It’s hard to say what this “Hael” would do in response to such a doomsday scenario where the vile wind and life force fueled strikes barraged them. Ideally, Hayden Armstrong meanwhile would avoid any such macabre timeline. Forsooth, it was certainly grand the *man piloted mecha* was so swift. Yet perhaps more fortunate still was a greedy hostile.

Like the individual grains of sand in the hourglass, time was always the greatest resource and the most contemptable obstacle to songs of triumph. One would do well when faced by a volley of arrows to raise their shield. Faced with a battering ram, well advised to avoid its trajectory would be a skilled warrior. Yet when faced with the piercing stings and the bludgeoning force all at once, raising your shield, dodging to the side, praying to your god to invoke a oathbound blessing that enhanced your body’s attributes, then launching a volley of attacks meant compared to any one reaction a compromise. At least, this was according to the database regarding clerics, foul divine wizards they were. All the same, compromise – perhaps in effect, certainly in that precious time we mentioned earlier. And like ripples in the stream of history, they beget more ripples.

It would then do well to be succinct and summarize where ripples began to flow. Senko had hardy no doubt unnatural flesh, likely through some sort of ill conceived barrier magic. This pushed them to do something rather foolish. Reyes had not been a threat, their projectiles neither enough to kill nor even wound.. and yet Senko saw fit to avoid them. Worse, saw fit to hit a feverish stride to reach *Hayden* of all people. Quick enough that their estimate was a physical encounter with an attempted “jab” right after the imminent “detonation” of all things! But not so quick that there wasn’t a timeline stretched, between this movement and action, then with the alleged metal rending storm. A time where destruction had not been wrought upon Armstrong’s person, and yet the enemy tango closed their gap just enough. A brief flash of blue silver.

Armstrong’s Intel brand CPU, unaffected by the various performance hits that previous generations suffered, could work out the math on this warped version of “if one train is moving at X MPH and another at Y, when do they meet.” Again, it would be a mere flash of blue & silver in that decisive moment – a hidden element to this math equation kept secret from the opposition, that would be the conclusive dark variable of the trick question at hand. Although not terribly strong on its own sans a bit of charge time, Senko seemingly throwing themselves towards it out of sheer hubris certainly would help. That being…

//Moonlight Beam//.

A plasma blade stretched “light” that even amidst the sauna this forest had been reduced to, would freeze bitterly. This aspect was unlikely to meaningfully affect the dubious gendered ninja clan, they were wizards at the heart of things after all. Elemental magic’s their bread and butter. The focused vacuum and cutting edge that would blast forth however; well tests had shown it working decently on numerous sorcerers. And they tended to have access to “Mage Armor” and the like. It was reasonable to assume a similar principle would take root here.

Hopefully in that moment, the combined efforts of Senko and Hayden would drive this metaphorical blade deep into the hostile’s heart. And if not, well that sucks. Ripples were messy, that’s why you shouldn’t stare at bodies of water nor gleam metaphors out of them.

The song of nature, the endless, blissful chattering of Creation. Oh, how it all crowed in Senko's ear; how their beauty warmed her soul in the execution of those.. tresspassers. For every advantage they had, for all the machinations of industry, none could compare to the simple purity of this forest, of its creatures. They whispered to her, cried out in clarion calls to inform of their misdeeds, and it was all.. so.. loud. How disturbing then was it to her when their greetings died in their throats, when the nymphs playing in the wind lost their muse and became lonesome whistles, when the articulate deers and birds and insects became baying animals? When the world she saw became a hazy husk, as the flame which sought to consume Totsuka's mind came for her first. She hadn't seen it coming, the scourge. The hollow echoes of creativity wrought from a man whose humanity was scooped out with a shovel, and buried a thousand miles deep. Her ESP was burned out with the kind of psychic agony that could only be described by having a needle inserted into your frontal lobe, twisted and pulled in and out like some kind of profane plunger. She was the filter. Now, she had become the victim. Shortly thereafter, the roar of armor-piercing munitions clatter off, punctuating her feeling of invincibility with three puncture holes in her auric field, followed by the screeching symphony of his mindfire infesting the points of impact. His bullets left three gaping holes in Senko; two bleeding pockets in the chest, and one center of her forehead. It wasn't in him to wonder if she'd live past her summary execution, the mutation of his energy and the world-chi infusing her would poison her soul, and rot her flesh ever faster. It was a punishment for her presumptuousness, thinking she'd be spared the rod and dodge something with sight she could no longer have.

Akane boxed with the sunlight to his sun, swinging at his radiance but never quite reaching the thing which produced it. She confused the light for the star, and found that she wasn't chasing shadows, but her own tail. Akane blocked him off at the boundary line between the artery and the tangible form of this verdant land, she had halted his progress with the tranquil wall of darkness she produced, and sought to banish the outpour of his energy. There was one problem. Her Dark Chi had the blessings of this land through Senko. The parts of her energy which contacted with his contorted and quivered as his energy and the natural power of this forest melded together immutably into a blight of the spirit, a toxin which dwindles the soul into a wasting corpse. Neither chi nor psychic energy, both had ceased to be and so became something distinct from the summation of its parts. This blight, in combination with the explosive and scorching principles of his energy, killed the curse which came to pass, either by riding one of the divergent streams of his violent emanation, or simply by having been killed off in the main generation of Akane's defensive wall. In that same measure, he faced down the eruptive force of the potentially still living Senko. They had spent their enhanced reserves into multiple different things, but with Reyes' own enhanced production of power put toward one single thing, even though it was an area of effect, the consolidation of power was much higher by comparison. He pushed back with the expulsion of his energy, overwhelming and poisoning that jettison of spiritual power into a downward implosion that served to crash into Akane's defensive fortress— threatening to burst wide the gates to the blessed leyline.

