Fantasy Vereor Nox (Fantasy/Action/Powers/School RP)

[Kabboom]

DM

The wolves unify with a cacophony of howls and barks, as they dispersed and regrouped seamlessly in a fluid motion, like waves in the sea.

As wolves go down, either from Aymeline's swings, Will's attacks, Aarus' haphazard slashes or Brynn's Light-arrows, they dematerialize, breaking down into simple luminescent blue streams of Light, coursing back to the teacher, who stood in the midst of the wolf swarm, seemingly non-existent to the wolves, with a focused face. Squinted eyes, dashing back and forth rapidly, with a slight smirk on his dark lips, the mentor opens his mouth to yell at the group.

"I said work as one! These wolves may be weak, but their true strength lie in numbers! That's what they do! They. Never. Stop. Coming! One dies, ten replace it! Use teamwork!" Cried the teacher, extending his arms in a welcoming manner, but also gesturing, with open hands, at the wolves surrounding him, waiting their turn to charge at the group. But more specifically, he was gesturing at the streams of Light, which, like clockwork, are splitting off into streams and materializing into more wolves.

The wolves, actively engaged in combat, begin to form up, and devising actual battle tactics, demonstrated by short howls and barks between wolves. A dozen wolves target Will, circling him from a distance, before charging in a well coordinated mass attack, their aim to mask the true attacker and confuse their prey. Another group, 20 strong, form a loosely grouped pack, and charge directly at Aymeline, trying hard to get close to her between her swings, and biting her legs. And finally, a 15-wolf pack have ran around the entire group, and charging directly at the pesky half-Elf archer, with murderous intent in their eyes.

Runa

The woman could not hide her excitement any longer. Finally, a piece of action! Runa twirls her left wrist tenaciously, so as to not twist or pull a tendon when she swings her axe around, while she rubs her exposed right arm into her side anxiously, prepping herself for the pain that will come when she taps into the blood for its magical powers.

Her Comet Slasher deployed with an odd combination of sounds: a high-pitched, tiny squeak as the strips of metal that covered her blades retracted, and a metallic click as the handle extended, to reveal a handle made of laminated wood, as the entire weapon opens up its full form, with an axehead on one end, and spikes made of Light energy on the other. Excited, Runa charges directly into the fighting.

As she whizzed past the Elf halfbreed firing her bow weapon, an idea came to her mind. She could use the blood right now. As she got closer to Aymeline, who was fervently swinging around, batting wolves left and right, she pointed her Comet Slasher at the ground head-first, and deployed its two-handed axe form, the suddenly elongated handle aiding her spring into the air.

Using her own momentum, she let go of the axe momentarily, allowing it to easily fly upwards, and register a cut on her right arm. Blood soon gushed out of it, a slight residue lingering at the edges of the wound, already crystallizing from contact with the air. She bit her lips, as the stinging reached her brain, the whizzing wind cutting the open wound like ice. But she endures it. Besides, the real party was about to begin.

She did a half-spin, her blood being lightly sprayed onto her comrades like a thin veil of mist, crystallizing like snowflakes during their fall, and, as they touch a solid object, turn into a slightly coarse and rough, faintly luminescent frozen drop of water. She then focuses on the wolves below her, who are only now beginning to look up to the airborne threat.

She plunged downwards with the double-axe slamming into the ground, cutting completely through an unlucky wolf. The impact into the ground allowed her to roll forward with the extra momentum, dodging a wolf's reactionary bite, its teeth narrowly scraping the armor on her back. The roll, in turn, allowed her to deliver a two-foot frontal kick into another wolf's snout, pushing it away, and her upright.

Runa detached her Comet Slasher into two axes, and began slicing and chopping the wolves with wild abandon, almost missing the teacher's instructions entirely. Wolf after wolf dematerialized with every touch of her blade, as she spun in circles, chopping with wild abandon.

