longsword made of darkness. Dysidia swirled around it in arcs of purple and black lightning, signaling to others that at the very least this sword was unlike other objects he materialized using Draw Darkness. He twirled it around in one hand before grasping it with both to get a feel of the weapon's balance, an action he had always performed even if it was pointless as Ethan's mastery of Draw Darkness did not produce the same flaws that Athania's incredibly unfocused version of the spell did. He then slung the sword upon his shoulder casually and beckoned Syl to approach him. Meanwhile, The Beast noticed Arimand's golem approach the platform and leaped off the platform to challenge it.

Syl's grin widened and he dashed off, a crater left where he had been standing as he cleared the distance between the two fighters in a single leap. As he drew close, he swung his Toxic Slasher sword at Ethan's neck. Ethan responded by adjusting the grip of his sword to have the blade cover his neck. The two blades clashed mere inches from his neck. “Decapitate me once, shame on me. Decapitating me twice, not going to happen,” Ethan snidely remarked before shoving off Syl and repositioning himself.

​

As the beast hit the ground, the golem was already in a full charge. Its arm-blades glowing brighter than before, it aimed at the neck of the beast, striking with full force. The blades sunk into the slimey mass of material darkness of The Beast’s neck but did not seem to be able to stop it. The Beast opened its golden maw once more and several tendrils launched out from it to wrap around the golem. The golem pulled itself back, but without withdrawing its blades, superheating them and trying to rip off the golden head. They sunk even further in and cut right through the abomination’s mass with ease, lopping its golden maw right off. The Beast staggered back and fell into one of the pools of darkness, splashing gooey masses of black around it and began regenerating itself. Taking its head and throwing it as far away from any pool of darkness as possible, the golem continued its relentless attack, now aiming for the legs.

Syl leered with nasty belligerence, spinning low for a sweeping kick as Ethan shoved him away. He immediately followed up with a swipe at the abdomen from his Ember Blade, which spewed billowing smoke at the shadow mage. Ethan took notice of the mana flowing from his blades and quickly stepped back to avoid the attacks. While most people would be impaired by the smoke, Ethan’s true sight perception gave the Shadow Mage an edge in these kinds of battles against opponents relying on deception and cunning over raw force. Ethan then retaliated by swinging his blade at a downwards angle. Its reach seemingly longer than the blade itself as the Eclipse Holder craftily manipulated the dark matter that composed the blade. Instead of dodging or blocking, Syl pressed in closer as if he were allowing the blade to strike him. As the Eclipse Holder reached him, it carved through his body in a swift slash.

However, Syl was still alive and unharmed. With a grin, he continued his attack as Ethan was launching his own and swiped both swords forward at the neck and torso respectively. The surprise and having to recover his balance from attacking would delay Ethan's reaction, which Syl was banking on to get a good hit in. Ethan instinctively dropped his blade and closed the distance between himself and Syl, grappling the assassin by holding onto his forearms to make sure he would not get cut by either blade while also silently casting shadow enhance to boost his physical abilities in order to contend with Syl in this close range melee. As he attempted to make contact, Ethan slipped through Syl’s form just as his sword had - Syl’s blades also flying through Ethan as if neither of them were tangible. As they disengaged behind each other, Syl immediately launched a reverse kick at the back of Ethan’s knee and swiped in horizontal arc once again with his Toxic Slasher.

Ethan was knocked backwards. As he fell back, he saw the the assassin’s blades come at him once more, so Ethan committed to falling even further in order to dodge the incoming attack, bending his knees more and thrusting his hips out to get his knees to touch the ground. Syl’s blades passed over him, mere couple hairs from his face. Ethan then recovered by summoning a dark pillar between himself and Syl and jumped back up on his feet, resetting their positions. Likewise, Syl jumped a few steps back and fell into a low side-facing stance with one sword poised at Ethan and the other held in a reverse grip. Arimand slowly rose out of cover, collecting some metal along the way. His golem was careful not to touch the pools of oozing darkness while delivering two swift blows to the right front leg of the beast. The beast groaned and dissipated ominously into the darkness. The first phase of this fight was easily won by Arimand’s golem, but the Beast was definitely not down for the count.


Collab: Mechking Kloudy

 

[Kloudy]

Yisstra's Grove
(Central Spade Kingdom)

Ebel and his giant companion had been trudging through the foliage for half an hour before they came across anything of interest. By various trees ahead there was a cluster of camping equipment arranged in a circle. There was no one around to claim it, but it looked like they had been setting up to rest for a short while before continuing on with their journey. The embers of a fire were slowly smoking at the centre, seemingly undisturbed for some time. The charred corpse of some kind of lizard was crisped in the low light that streamed through the forest canopy.

The beast hunter didn’t exactly bother searching any of the tents and looked around for a moment before spotting something. Another scrap of cloth with a familiar acrid scent. This one was attached by a few strands of webbing to the corpse of a man who looked like his insides had been blown out the front of his torso. Gnarled roots had apparently curled out from the corpse and taken root in the ground, however judging from the freshness it looked like this had occurred earlier in the day. There were no other people in or near the camp, dead, alive or otherwise.

