[IC] Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

[Accurian]

Zuri didn't know how to stop that huge wave of energy that was heading straight towards Zoey. It was just too fast for her to try to cancel it out, so instead of doing something that most likely wouldn't work out, she aims her staff straight at Boslan and charges up her spell before blasting it straight towards him, the shape of a spear and the speed of an arrow shot from a compound bow. The spell is intended to penetrate any magical shield, so the only way to stop it is to dodge it or cancelling it out with the same amount of force, which shouldn't be easy with the rate at which the spell was traveling at, however Boslan noticing that Zuri was charging up the spell earlier could be a possibility unless he was distracted or too occupied by something else.

[Dawnpath]

Zoey simply fell through a shadow and back up through his, "Persistent? You have to land hits before you can claim I'm tenacious," she bluffed. She wrapped an arm around his neck and started to squeeze. "Now, this little puppy just failed his mission. He should fall asleep like a good little pup and forget he ever saw us," she mumbles through gritted teeth, having noticed the other one had dropped.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya was a bit annoyed at the voice bit, but what really irritated her and pushed her a bit over the edge was the mock ahoge Nemo managed to erect. Normally she would have suppressed her emotions to not let it bubble out into a physical display of expression. But Nemo's joke got Raiya's goat so efficiently that she could not help but be flustered. Her face grew a bit red as she clenched her teeth and balled her fists a bit.

She turned her head upright violently and scoffed, "That's not very funny." She puffed out angrily. After regaining her composition, her lividity and expression returning to normal, she replied, "I don't know. Both of those girls are oddities. If things turn too ugly we could always step in, though."

[Cottonmouth]

Boslan emitted another shockwave from his body to get Zoey off him. "This isn't gonna stop till one of us is dead." He remarked, suddenly being tipped off to Zuri's attack thanks to his manalysis. Boslan spun around and generated shield, figuring he had taken care of it. But instead the spear punctured straight through his shield and impaled him right in the abdomen. He let out a howl of pain, clutching the spear until it dissipated into energy, leaving a large wound in his stomach. Boslan bled from the wound profusely, blood dribbled from his mouth as well.

In response he shot out a large explosive blast towards Zuri with one hand, the other trying to halt the bleeding.

---

Nemo used his hand as a visor and squinted, looking towards the action. "Looks like they've got it covered." Nemo commented after seeing Boslan get hit. He fixed his hair and turned back to her. "It might not have been a show stopper, but seeing you blush was worth it." Nemo admitted. "Your talent mark is lovely too. I presume that's what began your interest in snakes?"

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya raised her right hand to cover her right eye in contemplation. It was a talent mark, but unlike others who were talent marked, he aura was blank like a normal talent before she decided to specialize. This led her and others to ponder whether or not it really was a talent mark and not just a normal birth defect. However, the slit pupil was not something that could be a natural biological flaw, it had to be a talent mark.

"It's funny, I hadn't ever really thought it was snake-like until recently..." She explained with her right hand still on her eye as she looked down from her perch. "No, I didn't get to choose my iruzumi beast. There are only so many of them, so they are assigned and recycled throughout the generations in the yakuza. They are only reassigned after the previous wearer dies." Raiya explained, "Although, the style and depiction of the tattoo is up to the wearer. The iruzumi beast imbued into the tattoo is not a choice. It is assigned as a status symbol to the lieutenants and administration in the yakuza." Raiya continued, "It just so happens that I ended up with the hebi iruzumi." Raiya lowered her right arm, and pulled up her coat sleeve to reveal a flame-like orange snake coiling around her arm.

Raiya didn't fully understand how the spell worked herself. But she knew the iruzumi artist who gave her the tattoo somehow created a complex runic formula with his tattoos, and that the ink he was was special as well. It was natural for her to not understand it, though. The only person who did fully understand it was the artist himself. The method was documented, however the scrolls that contained the knowledge required to create the tattoos were hidden and closely guarded.

[Dawnpath]

Zoey sighed, having hoped to have gotten through this without killing the guy. If that's what he wanted,, though, that was what he wanted. She pulled out her pistol and fired at the back of his head from her prone position, having been thrown a couple of meters away from the guy, as he shot his concussive blast at Zuri. It was a shame she'd have to kill a human. She much preferred monsters.