Sludgemouth Trappy BearBearBear Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Epiphany Britalianese Ariel

 

[BearBearBear]

Wolves fell left and right as Will continued his task of tearing them apart with almost laughable ease. He was not arrogant when he said that he was more used to fighting alone, and as weak as the wolves were, as close as they were to the real thing, Will was used to felling trees with less strokes and duller edges. If the monarchs of the forests were felled with a good enough stroke on the edge of shoddy work, wolves, no matter how many of them, fared no better against his greatest masterpiece.

He was a much greater smith and tailor than he was a warrior: If his skill with his weapon was sharp then his weapon was much, much sharper.

Up till that point, his sword held strong against phantasmal muscle and bone as the rapier-like blade swept though the beasts with almost no resistance. His shield was more of a mace, a weight attached to his arm, as he used it to crush the foes that escaped his edge with simple thrusts and indomitable charges. There were those who escaped him, and compared to those he slew they were many indeed, but he managed to stem the flow of monsters if only just a little. For him, even if he could not see the team he defended, that was enough, and though he stood at the front as the tip of the spear, he had absolute faith that those behind him would watch his back.

Of course, Will's teacher would be angered - should he say disappointed?- at their, and by extension, his performance and his words made that displeasure known. Again, the teacher was wise when he spoke of the strength of wolf, its strength being the pack in the way the strength of the pack was the wolf, but even if ten more filled the place of every one they slew, he saw no reason to return to his group when they were doing so well. Of course, that would change if and when the teacher decided to force their hand, but at that point, he just kept sending wolves.

A dozen encircled him, surrounding him that they hovered just out of his blade's reach that they could close the distance to hazard a killing blow in a single bound and back away just as easily. He could see that they now moved with the wisdom of apex predators, of hunters who knew how to take game far larger than they were, intelligence in their eyes as they circled him; a common distraction as movement easily caught the eye. He should have been unprepared when they struck as one, but still all of them leaped shallowly that so that they could retreat if they sensed the slightest danger.
They managed to close half the distance when Will fell on one knee, and with weakness visible the wolves pressed forward with renewed vigor.

"Animals." Will muttered as he threw the shield that the other half of his weapon became onto his back, just in time for it to immediately unfurl and expose the sharp edges that would come together to form the larger blade of Aegis Fang. Those same blades opened on his back, a mechanical imitation of a simple flower blooming before those same blades shot out at alarming speeds, skewering each wolf as they took to the air, leaving them no opportunity to evade as they bounded towards their demise.

Just as quickly, they retracted as he returned to his feet. The wolves had stopped for the moment, and he took that opportunity to see what the rest of his team was doing.

Sludgemouth Trappy Kabboom Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Epiphany Britalianese Ariel
(I've seen plasma's art, and Kabboom's weapon so I've decided to put up my own pathetic attempt at an illustration when I finish it. It should explain just what Aegis Fang could do.)

 

[Epiphany]

Aymeline

As tactics go, the Giant's attempt to break up the team's attackers met with limited success. Oh, wolves went flying just as she hoped. But she only shook her head when their teacher berated them. "I don't know how, I've never done this before!" she yelled back.

More wolves appeared. The tall warrior Will seemed to have things well in hand for the moment but their enemy had already locked onto him as a threat. Her new friend Runa's entrance into the fight was welcome, a relief against the twenty strong pack coming Aymeline's way. The blood spray was...bizarre, was Runa wounded? Yet it wasn't like blood usually was, crystalizing as it fell over her. And then the much shorter woman lit into the wolves like lightning, devastating every Light-made animal her axes could reach.

As the team spread out, Aymeline shook her head as she spotted the way the dozens and dozens of wolves drew in to encircle each member individually. Was that what the teacher warned against? Only, Aymeline didn't really know what to do about it. As wolves harassed and harried her chainmail-wrapped arms and legs, the Giant stepped back and gave ground. Then she pivoted around until she stood near Runa and Will, her own Light magic reaching instinctively to form the connections that came naturally to Giants. The archer was as deadly as the axe-wielder and the sword wielder, and she could hit the enemy on any side.

