Fantasy The Divine Conquerors Ⅱ - Main / Ravenscourt

[StaidFoal]

=TOBIAS NYSETH=

​

Tobias wordlessly flowed through it all. The undying thirst for vengeance from the person in the mecha. The psychic messages of Caedmon. The constantly vanishing princess. The one thing that froze him, though, was the construct of marble and gold rushing through the streets of Castellan, carrying someone with a familiar stretch of silver hair. As he plunged her into the pool of magma, Tobias felt... nothing. No wave of relief like he'd expected, nor a sense of euphoria at revenge. It was like watching a theater play. Everything he fought for today had amounted to this: what he'd wanted. So why did he not feel any better? Still, he couldn't help but remark on the scene after Caedmon noticed Rook's actions. "How unexpected, the inevitable demise of the traitor princess occurring right before our eyes! Death feels like an easy way out for a murderer like her... Still..."

In the distance, surrounding Tobias, three units took position.

=THE WEAVERS=
THE CONSTANT'S DEATH SQUAD
​

"Skip, here. In position, over." The sniper steadied his scope on his knee, peering out the window. The crosshairs were set on Tobias. "Looks like someone gave him some fancy gun tech for his injury. Guy doesn't know a warning, even when it hits him."

"Copy that. Same with Cap and I, over." Each person held a different device distinguished by a white and blue light, able to fit in the rectangular mortar beside them.

"Remember, men. Once the lamb is put down, exfiltrate immediately. Constant's orders. We're just about done here."

Rig looked up at Tobias, who was a mere dot in the sky at the distance they were at. "Think I can take a part of the Drifter's armor as a souvenir?"

Cap clicked his tongue. "Negative. We won't be anywhere near the fellow." He loaded up his device, first. The white light disappeared into the barrel. "On my orders, initiate the Execution, over."

=TOBIAS NYSETH=

​

Even after Athena's death, something felt amiss. It wasn't the mecha lunging at him yet again, nor any of the other irritable summoned that protested his need for revenge. Not the demons spewing out the castle, or any other conundrum he knew of. He drew a scowl, frantically looking around at the city beneath. "Everyone, something else isn't quite right, here..."

It was only a few seconds later when he saw it: a rectangular device, flashing white. Immediately after it came one flashing blue.

=THE WEAVERS=
THE CONSTANT'S DEATH SQUAD

​

Cap took a breath. "Go." The mortar launched its munitions, leaving a trail of smoke as it flew high into the sky. From their distance, they could see Tobias spin around in time to face the devices.

A blinding light flashed throughout all of Castellan, sourced from the first device. Even from how far away their sniper was, he had to squint during the passing seconds for the sake of his vision. What followed was a blue sphere, circled by arcs of electricity and energy that appeared and disappeared in less than a second. It expanded outward, engulfing the zone containing Tobias, and the other summoned. The devices were a large flashbang followed by an EMP, meant for Tobias' suit and new gun arm.

Rig and Cap immediately packed their mortar, dissipating into thin air with use of their cloaks.

Skip peered through the barrel. "Taking the shot." He squeezed. And in an instant, he was gone.

=TOBIAS NYSETH=

​

Before he could even mutter a word of confusion, the devices exploded. One with a blinding, white light and the other sending what felt like pin prickles throughout his whole body. Tobias only screamed at the intense sensations. But it was far from over.

Still blinded and deafened by the first explosion, something with the force of a truck slammed into his chest. It surged throughout his chest plate, legs, arms, everything. The armor heated in seconds to the point it felt like a hellish oven. Then, relief, as the heat dissipated; along with the weight and sensation of the armor. Still lost in his senses, Tobias felt his body tilt backward horizontally as air suddenly rushed against his back. He didn't know it, but he was plummeting. All he could have done was scream out in sheer terror.

It all stopped at one point. His body against the sharp road, oozing out a warm liquid around him. Tobias finally stopped yelling, now dazed and groaning. Finally, his sight returned, though blurred. A metallic taste bit his tongue. "Great Scott..." He was cold, now. Unbearably cold. Using what was left of his strength, Tobias forced his head up to survey the damage. His neck stung with every inch moved. And, nerveless as he was, he could still produce enough adrenaline to panic for a third time. His armor was gone. He was stripped to the skin, save for a tang top and underwear. But already, he could feel it.

Tobias curled up, eyes glued wide open as he broke into a cold sweat. "Oh God, oh God..." he kept muttering. His new robot arm couldn't even move, no doubt because of the subsequent EMP. Now, it only weighed him down. It clawed from beneath the skin. It tore through the muscle and bone, stretching the tendons past their breaking point. Tobias' incomprehensible stammers picked up in pace. Tears flowed naturally down his cheeks through panicked breaths. "Help me! Please!" he cried in desperation. Tobias couldn't even have peaceful thoughts; the pain was too much.

It started with his limbs, eviscerating the flesh and spinning them in all directions. He felt his chest burst and mutilate itself as oxygen drained from his body. His yelps were gone, replaced by drowning gurgles. Tobias reached out into the sky with his free arm, staring into the dismal skies. Only when he lost sensation in his body could he truly think. This was what his victims had felt in the grueling hours of his rampage. This was fair. They must have had loved ones waiting for them in the afterlife. It was the same for himself. Mii, everyone on the old planet. Yes. This was fine. Tobias couldn't bear to look at the mess any longer. He shut his eyes, letting nature take its course.

If anyone stumbled over to his crash site, they would only find splatters of blood and shredded body parts scattered around the area.

 

[Snackofthefuture]

IVAN FEDERICO​

Ivan fired several lasers off into the distance, his pistol charging before every shot for armor piercing effect. His reserves of energy were running low and he was beginning to become tired. He was using the crystal psilink to maintain his emotional state. Ivan was impressed with how much the crystal helped him focus. The fight with the mecha baby had faded out completely at this point, though Caedmon had taken some rather grievous looking injuries. Ivan could tell Caedmon was hurting through the psilink. Tobias seemed to be doing alright at this point however, The Gun having fixed his rupturing arm. Tobias now hovered testing his new weapon and focus.

Ivan was still concerned about the scientist though, something about Tobias was off. Of course there had always been something off with the scientist from what Ivan could tell. Or perhaps he just suffered from dementia or something, the man was old enough for it. Ivan turned his attention from Tobias and Caedmon however back to the battle at hand, where Csilla, Wakinyan and Kotori had joined in. The situation was now firmly on the Nortestrans side, thanks to the efforts of the Summoned. A man with black hair and strange ninja garb darted back and forth across the battlefield with blade and fire magic, slaying Mollug demons and such with glee. He enjoyed the battle too much it seemed, another battle maniac it seemed.

A samurai with technology Ivan didn't recognize appeared and began to rally the Nortestran soldiers of the frontlines with incredible vigor. Combat raged fiercely as the Mollug forces began to retreat. Athena’s death had hurt the Castellan defenders, but the summoned, the samurai especially, seemed to be holding them together. He stood upon a pile of rubble near the center of the battlefield, soldiers still clashing around him, the warrior from Shogun dueling multiple Mollug warriors from Cardoza’s division. Ivan held his gun with one hand, cocking it with the other hand for a moment.

Ivan had never wanted for Athena to die, just for her to be punished, removed from office, made to understand what she had done. Punch her a couple times or something for trying to kill his friends. But in truth Ivan wondered at the thought. Perhaps she did deserve death for trying to kill Felicia and imprisoning the Summoned. The gunslinger mused on this, the idea of an eye for an eye. But Ivan wasnt that type. He didn't kill unless it was truly necessary like on the battlefield.

Felicia had once again disappeared and Ivan was beginning to become wary. Was she in danger? They were on a battlefield. Ivan realized the idiocy in worrying for her safety in a warzone. He then turned his attention back to the battlefield where it seemed the Mollugs were truly beginning to break now.

Behind Ivan Tobias plummeted to the ground and was subsequently torn apart by his gravitational field. All of Caedmon and Ivan’s efforts had been for naught, and now Tobias was dead. Ivan had given a piece of him over and it had been near instantly crushed by Providence’s hand. Ivan felt the death of the piece of the Gun within him and doubled over suddenly, clutching his stomach as he violently threw up all over the ground. Ivan knew something had happened, Tobias had suddenly disappeared from the psilink, some lingering feelings of peace residing in the empty hole where Tobias’s mind had once resided. It had been a very painful death. Ivan threw up again, tears blurring his eyes as he looked at the crumbled earth beneath him. Tobias was dead too now, just like the princess, just like so many others.

Ivan knew everyone else on the psilink could feel Tobias’s sudden death.

StaidFoal Juju Kaihaku @ anyone in the psilink or near Ivan

 

[Pseudo-nim]

Zasha
Mentions: StaidFoal GrieveWriter ​

The dome of lasers that covered over the severed Coelacanth bloomed with azure light, sheltering her and her prize. As the termite drones stripped the metal off the mech like skin off bones, she gave mental instruction and the termites tore open a hole directly into the power core, as her mech finished scans, jumping down to examine it. Highly volatile core with enough bang to blow up a few blocks and then some. Despite the temptation, she ignored the idea of hauling the core away with her, instead navigating the drones to finish the metal harvest. Given the size of the haul, her last two mechs would be possible with the metal she's obtained. It was not long before the amount of metal her drones have transported to her warehouse to suitably fill a single wing. Given the size she operated once, the Coelacanth's massive size was just similar enough to some starships she's stripped metal before, and with how her drones were fairly efficient in their functions, this was fairly standard affair, aside from the whole chaos.

When her drones pinged her that enough metal was taken to leave nothing but the framework and foundation, she had her mech carry her back up as the termites reconvened into the fabricator case, compacting themselves into a small ball before she returned the fabricator into her fortress. While construction on the Juggernaut-class and Fortress-class mechs were still needed to get worked on manually herself, the heavy duty fabricators within her pocket dimension would spit out the material given they've already gotten the blueprints of the components. It was just dedicating her time in assembling and programming the necessary A.I. before they become fully operational. The ARMS system answered her question when asked with how much metal would remain after constructing her last two mechs. With the supply of metal stripped, she could begin repairs and satellites to map the world itself. And with how her satellites were ultimately connected to her dimensional fortress, they would act as one of the most important factors to any weapon system. Orbital dominance was her secondary objective, but fairly high priority alongside repairs and reconstruction. The rest of these summoned can go and continue with their world dominance charade. She needed to get situated with the world as a whole, see which places were liberal in weapon distribution and where her she can get a foothold as a small time weapon's dealer. Clearly there were some big players with big toys in this world, so settling herself low while her cache of weapons steadily grew was the best bet.

But that would be later. Her priorities were simply resupply and evacuate. With everything she's seen, Nortestra didn't offer a whole lot for her. Mollug seemed to be a decent start, given their ability to whip something like this out on some primitive, backwater civilization. Clearly summoned tech judging from its complexity that these medieval monkeys weren't capable of, so they clearly had someone in that payroll. Whatever the case was, she could only assume that Mollug was technologically advanced enough to sate her needs. When the army begins their march back to Mollug was when it'll be her time to move as well.

So she hopped on the Soldier's shoulder and it launched into the sky, while the Laser Circus drone deactivated and fell to her waiting arms, shunting the artillery weapon back and repairing it for later use. There was still another half of the Coelacanth to harvest and given the focus of the conflict, it seemed she would get free reign again. The Soldier's flight speed was meant for high speed deployment across battlefields, so reaching the lifeless half of the Mollug war machine that POMA bisected didn't take long before she placed the Termite Drones down and watched with smug confidence at the burning city, her hair whipping against the arid wind. It wasn't long of a time she's spent in this new world, but she was fairly happy to start her time here with this much activity and excitement.

So she took her phone out from her back pocket, wiping the soot from the camera and took a picture of herself with the destroyed Nortestra ward as her background. Something to look back on in the future and remember why she enjoyed her line of work so much.

 

[Solirus]

Hiba​

Hiba was yet again confused… the answer Ella had given was not what Hiba had expected… Mollug sounded like the name of a dish or a sport… but from the words of Ella it seemed more like a sort of region or… Country yes it sounded like a country.

However the answer didn’t clear Hiba’s mind, instead it opened up even more questions: What was a Nortestra? What was a Valucia? Why was Ella called like that… and why did she smell of…

…
…
…
…

Hiba froze again… she spaced out but this she broke out of it before it spiralled out of control… the scent was only smaller than previously… maybe Hiba would need to cover her nose more often… In the seemingly short time she felt spaced out… Ella was gone… and Nemu looked extremely excited with something on her hat…

Hiba had many questions but one was most prevalent…

“Where do now… we go?” Hiba asked Nemu

Interactions: Juju
Around: seasonedcat

 

[Gohan510]

=The End of War. Jaded Tome?!=
Erza Scarlet ( Gohan510 ), Ex Mollug General ( Snackofthefuture )
Mentions: Hitori, Wakinyan ( Juju ), Hakujo ( Snackofthefuture )
Location: Nortestra, Frontlines of war
​

Erza jumped back from dodging some debris that came from the monstrous stomp. She had to end this quickly, hopefully sakujo made it to help Hitori at least or continuing pushing onward on his side. She had to figure something out while the troops around her fought off any lesser demon or mollug soldier.
The wind started to shift as multiple explosions were going off near the area Hitori went to. Watching the shroom cloud loom over the torn buildings. Different roars echoed from that direction as well. The scarlet knight wondered what was going on. Erza ran through killing lesser demons dashing onward to the giant turtle that slowly stomped its way through the block. The monster prepared a massive beam, opening its mouth wide open.

Firing the beam off Erza gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands swinging completely cutting the beam in half making it spread destroying anything nearby, yet missing the troops. Jumping out of the smoke the knight ran from rooftop to rooftop nearing the beast. Jumping on a broken tower’s wall she bolted her way up to the top of it. The top half was blown off and the building looked slightly caved in. Erza took a step back as the behemoth turned its head smashing into the pillar. Erza jumped high enough to do a spin summoning her Armageddon blade slicing the gem then stabbing it as blood rushed out she coated herself in flames to block the incoming blood.

Erza looked up again once she felt Hitori’s mana was rising and he was starting to elevate even higher. The sound of a voice echoing through the chaos that caved her in. Hearing a very familiar voice she focused on it.

“Defenders of Castellan, men and women of the Nortestran Line, hear me now! Falter not, great warriors, for this is not the end! Athena may have fallen, your walls may have crumbled but you have survived thus far! What is one more tragedy to those who have endured a thousand slights!? Now is not the time for mourning, now is the time for vengeance! Come! Follow me, follow me, oh Nortestran Defenders! I, Sakujo Honomura, shall bring you victory!”

Erza smirked, jumping off from the falling demons head. The beast fell over on its side crushing any buildings. Two knights of the small group of troops from Sakujo, helped some civilians out of the area guiding them to somewhere safed. Erza looked at the palm of her hands. They were covered by the white gloves she wore now tainted with blood. Sliding them off her wrist she released a sigh. “I’ll support you Sakujo.” She clenched her fist. “But is this Mollug really that bad for us to be killing them? Of course stopping a war would be best. Though she remembered something one of the Mollug’s natives told her in one of the small towns she explored in. If she remembered it was called Gull. What a bland name for a small town in mollug.

(Taking a few shots and eating her food inside of the small house, with an older man around his 60s. The two had met from him having issues with some crawlers. The entire town was swarming with them. Erza helped the people and they gave her a warm welcome, the giant centipedes proved rather a bigger problem than she had thought considering their terrifying massive size. She looked at the old man as he sat back down in front of her at the dinner table.

"Thank allowing me to stay at your home for the night. I've been out here wondering through Mollug. You mentioned earlier you would tell me about this country?" She looked over to the old man. She covered her mouth embarrasse, after moving her hand out the way she bowed her head. On her world those you respect are in your attendanc, you bow your head. "My name is Erza Scarlet, can I get yours?" She raised her head. Erza laid the sack she carried over her shoulder during her time being parted from Heather venturing through Mollug. The older man had a missing leg it seemed and he mentioned that he was a veteran from mollug army earlier. He has to know a lot about this world or at least help inform her on something.

The old man coughed twice, his eyes glazed and distant. “The name’s Austin Sin.”

He brought the flask of liquor up to his lips and cursed, noting how empty it felt.
He took a swig of the strong alcohol and looked at Erza directly in the eyes.
She wasnt from Gull, that was for sure. Pity shone in her eyes, looking down at the old man.

A veteran he was, from the war with Nortestra. He despised the nation of imperialists. In truth she seemed kind enough, but the old man often saw pity where there was none.

He couldn't help himself. No one could help him. But the woman with the red hair could be helped. He debated assisting her, debated responding to her question of why Nortestra and Mollug were at war.
Then he decided. No one could help him, but he could help others. And despite his uncouth manner and dazed state, he would help the gal.

"Mollug and Nortestra have been at war for many years my girl... They have fought and fought and fought since Mollug's inception. Mollug was once a region belonging to Nortestra. Betcha didnt know that haha! We were strong under their heel and we are stronger now. Nortestra ruled us with an iron fist for a long time, taking everything they could in order to expand and continue their imperialist ways. But Mollug, oh glorious Mollug, we would not allow it! So despite the war with Xact, despite The Jaded Tome's influence, despite everything, we did the right thing. Some may not see war as righteous, I barely do, it took my leg... But still, our war was just! We fought Nortestra to keep the continent safe from their machinations... Had Mollug not stood in their way, Czarsnikei and Belldan would be but occuppied ashes."

The old man coughed again several times, and one had to wonder how reliable his story was. But his leg was truly missing, and he wore the old and tattered uniform of a Molug foot soldier.

"Mollug has not always done the right thing... That much is true... But we fought when it mattered in a world where fighting is everything. We weathered the storm and have brought a giant to its knees... No matter the cost, our cause is righteous..."

Erza took the mouthfull in smiling, grateful that the old man was willing to share her some information on this new world she lived in. She had to do whatever it takes to understand more of Valucia as she could. Sin didn't really tell her group much about the world instead it was there's to conquer. Erza's long term goal is to hopefully build a royal figure and recreate her royal crimson knights. She cleared her throat before taking another sip out of her cup, stillhalfway filled of alcohol. She didn't do good with hard liqour, but this kind was doable. Getting her a bit drunk due to her lack of drinking on her old world. Only reason she drinks with this man was to celebrate the joined force dealing with the common threat.

Erza cut her another piece of meat taking a few bites of it from her fork while the old man spoke.

"That explains why these past towns I've visited looked like they were on the lowest of low, economically wise. So you guys are basically fighting for your rights, and country's pride. I've heard you guys barely started forming as a country."

"Wait!" She placed her fork and cup of liqour down looking at the man. "What exactly is the Jaded Tome? What is that?" She asked with a sparkle of curiousity in her eyes.

"The Jaded Tome is the true master of Mollug. It is the joined amalgamation of thousands of wizards souls from a time long ago. It holds influence over The High Councilor and the High Council. It is why we continue to wage war with all our neighbors. At least thats what some might say. It might also be that its powers do things to the men before it. It makes them stronger, more skilled, wiser, and yet more enraged."

The old man took a slice of bread and chewed on it for a moment before taking another large gulp from his flask. He was telling much to this foreigner and he barely knew why. Well, she was a pretty lass that was for sure.

"The Jaded Tome has enhanced thousands upon thousands of Mollugs inhabitants. We
ve been told that it does not enthrall people, that the gift is free. But sometimes I truly doubt. So many lie dead in their ditches thanks to that book. It is both a blessing and a curse."

The old man drank more and more as he spoke, occasionally glancing around to see if there was anyone nearby listening. But they were alone, eating outside of his house.)

“Jaded Tome… Maybe finding him will give me a chance to stop Mollug’s constant conflicts. The people of that country don't deserve to constantly fight.”

Though it was already too late she had already cut down a few mollug’s. Her thoughts conflicted her mind as she wondered what to do. Gripping her fist Erza swung her sword over her shoulder. Looking over to the constant lightning roaring through the sky. What exactly was going on over at Hitori’s location. It seemed wherever he went it was bound to be something going on. For sure after this was over she’d have to talk to him again, he’s quite fun to be around. Erza looked up watching Mollug forces were now retreating. Was this battle finally coming to an end? Erza looked over to the knights that fought for Nortestra smiling at them giving them a thumbs up.

“We did it!” The knights cheered on together.

Erza started giggling from the mens shouting. “We should regroup with Sakujo and the others.”

“What about over there?” One knight pointed to Hitori’s direction where the thunder was roaring heavy. “A winged unicorn was over there!”

Erza shook her head with a calm smile on her face. “He’s fine, his mana hardly dropped. Something tells me that one is going to cause many problems for those who oppose the side of good.” The knights all were silent looking at one another in confusion. “Now lets hurry to Sakujo!” The knights nodded following the scarlet haired knight running towards Sakujo’s last seen location hopefully to find him.

 

[Juju]

Jerry, Salish, Mune​

"Remember, runt, just wait for Nightshade's signal." Shalish said slowly, making sure the little vampire understood. Already the boy was looking out the window excitedly.

"Ellanora is going to join us this time!?"

"Yes now -- would you quit jumping you're going to give away our position -- now like I said, wait for the signal before attacking. Make sure to target the obnoxious samurai and his minions."

"They think they've won the city." Mune sat in the shadows, running a finger along the edge of her blade. A trail of blood fell from it. "They forget to watch their backs."

Salish snorted, "It doesn't matter. The shining star of Nortestra will be uninhabitable for years... no, decades after we've unleashed my newest creation. This blight is special. It lingers in the ground.. the water. The conditions are just right wi-"

"Nobody cares what you did, we only care about results. If you can manage that then maybe Nightshade will forgive you for your blunder in Ravenscourt."

Jerry covered his mouth with two hands, which unfortunately only drew the wrath of Salish's fragile pride. The vampire gave the boy a smack on the head and pointed towards the window. "Get out of here, and don't forget your orders."

"I wont!" Jerry said cheerfully, rubbing the back of his head. He jumped up, transforming into a bat then flew out the window while Salish glared into the distance. Somewhere a beast howled, much like a wolf... if it was choking on its own throat. It almost sounded like a bloodbeast. Wait. His eyes widened, fingernails digging into the wood of the window when he saw a small bat dive into the heat of battle. "That little f-"

"For the vampiiiiiires!" Jerry growled, baring his shadow claws as he transformed back into a human. He pounced at Sakujo from the air, but his aim was way off and he simply flew past Sakujo and his minions and directly into a patch of bloody mud.

He quickly bounced back to his feet and found himself surrounded by enemy soldiers. This was not the plan! There should be tons of bloodbeasts and..

"Oh..." Jerry blinked, realized he had sprung his attack too early. "S-sorry, just wait one second... um... this was not supposed to happen. Ahah..."

He dodged a spear strike by rolling to the side, leaving behind a shitty illusion as a decoy.
Snackofthefuture Gohan510

"Idiot" Mune muttered, heaving her sword onto her shoulder and stepping towards the window.

"We specifically said wait for the signal. How is that runt still living? If I were baron I'd feed him to the bloodbeasts." Salish covered his eyes with a hand but was suddenly sent stumbling back as Mune pushed him to the side. She then vaulted out onto the roof, "Why you..."

"There's your signal."

Baroness Ellanora Nightshade​

The skies above the battlefield began to darken as a cloud of bats began to form in a screeching mass. They lingered for a moment, directionless before a streak of blue and red shot towards the hulking giant of Rook. It crashed against his head, exploding into a viscous mass of clotted blood that sunk into his visor. The bats were quick to follow, swirling around the construct in a cloud. The ones nearest to his helmet began to force their way inside the eye slots, crushing the bodies of their kin in a twisting mass of blood and fur that only deepened the frenzy. As the cloud of bats focused on Rook, a shadowed tangle of magic wrapped around his feet, conjured by a group of three vampires crouched on a nearby roof. A fourth began to summon a large shard of red, shaping it into a spear.

Those Nortestran soldiers that were closest to the Mollug line suddenly found their very muscles immovable... all for their rabidly beating hearts. It was as if the battle had frozen just to make way for a single winged figure.

Ella slowly descended upon wings of spindle and leather, her twin blades shimmering eerily. Despite speaking softly, her voice carried across the battlefield, spoken by thousands of tiny bats. "Ah, what rich irony it is that the great and proud nation of Nortestra throws its lot in with otherworldly usurpers and cowardly turncoats... and so soon after the death of your princess. Indeed times have changed." She motioned across the field of battle, "You must think yourselves very clever. What pride you must feel, to drive back a force at such great odds."

As her feet touched the ground, the chests of the frozen Nortestran soldiers burst like overipe fruit. "Look at your feet, smell the scent of decay... you fight for a graveyard you built with your pride. We offered mercy. All you had to do was surrender, yet you clung to a false promise made by a weak ruler." The blood soaking the ground rose up into a solid wall, melding with the corpses of the Nortestran soldiers she had drained. The ground rumbled lightly, yet it was not from the slightly transparent wall that now separated the Nortestran forces and the retreating Mollug army. Ellanora smiled politely through it, her appearance warped.
"Ah, but I believe actions speak louder than words. It is only when we face the consequences of our actions do we learn. I do hope you will think more carefully next time, Nortestra."

The rumbling grew louder, accompanied by crashes and broken wood as hundreds of bloodbeasts poured from the streets and out from gutters. They amassed in a black and grey hoard behind the army of Nortestra, rushing at their backs with slavering jaws and sharp claws. Many of them were purposely left fresh and unchanged, their faces still recognizable to those who may have known them in life. Others were twisted into creatures more animal than human.

Yet what they all shared in common was the infestation festering in them. When cut open or slain the bloodbeasts leaked maggots and insects that sought to wriggle into the armor of the soldiers if they could manage, boring into their skin. Instead of blood, Ellanora's bloodbeasts oozed a sickly green-black that gave off an eye-watering vapor that made it difficult to breathe.

Salish, Mune​

While the backline fell into chaos, Mune made her charge. Heaving her sword, she cleaved her way towards Sakujo. The blood she spilled spike up around her, impaling even more enemies and granting her enough blood to create an enormous chakrum she sent through the air to swing around Sakujo and strike at him from the side. She followed up with a massive cleave from her longsword.

Salish, on the otherhand, begrudedly followed. He took a moment to admire his work from afar as he opened his cloak to selected two poisoned blades. He took aim at Forsith and launched them at the knight, one aimed at the unarmored space between his upper and lower arm while the other flew towards his thigh. [the poison is rockbite, which will cause painful swelling in the joints. It is good for slowing down opponents and making their strikes clumsy.]

Once he was rid of the blades he manipulated some of the fresh blood on the ground, collecting it into an orb above his palm. The blood quickly turned green, mirroring that given off by the infected blood beasts. "Do be a good little knight and hold still while I test out a new plague variant on you."

Baroness Ellanora Nightshade​

While her bloodbeasts sowed chaos, and her elite warriors kept the would-be-leader busy, Ellanora acted as the vanguard for her retreating forces. "Soldiers of Mollug, fall back!" she shouted while dancing between the remaining Nortestran forces that had been caught on the wrong side of the wall. Many begged, but the time of choice had ended.

She glanced up at the hulking beast known as Rook, eyes narrowing. That thing needed to be distracted or else their retreat would be compromised. Her vampires would not hold it forever...

Gathering the fresh blood, Ellanora flew around the brute, blasting it with powerful arcane magic. "A shame you chose to fight for such a pathetic cause. You call Athena a queen... most curious... she was hardly more than a pampered child who abused the power of her father. The princess fed you lies. You fight for a nation that slaughters what it doesn't understand and cages the weak."

A blast of blood crystallized around Rook's shoulderjoint, forming into a chain that sunk deep into the ground below. "Yet it is not too late to change your mind, summoned. Mollug can be a home for you, and if it is conquest you seek, she has many enemies. Your might is all we would need to liberate those bound by unworthy leaders."

 

[Gohan510]

=Three Magic Knights! Long Awaited Reunion!!!=
Involved: Ara, Korin, Buu, Aren (Ran), Ian, Kinji, Lia, & Choji
Mentions: Princess Athena ( Kaihaku ), Hitori, Susan ( Juju ) Sulric Solirus
Location: Castellan

Spoiler: Images

"I'm going to leave you two. You won't die on me right?" Ara stuck her tongue out at her brothers jokingly.

"You forgot who I am?!"

"Heeeeey! You better not get hurt on that expedition of yours! Bring me back some spring buns!"

"Sure." She smiled to her brothers. She doesn't know what she'd do without these two goofballs.

Time had passed since they left Hitori to Synthia. Word around that he had successfully defeated her. They did notice a massive blue beam sore to the skies. These summoned truly were some monstrosities. The knights helped what they could with the war in search of their commander that disappeared. Worried for the whereabouts of Sulric that left Hodir and the others to fight against the Mollug Commander. The massive explosion that came from the castle gave them a bad feeling. Pushing back the enemy Ara left her two brothers to the frontlines rushing to the castle. Buu and Korin both cut down any Mollugs or demons that came their way.

“Brother! It’s like a never ending horde!”

“I know, but until we’re done we cannot stop! For Nortestra! Hopefully the Royals are well and no harm is done from there. Apparently there’s summoned attacking the castle as well.”

“Shouldn’t we be going to help?!”

“We haven’t come across any of the commanders as we pushed the frontlines. They must be defending the castle, or at least princess Athena. This war has been at its worst these past couple of months… I hope it ends soon and we can go back to living normal lives.”

“Yeah…”

Ara ran through the ruined blocks killing any Mollug that slipped past the frontlines. She was bolting to the castle, she had some ways to go. Running through an alleyway to another street she slid turning the corner. Continuing her stride she looked around noticing the many empty buildings once filled. Fire and explosions going on all around. She continued forward.

After some time she was close enough to see the coelacanth. It was still raging on sending off multiple explosions. Some bolts of lightning even almost hit her, if she didn’t have fast reflexes she’d be done for. Noticing some knights that were injured Ara tackled them all helping them escape their fate from a fierce strike of lightning.

“Thank you Ara!”

“You saved our asses.”

“Of course, you guys need to get to cover. Rest up. Not many Mollug are over here thankfully. I’m going to keep heading to the castle.”

“I’ve heard it’s crumbling… is Nortestra really going to fall today..?”

“I’ve met summoned who are willing to help us. I believe in Master Sulric’s words that they will help us end this tireless battle. Keep the burning pride of the Nortestrans in your heart. Never forget or doubt your country and just watch how the tides will change. I’m going to make sure everyone in the palace is okay and got out of the conflict.”