[Cottonmouth]

"Ah yes, your tattoos. You know I'm a fan of art, so body-art like that is right up my alley." Nemo replied, slowly spinning around with his arms outstretched as if he was trying to become a helicopter. "Such vibrant yellows, reds, and oranges on that one. The yellow really matches your eye as well." Nemo stopped spinning, slightly dizzy. "People often considered my appearance to be the result of a talent mark. But I surely wasn't born a talent. I suppose it's more like an un-talent mark."

---

The sudden usage of the pistol caught Boslan off guard, which unfortunately was his final downfall. All that could be heard after the quiet sound of the silenced pistol was the sound of the bullet impacting Boslan's skull, and then his body limply falling over dead. His spell he used against Zuri would be his last.

With Boslan dead there was nothing keeping the realm spell going. A sudden rush changed the scenery back to the real world, though that didn't bring much of a change. Besides the damage done by the spells clearing up, one could only notice minute details change. Like the sounds of seagulls calling to each other from up high, and the tides coming in.

---

"Well that's that." Nemo said, looking around to make sure the workers haven't returned. Thankfully it was all clear. Without Boslan or Logan there to sort them out it didn't surprise them it was taking extra time. He looked over to Travis. "I'm hoping you're almost done over there or else were gonna be in for more trouble." He called out to him, looking back. "Also I'm hoping somebody has something to sort out there bodies unless we want to cause a stir." Nemo added.

[Dawnpath]

Zoey sighs and puts the gun away. She looks at her feet for a while, as if sending a prayer, then turned and looked around. "Right, which container's our mark. Would rather get this over with quickly. Also, what do we do with the body?" She had a feeling that if Felix were here, things may have gone differently. She put her illusion back up and leaned against one of the containers, looking tired.

[ShiningSector]

Travis continued at his task while everyone battled against the newcomers Logan and Bosan. As the conflicts raged, Travis could feel a sense of helplessness of being unable to help repelling the new threat. Nevertheless, he kept his focus centered on the runic lock before him.

While studying the characters upon the dial design, Travis utilized one of his manadial’s applications he had recently been able to figure out. The program behaved like a spectrometer of sorts; in this case, it projected a small aurora as a representation of one’s own aura while during a mana flow. Upon the interface was an animated wheel he gently stroked his left hand’s thumb over up and down, dictating the resonating frequency which in turn made the aurora spike or slow down. The idea, his argument, was to match the correct frequency manifested by the simulated aura that the characters corresponded with. His hope was that if he could isolate the proper wavelengths he could then use to them select the proper sequence each glyph is coded in. The concept to him appeared figuratively simple and efficient enough; if anything, he was carefully choosing the right handles in picking a physical lock.

Eventually, he found the proper behavioral states while cross-checking the visualized wavelengths and the likenesses of the characters within the runic lock. The task was nothing overly difficult however it did prove demanding in determining the correct frequencies. Travis took a movement to ease back and wipe the accumulating moisture from his forehead but with the sound of fighting still prevailing behind him, he continued with next portion of the lock.

Upon examining the next sequence, Travis quickly concluded that figuring out the characters and their matching sequence would take up more time than his team was currently allotted if he were to utilize more traditional methods. Given the eight symbolic characters on the lock, Travis with more time to spare, could have analyzed each of the glyphs and created the likely candidate sequence to use. The problem was that it the assumed the caster of the lock was using a predictable pattern and not a random configuration; an unlikely concatenation no one would leave to chance.

Travis however had a different and more efficient approach to this conundrum. Casting an advanced light projection spell, he quickly reproduced the runic lock and projected into the air. Each simulated section of scripting was now his to manipulate as he pulled the entire structure apart, separating each part into different portions based on function and response. The dissected rune now gave Travis a detailed perspective of its inner workings. It was then he found a newer series of scripts and circuits leading to each of the characters that had been visually masked before. Each line connected to what Travis determined to be a kind of receptor node that passively responded to whatever source it was geared towards; in this case to an aura wavelength. The Untalent deduced that if he probed each node without actually selecting its character, he could then potentially root out the sequence he needed.