So Aymeline stood at one point and 'tugged' at the other three. Her energy flowed into them, feeding and renewing their strength, even as she called out "Circle up!" Between Aymeline, Will and Runa at least, they could form a triangle with Brynne in the middle. It protected the archer and limited how many sides the wolves could strike at any of them.

Then she swung a fist down, driving a wolf's head through the grass-covered ground. Another bit her on the arm and she punched it for its trouble, breaking its face in.

Sludgemouth Trappy Kabboom Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Epiphany Ariel BearBearBear

 

[Kabboom]

(Bump for others. Guys (and gals), if you're busy with something at the moment, let me know, don't leave me hangin' Sludgemouth Trappy BearBearBear Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel )

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

Brynn

The Halfbreed took to the exercise as she had taken to any training the Elves had pressed upon her before. Once she had figured out her new weapon and settled into using it, it seemed only routine to her. She wore a grim expression and moved with practiced ease as her vibrant hazel eyes shifted from target to target, doing just as she had planned and watching the flanks of her comrades, though at the call of their instructor, Brynn realized that there was indeed something amiss with their tactics. They were much too spread out and all anyone was doing was flailing randomly. Their actions on the field today were akin to treading water to stay afloat with no land in sight.

Of course the realization that they were too spread out came too late because soon the individual that seemed to be their spearhead was getting surrounded. Brynn had begun closing the gap between herself and the others, when it came to her attention that Aymeline was also coming to be surrounded. Brynn's eyes narrowed slightly as she surveyed the wolves and how they had seemingly become more militant. They were wolves. Wolves worked as a pack but they got their orders from somewhere. An alpha.

As the thought of an alpha came to mind, she looked around in search of one such creature, the first one that came to mind was the instructor, he was the one that was controlling the wolves after all, but it hardly seemed like a good idea to attack him so she could only think that there was a wolf that was a representation of him, though these thoughts were soon put on pause because she too had become surrounded.

It would be a hassle to try and keep shooting the wolves as they attacked and seeing that Aymeline had called out, Brynn needed to make her way to the rest of her team despite the circle of wolves around her. That should be too big a problem since her bow had blades on either end, she didn't wait for the wolves to attack her, charging headlong into the ones that stood between herself and her comrades, Swinging the bow was awkward and Brynn returned to thoughts about wishing she had a different weapon, double axes would make it much easier to swipe through these creatures briskly because as soon as she had swiped at the ones in front of her, the ones at her sides lunged. With both hands gripping her bow, she felt the shift in the object, the same as what she had felt before, the glowing string that had been linking the two ends now faded as the same glimmering line that had appeared when her double-headed ax split once more appeared at the center of the bow, drawing it in half as thought in complete sync with her thoughts.

Brynn was really starting to like this weapon Signy had given her and once more the corner of her mouth quirked just slightly before she used this new incarnation of her weapon to slice the wolves as they rabidly dove at her before spinning to face the ones at her rear, her firm voice crying out with the effort given to each swing before she turned back and ran to join the other recruits.

Kabboom Epiphany BearBearBear Trappy

(Sorry this is so awful, I'm very tired and just didn't want to leave you hanging. @_@)

 

[Trappy]

Aarus Stasiva

Aarus dashed back and forth between his comrades, slaying wolves left over from the others' devastating strikes. Blinding beams and flashes of bright blue energy could be seen unleashed upon the ferocious wolves, mixed with occasional deafening sounds of explosive spells and screeches of the beasts that send shivers down their spines. Yet amidst the chaos, somehow, Aarus found enjoyment in this. Perhaps it was because he had the chance to show off capability with the spells, something he had devoted so much to, or it was simply the joy of having his work put to use. And so he dashed between his comrades with their 'spread-out' formation with the Crescent Blade in his hand, burning with Light energy and releasing faint blue sparks every time he swung it.

