[IC] Ologies: A Study of Arcane Specialists {Paranormal Investigations and more}

[shinigami94]

Grabbing the tiny safe Azai was interested in it, he held it in his hand and looked again at the top floor. Everything was destroyed, and it seems who ever lived here was long gone and traveled light with only important belongings, the traps he saw could indicate that there was a child living here, a mage child. He looked down at the safe in his hand and tried to break the lock by enhancing his hands, but the safe seemed magical too and can withstand heavy force. He placed his hand on the lock and chanted a minor decaying spell which was also resisted ” Figures, and if use more powerful spell on it I might ruin what’s inside. This needs a delicate touch, could Coal get it open without ruining it? But more importantly why would someone leave something like this behind after having the trouble of fortifying it like this? Well I’ll try something using more force and if it fails I’ll have to take it back to HQ “ Azai was watching Coal as he was lost in thoughts, who was with all his mistakes was trying to do his best.

He walked away from the closet just a couple steps and placed the safe on the ground and placed his right hand, the one that had his gauntlet, on the tiny safe. His spell monochrome was activated and he was slowly raising its strength, the lock was still unaffected by the time the ground around it started to show signs of molding and decaying, ” This won’t do I need to one last surge or the ground will decay and spread to the rest of the floor “ Azai gave it a last surge the lock was decaying finally but it was getting harder to keep it focused on that tiny lock, he crossed his fingers and hoped this works. The lock finally broke and the wooden floor managed to stay intact somehow ” Coal I think I found something come take a look” He didn’t want to make Coal feel left out so he called him to join, and see what they found…

[Witch Cat]

“Is that a,” Cerberus’ bewildered tone stopped halfway as he looked onto the trap in a mixture of curiosity and disbelief.

“It is!” Coal exclaimed, hurrying over to the shattered glass, “A Rot Bomb, I used to love throwing these around.” Coal’s upbeat smile vanished as soon as the smell hit him. The now detonated rot bomb had an aura of rotting flesh that extended a few feet away from it, and the putrid smell of disease hit him like a truck, taking all his effort to not gag. Cerberus chuckled from the side. The bomb wasn’t the most powerful, but it was effective.
He waved his hand at the shattered glass, causing it to silently disappear under the bed, leaving a disgusting damp trail of rot leading to the fermented bed. What was an ice mage doing with a Rot Bomb anyway?
It was a simple enchantment for beginners that even Coal was too good for, being used by someone with the power to cause an eternal winter? Just didn’t add up in Coal’s head. He thought the crook may possibly have a child, or maybe the crook was a child. Coal shook his head free of the thoughts, no need to speculate without any further proof.

Stepping back from the scene of the crime, Coal sadly didn’t find much else to explore. No one was going to leave incriminating evidence under a blanket with more holes than swiss cheese anyway, and so he stood with his hands to his hips. ”What now?”, he thought, still scanning the room. The kitchen was thoroughly examined, the basement was being searched, and Coal was up here. His fingers twitched with restlessness, he wanted to do something.

He caught Azai’s eye for a brief second, arching his eyebrow when he saw him fiddling with a little black box. A safe. He found such useful evidence and didn’t bother telling Coal? Coal was too curious to be mad when he strode over to Azai’s side, the wet, rotten wood letting out a soft, unnerving squelch as he stepped on a practically rotten space of wood. Obviously the work of magic, he could hear the twinkling of RainBow Dust downstairs as Azai’s magic triggered the accelerated rotting.

Peering over Azai’s shoulder with his eyes fixated on the box, Azai finally turned around, apparently too sucked in by the box he wasn’t shocked that Coal was standing directly behind him. The safe was already opened anyway, a shame, Coal thought. He had moonwort, and lotus root prepared, perfect ingredients for an unlocking spell.
”Coal I think I found something come take a look”, Azai said, causing Coal to internally go “Aww”, Azai actually called him over! Never mind he was already behind him and staring intently into the safe’s contents, thinking to himself what a riveting find it was.