“You’re right… I started to feel sick seeing just how much carnage is going on! We will continue to fight!”

“Be careful Ara.”

“We’re counting on you!”

“Find a place to tend your wounds first. Then try and regroup with the others. Tell them they have direct orders from me to release everything we have on that.” She pointed towards the coelacanth. “We’re going to have to deal with that beast in the sky. Hopefully I will find commanders to help us in our attack. As long as that beast flies peacefully it’ll just continue to swallow us up. Now go before mollugs reach this area.” The knights nodded and helped each other walk off to a safer location. Ara looked towards the road ahead of her continuing her stride to the palace. Soon after she mentioned this she noticed the beast was falling out of the sky, by some explosives that hit it directly. Good one less thing to worry about.

She passed Ian on her way and slid a bit into a halt. She smiled bright as Ian stopped as well. The two walked up to each other.

“Where are you headed lieutenant?”

“Sir! I’m currently headed to the palace. What’s going on exactly?”

“It seems Aldreg had double crossed us. My assumptions were true he’s even gotten ahold of my Shinka Obū.. I don’t know what he plans from here, but I intend to stop him here. The king is no longer.. and I’m sorry to say this.” Ian placed his hand on Ara’s shoulder seeing she was already shaken up by the heavy information. She had worry in her face and he knew why. Aren and Ara were a known couple within the army, they planned on even getting married. Ian took a deep breath. “Aren is dead.”

Ara’s whole world stopped. She couldn’t fight the tears no longer. The woman dropped to her knees balling out crying.

“Y..y..you’re l..l..lying… n..not Ar-“. She covered her mouth as the tears rushed down her face. She couldn’t hold it anymore, the screams of agony and hopelessness. “AREN!!!!! WHY ALDREG!!! WHY?! WE TRUSTED YOU!!!”

Ian crouched down, holding her in his arms allowing her to use his shoulder to scream into. “I know.. It’s a hard pill to swallow. We have to accept fate. We’ll make Aldreg answer for his crime.”

A while of crying Ara was sniffing slowly standing up with Ian’s help wiping her eyes with her forearm. Ian helped her wipe her face off. She had patches of dirt on her face, dried up blood, and scratches all over. The tears still came down from her eyes. Her true love was dead. “I’m… still going to go.. I have to make sure everyone else is okay..”

“Be careful. If anything try to regroup with Greymourne. The princess’s whereabouts are unknown as of now. I just pray brother beast and forsith ended up finding her.”

“It’s really gotten bad huh.. Okay! Once I leave the palace I’ll head to Greymourne.”

“She’s at the shopping district. Some knights mentioned she was with summoned. My troops are currently heading towards her.”

“There’s so many different summoned I’m starting to fear if we can trust any of them. I trust Hitori though! He saved me and my brothers twice.”

“Hitori? I’ve heard that name before. I believe Susan had mentioned him once. The fire magic user?”

“Yes! He’s like Kotori and those who came to the celebration!”

“I see. I hope I get to meet him. Now go on. We mustn’t waste more time.”

“Right!” The two ran off seperate directions heading to their desired destination. The closer Ara got she had to jump over the magma that coursed through the streets. She jumped over the streaks of molten liquid traversing towards the palace still in full stride killing any Mollug in the way.

“Your body is mine now! From here on you shall follow the lead of the almighty demon king Azul! HAHAHAHA!!!”

“Get out of my body!!”

“It’s already too late, you’re too weak! Physically and mentally!!!”

All Ara thought about was to get revenge on Aldreg. He was the cause of this, the reason the palace crumbled. The reason her lover had perished. Finally reaching past the main gates pushing up the long stairs that led up to the palace. Ara’s eyes opened wide witnessing the crumbling palace, what she had heard was true. She noticed demons were all over and she killed any in the area. Swinging her spear fast. Noticing there were still people evacuating the palace she helped clear their pathway, the knights and maids thanked her, leaving the palace to a safer location.

She asked them any sign of Aldreg and they mentioned he was last seen at the courtyard. She rushed straight there killing the demon infested building, in her ninetails form using foxfire to blow them away. Busting the wooden gated doors she rolled into the courtyard seeing the massive crater the explosion had created. There was Aren laying on the ground lifeless in his pool of blood. Ara slid to Aren’s side dropping her spear holding her boyfriend in her arms. She held him close crying again calling his name in hopes for him to respond. “Aren….” She said silently, placing her hand on his cheek. Wishing she could give him one last kiss. “Please…”

Aren coughed up blood slowly gaining consciousness, opening his eyes slowly. One eye was black while the other was normal. “Ara.. Get... away.. from…”

“Aren! Don’t speak! You’ll only speed the process! I can heal you!”

“Aldreg… Kill.. Demon… King.. Azul….” Aren’s eyes glowed a bright red as his skin started blackening. Screaming in pain he held his head squirming around as if his body was being possessed. It was.

Ara dropped Aren backing up a bit covering her mouth from the horrific sight. “W..what’s going on… Aren fight it!!”

“I CAN’T!!! RUN!!!” A powerful bright aura surrounded Aren’s body blinding Ara. The light faded and Aren was shown standing up looking at her with his right eye shedding tears. He held his hand out to her. Ara ran to grab Aren’s hand as he quickly used this to unsheathe his blade going to slash Ara. Her senses kicked in and she jumped over Aren in time.

“Aren?!”

Once Aren turned around his entire look changed. He had horns now, long silver hair, darkened skin, and eyes. “Aren no longer has control over this body. I am the shadow demon. Ran.”

“Give my boyfriend’s body back you freak!”

“You’ll have to kill me. Which will kill him as well. Aldreg chose me the best host, I can’t imagine this soft hearted idiot had so much potential.”

Ara slid under Ran and jetted to her spear. Rolling to grab it and turning around to go for a strike to Ran’s chest. Ran turned into a shadow before the spear could connect and kicked Ara in the face into the fountain. “All Hail King Azul!!!!” Multiple shadow demons emerged from the building surrounding the courtyard. Ara struggled to her feet noticing she was cornered.

“Demon King Azul?”

“The King of the Doom Dimension! Our home! Soon to be King of this world.” Ran had his arms raised high, eyes closed and smiling to the clouded sky. Ran swiped his right hand down as the demons rushed towards Ara.

Holding her spear close she expected to fight till she couldn’t no longer. Fighting the horde she was getting cuts and bites all over her, yet still holding her own. Through the crowd she notices Ran fading into a shadow, assuming he left the area for her to die. Her vision got blurry as she was losing too much blood, but still putting up a fight. A larger shadow demon went to finish her off by slamming her with its fist, but was bounced off by a barrier. In a moment's notice demons around her were being blown away and some annihilated by multiple beams. Looking over it was faces she hasn’t seen before that came to her rescue. She smiled, falling over unconscious.

Kinji landed in the courtyard killing demons left and right with swift speed and strength. Cutting through them as if they were thin papers, killing anything that even tried to come for him. "Thunder Valley Secret Arts, Zocon Thunder!" Thunder came crashing down killing multiple demons at once, the spell was casted from Choji who stood in a window over the courtyard. Lia landed next to Ara holding her in her arms checking the woman’s pulse.

“She’s good! Just unconscious from blood lost.” Lia said with a smile pushing her glasses up. Lia looked over to Choji who landed near her helping annihilate demons with powerful thunder spells. She then turned her attention back to Ara hoping the girl was okay. It's been so long since she seen the three magic knights. Seeing them separated from Sulric meant things were as bad as Kinji thought.

“Good.” Kinji looked around the palace that surrounded them and let out a soft sigh having a flash back of the once beauty it was. The three had helped any survivors from the demons attacks escape. “What the hell happened. Why did you have to use that spell…” Kinji said remarking the king self -destructing. He grabbed a flower from his coat placing it on the ground in respect for the king. “I tried to warn you fools. About him.”

Kinji looked around the courtyard. “So that demon got away.” Kinji said sheathing his blade, releasing his markings. He turned to look at the three that accompanied him. “Lets go looking for it, before it gets too far. Choji can you heal Ara before things get too bad for her? At least bring her back to her feet. Shit got pretty messed up considering the princess and the king are now dead. That idiot Hitori better still be alive by the end of this. Didn’t have us train him for no reason.”

"Of course!" Choji scratched the bottom of his chin looking up. “I did pick up on Mr. Kage’s mana source on our way here. He’s doing just fine. I’m sure we’ll be able to regroup with him once this is over.” Lia placed Ara on the ground letting Choji take care of the rest. He held both hands out in front of the woman, they started to glow a bright green light. A mana cocoon encased over Ara, and her wounds were rapidly healing. Ara was starting to regain her counciousness looking towards Choji and the others. Her eyes opened wide realizing who had came to save her.

"K...K...Kinji...!"

"Shh. Let Choji finish healing you first before you start yappin." At the end of Kinji's sword was a ring attached, he stuck his finger in the middle and started spinning his sword rapidly. "I'm sorry for you're lover turning into a helpless demon. This is for sure the cause of Aldreg's doing. I plan to stop him before he gets away from here."

"Don't you think we should start searching for him?"

"Why? When I already know where to look." Kinji smirked, spinning the sword faster. Lia noticed in Kinji's eyes he was determined, this was the exact reason she follows after his lead. A prideful knight, although saying he hates Nortestra still fights for his country even at the very end. His views can sometimes be worked on, but for the most part Kinji was a good guy. Even taking in and trusting one of the summoned so easily, he makes the best decisions even in the heat of things.

"There you go! All better now." Choji held his hands together in front of him smiling at Ara. "It's been so long since I've seen you. You sure improved Ms. Altir."

"Thank you Choji." She jumped up hugging the giant man. She missed this group, she didn't believe they should've got exiled for something they didn't cause. She knew something was more to it then them just wanting to turn on the country. "You guys returned!!!" She had tears running down her face, stuffing her face into Choji's chest.

"You thought we wouldn't? We're not too far from here you know. Oi, what was that demon telling you earlier?"

"He was talking about a King of something called the doom realm. Demon King Azul. Aren mentioned it as well before losing himself from that monster."

"Hmmm...."

"We'd best be heading out now. No ones here and the demons are all cleared out."

"I believe so as well."

"You two go and help any of our friends that need help. I'm going to Aldreg alone."

"It'll be dangerous! He killed the king!"

"You must've forgot the only reason that old fool was killed by someone like Aldreg, was because was starting to grow ill. Also lost an arm somehow." Kinji made a stupid irritated face.

"You think... You can stop him!? If so! Please Kinji!!! AVENGE THE KING AND AREN!!"

Kinji smirked hearing Ara's cry out as he flashed stepped out of the area.

"We best get going also."

"Yes."

"You two mind accompayning me to Lady Greymourne?"

"Of course not let's go."

"Shopping District I heard she was last seen!" With that the three ran off.
Outcasters second squad

=Second Squad, Outcasters aid the war=
Hiyori, Jugo, & Yaha

Spoiler: Second Squad

Hiyori killed any Mollug and demon that ran through the streets of Castellan. Jugo and Yaha both were at her side and they were in complete sync. The three pushed onwards looking for their seventh member. Somewhere in this barren wasteland you can find the boy. Most likely were the most commotion was going on.

"Any clue who the idiot was screaming hella loud?"

"Nah. I'm sure it was very refreshing for the knights though."

"Hell nah! That shit was LAME!"

"We should push forward."

"HEY I'M THE LEADER OF THIS SQUAD YOU LISTEN TO ME!"

"Of course."

"Oh shut up Hiyori before I cut you up."

"Hmph! Let's go!"

 

[Snackofthefuture]

-Brother Beast, Forsith, Sakujo-​

The battle raged, reaching a crescendo in its final hours as the blood beasts of Ellanora the Mollug general sprung forth in ambush against the Nortestran defenders. Forsith, Brother Beast and Sakujo were each key players at this point within the last moments of this battle, fighting hard against the Mollug forces. Forsith swung each arm with each cleaver, methodically and powerfully, no strike wasted as he cut through blood beast after blood beast.

Forsith had left Enzio defended nearby with the Mollug turncoat Durgath and several Nortestran soldiers. The winged redhead slept peacefully within the coffin of healing that encircled him. Forsith himself was closer to the docks of Castellan, where most of the Nortestran civilian populace had gathered. The four-armed general batted away several bloodbeasts from some injured soldiers. He cleaved one in half with his blade, and then another was struck through the abdomen, black and green blood pouring down the golden cleavers the Nortestran general wielded. He stomped his foot into the ground as more bloodbeasts raced towards him from the backline. Even the civilians were fighting now, fighting for their lives and families as the bloodbeasts ripped through them like Paper mache. Forsith snorted, a burst of blue flame erupting from his nostrils as he swung his blade over his head at the enemy.

After dismantline the bloodbeasts with methodical precision, the Nortestran general turned to find a man walking towards him, other blood beasts staying away or outright helping the fellow. Forsith was perturbed and could tell this was a Mollug national; Or at least a Mollug sympathizer. The sympathizer proved Forsith’s reasoning correct and suddenly threw several daggers at the half-giant. Forsith rolled out of the way of the blade aimed at his thigh just barely. The second dagger stabbed right into Forsith’s underarm. The red giant howled and ripped the blade from the wound moments after it had entered. He could already feel the poison circulating and ripping through his bloodstream. Having multiple arms, Forsith was doubly affected by the joint pain and the man with his golden cowl nearly groaned aloud at the pain.

Forsith brought all of his blades to bear, all four pointing into the sky with golden gleams and light. He went into the motion of charging at Salish, but instead a fireball burst appeared before Forsith’s face. It then launched itself directly at Salish. Forsith chuckled and roared before following the fireball into the fray. Forsith roared as he charged at Salish, batting aside Blood beast after blood beast, each of which tried to slow down the half-giant with their body. It was ineffective and in moments Forsith was right in front of Salish, blades overhead, prepared to crash down into the Mollug warrior’s skull.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Brother Beast dealt with his own struggles. The Mollug general had been dictating orders to fellow turncoats when the sky suddenly darkened. Roaring and hissing could be heard in the distance and very quickly Brother Beast and his men found themselves fighting for their lives. They fought moving in the direction of the Nortestran defence, desperately trying to find a foothold they could maintain. The blood beasts were everywhere however and the Coelacanth still blazed. Carnage filled all of Castellan and Brother Beast laughed to himself as he ripped off the head of a recently turned monster. Blood spouted from the headless corpse and it toppled over to have its place taken by yet another of Ellanora’s creatures. Brother Beast both despised and loved that woman. She was a vampire and a Mollug loyalist; He hated that. But she was also a savage killer and refined woman; He loved that. But as of that moment Brother Beast could only feel rage boiling in his system.

He was to save Castellan, become a hero within its annals, and yet here was Ellanora, once again, trying to steal his thunder. He would not allow it. He would see her head on a pike for this. The wall had separated the Nortestran and the Mollugs, but not the turncoats and the Mollugs. His men were split off from the Castellan defenders, which was not a good thing whatsoever. The Mollugs thankfully, were still in retreat, but things could change at any moment, and Ellanora’s arrival heralded worse things to come. Brother Beast punched his fist through the pulsating flesh of another blood beast and then ripped the arm from the still howling creature with a growl of pleasure. Blood spat in small geysers from the wound and the creature toppled over to trip up a third monster that had approached.

Brother Beast brought his foot down hard on this creature. Quite literally in fact, stomping its legs into disjointed stubs and then stomping the creature’s head into a puppy mess. Brother Beast watched as his soldiers fought, then turning his head to face the sky, enjoying the unbridled chaos of the war for a second. He then turned his head to face the open battlefield, noting the conflict that had just erupted between Rook and Ellanora. The battle was flashy and Rook was an important figure already, so Brother Beast wouldn't have had a hard time finding them. Choosing who to back was important here however, as both Rook and Ellanora were most likely high priority enemies of Nortestra. Rook had just slain the de facto queen of Nortestra but Ellanora was trying to kill them all. Brother Beast decided he’d hold off on attacking Rook but he wouldn't aid the massive fellow. The summoned and the Mollug loyalist could tear each other apart for all Brother Beast cared. He just wanted some influence on the outcome of the fight.

Brother Beast cackled for a moment and then raised a fist, several pack members turning to face him at the movement. The others continued to fight harshly against the enemy. Brother Beast brought the fist down and suddenly he was racing forward towards the battle between Ellanora and Rook, his men right behind him. The Pack and Brother Beast raced across the battlefield, leaping in extraordinary acrobatic feats and sprinting through the carnage with ease. Soon they were near to where the two fought and Brother Beast was smiling underneath his mask. He told his men to fan out and surround the area while he rushed onto the theatre of battle. Brother Beast slid to a stop not far from where Rook and Ellanora dueled. The masked man then waited patiently for the two to kill each other.

Sakujo swung his blade in an overhead arc and decapitated an orc barbarian who had gotten too close. The headless body crumpled to the ground. The minimal armor had not helped the orc’s agility, he was now dead in fact. Sakujo planted the flag he held into the ground and waved men onwards towards the fleeing Mollugs. Sakujo was smiling now, a bloody and crazed smile, that of a warlord in the midst of his favorite pastime. He sheathed his katana and drew his pistol, firing several shots dramatically into the distance and the fleeing horde. The samurai knew he had to hold his position for at least a little longer or his performance would have minimal effect. Thankfully the orc had offered himself up to Sakujo and the samurai had taken him with no hesitation. The slain warrior now legitimized Sakujo as a real fighter for Nortestra in the eyes of the army. For Sakujo, things were going quite well. That was, until Ellanora got involved. And suddenly the clouds darkened, a wall came up between both sides and a horrendous screeching sound could be heard coming from all directions. Sakujo groaned inwardly wondering “What now?” before finding his question answered with a veritable flood of horrendous screeching creatures. The exploding zombies had been bad enough but now horrifying bat-like abominations were appearing throughout the city.

Sakujo waved his blade onward and using his enhanced voice, shouted once again. “Fire magic and earth magic against that wall now, get over it, through it, under it, i don't care, just don't let those bastards escape!”

Moments later as Sakujo breathed in some air from the shouting, an enormous chakram came flying out of the distance towards the samurai. Sakujo’s eyes widened and he caught the chakram before its blade lodged itself in his gut. The chain had wrapped around Sakujo’s belly and had almost wrapped itself several times around the samurai had he not caught it. Before the lady could do anything with the strangely sticky chakrams, Sakujo began blasting at her repeatedly with his pistol. Then after launching a small magazine’s worth of ammunition at her, Sakujo entered the fight with vigor. He raced down the pile of rubble as Mune cleaved through soldier after soldier to reach the samurai. Then before Sakujo reached even ground, he leapt from the rubble pile, his enhanced strength carrying him to Mune. Drawing his katana Sakujo brought the blade down in a vertical slash aimed directly at Mune’s forehead.

Both blades connected and Sakujo immediately rolled backwards after realizing his attack had not cut flesh. Rolling to his feet, the future samurai brought two fingers up to his lips in the classic “Noh” symbol of Shogun and then placed his katana blade tip against the two fingers. Sakujo narrowed his eyes and spread his footing as he prepared to face Mune. He was pondering his next move as she pondered hers. They were new combatants to one another and both sought to gauge the other.

Juju GrieveWriter Gohan510 @ anyone still on the battlefield

 

[Gohan510]

= K.A.I =
Involved: Kinji, Aldreg, & Ian
Where: Castellan, South east of the Castle
When: Now
​

Aldreg was nearing the research and development building, one of the few buildings that stayed intact during this wartime. Aldreg cut down multiple knights and mages that attempted to attack him.

“Stop there Aldreg!!! For Nortestra you will die!” A knight shouted alone. His allies were killed around himself and Aldreg. Aldreg went for a slash at the knight, but Ian blocked it with his sword over his shoulder. The knight fell on his butt crying in joy that Ian came to his rescue.

“That’s enough killing for you. Aldreg!!!” Ian jumped back from Aldreg with glare in his eyes. Aldreg looked towards Ian with his same grim smirk. “Why now of all times you chose to rebel!? Have my teachings taught you nothing?! You’ve killed the king and ruined the palace!!”

“You’re teachings taught me more than I can ask for. Truthfully thankful for your sharing of wisdom. All bridges have a beginning and an end. Ours is now reaching its end.”

“One shall stand.”

“One shall fall.”

“In the end you're nothing but a similar bloodthirsty fool like Mollug. You’re more of them then a nortestra loyal knight!”

“Your words mean nothing if you do not back them up.” Ian gripped his hilt and dashed towards Aldreg swinging it to Aldreg’s head. Aldreg blocked Ian’s strike casually. Ian was on the offensive constantly swinging his sword at Aldreg from different angles. Aldreg casually blocked all of them without any sign of pressure. Continuing to clash blades both sides were looking for an opening by any means in the other to falter. Ian went for a slash at Aldreg’s head and missed Aldreg ducking. Using this as an opportunity to stab Ian right in the gut, it was a success. Ian’s decoy then grew in size and detonated on Aldreg. Stunning Aldreg in place. Ian slowly falling in front of Aldreg was charging up a spell.

“Dark Elixir!” A spiral of dark magic purged it’s way towards Aldreg. The orb in Aldreg’s coat shined bright as the attack connected with its target. As the smoke cleared Aldreg flung towards Ian going for a fierce swing. Once the blades clashed a fierce wind emerged. Aldreg grabbed Ian by the neck and tossed him away. Flash stepped after Ian Aldreg went for multiple sword strikes, but Ian barely blocked the attacks.

They clashed blades once more, Ian used his free hand and put it in a flicking motion. Aldreg’s head jolted back from the air pressure sending him flying back. “Dark Aujusit Black chain!” A black chain bolted from Ian’s left hand wrapping around Aldreg’s ankle mid flight. Bringing the chain to him Aldreg was being flung through the air. Going to cut up Aldreg, his attacks were reflected and the chain broke.

“Pulsar!” Aldreg pointed two fingers while slowly falling, firing off a massive beam up close on Ian. Aldreg landed on his side before getting back up noticing Ian had flashed stepped onto a roof. His left arm was burned from the beam.

Spoiler: Flashback

“Hey give me that apple back you squirt you gotta pay me you know!”

“Cya later loser!” Aldreg ran off with the apple taking a few bites into it. Aldreg bumped into someone falling on his butt and dropped the apple on the floor. Rubbing the top of his head confused. Looking up the young Aldreg noticed it was a taller man who looked not too much older then Aldreg was. The man had armor on showing that he was one of Nortestra’s knights. Though not knowing ranks Aldreg couldn’t tell what rank the man was. Perhaps he was an officer?

“Let me help you out a bit.” Ian walked over to the merchant tossing his coin at the man to catch. Ian turned over to Aldreg patting the kids head. “The name is Ian. You?”

“A..Aldreg… You didn’t have to help me!” Aldreg ran off into an alleyway away from Ian. Ian watched the boy leave and scratched the top of his head as if he was trying to figure out what he did wrong. As Aldreg ran off through the streets of Castellan he turned around to make sure Ian wasn’t chasing him, until he realized he wasn’t moving anymore no matter how hard he kicked his feet. Looking up he noticed Ian carrying him by the back of his shirt.

“PUT ME DOWN!”

“I just wanted to speak with you. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

“What can you possibly want with me?”

“Your name has been etching it’s way through the streets of Castellan. It’d be hard not to know such a smart kid like yourself. You created that pole weapon that uses the weather to channel its power right?”

“The gatchi gatchi pole…”

“Can I see it?”

After this Aldreg took Ian to his secret hideout within Castellan. It was an abandoned basement, within the hideout was a few strangler kids. Out of the group of kids was Torren, a young ebony skinned blind kid. Ian grew fond of the kids and bonded with all of them offering them a feast. The group had a massive party dancing and eating their hearts away. Ian spent a couple of months with the kids during his off time as a commander showing them the ropes of Nortestra’s country and military. Also teaching the kids everything they needed to know in forms of knowledge. As they got older Ian even went as far to conduct new devices with them that will soon help Nortestra’s everyday life. Ian and Aldreg formed a bond beyond close friends some would say Ian was Aldreg’s older brother perhaps.

Aldreg flashed stepped after Ian as they clashed blades all around the area moving at a fast pace. Aldreg came out of a flash step grabbing Ian’s blade with his left hand and swinging his upward on Ian’s torso. "Gatchi Gatchi pole" Ian said falling backwards, blood splattering all over.

Spoiler: Flashback

“Look Ian, they promoted me to research and development commander! I made it all thanks to you!! Hahaha!”

“CONGRATULATIONS! You’re no longer my predecessor, you are your own commander now. Lets party!”

The entire research and development department plus others outside of the department partied hard all night and everyone passed out drunk the next morning from the hard partying. Ian placed a blanket over the smiling and asleep Aldreg.

Aldreg kicked Ian off of the building onto the ground and smirked watching him lay there lifelessly. Aldreg raised his index finger up, mana started to pour up into the sky creating a massive magic circle. Thunder started crackling through the circle, he swiped his finger down on Ian, as a thunder dog’s head emerged from the circle. In an instant a crash of mighty thunder clapped down on Ian’s position creating a massive explosion and mass destruction. Aldreg smirked as the dust clouds cleared up.

“So you are still alive.”

Helping the weakened Ian up back to his feet, Kinji smirked looking at Aldreg who’s back was turned to him. Grabbing onto the hilt of his sword Kinji was ready for Aldreg to make the wrong move.

“It’s been some time now hasn’t it? Ian just cover my ass and we can beat this asshole.”

“Sure.”

“You two against me might be what is needed to defeat me. Let’s see if your plan will work rather than end with both of your lives in my hands.”

“We’ll make it work at least!” Kinji dashed towards Aldreg grabbing the hilt of his sword with both hands going in for a swing at Aldreg’s head. Aldreg blocked it with his blade and engaged in a full sword fight with Kinji. Both showing fierce strength and speed hardly even showing the other a sign of weaknesses. The two clashed blades and got in one anothers face, both smirking. “Don’t even think I’m going to die on you that easily!”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

“Using only one hand sword style is quite confident of you don’t you think?”

“It’s all I need for the likes of you.”

Aldreg held his free finger on Kinji’s right side chest and fired a beam through it. Kinji’s eyes opened wide and coughed up blood. Ian came from behind launching down a swing on Aldreg’s back. Aldreg turned and blocked it fast enough, but it made him slide back a bit. Turning around again to go for a swift cut for Kinji’s neck he missed once Kinji flash stepped away. Aldreg, Ian, and Kinji engaged in a fierce flash stepping battle clashing blades all around. Aldreg landed on a broken pillar crouching looking as the other two were below him. He stood up tall staring at the duo that opposed him.

“Us three were tied by fate, many years ago. I think today will be the day I end that unnecessary burden of leaving you alive.”

 

[Gohan510]

= K.A.I pt.2 =
Involved: Kinji, Aldreg, Ian, & Ran
Where: Castellan
​

As the three readied themselves, each of them were prepared for the worst to come. Aldreg took the leap towards the two clashing blades with Kinji and Ian. His sword was in the middle so he swung them in a circular motion spinning their blades in the air. Kinji jumped up to catch his as Aldreg went to attack Ian. Kinji in the nick of time saved Ian’s life, he had the demon markings activated and blew Aldreg away. Kinji followed Aldreg and they engaged in a fierce sword fight. Ian grabbed his sword and sheathed it placing both hands in front of him preparing a spell.

Aldreg and Kinji were nearly equally matched, clashing blades constantly, now flash stepping around. Ian watched the two hoping to find an opening between the fray. Kinji slid back from Aldreg, but prepared to block Aldreg’s next attack, clashing blades. Kinji was being pushed back through the streets sliding across them while holding his block from Aldreg. Kinji deflected Aldreg’s attack sending him back and rushed after him preparing to cut the man down. As he was about to connect the slash his blade was blocked with another. It was a demon that Kinji never seen before, but could tell due to the immense evil aura the man gave off.

Ran pushed Kinji back and sheathed his blade turning to Aldreg. “We don’t have much time to play with these two. Aldreg.”

“And who are you to demand me?”

“Azul wishes to speak with us.” Aldreg didn’t even respond to the demon before sheathing his blade and turning to Ian who was confused on what was going on.

“Don’t think I will let you escape so easily Aldreg!!!!” Ian ran at the two ready to cut Aldreg down. Roars echoed through the blocks as shadow demons started to emerge from dark places in the streets. Kinji looked around and smirked, he already knew.

“I see. So this Azul has you on a string Aldreg.”

“An acquaintance.”

“Tell me this then. Why now did you decide to revolt? Why did you have to take the life of the king? It’s bad enough for Nortestra to even be on the burning side.”

“When did matters with royals interest you? Last I checked you and the royals had bad history. I’m doing this on my own accord and agenda. Now I must go. My new home is awaiting my arrival.”

“New home!?”

“Don’t worry I’ll be coming back to Nortestra. I’ll be looking for the Ragnial.”

“What business do you have with it!? It’s just an ancient artifact! No one knows if it's actually real!”

“It’ll give me the power to get rid of SIN. Along with these orbs me and Ian created. I’ll be a being not even the gods can contest.”

"Tch!"

“You’re a mad man!”

“Until my plan is completed, continue to think that.”

“If that’s the case you and this demon needa die RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!” Kinji and Ian both dashed towards Aldreg preparing to cut down him and the demon beside him. Aldreg drew his blade holding it high in the sky as a light shone bright blinding Kinji and Ian. When the light ended Kinji noticed Aldreg still standing there. Ian noticed the same thing as Kinji and decided to rush towards Aldreg. The two both swung, but in their own vision it was a one on one against Aldreg. The two fought their version of Aldreg hard trying to best him as much as they can, ignoring the fact the demon or the shadow demons, or even themselves, were no longer in the area with their opponent.

Aldreg finally shown a opening for the two and they took the chance to pierce the man with their blades through his stomach. They both coughed up blood as they realized now that they had stabbed each other, the illusion had faded.

“W..w..What…”

Ian coughed up blood as the two removed their blades from each other and Ian fell over laying there weakened.

“So… he… got…”

“Shut the hell up before you bleed out!” Kinji ran and held Ian up by the head noticing the demons were starting to close in on them. “ALDREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Aldreg and Ran entered the development building and killed anyone who opposed them. Many staff members escaped fearing for their lives. As they reached Aldreg’s secret office beneath the building Aldreg took a small bomb out of his coat and tossed it on the floor as the rope attached burned Aldreg smirked. Toren and Gin cut themselves activating the portal to another location with grey sand and a white material castle on the other side. Aldreg and his group walked within the portal and it closed behind them as the entire office blew up on que. It left a massive hole in the floor of the building and caved in destroying the entire bunker beneath.