Grunting and snatching up the patch of cloth, the beast hunter forged on without stopping to loot the camp as most opportunistic individuals might. He did, however, grab the charred lizard and took a large bite out of it.

~~~

A few of the adventurers jeered or spat on the ground as Jana antagonised them, but the dwarf and the older veterans just continued to stare hardily with hands rested on blade pommels. As the two walked away, it was of note that the adventurers didn’t move to bury or touch their deceased comrade, instead just replacing the cloth blanket over the corpse. Distant mutterings of ‘nosy travellers’ and ‘Stryker-forsaken forests’ carried in the wind.

. . .

After what felt like hours of trudging through foliage, Callum and Jana came across a small dirt clearing with a large twisted tree at the centre. Scratched into the bark were rough drawings of people with squiggles around them and smiley faces dotted around haphazardly. In the branches of the tree hung loose lengths of rope, untied as if someone had simply draped them there. There were various footprints in the packed earth beneath them, all of humanoid shape. At the foot of the tree there was a broken sword stuck in the bark and smaller scratchings that couldn’t be properly made out from a distance. It looked like writing.

AI10100 Ambiloquous Remembrance

The Royal Flushe
(Underground - Inside The Wyrm)

​

Facing the Jack with a defensive stance, Four hesitated as Twig began talking to her. Not because his words were getting through to her, but because he was not attacking. The undeniable weakness of all Stream Breath users was that they were largely ineffective if their opponent didn’t actually attack them. Since Twig refused to come at her, she found herself without any helpful techniques that would be able to penetrate his unfamiliar stance. And in her distraction, she failed to maintain enough focus to keep an eye on both royals. With a small gasp of surprise, Four glanced back at Guin only to see that the royal was already out of range of her Mana Neutralisation spell.

Four attempted to jump upwards and out of reach of the tentacles, but was too slow due to her previous injuries. Caught at the ankle, the Flushe was dragged to the ground and bound by multiple psychic bonds manifested by Guin from a distance. Despite her defeat, Four didn’t seem particularly upset. She winced slightly as her wounds were disturbed, but otherwise seemed to accept her situation. Her Mana Neutralisation field deactivated.

“Well, I suppose I’ve fulfilled the extent of my role for this operation. This should be enough.” Four, despite being bound, wormed a hand onto her side and began channelling her mana. A healing spell emanated from her bloodied palm, restoring the wound a little more and visibly alleviating some of the pain.

“Oh? Did you perhaps not realise I am an elf? We have an affinity for healing magic.” Four smiled cordially, her voice oddly positive as if they were friends chatting over a meal.

“I am merely the babysitter, my life is of little consequence. The Royal Flushe’s goals are grander than simply sowing chaos and destruction. Now, if we’re all finished here…”

Four’s even pitch and smile never faltered.

“You may kill me now.”

~~~

Further down the wyrm’s body, Adonis was still doing battle with Leolin. As Leo cocked back his fist for a powerful punch, Adonis brought both arms up in a cross to block the attack. The blow connected and the large bug-man was sent flying backwards into the fleshy wall behind him. Leolin was physically stronger than Adonis, but only by 1.5 times. It was a disadvantage, but not overwhelming. While the situation was not in Adonis’ favour, if he could wear the Ace down enough for Three to finish him off, his role would be fulfilled.

"Die, die, die!" Three's heckling shrieks could be heard from deeper in the wyrm.

Getting up from the sticky wall, Adonis walked towards Leolin unperturbed. Flicking off excess viscous slime, Adonis crouched low before leaping with great speed at the Ace. As a drone used by Three, it followed her commands precisely, however Three was not a close-combat expert. Perhaps rather simplistically, Adonis threw a strong straight punch at Leo with the intent of returning the favour back to him.

. D O V E Coyote Hart Goonfire

The Elven Ambush
(Hearts Kingdom - Road To Port Elfin)

The two dagger-elves scowled at the man's candid response and anxiously changed grips of their blades. Clearly they weren't too experienced in this business. The elven leader sneered nastily at Throm and waved his large bastard sword belligerently.

“Enough of ye fancy talkin’ human. Ye silva or ye life, I swears on this sword I’ll run ye through!”

As if on cue, although probably of his own volition, the elven archer at Throm’s back loosed an arrow charged with electrical mana. Apparently tired of waiting around for their current victim’s response, the man had aimed at Throm’s back in general and the arrow travelled at high speed straight for his upper torso. Apparently he was confident that the arrow would be able to penetrate the seemingly basic leather armour the traveller was wearing. As a Rank 5, his arrow had enough oomph in it to be a potentially lethal threat supposing Throm did nothing to save himself.

Count Brimstone

Coalition Forces
(Valencia - The Battlefield)

“FIRE!!!”

Kaiden’s Airship Fleet was making good progress. With Three’s flying hordes gone and the Sky-Steeds having regrouped, they had a clear run over the Argossian forces and the bombs they had prepared were sent sailing down onto their heads in random parts. Soon various platoons and trenches flashed alight with glowing surges of destructive magic and explosive enchantments. Soon the left-central front to mid lines of the Argossian forces were taking hits along their lines and scrambling to find suitable shelter from the blitz. While the fleet was only a few hundred strong to begin with, the Empire had lost most of its anti-air weaponry in Xixix’s charge and its own air force was currently regrouping. They had a clean run to deal some damage and did so eagerly.

. . .

After some time the Sky-Steeds had gathered in a new formation and were moving to intercept the Coalition’s fleet. Having covered much distance through William’s cryo-storm, and losing several airships to comets along the way, Kaiden and his unit had made it to the backlines of the Argossian’s military encampment. The situation was looking dire. The King of Clubs was holding out valiantly, but his forces were dwindling rapidly without backup now. With nowhere substantial to retreat to, their surprise attack had lost its initial steam and they were now being forced back. With the fleet now in sight, a few of the retinues cheered, but safety was not yet secured.

