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Post by He Who Eats Bears on Mar 3, 2015 4:48:13 GMT
When two field-effect fighters met, the victor was the one with the denser field.
Cee's ether field had been left deliberately constricted, concentrated down to barely a dozen-meter radius even before being backed by the heavy amplification of her Bastion, and thusly transformed into an almost palpable fortress of power impervious to the widely dispersed Mists of her foe. It wasn't how Cee preferred to fight, but it was also the best way to deal with this current loser in front of her. She'd figure him out, put him down, and once he was gone she could loosen up her field again and fight more fluidly against the remaining pack of scallywags. Especially since she'd garnered an important clue already.
Her enemy had raised a barrier of power himself, shielding his murderfoggy self from the fusillade of purifying fire. Why he would do that if the rounds otherwise wouldn't have affected him significantly was a very good question, as it revealed a new capability he hadn't shown Cee yet. Sure, he may well have simply been leading Cee on, but more likely he was warding himself from an attack that would have done him significant harm.
Good to know.
That was just about the time, however, when everything started going batshit.
Some colossal Thing appeared in the fringes of the system, somehow immune to the anti-translocation defenses of the Empire, and started menacing the entire star system, starting with a vast pressure-wave of psionic energy aimed at what seemed to be the entirety of the planet. It was largely a wasted effort in Cee's case – the psychic component of the blow found no target to strike, as she was in fact a machine with no proper soul or evidence of what psychics would call a mind. She had no presence on the astral whatsoever, even more imperceptible to attacks of the mind than a psi-null was. That had its very distinct limitations, of course, but it had nevertheless been a deliberate design choice Autochthon had made during His reconstruction of His agent. Souls and minds were more easily corrupted than clean, precise machinery, inherently more fragile and far more difficult to adequately protect. It left Cee utterly unable to make use of any sort of psionic abilities – it was at times difficult for her to even perceive them, save by their effects in the physical realm – but it also left her fundamentally impossible to strike in any way from the astral.
The physical component of the pressure-wave was different, but it was also of no real consequence. While the sheer scope of it was enormous, the actual force of the wave exerted against any given target was negligible in the case of someone like Cee. An attack that did only moderate damage to a regular civilian was nothing for her to worry about at all, though the things it was doing to Xelphia warranted immediate corrective action, preferably by giant beam cannon. She would have to leave that up to the Yggdrasil V, though – there were more than enough jerkheads down here at ground level for her to concern herself with.
Her minigats continued their barrage, hosing down Fartmeister's barrier for a few moments, but their fire slackened off as Something New stalked onto the battlefield. Some guy with a big sword, who proceeded to use it to squarely impale her current foe and turn him into a very large smokebomb. Not that Cee was fooled for a moment that this guy was on their side – his sword positively stank of wickedness and impurity, rousing flames of anger within her right hand as the Twin Heaven sensed a true enemy before it, something forged in the Blackness the Rune of Heaven had been created to erase.
And the man holding that blade's leash might well have been worse.
Oh, no – even as this new guy started talking at her, apologizing for Fartmeister being a fuckin' lech and saying something about some promised battle or what-have-you, Cee was bracing herself for a much stiffer fight than the late, unlamented Puffy Butt would've given her.
...in a minute or two, maybe. As the man's first move was to blast what remained of Fartmeister's murderfog at her from behind.
Really, guy?
Cee was almost insulted. The Twin Heaven lit itself, white light radiating from her hand and suffusing her ether field far more powerfully than it had when she'd purified Josh. The ancient Rune was a divinity in its own right, with a Will that directed its power independently of its wielder at need; Cee didn't even need to really do anything as the Twin Heaven released a righteous brilliance that sought to scour the twisted toxin from the air, burning the tendrils of murderfog away to nothing. Even should any last long enough to actually threaten Cee, they would simply meet fixed-point barriers – little hexagonal plates of Godforged material not much bigger than Cee's palm, anchored immovably in place in both her own ether field and the planet's own energies. Any spike that thought to split and flow around the plates would find more plates interdicting its new path(s), as all the while the Twin Heaven burned the corruption clean of this world. Long story short, that shit wasn't getting to Cee and wouldn't have bothered her much even if it did.
Nor did Cee ignore the shadow-puppetry her enemy was displaying. The Twin Heaven was taking care of the murderfog just fine, leaving Cee herself to snap Gunsmoke into line and discharge a round into her own traitorous shadow, before it could leave the aegis of her ether field. The field's own radiant fire would scorch the black power commanding her shadow – how her foe had gotten his own will through her field in the first place she didn't know, but better safe than sorry – and the St. Joan's Cross she added to the mix would only finish the job.
A demon-hunting technique forged on the world of Deegrei, the St. Joan's Cross was a complex round which did not strike with a physical impact but instead burned an exorcising glyph into its target, establishing a gate through which a tremendous surge of righteous power could flood directly into the target, bypassing most of their external defenses to clash directly against the weight of sin in the target's essence. In this case, the only weight of sin in an otherwise perfectly innocuous scientifically-impossible stolen shadow would be the blackened energy attempting to steal that shadow from its rightful owner. Whatever this new punk had wanted to do with her shadow, he wasn't going to get to do it. The surge of purifying energies from the St. Joan's Cross destroyed the corrupted shadow outright, and if her foe wasn't careful the flood of power would follow the link from that shadow right back to him and his store of darkness, threatening to scourge him from within his defenses through the channel of his own energies.
And if that didn't do it, why, the five extra St. Joan's Cross rounds she threw his way directly sure as shootin' would!
The rest of the cylinder had a chance to demonstrate the other interesting property of St. Joan's Cross – namely, that the bullets were of a particularly high-grade homing type. Charged with their shooter's will and desire, the bullets would track an evading target whilst avoiding any defensive countermeasures they could, detouring around interposed barricades or defensive counterattacks. There was a limit to what they could avoid, but given their speed and the unexpected nature of their travels, it was the rare beastie indeed that could fully avoid a salvo of St. Joan's Cross.
Surrounded by her blazing ether field, secure behind her Bastion, and armed with the technique she'd learned from General Marian as he sought to put an end to the monsters infesting his world, Cee was in a good place to give this foe the same sort of test she'd given Fartmeister save with a great deal more oomph. His great big evil-dripping sword and big blobby ball of hijacked shadows weren't going to do him much good if he couldn't dodge him some undodgeable homing smite-bullets, and the shockwave some other new dickbear and his black spaceball had dropped on the city wasn't going to affect Cee through her Bastion-bolstered ether field or significantly impact the St. Joan's Cross rounds which could correct for the blast without any trouble whatsoever.
Time to see how tough this guy really was. Well, if someone didn't come along and stab him in the back to get at her next. Sure, she was bitchin' hot and all, but these were so not the sort of boys whose attention she wanted.
Shit, when was the last time any of them had taken a damn bath?
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sole
New Member
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Post by sole on Mar 3, 2015 5:13:39 GMT
Sole glanced at the two moons and nodded his head solemnly.
I see what is going on here...
Sole activates his ultimate defense: Party time saver ultra effect! Whenever Sole is attacked by someone or something the weapon or effect used and where it originates from turn into some form of party supply. (i.e. balloons, confetti, a pinata) It's all pure magic and science and super hard to understand.
Sole opens a void and transports himself back to the Darius system only to see a ridiculous, giant jellyfish monster flailing about for no apparent reason. Odd that this should exist, but nonetheless...
Sole floats to the jellyfish monster and turns his head curiously. He still was not sure what this thing was, but it was violent. One of it's vicious tentacles swatted at Sole. He didn't bother to move and upon impact the super monster turned into a massive pinata, which Sole decided to kick the shit out of. Thousands upon thousands of pieces of the cheap hard candy that is super difficult to get out of the wrapper float through the galaxy. Sole pulls his foot out of the shredded cardboard that used to be a ridiculous, giant jellyfish monster and makes his way to Xelphia.
It was motherfuckin' party time.