But things were getting out of hand. The more wolves they slayed, the more came swarming them. Just like how the instructor put it: One dies, ten replace it. But apparently, being arguably the least competent member of the team was proving quite rewarding for Aarus, as the sudden change of tactic by the wolves divert their attention to mainly the other four, leaving only the few curious beasts or the ones left surviving after his comrades' attacks for Aarus to deal with.

The man took a quick glance at his comrades, to see they were handling the attacks pretty fine themselves. Will and Runa's skills with their respective weapons are nothing short of extraordinary, while Aymeline dealt with the pesky beasts with mere brute force, and already sending the wolves flying with her swings and punches. The young mage admired all this with pure amazement.

Woah~ What a sight. . .

But they wouldn't last long like that. No, not with how more and more wolves materialised and constantly charged at them with such ferocity. They needed some proper planning, something to get them together and fight as one. But seeing how everyone else with the exception of Aarus himself got their hands all occupied with fending off the monsters, getting together to plan didn't sound like something that could happen anytime soon.

Maybe I can do something about that. - He thought.

Aarus thrusted his glowing blade into the ground they were fighting on, while simultaneously lifting his left palm upwards and chanting foreign words. Faintly glowing strings of Light flowed from the ground like a snake, they danced and embraced each of his comrades, before separating themselves from the trainees and started to take form. They quickly mimicked the shape, textures of clothing and expression of his comrades, and swung into the fight themselves. Aarus then quickly landed his left palm onto the cold ground, seemingly pressing some mysterious, ominous cloud from the surface. A deafening, thunderous sound could be heard, before the cloud swiftly flew up and expanded, until it completely surrounded the trainees.

Wasting no time, Aarus stood up from his knees and called out to his teammates:

-"We are completely invisible to the beasts like this, and the holograms are distracting them. This will buy us some time, but I can't hold it for long. Any plan?"

Sludgemouth Trappy Kabboom Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Epiphany Ariel BearBearBear

 

[Trappy]

(bump Sludgemouth Trappy Kabboom Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear )

 

[Kabboom]

(bump Sludgemouth Trappy Kabboom Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear )

 

[Kabboom]

Runa

The girl moved like a delicate flower's petals in the raging mountain winds, gracefully slicing and dicing the evil manifestations of these Darkborne creatures. She did so with a grin on her face, as this was more play than practice for her. She had her fair share of life-or-death combat before she was inducted into the Guardian way of life. If she could survive armored men equipped with swords and shields, she can definitely survive a few-

"Ah!" The girl yelped in pain, as a Darkborne wolf managed to bite her exposed right forearm during an unexpected strike on her as she recovered from the momentum of slicing another wolf's head off. Blood gushed from the bite wound, seemingly very real. This couldn't have been a simple Light illusion. She was actually bleeding. Light projections harming a physical object? She had never heard of such a thing, let alone experience it!

The shock came quickly for the girl, and if it weren't for the quick thinking of a particularly young mage in her group, she would've most definitely been torn to shreds. Hypothetically. Surely the teacher would not allow such a thing, right?

No time to ponder about that, however. Runa noticed that the wolves had ceased completely, looking around, as if they were confused, puzzled. Were they even capable of such behavior? And apparently, the mage was doing well. Several false images of the group materialized elsewhere within the hordes, but the wolves quickly take action.

It'll only be a matter of time before they catch on to the ruse.

The girl ran towards her group, looking at the entire team. She did a scan of the fighting force, and her mind began working, as wolves ran past her, their Light-manifested fur lightly brushing her as they whizzed past, teeth laid bare to attack the illusions that the man had put up.

Finally, she opened her mouth, the wound on her forearm healing quickly, as crystals form on the edges of her wounds. She was in no position to order people around, but if these wolves could hurt her, it would be just a matter of time before everyone gets seriously injured because no one had a plan.

"Aymeline! You stay on the front, get their attention, make yourself look big, huge! Give a warcry!" Runa then turned her face downwards, looking at the elf halfbreed with the bow. "You! Watch Aymeline's back! Shoot anything that tries to bring her down!" She then turned to the tall man, who dashed away from the group, holding his own excellently against the wolf hordes.