The Sky-Steeds swooped in for another run. Twisting and turning, they darted around and through the fleet’s tight formation with precise manoeuvrability. Twin machineguns blazed against mana-shields as the two fleets of sky-fighters engaged each other in a deadly dogfight. Metal planes and wooden blimps fell from the sky haphazardly as the fighting approached above King Xixix’s army.

~~~

Down on the ground, the skirmishes were heating up.

Across the frontlines the bloodshed had reached critical mass. Bodies were stacking up in trenches and a thick scent of red filled the smoky air. Distant and not-so-distant explosions sounded off regularly as the yells, screams and cries of soldiers melded into one continuous drone of warfare. Maxwell’s enlargement magic was leaving decent marks on the Argossian trenches through his specialised cannonfire. With no target anymore, the mountain archer armies turned to bear their weapons back on the Argossian infantry and resumed bombardment. The entire left flank had been decimated by the shockwave caused by Three’s wyrm and any soldiers still alive amongst the chaos of the cracked terrain were left to fend for themselves as the expanse of ground became an unnavigable no-man’s land.

At the centre of it all, Helmur and his band were cutting down squads of armoured Argossians with zeal, but they had been fighting for hours. So had the soldiers they were leading. While it was good that they were slaughtering many enemies, the only issue was that new enemies weren’t fatigued like they were. Some Coalition soldiers had begun to take cover more frequently, not just because the Argossians were still laying down heavy ballistic firepower, but because they needed time to replenish their mana. Some poor sods writhed on the floor in pain, succumbing to Mana Sickness after having overdosed on too many mana stone refills. Combat medics tried to help them, but there were only so many casualties the mages could address at once and they too did not have an endless supply of mana.

“Hold these.”

Helmur thrust Bellarmont’s Fury and Gutsplitter into Hanz’s hanz. With the cost of a successful charge being attrition, the commander realised that sometimes trophy-hunting was truly the way to invigorate your men. Crushing an Argossian’s skull - helmet and all - in his hand, he strode atop a small mound of bodies from both sides and called to his retinues with powerful recourse in his voice.

“Coalition! Fear not these dogs of the Empire! See, I shall defeat this metal leviathan myself!!!”

Turning to face the oncoming wall of gunfire over the trench, Helmur spread his arms wide in valour as ballistic rounds pinged off of his flesh and armour in a hail of sparks. It looked like he was inviting attack and cared not for defeat. His rage stacks had reached a point where the bullets no longer tore his flesh asunder. Not that he was willing to take on any tank shells, but it seemed to have the desired effect. His soldiers were staring at him in wonder and disbelief, then pridefully screaming and roaring for their indomitable leader! They surged from their trenches after seeing Helmur’s admittedly brave demonstration. Many fell to the gunfire that came at them, but more charged onwards to take the next trench and so on. With reserve forces moving in to swap places with the fatigued frontlines, hopefully they wouldn’t take more unnecessary casualties.

Helmur grinned as bullets continued to bounce off his body and used all his magic to make a mighty leap towards the War Engine.

LazyDaze Xanto Athanas ChazGhost @pretty much everyone else

 

[LazyDaze]

XIXIX VALENTINE​

To say that X and his army were on their back foot was an understatement and the situation was looking dire. He had held off as long as he could; moreover, even refocusing his strategy to conserve as many lives as possible seemed to be moot as soldiers began dropping like flies as the Argossian forces became more motivated due to the quick realization of their overwhelming advantage. X snickered as he stopped his own retreat, saying the words in his head multiple times as he met their own aura of bloodthirst with his own resilience. Charge, He had exhausted all his plans, so the only thing left to do was take as many of the bastards down as much as they could. "...Didn't imagine dying like this," X started to say; however, he was interrupted by what would be his new image of hope; the Coalitions air force.

"Our shitty air force, they made it after all," X said with a grin under his mask. Thinking back to the planning stages before the war, he was grateful for their creation. If the nations decided against progressing their aerial forces, then they would have been screwed relying solely on William. It took awhile but X could see the tides of their situation turning. As the air force decimated the relatively defenseless Argossians, X checked with a mage to make sure he had a few mana stones on him...he would need them after this next attack.

"You guys might want to stand back..."

X stepped forward after activating the Hand of God. Those near him felt a powerful wave of mana generate around him as he concentrated on his next attack before emphatically slamming his hand on the ground. In a matter of seconds roughly 5000 square meters of earth disappeared, leaving the Argossian forces to fall into what would become their grave. Just as quickly, the disintegrated matter rapidly reformed into a looming monolithic wall to protect their forces from Argossian fire and provide cover for a safe retreat. After a few seconds to admire his work, X released a single heavy sigh. He couldn't help but feel some relief at this point although he knew it wasn't over. He quickly took a mana stone to recharge his mana while placing the other two in his pocket. "That was meant for the War Machine," X said as he flexed his hand in and out of a fist. With this particular ability, it had been a while since he could just go all out without repercussions and it was oddly liberating. However, 5000 square meters was just under his maximum capabilities. He waved to the sky while sending a telepathic message to give their exact coordinates. His face showed no panic, pain, or sorrow; however, the casualties of this attack were not lost on him. This was not supposed to happen; most of them should have returned before being gun downed by the Argossian forces. X knew getting emotional about the entire ordeal would be fruitless, so he didn't; instead, he focused on the upcoming battles.


"Keep your defenses up. This is a battlefield and anything can happen! Prepare for retreat and watch our flanks. Prioritize the retreat of the injured and those depleted of mana!

Kloudy Xanto

_________________________________________________

WYSTERIA BEACON
​

Wysteria's eyes took hold of Athania's demonstration of power. That dark, ominous feeling, that seemed to envelop the room. The silent potential of destruction that almost induced an intoxicating feeling of fear and anticipation. Wysteria had felt it before; in fact, she longed for it. Suddenly, she was glad that X had stopped her from killing this woman. Layer by layer, her innocence faded from her expression as thoughts of death, revenge, and power flooded her head space to the point that she could no longer prevent her lips from forming a salacious grin. Despite her background, she had never actually seen an Dysidia user; however, the woman in front of her did not seem to be particularly terrifying (as most depictions of Dysidia users are made out to be). She actually seemed quite level headed and even kind. Certainly, Athania had no ill intentions for such a volatile power. She ran a finger across her lips as she thought about what she could with such a power. She could bring everyone back. She could destroy everyone. After that final thought her features softened again as she clasped her hands together and knelt by Athania.