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Post by Flarhgunnstow MacGrarfileld on Mar 4, 2015 0:35:36 GMT
How unexpected! A true display of phenomenal cosmic powers from an uberwizard, of all things! Truly, Crim had never witnessed the like...unless you counted all the times he had seen this exact spectacle before. So, the guy could just flat-out absorb any type of Energy, eh? Is that what passed for a straightforward battle these days? Well, that was definitely a tall order. At least it would have been if not for the fact that Crim had been stringing this guy along from the beginning. The Captain's Ether Power went beyond any singular form. He possessed a natural ability to draw Ether/Energy/Mana (whatever you feel like calling it) from practically any source, including far-flung dimensional planes, higher realms, pocket realities, and et cetera. And he enjoyed complete control over any of said energy once it was siphoned and connected to him, regardless of where he sourced it from (this would include - duh - his very own ship). It wasn't anything special, really.Not for him at least. Just business as usual as the foremost Master Manipulator of Ether. The notion that someone else, phenominally powered uberwizard or not, could simply waltz in and repurpose his own attack so easily was, frankly, the pinnacle of ignorance. No, it was more than that, it was completely absurd. Ah, but it was a good thing that the absurd just so happened to be another field of expertise for the Captain. He might actually be the foremost omniversal expert on the subject!
Indeed, he allowed the Ignas Array energy to be absorbed by the uberwizard, because it served his purposes to do so. Seriously, who the hell was he to look such a prized gift horse in the mouth? Sure, it was super fun to look gift horses in the mouth, in fact, that was literally a part of his morning routine each and every day, but this time was just far too golden an opportunity for him to let slide.
Not long after the dashing, sneaky wizard absorbed the energy from the Ignas Array - we're talking a second, maybe even a bit less - he would suddenly find his entire body wrought with unspeakable pain. Crim's Ether was still his to command, regardless of where it was, or what some unauthorized, ineffectual third party thought they could do to alter it. In truth, it hardly mattered what the uberwizard tried to do with it. Absorb it, shunt it all off to another dimension, pack it up, gift wrap it and send it to his mom. It was still Crim's power, still his to wield, and thus Crim's to do with as he saw fit. It just so happened that it was far more useful right where it was, inside his opponent's very own body. Crim could not have asked for a more appropriate venue!
Crim's Ether, now contained within the more than likely inadequate vessel of the uberwizard, began to rapidly intensify as the Captain opened the 'Ethereal Floodgates', as it were. Normally he kept a pretty tight lid on his ability to gather Ether from extradimensional sources, because even his body - which was 'designed', right down to the atomic level, to be capable of processing and utilizing nigh-infinite amounts of raw energy - had limits. Now, he was sure that a fella like mister uberwizard had a pretty high capacity too, but he was also sure that he wasn't built for what Crim was about to do to him. Now effectively 'connected' to his foe through the energy bridge that the uberwizard had created all on his own, Crim began to draw mass amounts of Ether from another dimension into himself. But instead of drawing it directly into his own body, he routed it through the uberwizard's body instead, essentially using the guy as a kind of...filter, you could say. Whaaat? A filter, you ask? Why, whatever for? Well, here's the thing: Some dimensions, while full of all kinds of amazing power just ripe for the taking, were also tainted with filthy, nasty stuff. Hell dimensions, for instance, had this annoying tendency to do far more harm than good. Which was why Crim generally stayed away from them, even though the Ether was indeed powerful in its raw form.
But this was an extremely rare opportunity. It wasn't every day that a willing body came along to filter out the bad stuff while Crim took all the raw Ethereal nutrients all for himself. Unfortunately, the uberwizard wouldn't be feeling so uber as a result.
While Crim gathered the raw energy into himself, the nasty crap (corrosive, painful, chaotic Ether that could not be more unhealthy for a fella, especially a wizardy type fella) welled up within his own reserves, latching onto the energy that he had taken in from Crim. Crim's energy acted akin to a beacon within the uberwizard, effectively attracting the power from the Hell Dimension, scrubbing it clean and absorbing the bad stuff and then streaming the rest of the good, usable Ether into Crim. Needless to say, this process would be incredibly taxing on the uberwizard, not to mention excruciatingly painful and debilitating as all Hell (get it? HAHA). And lord knows what kind of havoc (lol) it would be wreaking on him internally. It was, after all, a well-known fact that the sheer chaos within these hellish places was enough to drive men utterly insane just by being exposed to it unprotected. There was simply no telling what it might do to someone in a situation like this, being drawn directly into the body raw and unfettered.
After a solid ten seconds of this, Crim let loose his hold on the now thoroughly tainted energy formerly known as the Ignas Array beams. Upon doing so, he gave it one final burst of power in order to send a shockwave of energy coursing through the uberwizard's body. It would be strong enough to severely damage if not destroy his internal organs, possibly fry his brain partially or even completely, and likely render his limbs useless by rending the muscle and connective tissues asunder. Blood would likely be boiling, both literally and figuratively, as the corrupted energy from the Hell Dimension ate its way through the uberwizard's body.
"Ya know, I woulda thought a guy like you'd know better," said Crim, who stood nearby, having followed the uberwizard quite easily on his path to wherever they had ended up on Xelphia. "Fortunately for you, I can't exactly finish you off..."
He held his right hand up for emphasis, showing the Rune of Heaven, which now emitted a somewhat fiercer glow than before.
"Bastard hates it when I kill jerks." He spun around. "Ah, but my friend don't exactly have that problem. Maybe I should just let them have their ways with you?"
The look on Crim's face was one of neither satisfaction nor mercy. He kinda looked...bored.
Whatever might happen next, Crim was prepared for it. He knew there were lots of folks gunning for him here. Knew there was a target on his back. Knew that the uberwizard would probably already actually be after-imaging his way out of this predicament, even though that would entail a full-blown violation of causality. But fortunately, Crim had that angle covered as well, thanks to the wonderfully complex inner-workings of his beautifully warped mind.
Speaking of which, he thought he felt a twinge of something weird earlier. Or maybe it was a twang. Something to do with that big cosmic-level space boss monster flying around up over yonder, he guessed. But he didn't actually need to acknowledge that thing at the moment.
He waited for his numerous opponents to pull their next rabbits out of their respective hats, confident in the knowledge that his mind outpaced their brains regardless.
En garde.
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Post by Loki Beoulve on Mar 4, 2015 2:08:32 GMT
Within his peripheral vision, the male noticed several new faces. Riku and his comrades. Good. He had met Riku during Havoc, and they had fought once before and fought together during the infamous ‘Taco War’.
“Not much, Riku. I need your help to take this guy on.”
Loki stated to Riku after he had unleashed his chi blades. Curved lips came to then form a smile on his lips as he had been able to work together very well before in the said war above. While this had been going on, he had felt and sensed the presence of new warriors arriving, though he could not detect whether they were friendly, or new enemies. As he stood ready, he had sensed Vincent was just fine after the ether spikes missed the intended target and Elyk had used his limit break to channel all of his spells unto him within a fast motion of collision to specifically target Vincent. Luckily, the Red Magister was able to avoid this as well, but one thing Loki did do well was that he had paid attention to a lot of different details among the battlefield.
These details, in particular were when the effects of the buff spells Haste, Wall, amongst the other buff spells that had been in place. Interesting, he had thought. That would prove to be rather annoying, and he needed to do something to debuff the Super Demon, or else it would be a much tougher challenge ahead. Through these thoughts, Loki began to break down his chi once more, allowing it to swell within himself once again. Yin and Yang’s forces collided with each other, and the only apparent motion that he was channeling his chi was his veins had begun to become bulkier. His eyes appearing like azure crystal orbs, they stood fast, narrowing slightly as Loki readied his foot work. He noticed that the Super Demon was ready to attack and get rid of his chi blades, gritting his teeth together at once.
Perfectly executed, Loki thought. Loki’s small assault with the chi blades were little more than child play’s for the Super Demon, and he had expected this. Within the thoughts of the male, his timing had not been any more perfect at all. When Loki saw Ishida begin hia ascension with the black chords to come at him the way that it did and sever the blades, Loki charged forward, almost like a blind idiot.
“HYAH!”
The young stud had said as a battle cry, using his supreme agility to almost dance along the remnants of this once bar. It was a shame that Xelphia had this many powerful, supernatural threats that had intimidated and threatened to destroy it. Every which way--- be they parallel or perpendicular--, these black chords—just like the shining force that was here, was coming at him. As he danced around some that eviscerated his chi blades, one threatened to come at Loki himself before it slashed—at the air. His body had simply vanished, like an after image. A replica of himself was made using his chi and combining that with his speed, it gave him the effect that an illusion and after image was created in its stead, while the chords had swiped at just the air and had finished wiping out his chi blades that served as a distraction.
