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

[Prodigal Son]

"Have a little faith, Travis, my sense of smell is as good as a snake's thanks to my runic enhancements." Raiya replied as she continued sniffing the air while walking about. However, what Raiya smelled only left her confused and a bit wary. It was as if the entire area was sterilized completely. No ancient place like this would have a lack of a distinct scent, she expected to at least smell dust, but she smelt nothing but the metallic scent of treasure.

Raiya lifted her right eyebrow and pursed her lips, "Well, so much for that idea. This place is more sterile than a Vatican hospital. That is to say, whoever owns this place either has a wicked cleaning crew or the world's best sterilization enchantment. The only things I smell are the pieces of treasure lying about." She finished as she kicked a pile of gold in frustration. A royal looking gold crown rolled off of the pile she displaced and and came to a stop by the series of stairs leading downwards. Raiya's eyes followed the crown until it came to a complete stop, and that's when she saw it. The cobblestone surrounding the stairs was a bit broken and crumbled, as if it was recently displaced. "Well, my nose may have not helped us at all, but by dumb luck I think I know which way to go." Raiya pointed at the center stairs leading down, "The way the cobblestone is displaced, it looks as though those stairs were part of a secret passage that was freshly opened." Raiya bent down and pinched a bit of the the dusty gravel surrounding the stairs, "If nothing else, someone recently went through this way. It's the only lead we have." Raiya finished.

[ShiningSector]

It didn't take Raiya long to confirm that aroma of the room they idled in was essentially vacant of any foreign scents. Travis knew the idea would likely fail but he couldn't blame his teammate entirely for the idea falling apart; the entire place thus far was impossibly devoid of any impurities or indications of age. The mere pondering of the fact bothered him, making the Untalent question the exact reason in to going through so much trouble in maintaining such a clean image, even when the owners were more then likely deceased.

Travis sighed just as Raiya unleashed her displeasure upon one of the golden trinkets which pinged across the room's smooth surfacing floor before finally scraping against something rough and unkempt. He turned around after registering the difference of the sound - Raiya also picked up on the anomaly though only visually and determined that the stairway was actually not apart of the room's décor and instead served as a hidden passage. The assumption was sound as the cobblestone surrounding the descending stairway lay uplifted and broken; a conflict to the room's otherwise perfectly intact state. He agreed too this seemed to have been the handiwork of someone that had only just recently been through here.

He approached the stairway and took the moment to analyze it before signaling his candlelight spell to position over the stairway to better illuminate its sinking steps, "no objections from me. We should get a move on."

[Cottonmouth]

The spiral stone staircase went down for ages, to the point where someone might begin to question if they've been caught it some sort of elaborate illusory trap, looping them around endlessly. But eventually something would change in their surroundings. After going down far enough the trickles of running water could be heard. Maybe it was connected to the running moat around the temple's area?

After reaching the end of the spiral staircase, it opened up to a long and wide hallway, this one less inviting and perilous than the treasure filled rooms from before. After a few yards the floor of the hallway dropped off entirely. Far below, roughly fifty feet, was a running pool of water that would lead a ominous place unknown. The drop spanned roughly forty five feet across, and the only way across was multiple pillars that jutted out from the water into small stepping stones only a little bit bigger than the average foot. They were spaced out randomly at a distance one would have to hop slightly to get to the next foothold.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya looked out over the abyss, certainly it would seem that the only path forward for the group were the pillars interspersed in front of them. Raiya was perfectly confident in her own ability to make it across, I could hop across this in my sleep, however, the rest of the team is not quite as agile as me and I can't just leave them behind... What to do... Raiya pondered as she looked out at the pillars and back towards her motley crew.

"Well, I must admit I am a bit stumped here," Raiya spoke out, breaking the silence, "I know I can easily make it across by myself, but I am quite doubtful that the rest of you can make it safely across," She expressed her concern. "If I had specialized in creation magic instead of destruction magic, I could easily cast a spell to form a bridge for everyone, but there is no use dwelling on that now I suppose." Raiya thought out loud. "Yeah, I got nothing. Any of you have any ideas?" Raiya asked Travis and Zuri.