“It’s filled to the brim with useful evidence.” was he sarcastic or sincere? Coal’s flat tone didn’t give out which.

[jasonwolf]

The onslaught had taken its toll. The creature was forced back falling into the muddy earth. It even seemed to be melting. Then why did it feel colder? The golem shattered sending ice spikes in all directions. A smaller golem, now maybe twenty feet as opposed to thirty, stood up still with the black mass at its core. A distorted inhuman voice echoed from it as the blizzard began again,

“rýdulæg asír”

It seemed that the group had underestimated the intelligence of the being as it was now beginning to cast spells itself. It summoned multiple small constructs made of the ice. Soon the group was outnumbered ten to one by the constructs.

“Canon fodder.” Jaklo hissed, “Too scared to fight us alone? Either way more grist for the mill.”

As much as Jaklo had enjoyed running around it was clear the group needed to hold the defensive for now. Throwing themselves at the golem had just made it change tactics and it didn’t seem like the loss of size mattered that much.

“Let’s keep this tight. We need to report this to the investigations team, let them know what to look for. Someone get in contact we’ll cover. Cass know any wards? Now’d be a good time to start using those. Drake run intercept on the big guy. Everyone else, range is hot.”

On the last word Jaklo reloaded Arcane Justice with normal buckshot, and fired into the field of advancing constructs.

[Polyphemus]

"That's a handy spell to keep in your back pocket," Max commented as the room began to smell like a beach. It felt positively balmy in here now, rather than numbing, cutting cold. Much easier to operate.

"Obviously something went out through that back wall. A construct, a homunculus, maybe even a summoned demon. We'll have to look through the books," Max declared. He quickly began to scan the magical tomes. Countless hours in libraries had taught him to separate the wheat from the chaff, to figure out what was worthwhile. Max scanned the titles for anything related to cold, weather charms, constructs, or summoning. As a secondary priority, he looked for worn covers, books that were obviously consulted more than others. If he could piece together what this mage had been working on then it would be much easier to undo the damage. He also kept out an eye for anything that looked like personal notes.

[Wraithblade6]

So the ice creature could speak.

Mithias stood up from where he had been crouching on his ledge, his long black coat hanging down around him. The wind had blown his collar up, giving him the perfect semblance of Dracula against the sky. Ignoring the smaller ice elementals for now, he pulled out his cellphone and tapped a foot as he waited for a connection.

"Yes. Kane please. ... Thank you."

The elementals hadn't seemed to notice him. Seemingly they were drawn to the source of their enemy, the noise and fire that the others were dolling upon them.

"Yes Seph. It's Mithias. We've encountered a homunculus of ice near the portal. The team has already engaged, and the creature is proving quite resilient. It seems to have the ability to control the weather, reform its limbs, and cast spells. In fact, it has summoned many smaller versions of itself to attack us. I fear we may need to withdraw. The only other thing I have to report is a strange black anomaly at the primary creature's core. It seems to be some kind of black orb encased within the ice. Baron's sword has already failed to destroy it. Does this information help you any?"

A ice monster shambled along behind the vampire, basically oblivious to Mithias standing right next to it. Mithias shifted his weight and stood like a man waiting for a bus.

[Austronaut]

Lenya nodded.

“It is usually easier to just wear a coat, and it will only last until the salt melts away.” As she spoke the small pile of salt seemed to slowly shrink. She ran a black leather glove along one of the benches, her fingertips painful as the blood flow returned.

“I think we might be dealing with a child, a juvenile I mean,” she clarified cursing English as the imprecise hodgepodge it was. With a wide arm gesture she encompassed the manga and anime.

“Young person with too much power and not enough sense,” she frowned thoughtfully at the crumbled wall.

“Maybe they shifted, used a spell to transform into … whatever went through that wall. I don’t see a lot of disturbance and destruction to indicate an angry summoned spirit.” She arched a pale eyebrow at Max.

“Of course that isn’t really my deparment.”