"...A power like that...(give it to me) it must be hard on you," Wysteria said, her eyes brimming with empathy. She had only just met Athania, but the power did not seem to suit her...it appeared to be a great burden. Somehow, seeing her destroy that plant made her seem...lonely.

TPBx

_______________________________________________________

IRIS BASTILLE
​

Iris couldn't help but watch in horror as the Ace of Diamonds, William, decimated both armies. She had never conversed with him personally; however, she heard rumors and tales of his immense power. Now that he was an enemy a deathly chill ran down her spine as she quickly realized the very real limits to her power and ability. Although she did not want to give her fear any credence, she couldn't help but feel as if they were facing one of the Gods themselves, for he even made the royals seem inconsequential. Somehow, perhaps due to her proximity to Arimand, or just sheer luck, she was able to avoid most of the hailstorm while directing those close to her to take cover. She flicked the blood off of her blade, doing her best to ignore her own injuries that started to accumulate during the battle as she stopped to catch her breath. So this was war...and essentially the life of a mage.

She looked to Arimand, who seemed to be taken a heavy toll due to the battle mentally, and physically. As much as she wanted to help him, she knew that the war was worth more than just one person. He was already occupied, and thus she decided to direct the nearest soldiers the best she could until further notice. "Suppress enemy fire away from the main battles. Be efficient with your mana by attacking where they are weak! We cannot lose here," Iris rejoined the fight with all the determination she could muster. Everyone else had put their life on the line, so now was the time for her to wager her own.

Mechking Kloudy

 

[Coyote Hart]

​

For a moment, Twig didn't understand why Four wasn't attacking him. Then he realized that between a defensive stance and a reluctant one, they were at a stalemate. Four, on defense, couldn't retaliate without Twig making the first move. And thankfully, what Twig assumed was just Guin fleeing turned out to be just enough leverage to make Four entangled in Guin's tentacle-like constructs.

Twig stepped forward to the now chained up Flushe, the sharp point of his Argossian smallsword glinting in the dull light at Four's throat. There were a bunch of turbulent emotions going through his mind. Was he going to abandon his principles of a doctor once again and claim a life? A life that deserved death for all that they took away, for all the hurt and pain that they inflicted? Here was someone involved with the capture of Axton, a man who didn't choose to be the bearer of Darigaas's soul. Here was someone who made others suffer based on what fate had doled out for them. Twig should raise his sword and with one clean jab, pierce the pericardium and sever the coronary arteries. An eye for an eye, as they say in war.

Twig stood still for a few seconds, but finally, with his chest dropping, Twig lowered his sword. Even after all these years, Twig still couldn't actually bring himself to kill someone right in front of him.

"Every terrorist has a reason for fighting," Twig said, "I should know. It's probably impudent, I don't think you deserve to die. You fought me with decorum even though you didn't need to."

Twig sheathed his sword. From the medic bag hidden underneath his trenchcoat, Twig conjured a glass syringe. Inside was a clear substance; an effective painkiller. It was the same type of painkiller that Twig had used when he fought the former Jack of Hearts four years ago. Gently, Twig stepped towards Four, leaning down on one knee despite the squishy and wet feeling from the wyrm's goo.

After examining Four's wound and deciding that it probably didn't require more healing magic, Twig found a good spot near but not on Four's injury and stuck the point of the needle into Four's flesh, injecting the painkiller inside.

"I'm jealous that you're naturally talented with healing magic, but I don't think that'll be enough," Twig said, "As a doctor, I'm obliged to help. This will numb your wound and you hopefully won't feel a thing."

After that, Twig reached into his doctor bag, retrieving all the excessive rope he carried around. He had no idea why he carried it, but for situations like this, it came in handy.

"You'll be coming with me," Twig said, "I don't know what your life is going to be like after this. Maybe it'll be torture, forced enchanting, or imprisonment, but it won't be death.

Finally, Twig turned to Guin. Twig knew that he was stepping outside his boundaries, considering that he was a Jack. Guin was the Queen, responsible for deciding life and death. He was well aware that Guin could, at any moment, go back on Twig's words and kill Four.

"I hope you're okay with this," Twig said to Guin, not meeting her eyes, "If not... well... she's all yours."

Kloudy . D O V E Goonfire

 

[Remembrance]

Art rebounded off the outsider, landing perfectly a small distance away from the man. Art stood proud with himself that he dealt such damage to the outsider that threatened his lands. “Are you sure you can stand up?” Art asked, the man’s answer being his body rising to the challenge once again. I will crush you like the insect you are outsider, this next attack will leave you on the ground permanently. Pulling out a dagger from his side, Art got into his stance once again, leaning forward with his dagger held tightly as to not lose it while moving. “Don’t you worry, my last attack was just some foreplay. Depending on how you are, you may either enjoy this next one or dread it.”

Before Art could snap, he received a mind penetration. Art couldn’t recognize this voice until he looked around and found the owner of this voice skipping his way to Art. Although Art was attempting to pay attention to the voice’s owner, he found it more and more difficult to not only pay attention to his voice, but the sounds around him and trying to intrude on the outsider’s memory. The latter of his priorities not having much success past very surface parts of his memories.

When the owner of the voice came up to the outsider, nodded his head and then challenged him to a fight, it became apparent what the voice’s plan was. Run it.
vielpotato TPBx
—-

Ebel had been with his oversized companion for a small while, traversing through the similarly oversized foliage which Ebel was becoming bored of. It’s not like Ebel had to do much work, his companion was more than willing to push and destroy anything in his path, leaving Ebel just a clear path with a human wall in front of him. This lasted for as long as it did until they came across a supposedly abandoned campsite. Ebel stood wary as they approached it. To Ebel, it looked like the people who were to rest here had to leave until his companion stopped to inspect something. Ebel moved to the side of the man, witnessing a corpse strewn together with the local wild fauna. Ebel couldn’t give the corpse a good inspection as he instinctively moved back from it, the sight of the wild claiming something giving Ebel more shock than the dead body itself.

The large man went down to grab a cloth hanging off the corpse, a similar scent being aired from it like the last one. Before the man went further, he grabbed a lizard charred from a still burning fire, going forward to continue his hunt. Ebel considered the man’s morality; how he didn’t look any further into the camp and how he kept himself locked down to one objective. I can respect this man for all it’s worth but this investigation better not end in failure or worse yet, take months with the promise of one thing...