[ShiningSector]

After finally departing from a seemingly never-ending staircase leading deeper to the earth, it was then that Travis and his other teammates arrived at a problematic dead-end. Before them was a presumably massive crevice with little indication of how far down it went. His light spell could only illuminate so much of the cavern that only a few notable details could be identified. What was made obvious once the had arrived was the presence of what seemed like a river below them which trailed off to an unknown destination. The more intriguing fact however were the narrow pillars that stood out from the racing stream.

With no appealing option to cross the gap, it seemed that the only way forward was to use the tops of the pillars as actual stepping stones. The problem however was that he, and maybe Zuri too, was not the most athletically nimble person of the group unlike Raiya. There was a chance he could make it across but each hop or jump had to have been carefully planned, given how small each pillar was. He unfortunately did not have the balance nor the confidence to traverse the small platforms. Raiya eventually came to the same conclusion and vocally presented her concern with the situation.

However all wasn't lost. Unlike Raiya, Travis was decently trained in some creation spells along with the retrofitting of constructs through multiple artes. Before replying, he overserved the water below flowing around the pillars, noting the mist and water molecules that consistently sprang forth.

"I have a couple of ideas," Travis began, "With the amount of moving water beneath us, there should be enough moisture for me freeze the surrounding base around each pillar up to their apex. I predict that should enlarge the overall platform size of each pillar we'd have to hop on to. Should make things moderately easier for us slowpokes."

Travis then placed his left hand on one of his tomes, "Of course if you don't mind waiting, I could conjure up our own mobile platform that should ferry us across, would take time to get it ready though."

[Accurian]

Zuri walked over to the edge to take a quick peek over the ledge before stepping back to think about what she could do. She heard Travis' idea of creating a mobile platform, but wondered how long it would take and if it was safe to wait around here for too long. "I don't mind waiting a bit." she comments as she tries to think if there are any other viable alternatives.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya let out a huge sigh of relief, "Good. For a second there, I thought I was going to have to throw each one of you across with a concussive blast of destruction magic. I was even thinking about using this one earth spell I know to throw you across on a boulder. I mean, it probably would have been fun for me, but I doubt it would have ended with a healthy result." She joked, "You would have ended up like that raccoon I hit while riding my motorcycle those one times, and all those cats too. What? If an animal is dumb enough to be hanging out on a road, it's fair game." Raiya said with a bit of levity. "Anyway, go on ahead and do what you need to do. Let me go across first and then you cast your spell. I'll wait for you on the other side." Raiya replied.

Quite adeptly, Raiya began to hop from one column to another, her movements swift and calculated. Within a few seconds she was on the other side awaiting her teammates.

[ShiningSector]

"Y-yeah, I know what you mean," replied an uncomfortable Travis. He felt awkwardly derailed from the conversation just as Raiya made a pass at what sounded like a joke, only to have it then become a variety of dark humor. Her proceeding justification on the brief diverging topic of didn't help make the occurrence any less bothersome.

Thankfully, Raiya got to the point and skillfully, almost effortlessly, made her way across the ravine, leaving Travis to attend to his part in getting himself and Zuri over the large and seemingly bottomless gap. As per his suggestion earlier, Travis produced a tome upon unlocking it and removing the book from its belted housing, "Okay, this should only take a minute or two."

The tome itself was quite old with the edges of the hardcover having been worn down while numerous scratches decorating the exterior and nearly compromising the engraved Arabic lettering that titled. As he opened the tome and held it within his left hand, he carefully shifted through torn and stained pages while he looked for his intended spell. The text with the book seemed faded due to the decay of time and mistreatment by previous owners but remained legible due to Travis having restored entire sections that neared legibility. Surely it was a wonder how it had not yet fallen apart.