[BayRat]

I was a bit excited to see the arm smash at my weapon's wake, however I was nearly impaled by the spikes that had rapidly replaced it. Stepping back a bit I watched as the storm faded. I looked back at Jason aw he gave me orders. Afterwards I looked to my target, the golem was still bigger then me, about twice my size. Still I grinned as I sprinted forward, instead of using my weapon first I would slam into the ice sculpture of a monster with my right shoulder first, and if I was successful with that then I would follow up with an uppercut swing of the axe.

[jasonwolf]

@Witch Cat@shinigami94

Within the safe were three main things: money, a silver bauble, and letters. Counting out the money it would come to about six thousand give or take, a fairly hefty amount to just have on hand. The bauble appeared purely decorative not an ounce of magic to it. The letters were interesting though. All were addressed to a Mr. and Mrs. Cassion on Gadt Rd. in Vermont. The letters were signed Felix. The general point of them was an apology. It was clear that Felix was a runaway unsure exactly how to explain his magic to his parents a couple of old fashioned god fearing farmers. At the same time there was a clear anger with them for how they never approved of his interests, but he swore he’d prove their worth.

---@Polyphemus@Austronaut

In the basement the desk had four main books on it. One on ice magic, one on enchanting armor, one of animation of objects, and a manga about giant robots and space aliens. At just the right angle an alchemical circle could be seen drawn with frost. It seemed to have mixed symbols from multiple studies to try and create a spell or ritual that could encompass multiple fields at once. This was hard enough for highly trained masters, but everything indicated the mage here was a novice. The idea of merging alchemy, ritualology, aracanology, and hunter enchanting into one event with only one person at this level was basically suicide, but something had occurred with this likely at its center.

=====================================================================@Wraithblade6

“Homunculus? Sounds more like a construct or golem. Homunculus are far more human like. Wait you mean it is casting spells? Normal golems are not nearly intelligent enough to do that. Either it’s master is very close or it was made by an exceptional mage. While the black space seems like the best weak point I’m not sure if you’ll be able to really impact it. Anyone with even a vague knowledge of golems would keep the core very well defended, and the magic is the strongest right there so if this thing is channeling spells then they emanate from there. Heck Baron’s attack may be why it suddenly is able to cast spells so easily the magic is literally leaking out. If the investigations team can’t find anything it might be the only option though. Crack it open more then wear it down. I’m going to tell everything to the investigations team. Hang on.” Seph sounded almost like a college professor discussing theories and what not with a colleague.

Seph was quick to relay everything to the investigations and relayed the findings of the team back to Mithias.

[Polyphemus]

Max studied the circle with interest. He knew enough of other disciplines to recognize what this sorcerer had been trying to do. "Fascinating," he said, forgetting the frigid arias he leaned in for a closer look. "The theory is solid but the execution seemed flawed. Your hunch was right, Lenya, I think this is an inexperienced magician that got lucky. The kind that attracts the wrong sort of attention. From the public, from people like us, or. . ."

Max trailed off, his brow furrowed, the fascination overriding even the cold for him. He fumbled into his pockets, withdrew a bag of salt, began to quickly but efficiently form a triangle around the preexisting circle. "There's things that do not like to be left out. They want respect, at least lip service. Otherwise they'll completely undermine what you do. Back in Seattle, young wizards use to come and ask me for advice," Max said as he finished the triangle, then added a few more intricacies in the salt. Satisfied with his work, he pulled out the shofar from under his coat and indicated that Lenya should cover her ears. "I always told them the same thing: let the demons play or they'll take their ball and go home."

With that he blew on the shofar, three short, sharp bursts. Enough to catch the attention of demons, enough to annoy them. Enough to draw their attention to this amateur getting too big for his britches. The magic triangle limited their focus on only the alchemist's circle, and the demons inevitably hoping to rush in and demand tribute or service from whoever had created it would completely destabilize the spell. At least, that was the theory. "You might want to go upstairs," he said to Lenya. "I don't expect any demons to actually manifest in this basement. But they will definitely influence the area. Poltergeist activity, temperature changes, that sort of thing. Just give it time."