As they went back to trudging their way into the forest, Ebel looked up at the klouds, cursing at them for no particular reason.
Kloudy
—-

Agnes broke away from the caravan, hating having to interact with humans for longer than she needed to. The whole idea of being the leader of a human cult while being something inhuman was ironic at best. Agnes didn’t hate being the leader, but sharing her spot with a human, that was different. Although they met with similar interests and plots, Agnes grew to despise the woman for her two-faced persona and how human she appeared. For Khaoul’s sake, please allow me to share my leadership with another inhuman. Oh, how great that pleasure would be. Her wishes almost spilled out of her mouth. Even though she was a great distance away from the caravan, she disliked talking to herself as it could infer a sickly insanity that she didn’t really have.

As she kept walking, she came upon a few lights atop a hill. Her curiosity got the better of her and she decided for herself to investigate it. As she got closer, she realized it was a village, something the caravan and her cult came upon often, as it was required for them to grow as not only a cult, but as a force to be reckoned. Agnes got close to the border of the village, before she an lightly armored man approached Agnes.

“What might you be doing here young lady?” The man asked.

Agnes approached the man further, without saying anything as response to the man’s question. The armored man began backing up, his body rising up, including his head which made his helmet rise, revealing a vulnerable spot in his neck. Without delay, Agnes pounced on the man, biting in his neck, releasing her seed into the man.

Once the process had finished, Agnes let off the man, standing up with an unknown hatred filling her gut. Perhaps letting out her seed had influenced her body to become enraged, perhaps it was just the act of attacking somebody that triggered her hatred. Perhaps it was just nothing at all. Agnes started splitting apart, a clone of her coming out from tendrils from Agnes. Agnes 2 came out fully formed, naked, but fully formed. Agnes simply split her mana in half, allowing her clone to have 5 bodies within her. Since Agnes left with 10 bodies already in her mass, Agnes 2 gained half of those.


Under Agnes’ command, Agnes 2 began to use the bodies stored in her to mutate and grow, becoming something resembling what Agnes would consider a queen of flesh. A title fit for Agnes if any. “Kill.” Agnes 2 sprinted off into the village, tearing down walls with sheer force and ripping apart anything alive. Any soul patrolling outside was grabbed and choked by Agnes who began using her leftover bodies to produce tendrils from her arms.

As the commotion produced by Agnes and her clone died down, so did the screaming. The village was left massacred, even the guard who Agnes bit was torn apart without discrimination by Agnes 2.

Agnes departed from the village, not even considering looting or stealing anything, her clone being blended back in with Agnes. Her anger had finally fallen but she knew it would come back, and it was only a matter of time until she decided to massacre her own cult because of it.

Nearing her caravan’s resting place, Agnes whispered something under her breath. “Humans. I will kill them all.” One of the caravan guard’s came up to Agnes, asking where she had gone. Agnes looked up at the guard and smiled with innocence. “I had to go to the bathroom, there is nothing to worry about disciple.”
Mechking​

 

[Mechking]

Everything is dizzy, you feel cold and warm simultaneously and your headache seems to grow ever more painful with every beat of your heart. You can't remember where you are or what happened before, but you seemed to have fallen asleep after drinking too much again. You open your eyes, only to find a beautiful woman in front of you.
"Oh, you are finally awake!"
You look around and want to move, but you seem to be tied up to a bed. Panic begins to settle in as you struggle against your restraints.
"Who-who are you? Where am I? Wh-why am I-"
"Oh shut your mouth, be grateful that I am the one that found you and took you in! You're just some drunken homeless guy that apparently fell asleep in my arms. Am I that cozy?"
Your head begins spinning as memories slowly come back to you. She was one of the traveling merchants that came into town. Not that you could buy anything from them, but you begged for some money anyways. Then she promised to give you...something...if you came back at night. But when you came back, just slightly drunken, she just hugged you and you..fell asleep? Got knocked unconscious? You don't know.
"What do you want from me!"
"I don't need to want anything from you. You are simply going to join our little family, if you want to or not. What I want is to see you realize your helplessness as I change your mind."
A foul grin spreads across her face as she begins to channel mana into some sort of spell. Now you can feel her mana presence and it is the strongest you have ever seen in your life. You can almost feel something already digging into your thoughts.
"No...no. No no, nononono. NO! GET ME OUT OF HERE! WHAT THE-"
"Now that is a lot better, please struggle more. I want to see it in your eyes. The realization that you can't stop it. The desperation as you cling to your memories and ideals. I want to see it all!"
"HELP! HELP! PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP! ANYBODY!"
"Oh darling, there is no one to help you in miles. And this room is as soundproof as it can be. So please, scream as much as you like, it pleases me greatly!"
She steps forward and crouches down next to you, her ear right above your mouth as you scream your air out of your lungs in a desperate attempt to alarm anyone in the area. Her spell finishes and magic like tendrils bores into your memories, rewriting and reweaving your very self.
"Graaaarghh!"
Your strength is at an end as the pain inside you grows too strong. Silence fills the room as she gets up and opens a door, waving someone inside. You can hear what she sais before you fall into unconsciousness again.
"Watch over him while he is asleep, disciple. I'll enlighten him some more this afternoon."
"Disciple....."



( Remembrance Athanas Count Brimstone )

 

[Goonfire]

Leolin Hravart III
That insipid cackling only made the vengeful Ace more frustrated. With Adonis throwing a straight punch, Leolin reached past the fist and grabbed its arm to throw the nuisance into another wall. From those few seconds of tumbling and bare skin contact with the wyrm’s internals, he managed to sort through some information he learned with his clairsentient powers. Three wasn’t present deeper within the wyrm. This was bad...

With brute force not working, he had to resort to a much different practice: running. “I’m tired of dealing with a damned puppet!” he grunted indignantly. “I’m coming for YOU, Farlene Charlemagne! Play time is OVER!” He sprinted out of the Wyrm’s gullet as fast as his legs could carry him, eager to finish this quickly. He had a war to win and yet another murderous Ace to stop.
Kloudy

Vivianne Frisk
Sounds not too different from musket fire rang out from above X’s division. Colorful confetti gently blew down like snowfall, Vivi’s way of assuring the men everything would be okay. With more Argossian sky steeds closing in fast, she made the last-minute decision to run right at them. “Watch for the glitter!” she shouted before leaping overboard. Once airborne, she fired tether spells from her hands to the hulls of two, then spun a web between them. Their machine guns peppered the side of another allied airship.