 

[YsFanatic]

Spoiler: Collab Information

Written by Juju and myself. Involves Greymourne, Yunica, and Kana

Even at the slow, for the Assault Armor, pace that she was moving, Yunica soon returned to where she had first attacked Tobias. Her sensors easily picked out where someone was huddled over the form of another person in the shadow of a nearby building, or at least the ruins of one. Glancing over that way, the Armor's optical sensors were able to compensate for the reduced light levels from the clouds above and shadows from the building to allow the clone to easily see that the fallen figure was that of the knight captain, Greymourne. The other woman appeared to be trying to administer first aid, bandaging wounds and applying pressure to slow the bleeding. However, if the readings from her sensors were any indication, then the knight's prognosis wasn't great. But she wasn't dead yet, and with an outstretched arm and with a whispered word the magic spell of Medice set to work at repairing the worst of the injuries.

So desperate was her struggle to save the knight's life with what medical knowledge she had that Kana initially missed the arrival of the large metal thing, possibly some kind of golem. That changed when the healing magic washed over Greymourne, causing the goddess to jerk back in momentarily surprise before glancing up at the large metal figure standing near them, its free hand slowly falling back to its side before the other sheathed the sword it carried. Deciding that the thing wasn't a threat, Kana returned her attention to the other woman, quickly checking the various injuries she had been trying to treat. Much to her surprise the worst of the wounds were gone, or at least healed enough where they no longer threatened Greymourne's life. She would likely need additional care later, but for now at least it would be safe to move the knight to a better location.

Greymourne awoke with a start, flinching from a strike she only faintly remembered. Her eyes darted between Kana and Yunica until her memories began to catch up. With a grunt she tried to sit up, but found only a sharp pain in her neck and a stinging feeling of needles covering everything from the waist down. She tried to move her legs, but they felt like they were made of lead and refused to move. Gritting her teeth, Greymourne decided to focus on something more important. "Where did that summoned go? Did the princess get away safely?"

She frowned, looking at the carnage that had become of the street. It smelt strongly of iron and burnt flesh. "And you!" she growled, staring at Kana, "Did you get the traitorous gravity mage? Tobias... or whatever he called himself?"

It was at this moment that Greymourne realized she was being healed. She blinked, brows creasing in a confused sort of shock, but she did not comment on it. Her head felt like a miniature giant was trying to break loose, but now that she thought about it, the pain was subsiding at a steady rate. Still, thanks would have to wait. At least, that is what she told herself.

As Greymourne returned to consciousness, Yunica's Armor turned its head to the side as she focused on the sensor readings she was getting off in the distance. The murderer's gravity readings were going wild, but she couldn't see any signs of him lifting anything into the air again so the clone had no idea what was going on over there.

"I have no idea where they ended up," Kana replies as she continues checking Greymourne's wounds. "There were others with the princess so she should be safe and the giant over there had gone after this... Tobias."

After a moment Yunica realized with a start that 'giant' was likely referring to her. From the very start of her response, the exhaustion the clone was feeling was rather obvious. "I... yes. I went after the murderer... but there was another protecting him." There is a moment of silence before the Armor points in the direction where the readings from Tobias were. "He... he's over there. But these readings.... is he... is he dying?" Somehow the thought that the gravity man could be dying right this second didn't bring Yunica any solace or peace, instead she felt even more worn out than before.

Greymourne glanced in the direction Yunica pointed towards and quirked a brow. "Weren't you trying to kill him earlier? If you didn't kill him I'd reckon one of the other bloodthirsty summoned got him. Hmph, and good riddance. That traitorous dog should be grouped in with the Mollug beasts."

Something about how the knight so casually reacted to the possible death of someone else bothered Yunica, nevermind the fact that the murderer was the person in question. She tried to push it aside like so many other things since this battle started, but it wouldn't go away. Instead she found the scenes that had bothered her from before replaying in her mind, the buried emotions getting ever closer to erupting out of control. It wasn't long before the clone's breathing quickened, her breaths coming in short gasps as her eyes widened and she found herself feeling trapped by the confines of the Assault Armor's cockpit.

To the eyes of the other two women, the giant Armor abruptly froze in place before falling onto its hands and knees in their direction, its head scant few feet from their location. Armor plating on its belly slide apart before a feminine figure clothed in blue dress and casual slip-on shoes dropped the few feet to the ground, immediately collapsing as her one leg gave out on her. Yunica had not been prepared to the smell that awaited her, the stench immediately causing her to feel sick to her stomach as she propped herself up to dimly look around, fresh tears in her eyes.

At first Greymourne was surprised when a young girl was spat out of the armor's gullet, yet as with every world-changing event she had witnessed in the past hours, she just pretended it was normal and moved on. She knew there was a person in the armor, and a female one judging by the voice, yet somehow she didn't expect someone so... young. She practically looked little more than a child, and with that sort of innocent brightness that plagued Enzio.

"Gods damn it..." Greymourne said, hissing in pain when she tried to raise a hand to cover her face. Not another child. Still, she couldn't help but see a piece of herself in the blue-haired girl. "It's your first battle isn't it... not nearly as glorious as the stories, eh?" The knight's eyes softened for a moment and she sighed, "Well, I'm not one to sugarcoat things. It doesn't get any better, kid. You can cry all you'd like but tears don't change anything. You did what you thought was right, and most times that means blood on your hands. More than you ever plan. At times like these you must remember why you fight. Never lose sight of it, or else you will lose yourself."

Having thought the large metal figure to be some kind of golem, Kana was completely caught by surprise when a person came out of it, even more so when she realized that she couldn't sense anything from the young woman. Normally the goddess could faintly sense the souls of people she was interacting with, but from this woman didn't seem to have one, the realization sending a shiver down her spine. It reminded her of when one of the other gods had experimented with using artificial bodies as soulless, almost mindless soldiers during a war against a god that had been closely aligned with death. The strategy had been quickly abandoned when it was discovered that without souls the bodies were incredibly easy for ghosts and the like to possess, causing the army to turn upon itself and collapse in a single battle.

Unlike those bodies, this blue haired woman seemed to have full intellectual abilities and emotions, enough to convey an innocence Kana did not often see outside of the young and idealistic. This gave rise to a desire to comfort and protect the poor woman. Quickly finishing her examination of Greymourne's injuries, the goddess began walking over to Yunica, pausing for a moment when the Armor's armored gut sealed itself shut again at the tail end of Greymourne's advice.

Watching the young woman emerge from the giant suit of armor caused him to silently thank the gods. He had been assigned to kill either one of the Nortestran generals, or any Summoned that he deemed a threat to Mollug, a worthy task for the last of his bloodline. He had seen several Summoned during his silent trek through the ruins of Castellan, but most he could not either keep up with or were clearly too powerful for him to deal with. The giant armor though presented an interesting target however, powerful but clearly inexperienced. The fact that it was actually a person controlling it, a person who foolishly had removed herself from the armor's safety, meant that he would be able to accomplish his mission.

The other two women were not worth his time. The knight wasn't high enough in rank to matter and the woman with the strange golem, possibly a Summoned, didn't seem to be all that powerful. Still, he didn't know what powers she might have, so he would need to strike before she reached his target. Especially since he could only strike once. The assassin took a breath before gathering the energy needed for a spell unique to his family, one that would use his very soul as fuel for its deadly effects. Once the mana was gathered, he shifted his position slightly for a better shot, trusting the invisibility enchantment on his clothing to keep him hidden for these last few crucial moments. He raised his right hand towards the blue-haired woman, all five fingers extended in her direction. Once the assassin was sure his aim was true he clenched his hand into a fist, triggering the release of the prepared spell, a bolt of black and purple erupting from his body towards the unsuspecting woman, but he would never knew the results of his attack as the very act of casting it consumed his soul and drained the life from his body.

As Kana resumed her walk to the blue-haired woman, she suddenly sensed some kind of foul magic from the side and she caught a glimpse of some kind of spell being released towards the armor-controlling Summoned. Reacting almost instantly a single blade of divine power appeared and shot out towards the source of the spell, impaling the lifeless body of the assassin even as the goddess sprinted forward and tackling the woman to the ground. As the two toppled to the ground she felt a searing pain in her side. After a moment she was able to roll off the other Summoned and onto her back despite the pain, but even without looking at her guardian that was now writhing on the ground she could tell that something was seriously wrong.

So caught up in her own emotions, Yunica barely heard Greymourne's words and was completely caught by surprise when she was tackled to the ground by the third woman. It took the clone a moment to recover after the other woman rolled off of her, but as she propped herself up Yunica saw a large mass of purple and black energy eating at the flank of the goddess. "NO!" she shrieks as she crawls over to the woman. "Why did you take the hit for me!?"

Greymourne's eyes widened as she watched the events unfold, cursing herself for being so sedentary when things mattered. The young girl with blue hair was taking it worse, of course, and was in hysterics. Another first, by the looks of it. While Greymourne could not move, she could still feel the connection to her metal gauntlets. One of them rose off the ground, shedding snow and bits of ash, and firmly, yet gently, held Yunica apart from Kana. "Careful, Mollug enchantments are unpredictable. The last thing you want to do is let her sacrifice go to waste by getting yourself infected."

While Yunica is initially moved away from the injured woman, she manages to slip free after a moment and stumble to Kana's side. The clone's wide eyes took in how the other woman grimaced as the horrific wound continued to grow in size and consume more of her body. Then she blurts out "I can heal you!" before she starts to attempt to stand up, the Armor's stomach plating opening up in response to her mental command.

However she is stopped when the goddess reaches up and grabs her arm. "I don't think that will work," Kana manages to get out, pain clearly heard in her voice. "I've seen this kind of magic on my world before, I can feel it eating at both my body and my power and I'm sure it'll just use healing magic as additional fuel. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can be saved."

The words of the goddess was like a gut punch for Yunica, the knowledge that her healing magic would only make things worse, dropping the clone to her knees, tears coming from her eyes.

Kana gave a hesitant smile despite the pain ravaging her body. "You can't help me, but I think I can help you. I can tell you lack a soul, that leaves you vulnerable, but if you accept me then I can protect you." As she spoke, the guardian slowly stopped moving and now was just laying on the ground.

What the other woman was saying didn’t make much sense to Yunica, but what she did understand was that the dying lady could somehow tell that the clone didn’t have a soul and that there was an implication it was possible for her to stick around and that was the only thing that mattered to Yunica at the moment. “Yes, fine! If it’ll keep you here then I accept!”

A small smile pulled at Kana’s lips at the answer before she was forced to focus everything she had left on the task at hand. She had never tried to separate her soul from her body before, but the goddess was pretty certain she could use a modified version of the process she had used to remove her divine power from her body.

Yunica was unaware of what the goddess was up to, all the clone knew that the other woman’s body abruptly seized up and she felt an odd sensation in her body, as if something that had been missing had finally returned. While it didn't feel bad in any sense, it was more than her exhausted mind and body could handle, blue eyes rolling back in her head before she collapsed. Above her the Armor's gut closed once again, and nearby the guardian of the goddess slowly broke down into divine energy that dispersed into the air.

Greymourne could only watch, speechless, as the events unfolded before her eyes. She had seen enough summoned in one day to last a lifetime, yet in that short time she had only seen them as agents of chaos, bloodshed, and selfish desires. She had been forced to helplessly watch as they slaughtered her friends and destroyed her only remaining home. Yet here before her was a summoned who had not only given up her life, but also her soul, for someone she barely knew. There was hatred in her heart for the summoned, and there always would be, but perhaps some of them were worthwhile.

One such summoned collapsed on the ground. Did that mean the spell had worked? Greymourne was not knowledgeable in the finer intricacies of magic -- which was ironic considering how well known her metal manipulation was. What she did know, however, was that there was now a dead goddess, a cripple, and an unconscious girl... and her giant armor.

"This day just keeps getting better and better." Greymourne groaned, leaning her head against the wall. Somewhere nearby she could hear the chittering screams of those disgusting Mollug creatures. "There is no way in the nine hells I am letting those things make us into a snack."

Greymourne tried to move her legs but was met with nothing but a sharp sting in her spine. She grit her teeth and glanced at her gauntlets, watching them rise from the ground. At least her magic still worked. She hesitated for a moment, before unravelling the metal and willing them to wrap around her useless legs. They fit snugly over them, like armor plating. "Well, at the very least it's extra protection..."

After a few attempts, Greymourne managed to stand on her own and walk around in relative discomfort. With a huff, she picked up the unconscious Yunica and slung her over her shoulder like a dead deer. There was no way she could move the armor, so she decided to leave it. All that remained was the corpse of Kana. She was a summoned, but a noble heart like that did not deserve to be consumed by monsters. Greymourne gave a long, drawn out sigh. The castle gardens were not far from here... but there would be demons and threats. It was impracticable, but Greymourne was nothing if not stubborn.

It took a great deal of effort, but Greymourne managed to get them all to the gardens. There were a few demons running around, but they were swiftly dealt with by Kana's longsword. It felt odd to wield it with her power, and even worse to take it from it's owner. In the end it was left as the marker for the makeshift grave, just under the roots of a plum tree. It was one of the few plants that survived the castle's explosion, and the way the petals fell made it almost look like a real funeral, not like the mass graves used in the war. She shifted the metal on the sword into runes, so that the name could be left to see. 'Here lies the Summoned Kana. A hero who gave her everything to save those with nothing.'

It was simple, and honestly too mushy for her taste, but it sounded like something Enzio would say so she figured it would do.

"Should I say some words?" Greymourne muttered after having placed Kana in the grave. In a way, she looked peaceful, and with the cloak wrapped around her there was no way to see the wound that had taken her. The captain frowned. She was not very good with sentiments. "I'm sorry you died from some coward's weapon... and I hope this kid doesn't go around wasting your gift..." Greymourne lifted up a handful of dirt, but paused. "You were a good summoned. I probably shouldn't have judged you so fiercely... but I guess that doesn't mean much now. I'll... try to keep the kid alive for a bit longer. No promises though..."

After that she filled in the grave, picked up Yunica, and didn't look back.

 

[Juju]

Hitori, Wakinyan, Nergalwritten by myself and Gohan510

Hitori watched the fight still amazed, he trusted Wakinyan’s power and didn’t want to interfere in this fight. He kept looking over to Kotori to make sure she was alright. Something about her and this strange wolf appearing didn’t make all too much sense to Hitori, but hopefully he can get to the bottom of it later. Hitori felt Erza’s mana spike and he turned his head to the direction she was in. It was clear she was going against some powerful foes considering the mana readings he was getting from there. Looking back over to Wakinyan it seemed he had a harder time to deal with this wolf than Hitori thought. He analyzed the fight closely.

What he saw was neither graceful, nor glorious. The ground was littered with the crushed remains of demon and bloodbeast, all intermingling with shards of inky black stone jutting up from the battlefield. The misty black beast circled Wakinyan, its hackles raised and head lowered. A goopy substance leaked from its open jaws, gathering into pools around its giant paws. Some of it was smeared across Wakinyan's hide like strokes of ink across a canvas. It highlighted the droplets of pale blood slowly rising up from the god's wounds.

While the wolf circled, Wakinyan stood firmly between it and the mortals behind him. His celestial wings were held to the side, already tattered and patchy. Crimson eyes faced his foe, yet instead of charging, he remained uncharacteristically cautious.

A snickering growl came from the wolf, almost like laughter, as the ground beneath Wakinyan ruptured, forcing him to move. He rose into the air with a flap of his wings, but the wolf gave him little respite. It made its pounce, and while Wakinyan dodged to the left, his wing was caught in its jaws. There was a crunch and a crackle of electricity as the two fell to the ground.

Claws dug into Wakinyan's side as the wolf held him down, thrashing its head from side to side with the wing still clamped. Feathers and blood fell like leaves while Wakinyan struggled to turn the tide. Lightning flashed from him, but did little to deter the wolf. The wind howled around the two in a vortex as the wind fought to free itself, spinning faster and faster until it blasted onto the wolf.

It growled, flung backwards into a building, while Wakinyan picked himself off the ground. His wing was a mess, hung limply on the ground. His head hung low, legs weak but eyes still blazing.

Hitori watched in horror now as he witnessed Wakinyan being taken down so easily. He wanted to interfere, but was that the right decision? What if Wakinyan wanted to battle this new beast alone. Hitori gave a quick glance to the unconscious Kotori in wonder of what he should do.

Looking back at Wakinyan Hitori stood up on the pole he was sitting on. He took a deep breath before letting a smirk.

“YO WAKINYAN!!!!!!! STOP PLAYING AROUND AND GET RID OF THIS DUMB BEAST!! YOU GOT THIS!!! THAT GUY HAS NOTHING ON YOU!!! IF YOU DON'T WIN THEN WHO’S GOING TO PROTECT KOTORI!!!”

A rumble of anger rose up in Wakinyan's chest, offended that a mortal thought he needed encouragement. He shook his head, his tail lashing and stood up straight to prove a point. At the very least, the boy had enough sense to stay back from this fight. If he got corrupted, he was unsure if Kotori would have the heart to put him down.

Hitori watched as the blood beast tried to interfere as he burned them all to crisp. They seem to be weak against fire, much noted by Hitori. He watched Wakinyan closely as the beast got back up. Hitori smiled big.

The wolf pulled itself from the ruins and shook out its pelt, splattering black goop over the ruined street. Wakinyan could see that the fight had hardly worn his foe down. His brother's strength had always been in his endurance, and now the corruption had only twisted it further. Even if they had been enemies since... for a long time... it pained him to see his brother like this. He had felt a deep sorrow after his death, and now, seeing him again in such a state, he felt it once more.

Wakinyan looked up at the thick clouds. The rain had stopped and the thunder quieted as he was forced to divert more and more of his divinity just into maintaining his strength. Already he was reaching his limit... even after the sacrifice. His eyes fell onto his broken wings. With a heavy heart, he knew what he must do. It felt wrong to use this precious sliver of a soul, and even worse to part with the skies once more, but it was necessary. He knew Kotori would have agreed as well.

As the wolf crept closer, Wakinyan let his wings fall to the sides. They unraveled in a burst of white light and sparks, swirling around the god. Blinded, the wolf flinched from the harsh light and howled, raking a claw in the air. Wakinyan closed the opening with a lunge, stabbing his horn into the wolf's side and holding it in place as a pillar of heavenfire crashed down.

Hitori covered his face from the bright flash of light. It was so bright he laughed in response from the excitement. “Yoooo!!! Hahaha!!”

The wolf shrieked in anguish, writhing like a hooked fish. It smouldered with the divine flame, part of its fur burned down to its flesh, yet still it struggled. There was a sickening tear as it ripped itself free, leaving behind a trail of gore and black ichor.

Without looking back, it fled deeper into the city. Wakinyan stood where he was, unable to go any further without Kotori. With a snort, he turned around and limped back towards where Hitori had hidden her. His brother's fate would have to wait; if Kotori fell, it would all mean nothing.

Hitori looked at Wakinyan who had won the fight. He gave Wakinyan a thumbs up and a big smile. “Good stuff pal! Get some rest it seems things cleared up. Hey Wakinyan what was that thing exactly?”

Wakinyan seemed to ignore Hitori as he strode towards the house. The building was in shambles, allowing the god to easily walk through the collapsed rooms. Kotori was located on the floor above, resting on some soft bedding structure. He lifted his head up, levelling his muzzle with the girl and sniffing her thoughtfully. The rushes of his breath made her hair stirr, but the girl remained motionless.

Appearing somewhat satisfied, Wakinyan then acknowledged Hitori. His voice forced its way into the boy’s head, rattling like thunder and leaving behind a deep stinging sensation.

“░N░e░r░g░a░l░.░ ░M░y░ ░b░r░o░t░h░e░r░”

He said no more, mostly to spare Hitori from the strain of his voice, but also because he did not wish to explain anything further. With a grumpy huff, he laid down in the rubble and looked over his still bleeding wounds.

Hitori watched Wakinyan walking past him and into the building that he had placed Kotori. Hitori smiled and giggled a bit while he noticed Wakinyan seemed alright knowing Kotori was okay.

“I wouldn’t let anyone get to her pal. I promise.”

He held his head though as it rang and felt like thunder roaring all throughout his head he almost fell off of the pole, but barely caught himself before falling off. He heard Wakinyan mention a name that he’d soon forget. Though what caught his attention was that the beast was Wakinyan’s “brother”?

“Huuuuuuh!?”

 

[Gohan510]

=Fire vs Brute Strength!!=
Location: Frontlines
Involved: Hitori vs Dyrroth​

Dyrroth took a bite of meat while sitting on the pile of nortestra men. Dyrroth looked at some Mollug troops that scrambled around him mentioning that they were at a retreat and the summoned caused more issues than expected. The vampire squad had finally made their move causing destruction to those who opposed them.

“D..d..d..Dyrroth! Synthia and her inquisitors have fallen to a fire sound magic user. His hair is black. Notably united with a red haired swordswoman.”

“So she finally kicked the bucket! Ha! Then I’ll be there to clean up the mess.”

“We must retreat! Cardoza hasn’t returned yet!”

“Nah you guys go on ahead. If Ellanora and her bat freaks can have fun then I can too!” Dyrroth threw the bone to the side looking off into the distance. “Where was he last seen?”

“West!”

“Good!”

Hitori felt a shift in the wind which made him look around confused until he jumped off his pillar, and someone smashed into it breaking the pillar under him. Hitori flipped to slide across the ground noticing the new contestant.

“Oi oi. So you’re not just rumored to be a skilled fighter. Summoner who killed lady Synthia. I think this’ll be suitable for me. Hoo?” Dyrroth noticed two women and a large beast in the building beside where he landed. He then turned to Hitori pointing his thumb at the woman. “You’re protecting them I assume?”

“Stay the hell away from them!”

“Don’t get so pissy Ion want them. I want your head, considering you killed Synthia your bounty will raise beyond reasoning. I’ll be the one to collect it.” Dyrroth cracked his knuckles and neck. “I have enhance magic! Care to see what that’s about?”

“Bring it! I’m starting to get fired up!! I was itching to fight again!” Hitori started cracking his knuckles with a big smile.

“My name’s Dyrroth by the way.”

“Hitori!”

Hitori dashed towards Dyrroth as the two connected punches at each others face. Dyrroth barely moved, yet mana glowed in his arms like veins and sent Hitori flying off into multiple buildings. Dyrroth laughed loudly watching the boy struggle back up from the rubble. Hitori rubbed his face, but noticed Dyrroth was in the air above him preparing a kick downward.

“Enhance Magic!!! Goliath!!! Kick!!!!” As Dyrroth slammed the earth it created a massive shockwave and crater under him. Hitori barely in the nick of time jumped out of the way. He was still wounded from the previous fights but got back up. The two ran at each other again.

“Fire Magic!! Secret Arts!!! Kings Fist!!!!” Massive flame punch that engulfed the surrounding area burning most around them and sent Dyrroth flying back as he coughed up saliva. Hitori watched as Dyrroth got back up with a smirk. Hitori and Dyrroth both dashed towards each other once more.

“Enhance magic!! Serpent speed!!!” Dyrroth had mana flowing through his feet, legs, and arms as he moved a lot faster than before. The two engaged in an exchange of punch and kicks with Hitori on the losing end. Kicking Hitori some distance off Dyrroth landed slamming his foot into the ground creating tremors. Pillars of rock rushed upwards towards Hitori. Hitori flashed stepped behind Dyrroth going for a kick, but Dyrroth ducked. Going for a uppercut he connected his fist with Hitori’s chin sending him flying off. Crashing into the ground Hitori struggled to get back up. Something about Dyrroth’s attacks hit a lot harder than they should.

Hitori got back up glaring at Dyrroth as they dashed to one another then again engaging into a fierce hand to hand combat. Hitori hit Dyrroth with a swift combo of kicks and punches before jumping back cuffing his hands over each other to his side drawing mana in. Dyrroth close the distance between the two in a instant punching Hitori into a building.

“Enhance Magic!!! HULK SMASH!!!!!” Holding his fist together he slammed on the building Hitori was in as it completely came crumbling down. Hitori coughed up blood from the impact, but he successfully blocked the attack. Hitori connected a fire punch with Dyrroth sending him flying a bit. Jumping from the rubble Hitori used his feet to release flames and launch himself towards Dyrroth. Going for another fire punch that connected, making Dyrroth cough up blood. Dyrroth grabbed Hitori’s arm bringing him in for a knee to the gut. Dyrroth then caught Hitori by the neck in between his forearm and shoulder. Red mana coursed through his arm and leg as he blasted off into the air high up.

“ENHANCE MAGIC!!! ALMIGHTY LARIAT!!!!!” Launching Hitori down into the ground it created a massive shockwave that would reach Sakujo’s and Erza’s fights. Massive crater and dust cloud consumed the area. Landing on the other side of the cloud Dyrroth laughed waiting for the cloud to fade.

Dyrroth walked slowly towards Hitori laughing harder than before, cracking his knuckles. Hitori got back up wiping the blood from his mouth. He had blood dripping from all cuts even from his forehead.

“If this is all you can muster then what the hell was the point of me even coming here!? I don’t even want to avenge that hag. I just wanted to see if you’re worth the talk. I don’t even see myself losing to a low life like you! Ha! I guess my power alone can strike a summoned down! Jen I’m coming for you next HAHAHA!”

Nothing but silence came from Hitori. His hair covered his face as he stood there. Dyrroth stopped walking to notice Hitori wasn’t moving or talking.

Kotori’s voice echoed in the back of his head. He remembered their moments before reaching Castellan. Kotori and himself sat at the campfire explaining each other how their past lives went. They had a bonding moment much needed while Susan rested calmly on Wakinyan. They discussed possible future goals yet Hitori didn’t have any at the time. Although knowing what happened with the promises that were broken in her old world. Hitori still gave Kotori one promise that he means to keep till the day he dies. Hitori meant it to Wakinyan and his little sister Susan as well who both cuddled up asleep to the sounds of the crackling flames. That night Hitori and Kotori spoke of possibilities when they arrived at Castellan, but expected the worst. The villages they passed crossing through the vast forests and mountains were all empty and tarnished. The archer and fire magic user didn’t know that they had a long exciting adventure waiting on them to jump off the porch and get involved in their new homes. Kotori also tried to convince Hitori that fighting doesn’t solve every problem but it was no use. Since they met Hitori hunted their food and always mentioned the life threatening fights he had back home. Hitori still doesn’t know the fatal fight Kotori had to go through. That’s for another night.

Placing his hand on Kotori’s shoulder. “We’ll be friends forever, travel this entire world, eat delicious food, go on many adventures and the best of all fight strong opponents!! Together! I promise!” With the biggest smile on his face.

“What’s wrong kid?! You’ve given up already?! AH HAHAHAHA AH HAHAHA AHA HAHA!!!!!!”

Hitori gripped his fist as flames engulfed them and flames erupted all around him. Veins showed on his forehead, arms, legs, and fists. He gave Dyrroth a serious glare. “I’ll never… GIVE UP!!!!!”

“Then come at me!!!!”

“GRRAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!” A flame aura surrounded Hitori’s entire body, and started to slowly change golden. His hair stood up spiking as well, every hair on his body turned yellow. Dyrroth covered his face from the glow and wind.

“This one has more power in him then I thought.”

“I will never lose to someone like you.”

Hitori got in his fighting stand before launching off to Dyrroth, entering another fierce exchange. Hitori punched Dyrroth in the face, sending him flying. Flash stepping after him, Hitori punched Dyrroth into the air before flash stepping above him. Cuffing his hands over each other to his side Hitori gathered enough mana before firing his beam down on Dyrroth back into the ground creating a ball of energy.

Dyrroth struggled back up, smirking to Hitori watching him land in front of him.

“Yes. Now I see that story isn’t so false after all. Now why don’t we crank this up a notch eh?!!!! Break!!! DRIVE!!!! ENHANCEMENT ELITE!!! BARRON OF WORLDS!!! DIVINE POWER!!!!!” A bright light shined from Dyrroth’s body as a pressure of winds released from him creating a small crater under him. “Almighty Divine Lariat!!!!”

“Golden flame magic!!! Iron fist!!!”

The two ran at each other, but Dyrroth was too fast catching Hitori by the neck in his arm again as they flew into some rubble creating a pillar of dust.

“Secret Arts! Golden flame Maximum barrage!!!” Hitori hit Dyrroth all over with fierce speed punches that looked like he had multiple punches. All punched were encased in golden flames adding extra damage behind each of them. Cocking both fist back he bent sideways hitting Dyrroth in the gut and chest with both fists above each other. “Twin Lotus Lion Fists!!!” Sending Dyrroth flying off with blood in a trail following him till he landed in the ground.

“I… I.. I hit you dead on though…”

“Who is this Jen by the way?”

“The said to be the strongest man in the entire world! Said he’s capable of going at with a god! You won’t find him on this side of the world, you better go hit the “Crossing” the line that splits the sea in half.”

“Woah you're telling me too much I just wanted to know who the guy was. He sounds like my goal.”

“I tell you this because you won’t live past TODAY!”

“Heh. If only that was true. Maybe if you aided Synthia yeah.. I got some friends in need of my care.”

Hitori cracked his neck while walking towards Dyrroth watching him slowly get back up. After a few steps he stood there with a poker face towards Dyrroth who clearly was no match for a summoned, but refused to accept it.

“You're strong. Really strong, but compared to Synthia you’re no match for me. She was in a far different league then us both. It just got me excited that there are other powerful people in this world! However, how about I spare your life today, you go and get stronger, and then come and avenge synthia.”

“What?! How dare you mock me!!!!”

“Now go. I don’t want to have to hurt you anymore. Instead see to it to live past today. I’ll expect to come across you again in the future for sure!”

“You… you… YOU DAMN BASTARD!!!!!! How DARE YOU MAKE A FOOL OF THE GREAT DYRROTH!!!!” Dyrroth flung towards Hitori, going for a punch at him. Connecting the fist at Hitori’s head, but he didn’t budge. Blood dripped from Hitori’s forehead, but he didn’t move. Dyrroth jumped back confused on what was going on exactly. Why now his attacks weren’t working?