[fdeviant]

Wind roared, parting the skies and dispelling the golem’s magic. Where once snow and ice fell, now came a cool mist. The Earth’s thick glaze had been devoured by the hungry beast, snow and ice forming around the failing construct. With each new assault, the golem lost more of its body until the team’s efforts had managed to diminish its size. But with this new form came new complications as a quick, guttural incantation brought to life a row of smaller golems, all charging toward the team with heightened pace.

“Cass know any wards? Now’d be a good time to start using those.” Jaklo called to her as her issued orders to the rest of the team’s members. The group was now surrounded by much smaller golems and the slow but still threatening parent golem.

“I might have a little something up my sleeve,” she called back to him, running to the Pit’s side, avoiding the tiny golems all the while. Cassandra brought her wand up to the black pillar spilling from the Pit’s mouth. With a single motion, a small tendril lept from the column and encircled the huddled group, marking the ground with sigils and pentacles that would act as the boundary for her spell. With another quick motion, the pillar of smoke began to dissipate. Cassandra knocked on the side of the cauldron while incanting:

”Spark of Life, Eternal Flame,

Hear now the Hearth Witch’s cry;

Embers Ignite, Dance and take Flight,

Around and About, Along and Throughout.”

The Pit began to pulse with heat once more, a bright flame ascending from the cauldron’s mouth, beating like a muscle. With each bright pulse, a wave of energy flew to the edges of the circle, which was large enough to house all members of the team comfortably with the Pit at its center. The sigils on the ground turned to ash, illuminated and given life by the spark above the Pit. A few stray golems tried to encroach upon the team, but were forced back by the newly erected ward, as well as burned and disfigured by the shield’s fiery properties.

“The little ones shouldn’t be able to make it through,” Cassandra called out to her team as she finished making the barrier, “and it’ll deter the big one long enough for someone to figure out what to do about it."

[Witch Cat]

Coal’s eyes instantly snapped to the wad of rolled up money, his eyes glistened with greed, but luckily managing to restrain himself. He scooped up the shiny metal instead, twirling it in his fingers before flicking it across the floor. “No magic, just a hunk of rock with no value.” He concluded as the bauble skidded to a halt near the wall.

Coal strangely ignored the money as he searched on, his curiosity taking over his momentary greed as he picked up the letters instead. He shook the papers straight, letting out a sage “Hmm” as he skimmed over the loopy and rushed handwriting.

“Closeted wiz kid felt trapped, ran from home taking whatever he could, and swore revenge. We got backstory, but no clues as to where he is now.”

Analyzing and repeating evidence, he hoped he looked as useful and “cool” as in the cop shows. Dropping the letters neatly back into the safe, an idea snapped in him, “Maybe we could visit our mystery man’s parents? It might take a while to get there but,” the howling wind blowing outside silenced him, the worn walls shaking as if it was breathing, The storm was getting worse. “We don’t have a while by the looks of it.”

His very underwhelming discovery snatched any motive or ambition to press on away from him. So far all they found was an upturned kitchen and a few letters. The idea of them never cracking the case haunted his mind, but a little glimmer of hope still shone.

“Any ideas?” be breathed out to no one in particular.

[Wraithblade6]

@Polyphemus

Mithias frowned and pulled the phone away from his head to look at it. All the while, he had been casually walking back toward Cassandra and her cauldron. "Damnit I've lost connection." The vampire commented as he entered the protective ward. "Kane said to try cracking open the black heart, but that it would not be easy. Hold on. I'll try the other team."

Mithias dialed Max's phone, and waited to see if he would pick up while watching the little golems bounce off the ward.

