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

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya could not tell what was going on in the fight. Her vision was blurred by her loss of blood she was constantly coughing up. And with the amount of pain she was in, she couldn't be bothered with paying attention to anything other than dulling the pain with alcohol. She had not desire to die, but her code of honor meant that she deserved to die for losing in a bout to the death. There was a saying in Japan, "there's nothing worse than scars on a warrior's back". The saying had a higher implication than the literal meaning. Scars on the back were a sign of either cowardice or incompetence. If it was the former, the implication was that the warrior escaped by running, a coward. If it was the ladder, the implication was that the warrior only lived because his opponent refused to grant them death, which was worse than the sentence of death itself. And while it was not her opponent who spared her life, she could not help but dwell on the fact that she was incompetent, that she could make such a glaring mistake. Emotionally, she felt shattered.

When Nemo inevitably defeated the enemy, he came over to Raiya. While the scent of blood was on the air, oddly enough it wasn't as thick as Raiya would have guess it would be with a 1 on 1 with Nemo. Must have been the Muramasa Raiya guessed. She'd never seen one in action, but she had heard the tale of its ability to absorb blood. She would have never guessed it was real.

At Nemo's request Raiya lifted her tattered tank top and fish net skirt to reveal a large cauterized wound which had been reopened a bit from the kick and was leaking a fair bit of blood. She attempted to speak, hacking out further blood onto the ground, "...r-rib... lung" She mustered out in between coughing fits. It seemed her injured and weakened state left her more agreeable than normal.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo gently placed his palm over her wound. He used a basic spell at first to map out the damage that was done inside before going to work with his mana-thread technique. Slowly but surely feint blue glowing threads started to generate and close up her wound. But this wasn't limited to just the surface, more generated inside and went to work repairing her lung and bone. The process wasn't painful, in fact, it was somewhat pleasant. A slightly warm tingling sensation could be felt as Nemo's mana-threads repaired flesh. The only painful thing was when the rib moved back into place, but the pain pain was dulled down to be more of a discomfort.

Soon enough the process was finished, and Nemo lifted his hand away to reveal that both his threads and her wound were gone. The magic within his threads made it much more advanced than stitches, once they faded away not even a scar was left in it's place. "Better?" Nemo asked. "The area might feel a bit sore still, but besides that it should be good as new."

[Accurian]

Zuri kept a close eye on Roy's movement and actions, so when she reached for something, she was ready to block it. Zuri kneels down, visualizes the shield and casts a spell, placing a large shield right in front of her, covering her entire body. It was semi-transparent, so when the knife hit against her shield, she quickly releases the spell to refrain from using up too much mana. She looks up at the bombardment but quickly reverts her attention back to Roy, who was getting quite close.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya could feel the warm tingle of her flesh and bone being knit back together. While there was some sligh discomfort in the bone being moved back, it palee in comparison to the pain she was just feeling a few moments beforehand. And with the shock her body was in, any normal discomfort felt extremely dampened.

Raiya nodded her head at Nemo's question. "Those threads work on wounded pride too?" she joked as she attempted to stand. Rising up, she realized that her stamina was all used up due to her tapped out mana wells, and as she attempted to take the first step she unceremoniously fell flat on her face. She flopped herself on her back, looking up at Nemo."Looks like I'm all out of mana. Also might be a tad bit anemic... So either I take a nap and we wait or you carry me out of here." Raiya said from her sprawled position on the ground.

[Cottonmouth]

Roy's reckless run through his own smokescreen was probably a mistake, and he wasn't prepared enough for what was coming for him. He didn't think to look up to the moon, so once he noticed Zoey's attack it was already too late. He tried to dodge and used his arms to shield himself, attempting to generate some sort of barrier, but with the time he had to do so it was easily shattered.