"You! I need you to find an Alpha wolf or something! Kill it! We're pushing this damn wolf pack back!" Runa then turned around, her wound almost fully healed, twirling her axes in anticipation as the images flicker one by one.

DM

The wolves hurriedly dash away from the group, who were now invisible, instead choosing to attack the images instead. A slight smirk could be spotted on the teacher's face, as he glanced at the images.

Sludgemouth Trappy Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear

 

[Kabboom]

(Bump a bit more Sludgemouth Trappy Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear )

 

[Epiphany]

Aymeline

Beaten and battered by incessant wolf attacks, Aymeline needed little coaxing to obey. The relief of orders, someone telling her what to do, flooded the young Giant woman. It was followed by a nagging guilt, that a Guardian shouldn't be so quick to delegate responsibility. Obedience came naturally to Giants. Forming one's own opinion and sticking to it were rare among her people.

This was probably not the situation to start bucking the trend, though.

Aymeline drew up to her full height, towering over the rest of the group and brushed through the informal ranks of her class. She stood there in the front and roared. There was a lightness to her pitch that definitely spoke of a woman giving voice but it was also deeper, and louder, than any human throat could possibly make. Aymeline's yell was enough to deafen anyone caught directly standing before her.

And then, as wolves ran out of illusions to kill and returned to prey upon these new Guardians, Aymeline met their charge, blocking access and breaking snouts as they came close enough to punch.

 

[Trappy]

(bump Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear Kabboom )

 

[Kabboom]

(bump for others Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear Trappy )

 

[Kabboom]

(bump for everyone else who hasn't posted Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear Trappy )

 

[Kabboom]

(bump again Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear Trappy )

 

[BearBearBear]

Will stopped for a moment when the fighting quieted, and processed the command given to him. The alpha... that meant the leader of the group of wolves surrounding them. Will wasn't stupid, but then again, it looked like none of them were. Should he really throw caution to the wind and take his orders?

Why not?

"Understood." He allowed a ferral smile to form on his lips as the giantess strode forward with newfound strength. Not one to be undone, he dashed past her at speeds he didn't think he would reach so early in his education. His weapon split in two before taking on the form of desperation, a pair of massive swords that allowed him to cleave trees as easily as one could part water.

He managed to close the distance quickly, easily making short work of any wolves in his way before he struck out at the alpha.

The teacher couldn't keep summoning wolves while he fended Will off, could he?

Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy
(If no one's doing it, I guess I have to keep it going XD. Who's still in this anyway?)

 

[Kabboom]

(Right now, it's you, me, Epiphany, maybe Skittle, Komrade Kommissar Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy )

 

[Kabboom]

DM

The teacher notices Will's daring advances, only narrowly dodging his first sword strike, his dirty garb flapping in the wind, before casting some sort of spell. The spell consumed him in the blink of an eye, in a pale blue mist, before vanishing as quickly as it appeared, leaving the teacher nowhere to be found.

Left in the mist's residue, however, are eight wolves, eager to sink their fangs into the audacious attacker, who dared to swing a sword at their "master". A disembodied voice, seemingly belonging to the teacher, commends Will's actions, but lightly scolds him for the same things.

"You're a quick thinker, kid. But I'm not the enemy. Instead, I'm giving you another one."

As wolves ceased their endless respawning, their collective Light energy pools into one big blob of seemingly desiccated blue meat, taking form individually, one muscle at a time. Even though the abomination is still in its infancy, it already towers over the biggest member in the group, being one whole head higher than Aymeline. It quickly forms tendrils in the shape of razor sharp needles and blades in its materialized body at ground level, while the higher level keeps on building and building.

"This is an Absolver. They grow big. Very big. Their extreme physiology means that they cannot move for long without fear of their legs giving way and being crushed under their own weight, so they teleport and materialize. Kill them in that phase. Quickly!" Yelled the teacher's disembodied voice. He had a slight hint of worry in his voice, though for reasons unclear.