[Polyphemus]

Max answered his phone, found Mithias on the other end asking what he had found out. Max shrugged, a gesture that was lost over the phone. "As far as we can tell, it's an amateur who got lucky with a spell that's a hodgepodge of different schools. I've got texts on cyromancy, animating objects, enchanting armor. . ." His brow furrowed as he thought about all the manga. Mecha. People riding inside giant robots. Of course. It all fit together.

"Guys, I think there's a kid inside that golem, wearing it like a giant suit of armor. He likes those Japanese comics, it must have given him the idea. I've tried to destabilize his spell, so that might weaken his battlesuit a little. Maybe he can be reasoned with."

[Wraithblade6]

Mithias stood next to Cassandra. "Thank you Mr. Cotto. That was most informative." As much as Mithias appreciated Max taking the call, he hung up abruptly. There was a young mage's life at stake.

"It's a kid in a suit." Mithias said to Cassandra as he replaced his phone and began approaching the others. He raised his hands and voice to call out to them in urgency, "Jaklo, Drake! Hold your attacks! There's a person in there!" Taking such a person alive would be far more valuable then taking back a dead, uninformative body. Mithias would do his best to preserve him.

Mithias ran up toward the main golem, putting himself in plain sight of its path, yet keeping just out of reach. He stared at the black orb which likely encased the driver. "If he can see me, then perhaps I can seduce him."

All vampires apparently had an innate magical charm, and as long he could make some kind of visual contact, it might work. As soon as Mithias felt he had captured the golem's gaze, he gave it a command. "Cease, and stop where you are."

[jasonwolf]

The golem leaned down slightly looking into Mithias’ eyes. There was a brief connection. Not what was intended, but a momentary telepathic link. Enough for only one word. Sorry.

With that the golem roared and the smaller constructs turned from the warded group and surrounded Mithias. The golem started a huge right hook with its car sized arm. He had two options either face the razor sharp ice of the smaller constructs or get pummeled by the main one.

=====================================================================

Max was successful in his plans. Nothing solid, but there was a definitely something from the infernal plane here. The first clue was the rising heat. The plane wasn’t called infernal for nothing. In the far corner was a shimmering morphing shape like a mirage of shadows. It slinked forward along the ground before a vague weak form rose up. A shade, the demonically altered soul of a mage. It was clearly just a projection nothing actually there.

“? מגרש השדים למה” It hissed, “It has been long since I heard such a sound. How dare you invade such a fantastic haunt.”

[R31GN]

After his surprisingly ineffective attack on the golem, Baron hit the ground with an inelegant roll, displacing his bionic arm. Moved away from the joint, the piece of robotic equipment hung limp at his side, still clutching the cane tightly. When the golem began spawning smaller minions, Baron found the presence of mind to retreat towards the brunt of his group.

He gave a grim look to Mithias as he jogged by the vampire who apparently found it more prudent to make a phone call than actually assist in the fight. Shrugging as he made his way back to the Pit, a rather nice sanctuary. Even nicer a sanctuary after Cassandra cast her spell and erected wards around the area. He frowned as she recited her incantation. "That's right, stop them with the power of rhymes." He said, chuckling slightly. His eyes danced with glee as he watched the miniature golems bounce uselessly off of the flaming wards.

His eyes shifted across the battlefield, from Drake's all too happy onslaught to Mithias'... what was it that vampire was up to? At some point, it was hard to tell when, the vampire had made his way to the protective wards as well, still conversing on the phone. Baron didn't listen too carefully to the man, as he himself was busy formulating a plan. The plotting was interrupted as Mithias described their enemy as 'a kid in a suit', then proceeded to decide the best plan was to 'seduce' it. Perhaps the words had taken on new meaning since Baron's time?

Baron shifted his bionic arm back into place as he watched Mithias be faced with a brutal attack from all ends. Death by a thousand cuts to one end, death by train wreck to another. "I can't believe he thought that would work..." Baron chided, taking action nonetheless. His tentacles flared out from behind him, sporting orange and blue glow from the interior. Though they shone far more brightly than the beginning of the day, they moved more erratically and flickered in and out of existence with much more frequency.

