Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by The World
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The World A Thoroughly Unlikable Person

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-"Good; we might need you later on, then. In the meantime, query: Are you here as a volunteer, or as part of another nation's special forces or related group? And if the latter, can you share me any details you know? It might be useful to know who our allies are..."-

Nemo didn't outwardly respond, but his inner balance was thrown off somewhat. Lie. He knew he wasn't to divulge any information about his handlers, even to friendly forces allies, but he also couldn't just refuse to respond. And he was no good at misdirection, he knew that. After a moment's silence, he responded. "Special forces, located in the western hemisphere." he managed to say. Any more than that would be dangerous for him if when he returned.

-"If you really want to help in the battle, ask for a longer-range weapon, perhaps a sniper rifle, if you know how to use one. But to be honest, I would prefer it if you tell me why you've been sent to fight and how you feel about it."- the Officer continued.

The young boy nodded at first, but slowly began to stop. He didn't know how to use a sniper rifle. Or rather, he hadn't been allowed to practice with one. He knew the theory behind it, but the finer points escaped him. He thought that at one point he had known the correct usage, but that skill must have been erased forgotten. Pausing for a moment as these thoughts fired in his head, he finally replied. "Subject sent with orders to assist in defending the area. While the reason is unknown, this battle is considered critical to the plans of those who determined that this area should be defended. Subject was chosen to collect real-world battle experience, and due to lack of crucial knowledge if captured."

Nemo, having finished his spiel, thought for a few seconds on the last part of the Officer's statement. "As long as I can be useful, I'll be okay. Permission to requisition a firearm?"

There was a flash across the area, behind Nemo's back. The boy didn't react, and was temporarily blinded despite facing away from it. He simply waited for his vision to clear.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Sniblet
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Sniblet drinking problem

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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by SkyHresvelg
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SkyHresvelg Empress of Adrestia

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Noticing that the man lashing out with a spray of superheated hydrogen from his left hand, the Japanese royal moves off to the side in order to avoid getting an injury. She allowed it to empower her Noble Arm as the girl proceeded to move in to try to strike at him with a heat-imbued melee slash of her sword. There was a problem in coordinating her next attack to Huo Ren since the flash of light would make it difficult to aim her next strike from the flaming katana. She did have to wait for the light to subside before trying to make her move towards the other sun-based enemy Noble Arms Master.

Through her attempt at covering her eyes from the flash, Fuyuko felt the spear cut across her shins as she hissed from the pain. "I don't know what you're planning there, but it's wholly dishonorable to blind your opponent as a devious trick." She spoke in Japanese, but she had to carefully plan out her strike and when to attack... Actually, the sound of another man that attempted to punch Huo Ren made her try to look where he was. Still, even if he interrupted the duel, she did need some help over a battle against someone who was much stronger.



In the midst of the fighting, Rin had noticed that her country's princess was hurt and needed to be rescued. She moved with great speed to try to catch up to where she was, ignoring that Huo Ren was in a duel with her though her priority was to rescue the Japanese royal and make sure Fuyuko was unharmed. "Hime-sama, come with me. I'll get you to safety." The dark-haired girl spoke before pulling the princess away from the vicinity of the man with the spear.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by MagusDream
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MagusDream Fairy Light Magus

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Location: Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf
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In the meantime, Huo Ren had taken up Princess Fukuyo's challenge and lashed out with a spray of superheated hydrogen from his left hand that would result in serious injury if they hit the Princess, but if they did not, the heat they gave off would empower her Noble Arm. But it was clear from his eyes that he had a plan.

His next move was to raise his spear, and a sudden flash of light blasted the battlefield, bright enough to temporarily blind even those who closed their eyes and didn't have specialized eye gear or protective powers; would this affect Lucy's 'charged' attack? And were Lotus Squadron away enough to avoid the effects of the bright light?

Either way, Huo Ren would move to cut at Fukuyo's shins with his spear's head, hoping to capture a precious scion of the Japanese Imperial House; his superiors and his troops wanted to do so for... historical revenge purposes.


A blinding light suddenly hit the field. Regil quickly covered his eyes as soon as he could, while the Witch shielded Regina with her dark hands. This could only mean that the battle was already starting fiercely against Huo Ren, and he was ready to throw whatever he had at his disposal to finish all of them off.

"Such blinding light...!! Is this also part of the power of an A-Rank Arms Master...?!" Regil spoke, while blocking his eyes.

It was impossible for him to uncover them right at that instant, but he still summoned a pair of Bishops to stand at his side as he still awaited for the light to dissipate. He was going through with his plan, and he will place himself forward to distract Huo Ren so that the others could shoot him.

"Bastard...! He did this on purpose to take us all off..." Regina complained to herself.

"What an annoying light. I want to destroy it. Can I destroy it?" The Witch asked her.

"How do you expect that if I can't even see where we should go?!" Regina questioned.

"Easy. Just stab yourself with the knife and let me take over you." The Witch proposed.

"Like hell I will, you bitch. Just shut up." Regina denied her request.

The soldiers hidden in the buildings behind them cowered at the ground in order to not be blinded. It was impossible to hit him with the lights going so fiercely on the battlefield. However, they reminded themselves that neither Regil or Regina ordered them to attack, so they stood on standby, waiting for the order to shoot.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Letter Bee
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Letter Bee Filipino RPer

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Chapter One, Desperation in Lingayen, Part Eight

Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf - 9/25/2022, 17:15 UTC+8

Noel nodded, saying, "Of course, you can -" before he was blinded full-on by the flash of light from Huo Ren's spear. As he stood blinded by the light, Noel said to Nemo, "You have a healing ability, right? If you can use it, do it now so I can get my eyesight back faster!"

Meanwhile, the head-to-head battle with the Zodiac's Dragon was going... debatably well. As Fukyuko stumbled away, shins scorched by the grazing blow of Huo Ren's superheated spear, the man in question smiled grimly and made to pursue. Allowing his spear to slide down his grip, he extended his effective reach. Blinded and disoriented, the Japanese princess would have no feasible way to dodge his follow-up.

Cruel amber eyes snapped to the incoming pale-haired bodyguard of the princess, and Huo Ren's continence darkened at the continued interference. "Safety?" he hissed all too coldly at her words. His spear's edge flared again without warning or build-up, instead of a mere flash, a continuous near-searing sheen glaring off its length, heatwaves billowing oppressively out from his position. "Know your place in a battle between the Strong, insect." His right arm readjusted his grip on his spear, the blow he had been aiming for the princess beginning to redirect towards the incoming bodyguard, as the heat intensified explosively, the very sand beneath the nearby fighters' feet seeming to glow searingly.

A violent explosion of hissing sand erupted behind Huo Ren, a ringing thump of impact thundering out in time with the dying eddies of a sharp shriek and flash that had torn through the air overhead faster than the eye could blink. With a spray of crimson mist, Huo Ren... went flying, his entire body abruptly ragdolled away from the impact site, tumbling for a brief, uncontrollable moment through the sands.

Spitting sand furiously, the sun wielder staggered to a sense of composure on his knees, his spear having been flung away to pierce the war-torn beach like the grim gravestone of a battlefield from a medieval time. The heat was no longer quite as oppressive in the immediate area, but that didn't mean the sands weren't still hotter than the hottest desert wasteland.

"What?!" His face screwed up in equal parts fury and confusion, Huo Ren boggled... at the sight of his suddenly absent left arm, nowhere to be seen, a trail of crimson following his tumbling path. Snarling, his amber eyes seemed to glow with an inner fiery wrath, even with his spear out of hand, as he glared at the barrier... and the shadow writhing within. "Traitor-!"

Even despite his injury and disorientation, in the absence of his own light and having been bodily spun around by the prior blow, the incoming flare of Nico's presence could hardly be missed. The speedster blazed across the heated sands like a lesser comet, the oppressive heat from below searing into his soles with every step closer. For while he was protected from his own flames, the same did not hold true for others. Even so, he persisted, but the hesitation and hotfoot stepping the oppressive heat would naturally create was enough.

Huo Ren's spear disappeared from where it lay out of his grip. He wasn't fast. No, not by far was he quick enough to physically avoid Nico's attack, especially not severely injured and nearly prone. He was a living artillery, best suited to backline support, a commanding position. Frontline fights, for all that he could crush lesser foes in mass with the best of them as any A-Rank worth their salt could, pit him against a dedicated frontline fighter or two… and even he had to admit, he was in a spot of trouble.

His opponent was charging him head-on, so naturally, Huo Ren responded as any half-competent spearman would. His Noble Arm reappeared in a flicker beside him with one hand gripping the opposite end of the shaft from the head, the functionally instantaneous dispelling and summoning process his only practical way to respond to such a blazingly fast opponent. And so, he repositioned it exactly in Nico’s path, right into his momentum, his straight-forward charge. Huo Ren’s spear, propped up and beginning to glow with heat, was now inches away from impaling Nico upon his own momentum.