Appearing behind this unmarginal beast of a demon, he was in close proximity, in fighting stance. Upon re-materializing, right and left jabs were unleashed to attempt to pummel into this behemoth to push him slightly forwards. After several jabs that were quick, during this attempting pummeling, Loki’s right fist channeled itself with chi, causing it to glow light blue. A large uppercut would then be unleashed towards Ishida from behind after these series of punch rushes, water emerging from the tips of his knuckles and a spirit of the dolphin would appear briefly if he were to make contact. The noise as well of a dolphin’s cry appeared, emerging, with this uppercut being infused with chi and making it like a chi-water elemental to attempt make the Super Demon go flying into the sky.
“DOLPHIN BLOW!”
Was stated as he unleashed this move, using the combination of the speed, strength, and the virus he was given to add some power behind this assault. His right eye looked to Riku after he had unleashed his barrage that would hopefully set things up for his partner against this supremely powerful opponent.
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Post by tenguknightmare on Mar 4, 2015 2:16:49 GMT
Hey, Riku had thought. Loki's gunna need my help. You three ready?
This chaos was unsettling, but it wasn't anything new to Mr. Nightmare. He'd seen more bloodloss and death than here – a battle amongst heroes who fought for what they thought was right, but this Super Demon seemed a little less than heroic. Something churned within the four family members, something which they had their hands on for their lifetimes.
Ishida had unleashed tendrils of black upon the blades Loki had previously conjured and tossed his way, apparently. They were broken to shreds, and as those tendrils still moved forwards, the plan amongst the four of them (Meebs, Zoran, Mouse, and Riku) had been shared not by words that echoed in their heads, but a feeling. Something primal which shared an image of the four of them.
Each one of them only had to take a single step. Instantaneous travel through metaphysical doors. The Step Beyond Boundaries, for Riku, but the other three had their different methods. Crossing a distance near forty feet, Riku had faced the Super Demon, which only two feet between them while he retracted his tendrils. To the left and right, suddenly flanking with their palms flat and open against the air, Meebu and Mouse. Up above, while Loki had come his way behind the Super Demon, Zoran in a similar manner to the other three. All four of them spilled shrouding energies that had no influence over the material world. Invisible boarders lined all around the Super Demon's body the instant Team Riku had made their way near him. Although these energies were present, it was only when Loki had come to deliver his Dolphin Blow, would they prove to render him immobile so long as the Super Demon still attempted to retract those tendrils he'd come to deliver.
These men tapped into their power, and once these energies had been under their influence, the Super Demon would feel only a tad feverish should they prove to coil around his figure and limit his maneuverability.
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Post by phantom on Mar 4, 2015 16:04:57 GMT
BGM: Gun metal BlackPulling the triggerA redirection, Gaiken turned his attention from Ishida, it seems like Loki and Riku had that one all wrapped up… or at least he would have left it up to them if Ishida wouldn’t have forced Gaiken to move from his current spot. “HEY BUDDY, WHATS WRONG WITH YOU? I’M TRYING TO DEAL DEATH HERE.” He yelled as he took a bounding leap back wards avoiding the ether blast. Until it subsided all together, he readjusted his targets centering them back onto Ishida, Cee, and Halinn. “Someone has some temperamental issues.” Perhaps he was right, maybe he wasn’t either way he had head cases to dish out. BOOM!!! Zaihara spoke at Gaiken’s command, that tungsten round sent flying Halinn’s way. Gaiken’s arm was flung backwards from Zaihara intense recoil but the other’s wouldn’t be able to see that. He pulled back the hammer, which spun the clip; Gaiken pointed the second shot back onto Ishida, he was going to let him slide but he earned this. The Gavel was about to come down on the super demon; the second shot changed the composition of the gun, bright blue and sparks rushed over the metallic frame. Gaiken placed his hand on the trigger, pulling it and forcing Zaihara to speak yet again. A thunderous ‘boom’ bellowed across the battlefield, the tungsten round roared across the battlefield rushing towards Ishida once more. Gaiken’s arm was flung back from that intense recoil yet again, but like before he readjusted his aim onto Cee. Why Cee and not Crim? For some reason Crim didn’t interest him anymore considering that he already had multiple people attack him, and Cee was just asking to be shot at. This gal had definitely attracted the wrong kind of attention. Zaihara was once again ready to speak. He pulled the hammer back and spun the clip. This was something special, even a machine like her would be able to feel this shot, Casual and Psycho working in tandem. And here something had interrupted him yet again, someone almost sent him elsewhere, but thanks to aforementioned Kaiser Effect Gaiken was thankfully left intact, though the XETA went into a trance. Locking his vision on that woman, Eagle Vision: a feat only few have obtained, since the machine didn’t exist on a spiritual level he had to physically aim that gun at her, calculate how fast the bulled was going to travel, factor in wind speeds. The digit twitched against the trigger, this was the most careful one he had to take, and one miscalculation and he would end up shooting a friendly. The XETA’s finger pulled back on the trigger, releasing the intense cry of Zaihara yet again. BOOOOM!!! Wrath of the marksmanThe first target Halinn was about to receive a hot trip, the round fired her way was charged with two elements: Astral Fire, and Physical Earth. The shot was heavy, it sailed her way with accelerating speeds, breaking sound barriers howling as it prepared to impact. If it missed, she would have to deal with a ton of Area Of Effect damage. The explosion was akin to a 150 mm howitzer round, the result? When the bullet passed her ‘IF’ it missed it would detonate as it passed her, sending lava born of astral and physical origin, it was an attack both her astral body and physical body. An attack on two fronts, while the attack would certainly deal an extensive amount of damage it certainly wouldn’t outright kill her and easily be evaded. However if she failed to evade the bullet, it would sail right into her chest, exploding and sending her body asunder along with the aforementioned astral-physical lava. The second shot was flying towards Ishida, like the last it was centered on the upper torso, Gaiken would like to have hit this one with a headshot but that was not the case. Gaiken was firing on a well-trained individual, if he couldn’t outright kill him; he was going to tip the scales in Riku’s and Loki’s favor. The Tungsten Round would easily BURST right into Ishida’s range. Round was fueled by spiritual water and psycho thunder, and thus when it impacted against Ishida it would send a burst of devastating lightning through his body, though the lightning was intensified with the spiritual water, the attack would infact rip through him on spiritual and psychic levels. But here was the kicker, Gaiken had taken on the embodiment of The Arbiter and brought the gavel down on Ishida, this effect was a simple one, it would simply increase the damage dealt against him by one stage for every crime committed, and soul he has devoured. Even if the attack missed it would detonate due to being in proximity of his frame, sending eight howling projectiles spiraling into his frame. If this stage of the attack connected the same effect would be achieved, attacking him on a spiritual and Psychic level. The third shot was sent flying towards Cee, but unlike the previous two, it couldn’t track her. This shot was simply based upon Gaiken’s prowess, the Tungsten Round would follow its calculated path of travel, howling and shattering barriers of sound as it smashed against that ether field, the bullet was shattered but the amount of force that Zaihara had put into the round was enough to part a small gap into it, this allowed the Casual burst of energy to rush in on the machine. Once inside it would wreak havoc upon her, dealing damage with bursting thunder, IF it connected it could potentially fry parts of her body and force them to cease function, the attack could be evaded all together if she just moved or the ether was too strong for the Tungsten Round. Gaiken scaled the buildings with simple and boring leaps, moving towards Loki, Riku’s and Ishida’s position. He arrived to watch that spectacular dolphin blow, Standing back far enough to where he could watch, but not to far so he can intervene should the need arise. Zaihara spun in his hand, gunplay in tow, reloading the revolver esc clip with a sleight of hand. “You guys got this, prove me right so I don’t have to step in.” he whispers to himself. [Feel free to P.M me with questions and concerns you may have about my post. ]
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Post by Dirge on Mar 4, 2015 17:12:26 GMT
Absorption was but one of the many scenarios that one should hope to face the moment anything regarding energy comes into play. That scenario often dealt with the drawing of said energy toward a point in specific or toward someone who chose to garner said released power and wield it themselves. It did not matter how much energy was contaminated or influenced – at the very core, energy was always energy. It was free from any external influences, free from corruption, and free from control. It was free for the taking.