Runa

"Take this! And this! And this one!" The girl yelled enthusiastically, half consumed with rage and excitement, as she hacked one Darkwolf's snout in half, sending it back to an uncertain source in little droplets of Light energy, and using the inertia from that swing to circle her blade into another wolf's head. And another one, and the one after that...

She had cleared out a good 5 or 6 wolves before the situation changed, with the tall man's swing at the teacher. She personally thought it was not a particularly good move on his part. That's not what she meant when she said to find 'the Alpha'. But, at least, with the new... 'friend' on the battlefield, that can be used as an Alpha as well. Not that she will take pleasure in slaying the actual thing.

As she twirled her axes, moving cautiously towards its front legs, a tendril flung itself at a lightning-fast speed, emitting a split-second crack, like a whip at the climax of its swing, hurling its needle-tipped appendage directly at her. Only a quick reflex, and an appropriate level of caution prevented her from being skewered with a 3 meter long Dark energy needle, deflected to the side with a swing of her axe, and a sidestep to the right.

This is entirely too dangerous! That could've killed her! Surely this little 'training session' has gone too far? Or is this only a taste of the training they will receive at this school? Or is this teacher out of his mind? Where is the teacher, even? And how tall does this Absolver creature get? Surely it would stop at some point? It's already taller than Aymeline, and it's still growing!

Before more thoughts could intrude her head, another needle went flying directly at her head, this time being less surprising, as it was deflected with a quick slice with her right axe. She swung the right axe back on target quickly, taking aim at the tendrils as her weapon transformed into the Light Gun Form, holding her left axe close to her, ready to deflect more projectiles.

As she squeezed the trigger on her 'gun', the tendrils detach one by one, squirming frantically on the ground. The 'bullets' that impacted the Absolver's main body mass had no effect, merely creating indents on its skin. As she raised her left axe to partially deflect a needle aimed directly at her forehead, herself crouching quickly as a reflex to dodge, she looked back at her comrades.

"C'mon! You heard him! Let's kill this thing!" She didn't think herself fit to be the commander of this group. She wasn't sure of her capabilities, but now, the only things occupying her mind are the capabilities of her teammates, and possible ideas and tactics on how to kill this abomination.

"You guys got any ideas?" She yelled blindly, switching her aim in order to nail a vicious Darkwolf in the skull before turning back onto the tendrils.

Epiphany BearBearBear Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy

 

[Kabboom]

(bump again Epiphany BearBearBear Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy )

 

[Kabboom]

(More bump Epiphany BearBearBear Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy )

 

[Epiphany]

Aymeline

The only time Aymeline met anything larger than herself, it was another giant. She was considered short by the standards of her species, likely owing to being a throwback to a human ancestor, the same tie that let her wield Light magic the way she did.

But that abomination was larger. And growing larger. And still Aymeline lacked a weapon. She'd need one against this monster. Smashing wolves with her fists was all well and good but needle-wielding tendrils that moved that fast? The giant reined in the temptation to just charge it and knock it over before it was fully formed. Her friend Runa's test of its offensive ability suggested she'd be cut down before ever reaching it.

"Uh, no idea no," she responded to the other warrior. "Surround it maybe?"

Aymeline took a step or two back on the lawn as her fellow trainees started to close with the monster. Then, looking around the landscape and seeing only grass to work with, she bent down to one knee and plunged stiff gauntlet-clad fingers deep into the earth. She dug with remarkable speed, owing to a giant's remarkable durability as much as her incredible strength. Then she reached rock and tore several free from the earth.

One after another, she hurled fist-sized rocks at the abomination. Backed by giant muscle, each flew with enough force to crack battlements and shatter stone itself.