Success or fail, Huo Ren grit his teeth in fury and spat. From his lips, an eye-searing burst of blue flames spilled forth like a tsunami in the direction of Fuyuko and Rin. Thankfully, the stream was thin enough at the start that it could still be dodged narrowly by both girls, even if it would still result in nasty burns just from the proximity. Like the Dragon he was bestowed with the title of, Huo Ren exhaled powerfully. Veins of effort and strain bulged on his forehead, and his own skin reddened and flaked from the heat that he had not the concentration to fully protect himself from. The stream of blue fire then blazed white-hot, crashing into Ari’s weakened barrier in a tidal wave of destruction. Superheated sand shone like the sun all around, as the glowing barrier shuddered… cracked… and then shattered.

Finally,” he couldn’t help but muse. His role to play was almost done. Just one final stretch, one last push through the pain and pests, and he could stop wallowing in the dirt with these insects and their traitorous Snake. The plan was almost complete. He could sacrifice a little dignity now… to revel in absolute victory later. After all, he was The Dragon. He was The Strong.

And a Dragon would allow nothing less.





Callie / Henri / Nil

@Nimbus / @Chiro / @Gerlando




Thunder sounded on the horizon.

Clearly sensing something untoward, Sophist whirled around with a look of unadulterated panic on his face, his attention entirely redirected from the rolling earth below. Shrieks of punctured air ripped closer, as the Egyptian thrust out his hands, a wave of force distorting the air. It happened so fast that only the telekinetic seemed able to respond in time.

The first hit sent him reeling, as an artillery shell winged his barrier and thundered into the sands below with a massive plume of silicon. The only grace was that it hadn't been a high explosive shell, as Sophist staggered, before firming himself against its friends.

Far too fast for him to even consider grabbing the shells themselves mid-flight, he could only defend, as half a dozen more pounded into his defenses. A stream of blood dripped down his nose, but he held, maintaining his secure grip on Callie's team, shielding them behind himself from the sudden assault.

Not for long.

A harsher shriek approached, and Sophist could only shake himself to clear his foggy, strained senses in horror. A missile. One had managed to approach in the time the shells had kept him busy. A hand flung out, bleeding energy from the deadly projectile. But it was too close already-! Too fast-! There was too much energy to bleed it dry before-

-A shift redirected it somewhat, but the missile corrected. He firmed his barrier. He-

Thunder and fire rang with the impact, as four Arms Masters tumbled through the air. Miraculously, Callie's team had seemingly come out only singed and with potentially ringing ears, but Sophist...

The Egyptian hurtled senselessly. Unconscious. A nasty burn crawled across the right side of his body, and his legs... were nonexistent stumps. It was quite likely his Noble Arms had saved him, so long as his body remained intact and undisturbed from further harm. But there was no doubt that it was he who was in need of saving now.

And as Sophist went, so too did his gravitational hold upon Callie’s team, sending them plummeting towards the earth. By fortune or perhaps foresight on the telekinetic’s part, however, the fall was not long, hardly 20 feet up. And moreover, the landing zone was, for better or worse… a bit softer than packed earth.

Callie, Nil and Henri found themselves flopping into the writhing intermittently gold and crimson sands of the western beach, barely missing landing atop the bladed edge of one of the panes of glass below. The waves of sand were surprisingly soft -even if not exactly comfortable- to land upon, and the lurching motions… Well, it was not a place for anyone without sea legs.

Though the roiling motions of the sea of silicon continued unfettered, it was more than obvious that the impact of the four Arms Masters hadn’t gone unnoticed. The sands in their near vicinity shuddered, pulsing like a sonar that had finally spotted prey. And then… a rising noise began.

The panes of glass currently stabbing out towards the sky began to vibrate. And with that vibration soon came a warbling, discordant noise, fit to rattle bones and set teeth on edge. A high sound that pitched up and down, before stabilizing into something ominously comprehensible: speech. Words that could be heard crashing from and against the mountains, as silicon sang.

“Ah~! tHeRe YoU aRe~!
There could be no doubt. They were sitting in a sea of imminent death.

Only moments and a lack of quick thinking would seal their doom.

So far, this was their darkest hour.

@SkyHresvelg@The World@Aisede@MagusDream@Lewascan2@Sniblet@Conscripts@Senhara@Creative Chaos
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by The World
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An order. Nemo felt himself shift in mindset, a much more focused one. Vitae flashed as the boy ran its hilt across his eyes, and then again as he did so for the officer. Both felt their eyesight return quickly, even improved somewhat as if granted fresh eyes. Just as he turned away, he noticed an explosion, though far enough away to not be concerned about. However, more concerning was that the beach seemed to be rippling, waves of sand moving across it, or so it appeared. Still, the boy only took a quick glance around before turning back to the officer, waiting for a new order.

But of course, the boy knew that he had lost the advantage of combat-readiness. He felt a shiver down his spine and hoped that he'd be able to continue proving some form of worth.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Aisede
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Oh God

Kaitlyn's heart leapt into her throat at the thunderous roar of Quinshe's weapon.

How could something so destructive exist... How could she, in good conscience, point this thing at another human being? This wasn't just defense, this was mur-

No, he's dangerous. I'm just incapacitating him.

She breathed heavily in the aftermath, a little dizzy as she blinked the dark spots in her vision away. The aftermath of her actions... Was enough to make her sick.

Then the shield fell.

She went pale as the thought... The very idea that the person erecting that barrier might have been gone...

"This is private Kaitlyn Price, addressing the Arms Master who was maintaining the barrier. Please report your status."

She tried to keep the tremors out of her voice, looking up at the sky. She half expected the second sun to spontaneously snap back into existence and smite them all.

"Hmm, excccellent ssshot for a firssst try~!" sibilantly praised the serpent head with a squinted eye-smile of its gleaming emerald orb. There was no response from the Arms Master Kaitlyn called for, but the serpent hummed again. "Ah~, ssshe mossst likely hasss yet to attain a communication deviccce. Ssshe and her partner arrived quite without warning, you sssee. They have not been granted asss much accesss to equipment and logisssticsss asss might be prudent." The serpent's neck briefly flared like a cobra before settling down into ripples of ebony scales. "Ssshe yet livesss. The ssshatering of her ssshield sssems to have knocked the wind out of her, however..."

Kaitlyn wasn't sure whether to be relieved or concerned. A mix of both, really. She wasn't dead... But it sounded like her situation wasn't exactly ideal, either.

She didn't have long to think about that before something else caught her attention.

She'd been passively monitoring radio chat- as any good soldier would, she assumed- when she picked up on a distressing tone. It wasn't hard to guess at the source...

What the...

Kaitlyn went pale at the sight of the churning mass of earth. She didn't need to hear the screams to imagine them.

"Please tell me there's something you can do for them," she said, watching- until the nausea made it impossible, and she forced her attention away from the visceral scene. "Can't you seep into the sand and teleport them out?"

The serpent turned and frowned at the shifting sands, remaining quiet for a while, only the crackle of static and boom of gunfire left to fill the silence. "It isss... not quite ssso sssimple..." The ebony-scaled creature's face scrunched up in thought, before it let out what sound like a breathy, hissing sigh of resignation. "Sssometimesss... there are people you sssimply can't sssave...." It froze, a heretofore unseen expression of deadness overtaking its demeanor for a long moment... And when the moment passed, the cobra's hood flared, as a hard look entered its glowing eyes.

It glanced to the battle with Huo Ren, its mouth working in movements akin to a snake swallowing. It glanced back at the sands. "Tian Fei... isss not a foe I covert the opportunity to challenge, but given that isss the cassse... Isss it really more resssonable to exxxpect othersss to faccce her where I would not? Hmm~? But what ussse isss teaching othersss not to rely on you... if you don't ssstep up when it'sss truly necccesssary~?" It chuffed, a slow smile of predatory anticipation beginning to grow upon its scaled lips, fangs lightly bared. "Very well! Yesss~!" it seemed to muse solely to itself. Hungry slitted eyes flicked to meet Kaitlyn's own. "Prepare yourself, Private, for a rare treat~." All of a sudden, the hissing undertones were gone, and only the clear, lilting voice of Qingshe remained, her voice filled with unfettered excitement ringing through the pod, the buzz of static growing in the air.

From her elevated position in the pod, it was far more easily visible to Kaitlyn, as the shadow that had thus-far only lounged around the vicinity of the remaining central front defenders began to explosively expand across the western beach and seep into the city. A hundred feet, two hundred, five hundred, a thousand. In less than a minute, the lands were swallowed by the bubbling tar-like, crackling ooze, as it made for the river, the lone barrier between it and the writhing, tidal sands. Across the vast mass, inky, bubbling bulges and arcs of emerald electricity began to protrude and crackle. As if sensing the ooze's approach, the sands seemed to become all the more agitated, lurching back and forth in a frenzy of barely-contained bloodlust.

"Somehow, Miss Price~" Qingshe's lilting voice was suddenly all too near to Kaitlyn's right ear, the woman herself now partially sliding from the ooze covering the inner wall of the pod. "I don't get the sense that you've ever experienced what happens when two upper-echelon A-Ranks clash without restraint, hmmm~" Her golden eyes bled into a burnt orange with the widening of her smile. She giggled, her piercing slitted gaze flicking back towards the sight in the distance, as if beckoning Kaitlyn's attention to the imminent clash of earth and shadow.