As soon as the golem pulled back his arm for a monster of a hook, Baron raised his sword and let loose a loud whistle. His tentacles exploded with light -in their place stood a trio of ghostly figures that glowed with arcane energy. A wolf, fox, and weasel, each pulsing with blue, purple, and orange light respectively. Not hesitating, the ethereal animals leapt into action, charging down the golem. The wolf plowed through as many of the miniature golems as it could before taking too much damage and exlopding in a burst of uncontrolled energy within their midst. The fox and weasel charged on, weaving just around Mithias to leap directly at the fist of the golem to take the blow in his place.

[shinigami94]

Shocked was the least he could feel right now, why did Coal threw that gem like that? Even if it’s not magical it could have some DNA trace or fingerprints, Azai could only hope that it wasn’t gone now. He looked at Coal calmly taking a deep breath suppressing his shock and frustration ” Coal if you have seen any cop show, you would know that you should not throw evidence like that. Just think it over next time... “ As he walked towards the gem bagging it for evidence ” Well we could do that, but first we have to report to HQ and hand out what we found in here. Don’t worry we will know who did this soon enough, so for now let’s check up on Lenya and Max.” He took a look back at the letters, and they gave him the notion that this was a typical runaway kid, with bad parents the kind that saw their son as a failure for his unique interests, so he must’ve worked hard in any way possible to prove them wrong, but at the end he had given up, and maybe that’s when he acquired his magic and was unable to explain it to them, or maybe he was he had given up on words and decided to action to prove them wrong, yet there is also regret and apology. Azai got to a conclusion as he was walking towards the stairs. Felix isn’t necessarily a bad guy, he seemed more like a guy with concussions but there must’ve been an important point when he decided to go down this path, maybe some kind of influence. Maybe a coven or something like that. But these was all theories but the truth will be known eventually.

Just as Azai was stepping forward towards the stairs he felt something strange, using his enhancement to raise his hearing and smell senses he heard someone talking in Hebrew a language he learned in his travels then it spoke in the common language ” Hurry Coal, I have a bad feeling about that energy coming from downstairs, and my hunch is very good. Be ready for anything. “ He hurried towards the basement, only to see that it was a shadow but what did it want exactly? It said something about a haunt, Azai looked around with his altered senses and was able to make a quick sweep about what was happening. He saw manga and tomes about advanced magic especially ice magic, tomes he wanted to acquire and learn their knowledge and finally add it to his collection, yet it was a shock that a novice mage was able to do such feat, was it luck maybe? And the manga was also another surprise for him. He saw an alchemy circle on the ground his alchemy equations were not that good, but he could make some sense from it was also a very dangerous magic. This was the kind of magic that he wanted to stop, also making him join this organization. Back to Azai there was a bigger chance for his theory to be right but he didn’t think that manga would be enough to make him do what he did, but that shadow and his portal certainly there was some kind of messed up demonology. Azai finished his sweep in seconds just before he ran towards Max standing in front of him enhancing his mind ready for any sudden moves it could make.

[Polyphemus]

Max grimaced as Azai rushed in. From his body language, he was prepared to confront the shade that stood in front of them. Max had to give him some credit for that- he meant well, and in all fairness he didn't know the situation when he came in. Azai was brave, there was no doubt about it. But bravery without knowledge was worse than cowardice.

Max laid a calming hand on Azai's shoulder, gently led him a distance away from the shade. "Azai, it's alright. I'll handle this, this is my specialty. Whatever you do, don't look at it, don't speak to it. Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself or it'll chew you up like a box of crackerjacks and spit out the prize." With that, he turned and walked back to the center of the room. He removed the foxy hat and held it to his chest out of respect, he lowered his eyes in submission. Dealing with these things was all about respect.