The outward expulsion of Jackson's thoughtforms twists the saturated space into an irreconcilable mess. It began as a mere 20 feet, but the twisting of natural energy on the surface area polluted the natural beauty of this place greviously. His prowess pushed that corruption away from Agent Reyes, distributing it at a rather slow moving rate, but one that eagerly turned trees to withered dregs and inspired the beasts of this land to bleed from every orifice. If Akane's lightning bull, if the additional layer of projectiles and the shadow of Senko's chi touched it, they'd end up deteriorating before even having the good sense to be destroyed at the touch of Reyes' energy. But, this same development offered its own brand of evil. The attractive quality of Hayden's Moonlight Plasma drew in the poison toward it, bringing about a marriage of death and destruction.

Reyes completed his evasive manuevering and looked off in the direction of the male Ryuusei's position after he had taken cover from the shot fired in his direction. Jackson fired another shot at him for good measure, directing his bullet to go right through the tree and peg him on the throat, entertwined with an accelerant of psionic potential in the same trigger pull. A second one aimed for Akane's head as she aimed at Donny.

Casualties.

It was a common misconception common men fell for. She had seen the mightiest of man fall to their own prideful lust. Chi, it was a simple concept to understand. Much simpler than even the weaponry their opponents carried. They would all miss their mark. They would be fools to believe Akane needed her sister for anything. It was the opposite in truth. She was a force. Her rage was nothing to toy with, and it was her rage that manifested upon the tipping scales of this war. He was no star, neither was she. Waves in the streams of all that was. This was the truth of life. She understood that through her teaching. Everything was a tool to be used. How could one spread itself so then, and still believe they held the upper hand. To think. It was all making sense as she watched.

There was no need for life to whisper to her. It was only complementing her own sensory prowess. They were loud, so loud that even their silent movements rippled like that of pebbles spilling across water. All of them. Her immediate region fell even further in degrees as she pushed off frozen platforms dancing around artillery shots. She needed no barrier. A berserker within a body one would call beautiful, and a dance that matched it. She truly hated it. Her traction was the ebb and flow that was the breath of life, and the stare of death. Senko was only a beacon, as Akane was to her allies. Independent sources that constantly filled each others’ illumination with interlocking synergy to create an even brighter pool. Support. She would continue to play that role.

To think he truly thought he alone could overcome the leylines. Foolish ambitions. There was no lightning bull, mind games that when visualized solidified its cursed fruition. He attempted to flood her out, when it wasn’t her he needed to deal with. It wasn’t her energy, but the chi itself that now penetrated his psyche. Again, manipulating the very energy he attempted to poison against him. In the powers at play, his sole purpose was nothing but a rock thrown into the ocean. Easily cleansed by the salt water it drowned itself in. He was the one spreading himself then. His energy was all over the place. Sloppy, and vile in lackluster ways. Senko ripped that floor from underneath him, whilst Akane replaced it with dire consequences. His scourge weakened greatly by the intrusion of chi flooding his cerebral. Would he explode his on mind? She guessed it didn’t matter at the end of the day.

The frost was a byproduct of her building reserves. As the heat was for Senko. Lightning had cloaked her form. Sharper than the bullets marching upon her was the motion of her dance. To act as, was too late. That manifestation of her jab had long since rang off in such fluid movement of her building rage. Her “clones” weren’t physical aspirations. As aforementioned they were only makeshift images created by refracted ice in the air. Traces of her movement. The psychopath was wrong if he figured her to be spread thin. The hex of dark chi was only a form of manipulation of the very chi he attached his own energy to. To pour his energy into the life of the forest, and the constantly growing area of effect he produced was the definition of spreading himself thin. His assault on her would fall short, never reaching first base with zero ground to stand on.

Her sister had completed her assault, and they gave little resistance. A masterful attack that bombarded them with more than just wind blades. Based on the timeline of events she was destined to leave the one playing mind games chopped up like sardines. Limbs tumbling across the dirt as he rolled. Akane’s breathing was ever so constant as she skated through her weave of the attraction they obviously had for her. They mimicked, but only fell for her crowd control. Black electricity shrouded the chi field that hugged her like a full body suit. She wondered if Senko’s son could handle the individual who had seemed to strike at nothing. Either way, she would make her way.

A beacon for their attention.

Their ally looked to be waiting for his opportunity to strike. The mage was known to be able to ring off destruction with no hesitation. With their attention lost when it came to him, he was primed for an assassination at its finest. She would have to ask for a battle one day. So noisy was the sniper’s weaponry. She wondered if he’d have the skill to evade their assault since there was no initial reaction from him. Doubtful. She had a feeling that perhaps in another life they’d be able exchange shots of whiskey, and war stories. Now? He kissed death. As for the man that seemed happy to have achieved nothing at all… He reminded her of a child she once knew. Overzealous and painfully prideful. They always fell short. Akane guessed he was wishing for something to fall out of the sky to save him from her sister’s wrath. Too bad it didn’t happen. Akane moved from her position even further. Constant motion that synchronized with her cloak. Allowing her to move even more swiftly in the dropped temperature. She was buffed by her first no doubt. Senko’s speed aided in her own triumph. As Akane’s rage did the same for their strength. Circles, she was running circles around them. A viper waiting for her opening to strike as she danced through the jungle, and towards her nephew. Electricity crackled throughout her chi’s chilled radiance. Her brothers, her kin held her hand throughout it all.