He then found his bookmark that marked the chapter versed in creation artes and briefly looked through the contents, noting the diagrams and verbal sequences involved with his spell. Having gotten the gist of the procedure, Travis raised his right hand out towards the chasm and began chanting a verse. Through the channeling of his mana, an orange hexagon surrounded by glyphs materialized around his wrist. Once he knew for sure the spell was properly casted, his open hand shifted into a pointing gesture with only his index finger and thumb remained open while the other fingers folded in to his palm. A new light then brightly shined from the tip of his extended finger before he began drawing out a triangular shape over the gap. The spell responded to his hand motions and crafted the three-dimensional shape per his instructions. Before long, he connected the mana-threads, finalizing the construct the spell had fabricated. The triangle platform hovered silently over the chasm while illuminating an orange flowing mist within the design.

Travis then hopped on to the platform with little difficulty after landing on its surface. The floating triangle of course remained unaffected by the shift of weight upon it, "All aboard!" Travis had then called out to Zuri.

The moment she stepped on the platform, all it took for it to traverse the large space between them and the other side was a simple snap of his fingers. The construct would then move at a fair pace and would take no longer than a minute to clear the gap and finally reach the other side.

[Cottonmouth]

After Travis and Zuri reached the other side of the obstacle, the trio would continue down the hallway. It went on for a while, thankfully this time without any more tricks. However eventually they'd meet the sight of arrows stuck into each side of the wall in patches. Clearly the byproduct of a trap already sprung by someone else.

Once the hallway ended, it widened into a much larger room, one with multiple pillars on each side leading to a giant sealed runic door. Unfortunately, they weren't the first to get there. In front of the door stood Father Rutger Stockton, the older more experienced half of the duo sent to combat the group. At least this meant he hadn't gotten his hands on the paragon yet either.

Rutger wasn't looking at the group, he instead eyed down the door with his back turned to them. Periodically glancing at an old looking tome he was holding open with one hand. Hopes that he hadn't noticed them yet were dispelled when they reached the entrance of the room. Rutger perked his head away from his book, closing it afterwards. "Mind giving me a hand with this?" He called out with his dry, eerily calm voice. While he didn't say it sarcastically, or jokingly, one would suspect he didn't really consider garnering their assistance.

Rutger then dispelled his tomb with a slight sigh and slowly turned around to face the trio. He rested his empty hands behind his back and waited.

[Prodigal Son]

The room the group entered was much more elaborate and intact than the previous bottomless corridor they had traversed. It was becoming exceedingly apparent that the layout of the palace they entered was intentionally intricate. The bottomless corridor as well as the sprung arrow trap they had passed was certainly to keep the incompetent out, only allowing for those who either knew about the traps or were proficient enough to surpass them to enter. It was clear that wide runic door in front of them was the piece de resistance of the counter measures installed within the compound. 'If I had to make a guess, beyond that door lies the paragon, which means that this door and Father Stockton is our final hurdle.' Raiya thought.

With his back turned toward the group, Raiya was certain that he knew they were there and that Stockton was confident in his abilities. When he spoke, Raiya immediately summoned her sword, scabbard and all. Her right hand on the handle and her left hand on the scabbard, she took a defensive stance. "Now, Father, in my time within the Vatican, I had only seen you and heard of you in passing so I don't know much about you, but I am certain you know everything there is to know about me," Raiya cut to the quick, "So let's not beat around the bush here, you know full well what we are here for, and at least what I was capable of. I am much more powerful now than I ever was," Raiya stated confidently, "I will give you one chance to leave here and go back to the Vatican or I will end your story here." Her eyes narrowed and her muscles tensed as she empowered her body with an aura of mana, ready to cast her speed enhancement spell.

[Cottonmouth]

"If I knew everything there was to know about you, you'd probably be more interested in talking with me, wouldn't you?" Rutger replied, referencing her parent's death. "But yes, I remember you, little renegade Raiya Mamushi, always scuttering around and causing havok. To this day I still wonder why Felix put up with a worthless thing like you. Some said you were a prodigy, but the truth is you're just wasted potential. But Felix saw that eventually, didn't he? ...Let me guess, it wasn't really Felix's choice for you two to join forces again was it?" Rutger asked.