“That technique of yours only gives you that boost for a split moment. You couldn’t deliver the finishing blow fast enough, now your body is exhausted. Like I said again, leave now before I have to hurt you. I’m giving you a chance here!”

“WHY WON’T YOU LET ME JUST KILL YOU?!”

Hitori gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Veins popped out in his forehead from listening to Dyrroth. “Because I made a promise to a friend. My first friend in this scary new world. She wasn’t sure on promises because many in her past broke. Though.” Hitori looked at Dyrroth with a fire in his eyes and his right hand clenched. “I PROMISED HER I WON’T LEAVE HER ALONE IN THIS WORLD!!! We’ll travel this damn thing TOGETHER!!! SO I CAN’T GIVE UP HERE OR EVER!!!!!! I DON’T HAVE THE OPTION TO DIE TO ANYONE!!”

Dyrroth’s eyes opened wide, hearing Hitori’s determination in his voice. Erza looked off into the distance for a moment hearing Hitori echoing voice. Everyone in the area of sakujo and Erza can hear Hitori’s speech of a promise he made.

“Promises and dreams are for weak fools like you who need to die and erase themselves from existence!!!”

“Is that so…”

“Now die! In the name of Mollug!!!”

“I didn’t want to have to do this to you.” Hitori crouched, taking a deep breath. Dyrroth launched at him with his lariat activated. As Dyrroth got closer the golden flame aura around Hitori formed around his right fist. The flames turned into a dragon with its jaw open, soon after it chomped Hitori’s fist he smirked. Dyrroth got close enough for Hitori to jump at him, launching his fist at Dyrroth’s stomach.

“Golden Flames! Secret art!! BURNING DRAGON IRON FIST!!!!” Hitori connected his attack as gold flames erupted all over and sent Dyrroth flying and half burnt. Flames burned all around as Dyrroth landed on his back. Dyrroth lay there unconscious and unable to move. Hitori took another breath before his hair turned back black. “I warned you..”

“CHARGE!!!!!!” Mollug knights that remained came for Dyrroth’s aid, going for an all out rush attack on Hitori with their swords and magic. Hitori casually dodged all of them barely even showing effort to attack them back. A bandit went to slash Hitori with his sword, but Hitori caught it casually without even looking at the man.

“Instead of coming after me, you should go and save Dyrroth.” Hitori’s voice was calm while letting the man’s sword go as the group of Mollug’s looked at each other before looking at Dyrroth who was burnt on the ground and then back to Hitori who stood tall. The group ran off to retrieve Dyrroth’s unconscious body, taking him away from the area. Hitori watched the group scatter off with a small smile on his face. He knew he’d meet Dyrroth again, and the man would be a lot stronger then now.

“You’ll pay for this summoned!”

“I’m sure I will.” Hitori returned to base form taking a calming breath. He looked off into the distance of Erza mana was coming from wondering if she was doing alright. It seemed this war was finally coming to an all close. Hitori looked over to the building where he left the others and headed towards it. He scratched the top of his head.

“The Man who can hold his own against the gods huh? Jen wasn’t it? Is that just a boost wording for him being the strongest man in the world or is he really that powerful..? MAAAAAAN I can’t wait!! Wait! Where the hell is Susan?!”

“Matter a fact.” Hitori turned around looking at the cloudy sky. “Where have the royals and stuff been?”
—

=Learn Hitori! A new Destination course set in stone!!=
Location: Frontlines, Housing district
Involved: Hitori & Hiyori
​

“Jen is a scary story for anyone who strives for the top of the Magi Chain. I’ve only heard him mentioned once. Though what I remember said was that he is one of the few legends on top of the chain. I only know a few out of the several kings at the top of this “chain” us natives created as an unsaid rule to those who seek power and glory. Similar to a military ranking, the other ranks don’t really matter and hardly get spoken on, but the Kings at the top. Now that’s where you hit the gold pot and midget man at the end of the rainbow. There are many Kings of the magi chains scattered through Valucia I’m sure. Seriously though Lia is a real nerd it’s thanks to her, some sailors I was close with while being a Norte Knight, and even high ranks mentioned stories about the rest of the world to me all the time. Kinji told me his journey to the crossing. It was with an ally nation of Nortestra in the western continent. They had to pass the crossing to search and retrieve a missing fleet. Kinji told me once you pass the Crossing it’s like the ocean is a whole different sea. As if it gives the sailors and fleets challenges to pick who’s worthy to cross it’s waters. Maybe even SIN the so called shmancy god who summons otherworlders might be the cause of it. Yet I doubt that and believe it's a natural phenomenon from the world. The creatures below are said to be a lot more ferocious than in the old world. I’ll call the region of the world we’re in the old world yeah that works I guess. Sorry off track damn, say something next time goofy, damn!! It’s only right I hit you with this valuable info… specially considering you can go and see if these campfire stories and fairytales are real for me or not. Now back to the 7 Magi Chain Kings I know of are... Zoro the Dark Mage, Gajeel D. Dragon, Hanzo the Almighty, Yhorm the great, The Jaded Tome, Emperor of the Tundran Empire. There’s many more I’m sure you’ll hear of as you keep moving forward. Honestly some of them are believed dead or a plain myth or some cheap folktales. Like the emperor has been dead for decades now, though the empire is said to still be burning, fueling the place and the trials within its walls still go on without their leader. Zoro is a man who’s said to be an Immortal man who passes a black curse. I don’t really think he’s a real person rather than another fairytale told to strike fear into others. Many have even created cults to worship the Emperor and Zoro. Why? I don’t know. Gajeel D. Dragon has been around as long as Zoro though believed these next coming years will soon near the end of his life and endless bloodlust. A man during an era said when Valucia’s skies were swarmed with the winged beasts, a man who was said to have drank the blood from a dragon he killed and turned himself into a dragon. His bounty is wanted dead with a 4,000,000,000.”

“Hey. I know that voice! Yo Hiyori! What's this Kings of the Magi Chain crap? I mean as long as I know the names of the strongest why place a fake rank list? They’re really guys out there who are viewed as kings even without a kingdom? Just being all naturally powerful and stuff?!?!?! One day I’ll be the king of kings then! I’ll aim for the very top then it’s settled! Hehe! WAIT WHAT HOW MANY ZEROS IS THAT?! He’s not even wanted alive? Just wanted to die. Dang.”

“Yaha and Jugo went ahead. I decided to check on you and it seems you held your own against Dyrroth. Stupid head~. It something passed down to me now being passed down to your block head. I'm being serious ask anyone stupid! I wouldn’t lie to you while telling you some serious shit like this. This is no joking matter, Valucia is well known for its constant conflicts. As you see you were brought in the middle of one. Heh. Pitiful. After this siege we’ll help Nortestra reform a bit then probably go back into hiding depending on how things play out. I’m sure we won’t see each other once Nortestra gets back up. You are helping right?! You leveled an entire block! Not once! But twice! At least the second time we can kinda fight that in your testimony that your ass had no control of that shady Synthia blowing the top off the district.”

Hiyori rubbed the top of her head crouched on a broken ledge looking at the surrounding carnage from the intense fights that stretched through the whole capital. “I used to live in this District you know.. crazy to see it like this, blood tainting the natural materials, on houses and the stone roads. The once lively middle class living district now turned into fuel for a burning flame that etches the result of war. Clouds once filled with once birds you’d never seen to be tainted black. My former home. I was alone younger, given a better life when I stumbled upon Kinji after pranking a shop that wouldn’t give me food for free. He was lower than dirt! Couldn’t feed a starving youngin girl.”

“So that means the others are deeper in the city? I knew you’d guys change at heart and come! Good now we have a better chance to end this damn thing once and for all.” Hitori shutup and looked around trying to imagine how this district which was once the home for Hiyori. She was obviously upset from the shake and tone in her voice. “Well see!! Lets just not mention me destroying this capitals property! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I had no control!!” Hitori laughed scratching the top of his head. “I made sure everyone innocent or simple bystanders got out of the area. I did some deeds too! Knowing Kotori from what I’ve heard she made friends out here so I’m sure she’s gonna want to help out as much as possible. We also got a big ol wolf on the loose. Uuuuh I don’t even know how we’re going to find it. I guess I’ll figure that out once they’ve recovered.”

“Kinji decided to finally let us help our country, but simply to try and divert Aldreg’s plans. Honestly we've been expecting he was doing something odd ever since that night… Considering you helped them rid of the behemoth lover Synthia and fended off Dyrroth. I’m sure they’ll look over it anyway. Now for all your summoned buttbuddies that helped Norte survive to see another glory day I’m sure you’ll all be remembered and your names edged in our country’s history as heroes who came at Sulric’s “mad hunch”. Crazy that old man believed Norte would get reinforcements yet all of us laughed at that. Many believed him, but here you all came. Maybe not all of you are cool, but for the most part, everyone you surround yourself with seems to be fairly good. That yelling guy from earlier trying to be king of Norte? That’d be interesting to be a summoned in control of a Valucia based country.”

“Kinji told me. I have to meet this Ian, I’ve heard lots of great things before I even got to meet him. Kinji also told me to get a hold of a woman that uses metal gauntlets? Oh yeah his name if I remember was Sakujo! If he became king it wouldn’t bother me much either. It’s a first step to better change probably. He seems legit. But ye claw woman, what’s her name?”

“Greymourne…”

“Yeah! He said talking to them would benefit me and my friends. Though one out of the two are already friends with the girls. The bummer part is I don’t really know anyone in this city but the heavy metal knight that helped me the first siege. I hope I can meet him again.”

“Yeah… When your dumbass let your demon run freely and nearly died! Pitiful I carried your ass! You’re not light u know! You were deep in Castellan too now I don’t even know how you and Synthia even met that far in, but sheesh that coulda went south. You should stop being so damn reckless all the time! As long as you're in no rush then you will have the chance to speak up to both commanders. Sulric if he’s found at the end of this is another good one.”

“Oh yeah! I heard about gramps too!! I saved his personal trio knights twice from Synthia. Yeah haha! I liked them. Hopefully I see them at the end of all this too! As long as they prepare a meal to feed four behemoths at the end of this then they repay me in my book Ha Ha!” Hitori scratched the back of his head laughing a bit. “So wait Aldreg, what is his objective exactly? For some reason he had a message for Kotori. He even told us to search for this guy up north Ryu something.”

“Aldreg and his lapdogs had been moving shady for a while now and framed everyone and Kinji for everything. Aldreg even when this war first started never helped defend his home's barricades. Yet every night it was word around town Knights were found dead and dried up in dark places within the Capital. It all didn’t make sense, but Kinji did mention that on the night we got demonized, Aldreg slipped telling Kinji he needed souls to speed his process. Now why is he deciding to rebel now of all times I do not know, I just want the assholes head hung in my wall!”

“Sooo waaait! I’ve noticed Nortestra seemed like it had lesser knights then the last time. As if a plague spell wiped their army at scary numbers! This is your guys home you shrimp!! Could’ve been helping them regardless of what happened!”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!! LIKE YOUR MEAT HEAD WOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT HE HAD TO GO THROUGH! We got exiled, you know idiot…” She said the last part like a whisper.

“You’re right. I just see it as for me I’d protect the city I originate from with my life.”

“So answer me this bird brain. Since you're summoned, tell me why you, those two girls, and the unicorn decide to interfere with Valucia's residents feud? You hardly know much about the two opposing countries yet you’ve fought one to protect the other?”

“SIN Gave us a run down when we summoned on what was going down in the new world. We got brought in during the intense conflict at the shrine. How he mentioned this war reminded me how my people in my world tried everything to hold back an evil entity that wants to consume the world’s eternal flame. Also releasing powerful demons to wipe out the other races and gods. So I guess you can say I understand what it feels to be the underdog! From what I can tell we made the right decision! I was able to become a member of the Outcasters. Though I do want to get to the bottom of why this started.”

“Before this war years ago, Mollug was struggling so damn bad they couldn’t even be considered a country. Nortestra typically ruled over the Mollug’s people with an Iron fist. Forcing families to split to get people to build the walls that are a path to the royal palace. Mollug finally got their shit together and finally fought on against their once ruler. Remember this. If you plan on understanding Mollug completely! After you finish business up north. I suggest you and your group get involved with “The Jaded Tome” one of Mollug’s legends. Said to be extremely powerful with his hands alone rules over the whooole Mollug. As strong as thousands of mages put together. He might be one of your possible opponents knowing you itch for combat! You keeping up stupid idiot?!”

She gave an irritated face when she noticed Hitori’s facial expression was completely excited from before being focused. He jumped up with his arms high.

“Here team thunder pony come!”

“Team thunder pony….”

Hitori pointed with his thumb over his shoulder where his friends were hiding and resting. He had to figure out where Susan was, hopefully she could help with Kotori. He didn’t know much of what csilla could do other than she was Kotori’s friend and a summoned. Wakinyan needed to recharge after that battle he had against his brother, but has not yet won. They’ll have to deal with that soon too.

“I think I figured out my goal Kotori! Yeah!” He caught his fist and looked up to Hiyori that was crouching on a broken ledge. “Aye shrimpy I’ll kick that Jaded guys ass for sure!”

“I’m sure your metal head will. What’s this goal you speak of exactly?” Hiyori tilted her head looking at her team member confused.

“I’m going to strive for the strongest mage and fighter in all of Valucia. I can’t wait to shoot high for the eternal embers!! I’m going to be the one to be classified as “The King of Kings” just watch. I’ll push myself to break my limits and aim for progression in my own power. I’ll knock down every wall placed in my way.” Hitori caught his fist wrist while swinging upward and gripped his wrist while flexing to stretch the muscle the hand that pointed upward spewed out flames. “Yeah it’s decided I’m going to be the King of Kings in the Magi Chain, go on every adventure, and try all of the many dishes! I want my bounty to go up!” He smirked looking at the clouds as a small hole in the clouds released a beam of sunlight on Hitori, shining through the darkness. “I guess he agrees then huh? I’ll be one day coming for you too! SIN! I know he heard me. Wherever the hell he’s at..”

Hiyori watched Hitori closely and slowly got lost in thought. Watching Hitori raise his fist high to the black carpet sky, Hiyori blushed a bit seeing a resemblance of Hunter in Hitori for some reason. Her eyes opened wide shocked that she would actually be able to see it. She remembered the day Hunter vowed to prove the King one day that he is the strongest swordsman. Regardless of the challenges that came Hunter’s way he made an exit for himself, as well as his own finish line. The same energy that radiates off of Kisuke in front of her kicked in that he might be the reincarnation of Hunter, if her beloved friend ended up dead in this cold world. “Kinji was right about Kisuke… He’s truly pure, I can’t even ever truly say I’m mad at this dimwit! Alsohis stupid self will shoot for his goal head strong and will probably put his friends in multiple situations. No matter where this bird brain ends up, usually something is going on. He does carry the burning flames of hope from his home world. Maybe he will be what this world needed to finally accept summoned as they are...”

The fact that there was someone not even from the same world sharing similar energy as her former friend it made her tear up a bit. Once she noticed Hitori was looking at her with a worried face she hid her pale skin that's now flashing red of embarrassment.

“If you plan on going towards Jen, before I head out.” Hiyori got up turning her back to Hitori. “I guess you should know, this is the eastern continent. Consist of Nortestra, Czarnikei, and Mollug. Those are the central countries of the eastern continent, maybe your main focus so far. Now down south are Belldan, Xact, and Meredin. If you plan on touching every inch of this world like you say. Then you’d best gather your friends and start now. Once you lot figure yourselves on the path to that damn dangerous of a place “Crossing”. The said to be a no man's sea, known for its dangerous creatures that are a lot larger and hostile then the many here. Wherever you head. Know that do not piss off the navy. You’ll know who they are, they patrol the oceans and will get in your way. Especially with the shit you done you’re building a higher bounty.”

“Wait everyone keeps mentioning this Crossing thing, but what exactly is it? Is it like some mark for a super rare treasure no one found yet?!”

“*giggles* No.. sheesh how the hell are you gonna be the strongest and this clueless hair color swapper freak. It’s Just a simple term that’s been passed down from sailors stories and people of the sea. Said to be a line across the planet that separates the world. Now if that's true I have no Idea. I know that Lia read me a book about it being a no man's sea and many of this world’s most powerful people legends and myths all reside over there. The crossing you’ll probably see things that you thought you’d never see in your life. I heard out there is full of eye candy and surprises for new voyagers.”

She noticed she had caught Hitori’s attention. This was the most quiet Hitori has ever been with Hiyori. That’s good he was taking their talk seriously rather than goof off.

She cleared her throat while watching thr fire grow from feeding off the planks of a damage home. “Though good news once passing the crossing. You’ll be set in line for possibly challenging the kings I mentioned earlier. Nearly can find them all over those dangerous waters, but don’t think that's all that’s over there. Laws and new land will await you. Some countries might take civil debate for truce between forces rather than a massive brawl mess like this. Similar to you guys gaining Castellan trust and alliance is your best bet as well. You should aim to ally many countries. It’s more to become powerful in the world than just being physically strong. Learned that after Lia showed me some things.. Wish I could show you the book that tells the tale of the “First Summoned that Almost United “All”. Now the all is a simple exaggeration, but it's a good tale of the first summoned to help countries form peace rather than continue constant conflict. Many legends and powerful beings flock and die over there in the crossings. We have powerful legends over here for example the dead emperor in tundran. Just know you’ll have a higher chance finding Jen’s trail if you go there. Hopefully you know how to control a boat! A few pirate crews or any sailor that passes the crossing sometimes don’t return. Sounds fun doesn't it? You’re always so full of so much damn energy.”

“So the crossing is a line that separates Valucia into two worlds? Right? Then why wouldn’t SIN just summon us there instead of here or at least me. Hehehehe! Couldn’t those guys just come over here when they wanted? You’re telling me so many names I’m trying to wrap my head around it all!!”

Hiyori closed her eyes looking upward to the clouded sky taking a deep breath trying to remember the peaceful times in Castellan. “From what an old friend once told me. This world is a lot more massive than we expect it to be. No matter how much someone thinks they reached the end of the vast ocean was just met with an uncharted area. Expect the unexpected when you travel onwards. You’ll realize Valucia is filled with many eye candies, varying from relics, powerful artifacts, and even scenery. I wish I could do that adventure stuff, but I got unfinished shit to deal with here.”

“Hell yeah you got me so excited I wanna hurry and visit each nearby country then bolt straight for the Crossing!!!”

“You’ll learn that you need more than a unicorn with wings. Ships, or the mechanical transportations that I see every now and then. You’ll be crossing a whole lot more water than dirt for sure.”

“So why is it called the crossing if it’s not even a literal cross in the ocean. Hmmm there probably is, but only sunken ships can see them… well they’re dead by then but you know.”

“The Crossing is just a term that's been spreaded by many and became a common name for it. I never personally been like I said so I don’t know if it's an actual line or a cut in the world. If you can hardly handle controlling your demon and nearly dying then maybe you shouldn’t say plop you over there. For now your ass would get wiped by the monstrosities out there!! HHAHAHAHA!! The tome might even take you off the face of valucia if you’re not prepared or powerful.”

“When I come across that guy I’ll give him a good knocking for you. Don’t even worry about that. The man that controls mollug with his two hands. The great, the almighty, the dark mage, and the dragon… Bet!”

“Those are your top targets set already huh?”

“Hell yeah! I wonder what they are like. Hopefully alive and not just storytelling myths. That’ll be a major bummer.”

“One more thing, go make sure your little girlfriend over there is alive. That evil wolf thing I saw run off had to have come from her assuming her condition. I noticed it had a mana tether between them both, it’s making her mana off sync. If what you said last week is not a joke then I expect to hear stories about you and your group of stupids. Whoever follows stupid face sure going to be living an interesting adventure. You get in more trouble nearly on accident then you do good on purpose. I’m worried if I should just force your ass to stay a bit longer.”

Hitori’s cheeks shined a bright red as he wasn’t expecting Hiyori to say that. First Susan with that Erza chick and now Hiyori with Kotori. “Man Kotori is my friend. I know she doesn’t see me in any manner other than friends relax! No need to say all that!! Hahaha….” Hitori shook his head in response to Hiyori’s last statement. “They’re all talented girls, hey I mean SIN did choose us for a reason. Whatever blocks our path we’re knocking the wall down. Maybe Kotori will try to jump over it, but me and Wakinyan for sure are busting through layers!!! We all got goals and dreams in Valucia, we’re going to chase them and make the best out of the memories to be made.”

“I wonder how far being a complete air headed fool will take you. I don’t know if your genuinely dumb or just putting on a massive act for everyone. I hope you really remember everything I just told you stupid! You won’t get info like that big of a bomb anywhere else! Anyways I gotta go catch up with the others.”

“You kept talking. I tried to let you go on a while ago. I will worry about the crossing and all that other stuff once I’m done with everything around me. Hahahaha!! Yeah SIN did want us to conquer, but I don’t see that fitting to me. I'll just live day by day. Let fate take me and my friends in the wind.”

“You dumb ass!!! I was helping your stupid ass out! You probably gon forget by the end of today anyway! I know this the last time we’ll see each other for a while…. But you know what F your annoying ass I hope you don’t come back!”

Hitori smiled towards Hiyori’s back was facing him. He knew she had good intent behind her fiery attitude. Hiyori had tears running down her face. “You know we were told to never trust summoned, because their nature is unpredictable like a dragon’s, which is somewhat true. Stories and legends of past summoning, all pointing towards summoned usually causing more harm to this world’s inhabitants than solving issues.”

“I noticed when we passed to those scalvaged villages on the way here. Any survivor didn’t even want to be in our vicinity, barely had got one to tell us the rundown of the war thanks to Kotori though.”

“Right. People usually only hear the bad things that summon and dust the good under the rug. Not everyone is fearful of summoned, but usually Natives see Summoned as a seasonal complication. Many who believe in the Way of SIN study, on the summoning patterns in such. Each of them having changed something from the world due to their arrival. The second summoning was the worst, giants that ran free..Yet for some reason odd ass fate brought you to us for a week I feel like I knew your dumbass my whole life… You showed us not all of them are destructive.. well… you’re destructive, careless, reckless, carefree, but you're a pure soul. A stupid boy too! You better not forget us when you go out! We’ll be trying to help reform Nortestra and prepare a plan to stop Aldreg, if Kinji failed today. ”

“Hahahahaha!! I could never forget about you guys. This symbol on my back is burned in my very soul. Hehehe! Ima have Susan repair my clothes. You guys took me in to possibly use my demon as a weapon no? Kinji told me all about it. Although I should be grateful and saying this to all of you. You guys took me in without even knowing me, but I was summoned. You guys got me stronger to protect my friends and you guys taught me a lot! Even now Hiyori seeing you now I’m glad we could have this one on one talk. Our short time together was extremely fun, but no matter how far I go I’ll always have our bonds buried deep in my heart. Plus I might come back here and there! Hehehehe! I’m also going to be having my ear open for any noise coming from him.”

“You just see things so straight forward. It’s actually cute I can see what Kinji said about you. You’re going to grow and become a better man than you are now. Well to me you’re a lil boy!”

“I think I’m older than you shut that crap up! I mean everyone grows the more they experience life no?”

“So you were right Kinji… he reminds me of Hunter too…”

Hiyori took a step getting ready to go and catch up with Yaha and Jugo. Hitori gripped his fists. “HIYORI!!!” A short pause and silence after he shouted the blonde’s name. “I’LL FIND HUNTER! I’ll bring him back!!!”

Hiyori’s entire body froze and her legs felt locked in place. Her face turned bright red unable to hide the blushing as tears ran down her face. To hear that an old friend that's been missing for a while will be returned to them was like a bell ringing early morning. She knew the boy wasn’t joking neither, once he set himself a goal he stuck to it. Honestly amazes Hiyori how it works out so well for him.

“I’ll hold that to you then porcupine head, idiot, loser, meathead, battle junkie! Bring your Team Pony thunder or whatever by. We can all eat before you guys go! CYA LOSER!”

“Later Shrimpy! Until next time!”

Hiyori launched her sandal at Hitori’s forehead as it boomeranged back to her as she caught it. She let out a huff and puff before she turned back around jumping down the ruins into the street heading towards her allies.

“I’ll see them before we set off. So the crossing huh? If this is only the eastern continent. Then… we gotta long way to go. I’m sure we’re in no rush anyways, but just knowing where we aim to reach now just made this whole new life a lot more exciting. I can’t wait to let the others in on this.” Hitori looked back towards them. He felt relaxed knowing things were finally over this long battle was nearing the end. Hitori sat criss cross and rested one hand on his thigh and used one to hold his chin.

“I was given a lot to inform the others on later. I know Kotori and Susan aren’t really interested in challenging those Magi Chain King guys, but I sure am! They’ll just have to explore while I take them down one by one!” Hitori looked up to the clouds with a smile on his face. Knowing SIN would be able to tell the boy was looking off to him. “I’m coming.”
—

=A Man Named Hunter!=

Location: ???
Involved: Hunter & Kinji​

​

Hunter was once very close friends with Kinji although being younger they matched energies as if the same age. Hunter was the one who kept the positive energy pumping in the OutCasters hideout before he went missing for unknown reasons. Kinji believed Hunter was finally going to seek his true dream. Hunter was around 6’2 in height and was very muscular, he was well known in the ranks of Nortestra for standing out using three and sometimes four swords. Hunter is not from Castellan, yet a smaller village that will be TBA that's in Nortestra. Out of all the outcasters Hunter was the only one who truly worked his ass for the rank he received. He was latched with Kinji and his friends by fate on a fateful trade mission, exporting and sending off goods from and to Hamel. They met at the docks and clicked instantly, Kinji took Hunter into his squadron trading two members to the squad Hunter originated from. Soon after being placed now with Kinji Hunter met Hiyori who was always a rank higher than him. Hunter was the one child that got less because he did things his way and did not obey everything like a lap dog. Even a member of the outcasters, Kinji who is the team’s leader has no control over Hunter. The group currently expresses their worry for him and hope he’s safe out in this war filled dark world.

Hunter was the only one in the group to simply get Yaha to talk without whispering which was rare to the others. He was a very outgoing and carrying guy to his friends. Yet betrayed their code of honor and departed from the group. Outcasters all go by the code that they are no longer friends, but due to fatal circumstances they are tied as family now and to never leave each other’s side.

Hunter wore a brown bashed in leather outfit usually when he was in Nortestra until becoming a knight, a part of the army he gained a unique typical silver look with dark blue markings similar to flames on his sides. After being stripped of his normal life, Hunter changed his appearance for a darker tone. He wears an all black outfit. Starting from shirt, pants, belt with shiny gems all on the buckle worth a good chunk of change. The belt gives the user at the cost for mana the ability to have swift movement for 3s. His boots are black and he wears an all black long coat with a symbol of a grey furred wolf with purple fragments of energy pouring out its mouth and eyes. His custom personal logo, representing his bounty hunter reputation. On the inside of his coat you can find a permanent stamp of the OutCasters symbol. He has black goggles and a white scarf that was said to have been made out of dragon scales. Fire can’t burn it and it naturally kept him warm in snowy areas. The two “magical items” he has were both obtained as trinkets off bounties that he’s collected on his journey.

Hunter has two custom made katana’s one from a childhood friend and one inherited to him after his family’s murder. The third sword was a recent steal off a pirate captain, said to be enchanted to cut most of the hardest material and reflect magic. A blade that's black on the top and white on the bottom of the blade. It has a serpent that spreads through the face of the sword.

“I’ll motivate Jugo, to perfect more than the one sword style…. I want him to aim for the stars like me. He’s too focused on staying the strongest in the group instead of expanding and going further. He has natural talent for sure. The markings just make him even deadlier.”

“What do you mean? Aww man. Don’t tell me the damn booze already tapped you up? I do agree I’d wish he’d aim for higher results in his training, but not much we can do. I tried speaking to him. We’ve been stuck in this building coming out to the rooftop at night to see the night sky together. I guess everyone is getting tired of hiding. Lia even prompted me with a peaceful protest in the capital to regain our status as citizens of Nortrstra.” Kinji let out a deep sigh at the same time closing his eyes, releasing all of it out of him.

“Hahaha!! A bit.” Hunter looked off into the beautiful night sky. Times were quiet during this time before the fifth summoning and Mollug ravaged through Castellan’s walls. “Kinji. I want to venture out beyond Nortestra. I want to meet other swordsmen, and achieve my goal from a youngin. I was always told there’s more than just here. My father sailed out with his crew to the Crossing when I was 11. He told me, “Son when you’re ready to become a true warrior set sail and come find me within the no man's sea”. You’d think he was tweaking telling a young lad to embark on a life or death voyage. Matter a fact, haven’t you passed to the other side of the Crossing? Tell me Kinji what was it like?”

“You crazy? We can’t just abandon everyone else. I mean hey I know we were treated good and better living quarters behind those walls, but those times for us ended months ago. Aldreg got us. Now why I don’t know, I’m still trying to pinpoint that. I know there’s something going on behind the scenes. I know that was Toren Gin and Aldreg there that applied that curse on all of us. I remember their faces for sure!”

Kinji pulled out a leaf from his inside shirt and blew into it, releasing a flute like sound. Taking a deep breath after a minute of blowing into the leaf. “It sure is a lot like the legends say. I thought going to the other side and it being a raging sea was a lie. It’s like the ocean puts whoever passes through into a trial. No matter where you pass the crossing you will pass a shipyard. Sunken ships are fresh and some touch the bottom of the blue sky. I was only in there for a few days accompanying a Hamel Royal kight recover a missing fleet. These were my early days as commander so I was kinda not in the best mindset for such a voyage. But hey I made it back. Hey wait. You mentioned a goal? What is it you seek?”

“You know my favorite part of our talks?”

“Oh no don’t you change the sub-“

“Cheers to another shot!”

“I’ll find the truth about my family's death. Whoever I find out responsible will feel my anger. Aldreg as well will fill my anger for turning me into a monstrosity and exiled from my home into hiding! I’ll return when I’m stronger than all of you combined. And end these clouds that cover and damage my judgement. I must set out tonight while he passes out drunk.”

“This is farewell my friends. Until I am ready to show my pitiful face here again…. No when I am truly at my peek I will return and get what we got taken from us back!!! I will bring vengeance!!!” I am Hunter Uskin, member of OutCasters. One of the Former lieutenants of the Nortestra army. Exiled along with the others, accused of the crime of planned assault towards the kingdom and using forbidden dark arts that break the natural boundary to the natural flow of things. Fusing a human with a demon and vise versa. Hunter’s demon markings gave him an increase in speed and physical strength. After leaving the outcasters and exploring on his own Hunter is currently known as a bounty hunter or recently in some regions referred as the pirates reaper.