Pulling herself in, Vivianne constricted the tethers until the sky steeds’ wings collided, tearing each other off. The weight of their intact wings caused their course to change. Both barely missed Kaiden’s ship, with Vivi having to duck to avoid getting splattered. Thinking fast, she tethered onto another plane, hurling herself with the tremendous velocity of a sky steed. What did she get herself into? She gritted her teeth, quickly realizing she was about to find out.

The development of the webbing subspell allowed Vivianne to cause several explosive collisions. Destroyed planes and their parts rained down upon the Argossian lines. The wall blocked about 99 percent of the falling debris from the acrobat’s fast-paced destruction. With the sky steed fleet having passed, she found herself in a dire situation: she had a lot of velocity and nothing that would support such a high-energy swing. She was hurtling downward towards the remaining coalition forces headed by her king, so she deployed her parachute. The sudden tug jolted her hard, leaving her to drift down as she caught her breath. Bloody as it was, the ground was where she needed to be, so she could mark opportune targets with her glitter bomb spell.

A hail of bullets narrowly missed the descending girl and punched holes in her parachute. Slowly, she gained more speed, realizing her landing would be a hard one unless someone helped her.
Xanto LazyDaze

 

[Athanas]

Cass nodded as he heard Jake and Samael divulged their plans. Despite the stunning similarities it held with his, they seemed...Condescending in their attitude towards him. His face slowly sank, memories of the constant negativity he had been faced with during his training. He was about to speak, to demand that they treat him with more respect... But he held his tongue. For his queen's sake, everyone would need to remain organized and morale would need to be high, and inter-party bickering would do little to help that notion. She needed him to succeed, and succeed he must. The thought of seeing those beautiful, enchanting red orbs light up with joy bolstered his resolve, and he swallowed his words. He simply nodded.

His attention was diverted away from thoughts of his beautiful queen and to a young little fellow, even younger than he was, struggling to properly don his belt. The boy's pleading eyes met his, and Cass smiled, moving up to the lad and grabbing hold of the belt, quickly tying it into a knot but making sure the lad could see what he was doing and replicate it later on. He stood back up, meeting Cilantro's gaze: "Don't worry about it. We're here to help."

As he was now close to the young man, he could sense his magical aura. Much to his surprise, it was nearly null. The lad was here with nearly no powers to show for it, facing what seemed to be 9's and 10's. Cass couldn't help but be impressed by the courage on display. "You didn't have to do this. You didn't have to be here, taking such an enormous risk, and yet you came along anyway, wishing to help. You're putting it all on the line, for the ideal of freedom. I want you to know... I find this very brave. And when we're done here today, I'll be more than happy to make something for you. Be quick, don't die. So long as you get that, you'll be fine" He smiled a little at his joke, trying to relieve the stress that Cilantro surely would have in a moment like this. "I'm Cass, by the way. I'll be happy to be seeing more of you, one this all boils over." With a final nod and a friendly pat on the shoulder, Cass turned back to disguising himself as a guard. His experience as a bodyguard had taught him many things, all of which he was going to put to good use. To be a guard, it is not enough to have the uniform: A Guard walks a certain way, talks a certain way, stands a certain way. He made sure to inform Jake of his experience on the matter, but knowing the man, he'd have more luck talking to a wall. Alas, in a few minutes, he was done. He looked at Jake, waiting for him to be done before speaking.

"Objective: Lure the telepath away from cover via our servants, kill him before he raises the alarm. Jake, you're designated as JK-1. I'm JK-2. Don't want someone accidentally catching onto our names. You know the servants here better than I do, you're tasked with the lure. I can dish out the damage, I am designated as Slayer. Ad Victoriam, friend."

To anyone who even remotely knew the man, the sudden influx of abbreviations and stone-cold designations might seem truly odd, but that was Cass's way of disconnecting from the task at hand: Formulating plans was easier without having to think about the moral implications of killing random people for a spear.

vielpotato Coyote Hart

 

[Count Brimstone]

Having his Art of Perception actively in use since the group first showed their muggy scowls. He was very aware, of the four attempting to rob him down to the irregular breathing, the slight sheen of sweat that started to appear on the two dagger wielders brow and their nervous palming of their weapons, and even the wild life that seemed to hide or retreat further away from the incoming conflict they sensed. And finally, from behind him, he sensed the held breath of a marksman about to make a shot and the slight hum of electrical mana.

Almost before the leader of this band of brigands could finish his threat the marksman's patience audibly snapped. It's sound: the release of his enchanted arrow. The buzzing sound of the arrow made it exceptionally easier to predict his trajectory with his enhanced senses powered by some of his 'chi'. Throm twisted his body sideways so that the arrow passed him after it hit his thin wall of glass-like ice protecting his back.

The arrow first hit the translucent ice wall with a resounding shatter breaking the thin ice layer that hovered at Throm's rear. In that instant, the thin ice wall collapsed upon the arrow traveling through it with a hunger he had long since come to know his magics seemed to possess. The ice that now completely consumed the arrow seemed to shine a muted yellow as the electric mana fought to release its stored power. Once covered, he controlled the ice on the arrow to have the arrow come to a halt, though the arrow momentum still carried it till it stopped in the space where his back would been if he had not turned to evade in time. Throm then redirected the ice encrusted, now with contained electric mana , arrow back at it's original owner's chest while using the mana drained from the arrow to increase it's speed and destructive power.

At the same time, Throm released the two needles of translucent ice that hovered at his sides at the two henchmen that flanked the apparent boss of the group. He aimed at the dagger duo's legs not wanting to kill them yet as they aren't the ones who attacked him first. But he wanted to take them out of the fight if this went on. If the two were hit, his ice would start to spreading from the wound to the rest of the body causing significant pain, freezing what ever limbs effected, and draining any mana they had.

Kloudy

 

[. D O V E]

Guineverre Victoria y Blanca
The Queen of Hearts​

Guin watched with triumph as her efforts finally came into fruition. She wasted no time and had her constructs tighten and spread around Four even more, ensuring that she has no means of escaping them this time. The queen then teleported beside Twig as soon as the anti-mana field deactivated, her sanguine eyes leering at the ensnared Flushe who was healing herself. She wanted to kick her, tell her that she has no right to alleviate whatever pain she was feeling when she, along with her wretched band of misfits, dispensed death to thousands of her people. It certainly didn't help that the Flushe was being casual and light about everything, as though her death won't mean a thing when in fact it would be justice!