Wasting no time, he began emitting through the aura he projected in his hand and brought it close to the runic lock. While the actual rune wouldn’t visually respond towards this gesture, the simulated copy that mimicked it however did. Bringing his aura over each character node he eventually caught a line giving off a faint glow that none of the other lines emitted. With a bit of hesitation, Travis tapped into the glyph with his forefinger to select is as the first part of the sequence. The real rune naturally reacted with the character lighting up while the simulation manifested a green coloration throughout its own script before connecting with the locking script whose designated pillar design separated into two halves.

“Bingo.” Travis smiled, now confident that he finally found the solution to their problem.

With relative ease, he pinpointed each node in-part of the established sequence and tapped into the aligned character, further undoing the rune’s security measures. It wasn’t long until Nemo’s and Raiya’s voices resonated nearby, indicating that they had dispatched their adversary. This was soon followed by an unexpected gunshot the momentarily distracted Travis, unaware that it was Zoey’s piece that had discharged, finishing off the remainder of the two party crashers, finally ending their threat and collapsing the realm spell that had enacted, returning everyone back to real time.

Just as Nemo queried upon his progress did Travis then select the last remaining character, “I think I…”

With the last glyph now in-place, the whole rune seemed to flip its hidden elements over to the front, showcasing each node that was selected breaking the security pillars within the scrips. With each now measure broken the rune itself then unlocked, representing this through its design dividing in half as its original purplish hue turned to a bright confirming green. Travis rose from his position with a somewhat smug expression, feeling not only feeling triumphant in unlocking the rune but also overcoming Siedon’s handiwork. The thought then quickly hit Travis that he didn’t personally know Paul Siedon and only knew him by name, erasing any sense of rivaling superiority he had beamed while losing himself to the brief moment.

“Yes, we’re in” said Travis has he recomposed himself while opening up their hijacked container.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya followed Nemo back over to where Travis was unlocking the container. It seemed that everyone dealt with their own objectives nicely. Even with how well everything had been going, Raiya still had her doubts. "Not that I am looking a gift horse in the mouth or anything... But is it really safe to say that this will still work? I mean how do we know word hasn't reached the ship we're waiting for yet?" Raiya asked.

As she was speaking, it looked as though Travis was finishing up. It didn't take long after that for Travis to complete his objective. Travis opened the container up, Raiya waited for Nemo to lead the way inside.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo sighed when nobody seemed to have anything for the bodies. "Gotta do everything yourself." He mumbled as called fourth a leather case from his inventory. He opened it and fetched a medium sized vial of pale white liquid. After walking back to Logan's body he uncapped the vial and poured half the liquid over the body, causing a sizzling reaction. Slowly the entirely body began to dissolve, and once it reached the halfway point the process seemed to speed up until it only left behind what looked like a simple oil slick in it's wake.

Nemo walked over to Boslan's body and did the same before putting away the case. He looked to Raiya, "Well, their communications were down since this began, so the only way for them to notify Seidon is through the mananet. Logan is the only one who should be in direct contact with him, and now I have his manadial." He said jingling the watch in his hand. Nemo activated it and looked through the recent messages. "Last thing he sent was... about an hour ago. Apparently trying to find out why a shipment of Goblin coins had gone missing. That was right after he confirmed that Seidon's ship will be coming in later today." Nemo explained as he walked over to the container.

"Good job Travis, you're quite good with these runes." He commented as he passed by, patting him on the shoulder. "Now let's get in before we get seen." Nemo added as he stepped inside.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya looked at Nemo as he dissolved the bodies. His haunting white visage was truly supernatural. Even the most dedicated of recluses and shut-ins could not achieve the purity of skin tone that Nemo had. Raiya definitely found it hard to believe that it wasn't the result of a talent mark. Though, she decided she'd tuck that discussion away for a time when they were alone and weren't preoccupied with infiltration or body disposal.

Raiya shrugged at Nemo's explanation of why their mission was still secure, "Well, if you say so. I still can't shake a feeling that something is off." Raiya explained, "By the way?" She asked, "What is that stuff you used to dissolve the bodies? And why don't you use it in combat?"