With his hands resting behind his back it was impossible to see that he had already charged a spell in advance. "And was Felix really wrong to give up on you? Look at what you've become, you haven't been training for this, you've been holed up in that penthouse getting wasted with the rest of the riff raff. The last thing I'm gonna do is give up to a degenerate punk like you." Rutger finished.

[Prodigal Son]

Every word that left the lips of Father Stockton amassed anger within Raiya's heart. There was a time that she once believed every word that Stockton was speaking, which is why her anger was being kindled to such a degree. He was touching on feelings within her own heart that she had long since discarded, reawakening her resentment. If this were happening a year or two ago, his provocations would have succeeded in bringing forth all her emotions, but she had spent years mulling over what she felt, years cultivating and amassing evidence to support her theories, and she was now ready to lay them all out. Raiya straightened her posture and dropped her sword back into her inventory, a gesture of diplomacy rather than contempt. She wanted to put this member of her most hated organization on trial, and she felt that this was the best time to do it.

"It's funny you bring these things up, because I actually wanted to discuss a bit of them," Raiya pursed her lips and brought her right forefinger up to her chin, "First, I would like to straighten out your intel on me. If you think I simply spent all my time gallivanting with the yakuza and wallowing in the sorrow of being discarded from my adoptive family organization, you'd be wrong." Raiya began pacing back and forth, her sides facing her enemy as she paced, "I sure did hold a large amount of resentment for everything I have been through, especially to individuals such as Felix. I would be lying if I still didn't feel the burn of betrayal from how Felix discarded me like the rest of you." She stopped pacing and faced her enemy, "But I also spent a lot of my time looking for my parents killers, sleuthing for information, putting together theories. And no matter what theory I conceive, there is still one constant." She pointed her right forefinger out at Stockton, "The catholic arcanocracy." Her eyes narrowed as she began to formulate her hypothesis, "After picking through profiles of who my parents were, delving into records and archives for every shred of information that was on the books, the one thing that jumped out at me was motive. Who could have gained the most from my parents' death? They weren't magi aristocrats, they held no political sway as far as I could tell. But what they did have, was a daughter, a daughter with a massive... what was that word you used again?" She paused for a brief moment, "Potential?" She smirked as she let that word hang in the air, "Now I can't prove anything, this is all vigilante justice for me anyway. I honestly do not even care if you or the arcanocracy you represent had any hand to play in my parents murder. The fact of the matter is that I had decided long ago, as soon as I was excommunicated that I would bring down your organization. It was your organization that held our hearts captive, it was all those politics, the promise of power, the sunk-costs that kept Felix on your side. The truth is, your very presence pisses me off. From the very moment I was tossed out my anger was kindled, and a bit of it was towards Felix, a bit of it was towards God, but the brunt of my anger..." Her brow furrowed as she paused, "THE BRUNT OF MY ANGER WAS KINDLED TOWARDS YOU! TOWARDS THE ORGANIZATION YOU REPRESENT!" She yelled in contempt, her mana burst forth from her well as her anger rose, a massive rush of pressure escaped her body and filled the room with surging winds, the full glory of her manawell was on display. "I HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY RESOURCES SINCE THEN FINDING OUT HOW I COULD BRING YOU ALL DOWN, MY NEW TECHNIQUES, MY TRAINING, MY LIFE HAS BEEN DEVOTED TO TWO THINGS: FINDING MY PARENTS KILLER AND ENDING YOU!" Her voice was being enhanced by the mana she was surrounded by, the conviction of her rage was clear. Her offer for him to leave was a lie, she was never planning to let him leave this chamber alive. Raiya was ready to prove her convictions.