Even so, Guin has learned how to swallow her anger, staying still on her position as she waited for Twig to finish the deed. However, a few moments later and the Jack hasn't moved, causing a look of suspicion to cross the Queen's face. Whatever words she wanted to say died in her throat when Twig unsheathed his sword and knelt to the Flushe's level, muttering words of sympathy before healing their enemy. Guin's eyes widened with disbelief, "...What are you doing?"

She watched as the doctor administered something into the Flushe, all while telling her that she doesn't deserve death. At that moment, the anger boiling within her dissipated as realization dawned upon her. She firmly faced Twig when he approached, noting the way he seemed to avoid her gaze. "Hand me the gun." She said and he was quick to comply, returning Doombringer to her hands. She then moved past him and crouched to Four's level while wearing an expression as cold as ice.

"I wonder," she began as she pointed the gun against the elf's forehead, "What grand plan could justify the death of my people? What grand plan could you tell the children you have orphaned that can free them from the fangs of grief? What grand plan could you tell me that can redeem you from your sins?" She wanted to shoot her right then and there, but she didn't. Instead, she holstered her gun back to its place behind her and pulled her gauntlets off. It wasn't long before her hands shot through her manifested vines and found Four's neck. "No matter, we will put an end to your plans. But take comfort in knowing, that you'll be part of something even greater." She continued while draining what little mana remained in her until only a silver was left of it. She made sure that it was enough to render her unconscious but alive nonetheless. Her hands withdrew and a constructed collar was left around the elf's neck before she put her gauntlets back on.

When all was done, Guin stood up and faced Twig once again. "Don't worry, she's not dead." She confirmed, before pressing a hand against his shoulder. "I see the light in your judgement, Twig, but do not be fooled. The Jokers and the Royal Flushe are different. We fight for our people, they clearly do not. Reserve your sympathy to those who deserve it."

On the background, the incapacitated Royal Flushe has been once again encapsulated inside a coffin-like contraption. It floated towards the two of them and Guin climbed up, leaving the marshy surface of the wyrm's insides before waiting for the Jack to do the same. Once he was on, she will then proceed to move them towards the direction of Leolin and Three's voices, her guns at bay.

Kloudy Coyote Hart

 

[Kloudy]

Yisstra's Grove
(Central Spade Kingdom)

They continued trudging through the overgrowth until the beast hunter came to another abrupt spot. Here, he crouched down and stealthily shuffled ahead. Through the bushes, there was a small grass clearing where a rare spot of sunlight could penetrate through the thick canopy. Basking in the godly rays, two warriors were duelling viciously. One wielding an axe and the other a sword and shield respectively, the two men circled each other before darting forth and back again to try and get a hit in. Judging from the familiar leatherhide armour, they were likely adventurers from the camp Ebel had passed earlier.

However something seemed off. While stumbling upon duels was not that uncommon in Ornare, why here in Yisstra's Grove where there were countless other horrors already waiting to devour you? Not only that, but their demeanours were strange. They did not speak, grunt, shout or even communicate in any form. They both just moved with as much efficiency as their bodies could allow. Adventurers were not that disciplined. Adventurers were not that inhuman.

The beast hunter made no move and simply watched, however his nose was twitching again. It was faint, but that acrid smell had returned. To Ebel, it smelled like someone had electrocuted a pool of acid and tossed it in a fire. If he focused, Ebel could almost make out a thin thread coming off each adventurer, trailing up to somewhere hidden within the canopy. The beast hunter's expression did not change, but his tone of voice suggested he found what was going on to be of poor taste.

"Glistuns."

Remembrance


The Royal Flushe
(??? - Inside The Wyrm)

​

As Leo dashed further into the wyrm, something strange happened. Three's laughter and shrieks seemed to be getting fainter and fainter, almost as if the faster he chased after her voice the further away it got. And then, the Ace came to a dead end. Energy was coursing through the walls of the wyrm and through out its body. Three was not there. Instead, just a mass of warm flesh covered in gelatinous mucus. Had he reached the end of the wyrm? So where had Three disappeared off to? There answer was soon revealed as the wall of flesh before Leo part in three sections, falling away to a bright shining light.

Guin and Twig, with Four in tow, had managed to catch up with their Ace by now and were met with the sight of Valencia. Hundreds of feet below, their city lay half-destroyed by the Ace of Diamonds' attack and the battlefield behind the city roared on. In the distance, two powerful presences were doing battle with something too far away to properly make out. Were those Argossian Mage Hunters, perhaps? One of the auras felt familiar, belonging to the previous Ace of Spades, Quillion Downs. Suddenly, Three's hysterical shrieking resumed loudly in all three Hearts Royals' ears from seemingly all directions.

"ARRGHHH! Get away! Get away- get away! Crawling-skittering! Don't touch me! Crawling- get away! GET AWAY!"

It felt like psychic magic. A powerful energy continued charging behind the Hearts leadership in powerful waves. It was apparent what Three's plan was. She intended to not only blast away all three of them, but also lay further waste to their beloved Valencia. With the wyrm having emerged from the ground in the mountainside behind Valencia, it was in the perfect position to deal a devastating blow to the back-half of the city that had avoided some of William's previous attack. With seconds to go, the wyrm roared in preparation for launching it's massive laser attack. Leolin would likely survive the blast, but the same could not be said for his royalty or Four.

. D O V E Coyote Hart Goonfire

The Elven Ambush
(Hearts Kingdom - Road To Port Elfin)

The bandit archer was suitably surprised to not only see his arrow stopped, but then thrown back at him at twice the speed. The arrow whizzed off and struck him in the shoulder, causing the man to stumble backwards and clench the wound in pain as waves of paralyzing mana coursed through his body. Since it was his own magic, it wasn't as potent to him and thus didn't incapacitate. With a curse, the bandit pulled the arrow out and knocked it once more. In quick succession he began loosing off several electric-enhanced arrows at Throm.

In turn, the two dagger-wielding bandits Throm has preemptively attacked were accordingly shocked into action by his sudden spellcasting. The bandit on the right barely had time to help before the icy spike pierced his upper thigh. Falling to one knee, the elf struggled to pull it out as the ice began to spread over the rest of his leg. The other had managed to dodge out of the way in time and circled around to Throm's right to get a flanking position. She darted forth to slash several times horizontally at Thron.

While the arrow-business has been occurring, the bandit leader had wasted no time waiting for Throm to deal with the henchmen. When Throm turned around to deal with the dagger-wielders, the elf was right up in the traveller's face with a bastard sword bearing down on him for a straight downward vertical strike. A nasty sneer plastered his rugged and scarred face.

Count Brimstone

​

 

[Mechking]