Out of all the mages of mine that have demon markings Hunter is the only one who can activate the second stage to the demonfication without losing sanity and control over himself. A man driven with anger and revenge at the point he’ll do anything to apply his version of vengeance on this journey he embarks in.

The wind in the area had a calm breeze, allowing the tree atop of the hill swayin its direction. A man stood at the top of the hill peering into the distance of the vast land before him. Turning around as his coat flapped in the air he walked off. Below the hill the direction he looked was a city known as Kali.

 

[Gohan510]

=Faithful Reunion! Brute Strength vs Cunning Strategies!!=
Located: Nortestra's Ocean Border
Involved: Edward Allen & Orruine
Artists: Dystopianist & Myself
​

Edward chugged on his giant gallon of booze while the waves splashed against the massive war ship. There were crewmen running around operating the boat. It was cloudy and a thunderstorm raged on through these parts of the ocean. Edward knew why. One of his rivals from decades of fighting was near the area. Edward took another chug while the boat shifted through the raging ocean.

Edward wasn’t like many pirates out there, he relied only on his one ship. It was a massive war ship, maybe one of the biggest in the world. He never bragged nor let it boost his ego. He specifically picked the best of the best to be his crew and nothing less. He had around 1,617 crewmen on his ship and 10 elite fighters. His subordinate ships carry less than that. Though he leaves them in the crossing to handle other problems for him.

“Aaaah!!! Such delicious booze was presented to me from Bakbak island. Shinya can you refill my jug with some more. I’m dying for another drink, before he arrives.”

“Sire it’s not good for your health… you know you’re nearing a rather old age to be drinking at such a rate you are.” Shinya responded to her ship’s captain. Around this time Edward was nearing 65. She and a few of the ship's nurses constantly monitored Edward’s heart rate, as well as making sure he stayed on his medication. Edward was rather a hassle to deal with due to his intense drinking.

“These storms seem to be getting worse than we expected white beard sir.” Rojin mentioned walking up to Edward that sat at his throne on the top deck of the massive ship.

“Indeed. It is the bell that signifies yet another faithful day brings us closer to the end of an era.”

“What do you mean?”

“After Gold died and left his world treasure hidden on this rock. It started a great revolution causing pirates all over to search for such a thing. Yet we never knew exactly why his last words encouraged this era. This world has seen it’s fair share of eras yet nothing beats the pirate age, and the Great Magi War. The war that started this insane underground created game. Magi Chain.”

“Ayo cap your drifting off topic again.” Juju states laughing at his captain. The white beard crew were feared men, but on their alone time on the oceans the group had fun amongst one another.

“BAAAAAHAHAGAGGAGAGAGAGAGAHAHABAHAHAGAGA!!!!!!! I MUST BE ALREADY FEELING THE AFFECTS OF THE BOOZE!!! Shinya! Bring me another!!”

“This will be your last one sir…” The young woman stated picking the giant jar up and taking it with her deeper into the ship. All of White Beard’s top fighters all chatted, laughed, and drank with him even though rain poured down on them and the thunder roared above.

“Cap’n!!!! We’re crossing Nortestra’s border!”

“Then I was correct!! GOOD! FULL SPEED AHEAD! BAHAHAHAGAGAGAGAGAGAHAHAHABAGAGAGAGHAHAHA!!!!!”

Orruine
Tarrain Orruine, Admiral of the Royal Navy, stared down the horizon through his spyglass. “Storm’s coming,” He said, offhandedly, “Not a good day for the job.”

Lieutenant Hargrave, his second in command, nodded silently. They both knew what the “job” referred to. It wasn’t defending the Nortestran people. Behind him were the various captains of the rest of the ships in his fleet.

“Cannons, Friadene?”

“All operational, sir. Gunpowder stocks full.”

“Gorr, supplies?”

“Full to the last barrel, cap’n.”

“Good. Hargrave, tell Vitares up in the crow’s nest to see what ships are stupid enough to come out in this weather. You’re all dismissed.”

“Sir, yes sir!” Orruine’s representatives filed back out onto the ship’s deck, heading to their stations.

The Battle!
Vitares, the former sniper, was the first to spot the opposing ship. “SIN blind and kill me,” he cursed, slipping rapidly after off his post at the crow’s nest.

“ALL HANDS ON DECK!” Hargrave yelled. “Incoming!”

“FIRE THE CANNONS ON THE SHIPS SURROUNDING THE MAIN SHIP!” Juju cried out as men started to fill the cannons and aimed them at nearby ships. Edward sat in his chair calmly knowing if the man waiting for him wanted to come then he would himself.

“What will you do then?” Edward watched as multiple cannons fired off to the support ships. Some miss while many connected. The rocking waves made it harder for the crewmen to aim their cannons since they slid side to side.

“Cap! If we stay here we might not make it out!”

“Do not fear we will be damaged, yet will see another sunny day. I will promise you all that!”

“Eye eye!”

“Ten commandments cover parts of the ship you can at the best of your ability. We must take as minimal damage as possible!”

“Sir!” The ten fighters flashed stepped to different angles of the top deck of the ship ready to use their magics to protect the ship at best.

“We have them outnumbered!” Orruine yelled to his crewmen. “Standard piranha swarm tactics!”

The Nortestran military never had much money for shipbuilding, so its ships had always been small and fast. Orruine had simply built more of them.

The fleet, seven ships strong, maneuvered quickly to surround the larger warship. They stayed mobile and fluid, circling the vessel rapidly in hopes of taking it down while receiving the least damage possible.

Pirate gold bought light and strong cannons. They would do their job, Orruine told himself.

“Their circling us captain!!”

“Rest assured and trust in the Ten Commandments.” Edward said calmly sitting in his chair as Sinya came, giving him his jug of booze as their ship released a rapid fire of 200 cannons. The water shook roughly from the balls that missed. She covered her face with her right hand staring off into the distance seeing the smaller ships close in on them. She did not look scared as this happened before. Though the repairs were rather taxing.

“You will wait for him to come to you this time sir?”

Gulping down the alcohol from his jug as some of it dripped down his chin. He placed the jug half full down. He released a massive burp and wiped his mouth with his wrist. “Gaaaah!!” He looked up into the sky noticing the thunder was getting worse now randomly striking around them. “The heavens are upset today. Good.”

“This isn’t the first time we came across the “admiral.” Will you two engage another dual?”

“Maybe. Might just be another disgusting ship battle. BAAHHAHAGAGAGHAHAGAGAHAHAHAGAGGAGAGAGAHAHA!! The man is known for his cunning straticism!”

Edward glarred to the left grabbing his massive weapon with his right hand. The blade of the weapon shined white, as he swung it upward releasing a moon crescent slash of wind cutting the head of a Siren. The massive sea creature fell back to the depths of the ocean.

“We’ve been hit in the left hull!” A sailor yelled from the stairs. He was out of breath, panting from running up to the deck.

“We take harder wounds on lighter days, soldier,” Hargrave stormed over to him. “You’re new, I get it. You haven’t seen the abjurers in action. But get back to your f*cking post.”

Vitares on the crow’s nest, ever the sniper, pulled out his rifle. There wasn’t much use for a lookout in battle. He searched the enemy ship for sailors, and fired.

Cannonballs began rapidly striking Orruine’s fleet. Some missed, some exploded in midair, but some managed to hit their mark. Most were short-lived. Abjurers, defensive mages, provided powerful defensive force walls that blocked the iron projectiles.

“No damage, sir,” The fleet’s one and only diviner said.

Orruine nodded. “Intensify rapid bombardment. Every hit we land, it’ll be easier for us to get another.”

Edward felt his massive ship rocking harder now that cannonballs from Orruine’s fleet started connecting. Edward didn’t move from his chair as the ship took it’s fair share of hits. Most cannonballs that flew at the ship the 10 commandments either blew away or missed which is why the ship was getting hit.

“Captain!!! We’re getting hit!”

“When do we not. BAHAHAHA! Do not fear this is just the beginning! This is the thrill of being a pirate! The Moby Dasher experienced worser days!! BAHAHAHAGAGAA!!” Edward picked up his jug and took a more massive chug as the alcohol dripped down his chin.

“The cannons aren’t getting through, sir,” Orruine’s diviner told him.

“Damn,” the admiral bit his lip, “I should have expected this. Allen’s vessel takes hits like nothing else on the water.”

“Hargrove!” He yelled for his lieutenant, “Get a few abjurers to prepare the armadillo maneuver.”

“Are you sure, sir?” Hargrave yelled back. “We won’t be able to use them for the rest of the battle.”

“I didn’t f*cking stutter, did I?”

Hargrave nodded, walking briskly down to the galley.

“Jagger, Norell!” He said, pulling over two abjurers, “Armadillo maneuver.”

They both nearly groaned, but caught themselves.

The armadillo maneuver was a complicated move to perform. Abjurers would have to concentrate several dozen layers of defensive force barriers onto a single cannonball. It was difficult to control and would take all their energy, but it could deal damage and break past magical defenses like nothing else.

Jagger and Norell grasped hands, as magical energy flowed between the two experienced mages. The cannoneer nearby nodded on coordination. This was it.

BOOM

“Above-water breach!” The galley’s sailors yelled up to the deck. Indeed, there was a massive hole in the enemy ship, just above the waves. It wouldn’t sink the ship. But there was something else it was useful for.

“Put down the plank,” Hargrave gave into the temptation of a grin. “We’re sending people in.”

“We took massive damage!!!”

“Hurry up and repair the ship!!!”

“This is gettin bad yer on thee way!”

“Go gogogo!!!”

“Captain! Their starting to invade the ship now!”

“Shall I remind Orruine why the ocean fears me? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Edward got up from his chair placing the jug down. Walking over to the right side of the ship Edwin stood talk as his coat swayed in the wind. “OI!!! ORRUINE!!!! IT’S GOOD SEEING YOU AGAIN OLD FRIEND! BUT TODAY I CANNOT PLAY AS I HAVE MANY THINGS TO DO! TODAY I WILL NOT TAKE HEAVY CASUALTY LIKE THE LAST TIME! BAHAHAHAHAGAGAGAGABAAAA!!!!”

Edward laughed while standing on the edge of the ship looking towards the ship he believed Orruine was in.

“COME OUT AND SEE THE FUN SHOW!!! BAHAHAHAHAGAGAGAGAHABAAAA!!!!”

The lieutenant Friadene looked on from his ship. “You’re young, sailor, what are they saying?”

“I think he’s saying that Orruine should come up from our ship, sir,” The sailor next to him said.

Friadene sighed.

Meanwhile, on Orruine’s actual ship, the admiral frowned at the sound of Allen’s voice.

“Going?” His lieutenant asked.

“Hell no, Hargrave. Send abjurers. Men too, if we can spare them.”

Elsewhere, Orruine’s sailors began pouring into the hole created by the armadillo maneuver. There were about two dozen of them, along with a trio of abjurers.

The Ten Commandments and many of Edward’s men had sword and magic fights with Orruine’s sailors and abjurer’s. It was a bloody battle for the lesser men while the mages clashed.

Edward crossed his arms while waiting for Orruine to come out. He laughed again watching the carnage unfold on his ship. It did not bother him though as he stood tall. His body had a white glow silhouette. As the waves shook heavier and the thunder roared all around.

Edward smirked as Orruine didn’t show up yet. “COME ORRUINE OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE AS YOUR MEN FALL KNOWING THEIR CAPTAIN DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR HARD STRIDE!!! BAHAHAHAHAGAGAGA!!”

“Captain, are you sure you're not drunk?”

“Of course not m’lady! I am at my peek this thrill hasn’t hit me for a long time!”

“He actually said that?” Orruine asked his diviner.

“Yes, sir.”

“Did anybody hear him?”

“Abjurers are good, but not that good.”

Orruine signed, as he slipped on his coat and slung his dual muskets over his shoulder. “The things I do for morale.”

He walked briskly onto the main deck. “Vitares, keep fire on their positions!” He yelled to the crow’s nest. “Nararra, Talenta, Urell, Deneck, you’re with me. Garellian, run abjuration.”

The five were his best close combat fighters, even if only Garellian was skilled in any form of magic. Regardless, the abjurer formed a platform and lifted them up to the deck of the enemy ship.

The four non-mages were the best skirmishers money could train. They pointed their muskets forward as they ascended.

“I will let the commandments handle the lesser men. Kill them all and have as much fun as they’d like.” Edwin stated as sinya noticed people coming to the top deck. She jumped back readying her magic.

“Stand down Sinya. Retreat to the lower decks.” Edward still looked on towards the same direction he never turned to notice the abjurers. “Have'ya lot chose death? Have’ya seen the heaven gates before? My name is Edward Allen. Salutations.”

“Are you sure?”

“Bahaha!!” Edward raised his left hand to the sky as a magic circle formed and started to spin. Particles of mana flew into the sky. Two massive tornadoes came crashing down destroying two of the many ships that surrounded them. Splitting them in half crashing into the ocean creating massive waves that even shook his massive warships.

“BAHAHAHAHAGAGAGAGAGABAHAHAHABABABA!!! YOU SEE ORRUINE!? SHALL I DO MORE OR WILL YOU COME TO ME YOURSELF!?”

Vitares glanced down, sighing, from his perch on the crow’s nest.

He aimed carefully at Allen’s head. He knew what the standard procedure was with these things.

Meanwhile, in the hold of the enemy ship, the sailors continued to make headway.

“Hurry up, ya daft men!” Gorr yelled to his subordinates. “We’ve broken the inna chamber! Make it ta deck!”

As the enemy invaded gunfire and swords clashing echoed through the massive ship as the battle grew on. Blood being spilled all over.

“Hold your ground!!”

“Kill em all!!!”

“Fire magic burning phoenix!” Killing multiple men with the phoenix while they fought in the chambers.

The battle in Allen’s galley was a stalemate in every sense of the word. The attackers, skilled in defense magic, could only heavily mitigate attrition, while the defenders, skilled in offense, could only try to boost it. It would be a question of who lost more men than they could lose first, and it increasingly looked like both sides had far more than enough resources to force a lengthy siege.

The attack had successfully disrupted approximately a half of the ship’s operation, but the vessel was huge and its positions redundant. The remaining third who could get away from not playing defense kept the ship in approximately effective shape, even if they weren’t in a position to launch a counterattack.

Meanwhile, on deck, just before Orruine’s platform was to reach Allen’s level, Vitares pulled the trigger.

Bullets flew through Edwards body for some reason yet no blood dripped from the holes in his body. If one looked close it looked like wind built up in each hole in his body. Edward smirked.

“Glad to see you show your face finally!” Another one of Orruine’s ships blew up, but not due to Edward it was thanks to Sinya. Edward took this chance as his eyes opened wide to the people on the platform and wind blew heavy and wild.

“They’re all bulletproof, these days,” Vitares sighed from his post. “But let’s see how many bullets it takes to homebrew vodka.” He reloaded his rifle methodically, and aimed again.

Meanwhile, the platform had stopped just shy of reaching the enemy deck.

“Garellian, roof,” Orruine commanded. The abjurer generated a round shield wall above the platform, so that there was only a narrow slit between the deck and the defensive barrier where anything could hit the men on the platform.

Orruine gestured for the skirmisher to prepare their muskets for intensive fire. In just a few seconds’ preparation, they began their attack.

On the boat, Hargrave ushered Friadene’s men onto the main ship.

“All your men accounted for?”

“We only lost five or six. Same for the other crews.”

“Good. Boats are cheap, men are expensive. Send who you can through the plank we’ve placed, see if we can turn this battle yet.”

“Gehe let’s end this. Like I mentioned I have somethings to do.” Edward gripped his Murakumogiri and jumped towards the floating platform. Gripping the hilt with both hands he swung down on the barrier shattering it with his brute strength. “I don’t plan on killing you today! You all have such lives to live for carry your commanders words heavy! From the nine winds! Galia! The Godly Gust!!!!” With the swipe of his weapon a massive gust that shook the waves and blew those on the platform away off into the sea. Edward fell down to where his men fought against the sailors. Landing in the middle. A swing at nothing with his weapon created a gust that knocked multiple sailors into the ocean. Making some question their attack. “From the nine winds! Turia! Clashing blades!!!” Multiple moon crescent shaped winds blew from his body towards the enemy cutting many in half. “Commandments! Turn to the top deck! I will push them back from here on!”

“Eye eye cap’n!!”

“GRAAAAAAAAH!!!!!” He swung his blade through the crowd killing multiple sailors, or knocking some into others who fell into the dangerous Valucia sea. “Now for our great escape!” He pierced the Murakumogiri into the wood floor of his ship. Connecting his fist together in front of him. The white silhouette from before glew all around his body as their ship shook viciously. “Let the winds shatter and the earth quake beneath me!” Punching the air on both sides with each fist. It was a moment of silence. White beards crew ran deeper into the ship as they knew this terrifying ancient magic. “COBAKI!!!!!!!!” Cracks rippled in thin air where his fist was pointed on both sides. In a moment, massive tsunamis and raging waves all over crashed each ship in the ocean. Pillars of waters shot up into the sky. Now that the group focused on an outing during these hard times.

The massive warship rocked side to side from this ferocious spell. Until they were able to tuck the sails up and took the gust of wind created by Edward. As the ship was being taken by the wind Edward stood tall looking towards Orruine laughing. Then a smirk grew on his face before it was now time to blast off.

The massive ship blew off away from the dangerous zone. Now releasing the sails they sailed off towards their next destination.

“See we took damage, but nothing to cry about. BAHAHAHAHGAGAGAGAGAGABABABAHAHAH!!!!!” Once Edward was out of reach the waters around orruine and his fleet calmed down like nothing happened.

4 Hours Later
“Is everybody out of the water?”

“All but twelve are accounted for. We’re quite sure they’re dead.”

“Good.” Orruine, for once, smiled.

“That’s not an expression I see on you often, sir,” Hargrave said.

“What’s not to be happy about?” Orruine said, “We have the other sea kings intimidated for at least the next few months, the luxury food the men picked up during the attack didn’t disappear with the rest of the ship, and I have a victory to report to the crown."

“Of course, I’d be damned if it doesn’t make me smile to see that bastard Allen on the runs. Never met a better pirate, if not the better tactician.”

10 years later~ Current Day
Edward woke up from his nap smirking grabbing his jug downing some booze. The alcohol dripped down his chin. Finishing it he released a mighty burp. “Orruine.” He smirked placing the jug down looking at the beautiful sun that guided them through the ocean. Edward’s current location is unknown, but he is somewhere located in the crossing.

 

[Solirus]

Hakai and Rojy
Collab by: Gohan510 and Solirus



​

A day before the current time Hakai had left the facility in search of answers and more information, taking note that walking around in his armor wouldn’t be the best task for this. He had to improvise to better get what is needed to aid him and Rojy further in this world. He had visited the village not too far from the facility they hid within, still keeping its whereabouts hidden as he left at ominous times so that no one would catch him. Hakai learned more than he wanted thanks to the townsfolk and gained new clothing that’ll suit these types of missions from here on out. At first he was wearing a rather simple cloth outfit he found within the facility and hid his face with a makeshift mask.

Rojy was near a terminal in the wall, these past few days Rojy had been doing a bit of everything, from repairing, advancing his tech, and quite forcefully breaking through the security measures in the place just to get access to what he needed and wanted. This time it wasn’t any different as the terminal he was trying to break through was inside the office of the recently deceased overseer of the facility. Rojy had to give it to whoever these people were, the security was top notch and certainly very intimidating, however after some further consistent: bashing your head into a brick wall until it cracks, Rojy was able to break through the terminal and access what information the overseer had access to. Very much to his dismay a lot of it seemed to have been deleted, most likely from internal software deleting data if it wasn’t accessed in some time or an outside source doing. In retrospect this shouldn’t have surprised him much, but from the purge that occurred some information remained intact.

What remained intact was rather simple: information about the facility they were in which was apparently some sort of research station which would explain the “training room” Hakai was using, the names and description of the facility members, and even some of the tasks that had been assigned to the station which were of course left vague. This was a rather interesting discovery, however it was possible that the information could’ve been tampered in order to misdirect Rojy if he ever managed to enter the terminal. He would remain skeptical of all information he extracted from here to be safe. The names seemed to check out, at least that of the overseer, however in the entire list Rojy was unable to find that assassin who had apprehended him and almost killed him, which reminded him that after this he should have a look at the knife. “must’ve not been part of the station” he murmured to himself. if that was the case then it was very likely that the reason they had seemingly prepared the anti magic cuffs was because of the assassin and not the info in the station, why would a research station have information on the summoned when it wasn’t their job…

Hakai woke up for another day showering himself in the cleaning dock, then sharpening and repairing his sword, shield, and armor. He took this time noticing the many damages his gear had taken over the intense training he’s been doing in that strange room with gravity magic. Hakai looked out the window of his room and noticed the mass cave this facility was in. Maybe there were useful resources the deeper they went down. Another question that rested at the top of his mind while he handled his chores. All he knew that Rojy was getting into was doing some really nerdy stuff with all the machines and many contraptions within the building, he called it something like “hacking”. Hakai had instances of remembering names that were gifted to him by mercenaries that had respect for him due to his mass destruction, and cunning ways of getting information out of someone. One thing that lingered within Hakai’s mind was words of a rebellion soon starting up within Mollug, and this name kept ringing, the “Jaded Tome”. While they remained in this strange building Hakai wore an all black outfit with a red scarf tainted in blood that dropped down to his ankles, and wore a beanie type of hat that covered his face. His entire outfit though had wear and tears on it due to the intense training he was constantly involving himself with.

Hakai walked through the facility finding little to no reason to walk towards that room he remembered from before that seemed to belong to a commander. Before this place went to shamble. Hakai entered the room and noticed Rojy, he was still in his disguise outfit, walking towards the bearded man looking at the room around them.

“Find anything?”

“Yes, however it’s not as much as I would’ve wanted.” Rojy responded while still navigating through the terminal.

“What did you retrieve so far?”

“Mostly information about the facility which turns out to be a research station, the staff and their backgrounds.”

“An abandoned research facility?” Hakai took a minute to pause as he thought about it for a moment. “Who exactly does this belong to?”

“Well it wasn’t abandoned, there used to be people here which… I disposed off for being hostile… now who these people are I would like to know too but I can barely get information on that exactly, which tells me these guys don’t want to be discovered”

Hakai listened closely. It didn’t bother him knowing Rojy killed all of the inhabitants in the building. “We should start to keep hostages. If this helps.” Hakai reached into his coat tossing an ID card towards Rojy. “I cannot read it, but I found it on mostly all the dead men and women in here.” The ID card had providence written on the back with a black barcode to swipe. It also had a chip on the front as well as the name of the dead agent. “I’m interested in this unknown group now.”

Rojy caught the ID before looking at Hakai weirdly, “you’ll have to tell me later why you bothered going into the garbage system of the facility… anyways this is a good find, everyone here exploded when dead or about to be so it’s likely many of these didn’t survive the blast… ” he turned the ID around to read it “... hmmmm, here it says providence… this gives us important info… not only the name but in the fact that they don’t want to stay as hidden as we might think...” Rojy leaned back on the chair thinking, he was confused why would such an organization have their name on the back of an ID…

“It’s true many of them turned to nothing when I grabbed them yet all of them didn’t have the same layout. Maybe that person strikes some importance? If they explode upon death it should be simple. The main culprit casted the dark magic Mali. A spell you cast on anyone, upon death they detonate. Many assassins used it on my world to rid of any trace of them being involved.”

Rojy was interested in what Hakai was saying and moved his head to face him, “hmmm, there’s a chance they could be using magic, however judging by the nature of this organization it seems that the explosions weren’t exactly magical, more like chips implanted into someone… I remember that when killing most other members here they exploded rather brutally, however when i disposed of the… assassin I think, they exploded a lot more...”

“Similar to one of those gizmos you've been playing with hmm?”

“Yes and no, it is technology but it may very well be microscopic tech, one I do not want to touch for now…” Rojy paused for a second then looked at the ID again, “Hakai, if you wanted to be hidden but have great control over the people, who would you want to reveal yourself to?”

“A gizmo right…” Hakai picked a booger out of his nose. Once Rojy spoke his name, Hakai stopped. “The person of most importance such as commanders or admirals the highest rank beneath me. Why?”

“You’re getting the right idea, however, if we are talking politically, we want to control the people of an entire nation, and what better way to do that than by controlling their ruler without the people knowing, any fault you commit will fall onto your puppet and you will decide if the kingdom lives or dies… this seems like what is happening, of course they would need for the kings to know who they are, as such the name.”

“If you’re talking about seizing a country then yeah I guess so. Who’s name is on it exactly?”

Rojy flipped the ID again “Can’t read it, part of it is burnt off… but I can guess who it is from the image… oh… it was the owner of this room and the… overseer I think”

“Overseer?”

“Yes, it’s a position of someone who has to watch over an entire area or in this case station, making sure everything is going well and reporting it to a higher authority, this differs from the head researcher, however I do remember the overseer was a doctor, maybe to give better reports on the station… that’s at least my interpretation of them, maybe here it could be different.” Rojy explained before putting the ID on the desk.

“So a general or commander. You lot use strange words and gemics. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. A doctor? So that answers the question of there being a training room. Outside my resting chambers I noticed a tunnel being dug through. A possibility of them mining. Maybe this facility provided the group its rare ores and studies on their body anatomy. Seems this world is full of strange beings. Considering one pulled us from death to here.”

“... A doctor doesn’t need to be necessarily for human anatomy…”

“They were in my world.”

“I’m not saying you are wrong, however doctors at least in my world don’t need to be for anatomy, some can have the title for other fields of study… Hakai do you have an education, academic that is.”

“A what?” Hakai dug in his nose again, finally getting the booger out, flicking it with his fingers off somewhere in the room. “There were magic academies, but they fell during the world's half dark era. Matter a fact before I forget. I guess I should share this information I gained last night.”

“Go ahead”

“Last night I spoke with some of the townsfolk in the village west of here. It seems there is a rebellion starting up within this country which will be beneficial to strike and put our foots down on the map. Apparently this entire country is run by someone named the Jaded Tome. A powerful mage that’s face is unknown though is in cahoots with the high council. I’m not sure exactly where the capital is, but they mentioned a town not too far from here called Remador. A heavy militia city and one of Mollug’s main docks. Apparently another country out of our reach currently peaks over here from time to time. Something about “Royal Knights” and the “World Navy''. Said to be an annoying force to deal with, and something we should keep our eyes on.”

Hakai sat in the old Overseer’s chair and kicked his feet on the desk laying his head back on his arms that were rested on the head of the chair. Hakai’s right red eye glowed from beneath the darkness that hid his face.

“You’re referring to Verruk? That’s the capital of Mollug, I have yet to dig deeper into their government system and or hierarchy… Also isn’t tome supposed to be a book, like… hmmm it could also be a clever name, perhaps certain people can confuse it, think it’s actually a tome… maybe it is… Also if this World Navy, bold name I must add, is an annoying enemy to deal with then I would recommend not picking a fight with them yet, not until we can get a better footing and not before we have dealt with the enemies we have already...” Rojy said checking the terminal again.

“That’s what it’s called? Sure Verruk. It 's a book? Then why are there stories saying it’s stronger than a thousand mages? That’ll be quite disappointing if these people fear a damn book. They said years of good work and presence amongst the oceans gave them the world name. All forms of government that survey the ocean are an underling to the Navy. I planned on not getting involved with them just yet, but apparently the Navy passes through these countries sometimes to help drop off inventory ships. See if that thing I gave you is a key to unlock more information we need. If that’s all we can get then we should keep searching for signs of hints for possible hideouts. Use that big ass head of yours and put it in overdrive!”

“I’m surprised you know the word overdrive… anyways, I doubt the information or… bar code for a supervisor of a single station would show more info on other stations, and even if that were the case, it’s likely this major organization removed all importance there is to the barcode… but I’ll try nonetheless”

“Many spells have the word in it. I don’t know what any of those are. Just do whatever you got to do to get us to find where these bastards are at! Any word from Bella?”

Rojy rolled his eyes, “No word from Bella… I have gotten in contact with a promising member of the guild however, I’ll see if I can use him as a messenger and a spy.”

Hakai stood up from his chair. “Get in contact with him again. Tell him his leader has tasks for him to complete. Get bella to send a messenger bird here and to stay in constant contact with you through him. Also.” Hakai said, starting to leave the room. His back turned to Rojy. “He’ll accompany me on a scout mission through Verruk.” Hakai walked towards the door as it slid open. “Let’s see about this “book”. What’s the hype about.” He left the room with that said as the door closed behind him.

“Sure whatever… just don’t hurt my messenger, he was hard to even come into contact with and I believe he’ll be most useful if he remains alive.” Rojy said just as the door slid shut and resumed his search through the terminal.

 

[Juju]

Salish, JERRY, Forsith, Erza, Jerry againIngredients: Snackofthefuture Gohan510
'Ah good, the brute is beginning to feel the work of the poison. The dosage was correct.' Salish thought smugly as his blades bit their venom into Forsith. He continued to prepare his plaguebolt in a rather calm manner, excited to see the results, but was forced a momentary pause when the dimwitted giant summoned a ball of flame. Really? He only pitied the one who had to sit through lessons with such a meat-brained giant.

Salish dashed to the side, dragging his plaguebolt in one hand and motioning to some nearby bloodbeasts with the other, "Get in there already, you useless sacks of flesh!"

One took the fireball, while the others swarmed Forsith. While they threw themselves upon the charging giant, Salish focused on the spell. Just a little bit more and it would be complete. Just a few more seconds. He could hear the snapping of bone and spray of blood as the giant tore through the bloodbeasts. They were disposable... all he needed was a bit more time. Salish looked up and saw the swords arc beyond the rim of his hat. "Well sh-"

Nearby, Jerry was busy worming his way between the legs of the clashing soldiers. The broken shadows and his short height kept him almost completely unnoticed in the fog of war, which was only broken when he would occasionally slash at the feet of Nortestran soldiers and duck away when they fell. Usually a bloodbeast or Mollug would pounce on the downed soldier, and Jerry could continue on his way. He ran on all fours, like an animal, his arms enveloped in shadowy claws.