Roy was hit three times in the arms, and once in the leg before he tripped and fell to the ground, sliding to a stop. Christ that stings! He thought as he laid vulnerable on the floor. Roy dug his hand into his jacket, and pulled out the same anti-magic powder he used early and tried to quickly apply it to his wounds in an attempt to sooth the burning sensation. To a degree it worked, but it didn't bring him back up to full speed.

Roy started to get up, but his damaged arms made it take longer than usual, leaving him open to attack. He kept one hand grasping a knife in case somebody came close to attack.

---

"Just have to take care of some things first." Nemo replied and turned around. He walked over to his chair and retrieved Raiya's jacket and hoodie. He collapsed the chair and returned it to his inventory, and slung her clothes over his shoulder. Nemo turned to the shield generator next. He whispered a spell into his hand, by the time it was done he was now grasping a black ball with a white X printed on it in his hand.

Nemo crouched down and rolled it across the room to the generator. The sound it made indicated it was solid, like a billiards ball, despite being generated from magic. It rolled to a stop in front of the generator, and began to glow bright white at it's core. The ball let out a faint fizzing sound before it detonated into a bright white explosion. The generator was completely destroyed.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Nemo stated before walking back over to Raiya. He crouched down and gently picked her up. Nemo supported her with one arm under her back and the other hooked under her knees. Nemo began walking out of the room and plotted his way back out of the ship. While carrying Raiya didn't seem to put any strain on him, Nemo was ever so slightly blushing, easily noticeable on his white skin. Being in such a close proximity to somebody else was clearly a foreign act to somebody like him.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya could not see what happened from the position she was laying, but she figured that Nemo destroyed the generator somehow due to the loudness of what sounded like an magic induced explosion. Nemo walked back over to her after he finished destroying the generator and began to pick Raiya up in a princess carry. She could feel the warmth from his arms and the closeness of his body, which suddenly made her extremely self conscious, which she personally found extremely odd. Why do I care what this guy thinks of me? He's a roadblock, an enemy. She decided to quickly drop her train of thought because she was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable.

She looked up to notice Nemo was blushing. The otherwise livid pale face was now fairly flushed, which made Raiya feel even more comfortable. "You better not be getting any weird ideas," Raiya said in an irritated voice, "You pervert." She added. She looked away towards the direction the were headed. I'm useless, She thought I wouldn't be in this position if I was competent. It's my fault that I am a burden on this mission She reminded herself.

[ShiningSector]

As predicted, Roy was forced to rush forward, bursting through gas produced by his grenade after it had detonated. Travis would have admitted that he hadn't expected such an approach from the ex-hunter but it made little difference in the end; Roy was initiating his attack. Still, with the amount of lead time he had planned and created, Travis was able to react fast enough this time the newest set of throwing knives. With only a second or two, he quickly raised his right hand and casted a repulsion spell just as the sharp point of the knife got within feet of him. A transparent sphere flashed out of his palm and rapidly expanded into the projectile's path, the knife itself was then knocked off course, spinning harmlessly until falling on to the deck.

It was then again that Zoey had responded from behind the scenes and delivered her own flurry of projectiles down towards Roy, finally stopping him in his tracks as he frantically attempted to defend himself. Travis watched in the instant as Roy took several hits from Zoey's attack, sending him to the ground. Though wounded with probably limited use of his limbs, Travis was nearly impressed as he observed Roy persisting to get back on his feet. However, it seemed apparent now that he was a assuming a rather desperate defensive posture, almost like a cornered beast baring its fangs, threating anything and anyone who came to close.

Travis materialized three additional runes before him. The center rune seeped heat and embers while the two that flanked it drooled the same dark clouds which loomed over them, faint instances of light pulsing within them. All three runes were aimed right at Roy and were on the slightest brink of firing if Travis even gave a mere thought about it - a sudden movement from his target could be enough to trigger the attack just as well. Though with the walls of ice keeping Roy in place, a discharge from any of his runes would never miss him.

Travis then called out to the ex-hunter, "Had enough?"