[Accurian]

Zuri stepped off the platform and continued to move forward with Raiya and Travis. Along the way, they saw traps that have already been triggered by someone already. As they moved forward, the group of three walked into someone that Raiya called "Father". As the conversation bounced back and fourth, it was starting to become more apparent that Raiya had a deep hatred towards this person who stood before them. Zuri could feel the raw emotion echoing against the walls that surrounded them. Even though she was a bit nervous about how powerful this person who stood before her was, she took a deep breath and kept her composure. "I was just wondering.. do we have a plan?" she asks both of her teammates while also thinking on what her next move should be.

[Cottonmouth]

Rutger's deadpan face cracked a smirk after Raiya's outburst. "They should of never exiled you, they should of put you to death while they could... If you oppose us, you oppose God himself. That's why today it will be His will to crush all of you to dust, through me." Rutger replied, extending both his arms towards the group. "Consider this your belated execution!" He added before firing off a navy colored ball of energy towards the trio. It quickly expanded, doing more and more shock damage to the pillars it passed by as it sailed. By the time it reached the group it was bigger than an oncoming truck, brightly lighting up the dim room with it's glow and ready to explode on the first physical thing it touched.

[Prodigal Son]

Raiya wasted no time debating what she would do against the attack, it was clear that she would need a barrier to deal with that blast, as someone who delt almost exclusively in destruction magic, she didn't have many barriers that would withhold an attack like that. She knew what she had to do, normally she would save her ultimate form until she had been dwindled down to a last resort, but she was angry, and she wanted to end this as soon as possible. With her manawaves still at full throttle fulling the room with an intense pressure, she shouted her incantation to enter her iruzumi God form, "ŌKAMI WO NATTE IRU!" Within an instant her tattoos began to release a pink electrical glow. Because of the outfit she had modified earlier, the low-cut tanktop with a fishnet undershirt, her allies could see the bottom portion of her back iruzumi tattoo which were snake scales drawn in black ink, as well as her two sleeve snake tattoos (her right arm covered in a flame red snake and her left in a black snake). This pink electrical glow rapidly changed to a white electrical glow as startlingly as her aura transformed from pure electricity aspect to aether aspect. Her hair also changed colors from the tips of the roots downwards to stark white. Finally her left eye which was blue changed to look exactly like her right eye, a yellow eye with a slit pupil. Anyone with any shred of thaumaturgical knowledge that was keeping an eye on her aura would be awestruck. Her runic tattoo seemed to have given her the ability to temporarily switch her aura's aspect. Not just that, but her reflexes, physical strength, and senses were all sharply enhanced as well. This was Raiya's God Slayer form.

With the change in Raiya's aura aspect, she was now able to perform the best barrier spell she knew how to use. There weren't many lightning aspected barrier spells, the few their were had to do with electromagnetism and would not stop a magical spell. This meant that Raiya, when learning the basics, had to go outside of her aspect to learn barrier spells, which unfortunately meant that these spells cost her too much mana to spend on a barrier in an actual fight. Fortunately for her, though, one of the best barriers in existence was an aether aspected barrier, which meant she now could easily block the oncoming blast. Raiya held her right hand out at the now massive blast just a few feet in front of them and shouted, "Izanami no hogo (Izanami's protection)!" Immediately a vast white runic circle about the size of the blast constructed it self around where Raiya held her hand out. As the blast came into contact with her runic circle, it began to shrink and dissipate, particles of blue mana shredded off of the blast as it was being dissipated, the surrounding air filled with harmless deconstructed raw mana now completely disconnected from the user.

Raiya looked back at Zuri, "Let me handle this, I cant guarantee your safeties if you two get involved," Her voice now had an oddly calming soothing effect to it, mostly due to the aether aspected aura her body was letting off now. "I can only maintain this form for so long, it passively drains my mana pool, so I will need you both to formulate a back up plan in the event that I do not end our enemy before my pool runs dry." Raiya explained. Raiya then held out her left arm from her side, summoning her sheathed blade. She then took an offensive stance toward Stockton, and in an instant she was gone from where she was standing. This wasn't any normal speed enhancement like the one she normally used, this was full on close proximity instant teleportation, known as the blink technique in the Catholic Arcanocracy. In an instant she had jumped from her position right next to her allies, to a position slightly in front of and above Stockton. She slashed downwards as she fell using all her strength and the force of gravity, channeling mana into her sword she shouted, "Hachimantai no Yamata no Orochi! (Eight strikes of Yamata no Orochi)" As her blade came down seven more blades of mana light radiated out from her blade creating an almost inescapable range of immediate effect. The mana blades were highly dense and intensely sharp most barriers would not withstand the force of precision.