"Salish? Mune?" he called, voice swallowed by the clashing steel and screams. He transformed into a bat and flew up high, beady eyes looking around. He saw the giant-man first, and then the scrawny man with the top hat. Without hesitation the little bat dove towards the charging giant, transforming back into the boy mid air. He crashed against Forsith's head and clung on with his arms and legs, his shadowy claws banging against the giant's helmet and scratching at his eyes. Between each strike he squeaked, "Stay. Away. From. Salish!"

Forsith snarled as he felt the poison course through his veins. It wouldn't kill him, but the effects were extremely painful. With every movement he felt the poison strengthen, the exercise of warfare only quickening the spread of the foreign liquid.

The plaguebeasts were proving to be a challenge because of this. They were fast creatures, darting this way and that across the battlefield, whereas Forsith had always been a slower sort. He had to make sure every step was in the correct place, every motion of his blades perfect, otherwise his slow movement would be his downfall. He sliced through another bloodbeast and then found himself before Salish.

Forsith did not enjoy killing, it was necessary in war. But this did not change the fact he didn't feel good about each kill. The Bloodbeasts were one thing, but other sentient beings, that was another. As his blades were about to descend upon Salish, Forsith heard a small shrieking coming from above him before suddenly, a bat-like child dropped from the sky directly onto the half-giants shoulders. The child's hands were enchanted, or perhaps the child itself was. Either way the shadowy claws of the newcomer were not good news.

Forsith stumbled back several steps as the child bashed away at his helmet. Ringing reverberating through his ears, Forsith brought two of his arms over to the child and lifted him from his shoulders, the other two arms Forsith had were in the meantime, sheathing two of his blades and preparing duel fireballs to launch at Salish.

Forsith finally managed a good grip on the squirming child and ripped both him and his own helmet from his body. The helmet rolled to a stop some distance away, whereas the child was flung slightly less distance. The boy bounced against some rubble and rocks as he was flung away from Forsith.

Unfortunately this had given Salish some time. What he did with this time could determine Forsiths fate.

"Well, looks like the runt had some use afterall," Salish said, his eyes glinting with the sickly glow of the plaguebolt. Not one to waste an opportunity, he had recovered quickly from the near-death experience and prepared his attack. The green ball of energy swirled around his hands as he charged it up, aiming for Forsith's exposed face "Now, let's see what use you will have..."

The dark energy reached for Forsith, splitting into wriggling, greedy tendrils. Yet just before they plunged themselves into the giant's eyes, mouth, and nose, a terrible burst of fire cut it in half.

"Crimson Flames! Eternal burning Phoenix!" A massive golden bird flung down onto Salish if it hit or not was completely on chance. Erza landed to Forsith side with her blade over her shoulder. "That clothing looks like they belong to Mollug. You was being jumped so I rushed to your aid, assuming you're on Nortestra's side." Erza looked around the pool of blood, her heart started to pump faster. She had to calm herself down before it took over again.

She looked over to Forsith standing tall. "Erza Scarlet."

The squirming plague bolt exploded, splattering a steaming, green liquid over everyone in a radius of 2 meters. The fire managed to burn away almost half of the plaguebolt, but the other now coated the bloodbeasts, soldiers, ground, and Forsith. Both Mollug and Nortestran soldiers hit by it began to cough and froth at the mouth, while the bloodbeasts simply kept fighting. Forsith's immense size offset the dosage for now, but he might feel an itching sensation in his throat and any skin the plague touched.

Salish did not have enough time to react to the surprise attack and took most of the hit. The force sent him flying until he slammed to a nearby bloodbeast. His fur coat was singed, his hat knocked off, and part of his face was a bubbling red. The air smelt strongly of smoking hair and flesh. Salish howled in pain, holding his hand to his face. The skin began to shift under his touch, and his eyes flared with rage. "You diabolical wench, you think that was clever? Do you think that you've won?"

He tore his nail across his palm and slammed it into the puddle of mud and gore. "My plague will kill you all!"

Starting from his hand, the pool of blood below Erza's feet quickly shifted into an off-yellow sludge. A swarm of leeches and centipedes erupted from it, crawling up her legs and seeking to bit her exposed skin.

Introductions were cut short once she heard her target scream out in response to her sudden attack. She jumped out of the way before any of the plague can reach her. Erza looked beneath her as a yellow pool of muck was under her and insects started to crawl all over her she released burning flames all around her assuming the insects would burn up.

"You won't be killing anyone as long as I stand before you!"

Erza bolted towards Salish at full speeds dodging anything that came her way and trying to get in her way, preparing herself to slash Salish head off this moment.

"ARMAGEDDON BLADE!!!!" The massive aura consumed her blade making it a larger sword. She cut through any blood beast in her way with ease grabbing her hilt with both hands.

"Armageddon!!! Storm Slash!!!" She sent massive red tornado towards Salish not wasting any time for this man to recover. She wanted to end this fight now and not give this new opponent any chance to expose his power.

The plaguebolt exploded into viscera and Forsith attempted another roll out of the way. He was on solid ground eventually, watching as Erza charged Salish. The Summoned had come through for the half-giant too many times and Forsith almost sobbed for the greatness of the warriors that had been brought here. They gave so much, for people they hardly knew. Forsith knew he could not let Erza fight this battle alone. Forsith responded to Erza "Thank you for your assistance."

Blood dripping from his nose, numerous scratches on his face and neck, the half-giant stood up to his full height and drew all his blades. Four shining golden swords gleamed in the afternoon light, the fires around them reflecting off of the weapons. The plaguebolt had only slightly affected Forsith, but the other poison in his system was meshing with the new Plaguebolt and the two combined poisons were proving to be frustrating.

Forsith knew he needed to end the situation fast, get away or kill the Mollug attacker. An explosion rattled the building behind Forsith, an old and small warehouse. Forsith responded to Erza "I am Forsith Ji, let us end this." Forsyth moved around Salish while Erza charged in, the two movements drawing Salish’s attention to be diverted. He would suffer for his mistake.

Jerry picked himself off the ground just in time to watch a red-haired lady cut off Salish’s head and completely torch his body. “NOOOOO!” he screamed, scrambling across bodies and charred debris towards where Salish was.Tears fell from his eyes, but he cried mostly for the heat under his feet and hands.

He transformed into a bat and flew above the embers, landing beside where Salish had been. There was nothing left but a blackened body, shrivelled and crackled from the flames. His head lay nearby, facial features melted away. His clothing and any vial he once carried were destroyed. “Salish...I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry!”

The little vampire kid continued to sob loudly beside the corpse of the vampire. Then he stopped and gasped. The arm moved. “Salish?! Are y-”

Fingers of blackened bone wrapped around Jerry’s neck and a sickening green glow began to emanate from the two. Jerry began to thrash wildly, clawing at the hand while trying to resist the magic forcing their way into his nose and eyes. All the while a sickly gurgling sound came from the decapitated corpse of Salish, almost like a laugh.

​

“I PROMISED HER I WON’T LEAVE HER ALONE IN THIS WORLD!!! We’ll travel this damn thing TOGETHER!!! SO I CAN’T GIVE UP HERE OR EVER!!!!!! I DON’T HAVE THE OPTION TO DIE TO ANYONE!!”​

Erza turned her head towards the direction of Hitori after she cut down a few blood beasts. Her sword aura faded as she glared out into the distance. A small smile creeped her face and it distracted her from what salish was doing to Jerry.

“You're truly something else. Hitori.”

She swung her sword resting it over her shoulder looking around seeing things starting to clear up completely not realizing that Salish was possibly coming back.

Forsith watched as Salish did his number on Jerry. The unfortunate lad did not seem to be in a good position. He had hoped that the Mollug commander would stay dead. And yet, once again, his hopes were dashed. Forsith began to stride over, the poison making every step a difficulty. He meant to destroy Salish completely now.

Erza heard the gurgling finally and turned around and noticed the horrific sight of Jerry being drained by the other vampire. She assumed the man she attacked was a vampire or some other strange monster due to his instant death to fire.

“What? Why is he doing such a thing to his own comrade.” She looked over to Forsith who rushed his way over them, she took that as a sign. Gripping her sword ready to finish the man off, yet some blood beast attacked her. She swung her sword swiftly, it took a moment before the beasts that surrounded her all cut in half. Their top half fell to the ground.

In the corner of his eye, Jerry could see the warrior that killed Salish begin to advance, followed by the hulking brute. He thrashed against Salish's dead hand, fear gripping his heart like a trapped woodland beast. Seeing them approach with weapons drawn was almost more terrifying than the searing gas seeping into his lungs. He managed a small whimper as the skin of his throat began to blacken, the colour leaching into his veins.

Salish was quiet now, but the flesh of his arm began to bloat and twitch. His fingers began to burrow and fuse into the throat of Jerry, almost to the point that it was more of a disgusting outgrowth. All the while Salish's body gave off a sickly miasma so thick that Jerry was beginning to fall out of sight.

Erza blew back some blood beasts with her sword turning her head towards Salish. She jumped back as there were still lingering demons in the area. She jumped on top of a flying one cutting it in half. Coincidentally she was above Salish laying corpse. As the demon fell forward she free fell backwards in a t-pose. Backflipping into holding the hilt of her sword with both hands stabbing Salish in the chest once she landed. It was getting worse his attempts didn’t stop on the small child as they slowly fused in some disgusting manner.

“Let the burning flames of Astra church, light the way during this adventure through a dark tunnel. A tunnel that’ll clog my mind and allow evil to take over me.. Burn!!!!” Her body had a blue glow emitting from her.

“SALA TAKUN!!!!” A pillar of blue flames shot up towards the sky clearing a portion of clouds blocking it’s way. Pieces of what was of Jerry and Salish were now nothing of. Once the flames faded and nothing left of the vamps, Erza struggled to regain her breath. Something about her lungs felt as if they were firing up. “What the?” Slowly standing up Erza wiped the sweat from her forehead.

 

[Juju]

Baroness Ellanora & Ratface[ Snackofthefuture Gohan510 i dunno who else is on the field of battle. ]​

Salish was dead. The loss of her underling came not as a surprise, but as an annoyance. He was careless, putting his pride above reason, and such a downfall was imminent. Challenging a fire-user without proper preparation was nothing short of suicide, but there was no use dwelling on it. The loss of his blood memories would be a pain to handle, but whatever plague he had unleashed would come under her control one way or the other.

Ella hovered on spindly wings, their membranes fine enough to glow with the flares of magic and flames from below. The battle would be ended soon. Already most of her troops had made it out of the city. Many of them lay dead at the vanguard, but the majority's survival was the only success she would aim for. Their sacrifice would not be in vain, however. Such sloppy outcomes were not tolerated under her command.

Somewhere below she caught a glimpse of Murkoff, but the attention she gave him was limited to that. He was likely looking for a fight, but he was hardly worth her time. While this unruly summoned still stood he was nothing more than another face in the army. Troops rallied behind legends and monsters, not little dogs who cannot remember the hand that fed them.

'Mune, it is critical that you do not let the samurai out of your sight.'

'Won't matter after I kill him.'

'Do not underestimate him. A bloodbeast will assist your retreat once the ranks have been secured. I will deal with the remaining summoned.'

Twisting gracefully in the air, Ellanora swooped down above the retreating troops, twin blades dancing. Her work was swift, efficient, and deadly as she carved through a row of Nortestran troops. The blood followed her, spurting into the air like a waterspout. It hardened and twisted before smashing into Rook.

"If you cannot see reason you will be made to knell." Ella's voice echoed as chains of blood wrapped around Rook's arms and legs, like a marionette on red strings. He fell to a knee as the red condensed around his helmet of a head. Then he shifted up, awkwardly heaving his tower and crashing it down into the middle of the Nortestra army. The ground trembled, dyed a deep red. "Soldiers of Mollug, fall behind the wall now or be left behind."

The very ground seemed to come to life as spikes of clotting blood ebbed and flowed like angry waves. Lesser vampires ushered their assigned troops beyond the wall, healing their wounded with bloodmagic, and strengthening the defenders with unholy strength. Alpha bloodbeasts circled overhead, swooping down to grab Nortestran soldiers and dropping them from high in the air.

At the centre of the chaos was Ellanora, blood swirling around her. The puppeted Rook stomped down on the approaching Nortestran troops, providing a gap between them and her soldiers. Some still remained in a heated battle, but her hand was forced. The blood from the field of battle rose up all at once and rushed towards the broken Nortestran wall. Those still on the defending side would find themselves swept in the gruesome tide. Rook was toppled along with it, along with other debris. The wave crashed against the wall, hardening into a disgusting mass of living and dead creatures. Rook lay at motionless in the centre, holding most of it together.

Ella gazed down at the remaining Nortestra troops. With nothing but a single thought, the winged bloodbeasts began to retreat. A few of them managed to lift up a Mollug soldier or two, but many were empty handed. The plagued bloodbeasts on the ground all stood still and silent. Ella let out a sigh, "What a waste of talent. At the very least he could have died with some dignity. Alas, dear Nightshade, I will give some use for your life. The legacy you always desired."

She snapped her fingers and each of the bloodbeasts burst into a rancid spray of ichor, splattering their remains upon nearby soldiers. The ground beneath them hissed and bubbled, glowing an eerie green. "Ratface, retrieve Mune. The last thing I need is to lose another good bloodbind."

"Yes, my lady. Thank you. I will not fail you, my lady"

The alpha bloodbeast dove down, flying in the opposite direction of the other beasts. Ella stared at Sakujo and his commanders before her eyes finally rested on Murkoff. "Do you feel accomplished? Does the victory taste sweet? I do hope it does." her wings flapped serenely, each beat softly stirring the flags and dirtied corpses beneath her. "It will be all the more pleasing when it turns to ash in your mouth. Remember it when your children starve and your kin wallow in pestilence. Remember, Nortestra, remember. Your pride will never nourish you, and your tyrants will never protect you."

With that, she twisted around and flew beyond to attend to her surviving troops.

 

[Juju]

Arc II Endings: Jerry, Nemu, Susan

• Jerry + Salish
• Nemu
• Susan

• 
  Arc II End: Jerry & Salish Gohan510 Snackofthefuture
  The end was drawing close, diving from above like some unholy angel. Below it the demons writhed. A battle of wills.
  
  'Give in, weakling. Your flesh is mine.'
  
  'I'm scared... please, I don't want to die...' the voice was fading, confusing itself. The memories were fading. It could not remember why it was scared.
  
  'Pathetic. Just give up this form so I can do something useful with it.'
  
  The fire burned away his skin, bearing his bones, but he could not scream. The pain was maddening, and all he wanted was it to stop. Where was death to take him away from this torment? He had died once, but never like this. His eyes were gone. What was left of him. His mind was small, and he could feel something slithering into it.
  
  He found himself wishing for his mother. In these final moments all he wanted was to hug her. To tell her he was sorry for running away. It was too late now. Maybe he would see her soon...
  
  'No... you've got to be joking. Don't tell me-'
  
  The amalgamation was burned away to ash, leaving neither flesh nor blood behind. All that was left was a blackened shadow. It was this that stirred, rising up with claws and curled muscles. The thing twitched in the light, like shapes made by a dying candle. It swivelled its head towards Ezra and raised its back, letting out a loud screech before leaping into a nearby shadow and vanishing.
  
  
  ​
• 
  End of Act II: Nemu Solirus
  "Hiba...? Clem..?" Nemu shouted into the empty streets. In the distance she could hear shouts and screams. This was definitely a battleground, but it had a totally different atmosphere without the epic music and heroes. Gloop plodded behind her, his chubby form stark against the grim landscape. His tongue lolled absentmindedly. Even the strange voice had stopped talking. Where was everyone? They had just been together until that swarm of bats got them all mixed up. Hatbat had left her too. How had she lost them all so easily?! She put her hands on her hips. "This totally SUCKS!!"
  
  She took a cupcake out of her hat and munched on it, throwing a spare one for Gloop. He caught it in his face, not even bothering to open his mouth. The pastry simply absorbed into his form and dissolved. "Look, I'm even stress eating!"
  
  The blobby creature bubbled. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sure they're fiiiine! Hiba and Clem are both super tough! Besides, they will be heading to the castle too so we can always just meet up with them there! Maybe we'll catch the princess before they get there!"
  
  They were close now, the castle just within sight. Surprisingly, there was a lot of smoke rising up, almost like there was a big fire or explosion. Come to think of it, she didn't see the top of the towers or anything. Was the castle just super short?
  
  As they walked towards the ruined castle, something came bounding from one of the alleys. It crashed into a street lamp and sprawled onto the ground, thrashing around. It was about the size of a large dog, or perhaps a small child and looked to be made of shadow. The flames from the burning buildings seemed to be doing a number on it. "oooh a shadowfiend! Aww, it's so smol~ A little bb!"
  
  Gloop instantly nommed it. "NO GLOOP! DONT EAT IT!! AHHHH! LET GOOOO!" Nemu screeched, fighting to grab the slimy creature. The shadowfiend flailed like a fish, but was entirely engulfed by the slime. Gloop turned a dark shade of black, then green, then black again. Noxious purple bubbles began to pop out of him, releasing a sour smelling gas. "Ack! Gloop this is seriously bad!"
  
  Nemu grabbed her hat and pulled it down over her ears, nervously trying to decide what to do. Gloop was growing and shrinking while switching between colours. Then, quite suddenly, he spat out the shadowfiend. It was much smaller now, about the size of a mouse, but still had its sharp little claws and horns. Gloop spewed out a sickly yellow and purple fluid, his form shrinking until he was back to his usual cat-size.
  
  Nemu scooped up the slime. "What was that? You could've got sick! Wait, can you even get sick?" Gloop blobbed up and down sluggishly.
  
  The shadowfiend lay on the ground, whimpering. Thinking quick, Nemu searched her hat for a cloth and wrapped the creature in it. She then gently put it into her pocket so it would be safe from the light. "Don't worry, little buddy, you're safe with Sir Nemu! Now, let's go find that princess! You take it easy, Gloop! I totally got this!"
  
  ​
• 
  End of Act II: SusanThe girl was panting, a sickened grin plastered on her face. The ground was littered with demons, their forms smoking in smouldering heaps. Their blood was plastered against her face, steaming against the skin, but she didn't seem to notice. She held a hand against her head, the other clutching the scythe. A giggle escaped from her. Tears fell down her face.
  
  Why wasn't this working? She blasted the newest heap of demons, the violet-black abyss swallowing their forms with eager anticipation. Nothing was left but a faint, sterile scent of ozone. Why wasn't this working? All this time in Valucia it had remained dormant. Yet as soon she had stepped foot in Castellan it had awakened. It ate at her first, and now the hunger was insatiable. Another swing of the scythe, and soon a building was toppled and reduced to nothingness. She felt nothing.
  
  "Why should I care about this world anyway? It won't make a difference if it's now or in a hundred years. It just repeats and repeats. If it's not me, its one of those summoned. Just get it over with." Susan slammed her scythe into the ground, consuming the street below her. A void opened up in its place, almost shimmering as it swallowed the light. She stared down at it, gripping her blade so tight he knuckles turned white. "Nah, you want this, don't you? You think it's the end again. Like hell I'm letting you win this time. I'm not your puppet!"
  
  The maw was silent and hungry. Susan plucked the clip from her hair and held it up to her eyes. She thought the notion of destroying her soul to be a frightening one, but really she only felt a subtle glee. What would happen if a void consumed a void? Could it be erased? The unbreakable shield versus the unstoppable sword. In which life had she learned that saying? Which teacher, or was it a friend?
  
  She swung her blade and held it above the gem, the jagged tip poised just above the silky surface. There was nothing to lose, or to gain. This world would forget her, and its summoned would continue to kill and destroy it. Valucia probably deserved to be erased, but so did she. "Not that anyone would really care."
  
  "Um, so... uh, yeah I didn't really mean to watch this but the street was cleaved in two so I uh, just happened to pass by..." Susan froze, turning her head slowly to the voice. Some candy-haired girl with a blob of jello in her hands. "That.. um outfit... you're a magic girl, aren't you?"
  
  Susan flinched at the comment, and twirled her scythe so it just rested against the girl's fluffy pink hair. With a flick she could cut through that tiny neck like butter. It would be so easy, like taking off the head of a dandelion. "And that doesn't scare you?"
  
  "No way! I'm one too! Well, kind of!" The girl tapped her enormous hat and in a flash of light her outfit changed into a frilly dress adorned with sparkles and bows. "I'm totally a big fan of the classics. Like Magic Mango Girls! A lot of people scoff at them, because they think they're weak and girly, but they are pretty tough heroes that do amazing things. I always wanted to be a hero, so I got the outfit just in case." Speechless, Susan wasn't sure how to respond to such a moron. Of course, the girl took this as an excuse to move on. "So um... is that gem your power source or soul?"
  
  "Both, I guess." she said, still holding the weapon against the girl's neck.
  
  "Right... and you were going to destroy it... OK well... um... here, hold Gloop" Before Susan could object, the girl shoved the green blob of jello against her chest. Susan lowered her blade and held the thing, too confused to react in any other way. To her surprise it seemed to have a face and a tail. She shoved her finger into its head, but it only bounced back. "He's not feeling well since he almost ate that shadowfiend. Just look at him! All green -- wait, he's always green -- but anyway I'm getting off topic again. I have something for you."
  
  Something green and fluffy fell over Susan's head. "Oops! Mmm, here we go!" The girl pulled the soft cloth down around her shoulders, which Susan soon realized was a well worn blanket. Strangely, it wrapped around her on its own, pulling her into a hug that felt exactly like the one Kotori had given her. Her eyes went wide. "Sorry, it's really lame but it mimics the embrace of a loved one. I used to use it a lot... but I think you need it more than me."
  
  Susan was buried up to her eyes in the blanket, her voice muffled. "Why?"
  
  "There's always someone who cares. I know it doesn't feel that way. I totally understand...seriously. But um... the blanket wouldn't work if you didn't. Plus Gloop likes you, so that's something."
  
  Susan stared down at the jiggly creature and blinked. Would Kotori search for her? She would be sad, probably cry a lot like she usually did. Hitori would be sad too. Even if she didn't care, they would. Somehow, that bothered her, but it would be better than losing herself around them. "You're an idiot."
  
  "Yeah! Wait. Well kinda...but like, it just means you can learn so much more! I'm not the best witch, but that means when I accomplish something it means so much more! Total power is boring, anyways. A hero doesn't need to have powers, they just gotta have heart!!"
  
  Susan frowned and looked at the hat on top of the girl's head. It was a sort of dimensional magic, similar to the void, with a pretty experienced nullification magic around the brim. She was tempted to tell her, but after the blanket and big talk it probably would make things awkward. It was in pondering this that she came to quite a sudden realization. This idiot... Susan felt a smile creep on her face. "Nevermind, I take it back. You're a genius."
  
  "Huh?"
  
  "Yeah. Also, you're wrong about the 'being a hero' part. You've done more than I have in a lifetime" The void in the centre of the street vanished, condensing into the gem until it was a solid black colour, reflecting any and all light. The scythe sizzled into a burst of purple embers that quickly faded, followed by her magic outfit. As the nullification gripped the gem, a feeling of lightness washed over her. She passed the blanket back to the girl, along with the jelly creature. "Welp, here goes nothing. I guess if this doesn't work I can always go back to plan A."
  
  "Eh? Do you mea-"
  
  "Thanks... you really have no idea what you just did. Heh... what's your name again?"
  
  "Nemu?"
  
  "Susan. Well, Nemu, you just made someone very angry. That's a good thing. I think. Anyways, see ya. I gotta find some people." Just as Susan turned to leave she was stopped by a pull on her shoulder.
  
  "Wait.. um.. you should probably not go with your clothes like that... ah... hahah..." the girl's face was red, and when Susan looked down she understood what she meant. "Here, you can borrow some of my clothes. We're about the same size, so they should fit! Oh, and don't forget some cookies for the road? Do you have a water bottle? You should always stay hydrated... you know what, take a bag too. Oh wait, I'll add more cookies for your friends when you find them again. Oh, no I insist!...
  
  
  

  

 

[StaidFoal]

=PRINCESS ATHENA, THE CONSTANT=
​

"Daddy!" A young girl flew through the halls. Her platinum locks trailed her as exhausted maids fell long behind. Birds with a peculiar, short and repetitive chirp went rampant outside. Athena watched as her father scooped the child into his arms. A soft, melancholy smile appeared on him as rocked her gently. That day was not particularly memorable, what with the exasperated maids and the fancy get-ups. So why this scenario out of all of them? she pondered. Athena looked around herself, past the box that held the now-frozen memory, where only an infinite darkness filled the void. But the birds were still chirping. Curious, she recalled another memory, but nothing changed. She thought of the coldness outside her ruined palace just seconds before she fell asleep on the spot. Nothing.

"A lucid dream without control..."

"You're not wrong." Her throat clenched dry at the first syllable. Hesitantly, she spun around to meet the ever-so familiar voice. "I didn't think you could smile like that." A million different responses came to mind, but none were said. The Constant took notice of the princess' countenance, failing to muffle an amused chuckle. "You could say it's my lucid dream. You're only here to receive my message." He quietly sat beside her, taking in the paused scene before them. "It's good you're getting rest, especially on an exhausting day like this."

Her side closest to him went cold, tensing up despite his gentle demeanor. Athena released a breath she didn't know she was holding, finding it oddly difficult to speak. "I... was unaware that the Constant could pull people into his dreams."

A wiry smile found its way to his lips. "Oh, you're the first."

"And about the mes—" The birds chirped again, this time morphing Athena's face with unease. The Constant was still staring into the scene, through the windows, as they chirped. She bit her lip while an ill feeling encroached her insides. The "chirping" was coming from inside her head, echos bouncing in her ear like a cave. Every member had one. A failsafe, in case they were compromised. In case they betrayed Providence. In case they royally screwed up. The explosive chip in her brain was armed. In an instant, the Constant had put a leash on her. "If you're here to tell me how much I fucked up..." She clenched her stomach, fighting back the urge to vomit in this odd dream state. "I know..."

Once again, she brought her gaze to his. The bastard didn't even bat an eye. "Funny thing about your father." What the Merde is he on about now? "About ten minutes before this memory, we met King Alexander. We offered him a place among our ranks. A proposition with only benefits." The Constant flicked his hand, fading the scenario away and shaping her father's office. There, her old man, grayed under his eyes and rattling his head against his arm, faced a stranger dressed in black. Security would never have let him past the palace gates, yet there he was. The only notable features of his were the buzz haircut and the flowery cloth wrapped around his head. Between it and his eyes were many petals of red, orange, and blue. "He turned us down. My Overseer was notably furious when he returned. Your father spoke his lungs out, and we never crossed paths again." Finally, the Constant stood. The scenario faded away, and the two were surrounded by black. "He most likely never suspected a day we'd ask you. I suppose he believed 'like father, like daughter' in those days." He turned to her with the usual grin plastered on. "Today has proven otherwise, seeing how hastily you abandoned—"

The Constant stumbled back, bringing a hand on his cheek. It didn't hurt, of course, but it was enough to wipe his permanent grin off for a few long seconds. There the princess stood, fuming, with her arm stretched to the side. She, despite her overwhelming circumstances, found solace in temporarily breaking his composure. She expected at least the tiniest bit of anger from him. Instead, he laughed. He laughed more than he had in his entire life. "To think the Partners wanted you disposed of so hastily." In moments, his smug smirk returned. "Luckily for you, I don't throw away useful things. Fire like that can clear more paths than a sycophant yes-man."

Athena tried to hide the sneer and disappointment at his reaction. He didn't even consider ending her miserable life then and there. But what did he mean... "Useful...?"

The Constant stepped forward, opening a rift in the middle of the nothingness. A bright white shone from it, forcing Athena to throw her arms in front of her to prevent blinding. "Your role in Nortestra is over. There is so much I can do with you holding Xact's hands. And by now, they must think you to be severed from Providence."

A hand over her eyes, she stepped forward to the Constant. "And what of the power gap once I am deposed of?"

"Power can't be destroyed, Athena. It only changes hands. We already have someone to claim it."

She scoffed. "Then I guess you didn't see the destruction brought by the Summoned. What could someone hiding in the comfort of the shadows understand about the front side?"

Even as he only appeared as a silhouette before the door, she felt his piercing gaze lay on her once again. "More than you would think, Your Highness. This isn't the first time that Summoned have been brought to Valucia." The chip's beeping grew louder with each passing second. Athena felt her eyelids budge slightly. "It does not matter how many Summoned appear, nor does it matter how much they think themselves superior." It felt like a blazing hot iron landed on her forehead. The Constant's words echoed around her mind. "Providence is always on top, even if they don't know it. And this? This is simply maintenance." Then, nothingness. No feeling. No headaches. No burning. Nothing. He was nowhere in sight, and she was alone once more. "We'll be in touch."

Athena's eyes fluttered open. The sight of her newfound Xact companions welcomed her to reality. That, and the faint beeping inside her head.

 

[Pai Chan]

Quentin Montilyet & Yvette Montegue
Ilaria, Xact
​

A man in a well dressed suit walked among the busy streets of Ilaria. The city wasn’t his. At least, it wasn’t, yet. He had plans but first there were other things to see to. Quentin wasn’t a stranger to the tourist hub. He visited every so often to see the city’s Countess, Cassandra Hewe. She oversaw the city and ruled it with an iron first. But her grasp on it was waning due to a Summoned arrival.

Aurora wasn’t exactly the leader and showed no interest in being one. She was a woman completely devoted to her faith and didn’t seem to care for anything that didn’t seem part of the Divine’s will. The emperor of Xact found Aurora to be valuable due to her contribution to The Martyrs. While Aurora was a pleasant exception, most of the Summoned were quite violent and a constant foreboding presence looming on the minds of leaders everywhere. Luckily, Xact had friends in high places and were able to get help in forming soldiers to combat and protect the country of Xact from these threats. Not only was Aurora a Summoned but she was a goddess as well. And a goddess that shared the belief in an absolute higher power? The pieces couldn’t have fit any better if they were manipulated and reformed by Providence, themselves. The goddess was crucial in providing the final piece of a formula in forming the perfect soldier. Sure, there were still kinks to iron out. Like, perfecting the formula to work on males as well. So far, only females resisted the, often fatal, side effects of the new recipe. It was still better than none. Quentin suspected it was due to the catalyst being female, herself. It was something to be worked on. A work in progress. But the milestone was reached. They had their super soldiers.