[Cottonmouth]

Roy brought himself to his knees, noticing Travis' runes. He let out a sigh, but it turned into a chuckle towards the end. "It's possible I have, what's it to ya lad?" Roy asked, not making any sudden movements. It's likely for a smuggler like him, putting his life on the line for his crew wasn't something he really wanted to do. But in the same regard if they kept him alive, Roy backstabbing them later with one of his knives was equally possible.

---

Nemo continued walking through the ship's interior. "Yeah I'm getting ideas alright, the first one is to drop you." Nemo retorted jokingly. Nemo seemed hesitant to continue, but eventually spoke again. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news and whatnot, but this mission has really only just kicked off. It's going to be pretty hard to fight off the rest of the heavy hitters on this ship if I'm just limited to... kicking. I don't think the Master Blaster technique we got going here is gonna work out." Nemo explained.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya frowned at the thought of being dropped. Weighing the pros and cons, she decided to refrain from saying anything further about his reddened face. But when he brought up the fact that he was restrained and gimped due to her mistake her slight frown tunred into a forlorn expression as she remembered how she made a blunder out of the last fight. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and take a nap, consciousness was too depressing for her to grasp at the moment. Every time she recalled her mistake she cringed within herself.

"I-it was all my fault... I messed up... I didn't account for the enchanted blade..." She said in a meek voice, "And... my mistake may have just cost us the mission..." There were almost tears behind her confession of guilt, but she didn't have the strength to cry anymore, so she just continued to frown.

[Cottonmouth]

"Hey, don't say that, I'm sure it's all gonna be daijoubu Raiya." Nemo replied with a more softer voice to try to comfort her. "You tried something new, having to work out all the kinks is to be expected. I've made my own share of mistakes in that regard as well. I remember the first time I tested out this new explosion spell out in the field it didn't go so well. Had a bit more power than I thought, wiped out the entire fifth floor of the apartment I was in. I got blown through a glass window myself, would have probably broke every bone in my body when I hit the floor if I didn't crash through a cloth awning first." Nemo remembered.

"D-do you think there would be any ways for you to recharge your mana? You're like an electrical mage right? Couldn't you like find a power outlet or something for that?" Nemo said, his tone left whether he was joking ambiguous.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya cringed a bit when Nemo used the Japanese word, "daijoubu" in an English sentence. It wasn't really that she had a problem with Nemo speaking Japanese when he clearly was not Japanese himself. It was merely the mixture of Japanese and English that got to her. She thought about saying something about it, but decided to just leave it at her physical fidgeting expression of discomfort.

Raiya raised an eyebrow at Nemo, she couldn't figure out if he was serious or not. Although, obviously as a mage well versed in the theory and practice of the mystical arts himself, Nemo knew full well that mages could not just simply recharge themselves by absorbing the element that is closest to their aura element. So she decided it was just a joke that Nemo was playing, so she just decided to retort with, "Beep Boop: Raiya 9000 must recharge her batteries in order to perform her operational duties Beep Boop."

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo let out a small laugh at Raiya's robot impression as he continued tracing their steps back out the ship, passing many of the bodies they made on the way down. By this point they were close to reaching the exit, and thankfully they hadn't run into any sailors again. Raiya's response caused Nemo's head to cock to the side as he thought. "Well, what if I tried to give you some of my mana?" Nemo asked, sounding unsure of himself. "I've never tried it before, but if I made a couple of small adjustments to my absorption spell I might be able to do it. I'm not sure if there would be any side effects though. Most people think of me as being impure, so I'm not sure if you'd even want to do that." Nemo explained.

[Prodigal Son]

A shiver ran through her spine as Raiya remembered Nemo's true nature, a mana vampire, or cannibal. She was now all too suddenly aware of all the points of contact between herself and Nemo as she visualized herself becoming a shriveled empty husk of dry flesh. It wouldn't even take Nemo but a split second with how drained Raiya was currently. She calmed herself as she ran through Nemo's suggestion in her head. Raiya was aware that Nemo could absorb mana energy, but gifting it back? It seemed a bit of a far fetched idea.