[Accurian]

The ball of energy grew bigger as it got closer, destroying the pillars and everything around it. It was massive and dodging it was not an option. Zuri noticed Raiya when she chanted something and started to glow. She could feel the energy emitting from Raiya, mesmerized by her aura and the runic circle that stopped the horrifying ball of energy.

After Raiya told Zuri and Travis to not get involved and to formulate a backup plan in case she doesn't manage to end the life of their opposition. "I'll try my best, Raiya!" Zuri says before she tags Travis' shoulder and says "Let's not be too close to the action.." before moving away from Raiya to avoid getting hit by a stray attack.

[Cottonmouth]

Despite Raiya's amazing speed, Rutger was still able to track her quite efficiently. He made no attempt to dodge, instead uttering the phrase "Grande scudo!" Afterwards it projected a giant runic manashield to block Raiya's multiple blades. Despite the immense force it was taking on, his shield barely even began to crack. Unlike his partner, Rutger was a man of little physical capabilities. All of his skills were dedicated to the magical arts and advancement of his mind.

Rutger scoffed. "Blue, green, yellow, it doesn't matter what color you turn, you're a fool if you think you can best me all by yourself." He commented before adding another enchantment. "Veloce!" Rutger shouted, his drab purple mana-shield suddenly fading into a bright yellow. The shield suddenly grew so bright that it exploded with a potent flash, easily strong enough to temporarily blind someone's eyesight.

Rutger used this chance to teleport to Raiya's side and attempt to blast her below the ribs with a magically enhanced concussive blow. When Rutger used his teleport, a ping like noise could be heard.

[Prodigal Son]

Hmph, a flash of mana energy as a flash bang. That would not only disorient eyesight but temporarily disorient inexperienced and sensitive manalysis users as well, interesting. Raiya thought as she rebounded from the force of colliding with her opponent's shield. While she hung in midair, her opponent quickly joined her, quickly blinking in and following up with a short ranged concussive attack. None of this was a surprise to Raiya, though, as she had been tracking her enemy easily this entire time without eyesight. Her enhanced senses allowed her to not just hear, but also smell her enemy's location and proximity. Raiya quickly extended her right hand out to her side, using her own small magic concussive blast to launch her out of the way of Stockton's attack. This sent her in a bit of a spin that might have been disorienting for others but not her, she used the spinning of her body to launch into another attack, an iaijutsu slash charged with a bit of mana for extra cutting power. The attack was on course to connect with Stockton's left shoulder, and would split him diagonally if he did not dodge. Raiya also charged up an aura around her body which she was ready to disperse into a doppelganger illusion just as she did in the fight with Dawn and Dominick before. If Stockton dodged, she was ready to use her blink technique at the very moment she released her clone, she would blink behind Stockton while Stockton would be focused on the mana outline she left behind and follow up with another Hachimantai no Yamata no Orochi to her unsuspecting enemy.

[ShiningSector]

Reaching the next room didn't take long and there was thankfully a lack of obstacles that stood before them. However in hindsight, it became apparent upon reaching a particular corridor where a trap had only just gone off recently. Travis noted the fresh arrows that either lay embedded into the wall or lay scattered across the flow. Someone clearly went through this way and made it out unscathed due to the lack of a body or traces of blood for that matter.

Travis and everyone else had then arrived to their destination to a room notably spacious and played host to an active light source. It was then evident that the individual that had been ahead of them was at the opposite side of the room. Upon closer expectation, Travis could make out the apparel and appearance of the interloper whom seemed focused on a large door at the end of the room. The person in question resembled an earlier image Nemo had shown of Rutger Stockton of the Arcanocracy.