Practically anyone who handled these sort of things would know about one of the most basic theories regarding energy.
Vincent did not call Magia Erebea a trump card just because. The origin of the spell was obscure at best but what he could rediscover by shifting through countless texts enunciated that someone with the power of a deity or a goddess of sorts had created it. Perhaps it was a goddess of Darkness. Perhaps it was simply a sentient demon or beast capable of wielding their own magical power to create new spells. The truth of the matter was only known to the magister, to anybody who had stumbled upon the ancient texts, and to anybody who he had shared that information with. But that much was obvious.
The type of energy Erebea affected did not matter. Energy was energy all the same and this is exactly what the spell targeted. After being filtered through the layer of darkness covering the magister – that is, breaking down the ether possessing Crim’s influence, essentially separating and eliminating it –, all the spell did was absorb the resulting raw energy, free of any control. But see, Vincent hadn’t even touched the energy from the Ignas Array Beams; those things had all been avoided. He had simply targeted the energy both Elyk and Crim had released into the air in the form of an assault consisting of fifteen or more spells, and spikes of ether designed to explode upon contact with anything. People just had no fucking idea what they were doing.
In any event, the resulting fireworks had been there and all Vincent did was rely upon his trump card to draw all that energy in it, purify it - just as though he was putting dirty water through a filter -, and take in the ‘power’ that ultimately was created from it. There were no ifs and buts about it and anybody who felt like trying to control that resulting power would simply be met with… Absolutely nothing at all. They’d soon find out that the magister’s body was an impenetrable fortress possessing layer after layer of defensive systems dealing with any and all attempts of controlling him without ever breaching through his physical body. Defensive measures of the sort had been set in place years ago when his biological father had attempted to control his sister’s mind and destroy it from afar. After that situation, the magister had come up with countermeasures for attacks dealing with the consciousness of an individual, manifested in a series of mental barriers that practically made interference from the outside relatively useless unless he allowed it so.
Needless to say, Crim’s interference was quickly disrupted and shut down the moment the captain attempted to reach out to what was previously his ether. There was no disputing that, however. The ether Vincent had broken down did indeed belong to Crim, but after said form of energy was put through Erebea, that specific designation of ether existed no longer. All that existed was raw ‘power’ that the spell had absorbed. The way the captain desperately tried to reach for that sort of energy immediately let the magister know that he was growing desperate. Or maybe that he just wanted to see what would happen.
In the end, Crim’s attempts were fruitless. Why? Because of the way the ultimate form of Dark Magic worked. To assume that Vincent would take in any form of energy that had been tampered with or tainted even after purification was nothing short of silly, and after working with the spell for so long, he had been able to perfect it to the point that practically no forms of energy could get past its intrusive demeanor. Anything supernatural or ethereal, obviously excluding physical objects, matter, and spells that would otherwise create physical objects, was drawn within it, broken down to their most basic states, and absorbed. This is what had occurred Tetsue’s energy when he tried to confront the magister with it. This is what had occurred with his ethereal body when he tried to tackle the magister with it. This is what had happened with literally anybody who had thought about using large quantities of energy to finish Vincent off. And this is what had happened with Crim’s ether and Elyk’s magical energy released from the material he wielded.
Recapitulating…
Crim did not even manage to affect the purified ‘power’ Vincent had taken in.
By removing that specific domino piece, everything else Crim attempted to do that dealt with said energy crumbled apart like a house of cards.
The magical circles established all around Pendragon, Miu, Kirisame, and himself simply continued to shine with the continuous flux of raw power coursing through them. The magister had extended his area of influence throughout the entire circle, but it was only after slamming his palm onto the ground – which caused another rune to inscribe itself within the area of the boundary – that the circle doubled in size. The more time people gave him, the more he’d have to work with. Trying to tackle a magister from a distance without even launching a single physical attack was a foolish notion. He warned his opponents about this time after time but so far the only one who had listened to his warnings had been his adoptive father, his former teacher Sohjin Kasake, and, on some occasions, his former rival Ran.
Everybody else remained at a distance. What happened then was fairly obvious; the magister could do whatever the fuck he wanted without any repercussions because nobody ever wanted to stop him!
“Tch. Amateurs. Can you believe this guy? Trying to extend his influence inside me? Fucking hilarious.” Vincent commented toward Pendragon, though Kirisame was the one who pitched in.
“You could still have gotten hurt if you goofed! Besides, it’s not like you actually want to kill that guy, right? Redhead is just duuuuuumb!”
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Post by Hero on Mar 4, 2015 20:46:27 GMT
Adell obviously had a lot of time between challenging Dias and Beramode crashing the party to think about things. There were several factors to consider and when it was all said and done? Things had hardly gone against the general nature of these kinds of things. Chaos ran rampart through the streets as HAVOC descended on Xylphia with other unlikely allies involving themselves. Most of them were in leagues with Vincent Fiorelli, but of them all, the white-haired Martial Artist was most familiar with one. When he forced Kirisame's head open and made himself known, Adell knew he couldn't mistake that man. Beramode Pendragon, the king of carnage and war, the very hero the world needed at the most inopportune time. Adell didn't know much about him, and even with their relationship as foggy as Adell's memories, it was clear that Adell was one of the reasons he'd bothered to show his face.
Vincent Fiorelli battled fiercly against Crim El Furaga with little effort, and Lysander engaged Cee in battle. Adell wasn't too familiar with Lysander but from his words and his entrance alongside Beramode he could tell they were obviously connected to some degree. Cee however was no push over. Adell's view of the Stripper-bot was biased, and while most in his position would recognize her potential and ability Adell not only knew or her virtues but her flaws as well. He'd give Lysander the benefit of the doubt, he seemed to be capable, and his very presence shook the battlefield. The debris and billowing smoke and most parted around Adell, sliding around his Sphere of Air Influence while possibly consuming everything else around him for the moment.
Meanwhile Crim seemed to slowly be losing his sanity, and with the foreign space entity shooting a wave of psychic pressure down on the planet, Adell would be one of the many completely unaffected by its strength. By virtue of birth Adell was completely immune to anything that could touch his psyche, and any powers involving the use of the mind's strength and such was negated completely before it could make contact with the Lost Star. Adell was perhaps the least aware of why, but by anyone who knew Adell prior to his awakening they'd chalk it up to his draconic lineage and the blood that ran through his spiritual veins. No one but Beramode knew for sure, but it was but one of Adell's mysterious innate traits that ran deeper than his apparent 'human complexion'.
Meanwhile Dias insisted on boring him with a lack of response, and inbetween watching HAVOC battle the Yggdrasil Crew down below and he himself slowly releasing his power into the world around him, Adell grew impatient. Did he truly intend to make him wait for an eternity to accept his challenge? The Godhand armaments glowed briefly in reflection of their wearers attitude. This wasn't what he'd signed up for, this wasn't what any of them signed up for. So why did Adell smile? Because Dias was obviously so focused on what was happening around them that he'd never see the unfortunate events that would follow. If anything made it worse?
Adell wasn't one to hold back.
Space itself folded violently against his sudden jolt forward, his body disappearing in an enigmatic blur of pure velocity. So much power behind his movement that the shockwave was enough to blow the rooftop of the skyscraper apart, hell, the recoil was enough to blow the entire building apart - but the Sphere of Influence condensed the dangerous kinetic force projected by Adell enough than anything that wasn't the source might get crushed by his mere movement. A human, for example, would probably have been literally ripped apart by the lunge forward, but that was the least of Dias' worries. For all of the force he put behind his burst forward, nothing would compare to the finale.
Dias had lost touch with reality, and perhaps he wouldn't feel the flames that beat down his back and suddenly collapsed to consume his existence as he knew it. The violent flames crashed down on him, and in that moment, a single thick hand reached into the raging flames that collapsed on him from several angles concurrently, slamming into his face just hard enough to probably break his nose.
Then the worst part. Clenching his fingers around Dias' head his right arm snapped back, tightened his fingers for a few seconds, and slammed him through the air just below him. The ground already falling apart from his sheer movement parted with little resistance, and before anyone could recall just what had happened: Dias Blade shot through the building like a missile, destroying every floor along the way. Several floors crossed in little over a second, he'd collide with the ground in Adell's first showcase of peerless strength yet. If Crim El Furaga the madman was the embodiment of speed and wonky tactics, Adell was the embodiment of power and will.