"Shalom," he said by way of greeting. "Please pardon this mortal interrupting in your affairs, but you and your brethren must know that you have been slighted." He gestured to the alchemist's circle. "Alchemy, shamanism, arcanology, enchantments. Spells that take years to master, and yet this arrogant whelp must be a prodigy for he has made it work." He risked eye contact with the shade, trying to convey how serious he was. "But this puerile taste of power has made him arrogant. Not once did this callow youth think to consult you, to ask your favor, even so much as a stick of incense or glass of liquor as an offering. The old ways are best. The youth requires a small lesson in humility."

[Witch Cat]

”Sure, sure, whatever.” Coal’s thought grumbled as he let out an exasperated sigh. Scolded for throwing away a hunk of metal? With the freezing temperatures, and rot that caked the room, Coal would be surprised if they were able to find anything on that ring. But better safe than sorry right? Coal would usually agree, but this seemed ridiculous.

Coal still remained motionless, and didn’t snap at Azai. Judging his partner’s expression, he guessed he came to the same conclusion. Angry Runaway Kid was the “mastermind” behind the plan. Coal admitted to himself he was a little disappointed, he had high hopes it’d be some gruesome beast, not just some washed up kid. Though, that same washed up kid did summon a possibly eternal winter, even though it was possibly by accident.

”Now what?” he thought.

They reached their logical conclusion, everything after that would just be speculation. That was it. No monsters, no magic, no battle, just nothing-

”Hurry Coal, I have a bad feeling about that energy coming from downstairs, and my hunch is very good. Be ready for anything.“

The fact someone called onto him for help stunned Coal into silence, he was frozen as Azai rushed downstairs to whatever energy he felt. He was broken out of his trance as the echo of Azai’s footsteps were swallowed up by the whistle of the wind. He hurried down stairs, Cerberus hot on his heels, something exciting was happening. Now was possibly the time to prove himself!

He bounded down the stairs with almost supernatural grace, landing onto the landing with a soft thump as the soggy wood creaked under his weight. Drawing his Athames from literally thin air, a soft sparkle emitting from his forgotten Rainbow Dust now spread too thin to have any effect, he braced himself at the doorway, peering into the darkness.

As his eyes pierced the gloom, Cerberus raised his back, hissing at a shadow as he hid himself behind Coal. He readied his blade, only to almost drop it in shock. No one was doing anything. Everyone just stood back as Max bowed down to the thing, and asked for forgiveness.

Every bone in Coal’s body tensed and screamed at him to do something. Throw your blade, mutter a prayer, cast a spell. Something. But the wave of uneasiness that hit Coal like a punch to the gut when seeing the thing convinced him to stay still as Max did his thing. Even though he had no idea what it was, he knew it was powerful, best not anger it.

But never hurts to keep a blade ready just incase, right?

[Wraithblade6]

Mithias heard the response, but it was only an empty word, one that could have two contradictory meanings. Either this kid was in regret of his actions and unable to control them, or he was being facetious, very likely for an impudent youth. But Mithias left both possibilities open to consideration as he reacted.

As the tiny shard golems swarmed and the train-hammer of a frozen fist accelerated toward him, the vampire felt no rush. He leaped up onto the incoming arm, compensating, as its momentum was dulled by its impact with the magical fox and weasel. Using his supernatural strength and grace, he Legolas'ed his way up the arm onto the shoulder, and then onto the back of the primary golem's neck. Finding a moment to draw his blades, Mithias plunged both steel fangs into the ice at the back of the golem's neck and used them to hold on, like handles pitched deep into the ice.

Did he really know what he would do? Not entirely, but riding the golem was pretty entertaining. Seph had said to break open the black orb, if possible, and it was currently directly between Mithias' blades. The vampire extended his senses, feeling the life inside the monstrosity, hearing the beating of a living heart. The child was there, yet what to do? Applying his pyrokinesis, he could try cooking the child, but what if the kid truly was sorry? ... It would be such a waste of young blood.

Mithias looked down at the others from his precarious seat. They seemed fine while the golem was flabbergasted by being mounted. He thought he'd try one more option, a threat. "You'd better hope you can hear me, child. Cease your movements, or I will burn you alive from within your construct."