Almost immediately, Raiya and Rutger began waging a skirmish of statements and declarations. Raiya, getting straight to the point, presented Rutger with her ultimatum; leave or die. Rutger on the other hand, presumably unfazed by Raiya's heated advisory, countered with verbal disparagement over Travis' teammate. That's when things became personal. Travis didn't know the history between Raiya and Rutger other than the basic facts such as Raiya's parents having been unfortunately murdered and her initial inclusion with the Catholic Church until things ended up going South. All he could gather and assuming that this confrontation was a feud that was now boiling over with intense emotion and mana radiating from Raiya. So much so that the expulsion of such pressure via her manawell was enough to kick up powerful artificial gusts within the room.

It was then that Zuri presented a rather logical if not blunt query that overlapped and contradicted with the tone of the moment regarding the existence of any scheme or strategy in dealing with the situation at hand. Travis simply hissed in reply, "Not really..."

Rutger finally made his own declaration; one that Travis really didn't want to hear but knew was inevitable. In the blink of an eye, Rutger had quickly invoked a sphere of rapidly expanding energy that sailed toward the group at high speed. With so much ground it was covering in such mere seconds, Travis truly thought it was the end for him were it not for Raiya's timely and ethereal response through her new empowered form. The spell she followed up with resonated and quickly dispersed the Rutger's attack before it could cause any fatal damage. Looking back and him and Zuri, Raiya advised them to stay back and develop a contingency in the event is she were unsuccessful in dealing with Rutger herself; a notion Travis was eagerly pleased in carrying out and not having to participate in the exploding battle before them

"R-right," he sheepishly replied before retreating with Zuri to a safer position.

Having fled the immediate scene, Travis took the opportunity to observe the battle has it played out. There was no doubt about it that Raiya and Rutger's combat skills far outweighed his own as he struggled to keep up with the swift movements of each participant and the spells they deployed. It was then Travis came to a realization of Rutger's own skills and devised that the Arcanocracy rep seemed reliant on the spells he used rather than displaying any physical feats, something he had scene through his conflicts with Roy and Lori whom only used spells as only a means rather than their core method of engagement.

"That fellow has quite the mana well," Travis said to himself as he continued his study of Rutger through the use of his manalysis.

It was then he recalled something he had brought with him that could very well turn the tide of this new conflict if the situation demanded it. Travis instinctively rummaged through this trench coat's internal compartments and produced a transparent icosahedron that stored within it the rune he had created, one that could silence a Paragon. He looked at his creation and remembered what Felix has said and what the rune could very well do if its application had be redesignated. Travis was still uncomfortable with the though on using it on any living being but the matter seemed to have created an exception he may just have to undertake.

"Zuri," he suddenly called to his teammate beside him, "you recall when you, you know, turned in to that large shadowy entity when we were still aboard that ship? Think you can do it again?"

[Cottonmouth]

Rutger used his blink to get out of the way of her blade's slash, emitting a high pitched ping noise when he activated it again. It was then while he waited for another strike he sensed something from behind. "Parlor tricks!" He yelled, looking behind himself at the last second to see Raiya's sneak attack. He didn't have the time to generate a proper shield like before, only emitting small barrier close to his skin to keep himself from being punctured as a last ditch defense.

Rutger grunted from the blow and was pushed airborne. While he wasn't cut by the strike, it did tatter through his robes a bit and bruise his side. Before landing back on the ground he shot out three lightning fast explosive blasts, one for each of the teammates.

As soon as he landed however, Rutger raised his arms up, generating a gigantic war hammer made out of pure purple mana and slammed it down on the ground towards Raiya with enough power to easily uproot the stone floor quite a bit. The creation was far too big to be used regularly, but with the use of telekinesis he was able to wield it. From the looks of it, this seemed to be a modified use of Felix's own manaegis technique.