As the sea of explosive force erupted from Dias' point of impact, sending waves of palpable kinetic force flying across the surface of Xylphia in what everyone would feel as gale force winds, the fire didn't trail too far behind. Already attached and eating away at him, they'd collide into the ground behind him as well, strengthened by the force of presence that was Dias' existence within the strings he had created. Casting additional violent flames as its ash, only a split second would follow before the flames crashed with similar tenacity, echoing across what would later become ruin. The Warp was quite nasty, even Adell hardly avoided being consumed by its fire - only able to part it by the power of the Influence Sphere.
Xylphia was it? Adell wasn't all too familiar with this world, nor did he care. Anyone who'd make him wait would suffer the consequences. Somewhere deep down, Adell hoped that Dias had survived, the chances of a satisfying battle hadn't escaped them yet...but honestly, he knew that ship had long since sailed. Every chance Dias was given with the flow of events to acknowledge Adell and the challenge given and he inevitably fell short. A tale that Crash also learned when faced by Loki, and the tale anyone else would learn if they dared to step on Xylphia with no intentions of acknowledging the world around them.
Making sure he was free of the wires that crossed Dias in being cast aside, Adell hovered to a nearby building, having been blasted back by his own kinetic force.
While many began to fall in the midst of the battle Adell was confident in the abilities of his friends. Yes friends. For a warmonger such as himself, a friend was anyone willing to fight on the same battlefield as him and stake their lives on the line. Loki, Riku, Gaiken, Vermilion, and especially Vincent, they had all been instrumental in bringing success to their violent and unprecedented campaign. Was it justified? Who knew, but was there really any justice in war, regardless of how it came about? Lysander was still as much of a mystery as Ishida, and Beramode was hardly an ally. An associate by circumstance perhaps but he was far from a friend in the sense of the word that most usually references it. Adell wouldn't stand there long, watching the others fight he turned his eyes to the sword: Insomnium. Something called Adell to it, but there were more important matters to handle.
Like Sole descending from the sky. Or Beramode, who was obviously up to no good. Well, Sole didn't neccisarily come off as any real threat so Adell reevaluated things before taking off in a burst of chi and pressure, zooming across the planet where Beramode and Icura had disappeared with some monstrosity that drilled through the ground at a frightening pace.
"BERAMODE!" Adell bellowed almost in childish anger. He mapped the world below and the madness below, and he was almost certain Elyk would die...and hopefully he did. If he got in the way? Adell would kill him too. But why didn't Adell pursue them deeper into the earth?
No, instead he waited. Crossing his arms along his chest he followed up to his scream by whispering under his breath this time. "I'm not letting you get away you bastard..."
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Post by Dias Blade on Mar 4, 2015 22:43:06 GMT
Quite a bit had apparently happened in the fictitious battle transpiring. Unfortunately for everyone, no one seemed to understand chronological ordering of events. Maybe this was their first attempt at a war? Who really knew. None of that seemed to matter, however. Following the deflection of the Tesser's laser beams to scatter them all about the city with lethal precision at the invaders who had revealed themselves, the Narrian shifted himself in midair as he could detect the man's aura lurching outward, fixated upon him as though issuing a challenge. Interesting... Was he seeking to have a duel in the middle of a battlefield? This man in particular was familiar, though. The scent of his spirit was the same as the one who had briefly appeared before him back on Vestusio. What in the hell was he doing here, though?
In that instant, Dias' eyes flashed a brilliant ruby red as the cellular structuring of the color changed iris surrounding both pupils reworked to depict actual markings of unknown origin. The Devil Eyes... His perception of reality altered, transcending the system of all creation to view a world as it was defined in its raw state. The ability to read the written code of existence and directly interact with it. Here it was far more of a head trip, though. Weird.
At any rate, the man took note of the awkward 'mist' which made attempts to try and latch onto the swords still connected to him that were up in the air. But in some strange turn of events it had somehow managed to throw the weapons around like rag dolls in a swordnado. Though not entirely sure how that had been possible, the Narrian merely resigned to the notion and triggered the chain reaction with but a single thought, transferred to the blades that were still very much linked to him and under his control. The mist had made some meaningless gamble to try and break the bond with the man, though was proven to be no contest with his unwavering resolve and willpower. No, instead after the others had already dealt with the spinning weapons, the single thought of his caused each one to simply cease to exist, breaking down into their raw ethereal form and merely dissipating into nothing.
Now with that out of the way, Dias stepped upon the air itself, igniting the atmosphere beneath his feet to create traction for him to move upon, jetting forward as he quite literally turned the sky into a makeshift road of sorts for him to travel along as he soon dropped down onto the rooftop where this presence he felt was coming from. A number of the swords untouched by the mist that were closer to him from earlier had all landed there, littering the top of the building just as the enemy walked out to greet the man with radiant blue hair. As he came down from above, his boots softly touched upon more wires which had woven themselves between the hilts of each sword into a large rendition of a cat's cradle. With a light hop, he was now standing on the roof facing this man who he indeed recognized as the one called Adell during the fiasco with U-TIC and MERKAHBAH from before.
His intentions were obvious enough as is, the Narrian didn't need to stand there listening to him ramble on about it. And so, during mid sentence, Adell found his vision blurred as the world split. In truth, it never would have even registered for him that a blade was now sticking out the back of his head, having gone through as it pierced that thick skull of his effortlessly like a hot knife through butter. The delayed reaction of the sheer kinetic force striking him after the fact then came a moment later, slamming into his now lifeless corpse as it was sent flying backwards and off the rooftop, careening through the air as his head was then nailed to the nearby skyscraper which shook from the vibration. The impact was hard, causing every window to shatter as the fragments looked like glistening tears shed for the fallen. A sad ending...
That was all rather anti-climatic. So much for wanting a duel. Guess he should have thought that one out a bit better. Oh well.
Reaching out to the side, Dias took hold of another sword he had crafted from earlier with his left hand, the right still loosely holding onto the Krydesa. That was about the time when he noticed the huge ass thing appearing up in space, those special eyes of his instantly allowing him to understand its composition and powers. Not long after, what appeared to be a crushing psychic wave was unleashed which tried to hit everyone it seemed. The force was subsequently turned to nothing as it went to make contact with his existence, all of its properties and very definition torn asunder and ripped apart. The creature's psychic powers were vast, yet the concept of its strength in any sort of capacity or measurement was ultimately pointless to one who carried the curse of the Nihilus.
It would need to be dealt with eventually, but all in due time. First, there were others who needed to be taken care of before that. But who first... Ah, that one will do.
Beramode was making his way about the city casually, plucking away at the non-existent wires since all the other swords scattered around the metropolis weren't connected to anything, acting as stand alone constructs. Of course, that didn't mean the Narrian was going to let him continue to meander about thinking he could just make stuff up on the fly. It didn't take him long to track down the presence he had sensed from earlier, finding this carefree person traipsing about. Dias appeared dropping down from above as before to impede his path, swords hanging by his hips. Those red eyes of his still shining bright, it took all but a glance to get the scoop on this fella. Granted, he had long since figured out his nonsense even before arriving. The atmosphere around the Azure was vibrating at a frequency that Humans couldn't comprehend, yet any creature with sensitive enough ears could easily make it out.
Meanwhile, that drilling operation would soon hit a dead end, discovery a strange metal surface that refused to budge or even chip under the extreme pressure of it. So much for that method. Not like it was advised anyone try going down below that point for their own sake.
(OOC: Auto-Kill on Adell for Law jumping the gun and trying to Auto-Kill me. Next time, two things to remember. First, be sure to PM the person you're trying to auto anything against like you've told Rin and Josh in regards to that Verm fellow. And two, next time you say 48 hours be sure to keep track of the timer. That was beyond amateurish of you. Though, I think the best advice is for you to next time just be a man and challenge me properly instead of taking the coward's approach. Also, it should be well known at the only reason I even knew about the 48 hours bit is because others told me. I effectively stopped reading the OOC thread here after my last post as its quite frankly a giant waste of time. Toodles.)