Raiya looked over to Travis as Nemo issued is compliment, "He certainly does have his uses. Perhaps he is even worthy to drink with us when this is over." Raiya said nonchalantly. That was probably the closest remark to a compliment Travis would ever get from Raiya.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo walked to the back of the container and sat down with his legs crossed. He looked up to Raiya after her question, his interest perked. "The acid? That's venom taken from a giant tarantula like manabeast. Theraphosidae Gigas. Once tarantulas venom is injected into it's prey it begins to liquefy the insides of it's victim. Making a sort of flesh slurpee which the spider can eat. With a little bit of tinkering I can modify the effectiveness of it to be a little more powerful."

"It would no doubt ruin somebody's day if it got it on them in combat. But acid attacks aren't really my style. That's a little more cloak and dagger than I'd prefer. Plus the stuff isn't easy to get either. Usually I have to milk it myself, though sometimes I can purchase it at a market for a less than enjoyable price." Nemo finished. "Judging by that last fight it seems that you produce venom of your own as well." He added.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya thought about the venom being used to tip bullets or cover blades. If it was expensive that would be one thing, however, the modified stuff, one small slip-up during combat and it could end up liquifying the user. She shivered momentarily at the thought.

Raiya nodded her head at Nemo's assertion that she had her own venom. "It's the iruzumi tattoo. My hebi enchantment gives me many snakelike qualities. I can produce a neurotoxin that paralyzes. I think I have already told you this, but I also have to shed my skin once a month. I actually shed it last week while you were off gathering intel. If I didn't I couldn't use my ultimate technique again." Raiya explained, "Unfortunately it also renews my body, even repairing my liver.
Which makes it more easy for me to get drunk again. So, I probably shouldn't have drank that much of that umeshu." Raiya blushed briefly, "But it was surprisingly tasty, and when it comes to alcohol I can't really help myself." she confessed.

[Accurian]

Zuri watched as the spear penetrated right through his shield, blood pouring out of him as the spear dissipated, leaving him with a large wound. Just when she thought it was over, a huge blast headed straight towards her. With little time, she swept her staff and casted a weak spell to try to lessen the damage, but the force of the explosion pushed her off from where she was standing, which was on one of the containers.

Zuri fell backwards, falling towards the ground. She managed to turn her body around in mid-air, landing on all fours but getting a few scratches and a burn mark on her left hand and her legs from the fire blast. She let out a grunt as she landed, some blood seeping out from the scratch wounds from the impact. Receiving such pain was new to her, so it was only natural for her to tear up a little bit from such sensation.

The scenery definitely changed after killing Boslan, she could feel the peace around her knowing that her teammates also dealt with the other threats within the vicinity. After a few seconds to catch her breath, she stood up and started heading over to see where the others were at. She noticed Travis opening up the magical container Nemo mentioned in his plan as she walked past. Zuri waited on Nemo's next order close by to everyone else, her arm placed on her minor wounds as she stood there idly by, relieved that she has some time to take a quick break.

[Cottonmouth]

"A person shedding their own skin, now that's a sight I'd like to see. I once saw a man from Cairo who could swallow entire weapons and store them for later use. I never figured out how he could keep a good grip after they came back up though." Nemo said. "And so that means the scar is gone as well?" He asked, remembering the fight back at the cave. "Sounds like the world's best peel off masque to me."

"Oh Zuri my dear, you look a bit bruised up. Get in here, I'm sure Zoey can patch you up good as new. I wish I could help myself, but I'm only really useful with sewing things back together, can't do much about burns and scrapes." Nemo explained with a comforting tone.

He turned back to Raiya. "Perhaps we should have green tea next time? It's even from Japan." He said, attempting to sway her.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya ignored Nemo's comment about a man swallowing weapons. Isn't that just a sideshow attraction? She briefly thought before shaking her head. this is Nemo I am talking to... She remembered.

"Yes, the only scars I get to keep are these tattoos of mine." She replied as she walked into the container. She found a stack of boxes next to Nemo that she could use as a nice comfortable seat and sat down on it. "My healing factor certainly has its uses. And the shedding thing is oddly therapeutic" She nodded in reply to Nemo's comment.