 

[Kabboom]

(bump for others BearBearBear Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy )

 

[Kabboom]

Runa

"Gotcha! CHAAAARGE!" The girl yelled, almost consumed by her adrenaline by now. Her two legs, although burning with the flames of exhaustion, becoming ever more cumbersome with every step forward, were still operational, and she dashed towards the towering beast, deflecting needles being flung at her face with one axe, while her bruised fingers squeeze the trigger repeatedly, snapping off multiple body parts with its translucent blue charges of energy piercing the Absolver's body like nails.

She had all but forgotten her role, where she was, or who she is. The only thing that was in this girl's head was the total destruction, the annihilation of these vile beings. Normally, Runa isn't even that protective of her Kingdom, seeing how its people treated her everywhere she went, but now, a tinge of hatred was palpable to her. She raised her foot to step upon a Darkwolf's skull, propelling herself into the air, assembling her two axes into a big double-headed axe instead, blade preying upon its final target.

As she closed the distance in the air, she suddenly realized that this was a bad idea.

A multitude of tendrils and tentacles, sharpened to impossible standards, lacerated her badly, giving her scratches and injuries like leaves during autumn. She could feel herself become weaker, as her blood spattered all over the ground. As she opens her eyes one last time before collapsing from the ever-increasing difficulty to stay conscious, she could see a flash, a sudden movement, directed at her head.

'Guess this is it. Died in training. How pitiful.' She scolded herself one last time, before instinctively bracing for her death.

But alas, it did not come.

DM

The Absolver's final strike was postponed mere inches away from the girl's face, as its body came to a halt, as if frozen by some greater being. The teacher who had brought this pack of simulated Darkborne upon the group materialized out of thin air, veiled with Light energy, and positioned himself under the unconscious girl, who was also miraculously suspended mid-air.

A familiar knocking upon the ground could be heard, exactly like the sound of high heels on cold, hard pavement. If one would look to the source of the sound, the girl who wore the gorgeous dress, who gave a most spectacular rousing speech to all the trainees within Crescent Academy just an hour ago, could be seen. The girl had an infuriated grimace upon her snow-white face, her shoulder inseparable from her neckline, muscles tensed from anger. Curiously, her high heels landed upon the soft dirt, but the telltale sounds of high heels impacting on pavement tiles could still be heard. With one hand held high, she yelled at the teacher in a voice completely different from the one she addressed the trainees with; full of anger, like a furious mother scolding her misbehaving son.

"Eziel, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Were the words she uttered, as she let her raised hand relax, dropping an unconscious Runa into the teacher, now identified as Eziel, who promptly catches her. The girl shakes herself awake, and is left to stand on her own two feet, her miraculous blood healing powers aiding her recovery.

"We need to talk." The woman said, standing a good measure away from Eziel. "Right, fine. But I'll have you know, Heels, they could've pulled it off." The man said with a slight hint of a smirk upon his dirtied face, stained with a droplet or two of crystallized blood. The woman raised her eyebrow in anger, before pulling the ragged teacher out of the trainee's earshot.

After a heated moment or two of hushed arguments and name-calling, Eziel, seemingly defeated, returns to the trainees, scratching crystallized bloodstains off his face in the process. He raised his hand, addressing everyone, especially the Giantess.

"So,... I may have gone overboard with that last one. Absolvers are only reserved for excellent trainees, and not first-timers, like you guys." He turns to address Runa, but his words were directed at the entire group. "But I hope you have learned one thing from this: Charging into battle alone is stupid, and without divine intervention (like just now), you will be killed. I expect you to figure out the value of teamwork before the semester is over, before you get yourself killed in the wild."

The man then sighed, letting the illusory wall in his classroom open for the trainees to re-enter. He glances at an angry high-heeled woman, with crossed arms, seemingly ready to yell at him again, this time without restraint. He then looks back to the trainees. "But for now, that was good. Very good. Since I've, uh, encountered a little hiccup in my training regime, you get the rest of the day off. Return to your bunks, get some rest. And..." ,his last sentence emphasized, "...get to know each other."

As the trainees leave, Eziel turns to the woman, preparing himself to weather the storm. And a storm it was.