The serpentine woman smiled predatorially, as she sidled up to Kaitlyn's side in the cramped quarters.

It would be a clash of the titans, something most could never hope to witness in their lifetime.

...Assuming they even survived to tell the tale.

And through her pleads for solutions...

Kaitlyn may have gotten one...

"Would you like to~?"

Kaitlyn didn't really have a response to that, other than a flustered flush at the close proximity.

No, she did not, in fact, want to witness the apocalyptic event that was two A-ranks duking it out like Mortal Kombat, but she got the feeling she was about to bear witness to that all the same.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Sniblet
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Sniblet drinking problem

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This has probably...
No, it's certainly been the worst day of her life.

It's not that Private Brave couldn't have seen it coming. Every army instructor she's ever had to listen to had at least one message to share in common: when the day came that she had to face down a real Arms Master, she was going to learn a lot about her place in the world very fast.
Well. "Face down" is a funny turn of phrase. For... a few reasons, at the moment, but for a start she didn't see any faces. She didn't see anybody. One moment the sky was clear; then it was on fire. One moment the ground was one of the few stable things left in the world; the next, she was... in it.
Private Brave has never really been claustrophobic, but there's nothing irrational about this fear. She can't move anything. She's pretty sure she's on her stomach, but there's no way to know that. She's breathing somehow, but for all she knows she's just in denial and suffocating even at this moment.

There's time, now, down here, for regrets, if she has the patience and presence of mind to think about her past. She doesn't, now. Not yet. But given another minute or two, she might come up with a lot of regrets going back years.
What she has the patience and presence of mind to think about is OUT OUT GET OUT, but there remains the issue that she can't move. She can't hear her radio, can't reach her radio to try and transmit, and if it's not receiving anything it probably isn't going to get anything out anyway. This is the calm and rational recital of her thoughts that she might have if she ever lives to look at this moment with hindsight - in this moment, these thoughts read as NO ONE CAN HEAR ME FUCK I DON'T WANT TO DIE PLEASE.

Well.
What does it matter what she wants or doesn't? She knows, or she should know, because every instructor said it: she's as good as nothing down here, right now.
When the dirt begins to shift around her, she doesn't feel like nothing. She feels like the whole world is coming to a screeching end.
NO - NO - NOT ME - WHO ARE YOU? - PLEASE!
It only takes a few clumps to seal off her breathing hole. She's not an Arms Master. She's nothing. She does need to breathe, or she will die, very fast, unlike them.
WHAT WAS THAT?
This force, this being that she never got to see, must be feeling more merciful than usual. But that doesn't mean that it's nice. It doesn't wait for her to suffocate, but neither does it do her the kindness of spearing through her skull first.

Her thoughts are no longer possible to transcribe. We use letters to encapsulate words, and there are no words in her mind when the enemy's Noble Arm sets to leisurely work at grinding her into viscera. The eloquent part of her brain, the one that lead her through her education up to high school, the one that impressed her parents more than she felt she deserved and the one that enables her to think in words, isn't destroyed just yet. It's just been roughly shoved aside by the animal consciousness taking full control to madly and fruitlessly throw its strength this and that way in its last ditch to save the body, which never moves. Not now. And never again.
One body of fourty.
Another soldier presumed KIA.
Thank you for your service, Private Brave.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Conscripts
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"Whoa whoa." The calm-headed pilot of the Vietnamese squadron gave out a slight bit of uneasiness as he pulled on the yoke and the warplane immediately swirled to dodge the incoming missiles and flaks. Despite the repeated training for these types of armaments, the relentless attack of the Chinese fleet felt a little bit too much if they were to proceed. They did notice particular patterns in both armaments as the squadron was toeing around the range of the carrier strike group.

"We could go through here." Nikolay said, explosions shook the yoke of his entrusted warplane. "There is a noticeable interval in the missile fire there."

"We'll still need to dodge at least another barrage of their nonsense. Is it worth the attacking chances though?" A female pilot commented.

"Weapon check." Cuong ordered. The pilots reported back a few seconds later. The temporary head of the squadron furrowed his brows at what he heard. "We could take down a couple of frigates if we pile up, or damage their carrier. But it's a heavy heavy risk."

"Also, make this as you will comrade, but I heard from some ground forces that there were attacks upon the carriers earlier in the fight, but they appeared to have already fixed that minutes later." The same voice warned. "I don't know the details, but they seem to be able to shrug off some damage pretty easily."

"Ok no then." Cuong quickly decided. This was the Chinese grand opening to a new theatre, and it was not anything new or flashy. Cuong suspected that the PLA was also deploying the same kind of show over in the Philippines as well, but against a more uncoordinated defenders this time. In that case, it simply would just be a waste.

After a couple of rounds just flipping and dodging the Chinese firepower from a relatively safe distance, the six Vietnamese planes backed off and headed back to shore, bringing back with them all 12 aircraft intact, but also not much done aside from wasting the attention of the Chinese fleet. The Chinese seemed to have relied almost solely on the Noble Arms to make progress on the beach, seeing the catastrophic destruction they caused, and to their chagrin, the squadron was not really in a position to attack the guy. They didn't really have the weapons specifically for the task of sniping an individual off the face of the planet. However, given the relatively lack of objectives for them to do, and the fact that these weren't aces for nothing...

"How would you feel if we attack that asshole on the beach instead?" Nikolay said over to his copilot.

"Uh, not good?" Cuong responded. "But given the hedgehog that is the Chinese fleet, I'd take that guy any day."

"That's all I need to hear!" Nikolay stepped over onto the comm and announced. "Alrighty comrades. We will attack that guy fighting on the beach earlier."

"What? Are you serious?" The female pilot spoke again.

"Yes, we are doing the funny run. Lotus 3, you have bombs right?" Cuong asked, to an affirmative response. "Then you go high. Everyone else, ready the cannons and spread out."

The lack of dedicated weaponry hasn't really stopped them before.

One SU-30 perked its nose up and ascended, meanwhile the other five burst out of formation like a blooming flower, approaching the shore all in different directions. Once visibility over the Chinese Noble Arms master was clear, they slowed down a little, before a message was broadcast.

"This is Lotus Squadron. We will soon commence an attack on the target at sector D1. Stay out of his position."

As soon as the broadcast stopped, all aircraft turned simultaneously towards the spearman on the beach, the one SU-30 diving down on his visually estimated position. Very soon, multiple ear-splitting noises of automatic cannon fire rattled the air, stacking on top of one another creating a long chain of auricle-menace, as the sands surrounding Huo Ren burst up in columns. Once the shooting stopped, two explosions reinvigorated the sand column.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by SkyHresvelg
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SkyHresvelg Empress of Adrestia

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Rin looked over to the upset man who attempted to murder or disable her with fire coming from his spear, but before the bodyguard could react, the body of Huo Ren was ragdolled away from where she would be getting to safety with the princess. The female kunoichi would take the opportunity to drag Fuyuko away from the chaotic fight where they could avoid being in the line of sight from the Chinese man. They both wouldn't be out of harm's way yet though as a tsunami of flame would be aimed towards both young girls.

With a push out of the flaming tsunami's way, the female bodyguard of the Japanese royal tried to shield her charge from whatever burns they would suffer. The proximity of the thin wave of fire still caused nasty burns to appear on their legs and arms, but at least, Rin was able to keep Fuyuko safe from the fiery anger that Fuyuko's opponent tried to vent out. Moving out of the way and letting Fuyuko see the barrier cracking under the blue fiery wave, she hissed from the pain coming from her cut shins and knelt down to the sands with the kunoichi holding her and trying to comfort her.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Creative Chaos
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Creative Chaos

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You know what, if I live through this, I’m buying better shoes.

It was a stupid thing to think while running, but the burning sands created by the Dragon’s Noble Arm made the thought pop up all the same. Then he saw Huo Ren manage to get up from the cannon shot. It was as terrifying as it was baffling. Even though Nico hated that his fears were realized, the Dragon being monoplegic made this seem almost like a fair fight. Even if the railgun wasn’t enough to kill the Zodiac, he’d at least try to finish the job.

At the sight of the Noble Arm appearing inches from him, he used Helios Rod’s guard to bat away the tip of the burning spear. There was no hesitation this time, only his instincts guiding him. Trying his best to keep his momentum, he aimed a full force kick at Huo Ren’s chest. He didn’t think about getting hurt, or even death. All that mattered was making sure the Zodiac finally stayed down.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by MagusDream
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MagusDream Fairy Light Magus

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Location: Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf
Interactions: Regil and Regina > Qingshe (@Lewascan2)


A violent explosion of hissing sand erupted behind Huo Ren, a ringing thump of impact thundering out in time with the dying eddies of a sharp shriek and flash that had torn through the air overhead faster than the eye could blink. With a spray of crimson mist, Huo Ren... went flying, his entire body abruptly ragdolled away from the impact site, tumbling for a brief, uncontrollable moment through the sands.