"Well... I'm not too sure how your power works in the first place. Is it really as simple as just reversing the process? What incantation or ritual did you use before the spell became second nature to you?" Raiya asked innocently. She was not at all interested in becoming a mana vampire like Nemo, but this crucial detail would be important in helping Nemo craft a theory on how to reverse the spell.

[Cottonmouth]

"The secret recipe doesn't really lie within the incantation. It's the X runes, and..." Nemo set softly set Raiya down by a wall so she could use it to prop herself up. "... the glove." He finished, raising his right hand and wiggling his covered fingers.

Nemo pulled Raiya's jacket and sweatshirt off his shoulder and offered them back to her. "Until I developed those two things, my absorption ability was much less weaponized. It was only really viable to use it for gaining small bits of mana from crystals and nature. The glove acts like a lightning rod, amplifying the power of the ability as well as guiding all the gained magical energy from what it's touching to it's user." Nemo explained before pulling the enchanted black leather glove off is hand, something he rarely ever did.

He then extending his arm out and offered the item to her. "Which is why if you are wearing it, and with a few minor mental modifications, the energy should transfer to you instead, even if I'm activating the spell. It should be relatively safe as well, as I'm basically just attempting to steal my own mana here not yours. If diverting it's path from me to you doesn't work, nothing should happen."

"So I suppose it's not exactly like reversing the spell, it's still just stealing with extra steps. I wish I had the ability to un-wither the flowers I touch, but giving life just isn't something someone like me has the gift to do."

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya took her sweatshirt and jacket back from Nemo and slid them on one by one, sweatshirt first the leather jacket going over the sweatshirt. Raiya's ahoge perked up a bit when Nemo explained his magic to her.

It seemed to her how Nemo phrased it was that his technique had different layers to it, and that the glove acted as a sort of interface device. "So, let me get this straight, you have a spell you activate, on top of a rune which is enchanting the glove as an interface device? That's a lot of layers for an ability." She said as she placed the glove on, "Is the spell what syncs your mana to the rune or does the rune inherently have a formula associated with your mana?" She asked adjusting the glove.

After the glove was on, she placed her hand outwards towards Nemo awaiting for him to continue the ritual of sorts. Raiya wasn't used to the idea of a spell being activated for her through a rune by a third party individual, and she didn't pretend to know exactly how all of it worked. But if it helped her continue the mission on her own two feet she was game for it. Nemo had proven to Raiya that she could trust him as a team member on the field, but she still didn't fully trust him on a fundamental level.

[Cottonmouth]

Nemo took Raiya's gloved hand and placed it on his shoulder. "The spell is what brings stolen mana to my own pool. The enchanted runic glove only enhances the rate at which I can steal it, as well as directing the flow to it's wearer. Since that wielder is almost always me it's usually an overlooked aspect. Outside of that spell the glove also works for me like a wand or a staff does for other mages." Nemo explained.

"Just let go once you feel like you've gained back enough." Nemo then activated his drain spell while whispering the word "umkehren." He knew the spell had worked when he started to feel his mana slip away, and while using his manalysis he saw Raiya's began to restore. He had used his spell countless times on others, but he never knew what his trademark ability felt like on the other end of the barrel. The feeling made him sprout a small toothy smirk on his face.

The rate at which Raiya was gaining mana back was rather fast. Nemo had always found the sensation of rapidly stealing mana to be pleasant, but he guessed that for Raiya it might feel odd, especially coupled with the fact she was getting his own void-ish manastrain as well.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya felt the energy rushing into her through her palm. It was like someone had opened a fire hydrant valve, a massive amount of energy through a relatively small opening. It didn't take long for Raiya to start reaching the point at which she had almost fully replenished the energy that she was normally capped off at. A thought came through her mind, the thought of absorbing all of Nemo's energy and then using it to leave and exact vengeance upon her parent's killers. Unfortunately for that fantasy, her code of honor prevented her from doing such a thing, especially after being saved by Nemo. However, something unexpected happened while she was debating that idea. She had topped off her mana wells, but the energy kept rushing into her.