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Post by Flarhgunnstow MacGrarfileld on Mar 5, 2015 16:19:34 GMT
{ BGM: "Old School Hollywood"} How interesting! So the ubermage had the ability to just take whatever energy he wanted and apparently do whatever he wanted with it however he pleased! Crim briefly wondered how and where mister magey had picked up such an amusing trick. It surely must be a difficult process...and yet he didn't sense any actual strain on the part of the guy. None whatsoever. It was just like he thought: the guy was a know-it-all do-anything with no preparation and no effort sort. Well wasn't that just peachy keen. Fortunately, being possessed of such immaculate abilities didn't automatically grant all-knowingness, but mere the illusion of said. Regardless of the form his own energy took on, Crim still had access to it. That was indisputable. There were no dominoes to remove from this equation in that sense. Crim possessed a raw, natural ability to channel energy from any source. His opponent clearly had no idea what that meant since he continued to attempt to use the energy he had 'stolen' from Crim's attacks in order to fuel the Runic style spells that he was tossing up all around. Alas, the Runes would fizzle and burst into useless Ethereal vapor as Crim simply siphoned his own energy away, dissipating it into nothing. The uberwizard was free to use his own energy for said purposes, but Crim's power remained connected to him regardless of any twists and turns some ignorant third party tried to put on it. Even if the guy had been able to fully change and sever it from Crim, the Captain could still access its new source freely, as that was the very essence of his natural ability. Any source, any way, any time. So what did this mean, exactly? Well, it meant that Crim had the upper hand. Sure, he hadn't been able to use the uberwizard as a filter for Hell Dimension crap, but that didn't matter much anyways since he knew it would be a long shot. But at the same time, all of his opponent's efforts up until this point had been rendered completely pointless. Inert. Without the energy that Crim had provided to build 'em up, the Runes that the guy had been wasting so much time trying to prepare - no doubt for some heinous big-level spell - literally went up in a poof of Ethereal smoke. Ah, but wait, there was more. See, Crim had this thing he liked to do when facing off against unfamiliar foes. He liked to gauge their abilities. See what made 'em tick. He generally went about this by messing around, tossing random throwaway attacks out all willy-nilly. There was no disadvantage to this method. If the attacks failed, no big deal, he never really expected them to work anyway. If somehow one of the attacks stuck? Well, chalk it up to great luck! Either way, by doing this, he got a feel for the enemy. And this was no exception. He'd been keenly observing and processing each and every means and method that his opponent had employed towards defending himself. Crim now knew that long-range Ether-based techniques were largely pointless, as his enemy would simply attempt to absorb and redirect the Ether for his own ends. Cheap trick, but effective in its own cheap way. Crim also knew that the ubermage was capable of high speed movement, thanks to his little after-image stunt earlier. But it wasn't natural speed. It was speed gifted through magic, which meant it had certain limitations compared to his own natural gifts (which were, of course, supplemented with numerous other abilities in order to make it truly effective). Crim also knew now that the megamage's body was locked up tight against external interference. Nothing unexpected about that though. Most high level fighters had some kinda mojo like that going, himself included, but having definitive knowledge about it wasn't a bad bonus. And finally, Crim knew the guy's personality now. Knew what made him tick, and that, mah friends, was possibly the most important thing of all. And so they two of 'em stood apart from one another, essentially right back to square one, but not really, since Crim now possessed a great deal of knowledge on his opponent, while his opponent possessed nothing of particular value. After all, it was already a well-known fact that Crim was a speedster (though he hadn't yet come close to his maximum velocity in this encounter, so that would be an incomplete picture). And while his abilities with Ether Manipulation - especially his power to draw it from any source - was somewhat less known, it really wasn't a concern since he wouldn't be making extensive use of this skill against this opponent any longer, at least not directly. Crim just stood there grinning wide like a total idiot while ubermegamage stood there yammering on with his precious puppet pal, again, no doubt wondering where all the energy suddenly vanished to. Sure, maybe he'd still have a bit left from whatever he had appropriated from General Elyk, but the guy had already made it abundantly clear that he had little respect for Materia, which clearly meant that he knew it didn't have enough juice to be useful. "So, hey, you wanted to fight, right? Hahaha." Crim laughed jovially as he lightly tapped his telescopic EM-Rod against his shoulder. To the ever-so observant uberwizardsage, it would perhaps seem that Crim's overall demeanor was slightly different than before. Maybe it was just his imagination though. But then again... "BAM!" With no warning, Crim struck upwards with a fierce uppercut. Very strange, considering the dozen or so meters distance between him and his foe. Except in that exact same instant, the wizard, who was likely still having a casual get-together with his doll, or distracted by trying to gather energy to keep his Runes from going poof, a physical impact force shot up from below Vin-Vin's chin. It was fast, it was sudden, and it was hard. A punch that could send a dump truck spiraling up into the air. This was not Ether. It was not any discernible type of energy at all. Whatever it was, though, it was liable to take the wizard's entire head off if he wasn't able to muster some means to defend or dodge it. Which wouldn't be as simple as his previous efforts, since this wasn't an energy form that he could sense or absorb, being that it wasn't energy to begin with. It was almost as if Crim was somehow extending the range of his physical strike...how he was managing to do this would be anyone's guess. Tony Danza cuts in line!
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Post by Dirge on Mar 6, 2015 0:33:35 GMT
The sole purpose of Magia Erebea was to target enormous quantities of energy, purify and repurpose it before allowing the caster to assimilate it through the workings of the spell. There was obviously prior preparation required to cast the spell, steps that the magister had taken from the beginning of the hostilities all the way to the proverbial end and culmination of the spell. The quantity of energy consumed was quickly replenished by whatever was absorbed, though it was foolish to assume that someone like Vincent possessed a small basin of mana, chi, qi, or any other sort of energy. But that wasn’t even the gist of this whole situation to begin with.
This simply appeared to be a tug of war between the captain of the Yggdrasil Crew and the magister with the energy the latter had broken down, repurposed, and assimilated unto himself. Crim could attempt to access his own power but, as it has already been established time and time again, whatever new form of energy resulted from Erebea was no longer connected to the wielder, caster, or user of what the energy was before the purification, repurposing, and conversion prior to the assimilation. In short, the more Crim attempted to influence the energy within the magister, the more worthless his efforts would be. And probably the more disappointed and infuriated the captain would grow.
As much as the captain wanted to cry and moan about the energy he’d used in his ether spikes, that was all gone. It existed no longer, as it had been stated time and time again. It almost appeared as though the captain couldn’t even grasp basic events or a decent timeline but that wasn’t even that much of a bother. However, since Crim had acknowledged the magical circles upon the ground and his presence within them, it made the magister’s next few actions a little easier. First of all, he’d cut all involvement Crim had with the world outside the area of the circles – two hundred meters around Vincent – while also cutting all possible contact Crim would’ve had with the energy Vincent had repurposed.
Boundaries were often a pretty useful thing, and if there’s anything the Fiorelli had learned in his encounters with the Lady of Gensokyo, Yukari Yakumo, is how to make the most out of them. He already possessed basic knowledge on this area but the Lady had taught him how to affect the very boundaries that defined one’s everyday life, the Boundaries of Life and Death, and so on. But there was more than that to boundaries. Whenever someone willingly stepped in one of the circles that the magister created, they were subject to any changes that could occur within them. This was not any different from the Reality Marbles employed by the powerful Servants and the Bounded Fields used by magi of old. Within a Reality Marble or Bounded Field, the creator simply forced all things within the field to obey the rules dictated inside the area. And Crim had essentially walked into it without a second thought.
What did this mean for the captain? Well, that was simple enough. It meant that the battlefield had been evened out. For one, Crim would not be able to employ the use of his Ether Manipulation. Any attempts to do so would fizzle out before any raw energy expended in the process empowered the magister. This was the first and foremost rule within the Bounded Field; Magic Drain. It worked in a similar way to Magia Erebea without the psychological or astral damage. The second rule, a conditional that only applied in case the first rule failed was a stronger form of the magister’s Dispulso spell, Magic Cancel. Essentially and at its most basic level, it dispelled the supernatural phenomena known as magic, but the Fiorelli had been able to work with it for long enough to extend it to other energy based assaults. All in all, things looked grim for good old Crim after that blunder.
