[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[SuperFlash]

As the bullet came flying at Jeff with top speeds, Jeff on pure instinct reacted to the attack by flinging by using a huge burst of wind to change his trajectory to launch him full speed to the left causing him to make contact with the wall on that side of the arena instead of his original intended direction.
"Well shoot... your not making this defense thing easy..." Jeff grunted to himself as he then blasted himself back to the ground before starting to take a unique battle stance. "I guess, I'll try this then."
Two nanoshield then formed around his right and left sides before starting to glow a heavy blue much like Jeffs hair and eyes were. The same glow then quickly spread to his boots and guantlets as well. "Wind Sage, Guardian Tech Mode"

[tex]

Mikey didn't let Jeff prepare anything. As the wind sage dodged and began to overcharge his equipment, Mikey began to shift the water in his hand again, firing another Liquid Lance towards Jeff while maintaining his ground.

[SuperFlash]

When the next lance came flying at him this time, Jeff now expecting them was able yo react much more smoothly to the attack, quickly ducking out of the wayof the incoming attack and having both shields ready to provide cover in a last ditch effort if it was necessary. Going with the momentum provided with ducking Jeff released a glowing blue orb that was hidden in his gauntlet and used a sweeping wind kick to launch it at Mikey from bellow. The wind sage then following his defensive trend at this point then flicked his fingers and caused yhe orb to split into four different orbs which then each used wind pulses to each go into a diferent direction until they surrounded him from the front, rear, left, and right sides.

Were these ones mirages or perhaps another one of Jeff's secret tech devices? Mikey would have to act quick or find out the hard way.

[tex]

Mikey didn't budge. As Jeff prepared his attack, he fired a third lance at him, and waited for the orbs to converge on his position. At the last moment, his body pulsed outwards, expanding into what looked like a projection of his battle bubble, and negating the four wind-spheres with its explosive design. Mikey's battle bubble had its weaknesses despite being a pretty tight defence. It made him slow, costed quite a bit of energy to sustain, and could be popped with focused attacks when it came out. But this new technique didn't have any those weaknesses, despite requiring faster energy output to activate. His burst bubble retained defensive resolution, but could also deflect attacks, be used offensively, and be activated in a blink of an eye. Of course, it still had one crucial weakness, but he wasn't about to go shouting it across the battlefield. Mikey fired a fourth lance at Jeff right after his burst bubble concluded, fading into a subtle spray of water and energy, aimed to lead him if he attempted to move.

[SuperFlash]

Once more, the wind sage dodged quickly shifting to the left to avoid lance number 3 while taking note of how Mikey was able to dispatch his mirage tech bombs. He kept the real one readt to fire in hsi gauntlet as he once more prepares another mirage, this time just splitting into two people. One which flew towards the cieling full speed with a real and fake to shield keeping cover of him, while the other, being the real Jeff, remained grounded where he was earlier ready to shift out of the way once more if Mikey so chose to go after that one. He too kept a shield along with a fake ready just in case as well.

[tex]

Mikey rose his barrier arm and aimed his hand at Jeff. He breathed deeply, and fired yet another liquid lance in his direction. But, this one seemed much longer, and slower, with a more brilliant glow to it. Otherwise, he kept an eye on the clone that headed for the ceiling.

[SuperFlash]

Once again Jeff dashed out of the way of this lance attack this time taking a tad extra caution as his mind thought back to Mikeys buble burst attack which was able to hit all four mirage spheres at once. Jeff called it a hunch, but he couldnt help but expect that Mikey was prepareing something along those lines and quickly scanned the area to make sure the water spears from before didn't set some sort of trap. Either way the sage readied to dash again if the spear were to change direction and had the shield ready once more.

Meanwhile the clone which had now reached the cieling dashed full speed till it was now up and right above Mikey and seemed to prepare something with the nanoshield he brought alongside changing form.

[tex]

Unfortunately, the 4 liquid lances that Mikey fired were now hovering in the air behind Jeff. Despite their intense speed, and fast shape, none of them ended up crashing into the wall behind him. Mikey cursed when Jeff noticed, but didn't change his plan up at all. The large spear exploded, launching tiny water pellets towards Jeff, while also creating a thick fog behind him to conceal the remaining spears. Mikey extended his left arm upwards and launched another liquid lance from within his shield towards the clone above him, while firing yet another at Jeff from his right hand.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff's eyes widened as the he took note of the water spears floating behind him, thankfully he had a decent idea on how to take care of it, but yet again he'd need to act quick. Once again as the next spear came at Jeff, he quickly rolled out of the way all the while creating a wind burst to blow away the fog and then throwing a templar bomb inbetween all the spheres and setting it off inorder to disrupt the attack.