Epiphany BearBearBear Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy

(You guys chat with each other for a bit before returning to the bunks. Socialize a bit further if you want)

 

[BearBearBear]

Absolvers were... troublesome to deal with but not the most impossible kill to make. The teacher was correct of course, that crippling it would be by far the easiest way to deal with the monster, but something made Will take a step back for a moment.

As strong as Absolvers were supposed to be, they were still monsters that were felled by trainees. He was confident that it would take just a slight increase in strings for him to be able to take it down, especially now that Aegis Fang was primed for slaughter, but that wasn't the point anymore. The wolves could have been the mark to see if they were entirely useless, but to bring out an Absolver was a warning more than anything.

You can still handle this now, but the next one will be different.

He would not take that warning lightly, so when the monster was fully materialized, he decided to watch his teammates for the moment. It soon became clear that such a course of action was not the best. Sure, the Giantess was willing to stand back and try for some semblance of teamwork now that the stakes have been raised, but Runa simply charged in.

He expected her to do a bit better, but she was utterly destroyed.

Of course she didn't die; he would have expected the teacher to step in though, but in the end Runa was saved and they were left in a very awkward situation. He couldn't apologize for not acting fast enough; that would imply that Runa was in over her head and he was so much stronger than them. He couldn't tell them to do better when he was so bad at talking to others, and he most certainly couldn't make light of the situation when one of them was almost killed.

"We should definitely do better next time." Will simply sighed, and hoped that it was enough.

Epiphany Kabboom Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel Trappy

 

[Trappy]

Aarus Stasiva

Aarus panicked when Runa suddenly dived in on the Absolver. When the sorcerer saw his teammate dashing towards the gigantic beast, he couldn't think. Nothing came through, nothing came out. He couldn't even move a muscle. Aarus just helplessly stood there and stared at what he supposed to be the demise of a comrade. Even his blade dematerialised in his hand.

How pathetic . . . How embarrassing . . .

Luckily, the 'battle' ended the very same way it started: unexpectedly. A familiar lady came in and everything halted. It did seem like their trainer got himself into some troubles though. Aarus could hardly say the man didn't deserve that.

But next time, there won't be any 'divine intervention' to save the day. They will have to pull themselves through on their own, or not. When the thought crossed his mind, the man turned at his teammates. The Giantess was both cooperative and more than capable of handling herself while protecting those behind her. Will and Runa are both extremely talented fighters, but it could be hard to provide them cover when they're yards ahead of Aarus, and surrounded by beasts.

While it's hard enough to provide effective cover for them, someone just had to go berserk.

Damn it, the idiot.

His train of thought was interrupted when Will spoke up with a sigh.

"We should definitely do better next time."

"We should. And we will." He smiled.

Yes, we WILL do better next time - he thought. His comrades are talented fighters, so he doesn't doubt their skills. All they need is good coordination and even that humongous Absolver could be beaten easily. Maybe the trainer was right, they could've pulled it through.

I could've done better.

Aarus knew his fault in the fight. He was somewhat shut-in and lacked communication with the rest of the team. After all, he was their only mage. He could've been more communicative and helpful, and he will be next time. Other than that, he found the fight providing him some useful insights to what might be good for them to expect of the real deal. He figured it might be good to work on some passive spells to support his comrades for the time being, as well as some stronger spells with large area of effect, seeing how they easily got surrounded by the outnumbering wolves.

Aarus spoke up.

"We can cooperate a bit better next time. You guys were charging too deep into the hordes. Try not to pull our formation too far out, I'll be supporting your attacks, after all." He paused and chuckled, hoping he could ease the situation a bit "About that, apologies, I'll do better at that next time. You guys did amazingly though, a m a z i n g l y!"

"Really, just please don't break formation and try something innovative, that might be . . . problematic." - He said blatantly, but that was for Runa, who was left in a rather awkward situation after she was saved.

Epiphany Kabboom Sludgemouth Skelvin Roleplay Skittle Britalianese Ariel BearBearBear