After the Beast was destroyed by Arimands Giant Automaton, he ordered it back to him. Weary of might come next, he merged his remaining mana stones into the Giant Automaton and ordered it to observe and attack any aggressors.


With the newfound air-support came some much needed help on the ground. Para-troopers and automatons dropped side by side, terrifying and confusing already confused enemies around them, who didn't think that bombs and people would be dropped on them. Not that it would matter much, as the Wyrm retreated back where it came from, resulting in an earthquake around it. Argossian and Coalition soldiers alike got utterly decimated and the flank rendered completely unusable.


Arimand rushed to his companions and ordered Iris to fall back. Together they ordered what remaining forces they had from the left flank to retreat and retrieve as many wounded as possible, as well as coordinating the reinforcements to both flanks. On the left, a small amount of reinforcements secured that there was no possibility of enemy advancement and assisted with the recovery. On the right, they assisted the various charges and replaced the heavily worn-out soldiers.
A few strike-teams who specialize in physical attacks were formed and ordered to board the War Engine through any cracks in its massive armor and warned of the mana draining properties of the shield. All of the remaining siege weaponry was also ordered to shoot at the War Engine.
The archers of the left flank, now once again without a target, were directed to the skies and fired on the swarm of sky-steeds. Commander Kaiden was informed of the assistance and brought into contact with the general of the archers.






After some more precise organizing and distribution of troops, Arimand and pretty much everyone else heard a loud roar from the city. A familiar roar. A terrifying roar. The Wyrm had emerged again, this time to decimate what was left of Valencia. Feeling helpless to do anything against it, Arimand did the only thing he could do. He once again opened a telepathic channel to William.

"William! Now! Or you will be as dead as the rest of us!"



( LazyDaze Kloudy Xanto TPBx )

 

[TPBx]

Marillys gathered himself and refocused on the fight against Art and the other mage. He swung his blade around and once again took a defensive position. The speed surprised him before, but Marillys knew he was faster and all he had to do was look for the perfect time to counter. By now his arm and grew back and his eviscerated innards were beginning to be repaired. He grasped his sword with both hands and readied himself for the attack, taking upon a different stance of the Will Form of YL Fenca Argossia, keeping a high guard with his sword held up over his head, watching the two mages to see if they would make a move and strike down to parry and counter.

Remembrance vielpotato

 

[AI10100]

Callum

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"The search for knowledge drives us all."​

location: Yisstra's Grove
interactions: Ambiloquous Kloudy
mentions:

​

As they delved deeper into the grove, Callum paused for a moment and looked back at the entrance. IT was a good few feet away before he tied a rope to one of the branches of a tree and continued forward, giving Jana a small shrug. It was a precautionary measure. Even if the grove decided to screw with them, it was good to have some form of... small reassurances such as this rope. He just hoped that he wouldn't run out too soon.

Callum let out a small sigh as he pushed out the last branch out of their way and made it to a clearing. He waited until Jana stepped forward before releasing the branch. "What's that?" He asked to no one in particular as they came upon a tree. It seemed to have been vandalized in some sort of way. He couldn't really decipher anything from his position. What he could see were multiple ropes hanging on its branches, unused. Or perhaps, placed there? Or perhaps... He shook his head, continuing his survey of the land. Footsteps marked the ground before them but no one in sight. No remnants of who they were.

And then, a sword. Off in the tree. It looked broken. "Wait a minute Jana." He muttered as he picked up a small rock and threw it forward to disturb the land and picked up one again to test another portion. A bit too cautious but paranoia had its uses in high stress jobs like theirs. He also checked if there was any particularly strong magic being exuded by the tree or the sword or anything in the vicinity.

[/div][/div]

codedbycrucialstar | hidden scroll​

 

[AI10100]

Vier

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"Violence for violence is the law of the beasts."​

location: Road To Port Elfin, Hearts Kingdom
interactions: Count Brimstone Kloudy
mentions:

​

Vier was coming back from a quest that she had accepted from the Mercenary's Guild when she had heard the commotion. She certainly had the option of simply ignoring what was happening. It was not her kingdom, not her area, not her guild, not her business. But she found herself walking towards the commotion, silently so that she may not be spotted by those that were already occupied with fighting.

It was obvious who was attacking who. The man these bandits were trying to rob seemed like he was more than capable on taking them on. However, he was still outnumbered and she figured that he would appreciate the help. In any case, it shouldn't take long and she could always just stop by the town if she needed to refresh herself after a fight. Or camp outside. Whichever felt like a good idea at the time.

Vier raised her hand, one of her mana stones giving a dim glow as a Lacartia burst out - already running. It wasted no time in biting down the archer and throwing it to the side like a beast hungry for its prey. Vier, herself, pointed towards the elven leader and an arching light of lightning burst forth in an attempt to throw him off from his attack or maybe even throw him away with the impact.

[/div][/div]

codedbycrucialstar | hidden scroll​

 

[Count Brimstone]

Throm sat on his saddle, chest still turned to the left from his dodging of the archer's attack mere seconds before. As soon as the archer was hit with his returned to sender he flashed his nailed metal-clad left hand and shot a stake of ice was to impale the archer through the weakest part of his defenses and the most vital from what his Owl Breath's Art of the Perception could sense in the instant that the man recoiled from being hit with his own arrow.

Immediately after launching the thick spike, he turned to swing the same fist around to greet the leader of the group, but now the black-metal gauntlet Throm wore was encased in a steely thick permafrost. As it's additional weight and magic might lead to increase the fist's destructive power so that he could break the great-sword by hitting it in it's weakest point which was the center of the blade. At the very least he wanted to force the blade to veer off to the right and into his companion that was attacking on that side.

At the same time, with his right hand, he drew his dagger in a reverse hold that lead into a quick, fluid, and well practiced vertical slice coming from the sheath on his side to intercept the horizontal slashes that was coming from his right. He would wait until the moment just before contact to extend the blade with ice that curved inwards like a meat hook under the woman's guard. He would then follow-through with his diagonal momentum hooking her weapons and pulling them away from him and towards her leader for the briefest of moments but enough to put her off balance. While the edge of the hook sought to sink into the soft under her chin and extended and reached to do just that.

He was also aware of another hiding in the bushes a ways off. Curious as to why he she didn't assist her friends, but he would deal with that afterwards.

Kloudy AI10100