Spitting sand furiously, the sun wielder staggered to a sense of composure on his knees, his spear having been flung away to pierce the war-torn beach like the grim gravestone of a battlefield from a medieval time. The heat was no longer quite as oppressive in the immediate area, but that didn't mean the sands weren't still hotter than the hottest desert wasteland.


The blinding light was finally gone. Regil and Regina uncovered their eyes to see Huo Ren on the ground, lying there as he seemed in shock that he actually got attacked by something. It was surprising even to them because he was so strong, it felt like defeating him was impossible.

"H-How did they... how did they hit him?" Regil asked.

"Ask yourself that later! Here it comes the riposte!" Regina warned him.

Success or fail, Huo Ren grit his teeth in fury and spat. From his lips, an eye-searing burst of blue flames spilled forth like a tsunami in the direction of Fuyuko and Rin. Thankfully, the stream was thin enough at the start that it could still be dodged narrowly by both girls, even if it would still result in nasty burns just from the proximity. Like the Dragon he was bestowed with the title of, Huo Ren exhaled powerfully. Veins of effort and strain bulged on his forehead, and his own skin reddened and flaked from the heat that he had not the concentration to fully protect himself from. The stream of blue fire then blazed white-hot, crashing into Ari’s weakened barrier in a tidal wave of destruction. Superheated sand shone like the sun all around, as the glowing barrier shuddered… cracked… and then shattered.


As the barrier finally shattered, the last bastion of protection against Huo Ren's powers was finally gone. Now there wasn't exactly any method of blocking his attacks effectively.

"N-No... t-the barrier!" Regil couldn't speak properly.

"Let it go already. The battle isn't nowhere near being over." Regina said.

"B-But... but...!!" Regil tried to argue, but no words came out.

"This is normal in battle. It just means we have to go through with it not having a barrier. Get used to it and stop being a kid." Regina warned him.

"This is Lotus Squadron. We will soon commence an attack on the target at sector D1. Stay out of his position."

As soon as the broadcast stopped, all aircraft turned simultaneously towards the spearman on the beach, the one SU-30 diving down on his visually estimated position. Very soon, multiple ear-splitting noises of automatic cannon fire rattled the air, stacking on top of one another creating a long chain of auricle-menace, as the sands surrounding Huo Ren burst up in columns. Once the shooting stopped, two explosions reinvigorated the sand column.


With the Lotus Squadron bombarding the field around Huo Ren, one would think he'd be dead at this point. However, the Meitners knew he wasn't a joke. This alone wasn't going to stop him. Even though he was weakened, it wasn't possible to beat him like that.

It was a stupid thing to think while running, but the burning sands created by the Dragon’s Noble Arm made the thought pop up all the same. Then he saw Huo Ren manage to get up from the cannon shot. It was as terrifying as it was baffling. Even though Nico hated that his fears were realized, the Dragon being monoplegic made this seem almost like a fair fight. Even if the railgun wasn’t enough to kill the Zodiac, he’d at least try to finish the job.

At the sight of the Noble Arm appearing inches from him, he used Helios Rod’s guard to bat away the tip of the burning spear. There was no hesitation this time, only his instincts guiding him. Trying his best to keep his momentum, he aimed a full force kick at Huo Ren’s chest. He didn’t think about getting hurt, or even death. All that mattered was making sure the Zodiac finally stayed down.


"That idiot... is he seriously considering that a dropkick will work at that bastard?" Regina questioned.

"... I think he knows. He knows that it won't work. Just as these guys up there know that their weapons won't work too. Even so..." Regil said.

"'Even so' what, Regil?" Regina asked him.

"This works. I don't know why, but I have a feeling. Someone has something to make this guy lose. And that someone is going to act. We just need to buy time for this someone." Regil answered her.

"Buy time? Someone? Are you seriously going to apply an 'unknown factor X' to help us? Is that seriously your strategy? Don't be stupid. We don't have that 'factor X'!" Regina nagged at him.

"I'm not going to waste my chances... I'll believe in this 'factor X' and in this someone. I don't care if you believe me, but I will place my bets!"

Regil closed his eyes for a moment and ignored the world. Then, he left out a prayer.

"Please... if you can hear me, whoever you are... help us. We'll buy you all the time that we can... I just ask of you: help us!" He prayed.

BGM: Yggdra Sortie! -Arrange- (Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone)

Opening his eyes once again, he opened Chess Imaginarium and summoned a Piece from it.

"King, lend us your aid!" Regil commanded.

From a sigil in front of him, the image of an experienced knight appeared. He had a crown on his head and looked as prideful as he could be. He rose up, summoning a sword and a shield to his aid. Proudly, the King appeared to finish the job left to him by his "wife" and command his master's new allies to victory. His proud stance and his aura could be felt by the others, as their physical strength and senses were now enhanced thanks to the King's presence.

"Take the offensive with that other soldier and fight that man!" Regil ordered.

In a burst of impressive speed, the King ran toward Huo Ren. While Nico was going to fight him directly with a dropkick, the King went in the left direction and swung his sword toward the spearman Arm Master. Regil somehow knew the King wouldn't win, but that wasn't the reason why he summoned the King. Sure, he could've summoned the Knights and attacked together with a tri-directional pincer. He could even have summoned a Tower in order to protect Nico from danger. But he saw Huo Ren's power. No simple Piece would last long against him, and even then, the strategy wouldn't work. That's why the only option was to go with the other strongest Piece on the board. After all, if anyone could hold the fort up was the King right now. Because it was time to attack back.

"Get ready and in position! We'll need the bullets soon enough!" Regil spoke on the radio.

"Understood! Men, all in position!!" The pilot spoke through the radio.

The soldiers hiding in the building got up from hiding, took their sniper rifles, and aimed at Huo Ren. They were waiting for the order to shoot at him, as Regil previously planned with them. All they had to do was to await the order and they would shoot at will. Regil looked back at them and held himself tight and attentive, radio in the left hand, Noble Arm in the right hand. There was no moment to waste, and the first opportunity that it would present itself he would take it.

*BGM fades*

"So... that is your plan in the end." Regina spoke to herself.

"Sister...?" Regil asked.

"Hmph. If this is how you want to order my soldiers around, fine. I'll play along." Regina said, preparing herself.

"Play along? Wait, do you mean...?!" Regil questioned her again, a little happy that Regina was trusting his idea.

"... Just. This. Once. Get over yourself and keep your eyes on that man." Regina scolded him.

"F-Fine. Just be careful." Regil returned to his senses.

"Worry about yourself first before worrying about me." Regina spoke.

She held her own Noble Arm tightly. She knew that she wasn't feeling courage. No, far from it. She felt fear. That man, Huo Ren... he was anything but some child's play. He was the real deal, the type of enemy that she hated the most. But if anything, turning back was impossible. She'd never live down to it. And it's not like she could do it anyway. Running wasn't an option. It never was and it never will. Her only choice was to go down with it. So she closed her eyes and prayed to this "factor X" too.

"I don't know who you are, you 'factor X' that my brother mentioned. But if you do exist, just do something. Some attack that will make this guy finally stop, some ground-shaking pulsar... I don't know what you have in your power, but we'll give you time! So please... if you exist, just help us!" Regina prayed to the best of her heart.

BGM: goldenslaughterer (Umineko No Naku Koro Ni)

"Are we finally going to do it? For real this time?" The Witch asked her, interrupting.

"Aren't you happy? This is what you wanted, isn't it?" Regina said, opening her eyes.

"Finally... Finally! I get to kill someone, I get to kill people! Hehehe... ehehehehehe...!!" The Witch laughed, ecstatic.

"Obey my orders and just follow what I say. Otherwise... we'll never kill him. And we're the ones dead." Regina said.

"Then just do it! Order me... yes, order me... let the slaughter BEGIN!!" The Witch spoke.

Suddenly, from her dark cape, four long and grotesque hands branched out of it. Regil was caught by surprise and jumped away from her. They moved erratically, without any coordination, like an animal hungering for food, a hunter ready to chase its hunt... no. A murderer ready to strangle one's life out of it.

"R-Regina?!" Regil exclaimed. He had never seen Regina's power up close. He only heard about it through her letter, nothing more.

"... On four." Regina ordered.

The hands pummeled themselves on the ground, lifting her body in the air. She looked at Huo Ren. At Nico charging with the dropkick. At the King going at him with his sword. She breathed and let out a sigh... alongside her order.

"The man with the spear... that man... kill him!" She ordered.

"Hahaha... ahahahahahaha! AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! TIME TO DIE, YOU WORTHLESS SACK OF MEAT!!" The Witch cackled. If she could be heard right now, it'd be a crazed kid, laughing at the sky.

The hands charged like a horse. A demented, crazed horse filled with bloodlust. Its movements were so immensely unpredictable. Sometimes it moved to the left. But then it changed to the right. It jumped, it crawled... nothing made sense. But when you're wielding a spirit that wants nothing but to kill others, what is supposed to make sense? It didn't matter, because she was closing in fast. Any moment now and she'd be toe-to-toe with Huo Ren. And once that moment came, either she kills him or she's dead. Whether the others were present or not, it made no difference. To her, it was her and him... alone. So Regina had to do it. For her own sake.