The amusing thing about this all is that, even if Crim had managed to pull his energy out of the magical circles and glyphs that littered the ground, Vincent did not even need all his power to begin with; Elyk’s energy was enough to do what he needed. Obviously, he hadn’t been able to pull the energy out from within the Break or Contain materia, let alone the Comet one, but everything else had been fair game and had provided him with enough power to do what he wanted. Everything up to this point had been simply prodding and poking at the captain of the Yggdrasil Crew. It was, after all, his modus operandi. Perhaps the two of them weren’t that dissimilar from each other when it came down to getting information out of their opponents, but that’s as little as they had in common. The execution of said strategy was vastly different for the two of them.
The captain’s assumptions were a funny thing. While Vincent worked with empirical knowledge, more often than not only accepting certain things as facts once he’d witnessed the same behavior or abilities out of someone consistently, everything else was regarded as a theory. He theorized that the captain’s behavior was nothing short of cocky, believing he was always three or four steps ahead of everybody, not unlike a certain general he’d met in the past in another world. Theorized that he could naturally reach high speeds without spending too much energy to begin with and perhaps could do so in the blink of an eye, transitioning from a state of complete suspension to reach the speed of light or even surpass it based on his performance just a mere moments ago.
For the time being, however, it didn’t look like the magister was about to make use of the environment around them to his advantage. Vincent would just let the captain’s realization that he’d willingly stepped into the magister’s Bounded Field sink in. It probably happened around the time the air was disturbed by the sheer kinetic energy closing the distance between the two of them, which prompted an equally as quick reaction from Vincent. Well, probably not that quick considering he could already see the attack coming the moment it originated near Crim, before it even managed to travel a single foot and reach the spot under his chin. There was very little that escaped Vincent’s perception, and this disturbance clearly wasn’t one of those things. And even then, if he’d gone about it differently, chances are the magister would’ve still been able to see it within the Bounded Field. The Halfling did give the captain some credit as he swayed back to narrowly avoid a clean hit; it was the very first actual physical attack he’d watched him employ.
In a simultaneous manner, however, Vincent’s hands slipped into the pockets of his robes. Long range fights were his specialty, but that did not mean the silver haired one was unskilled at mid-range or at short range. He simply preferred not to get his hands dirty. It was clear that, in this case, there was no helping it. Just as the captain had his means of attacking physically from a distance, there was a particular martial art style within the magic school of the Fiorelli that allowed him to perform practically the same feat. With twelve meters between the two of them, give or take, it was the perfect way to attempt closing the distance. It was then that the magister began to walk towards Crim as leisurely as humanly possible before something tore through the air.
The Iaiken was a martial art whose theories were based loosely on Iaidou and Iaijutsu. The concept involved replacing the sword in the scabbard for the fist in the pocket, thus allowing for an empty-handed quick draw style. But that was only part of it. The style worked by throwing extremely fast punches to the point of becoming invisible, making the technique nearly undetectable in its execution – which had earned it the name of the Soundless Fist. While it did not strike the enemy with qi, chi, mana, or bullets crafted out of these forms of energy, the style utilizes the focused shockwave of the punch. And this is exactly what manifested when Vincent threw a punch directly at Crim's face before slipping his hand into the pocket of his robes so quickly that one could not even say if the magister’s arm had moved at all. But obviously Crim would’ve been able to detect it. After all, Vincent didn’t consider it an advanced technique, both in terms of power or execution.
His body appeared to be completely relaxed save for the breathing – which was entirely optional at this point in his life – causing his chest to rise and fall at a relatively slow pace. Specks of crimson surfaced within the magister’s azure irises, seemingly flashing in for a brief moment before dissipating into nothingness. Magia Erebea had taken its toll on the magister’s soul every single time he had used it in the past, and it hadn’t been any different this time around. His darker side, demonic counterpart that he had refused to give in to, often surfaced in full force after the magister employed any sort of dark magic simply because these spells had the particular side effect of eating away at one’s sanity and soul little by little. The more one used them, the more it affected the soul and mind of an individual to the point of utterly consuming them after a while. The Fiorelli had never been immune to the effects of this spell, only managing to stave off the possession of his darker side for as long as possible until it inevitably occurred.
Little Kirisame felt a sudden stinging pain at the back of her head, causing her to grasp at her tiny skull. Her eyes had been reflecting the show of lights in the sky, something akin to the aurora borealis in the Arctic regions of Earth. They seemed to extend as far as the eye could see, shining with an eerie iridescent light. All she could see now were images of death and destruction, a million twisted voices speaking in unison in a cacophony of utter pandemonium. And laughter. Laughter that started in the lowest of decibels before rising in both pitch and volume to the point of threatening to shatter her mind.
Icura Miu and Beramode Pendragon had been granted the choice to leave the Bounded Field if they wished it so, but Crim El Furaga was stuck in here with Vincent until one of them fell, whether it was out of exhaustion or because their life force had reached the equivalent of zero. Regardless of the outcome, the Fiorelli was still going to come out of here with more knowledge for Hyades.
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Post by Flarhgunnstow MacGrarfileld on Mar 6, 2015 1:46:42 GMT
Crim thought it was a bit silly how this guy kept on trying to do the same thing over and over again in spite of the fact that he was flat-out incapable of doing what he thought he was doing. But it didn't really matter to him either way. The energy that magey mcgee had tried to use to build up his magic circles had been sent away, repeatedly (somehow?) and Crim's ability to tap into extra-dimensional power sources was in no way affected by anything the uberwiz did do or even could feasibly do. After all, mister wizard had no righteous clue how Crim's abilities even worked. But let's say that he did. Let's say he was even powerful or knowledgeable enough to do anything about it. Crim possessed massive internal Ether reserves that he could tap into and utilize, regardless of any external influences, any time he so chose. Which meant that even if someone could somehow prevent him from tapping into another source (good luck!), they couldn't cut him off from himself.
Not that Crim was even bothering to tap any of that extra power just yet. He had no need to do so.
In any event, the method by which Vinny-Vin had gone about attempting to avoid his strike was a tad bit off. The strike had come up from below, as in directly below his chin, as though it had literally originated there. It was not actually attached to Crim's fist at all. The physical uppercut motion had just been a flashy action that served no real purpose other than distracting his opponent with visual flair. The strike had been made up entirely of Crim's own indomitable willpower, courtesy of his innate Tenken ability. The wizard's casual evasion attempt, darn it all, just plum couldn't work. The strike would hit home regardless of any move he made, because he was marked and didn't even know it. Simply leaning back and thinking that would be enough to get the job done was recklessly stupid. And now he'd pay the price for it! There might have been a chance to avoid it had the wizard taken it seriously, but since his own ego simply wouldn't allow it, he would justly be rewarded by getting socked in the jaw. Owwwwie!
Crim, meanwhile, maintained the ability to travel wherever he pleased, and to draw power from wherever he wished (not that he needed to, mind). He was not trapped by any force, as he could not be tamed by pitiful magic tricks (seriously, who even does that in this day and age?). Especially tricks that didn't have any juice to begin with - remember, it didn't matter where the power went or what form it took, Crim could follow it anywhere and do what he wanted with it. And it just so happened that what he wanted didn't coincide with what the wizard wanted. It was just that simple and there was no way for the wizard to mess with it no matter how hard he tried.
If the wizard wanted to trap him, he'd have to do it by force. Meaning he'd have to freaking use rope or something.
"Yeah...magic rope. Hahaha!"
Crim laughed at the thought.
Ah, hold on a minute though. It seemed the wizard was about to try something funny. In spite of getting pow'ed right in the kisser! Oh, some kind of magic invisible special move!? Woah, awesome!!!
Crim decided he wanted to feel it for himself. So when the wizard punched at him, he just stood there and let it hit him.
Well, not entirely. It had to get through his Ether Field first. Which it did. Sort of. Turned out, the wizard wasn't really that strong. Sure, the guy could punch pretty hard for a mage-type, but Crim possessed the physical fortitude to weather full-on blows from the likes of Killiak - who was, well...let's just say a certain big green hulk-like monster would have a tough time out-muscling ol' Killiak. Seriously, did this bony-armed little nancy actually think he could register on the same scale? Okay, granted, he supposed there wasn't much of a chance that the big bad wizard would have any idea who he was dealing with here. Actually, hold on...yeah, hadn't this SOB been completely in the dark about who he was in the first place? Hell, never mind that. Just why was this cretin even attacking him anyway?
Oh, right! He almost forgot! The secret invisio-punch.