With the energy now increasing the size of her pools a bit, she began to feel something she had not been paying attention to previously. She felt a bit of the nature of Nemo's energy. Darkness. The absences of light. A void so black that she almost felt as if it would fundamentally corrupt her from the inside out. Immediately she released her contact with Nemo, giving Nemo a brief look of shock and horror. What was that? Was I supposed to have felt that? Is that what Nemo deals with all the time?, These thoughts ran through Raiya's head before she quickly looked away from Nemo. She stood up and dusted herself off from sitting and resting on the dirty ground of the ship. It was important to note that while her pool was slightly larger than it was before, she had released contact with Nemo before any considerable change was made.

"Ehem," Raiya cleared her throat before speaking, "Well, it seemed to have worked. I suppose I won't have to play the benches for the rest of this mission after all." She said, "Uhm- Thank you." She said awkwardly. "Let's get back to it then." She suggested before abruptly heading forward towards the deck.

[ShiningSector]

"I thought that would've been obvious," Travis replied, keeping his runes still trained on Roy, "you're in our way and as I currently see it, you don't have too many options at the moment."

Beginning a negotiation with Roy wasn't exactly the intended plan he had in mind but he believed that removing a threat from the field without expending any more of mana or strength was more efficient than continuing the fight. Morally though, he didn't fancy the idea of finishing him off given the lessened state he was now in. Travis casually shifted his posture slightly, only to show his right hand lengthened out and controlling the runic circles while his left was moved out of view. Knowing better however than to expect full honesty from the former witch hunter, Travis began channeling mana into his hidden hand as a contingency.

"Unless you want to try and prove me wrong right now, this would perhaps be a good time to surrender while you're still breathing."

Wow, that sounded a lot more minatory than I thought...

[Cottonmouth]

Roy nodded. "I suppose you're right. There aren't many options for me here. But I've always felt that lady luck has been on my side." With that final sentence his docile behavior suddenly turned for the worst and he immediately popped a hidden knife out from the inside of his leather sleeve, and in one fluid motion rose from his knees and stabbed out towards Travis' neck.

Roy took the gamble. He figured that even if he let the group capture him, he'd eventually either be killed by them, or he'd be killed later by his own former crew. As soon as the captain showed his face he knew he'd be struck down for his treason. Or worse, he'd be tossed to the churchgoers currently on board for their own personal judgement on him.

---

Nemo took his glove back and slid it back on his hand. "You're welcome." He replied simply before he continued on walking. By this point they were close to the exit. Nemo only showed a slight reaction on his face after Raiya's look of horror. While he didn't show it much, it was certainly something he thought about afterwards. The thoughts seemed to make him less talkative than usual. I figured it would scare her, but there was nothing else I could do. But I shouldn't be surprised, that look is how it's always been. He continued to ponder on it until they reached the hatch back out. With a small flick of his wrist he used his magic to spin it open.

[Accurian]

Zuri watches as Zoey's attack lands on Roy, crippling him as he laid on the floor, defending himself with his dying breath. Zuri returns back to her normal form, a bit of black smoke expelled outwards as she did, but since she hasn't transformed in such a long time, it was very straining on her physical body, and before you know it, blood started running out of her mouth, leaking from the left side of her lips. She wipes it off with the back of her hand but Zuri started coughing up more.

The coughing roughly lasted a little under twenty seconds, but once she was done, both her hands were covered in splatters of red. "I.. I'm fine.." she mumbles under her breath as she walked a few steps closer to Travis to take a closer look. It was at that moment when she watched as Roy lunged towards Travis with a knife, but in her current state, helping was not an option.