"To the right!" Regina ordered.

The Witch obeyed her and jumped to the right, the only open direction. Then, it rose its front right hand.

"I'm gonna do a nice painting now. AND I'LL GET THE COLOR RED FROM YOUR HEAD!!" It screamed.

The arm stretched itself towards Huo Ren and the hand became a ferocious claw, going right to his head. The Witch wanted to grab him, as Regina stood suspended in the air, waiting for what it could happen next.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by The Man Emperor
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The Man Emperor Europa Undivided/Cattra the Impurrishable

Member Seen 3 days ago

Carroman Montenegro




Carroman looked over the fallen soldier and whispered a prayer for the dead as medics carted away the body. He didn't know his name, but it made him sorrowful nonetheless that he had passed despite the efforts Carroman had expended. The light from his Noble Arm, the Dragon Staff, faded away as he found that the healing was insufficient. He had arrived too late to save him, as the man had already completely bled out. There was nothing he could do, not when an A rank was causing chaos on the beach and others were doing the same elsewhere.

It was the same story, over and over again. He had lost count of how many final rites he had to perform, how many men had their minds simply shattered by the horrific realities that these supernatural weapons, the Noble Arms, had brought into the theatre of war. Some whispered to themselves manically, reacting to every little movement from others as if they were an enemy seeking to slay them. Some had to be consoled as they found out that their comrades had been torn to shreds, or buried under debris.

Carroman banished the heavy thoughts for now, as he strode up the stairs of the auditorium overlooking the battle. He had switched over with another chaplain for the moment, as the burden of the things he had been seeing was beginning to weigh down on him. Maybe he was just tired, perhaps his ears will never get used to those sounds. But for now, he needed a moment of composure.

It didn't take him long before had noticed that one of the members of the Arms Masters present had taken residence in one of the vantage points. As he approached, it became clear that it was Hannie, the Australian girl who had that frosty knife as a Noble Arm.

"Ay, Hannie? Sleeping off, are we?"

As expected, she was indeed fast asleep. Carroman began to shake her gently, wondering for a moment if she was still in this world.

"Hannie? Hannie? Haaaaaaaaaaaaannie! You can't be dozing off in the middle of the apocalyse!"
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Nimbus
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Nimbus Eudaimonia Seeker

Member Seen 4 days ago


Callie / Henri / Nil

@Nimbus / @Chiro / @Gerlando


A flare, a thunder and a force shoving them towards the grounds, it all happened at the same time, too quickly to react. The fall didn't hurt much, but it was hard to understand what was happening: flash, noise, ground not good, noise, red ground, noise, the Egyptian charred not good not good.

Then something began to move, shaking and screeching a terrible track forecasting their end being near, a constant, tremendous clamour that left no room for thinking, forcing Nil to stay where she stood, incapable of moving.

Henri was frustrated. Frustrated and fearful. For all his ability to neutralize powers, he couldn’t stop material on the move. Leonidas could work as a regular shield, but it had only one surface, while the sand was everywhere. All he could do was try and defend himself and others, and hope they’d survive long enough for the medic.

The sand prickled and glittered underfoot, silicon all but bristling in anticipation, before rippling in an odd manner of blink, as it seemed to notice something.

The faint sound of rotors could be heard flying towards them, above them, and soon enough, a Philippine Army Helicopter, a MBB Bo 105, flew high above, lowering ropes from a high enough position that the change in air pressure won’t be detected by Tian Fei, at least not immediately.

It was a decent enough stratagem. By all accounts, it was exactly what the doctor ordered to evade the terrifying terrakinetic. But the air pressure wasn’t the problem. It was that the helicopter was making any sound at all.

The earth at the base of the mountains began to writhe more violently, almost seeming to bubble… No, it was bubbling. There was a strange haze rising from the earth… Steam? As ridiculous as that might have seemed, the temperature in the area was suddenly beginning to climb, most intensely from the mountains, billowing down across the sandy beach like a scorching desert wind. The face of the mountains and foothills began to look strangely runny, even as odd tubular protrusions began to sprout across them.

At the same time, the remnants of the Philippine Army and Marines were firing their remaining artillery and rockets at the Chinese fleet, finding new courage even in the face of the renewed offensive. They had witnessed miracles - multiple ones - today, and they knew they can win this; they had won before in the Crisis of 1988, when Angelito Jaime had saved them all and ASEAN had presented a unified front.

The memory of their victory burnt anew, they just needed a new champion.

CMS Cabral’s voice echoed through the comms, “Oi! Sergeant Janssens, use your Anti-Magic to slow the landslide down! Then get up! Get up and make sure the rest of the team goes with you!”

“Yes, sir!” Henri replied, raising his shield. “Fighting in shade!”

The bubble of his shield expanded, and abruptly, the sands within 20 meters of the imperilled Arms Masters went deathly still. The sands further out seemed to flinch at that, thrashing a bit in what might have been a surprise. The writhing sands all around them lurched forward in a collapsing 2 meter wall from every direction at once, before flinching back again, as whatever mass passed the radius of Fighting in Shade slumped limply into the already stilled sands.
The glassy chime of the terrakinetic’s “voice” hummed in an eye-watering tone, like nails on a chalkboard, before a giggle like tinkling glass vibrated through the air. “WeLl NoW~! aReN’t YoU a SpEcIaL oNe?” She “giggled” again, a sudden glee practically palpable in her alien tone. “So… ThAt’S hOw YoU dEsTrOyEd HuO rEn’S sUn So SuDdEnLy, IsN’t It? WhIcH mEaNs, ThE oThErS wItH yOu MuSt Be…” The sands that had prior formed into a malicious mockery of a face twisted again, an excited sadism plain to see on the construct’s features. “ThE nUlLiFiEr, ThE pOrTaL mAkEr, AnD tHe AgItAtOr AlL hErE aT oNcE? I’vE sTrUcK gOlD!”

It was then that Henri noticed Sophist. The Agitator was in bad shape, but Henri would try and save him. Maybe the medics could patch him up together.

“Callie!” He told the other teammate, “Take Nil and climb up. I’ll be right behind you!”

“InTeReStInG pLaN~!” the terrakinetic responded idly, almost as if she could actually hear them. “I sUpPoSe I dOn’T hAvE tHe LuXuRy Of TaKiNg ThIs SlOwLy, NoW dO i?” she almost seemed to pout through that discordant noise. “RiGhT tHeN~! lEt’S sEe HoW yOu TiCk, HmMm?”

“...” Callie stood, looking now towards their companion, scorched and only mostly there - now to the earth, churning with scarlet-stained glass - now to the sky, whence the strike had come. Could have - save - how do I - must -

Tendrils of sand began to rise up like the looming tentacles of a kraken. Two. Then six. Then a dozen. All of them began to almost delicately slide up the outer edges of Henri’s barrier, carefully prodding and mapping the radius. “HrMm… TwEnTy MetErS iN aLl DiReCtIoNs… UnDeRgRoUnD aS wElL… yEs~, ThAt DoEs ApPeAr To TrAcK~! A pErFeCt SpHeRe, It SeEmS! A ReSpEcTaBlE sIzE fOr SuCh A pOtEnT eFfEcT!” The voice was commenting and logging her observations in English to the open air, almost to herself, seemingly completely uncaring of how much the enemy knew that she knew.

Henri grabbed Sophist with his free hand and ran towards the helicopter.

“Be careful with him, he’s badly hurt!” he warned the crew up above. “Callie, are you in?”

“Oh? sO tHe RaDiUs MoVeS wItH yOu?” the terrakinetic remarked. “ExCeLlEnT! wE’rE lEaRnInG tOgEtHeR!” The sandy tendrils wriggled happily, as they began to brush more boldly across the barrier. “Oh!” the horrible crackling exclaimed in realisation. “ThE sAnD IsN’T bEiNg DeStRoYeD! yEs, I cAn FeEl iT, wHaT wAs TaKeN bEiNg UnCoVeReD wItH eAcH dEsPeRaTe StEp! No, ThE sAnD hAsN’t GoNe AnYwHeRe… It’S jUsT bEeN… hIdDeN… I wOnDeR hOw MuCh YoU cAn ‘HiDe’ BeFoRe ThAt BuBbLe Of YoUrS pOpS~!”

Callie’s mind whirled, directionless. The vision of it all - the blood, the fire, the horror of it… But Henri’s words, finally, cut through.

“O-okay! Yes, sir!” She forced her eyes shut momentarily, decoupling Charter from her rifle, securing the latter and reaching out for Nil’s hand. The girl was pulled after her with little effort, following Callie in a seemingly mindless state.

How are you going to protect them?

“Going to be fine,” she told - Nil? Herself? Callie wasn’t sure. But as she began to run, to let her mind work again, to let her eyes take in the world about her, she did know how. “Sergeant!” she called ahead, slowly catching him given the weight he bore. “Just tell the heli, get as high as they can, then cancel the null when it’s safest! I’ll take us!”

”Affirmative!” Henri answered and contacted the helicopter crew ”Delay my last order. Get as high as you can and wait. We’ll teleport in.”