"Oh...uh...ouch!" Crim reeled back dramatically as he felt the whiff on his cheek. "D-damn...such force!" He staggered a bit, laying the ham on real thick, cuz that's clearly what the wizard was looking for at this point. The Captain glanced around, acting panicky and dismayed as he 'suddenly realized' that he was 'trapped somehow'.
"Argh! So you've been planning this all along, have you!?" He mimed being 'walled in'. "No prison can hold me! HIYA!" He suddenly bolted to the side, smashing into a solid Ether barrier that he himself had inexplicably put there. The barrier held, and he bounced off it, skidding backward.
"Ow! Dammit, who put that there!?"
Hahaha, that'll show you.
In a flash, Crim was on his feet again.
"Well, I guess I'm stuck here! Yep!"
I can keep this up for eighteen hours straight.
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Post by Dirge on Mar 6, 2015 2:50:08 GMT
The moment Crim willingly stepped into the Bounded Field Vincent had created, he had relinquished the choice of leaving the two hundred meters the area of the circle encompassed and was subject to the rules dictated within the field. There was no force to be used there; Crim had stepped in out of his own accord. It did not matter if he was above the law of countless empires and civilizations across the solar systems all across the Multiverse and the Omniverse; there was very little he could do outside of attempting to destroy the Bounded Field if he did not feel like obeying the rules dictated within it. In any event, that was the way one used a trap; laying it down, waiting for the enemy to be lured in, and then triggering said trap. At least in the general sense of what a trap really was. The field occupied a defined area with the Fiorelli located directly at its center, and while Crim had been outside said area, he’d chosen to step in on his own without regard for the consequences of his acts. Unfortunately for him, there were consequences to be addressed and that were already in effect, unbeknownst to the captain of the crew. Or maybe he did know about it as the Ether Field around him simply dissipated into nothingness as the bonds of the ether holding it together simply broke down and vanished once the boundary’s Magic Cancel acted upon it. The phenomenon was not any different from the concepts of Mana Burn or Ether Burn, except that instead of spontaneously combusting the energy, it was rendered absolutely useless.
But let’s go back to the Tenken and how Crim absolutely forgot about a few small but important wrenches stuck in the cogs of his plan. While the magister’s evasion had failed him, and there was no questioning that if he had indeed been marked, the physical shockwave simply crashed against the barrier that had been set in place before Crim had managed to get out of the way of Vincent’s dash just a few moments ago. The kinetic energy came into contact with the translucent wall of physical light before practically dispersing along its surface. It probably packed one hell of a punch, but the magister wouldn’t even feel it reaching his body behind the barrier. The same could not be said for the captain, however, whose Ether Field had been dissolved so that the shockwave of Vincent’s punch slammed squarely into his face.
“To teichos dierxastho.” The Halfling muttered under his breath after witnessing the results - which weren't exactly impressive - of his attack.
It didn’t seem to have that much of an effect on Crim but a hit was a hit and he’d take it. After all, if the man was so powerful, what was a tiny punch chipping away a bit of the sanity he so thoroughly lacked? The short skit the captain had started didn’t matter much to Vincent, since right as the guy bolted to the side, a literal barrage of punches ensued toward Crim. At this point, they were probably like mosquito bites, though an odd purple light was emanating from the inner regions of the magister’s pockets. The distance continued to shorten between the two of them, the once dozen meters separating them being reduced to a measly half of it even after Crim darted off to the side for a moment only to collide with… Nothing. Once again, the ether field that he’d attempted to throw down into the Bounded Field was dissipated and cancelled as naturally as lightning fell during a thunderstorm.
Kirisame, meanwhile, got on her broom and flew off into the skies just to trail patterns through the aurora borealis-like lights up there. They were shining so brilliantly, she could almost feel her headache going away little by little, feeling empowered through the whole thing. Hell, she’d even fire up some starlight at the business end of her broom just to speed herself up in a display of childish innocence. She couldn’t even care less for what was going on in the Bounded Field. Everything important was occurring outside of it!
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Post by Flarhgunnstow MacGrarfileld on Mar 6, 2015 3:03:17 GMT
Well! Strange! Crim watched through a pair of binoculars from a distance of eight kilometers as the wizard punchy-punched or whatever at a clone made of delicious saltwater taffy that Crim had hastily constructed from his reserves of said taffy which he carried with him everywhere for some reason.
It seemed that the magic man still thought he was trapped or whatever. Unfortunately, by not being physically there, like the wizard so clearly thought he was, Crim soundly disproved that little theory.
"What a weirdo, haha." Crim said to himself as he continued to watch the show from the far away out of range ludicrous distance that he had placed between himself and his enemy, which again, clearly demonstrated that the trap or whatever it was, had no effect on Crim whatsoever.
How had he moved, though? What the hell!?
Well, duh. Crim was fast. When he put up that inexplicable barrier, he made it seem like he had bounced off it, but what really happened was he had replaced his real self with the saltwater taffy duplicate. And then he used some, I dunno, ventriloquism or whatever to finish the rest of the charade. And it went off without a hitch, because Vinny was sitting there attacking it! Eight miles away!
HAHAHAHA!
Meanwhile, back on the Yggdrasil...
A big dark streak of something came flying out of the ship. Probably some kind of little hermit crab. As for the Ygg itself, it kind of just floated there, the Crew within watching the nonsense unfold on the screens.
"This is unbelievable, woof..." Scott the Dog grumbled.
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Post by Turbo Yuri on Mar 6, 2015 6:02:36 GMT
Halinn stood (well, floated, but whatever) back and watched as the two fighters traded jibes and began to reveal their moves. Thunderheads pooled above the trio as Josh drew a chained kunai, and popped a couple of clones from the two special kunai at either side of Vermilion. The clones zig-zagged around, heading towards the elf as Josh threw his kusari at him. Stray lightning flashed as the two clones closed in and the elf rolled, swiping at their legs. The clones flipped themselves into the air to dodge, and then fired themselves, spinning, at Vermilion. Josh kept the kunai circling.
The elf disappeared.
Halinn's mental awareness instantly picked him up again, however, as he had teleported directly behind Josh and Halinn. Vermilion took a swing at both of them, and Halinn instinctivley twisted her body to dodge. She didn't need to, however, as the elf's fiery blade glanced off of her psyshield, sparking as it did so. Halinn shot back a few feet as Vermilion took his swing at her Crew mate. The psyker was distracted by a disturbance (in the Force?) of psychic energy, and immediately threw up a psyshield of Josh's own. The wave of mental force broke against their shields, that glimmered white as they fought off the attack. Keeping the ninja shielded, Halinn hovered a number of feet away from the battling pair, watching as they struggled over the elf's blade.
Josh sent a thought to Halinn, telling her to high-tail it, so she obliged. A good idea. The thunderclouds that had been brewing overhead broke as a vast bolt of lightning arced down towards the pair. Halinn pushed herself backwards a good hundred feet, landing softly on her feet out of the way. Trapped within a circle of earthen spikes, grappling with the ninja, Vermilion didn't seem to have much of a chance.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, some ruffian elsewhere on the battlefield decided to shoot at Halinn, of all people. What'd she done to piss off that guy? In any case, the round zipped towards her at incredible speed, only leaving the psion enough time to brace for impact. The whistling slug of metal struck against her psyshield: the semi-physical semi-astral manifestation of the barrier her mind itself has that deals with unwanted intrusions into her psyche, sending ripples of white all around her as it stopped the flamy death-rock in its tracks. Detonating with the force of a rather large artillery shell, it spewed astral lava all around her, covering her entirely. Inside the dome of her shimmering shield, steam billowed as she manipulated the air around her, supercooling it and creating a “suit” of water to deal with the heat of the molten rock.
”That wasn't very nice! the psyker mused to herself, as she fought off the physical and psychic attack. Grabbing hold of the physical lava with her telekinesis, she gestured a throwing motion towards Josh and Vermilion, and lobbed the roiling mass of fiery goop over towards them.
“INCOMING!” She shouted towards Josh, both vocally and telepathically.
Halinn stood, relatively unfazed, albeit soaked through, steam rising up off of her. The six bullets she had fired earlier and kept in a holding pattern around the elf before he had teleported, began moving again, shooting their way across the battlefield towards the cyborg-android dude who'd made her get her clothes wet.
Halinn breathed a noisy sigh, sat down on a nearby rock and kept an eye on things, waiting to see if some other random would start hassling her.
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