"As long as it's matcha green tea and not that bagged manufactured crap." Raiya replied. "And you better have nice porcelain cups as well." She demanded. All this beverage talk was making Raiya a bit thirsty, but she didn't keep anything except alcohol in her manainventory. And she didn't think drinking alcohol on a mission with her newly recovered liver would be a good idea. So she just sulked quietly with parched lips.

"So, exactly how long is this going to take?" She said a bit impatiently, her thirst making her a bit impatient.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo sounded out a small chuckle. "No bags, only powdered matcha and loose leaf. I'm sure you'll find my cups to be pleasing as well." He replied.

Nemo flicked his hand to use a small magic spell to shut the door once everyone had made their way inside. He checked his watch before answering. "The ship is scheduled to leave this harbor in twenty minutes, so we should be picked up a little bit before then. I can't say how long it's going to take them to get to the paragon however." He explained.

Soon enough the group could hear the sounds of workers hurriedly returning to their stations in preparation for the arrival of Seidon's ship. "As you brought up before the mission, we should set up something to counteract any type of detection magic they might be using." Nemo started as he spawned a medium sized black leather clam-shell bag. He dipped his hand inside and retrieved eight mechanical devices and proceeded to attach them to all of the container's corners. The devices seemed to magnetically stick to the metal of the container, emitting a faint beep once firmly in place.

Nemo stepped back to the middle of the container and and inputted a few commands on his manadial, ending with the devices all giving off another quiet beep. "That should do it." Nemo said. "To anybody outside this perimeter, our signatures are completely hidden, courtesy of a device I designed long ago. I can even adjust the field to not hide any of Seidon's magical cargo he has in here."

[Prodigal Son]

"Good..."Raiya seemed content with Nemo's response. Raiya was still feeling a bit thirsty so she decided to voice her discomfort, "Does anyone have any water or something?" Raiya asked, "I'm feeling a bit thirsty." she said.

Raiya watched as Nemo used his manadial to create a bit of manawave cloaking. Raiya didn't pretend to understand how the spell worked, but she trusted that Nemo knew what he was doing. Her mind went back to that previous conversation that they had about talent marks as she watched Nemo in the dimly lit shipping container.

"You said that your skin is not related to talent marks?" Raiya brought up, "How is that possible? Skin and eyes like that are not natural." Raiya pried.

[Cottonmouth]

Now that they were in the confines of the small container, keeping discussions discreet was out of the question. Which made Nemo a bit more uncomfortable while responding. "I say it because as you know I wasn't born a talent. Hence the term, 'untalent mark'." Nemo said. "I can't really say what caused it or didn't cause it, and it's unlikely I'll ever truly know. But that doesn't bother me much anymore. The origins of my condition were only something I toiled on long ago." Nemo finished, just in time for the blaring horn of a ship to be heard off in the distance.

Soon enough a soft ring sounded out of the manadial Nemo grabbed from Logan. He was quick to answer it before anybody outside of the crate might of picked up on the sound.

After a moment of pause, the sound of a gravelly older man's voice broke the silence. "Logan... I trust there haven't been any hiccups on your end? I don't need any bad news today."

Nemo placed his hand on his throat and adjusted his voice. "'Course not Paul, what do you take me for here?" Nemo started lightheartedly. "We had a slight technical difficulty earlier, but I checked it out, salt just rusted part of the comms to shit. But I trust that wont be a concern for you?"

"Ah yes, the effects of the sea's cruel presence. She's fair... but you just have to deal with her little quirks to appreciate her beauty. Perhaps I should have one of my lads come down after my return to show you a spell that could help you out."

"A quirk huh?" Nemo replied. "That's sounds great Paul, really, but I've got a quota to fulfill here and money to make."

Captain Seidon let out a small gruff laugh on the other end. "I understand, you're just like your father Logan, always so busy busy. Anyway, I'll dock the ship and let your crew load my shipment."

"Sounds lovely." Nemo finished, ending the call.

From inside the container one could hear the sounds of the ship getting closer and the dock workers getting busier. Eventually a crane picked the container up and loaded it on board. Nemo leaned up against the wall for balance and kept his fingers crossed in case of an alarm. But there wasn't any, and they were set down without a hitch.

"So far so good." Nemo commented.