The crew seemed to understand the order; the helicopter up above began to gain altitude. Now for the hard part.

“Ah~! So, YoU dO hAvE tHe LiTtLe PoRtAl PeSt WiTh YoU~!” There was no doubt now. Somehow, Tian Fei could hear them, every word they were saying, despite that they were no longer in contact with the earth under her direct control, she must have had a secondary method of perception. “WeLl ThEn~! I sUpPoSe DrAsTiC tImEs CaLl FoR dRaStIC mEaSuReS~!”

At that tone of consideration, it seemed to be the sands’ que to begin bodily shoving into the barrier’s radius. Though the silicon waves immediately stilled and slumped limply upon crossing the line of Fighting in Shade, they continued to flow relentlessly, the “water level” of sand at the fleeing Arms Masters’ feet beginning to rise inexorably. And as the sand did so, the sun gleamed ominously off several surfaces intermixed within it. Despite being disconnected from her control, it seemed Tian Fei was testing the waters, funnelling 3-foot tall, hollow “sea urchins” along in her sand’s grasp, all of them formed of razor-sharp glass, as they rolled forward from all directions, shoved by the tide of sand.

Simultaneously, blades and other constructs of glass, solid visually, began to prod the barrier as well, daring past the line in various sizes. Initially, they were small and thin, and upon passing the barrier, they slumped, cracked and collapsed into the flow below, but even this was a threat -if perhaps inadvertently- in the case of those blades angled from higher up the sphere’s outside, the risk of falling razor glass prevalent. If that were all, it would have been one thing, but it wasn’t all. One blade, thicker than the rest, was extended through the barrier… and successfully pulled back. The rest of the tendrils stilled for a moment, before writhing in excitement.

“So, It’S nOt TeLePoRtAtIOn, NoR teMpoRaRy Or EvEn PeRmEnAnT oBlItErAtIoN, nOt LiKe ThE dEsTruCtIoN oF HuO rEn’S sUn MiGhT hAvE iMpLiEd… ThE gLaSs IsN’t BrEaKiNg FrOm LeAvInG mY cOnTrOl… No, It Is, BuT nOt FoR tHe ObViOuS rEaSoNs… YeS… yEs, I sEe! InTeGrItY! tHaT’s ThE sOlUtIoN! i JuSt HaVe To GeT a LiTtLe… ThIcKeR~!”

For a moment, a thought - She can hear us, God, she can - but, if she can, she needs some way to… Is she right… Her eyes cast about then, searching desperately… Then stopped. Or she senses from earth right beyond the barrier and is just that good at it. Unsure - no time!

Thus, Callie focused, willing energy forth, already visualising the portal ahead of Henri to the aircraft up above. Nothing happened yet, of course, and there laid the risk - but so long as he let go of Leonidas’ power once the three were all together, it would be momentary, and he could bring his bubble back online.

Thicker glass constructs now began to push past Henri’s barrier, blades, clubs and sturdy, well-made formations. As they moved, they were still, inert and lifeless, aside from where they rooted outside Fighting in Shade’s radius. And this time, they weren’t succumbing to the Anti-Noble Arm power. It seemed that, without being actively animated under Tian Fei’s will, and -more pertinently- held together solely by her terrakinetic power over them, they were able to pass and be wielded by her. Clumsily, granted. Blindly, seemingly also. But this time, her formations carried actual structural integrity, were designed with physics in mind and were held together purely by mundane merits.

”Okay, then.” Henri messaged, ”I will drop the nullifying field in three… two…”

Oh, God, don’t count, she’ll - no time, just ACT! “Nil, listen, please - when I jump, jump!”

“One… now!”

The field dropped; in the same instant Callie’s will, released, surged forth like the thousand times it had in the years before - practised, instinctual. A portal bridging so little distance, even person-sized, took only hundredths of a second to conjure. Henri was there already, getting through the portal at his own end; Callie and Nil right behind, Callie leaping for where she knew the portal would be just before Henri loosed the nullification to get herself off the ground in that moment of vulnerability - she looked without slowing down, brain throwing out half-a-dozen sparks of ideas against things that Tian Fei might throw at them…

And then she and Nil were sprawling on a metal floor dozens of metres off the ground, the glare of sunlight gleaming off the blades of glass that had almost sluggishly passed through where they once stood not a moment prior. And with a ripple, the sands seemed to chitter in consternation, before flashing towards the open portal like bloodhounds. “Through!” Callie called to the sergeant, already cutting the connection as fast as she could, clutching Nil’s hand in her own. The gap in space snapped shut with the ringing chime of severed glass shards and a violent spray of sand upon the helicopter’s innards. Shards of glass, now inert, crashed against the inner copter walls and shattered messily, scattering across the floor… and mercifully nothing more, aside from being a bit of a hazard in the case of a bad fall.

Nil’s head had jumped from an explosion, to the rattling of dozens of glass shards, some even sounding like… a voice, to actually jumping… or being pulled? At least the now more constant chop chop of the helicopter was a bit more bearable, or at least less unbearable.

There was some glass scattered all over the metal floor, this time small, inert and definitely didn’t rattle around like before, she raised a hand to the ear protection that had stopped working after the blast, maybe one day they’ll make them missile-proof.

Henri left Sophist at the care of the medical personnel on board the copter and took a position from where he could observe the situation below. It was all so frustrating. This was supposed to be his baptism by fire, yet he couldn’t even save all those people. He hit the floor in frustration, Leonidas in his arm feeling like a pot lid. Henri didn’t dare to activate the nullifying field. He could only use it for a few minutes at a time, and the field had already been used. Henri could feel his heart beating like crazy and sweat blocking his sight.

”Does this thing never tire?” thought Henri to himself, trying to conserve energy for an emergency nullification.

Callie, meanwhile, checked over Nil, pointedly avoided checking over Sophist… Then, in a moment of possible prescience, possible mania, possible fear, she summoned a portal, a tiny one, linking once again to high above the battlefield, gazing over it like Henri.

She sucked in breath.

The hills looked much the same - glittering with glass, evershifting, almost as a second sea roiling above the first… But now joined by a third black and green, amongst the city of Lingayen itself. It raced westward, towards the river, rushing to confront Tian Fei’s broken earth.

Qingshe was at work.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Letter Bee
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Letter Bee Filipino RPer

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((Collab between @Letter Bee and @Lewascan2 with help from @Sniblet.))

Chapter One, Desperation in Lingayen, Part Nine

Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf - 9/25/2022, 17:25 UTC+8

Those who had been under the dome may have witnessed two unusual sights: that of the remains of Ari’s barrier, glittering and drifting down around them like gold dust; and that of Ari herself dropping abruptly to her knees, the shape of her shield Adamantius blurring and then blinking away. Those perhaps inadvisably close might have caught the smell of her burning, charred clear through by a thin stream of colorless, odorless, primordial gas. She looked down at the sand before her, eyes wide, hands shakily climbing to her chest. She emitted a series of very soft choking noises.

Noel was at least close enough to see her fall. He spoke into his radio: “Our defensive barrier has been broken,” Noel was trying to keep himself calm, firm, not entirely emotionless, but projecting only a leader’s emotions; he needed to look fearless, and he looked to Nemo, “We need to get it back up; that means that Nemo and I have to go to where Ari is and heal her before she dies.”

Then he responded to Lotus Squadron’s transmission with one of his own, “Roger that, Lotus Squadron! Everyone else, including Volunteer Makri, out of Huo Ren’s spot as fast as you can! It’s going to be a crater soon!”

The boy sighed, glancing at the setting sun, tired out from the constant fighting. Then he asked Qingshe, “Liason Lei, time for the final leg of the battle, right? I and Nemo will be going to try and heal our barrier mistress before she expires unless you have–?”

There was a loud, harsh, explosive sound from the hills.

-------

Even while reeling from Nico’s kick, the Dragon of the Zodiac switched all the way from a pained grimace into a hideous grin as he caught that sound. He dismissed his Noble Arm once again, and reached up to his ear with his remaining arm, brushing his hair aside with a slight flourish, scanning across all those in front of him - Princess Fuyuko, the brave white-haired flanker, the King, and the Witch closing rapidly…

His smile died a little, with regret that he was in no position to destroy them all himself.
“Zǒu ba, Cáo Bǎo,” he said.

And then Lotus Squadron’s cannon fire plummeted down from the clouds and plunged into the sands, a storm of dust and shrapnel, blinding and slicing and blasting into the melee, ignorant of friend and foe.

-------

To Nil, Callie, and Henri, the sound of that blast was deafening - head-splitting - and the cause of the sound was far worse than that.

The spires of glass that were once around them emitted a distorted, twisted cackle.

“Nn-hnn-hnn-hnn… ahahahAHAHAHA!”

And then the hill buckled - deformed - all at once, collapsed. As they escaped on the helicopter, they had the opportunity to see that the ground had quite literally escaped from under them. Like a living being awakening with violence in its heart, the hill, starting with the peak and going down, began flowing in a single direction: toward that section of the beach where there was once a dome to protect the main Philippine force.