Sure, they were under The Order, which meant, the Church were the ones that had authority over these new potentials. The emperor was fine with it. The formula had to be injected on newborns anyway. And The Order would raise the infants into adulthood with the discipline and training similar to the military while allowing Providence to keep a close eye on the girls. This would also make it easier when they were revealed to the public. Since the girls weren’t officially military and were under the Church, they were much easier received and weren’t just seen as trained killing machines.

Quentin smiled inwardly. The emperor was definitely exceeding expectations. Easily, smarter than his father. Great things were ahead and Xact was already in a good place. And soon Ilaria would be part of the Duke’s controlled territories. All he needed to do was convince Cassandra of marriage.

Even that wasn’t, necessarily, difficult. Quentin had romantic feelings that she returned. Cassandra was a woman after his own heart. She wanted to leave a footprint on Xact but she knew her current status would make it, nigh, impossible. Not to mention her being a woman. It was only by method of inheritance she was the leader of Ilaria. It didn’t matter that she sped up that process by causing speeding up the death of the prior leader. The man was quite old and no longer fit for leadership. It was through the funeral that Quentin met the countess.

Quentin was a man that was rational and collected. He didn’t even believe in fate, let alone “love at first sight.” But he suspected that something very similar had happened when he first laid eyes on Countess Hewe. Was it because he knew she had caused the old man’s death? He didn’t know how until she told him, but during the burial, Cassandra didn’t hold any sign of melancholy like most of the others in attendance. There was something different in the way she looked on. It was more like eagerness. Anticipation.

The woman knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to reach out and seize it. That was what attracted Quentin’s attention.

As he made his way towards the church, someone bumped into Quentin. He turned around and the youth quickly shouted an apology as they quickly made their way to their destination. The Duke corrected his attire before realizing his pocket watch was missing. He looked out amongst the crowd but it was no use. The herd of people were too dense due to it being barely past noon.

The boy looked at his newly obtained prize. The pocket watch was made up of solid gold with diamonds lining the circular edge. Upon opening the case the skeleton watch was made up of a fine silver. The adolescent couldn’t wait to see what price he would fetch. Although, the piece was too fine to barter with a regular pawn shop owner. They would suspect it was stolen. But an underground broker wouldn’t care.

The boy didn’t notice the woman in front of him until they collided. It was like walking into a wall. She didn’t budge an inch.

“Sorry, madam.” The juvenile stepped to the side to pass but, then, so did she. The woman had intended to stop him. She then held out her hand. She must have witnessed the act. The kid would have to lose her like he did his victim.

He quickly turned and made a dash through several people. The child was small so weaving through people was much easier to do than a grown adult. It wasn’t even five seconds before he heard a loud sound.

Was that a firearm?

The crowd dispersed and seemed to leave just him. Like everyone in the crowd immediately knew he was being pursued and made room. Amidst his shock the woman seemed to appear from a haze, in front of him. She grabbed the boy and slammed him on a nearby table, face down. She pinned down his arm and he heard the sound of metal being unsheathed.

The boy barely cried out before a voice in the crowd called out and the woman seemed to freeze. Quentin stepped into the clearing looking annoyed but composed. But upon seeing the boy’s position a smirk grew on his face. He waved a finger as he approached. The boy finally looked towards the woman and his arm to see a sharpened blade mere inches from his wrist.

“This is why it’s dangerous to commit any kind of crime in Ilaria. There are eyes everywhere, watching.” Quentin said as the woman handed him back his pocket watch.

“There are protectors watching. Being so close to Mollug, there is increased security here.” Quentin said out loud so the crowd could hear. “If you are caught stealing you lose a hand. We take theft quite seriously in Xact. You may all go back to your business.” Quentin looked towards the young boy. “I’m sure the boy has learned his lesson.” The woman sheathed her blade and let the boy up. He immediately ran off and disappeared into the crowd that resumed their duties.

“Thank you, Yvette. What would I do without you watching over me?” He pocketed his possession and continued on his way to the church. Yvette seemingly disappeared into the crowd, yet again, to watch from afar.

 

[Snackofthefuture]

MUNE VS SAKUJO
By Juju and Snackofthefuture​

Sakujo opened his eyes wide once, twice, and then a third time. He then kept them slightly closed, narrow and focused in on his enemy combatant. She was a pretty woman, just as many here in this world had turned out to be. Sakujo bemoaned the fact he would have to slay her, bu the thrill of combat had overtakene him and only defeat or death would remove him from his spirit.

Sakujo and Mune circled one another, soldiers clashing around them as the Nortestrans and Mollug turncoats did their best to keep the battle from going sideways on Castellan. Nortestran troops were crossing over the wall using earth magic for the most part, some actually just blasting holes through it with magic power.

The wall had done its job however and the Mollug retreat was far more organized this time. The blood beasts were certainly causing a large amount of chaos but the combined efforts of the turncoats and the defenders was working. The Mollugs were truly being pushed back now, Many of the enemy now reaching the outer walls and beginnign to escape fromt he city.

Many had been slain and captured by the Nortestran re-offensive but the battle was still not yet done. Sakujo had to do something about this woman and her blood magics.

Sakujo then stamped a foot into the ground and brougt a fist to his chest. Bushido magic was his next choice. He collected the energies of his magic within his fist and then after several moments released it, The pent up energy flooding Sakujos hand traveled quickly through Sakujos body, energizing his muscles, sharpening his thoughts and increasing his durability.

Sakujo then brought his blade into both hands and rushed forward. He started with an upwards slash, followed by several jabs and a wide horizontal slash.

With one fluid motion, Mune brought up her offhand. The blood from her sword melted, flowed to her arm, and condensed into an aegis by the time Sakujo's sword struck. Her expression was stoic for the entirety of the attack, blocking each strike with her shield while her crimson eyes locked onto Sakujo's. There was something off about her gaze, and upon closer inspection it would seem that she lacked irises.

"So, why Nortestra? Are you just stupid, or do you like prissy kingdoms on the brink of collapse?" she said blandly, as if bored while waiting for the weather to change.

At Sakujo's last strike, her aegis melded into fluid once more, solidifying around Sakujo's blade. With alarming strength, she attempted to pull the blade to the side while her other hand drew back. A bloody dagger formed in it as she swung her arm down in a vicious cut to the samurai's throat.

Sakujo moved with his blade and after the horizontal slash, the samurai once again grabbed the blade with two hands. The blade was further pulled to the side by Mune and Sakujo nearly let go of the blade before realizing he could flow with this attack.

Sakujo kept a tight grip on his sword and was pulled to the side with the weapon, Sakujo then spun on his feet taking two steps in the direction Mune had pulled the weapon, moving further in a circle around the woman. Sakujo ripped the blade from her blood and dodged backwards, sliding to his knees as the bloody dagger carved through the space he had just occupied.

"In all honesty Miss, I'm here because they asked first. My job here is to conquer from what I've been told, and Nortestra offers me that opportunity. Now, I've answered your question, answer mine; What are you doing on this battlefield? What's the next phase of Mollugs plan? What happens after this?"

Sakujo knew the Mollugs were going to be on the run for some time, at least till they were in more friendly occupied terrain. But he still wished he had an idea of where they'd go and what they do, as any commander might.

"Tch." Mune clicked her tongue as her dagger found nothing but air. It dissolved again, joining her blade seamlessly as the vampire turned to face Sakujo once more. There was a flicker of disgust or perhaps amusement across her pale face. "Ah, so you want to play commander then? How cute. I'd laugh if it wasn't so pathetic. Nortestra can't even offer you the opportunity of its streets.” She frowned at the question regarding Mollug warplans “I serve my lady, and the vampire court. If you truly think I will-”

She hoisted her blade, as if to strike, then her eyes flared red. She sighed and backed away. "Such a waste of talent. Nortestra has once again deceived with their hollow promises. Listen well, Sakujo, this society was founded on cowardice and heresy. They will betray you in any way they can, as they have with each summoned before.” Mune circled to the side, her stance suddenly regal and serene, “If you truly desire conquest, it is Mollug you should side with. We have this country on its knees -- perhaps that is why you sympathized with them -- but surely you must see now what little they have to offer. Those who survive the beasts and blight will starve by the end of the season with their crops torched and livestock butchered. You will have no one to conquer, and no one to conquer with.”

Mune smiled like a puppet, “Ah, but I suppose I cannot change your mind with words. You were curious about our next action, yet I do believe the answer is around you. If you still cling to Nortestra then perhaps we may meet in the house of the raven. I sincerely hope you have gained wisdom before then.”

Mune’s eyes went blank again and her posture stiffened. As if nothing happened, she went back to attacking Sakujo. She made a large sweep with her sword, aiming to slice the samurai in half.

Sakujo smirked as Mune spoke to him, offering him information on the greater surroundings and culture of the land he found himself in. There was great animosity between the Mollugs and Nortestrans. It seemed they were bitter enemies, their feud most likely dating back decades. “You needn’t say much, I'm not here to serve. I will bend the knee no longer, no man or woman will hold dominion over me. I am here to conquer.”

Sakujo leapt forward, dodging inside of Mune’s sword sweep, grabbing her left arm with his own before then punching her directly in the face. The blow landed crisply and left a mark in the center of her face over the bridge of her nose. The samurai then twirled out of range quickly lifting his pistol to put her in his sights. “You misunderstand me woman, I will not be content with anything other than absolute rule. There will be no puppetmaster, no man behind the throne. I will take the ashes of this dead nation and mold from ruin, a great empire. I understand if as of now you are opposed to me, I am an outlander, a stranger, but my laurels are golden, my honor unyielding. Eventually you will bend the knee, or you will die.”

Sakujo then rushed back into the sword fight swinging his blade in a diagonal overhead slash, followed by several more alternate diagonal slices. He then kicked out, cybernetic strength and Bushido magic powering his every move.

Whether the blow connected or not, Sakujo had already retreated several steps, angling his katana in Mune’s direction. An explosion rumbled right behind the Mollug soldier. She was unflinching and focused. Sakujo admired this, but also detested her fortitude, he needed to finish this fight and get back to earning glory.

Mune stumbled back from the punch, though only moved from the force. If she felt any pain, she gave no indication of this, and seamlessly returned back to a fighting stance. Her eyes followed Sakujo's blade as it fell from the sky, raising her own to meet it. Instead of a ring of metal, the blade gave a sickening shriek, like bone being scraped against glass.

Sakujo was fast with his strikes, forcing Mune to stay on the defensive. She willed her greatsword to become a kiteshield as she weathered the attacks, her eyes narrowed and focused. Part of her dress was slashed, and began leaking blood, but she never lost her pace. The magic-infused kick finally managed to shatter the shield and sent her skidding backwards, keels digging into the bloody ground, but still as composed as ever.

"Heh, you're a bigger idiot than you look. Well I can't tell the lady I didn't try to keep your face pretty. Maybe after I kill you she'll fix you up and make you into a proper puppet. Wouldn't that be ironic?" Fresh blood rose up, surrounding the pale woman. It condensed into plates across her chest, arms and hips. "But if you think Mollug will ever bow again, you're in for a rude awakening."

She stomped her foot onto a nearby corpse, and drained all the blood from it so quickly it almost seemed to deflate. Whoever they had been, Mollug or Nortestra, they now formed into spiked hammer. She crouched for a heartbeat then charged for the samurai, bringing the hammer down with such tremendous force the ground shattered beneath it. Even the hammer itself exploded into a blast of blood shards.

Sakujo blanched at Mune’s absorption of the corpse, nearly going pale at the now dessicated corpse. Sakujo then shrugged as he realized he’d seen far worse in the wilds of Amaterasu. The samurai rolled out of the way with a leap as Mune swung her hammer. The maul sent shards of hardened blood exploding into the air everytime it connected with something solid and Sakujo quickly found himself bleeding from several scratches to the face. After dodging several blows Sakujo began to switch to the offensive, his katana flickering through the air with breathtaking speed. The duel between the two warriors was marked by loud energetic whistling and immense wet-like crashes. Sakujo found himself admiring the woman’s skill as they fought, wondering if she could be persuaded to work for the samurai. He doubted there was an easy way to the route of companionship however.

Sakujo returned his attention to the duel and began hacking viciously from each direction at Mune, some blows wild and unconstrained, others vicious and precise in their movement. This duel needed to come to a close soon. “Perhaps you will change your mind about my rule once you have seen what I am capable of. Perhaps not, it doesn't matter if your head lies in the dirt. I recommend you depart with the rest of your men.”

The battlefield was turning into a quagmire of death and slaughter around them as desperate Mollug soldiers around the wall fought against the enraged Nortestrans.

"I've seen enough. You're no different from every other pompous idiot that's ever tried to sit their pompous ass on a throne." Mune said, her expression and tone never changing. Her dull eyes flicked towards Sakujo's face, more interested in the cuts she had made over the dying screams of her soldiers. Even when told she should leave, she stayed where she was and kept up the assault. "Retreat? Hmm, you truly are a slow one."

In the distance there was a pillar of flames, the glow of it burning against Mune's expressionless face. Salish was dead. Mune clicked her tongue, but continued to swing the bloody maul, though much slower than before. Realizing this, she retreated back a step and began to harvest more blood, this time focusing on Sakujo. The blood from his face began to well and slip from him, hardening into spikes that curled in towards his eyes…

Sakujo could tell the blood magic wielder was becoming frustrated with him, as he was becoming frustrated with her. His katana darted back and forth, narrowly blocking and redirecting blows from the maul. His blade was beginning to get closer and closer to her however, and with each strike, his sword approached Mune’s flesh with increasing confidence. The blood from Sakujo’s cuts was against him however and Mune’s magic was attempting to use the fluid to blind the samurai. His eyes were narrowed with annoyance and concentration.

Mune weathered the hits, focusing only on the claws of blood curling in to gouge out the samurai's eyes. Her dress was littered with cuts and a deep red was sinking into the already stained white. She was ready to finish this battle by crippling the samurai, but her plans were changed when something grabbed her with enormous claws. The smell of putrid flesh was overpowering.

An Alpha Bloodbeast swooped down low, snatching Mune from the field of battle. Its tattered wings beat heavily through the air, twisting this way and that to avoid incoming fire.

"Ratface! Let go, you idiot! The samurai is mine!" Mune squirmed, slicing at the beast's arm with a blood dagger. It bounced off the creature's hardened hide, shattering.

Ratface looked down, almost grinning. "Mune was called back by the lady...~" it breathed wistfully at the mention of Ellanora. "Ratface will bring you back to please the lady. She does not want to lose another bind... even if Ratface does not agree about your usefulness..." The beast tightened its grip, digging twisted claws into Mune's shoulders out of a jealous rage.

Sakujo was preparing a spell of earth magic to distance himself from Mune, when suddenly a howling blood beast ripped Mune from the earth. Quickly soaring off, the blood beast carried the blood magic user away from Sakujo with speed. Sakujo sighed in slight relief as the blood around his eyes stopped trying to blind him. He stabbed his blade into the earth as the combat began to edge away from him. Leaning on the weapon, he yawned and watched as the Mollugs routed. Exhaustion filled Sakujo’s body and he sighed once more, this time for much longer with visible relief appearing in his posture.

The Nortestrans were slowing down only because the Mollugs were in full rout. The blood beasts and plague descending from the sky also didn't help. Sakujo found his armor and cybernetics were filtering out the death that descended from the clouds. The battlefield had become a swamp-like miasma of gore and destruction. Several clusters of the demons from the palace were still fighting but ranged magic and archers were taking care of them for the most part.

Clean up would be one hell of a problem.

Reverend approached, blood coating his body, the man a sickly shade of green. He was not dealing with the poisonous miasma the Mollugs had summoned very well. Sakujo made several symbols with his hands casually before saying a quick unintelligible phrase in a language no one on Valucia knew. A glow of yellow light appeared on Reverend, cleansing him of some of the plague magic already in his system. It was apparent this spell didnt do much, but it gave Reverend the edge he would need to survive the following hours. Adrenaline and rage were what most of the Nortestran defenders were using to push themselves.

The royalty of the land was dead and it seemed most of the garrison looked at Sakujo with great respect and admiration. How this had happened was not beyond Sakujo. He was summoned, and summoned got shit done. He knew his fellow inter-dimensional travelers would be the greatest threat to his rule at this point. Their knowledge and power were most likely equal to his own. And yet, he could not afford to trust anyone at this point. The Mollugs had proven no small obstacle, and yet at the same time they had propelled him to the heights of greatness. Without a war to fight, Sakujo would have had to go the bureaucratic route to greatness and power, or worse, had to start his own war.

As the fighting died down around the battlefield, the last of the Mollugs rushing off into the forest and distance, a calm and silence filled Castellan. This was a victory, and yet it did not feel like one. It had felt like a natural disaster, and they were simply the survivors. There was no cheering among the defenders as the battle faded. There were no smiles and laughs of joy at winning a fight for their lives. No, the men of Castellan were not afforded that luxury. The Mollug turncoats and Castellan defenders watched each other with weary eyes as Brother Beast, Forsith and the other remaining vestiges of leadership within the capital consulted one another. The remaining inhabitants of the city and the army had gathered in the slightly less ruined eastern bloc of the city. The plague continued to descend upon the city, killing inhabitants and soldiers with abundance. It was decided that it was time to leave Castellan.

The fates of the summoned in the city were their own now.

Forsith appointed Sakujo Lord Commander of the Nortestran counter-offensive, believing such a thing to be impossible, but hoping it would distract the summoned from attempting to seize power over Nortestra. Power had been split down the middle of Nortestra, much of the military believing Sakujo to be some kind of savant or savior to the red empire. The peasantry liked the foreign samurai much as well, seeing the samurai’s struggle for their nation as some sign of the divine right to rule. His bearing, demeanor and actions all screamed royalty to the lower class of the nation. And yet Sakujo in truth was little better than a middle class, rags to riches general of a world that had moved past monarchy.

This appeasement was not enough for Sakujo however and he quickly found himself, via unscrupulous means and some relatively scrupled ones, the main contender for the throne of Nortestra. With the royalty dead, it made sense for some random foreign hero/samurai to take over right? Wrong. The remaining nobles of Castellan quickly scrambled for some sort of contender to the throne. And their sights settled on the heir to House Ravencrest, Enzio Ravencrest. The people had chosen their champion, and the nobles had done likewise. How this would affect the nation of Nortestra, none knew.

@ everyone in Castellan

 

[Snackofthefuture]

-The Aftermath-

Art by: Momentum by AnatoFinnstark on DeviantArt​

Reverend, Forsith, Ian and Greymourne were the last commanders left of the siege, and possibly some of Nortestra’s last commanders in general. Reverend was fully for Sakujo taking rulership, having seen the samurai’s prowess in person, Forsith was on the fence, believing him capable but not fully trustworthy. Neither of the two yet knew how Ian and Greymourne felt on the topic. Forsith did not fully believe Enzio would make a great king, but the general knew that lad would rise to the occasion if placed in rulership. Reverend simply believed Sakujo would make the more capable leader, having no ties to any land but Nortestra at this point, and having risked his life on many occasions for the liberation of the Nortestran people. The old rulers had been exposed to the people as deceitful and full of hate, the plans of Athena laid bare for the public by the generals and remaining court officials. This along with their deaths made it quite easy for the people of Castellan to begin looking for a new ruler.

Whatever the case for rulership, it had been decided that the remaining inhabitants of Castellan would leave the city for now. They would head for Ravenscourt, one of the new bastions of rebellion and resistance the Nortestran countryside held. It was up to the summoned whether they would come with or go their own way. Speaking of the Summoned, Forsith had taken it upon himself to create a new organization using his newfound authority as one of the last generals of Castellan. The Office of The Summoned opened for the first time with that decision.

Brother Beast was also as promised, given a ranking position with the Nortestran military, his turncoat force outnumbering the Castellan force, 3 to 1. His loyalty was in question but at the same time, the very fact he had turned against Mollug so treacherously made his dedication seem near absolute. He would be hunted until Mollug had been torn down to its very foundations. And still he would truly never escape the shadow of what he had done. The turncoat and his army were all marked men now, outcasts to Mollug and near every nation, fit only to be exterminated.

The Office of The Summoned would be headed by Reverend and a council of nobles. And with this decision, Reverend immediately set about rewarding the summoned. They had truly earned it after all, and Nortestrans were not above rewarding those who had earned it. Sakujo Honomura was given a command position and claim to the throne as was his wish. He received no gold , weapons or equipment. He wanted power beyond that. Bastion Fortress was given a near worthless check for 5,000 gold pieces for his contributions in battle against Mollug infantry and the Coelacanth. Ivan Federico for his consistent battle against the Mollugs was given a near worthless check for 10,000 gold pieces, an honorary position in the Nortestran military and a choice of whatever equipment, weapon or armor he wanted from the ruins of Castellan. Ivan chose a pair of gauntlets that would increase his strength and allow him to cast basic ice magic. The gauntlets were looted from a dead Mollug general with horns growing from his head. Ivan had gotten lucky as he had slain no Nortestran soldiers and hadn't been seen actively assaulting Athena. There were accusations of traitorous movements and an attempt at assassinating the princess, but this was chalked up to PTSD induced visions and seeing things that simply hadn’t happened. After all it wouldnt make sense for Ivan to have been after the princess since he had actively been acting in Castellan’s best interests since he had arrived.

There remained a general air of mistrust around the gunslinger however. The military didnt know what to think of him and there were most likely other summoned who believed he was a traitor. Of course no one but Tobias, Ivan and Caedmon had known they were going after the princess. Ivan had made no attempt to murder her. He had simply fought against Yunica for a short time. This was chalked up to inner politics amongst the summoned. Reverend had seen no misconduct, and it was already assumed that the summoned had inner machinations of their own, given the attempt on Athena’s life by Wakinyan, Susan's indifference to the Nortestrans or the massive amounts of property damage caused by Hitori.

Kotori, for standing by the Nortestran people no matter the cost, no matter the foe, was offered a position as a commander in the Nortestran military and a choice of any item she wished across the whole battlefield of Castellan. A gift of a check for 20,000 gold pieces was offered. Kotori was also made a citizen of Nortestra in the minor noble status, allowing her many privileges and powers in the nation. Susan the magic girl was offered a check for 10,000 gold pieces and a piece of equipment from the battlefield. She was also offered a position as a minor noble. Wakinyan was offered a place in Nortestra as a home whenever he needed it, but it was hesitantly given. Charon the barber was offered a position as a minor noble of Nortestra and access to the greatest barbers and barber lore in the land. Charon was also offered the position of Supreme Barber of Nortestra, granting him rulership of all hair related professions within the glorious nation of Nortestra. For killing Mollug officers and soldiers he was offered a check for 10,000 gold pieces. In essence, these checks were near worthless as most Nortestran land was under occupation. The check would only be useful in Nortestran-held land and Xact land, as Xact was Nortestra’s only remaining ally.

Auron Mell, Varium Vol and Ashe Von Varsoli were all found and offered rewards despite their best efforts to the contrary. They had not been seen in combat but it was believed that Auron had cast some magic to the detriment of the Mollug forces, and so by association the three of them were offered checks for 2,500 gold pieces each. If the Nortestrans had known any better they would have realized that Auron had actually cast magic to the detriment of both sides. But the chaos of war shrouded this fact and the three were offered rewards despite the lack of evidence of assistance. They were summoned however and bureaucracy was weird, so Nortestra deigned to stay on their good side and offer them rewards in general.

Zasha Van Alexei was offered the reward of a check for 10,000 gold pieces and a piece of equipment from the battlefield. Her dismantling of the Coelacanth and efforts against the Mollugs were noted. Yunica Landale for her defense of the princess and Castellan against the many threats facing the city, was awarded a check for 15,000 gold pieces, an honorary position in the Nortestran military and an invitation to join the nobility of Nortestra. Hitori Kage, despite all the destruction of property, was viewed with much adoration. He was offered a check for 10,000 gold pieces and a position in the Nortestran military. He was also offered Noble status and any piece of equipment he desired from the battlefield.

The remaining force of Nortestrans numbered about 3,000 from the initial 10,000 who had defended the city. Brother Beast’s men counted in all about 7,000, a sizable force when combined with the Nortestrans. There were about 20,000 citizens/civilians left in the city. The Mollugs were in full retreat, all 15,000 of them routing in different directions. It was reckoned about 3,000 would die in the coming days, 2,000 would disband and scatter in Nortestra. Another 5,000 would stay together until they reached one of the borders into either Xact, Belldan or Mollug, afterwhich they would most likely disband and scatter into the assorted nations. The remaining 5,000 would most likely join up with the border armies at the old line between Mollug and Nortestra.

The Gunslinger Ivan Federico accepted the offer in full from Nortestra but decided he would leave the nation and head to Mollug in order to start a rebellion. Bastion Fortress the Brawler decided to stay in Nortestra for the time being, help the Castellaners to escape to Ravenscourt. He figured he could gain a larger reward this time around; after which he would head to Belldan and conquer one of the small city states that filled the region. Sakujo Honomura the samurai is now looking to be made king of Nortestra in order to find out more about the world and gain control of events.

Nathaniel Klaus fled the city with Athena and Aurora, reconnecting with his paladins in the field and those at the camp. They then headed south with the princess until they reached the Xactian border army, heading further south until they were fairly deep within Xact country. Plans were then made to bring armies into Nortestra through Mollug. The push would be legitimized by the princess, who would allow Xact armies to govern and kill any rebels or those who might believe the princess was dead. News of the princess’s death spread fairly quickly however and there was a good chance many of the Nortestran people would see the propping up of her as an excuse by the Xactian government to take over Nortestra. The Order’s position on this was unclear, as well as the opinion of the High prince Alarad Lang. They both seemed to be preoccupied with their own difficulties.

Aurora for her valor and service was offered an item from the Imperial Armory of her choosing as well as a higher position within the Xactian military. Nathan and her may not have gathered many summoned to their side but they had found an even greater prize in the life of Athena. Nathan was rewarded with a Grand General promotion and his own choice of item from the Imperial Armory. Events continued to unfold and SIN watched with glee.

Gohan510 Juju YsFanatic Pseudo-nim Solirus Pai Chan Dystopianist StaidFoal

 

[StaidFoal]

???
DURING THE TIMESKIP​

When someone thinks of the afterlife, a number of things come to mind. A warm oasis fit for kings, reserved for those who lived virtuously. A fiery pit in the deepest parts of the world for the unrepentant sinners. A silent, empty limbo with nowhere to be. So when Felicia El Freliti awoke, the last thing she expected to feel was a warm mattress. Curved glass stained a light hue of blue encased her in the bed, and past it sat clean, white walls. Her thoughts sat as a blank canvas, perturbed by the nauseous feeling that tied her stomach tight. Just why did the stomach feel so—Oh. She peered down at the area, where dark stains of crimson blanketed her torso and the surrounding cloth. The wound, though, was gone.

The nausea, though, was immediately overwhelmed by a sense of exhaustion that fluttered her eyelids. In a minute, Felicia fell into another deep sleep...

Only to awaken once more to blinding lights.

"Vitals are all clear," a woman said. "She has made a full recovery, Your Grace."

Her vision was blurry, but she could make out the vague figures of two people in the room. The one standing before her spoke first. "Welcome back, Frostfire," he said. She took notice of his low, sleek voice. "You really are a most spectacular individual."

The Frostfire princess shut her eyes tight. An afterlife or not? Dead or alive? This wasn't the first time she faced an unexpected extra chance. She grit her teeth as the memory entered her mind again. "Athena..." she muttered.

"Don't fret, Felicia. She won't be coming back anytime soon." When she opened her eyes again, her vision was much clearer, but she still doubted her sight. Her surroundings were unlike anything she considered logical. The walls were a smooth, gleaming white. The entrance door slid smoothly to the side and into the wall, not even needing a touch to open. She had a better look at the man—his sleek, cold blue hair and the serene look that built his countenance. His response was certain; knowing. He sat down beside Felicia, who was still lying on the bed. "I'm sure you have questions, but rest assured, the rest of your life and your goals will be easygoing from now on."

She opened her mouth to talk, but the man answered first. "I am the Constant. The second-in-command of a type of company..." He held a hand out to her, holding a shine. Looking at it closer, Felicia could make out the finely crafted pin of a silver eagle. "Providence." He put the pin back on his shirt. "Our job is to maintain the world's natural order from behind the curtains. Has been for over 500 years. We've never faced a road bump until you and your group came along." Felicia observed the rest of her body. Her dress was changed out for a new, unbloodied one. Even as she breathed, she felt no complications in any part of her chest. "Saving your life is a crucial step for said maintenance."

He must have noticed her staring at the new environment, for he answered the next question that immediately popped in her head. "You're at the Isle of Andilowa. It's a relatively small island on Valucia, you won't find it on any map. But this is where Providence was born, and it is where all of our operatives come to meet. I imagine the technology comes as a shock to you, but know that that will be the least of your interest in the following days."

Felicia sat up as their faces came to mind. Ivan. Kotori. Charon. Athena. "Nortestra? My friends? What happened to Athena?"

As if on cue, he brought out a metal disc, laying it flat on his palm. "The Second Siege came and went, but at a toll for Nortestra." Hovering above the device in a blue hue were the ruins of the palace and the surrounding city. "Athena fled, losing everything she worked hard for. All she had left was her reputation. But all it took was a little systematic nudging, and her public opinion fell flat. Nortestra won't even want her name in their books."

Felicia couldn't help but smirk at his answer. Just like that, she slept through her revenge? But she admired the efficiency he presented. By the sound of it, this mysterious 'Providence' despised her as much as the Frostfire princess did now. "That's cold. I like you already," she remarked. "But without a princess—"

"That's where you come in."

Felicia stopped in her tracks. It was all that she wanted. Control over a kingdom, but this time she wouldn't royally screw up. She'd have steadfast and loyal subordinates. She would do what she could not back then: deal with betrayers, come up with schemes, treat the people fairly and basically become a lovable queen... So why did it feel wrong? "I... need to think about this."

"No, you don't," the Constant inched closer, forcing Felicia to meet his golden pupils. His hands rested on the side of her bed, just barely touching the Frostfire princess. "What you should think about is what you will bring to the table." He soon leaned back, allowing her to release a breath she didn't know she held.

Was this fine? Taking something with no effort. No negotiations, no work, nothing. Is this the way organizations like Providence operate? Instant gratification? "But... I don't even..."