Meanwhile, as the above wind mirage was struck by the attack from bellow, the nanobots came falling down as a sphere which in a quick sudden burst launched itself right infront of Mikey's field of vision before releasing a giant flash of light in attempt to blind Mikey for a couple of moments and catch him off gaurd. As this was happening, a visor appeared of Jeff's face to block out the light so that it wouldn't affect him.

If sucessful, Jeff would then blast himself over to the wall left of him to prepare something.

[tex]

The disruption of arcane energy turned Mikey's spears to mush in an instant, forcing him to react quickly. As the light from above went off however, he was momentarily blinded. He staggered back, and reoriented himself on both legs, and his body let out a thin mist, as if the attack and flinched his entire armour, peeling a layer off and sending it into the air around him. He reached up with his right hand and wiped his eyes vigorously, trying to regain his vision. It looked like he was stunned for a moment.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff smirked at the sight of his plan seemingly working, but he wasn't gonna let it cause him to drop his guard. The sphere of nanobots that lied on the ground once more started glowing as it prepared to let lose another flash of light in order to keep Mikey incapacitated as the real Jeff's gauntlet finished charge and compressing air and fired a blast out of it. Unlike Jeff's regular wind cannon attack however this one seemed much different. For one it was much smaller in size, the size of pebble, and glowed a bright blue as it whistled through the air, traveling a speed that was even faster then the water spears Mikey was throwing off at Jeff just moments ago. Jeff had aimed it to pierce through Mikey's shoulder and with the speed and power it possessed, it would mostly likely keep going, piercing through the wall of the arena and any wall past it for at least another couple yards.

"Behold one of my Ult Wind Guardian Techs..."

"WIND CANNON! SNIPER'S SHOT!!"

[tex]

Mikey waited patiently for Jeff to get close, but it never happened. Without his sight, the only way he could read Jeff's moves were with his water field. As soon as Jeff fired his attack, Mikey rose his left hand instinctively to block, even though he didn't know where it was coming from. But, as soon as the focused beam closed in, Mikey's bubble barrier shattered, and his shoulder reeled backwards. The man's entire body was pushed against the ground by the force of the attack. With a loud 'whap', Mikey bounced backwards and let his head fall, dispelling his sage form and sighing loudly. "W-Well," He stammered, "Didn't see that one coming..."

---

~ End Of Chapter 153 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 154 ~

_{Isn't That Something!}

Mikey reached into his pocket after him and Jeff decided to seat themselves at the end of the arena. "Come now," Mikey complained as he pulled a power pill to his mouth. After swallowing it, his injury began to heal slowly, and he felt his energy returning to him. "That was pretty focused. I don't think I've ever come anywhere close to that level of density with my water."

[SuperFlash]

"Yeah, that sage form of yours is indeed very impressive" Jeff responded as he was amazed on just how far Mikey had come. "You really did manage to make me go full out, and the speed and focus of those attacks... I could barely dodge them.."
Jeff then proceeded to let his sage mode die off and he approached Mikey to make sure he was alright. "Given I think I might have gotten a tad carried away there with that last attack..." The sage said doing his best to laugh it off. "Sorry about that."

[tex]

"It's fine. If you hadn't set it up, I probably would have been able to dodge it, even if only by the skin of my teeth. You've learned well these past few days." Mikey looked down at his hands and shook his head. "I might've stand a chance against any of you in a one-on-one bout before all of this, but now that you're all getting used to your power... Hah! Not so much. That kind of power is worlds beyond what I'm capable of."

[SuperFlash]

"Thanks Mikey", the sage smirked finally feeling a tad more confident in himself. Perhaps finally all those endless nights of researching a practice were starting to pay off and he still wasn't done yet. "It is true though, that you really didn't give me many options on what I could have done to land a guaranteed hit there. You might not have our pure amounts of power, but your definitely up there with us. I'm still only able to reach that level of control by using the wind cannon, which to be fair can only do up to 2 shots at a time without recharge. I've been working on ways to minimize the time to charge it, but that's still in the works for now.. along with the final version of the wind cannon I've been trying to get functioning perfect."

Before Jeff's rambling could entirely take over he managed to catch himself on it and stopped before grinning once more. "Ya know, perhaps we'll be able to pull this whole thing off after all."

[tex]

"Yeah. Yeah, I hope so," Mikey croaked. The room fell silent for a bit. Mikey looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry about Sheira, Jeff. This entire thing, all of the shit we're going through, I'm sorry for all of it," He finally blurted.