-------

As the sun approached the horizon, one huge shadow lengthened over the beach faster than the rest. An amorphous roaring crashing monster, shedding stones and clods of earth in a perpetual malicious avalanche, pulled itself from the hills and began to rush for the Philippine army at a terrible speed, blocking the river’s mouth which had been in its way and thus putting Alain, who was still by the riverbank, in harm’s way.

At the end of the day, he would be presumed missing in action, not having gotten out fast enough as the glass and the sand, the earth, and the mud swept through his position.

@SkyHresvelg@The World@Chiro@Aisede@MagusDream@Lewascan2@Sniblet@Conscripts@Gerlando@Senhara@Creative Chaos@Nimbus
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Sniblet
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Sniblet drinking problem

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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by The World
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The World A Thoroughly Unlikable Person

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“Liason Lei, time for the final leg of the battle, right? I and Nemo will be going to try and heal our barrier mistress before she expires unless you have–?” the commander stopped short. Nemo nodded; there was work to do. He followed the commander a few feet before an explosion sounded out. But the boy ignored it. There was an implicit order in the commander's words. He remained focused on following that order and continued towards this "Ari," in the direction that the older boy had begun leading him. He didn't even pause. What did make the boy pause, however, was the loud crashing from the massive leviathan behemoth kaiju creature's arrival.

As the boy continued to the center of the area, he felt thankful that fear was not a trigger for his Noble Arm, and steeled himself to remain determined in his mindset. If he faltered too much, he'd be useless again. The thought that he was making the wrong decision never crossed his mind. An implied order was still an order, after all.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by MagusDream
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MagusDream Fairy Light Magus

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Location: Lingayen Beach, Municipality of Lingayen, Lingayen Gulf
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Even while reeling from Nico’s kick, the Dragon of the Zodiac switched all the way from a pained grimace into a hideous grin as he caught that sound. He dismissed his Noble Arm once again, and reached up to his ear with his remaining arm, brushing his hair aside with a slight flourish, scanning across all those in front of him - Princess Fuyuko, the brave white-haired flanker, the King, and the Witch closing rapidly…

His smile died a little, with regret that he was in no position to destroy them all himself.
“Zǒu ba, Cáo Bǎo,” he said.

And then Lotus Squadron’s cannon fire plummeted down from the clouds and plunged into the sands, a storm of dust and shrapnel, blinding and slicing and blasting into the melee, ignorant of friend and foe.

With the Lotus Squadron blasting away at Huo Ren without differentiating friend from foe, anyone in the vicinity would be caught. The King was caught unguarded and blown away to the ground, taking one of three hits. As for the Witch, when the hand actually entered Huo Ren's vicinity, the blast actually hurt it, and both vessel and entity backed off.

"OWWWW!! That hurt!! Who was the dumbass who shot me?!" The Witch questioned.

"Be grateful that I wasn't caught in the blast, only you." Regina answered.

"... If you weren't the one in control, I would have SO killed you, bitch." The Witch argued.

The amount of sand smokescreen created by the blast made it impossible to see if Huo Ren was actually alive or not. It didn't seem to actually be dissipating anytime soon.

(Did we get him? Is he dead?!) Regil thought.

As the sun approached the horizon, one huge shadow lengthened over the beach faster than the rest. An amorphous roaring crashing monster, shedding stones and clods of earth in a perpetual malicious avalanche, pulled itself from the hills and began to rush for the Philippine army at a terrible speed, blocking the river’s mouth which had been in its way and thus putting Alain, who was still by the riverbank, in harm’s way.

BGM: KAIJU (13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim)

Their attention quickly shifted from the cloud of sand that remained from Huo Ren and went to the shadow's direction, only to reveal a giant titan-like creature coming towards their direction. The immense figure, which went toward them surprisingly quickly, was now directly at their door, inviting the Philippine Army and its allies to an event: their possible massacre. The shock on the faces of the Meitners was notable, as both were left speechless at what they were witnessing.

(W-What... is this thing?! It's huge! Who... what sort of person could create such a thing?! And how are we going to defeat this thing?!) Regil questioned himself in thought.

(Y-You're kidding me... that guy... was he just a decoy?! No, they wouldn't have sent one of their elite officers to buy time when he could have killed us. Then... is this their backup plan?! Are we going to die no matter what we do?!) Regina questioned herself in thought.

This wasn't just a tank or a jet that the lasers coming from Regil's pieces could destroy. This wasn't a human that the Witch could kill and decapitate. This was a giant, perhaps one of those fabled kaiju people see in movies like Godzilla or shows like Power Rangers. But keep in mind, this is no film set: it's reality. And their reality right now wasn't favorable, as this thing can just smash them like flies swarming around a net filled with pesticide.

"Is that our next target? Should we rush there and kill it?" The Witch asked.

"Are you out of your FREAKING MIND?! Or better yet, DO YOU EVEN HAS ONE?!" Regina nagged at her.

"Hey, I wouldn't be speaking with you if I didn't have a consciousness. Don't call me dumb, that's so rude." The Witch complained.

"Then why don't you use it to see that we're screwed?! We don't have a chance against that thing!" She responded.

"We COULD have a chance if you just let me take over your body completely." The Witch offered.

But this time, Regina didn't clap back at her. For the first time, the Witch started to make sense. She could only use a fraction of its power, but if she just conceded the entire control of her body to this entity, they could have a chance of winning. She may not know about the full power the Witch possesses but she also doesn't know if this power had any limit. After all, all things considered, Regina was the only thing holding the entity back.

(Should I just give up my body to her...? If I do that, can I survive this thing and live another day?) Regina questioned herself.

"Regina!!" Regil called her.

Her line of thought was interrupted as her little brother ran towards her.

"You're not thinking about facing that thing alone, are you?!" He asked her.

"What?! Are you stupid too?! Do you really think that I'm going to jump on the front without a plan?!" Regina
answered.


"For now that's all I need to hear." Regil said, a little relieved.

"Why don't you start worrying about yourself, for once? Do you plan on fighting this thing?" Regina asked.

"N-No, I certainly don't! I can't even think of a way for us to fight something this big!" He answered.

"Then start thinking! I'm not going to die here, and certainly, you aren't going to die either!" She ordered.

Regina was right. They needed a plan to face this thing and survive. But Regil was too discombobulated to actually think about something right now. He still was shocked to see what was in front of him.



Location: Skies above Manado, Indonesia
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BGM: Voyage to Tomorrow (13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim)

A jet flew alone to the north, towards Lingayen in the Philippines. It was his destination, where his mission would take place, and where his targets were awaiting him, unbeknownst to the fact that someone would be there, tailing their every move up close. He was alone, with no one.

"I kind of wish that I had someone to throw pointless banter to pass the time instead of flying all alone. Oh well, MI6's rules." He spoke.

Willard Sterrennacht. An agent of the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as Military Intelligence, Section 6. Currently flying to his destination, he's on a mission to get information for the MI6 and the government about illegal actions being taken without orders. He looked at the suitcase right at his side, remembering the briefing he had to speak about the mission's details and what exactly he was sent to do.

*BGM fades*


*BGM returns to play*

His train of remembrance, however, was interrupted by a call. He grabbed the ear communicator and picked it up.

"Agent Sterrennacht, reporting in." He spoke.

"Good that you picked it up. Are you on your way to the target location?" Edelweiss said.

"A "Hello, Agent Sterrennacht" wouldn't hurt right now, Edelweiss." Willard answered.

"Save your casual banter for now. This is serious. I have information about the current situation in Lingayen from the British Embassy in Manila." She reprimanded him.

"Alright, hit me with it." Willard asked.

"The Chinese Army is in bad shape after the counterattack they suffered, but the Philippine Army is now facing some sort of gigantic monster." She told him.

"Gigantic monster? Like, a kaiju or a mecha?" Willard asked.

"The former one. However, they were unable to get more information about it because the drone they sent to watch the situation was destroyed." She answered.

"Oh great, now I have a kaiju to deal with. As if the situation couldn't get any worse..." He complained.

"This battle took an unimaginable proportion and, apparently, the international news network is talking about this recent kaiju appearance. However, because of how dangerous it is, every single image obtained gets completely shut down for some reason." Edelweiss spoke.

"Then I suppose I should do something about it. Or at least help them. Though I have to do it so without making them see me somehow." Willard said.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"That's for me to know, Edelweiss. For now, try to get any sort of info about this thing that can help me." Willard said.

"Alright, I'm already mobilizing a team here and trying to see what our people at the Embassy can do to help us. Once I get something, I'll call you again. Over and out." She said.

"Over and out." He responded, turning off the call.

With the new "kaiju" danger rising, Willard's mission already became more dangerous. While the details of his plan are currently unknown, he now rushes to Lingayen to help his new comrades and his targets with this monster.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Aisede
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Aisede The Perfect Paradox

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Kaitlyn had already been scared (and not just for her life) when the ground had tried to eat them, and she was practically suffocating herself with baited breathe as they escaped onto a helicopter.