"We have someone to show you around Providence. You can trust her." He looked to the doorway as it opened, as did Felicia. Arms crossed, a blindfolded man with vivid flowers between it and his eyes appeared. Despite his blindness, he turned his head to the Constant, nodding at him. The Constant sighed through his nose, looking back at Felicia. "You have lots of work to do when you return to Nortestra, so she will help... reinvigorate you by then."

The door slid open once again, revealing another man. This time, even the Constant showed surprise, albeit solely through widened eyes. The stranger was a thin and frail man who steadily made way with a limped gait. Grey hair ran down his head, joining with his untrimmed beard. He wore a sleek, white coat with a red inside visible as the bottom occasionally fanned out. A golden trim lined it and the zipper down the middle.

"Baron?" the Constant mouthed, standing to meet him. "What are you doing here?"

He stared blankly at the Constant for a few moments, then breaking into coarse laughter. Unlike anyone else in Providence, he looked at the Constant with a wiry smile and put his hand on the secretary's shoulder. "Don't act so surprised, Hiraoka. I live here." Taking his hand off and holding them behind his back, Baron turned to Felicia. Contrary to the Constant, Baron spread an aura of serenity that pierced and soothed her heart. "I don't recall the last time I saw a summoned in person," he stated. He put a hand over his chest. "I'm Baron Ezekiel. I mentored this man," he pointed back at him, "to take my place as Providence's Constant. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Freliti."

Felicia was at a loss of words for a good ten seconds before mustering an "It's an honor to meet you, too."

Baron let off a dry chuckle. "The last summoned I knew of was the Chairman. It must have been over 50 years ago. I was only a young man trying to find his place in the world. It was on that day that I learned of the existence of Providence. One of the Overseers, Idan, was it? He appeared before me to deliver a message: I had shown extraordinary skill in—"

"Ahem." The cough came from the blindfolded man.

Baron laughed yet again, putting a hand over his chest as it morphed into violent coughing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He waved to Felicia and the Constant. "I'll see you all later. I need to fill this body up with more oxygen."

When the door closed behind him, the Constant finally spoke up to Felicia. "I wish we had more time, but I have a meeting to get to." He stood amidst Felicia's abrupt stammering and barrage of unanswered questions. But in a second, he brought a finger over her mouth to hush her. "We'll be in touch, Frostfire."

The door slid open for the umpteenth time, but this time Felicia was the one who froze. Without her realizing, the Constant removed his finger and walked with the blindfolded man past the recent visitor. Brushing her red hair to the side, the beast person smiled brightly at the awakened princess.

"Meira!?" Felicia shouted, rushing to her feet at the sight of the advisor. Before she even realized it, her arms wrapped around the young beast woman, relieved to reunite with someone familiar.

"It's... good to see you too... Felicia..." she breathed through the tight squeeze. Even with the firm grip around her waist, Meira wiggled her arms out to return the hug.

When they separated, it didn't take long for Felicia's countenance to sour. Meira felt her own smile falter when she realized where the princess was looking. "Your horn... What happened?"

She shrugged. "I messed up, is all." Meira already plastered her smile back on, pointing out the automatic door. "Anyways, we have lots to do here before returning to Castellan!" she giddily exclaimed. The concern on Felicia seemed to vanish as Meira didn't appear to care. As long as you smile, they will smile, too. "As a recruit, you will need to know everything that goes on at Providence, starting with a basic tour around the Isle of Andilowa! It's a really fancy place compared to anywhere else in Valucia!" She led Felicia out of the infirmary, where a whole world of advancements and sights froze her in place. Everyone has this reaction at first. "From now on, I will be accompanying you!"

 

[Snackofthefuture]

-Detra Coldspire and the political state of somethings-

At The Wall by andreasrocha on DeviantArt

www.deviantart.com

2 weeks after the siege of Castellan:
Detra looked out over the encampment of Mollug soldiers she had been placed in command of. This was a defensive army of little more than 5,000 soldiers. The composition of the force was well-rounded for most any situation or combatant. The soldiers that composed the force were near all empowered by the Jaded Tome. Those that weren’t were either new or in command of such powers that they did not feel the need to embrace the book’s gifts. Detra was one of those few that relied solely on her own strength. This wasnt to say she did not make full use of her resources, but she still valued her brain and independence more than access to power. This was one of the reasons she had been placed in command of the force. Her mind was unclouded by the Jaded Tome’s machinations, so the High Council trusted her to not make decisions that would ultimately benefit the book more than the nation.

Two weeks had passed since the disastrous siege of Castellan, and Mollug was on high alert. Crackdowns on rebellion and malcontent behavior had continued throughout the country, guided by the Inquisitors of the Black Academy. Mistrust and paranoia pervaded the whole of Mollug, twisting the nation even further into a fit of self-destruction. And all the while the Jaded Tome fed. The book of souls, the repository of magic energy centuries old, gained power no matter what anyone did. The nation and the chaos it brewed fed the old book. It grew in power whether or not Mollug was in a good place or not. Detra was beginning to lose hope in her nation, though she’d never let it show. Early on in the rule of the Jaded Tome, Hendrick Ollo had used the book to fix cities, enhance miles of crops to produce bountiful harvests for years, enhanced citizens crippled by war or disease and had even pushed back the armies of Xact and Nortestra when war had seemed inevitable.

These days, the book was no benevolent ruler. Slowly the book had influenced the mind of Hendrick, in order to better shape the nation of Mollug to its own purpose. Fortresses had been built, mines depleted and citizens blessed. Whether these blessings would remain positive was only up to a matter of time. As more and more people of Mollug took on the book’s blessings, more and more began to fall under the influence of the book. Those born to blessed parents, were in turn blessed and soon whole families and cities were under the power of the book. The nobles and High Council turned a blind eye as they themselves were under the influence of the book. They didnt even require the blessings themselves. Simply the sight of such subservience was enough to make the upper classes cackle with glee. Soon Mollug was under the thrall of The Jaded Tome, its power compelling the lower and middle class to become near slaves to the upper ruling court.

The debauchery of the situation was not unnoticed and many within Mollug rebelled or simply left the nation. The rebels were mostly put down and those who ran were chased to the very edges of Mollug territory. Much of Xacts borders harbor thousands of these Mollug immigrants, who gladly bolster the Xact Empire’s ranks for a chance at liberating their homeland. Many hope to one day liberate their former neighbors, despite the fading hope that there may be a way out from under the book’s subservience. Detra, despite all these concerns, still knowingly served the Mollug kingdom and the High Council. She was aware of the atrocities of the book and yet she continued to work for the malevolent entity. She had seen the power of the book firsthand, and knew it was not something she could resist. Detra was ashamed of herself for the deeds she had committed in the name of the Dark Kingdom, but still she strode on. Not out of duty or honor or even some misguided attempt to maybe one day subvert the Jaded Tome from underneath. No, Detra served out of fear.

Detra’s life and all she knew was in the hands of the book. It could extinguish everything she had ever known in the blink of an eye. She had been trained at the Black Academy, risen through the ranks to High Inquisitor, she had seen what people did to themselves and each other for the book. The nature of man was to seek power, and those at the Black Academy did so with glee. Many stronger than her had perished on the way up the ranks of the Inquisitorial line, and Detra knew exactly why. They had been selected for death. Those that had died had been chosen to do so, at the bidding of the Jaded Tome. Entire classes had thrown their lives away in pursuit of the assasination of singular powerful inquisitors. Detra had been chosen for some reason by the book to bear the weight of The High Inquisitor title. It had a plan for her and that terrified Detra.

But she would not go quietly, she was Detra Coldspire, and even if she shook, it was from the ice in her veins rather than the fear in her soul. Perhaps an opportunity at escape or redemption would provide itself, but until then she would simply survive, simply keep up her continued existence.

Detra turned away from the edge of the wall of the fortress, noting that the scholar Marika was approaching her. Marika was a strange, yes even quirky, sort. She was obsessed with Summoned, an exceedingly powerful mage and had at one point, read through The Jaded Tome without falling prey to its influence. These combining factors made Detra question why the Jaded Tome had ever allowed her to join the ranks of Mollug’s top researchers. But Detra would not question this, as doing so would probably leave her a stain on the Verruk Courtroom floor. Marika smiled a wide smile and skipped along giddily as she neared Detra. The two were friends of a sort so it was not unpleasant to Detra to see the researcher. Marika started with “We have located the new rulers of the Dark Guild in Boreal. They are most certainly summoned and we have concluded that their powers are not to be trifled with. Hehehe in fact they seem a considerable threat at this point. It would be ideal for them to be eliminated as soon as possible. There is also word of a new faction of rebels gaining power in the central mountains. They Call themselves the Brotherhood, and once again they are lead by a Summoned.”

Detra sighed and rubbed her forehead at the correlation. Why was she not surprised that both factions were led by Summoned. Marika continued, “We’ve determined the vaguest sense of abilities the two new Dark guild masters possess, and have as such dispatched Mollug residential police to take them in. We believe that they wish to gather influence in the region rather than simply slaughter all in their way, hence the decision to take control of the dark guild. If the situation escalates upon the police’s arrival we shall send in one of the reserve armies to take them into custody. A small force of Mollug cavalry and spellswords have already descended upon Boreal, rallying support from the local inhabitants and those under the Jaded Tome’s blessing. This force will suppress the dark guild in case the two summoned attempt resistance. If this turns into a slaughter, the situation will look very bad for the two of them as they are still foreigners and summoned. The Residential Police force is made up of Non-blessed and volunteers so as to seem non-compulsory, if they are attacked it will be seen as an attack on the people of Mollug. A terrorist attack if you will.” Detra smiled at the idea, hoping that the summoned were sensible enough to know that starting a war on Mollug’s people was the opposite of their goal of power.

Marika saluted, finishing up her report and then turned around with a wave, saying, “I will be going over the new information on Castellan and Nortestra if you need me. The situation has truly turned dire for our advance there. If the remainder of the Castellan force reaches Ravenscourt or one of the rebellious cities, that will be disastrous for our occupation.”

Mollug still had 4 large armies spread out across Nortestra. One army in the north, holding an uneasy stalemate with Czarsnikei royal soldiers. Another was besieging one of the last free cities on the north western coast of Nortestra. A third army was on the border of former Nortestra and Mollug only a hundred miles north of Detra and Marika’s position. The last army was near the border of Belldan, Mollug and Xact. There were many more armies in Mollug itself but the occupation force of Nortestra needed replenishment if it was to last.

On the border of Mollug and Xact war had broken out once again and Xactian soldiers poured by the thousands into combat with southern cities of Mollug. Casualties were high and reports of old Necromantic magics were coming in at alarming rates. Seems the Mollug inhabitants of the Southern cities had been studying High necromancy, from an old source many claimed to be Yoldra, one of the earlier summoned. Of course Yoldra had died a long time ago in a place quite far from the Xact-Mollug border, so that information was quite nonsensical. Of course there was some good news as it was reported the entire royal family of Nortestra had been slain. This would fracture the Nortestran people most likely and allow Mollug to focus on Xact and the reports of rebellion sprouting amongst the nation.

Brother Beast had also been reported as having gone full-turncoat, turning on the invasion force of Castellan with alarming viciousness. General Cardoza Ademar was reported as slain in a deathmatch with General Sulric Trynd. General Synthia was reported to be quite dead, missing a head in fact. All these facts were disturbing enough on their own, but altogether were quite a blow to Mollug. Detra was unphased however, there were plenty other capable leaders in Mollug and Baroness Ellanora Nightshade was a perfect example of this. She would hold the Mollug occupation force together while Mollug built itself up to take on its foes.

Detra sighed and walked along the wall until she reached a set of stairs, she went front here deeper into the fortress, mulling on the decision she needed to make. She could either dispatch the rebel force of the Brotherhood, head south to the Xact-Mollug conflict or deal with the remnants of the Castellan force. As she reached the tallest tower in the fortress, she composed a simple spell of communication to her commanders. She had decided to head after the Brotherhood. Destroy it before the upstarts could gather more forces.

SirDerpingtonIV Gohan510 Juju Dystopianist Solirus YsFanatic Pseudo-nim Pai Chan StaidFoal Kloudy

 

[Solirus]

Rojy's Journal

​

Spoiler: Day 2

Day 2

This was very unexpected for me. Apparently, Hakai, out of all people, stumbled upon the facility. I was told by lawful that it was likely he tracked us, but I retorted by stating chaotic had most definitely been inside the domain while travelling the direction, the chances of Hakai going the same exact direction would be way too low. Lawful retorted once more claiming he could’ve seen us and Chaotic wasn’t trying to hide himself, I shot back saying we didn’t travel through any towns and the time discrepancy between the possible amount of time Hakai was following us and the actual date he arrived were too far apart to be related close enough. I messed up my wording by I think he was able to understand my point, he didn’t speak for the rest of the day unless it was towards Hakai.

I mostly ignored the interactions they both had, Hakai unnerves me… Thankfully I was left to my own thoughts as Chaotic seems to either be too rowdy or simply falls doesn’t care and simply falls into some sort of sleep which I didn’t bother waking up. I’d wish he’d stay like that for longer.

Aside from that little ramble, I didn’t do much today, I opened up Project one or at least the incomplete mess. It’s main cannon had been fried when fired, the capabilities were powerful yes, but if it could only be used once then there was no purpose in keeping it that way. I quickly removed the broken parts and started writing down the pieces they needed replacing, or that I thought did, this was a valuable learning experience.

BIG NOTE: Be sure not to connect too many cables from the canon to the actual core, you wouldn't want an explosion or a fry that affects the entire thing, minimize potential internal damage.

Note much else really.

Spoiler: Day 3

Day 3

So quite a few things happened today.

Firstly, I managed to replace all the parts that got fried from project 1’s arm.

Secondly, After giving control to Lawful for a section of the day, we discovered Hakai almost died in one of the chambers, almost being crushed by gravity, great. It was a sweaty mess too. I had to clean that up, and afterwards I decided to check in the systems of the room. I was really astonished, however something I still needed to learn. Lawful told me to write down as much from the place as possible since it’s likely whoever owns this place will either take it back or want it destroyed.

Spoiler: Day 3

• I have the notes on the tech in a separate notebook. I also didn’t touch anything in fear of breaking it.

Thirdly, after learning Hakai almost died, lawful made the remark that one of us should learn to heal or simple biology, I didn’t respond but Chaotic found it amusing and said he’d look into it… I’m slightly worried.

• Note: Chaotic has begun picking up medical books and biology and has taken an interest in them… I’m growing increasingly worried.

With the remaining time of the day I decided to work on more of Project one and finally finished the blueprints for at least the first version, it’s sloppy but it’ll do for now. I have the main body hanging in a big room which I’ll be using for research and building. I'll need to find another room for testing.

• Note: this means I need to keep searching this base more thoroughly

Spoiler: Day 4

Day 4

I continue progress on Project 1. Note for other readers I guess: I don’t sleep, doing my journal is the last thing I do every day and I get back to work… that was pointless, anyways.

I changed up the blueprints a bit, as I look back into my memories, the other arms wasn’t another canon but it seemed to be a sort of grenade launcher, that will be tricky as I also need to work on it’s ammunition, I’ll worry on that later, first actually get the thing to work properly.

The cables from the arm, the core, and the memory have been connected. I tried to make the move on command. The arm moved well but it didn’t stop moving, when I stopped it, it had already damaged and dented the wall, minimal damage to Project 1 itself… Seems I’m doing something right.

Note: Check to make sure the internal wires are messed up or damage, superficial damage shouldn’t be a clear indicator that the interior is not damaged.

After that I went ahead and set up the “training room” Hakai was using so even a grade schooler could use it. No incident today.

The Rest of the day was spent with Me and Chaotic alternating between books. He was impatient but I was weirdly happy he wanted to read more… He still insults me.

Lawful was quiet for the rest of the day

Spoiler: Day 5

Day 5

Nothing new

Hakai just keeps training and calling me weak, he also eats at the cafeteria, it’s a mess. I’m not cleaning that.

Project 1 is coming along better and better, now both arms are connected and I’m working on making sure the arms won’t go flying when I -

Note: Don’t specify how things are made, just in case, there’s a separate notebook for that.

Project 1 now has more things added to it so it no longer begins wailing around when given energy, thank goodness.

Chaotic and I kept reading books. I peaked a bit and noticed he was already in Neuroscience, here I’m hoping he’s actually understanding what he reads, if not that would be disastrous.

Nothing much-

Scratch that, Lawful has decided to take control for a while, it seems he’s practicing his… talking? He does it infront of a mirror and ignores most insults thrown by Chaotic, he budges at some however but he doesn’t retaliate. Ok

Spoiler: Day 6

Day 6

Finally after a long while I built the entire body of Project 1. It’s bigger than I remember. I think it’s 7’6, might be wrong. I still need to finish other internal aspects.

It’s also heavy, shouldn’t be a problem after everything’s done, the barrel of the grenade launcher also seems to be rather small, I’m hoping the grenades aren’t too big, it was hard enough to get it round.

Chaotic seemed a bit angry today, he taunted us a lot more. Lawful decided to strike back in a weird way. He said instead of wasting his time spewing nonsense, he should instead use it for something productive, he said that in a complicated way.

Note: Lawful seems to change the way he speaks depending who he’s with, with Hakai he seems a lot more clear and tolerant. Just and observation.

Chaotic didn’t seem to be bothered, however Lawful continued and actually Complimented how he used the guards own weapons to shoot them, of course it was crude and… unnecessarily brutal, but he was surprisingly adept and handling the recoil. Chaotic hesitated but decided he’d try it soon, before not very kindly telling Lawful to fuck off and me too, I didn’t say anything, I was still working on the wiring for Project 1.

Aside from that nothing more. More reading from the both of us, although Lawful also decided to read, especially the world and the countries, needless to say he spent the most time reading. With the rest of us doing more and more things, it’ll be harder to progress on the project lawful wanted me to do…

Spoiler: Day 7

Day 7

Same old day, I work on project 1, I’m liking my progress with Project 1, most of it is almost complete, only missing parts are…

Note: Don’t reveal in detail

Important parts are missing.

However today was a special day, Chaotic finally decided to take up another hobby, or two. We picked up the weapons of the guards Chaotic… He started firing and actually using the weapons well, then I suggested he shoot them in a firing range and not the garbage area, he agreed after calling me trash and I should join the rest of the corpses.

The control of recoil Chaotic has is very good, but he lacks accuracy and the way he holds the gun is… unorthodox to not say he’s holding it terribly, he also decided to start throwing and wielding knives…

Speaking of knives, I also spent the day very carefully examining the knife from the assassin the other two fought. This facility has it all and I was able to determine with a bit of help from Chaotic.

Note: Chaotic seems to be a lot more reasonable when talking or doing work involving biology, medicine, and maybe in the future guns.

That the knife has a strong enough poison to kill 10 elephants in under 20 seconds… very dangerous stuff. Chaotic and Lawful both agreed that we should keep it and even modify it, a suggestion was to make the poison a toggle… I begrudgingly accepted the task. It shouldn’t be too hard with what I had to put up with Project 1.

After that we went back to reading and all of us got an equal amount of time surprisingly… Hakai still hasn’t cleaned up the cafeteria.

Spoiler: Day 8

Day 8

Actually, I didn’t start off the day with working on Project 1, instead I worked on examining more of the technology of this place, figuring out a lot. This was mostly suggested by Lawful, since I was planning to do it later but Lawful mentioned how we might not have as much time as we seem to have…

As I broke very angrily tried to break through the main computer or terminal in the overseers room, I finally broke through it and managed to get only partial information as, most of it had been cleared the only things

Note: don’t name what survived

While searching through the computer terminal Hakai walks into the room and I immediately swap with Lawful. Thankfully he had been paying attention to what was happening and quickly began discussing with Hakai about stuff, I didn’t pay much attention because frankly I didn’t want to. Instead I pondered about what else I can do to improve Project 1 and what future projects I’ll do…

After their conversation was over and Hakai left the room, Lawful explained some important bits, and explained what seemed to be the name of the organization we were dealing with…

NOTE: had to erase this because Lawful insisted I shouldn’t reveal such valuable info here…

After that I actually decided to start planning out how Project 1 will actually be moving and it’s decision making, but not much else really

The Chaotic decided to shoot some more… he’s getting alarmingly good at a scary rate… we ran out of ammo today and we spent the rest of the day learning to make ammunition, with a small time to read books… a very productive day if I’m quite honest… for the wrong reasons.

Spoiler: Day 9

Day 9

Today I learnt Lawful was in contact with a member of the guild, not even chaotic knew about it. His words make it sound like the member entered the facility but I didn’t hear anyone or anything even entering and he didn’t once speak… I have a theory Lojy is a psychic…

The first half of the day Project 1 was finally finished, except for it’s left arm… that would be tricky to get around, and I also needed to test out his main cannon arm to make sure it wouldn’t short circuit and melt again. It was also fun learning how to have the arms retract so it could switch between hands and gun

Future Note: I regret giving Project 1 fingers and a hand, it’s a programming nightmare… not doing it next time, or making major changes.

Now all that’s left for Project 1 aside from the left arm is the actual AI or just systems inside. That will be fun, either I can go for self learning or… actually I should give it a lot of base commands and have it slowly learn by itself, I’m not a military genius. Saves time, and perhaps makes it better than what I could’ve done, I’ll just have to burrow one of the surviving computers… I’ll need to create these in the future.

Note: Development of Project 1’s AI will be kept a secret cause…

Today I was also told by Lawful that I needed to teach Hakai out of all people academic courses… I refused, instead I told him I could teach him first and then he could teach hakai… Although it turned out unnecessary as when we actually taught him we needed to teach him addition

ADDITION

Needless to say it was a cake walk and we had to wake Hakai up with a gunshot in the ceiling…

After the class I went back to read books and Chaotic voiced his annoyance with the gun, exclaiming how he was getting too good for the gun…

Note: Now I need to add a list to work on the knife and upgrade the gun from the Station guards… Lawful won’t tell the name of this organization, I guess that’s good?

Spoiler: Day 10

Day 10

I started working on project 1 and let it learn stuff itself after setting up a nifty program in the computer terminal thing…

Once leaving it like that I began working on the knife, I made sure to put a hazmat suit I found on the station, and some extra gloves on top of that just in case, I didn’t want to cut off my hand without hesitation in case I caught the venom…

And so I first extracted the venom of the blade, checking it through a microscope, it was clearly tampered with, as to last longer before needing a new coating and additionally it had many chemicals I didn’t really identify… I wrote down the compositions and such.

I then got to work with making the new knife, after having worked on Project 1 it seemed a lot easier, but making the actual blade was weird, I tried simply making it with my power but it was either too sharp and as such too weak or too thick, in the end I used a thick one and slowly sharpened it. Then I left the knife to work on the toggle part for another day.

Then, I was once more notified by Lawful that Hakai was to teach us magic which I immediately responded by telling him I wouldn’t want to be around for it, so Lawful was the one to receive it.

And even though I wasn’t controlling the body, I felt myself going dark, then, unconscious and then waking up dizzy and confused, Chaotic and especially Lawful were confused…

Very weird day, Lawful now had a sort of idea of what Magic was but he didn’t experience the actual magic part, at least for a split second it felt like it…

Note: Weird shit

We finished off the day with me getting cut with the other knife, the one without the poison, it hurt a lot. I made it really sharp but it was still tough enough…

Note: It really hurts, how do Lawful and Chaotic Brush off pain so easily?!

We ended the day with Chaotic covering the wound in a very professional way… a bit too professional, he took it very seriously, and then insulted me and Lawful for some reason…

Then we read more books and I learned that the way I set up the cannon for Project 1 would’ve ended up in a super hot explosion… I immediately fixed it which gave us less time to read…

RIP

Spoiler: Day 11

Day 11

Ok, so apparently Lawful had a piece of grass which he collected after the alleged magic training and he told me to check it… why he didn’t tell me yesterday is beyond me.

Upon investigating it further I found out that the plant was still green yet it was completely dead, it was totally dry once I accidentally broke it… I asked him if he had thrown this into the vacuum of space and simply responded that the surrounding grass was like that…

Weird…

However after that weird investigation, I wasted most of my time finishing up the knife and applying the venom to it, and it seemed to work fine.

I was then reminded I also had to modify the assault rifle the guards had used which I said I would modify the rifle once Project 1 seemed to be working fine. Now talking about Project 1… well

I had forgotten to turn off the terminal that was teaching it everything. I then released him and finally activated him…

Note: Stop calling project 1 him

When activated Project 1 proceeded to attack me since it didn’t know friend or foe, thankfully it didn’t know how to use the cannon yet, however it figured out the best strategy was to punch me in the groin… it hurt a lot, Lawful took over and turned Project 1 off

TO do:

Spoiler: Day 11

• Make Project 1 discern from friend or foe
• FIX THE BATTLE TECHNIQUES
• Work on [REDACTED] too classified apparently…

Then the day was teaching Hakai, more books and that was it

Spoiler: Day 12

Day 12

Project 1 was finally updated, which would hopefully cause it to not attack me. JUST TO MAKE SURE, I brought him to one of the bigger rooms of station

Note: Project 1 can’t leave my domain… that’s going to complicate things it seems…

When activated Project 1 didn’t attack me, and when I gave it a command it did it fluidly, they were simple like “walk here” or “Jump three times” it did them all really well. Also I had made it so it would not follow other voices… however since it’s very likely my voice can be copied I have something more reliable planned, something even Lawful and Chaotic won’t be able to use… hopefully.

Now came the big part, where Project 1 had to test out it’s main cannon, so I created a wooden target with my power and taking safety measures I told Project 1 to shoot it.

Project 1 without hesitation Switch it’s right arm to cannon mode and with a 2 second charge it fired a concentrated bolt of plasma. I barely saw the plasma travel but I saw a big chunk of the target missing with it’s edges melting and later catching on fire. Project 1 activated its cooling systems cooling the cannon holstering it.

A Tremendous success, it’s fighting style also “improved” Thankfully hakai didn’t see Project 1 or else he would’ve probably tried to break it.

After I put Project 1 back into his place, I created a small station for it to remain while it wasn’t in use.

Note: I still need to work on the grenade launcher thing for it’s other arm.

I was then told by Chaotic in a very harsh and annoying tone that he wanted me to make him a sort of firearm, not fast firing one like the rifle but a powerful one like a magnum without the shit parts of a magnum

Note: I don’t think magnums are shit that’s just what Chaotic said…

SO I put the idea on the backburner, calling it Project 2 since I didn’t want it to think of better names or just names in general.

After that Chaotic took most control and when I decided to peek I noticed he had gotten a dead body… which he used to perform surgery… it was the most quiet I’ve ever seen him.

Note: I’m hoping he didn’t abduct a body from the nearby village…

Then we finished the day with good old reading and actually starting the blueprints for Project 2, using the unmodified rifle as a basis

Chaotic wanted it with bullets and not lasers… makes my life harder for no reason.

Spoiler: Day 13

Day 13

Spoiler: Day 13

For a second I there I had actually forgotten Hakai was in the facility, but honestly since I just avoid him anytime we cross paths and whenever he needs to talk he just talks to Lawful, it’s sorta not hard to forget him…

Really it’s something interesting if you think about it… or maybe not… Anyways Project 1 has developed better and better with the day, I am still not letting Hakai “train” with it, he’ll probably try to get a sense of superiority over the machine or me, maybe both. However even after all that I still need to work on that stupid left arm, and it feels I’m just leaving it for last, but at least Project 1 is working more than well at this point… from the memories I have I don’t think the model was this smooth… maybe it’s just my memory being hazy…

Eventually… I got to work on on Project 2 and it was surprisingly fast to build, as well as the ammo as I had mostly just copied from the other rifle, however when Chaotic tested it, it jammed a bunch, the grip was uncomfortable, and it wasn’t as powerful as he wanted, which was annoying, but Chaotic is just generally very abusive so of course everything would be bad. I got back to the little place I now call my workshop. Well it’s not really small, I use a very big room which also has the door broken so only I can enter it consistently which is neat and useful. So I got back to work on fixing all the complaints and even made the gun and barrel bigger to load it with more potent ammunition.

Note: I think I went overboard with how big the bullets were as when we used it on a dummy the head exploded so violently the firing and the explosion caused our ears to ring a lot. Chaotic loved it…

Even then Chaotic called by a bitch, which was sorta… sad but I was so used to it as well, although it felt weird since I had made something for him and I had actually invested myself in building it. Although I think I shouldn’t be saying that because it is a weapon which Chaotic will probably use to harm very innocent people… Hopefully Lawful can stir that away for now…

In the end, the day went as normal I guess with the exception of Lawful teaching a class to Hakai which Hakai slept through. Lawful did more mirror practice and we read more books. Quantum physics fascinates me, but it’ll take a while before I can actually apply it to my creations.

Note: Don’t forget to work on that… eventually

Spoiler: Day 14

Day 14

Today instead of testing out Project 1 further, Chaotic decided to further test Project 2…

It is moments like these that I question my decision, why do I have to create weapons, why can’t I create something good for everyone instead of creating…

I asked Lawful this question whilst Chaotic was distracted with the firing range. Lawful quickly explained that in the current circumstances we are in, we cannot hope to play the role of a pacifist, the world is out to get us… Creating these weapons will take the lives of some, but he promised me that these same creations will help protect those who cannot… I was still doubtful, but Lawful is smart. I'm mostly trusting him… I should at least begin working on that.

Note: No details on that will be written down… sorry reader, whoever you may be.

Well after that Chaotic had managed to get… a body, mostly intact I decided not to look. A while passed and when I decided to look again Chaotic was beating the shit out of us because Lawful had decided to take control. I was rather filled in on what happened, Hakai is leaving the station for now to travel somewhere else. That should at least make it easier to work on things.

Nothing much happened, I tested Project 1 further… it seems to be getting faster and better… I gave it a couple upgrades so it wouldn’t over exert itself and break some parts… I also tried to have it learn some new things aside from just fighting, which should be difficult.

After that I got a brilliant idea, so brilliant that I’ll wait to reveal it later or maybe some other day… For now it’ll be called Project 3.

Note: Problems on That, have arisen, it’ll have to be done much later maybe… Project 3 will be useful…

After that was said and done, we did more reading and Lawful did more of the mirror talk, this time he paused a lot, he did a lot of voices too and was carefully looking at his face and expressions.

Nothing much happened today…

Note: I should change attire soon, it doesn’t stink but having a bit of a torn up attire isn’t the best impression for people…

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