[SuperFlash]

"Nah, it's fine...", Jeff said as he remained silent for a moment himself as he did his best to think of the right words. "Not like any of this is your fault, and besides I chose to join this city after mine got ransacked by Rajaka and I chose to be part of this fight too. To be fair, I think the stress of it all has been slowly getting to all of us for a while and I should probably take a little time to actually get a full night of rest instead of a random hour here and there between projects. As for the Sheira, well if anything I blame myself for that. I brought her into this mess, and my security for this place could still be better.. or at least it needs to be if things like this keep happening."

Jeff did his best to try and hold back his tears but overall he couldn't help, but let them slip. "After I lost my hometown to Rajaka, I told myself I wouldn't let them toy with lives like that ever again, yet here we are with them still just toying with us and taking the people we care about away. I'm.. I'm.. gonna keep getting stronger so I can keep my word on that and not let anyone else fall prey to them. That includes Dacer too.. I'll save him.."

[tex]

Mikey let Jeff talk, lost in his own little world. None of this was his fault? Was that true? How much of what'd happened could have been avoided if his fate didn't cross with Jenso's back in Feralda? He closed his eyes and nodded unconsciously to what Jeff was saying, while faking a smile. "We'll do it together. Until the end, we'll fight," He said, half-heatedly. "If you'll excuse me..." Mikey stood up and sped his way out of the training room, clearly upset by the whole situation. As he left, a feeling of dread lingered. What was he hiding?

---

~ End Of Chapter 154 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 155 ~

_{Nexus Diary 1 - What?}

Several days earlier

Yzeira sat at the base of his study's desk, resting his head against the palm of one hand as he read through his personal journal lazily. His eyes skid across the length of the book, held open with his thumb and index finger, while his eyelids drooped downwards.

Humans of U-255 are base level creatures with intelligence similar to most sentient humanoids. Maximum potential varies, but rarely dips into a realm that threatens the order. They pose no danger.

Elementals of U-255 are high level semi-sentient beings. They appear to posses abilities that allow creation on large scales, including the creation of new life and arcane facets. Maximum potential reaches potent levels of arcane mastery, but cannot scratch anything significant in the realms of Ki or Arki manipulation. They pose little danger.

Golem Origin Deity of the void. First encounter in U-255. This creature appears to have been created by someone with an understanding of void energies that rivals my own. His existence and sentience is an illusion, of course, but his cores are linked by something similar to Prisma's core mechanics. I assumed him to possess significant void mastery, though he has not achieved any level of unique energy manipulation like the members of the order. Geode, if he were to resurface with his complete body once again, would pose an astronomical threat to several members within the Order.

Vampires of U-255. I have only come across one specimen, but his capabilities continue to outstand me. Unlike other undead creatures that sustain themselves on a balance of Ki and Void energy, this individual has found himself in a stasis that combines the two into a newly discovered element that I have not had a chance to study. Unlike Adarine's Vamparism however, the malice strain of Voiki, this creature lacks the ability to harness the void directly. He does, however, retain a spectacular immunity to high levels of Ki-based attacks. I've considered approaching him with an offer to join the order, but his sanity has already been damaged significantly by his power. I assume him to lack the credentials of a viable candidate, completely. Despite his capabilities, this creature poses a moderate danger to the Order in his current state. His maximum potential however, might place him in the same realm as Adarine, albeit with slightly different capabilities. This warrants further study.

Gaians of U-255...

"Yzeira," Nexus called out. Yzeira promptly lowered his book. "That boy that Adarine was toying with. She left to eliminate him, but..."

"I noticed." Yzeira stood up and placed his book back into the inner left pocket of his coat. "I have a job for you." Nexus waited patiently by the door of his study, anxiously guiding his eyes across the thousands of books that filled his circular study, from the floor up, towards an infinite ceiling of pure void. "I want you to use our resources and follow that boy. Tell Rajaka and Zelriane, as well. Send them to that white castle town, the one with those idiot elf-kin. That golden fool is bound to end up there if he maintains his current path."

"You're not going to just kill him?"

"If his growth proves far too abnormal, I'll step in. I want you three to test that. Likewise, you are to probe his morality thoroughly when you have a chance. If there's any sign that he'll be swayed, then I'll extend an invitation his way." Yzeira made his way across the study as he spoke, ultimately passing Nexus and exiting through the large set of ornate double doors behind him. Nexus looked down at the floor and nodded to himself.

"Right. I'll work on that," He mumbled quietly, "After a quick nap..."

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~ End Of Chapter 155 ~