That would have been bad enough without a fucking [I]kaiju[\i] hadn't shown up. Despite the gravity of the situation, she still found her mind drifting to scenes from Godzilla and Pacific Rim. She thought about the overpowered weapons used in those movies, but...

Noel was at least close enough to see her fall. He spoke into his radio: “Our defensive barrier has been broken,” Noel was trying to keep himself calm, firm, not entirely emotionless, but projecting only a leader’s emotions; he needed to look fearless, and he looked to Nemo, “We need to get it back up; that means that Nemo and I have to go to where Ari is and heal her before she dies.”


Ari... She'd never even bothered to learn her name. Miss Lei's response had assuaged her fears earlier, but now-

Whipping out her binoculars, she zeroes in on the fallen Arms Master.

No...

She can't make out any fine details from this distance, but she's pretty sure that's a smoking-

"No. Please no."

The image of a baleful sun sprung to life in her mind, like the Eye of Sauron glaring down at her.

She felt her hands shake, her vision unfocusing.

How does she help? What can she do? She's too far away- and for what? What assistance could she bring? What can she do?

Useless.

No. No no no she has to be able to do something. There are always options.

You really thought you could help them?

She has to! That's what she came here for! What other use does she have for her worthless life?

Worthless is right, private Price. What were you going to do? Save the day? Be the hero?

Kaitlyn shut out the voice, clenching her eyes shut.

She trembled now, tears threatening to escape.

Get up...

She forgot about Miss Lei, standing uncomfortably close.
She forgot about the monster, looming on the horizon. She was absolutely certain they would all die if she didn't get back up and erect that shield.

Get up!

Kaitlyn was beginning to feel light headed. A small trickle of blood oozed from her nose.

She slumped into the body beside her, pale.

"K-keep me..." She gasped, eyes shooting open wide

Deceptively strong arms caught Kaitlyn's collapsing form, as Qingshe blinked down at her in something approaching bafflement. Brow pinching, the serpentine woman's gaze turned back towards the west, then panned across the cornered defense and the clamor of the battle with Huo Ren, before looking back down.

Lowering Kaitlyn gently into the churning layer of ebony ooze now occupying the floor of the pod, Qingshe dipped her body in, a thrumming static sensation rippling through the Private's body. Turning her gently back and forth, Qingshe rolled one half of her body below the bubbling surface and then the other, never fully submerging her, before leaving her lying face-up. Golden eyes bled into a cool blue, as she hummed with a tone of clinical interest.

Kneeling in the ooze beside Kaitlyn, Qingshe chuckled quietly, a cooling sensation beginning to trickle through her patient. "Now now, dear, don't go dying on me before I've satisfied my curiosity. That's just rude." She smiled wanly. "Besides... didn't I say I was about to put on a show? It really would be a shame if you missed it." Her almond-shaped pupils narrowed. "But first..."

Ari, a scorched hole punched through her chest, was swallowed into the ooze as if the ground had simply disappeared beneath her. "Oh?" Qingshe briefly giggled in an oddly curious tone. "There we go. Tsk tsk, Huo Ren, if you want to keep her out of my grasp, you should have aimed for the head~." Smirking impishly, as Huo Ren disappeared from sight in a fiery cacophony of explosions, she turned her gaze back to the west.
.
A rumble could practically be felt in the bones of all who onlooked, the western lands turning runny and flowing into a primordial soup of terrakinetic might. But even as the grand flow intensified, many of the distant mountains and hills were not flowing towards the battle at hand. Qingshe's gaze sharpened at the sight of scores of strange, large earthen tubes beginning to protrude from the distant mountainside, glistening in the sunlight an ominous charred black. There was a thick haze that was gradually beginning to darken the air of the west, billowing up from the mountains into the sky. That same haze also belched black fumes in the wake of the rolling monstrous mass of earth that was currently flattening the entirety of Malimuec and Dulig.

Qingshe's brows furrowed at something only she seemed able to see, before her expression turned aghast. "She wouldn't..." The words were not spoken with much confidence. Moments later, a black and green display began to form from the ooze on the pod's wall. Upon the display flickered into sight a vision of the battlefield, a 3d model of the warzone, all of it alit in in various shades of white, yellow, orange and red. The zone around where the battle with Huo Ren was ongoing was mostly blanketed in yellow, drawing into the deeper orange near the epicenter and then a small core of pulsating angry crimson.

The rolling earth and the mountains on the other hand... The approaching mass seemed mostly yellow, but as the earth churned, flashes of thrumming crimson flickered about beneath the surface. Meanwhile, the ashy smoke billowing into the air seemed to be mostly orange and then yellow, as it drifted. And the mountains... No, the massive singular mountain that the majority of the mass was being drawn into, that mass was thrumming so violently red that it seemed barely able to contain itself, as the craggy spire loomed higher and higher, beginning to cast a sneering shadow over the city of Lingayen.

Kaitlyn squirms, a look of distinct discomfort coming across her face as she's submerged, but she doesn't resist.

She seems... Distracted... By something for a moment, looking around, before just gulping.

Should I even keep praying at this rate?

She does so anyway.

"M-miss Lei, do you know what that thing is?"

She shifts, seeing what her range of freedom is.

Qingshe started a bit, before her eyes flicked back to Kaitlyn. A dry smile overtook her expression. "I presume you mean the monument that Tian Fei is presently constructing upon her backline?"

Kaitlyn found the ooze to be far less "oozey" than expected. Texture aside, it gave to her movements as much as any water might have. She could seemingly rise or remain at her leisure, as if sitting up from a pool of shallow water.

"It looks like a kaiju. I don't suppose you can whip up a Jaeger to fight it?" She offered a similarly dry smile.

"Oh. That," Qingshe quipped, before rolling her eyes. "Yes, well, plainly speaking, it's nothing more than a meatshield, a golem, a puppet, whatever you want to call it." She waved her emerald false claws dismissively. "It's truly no different from any of the rest of the earth surrounding it, except perhaps in the capacity that Tian Fei may be focusing more of her valuable resources and attention upon it. Regardless..." She frowned. "Fighting that thing is as useful as fighting air. Dealing damage to it is only delaying your inevitable destruction, not wearing down Tian Fei. After all, there's always more earth to replace what mass it loses."

Humming, Qingshe cradled her chin in thought, humming a lilting tune, as she studied the display before her. "But I have a more particular concern presently. Tell me, Private, if you would, what is the pattern here upon this display. If you had to take a guess, what would you say I am currently specifically detecting with it?"

"Heat," she said automatically, having already studied the display in brief. A good soldier takes stock of the current situation, and absorbs as much information as possible.

Lifting an arm from the ooze- with only mild disgust- she points towards the display.

"Yellow through red are ranges of heat, from coolest to hottest. The moving mass itself doesn't seem all that too dissimilar from the earth surrounding it, but..." She squinted. "There's something in it. Something hot... Is it a bomb?"

"Heat, yes. Exactly correct," Qingshe grinned and nodded. "I was already running this system as a measure to keep track of Huo Ren's actions, just in case he decided to try and cook us all by raising the temperature in a more subtle manner." She added dryly, before smiling grimly. "However... it seems it would end up being far more crucial for the crouching tiger behind the Dragon."

Reptilian eyes narrowed at the display, bleeding golden again. "Originally, I had turned it Tian Fei's way in order to try and locate the hostages she has been holding, find their body heat beneath the sand. And perhaps, if I got lucky, locate Tian Fei as well. However, there's no locating them in that mess now. The temperature is simply too high. In fact, it makes me wonder exactly how Tian Fei is keeping herself protected from her own foolishness..."

Shaking her head, emerald hair swayed, as she inhaled sharply and exhaled deeply. "Regardless, the real threat is not her golem or the wave of earth. No. Your intuition is on the right track, Private Price, but fundamentally diverged. Tian Fei cannot create bombs, not in the traditional sense, not without a source of gunpowder or the like to shape." Her smile was all teeth, but and her demeanor one exuding mixed trepidation, anticipation and frustration. "That is no bomb."

There was a reverberating sound, a deep tonal crack that rumbled down from the mountains and across the skies. Ugly black billows of smoke spewing towards the clouds, the thick, conical, craggy spire of blackened earth seemed to groan and grumble, fissures sprouting across its upper reaches... from which an all too familiar fiery substance began to ooze.

"That... is a volcano."

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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by SkyHresvelg
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SkyHresvelg Empress of Adrestia

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The two girls didn't have much to do at this point since everyone had been busy fighting this conflict whereas the man that Fuyuko had been fighting was preoccupied with something else. There was an explosion happening as the kunoichi retainer covered her mistress' ears before they could both see the aftermath of the other fallen Arms Master who was their ally. Fuyuko hadn't known the Arms Master known as Ari for a bit, but she did have to be careful that it could be them next.

Nonetheless, she didn't have the time to mourn when they had to plan out whatever tactics to do in this fight. They needed to figure out what they'll do next for the next action they would take, so both Fuyuko and Rin had time to plan things out together. The arrival of a kaiju-like monster coming from the ground really made them both jump at the loud sound of roaring where Fuyuko's plans would actually be an attempt to focus on the gigantic monster.
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