Artifact

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*The blades clash, and I catch your leg with my other arm as I take the kick and bend it hard to the side*

@Valiance

*Uses the momentum to swing sideways and impale you with the blade*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*Punts the nearest gem to me on my path to you and brings my blade down from overhead onto you*

@Valiance

*With renewed speed, I swing my blade one-handed above me and slide into you, kicking you in the torso*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Magnanimity>

It's never the army you need to worry about.

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

I'll take one for the team. A little difficulty for me in exchange for sparing whole civilizations? That's quite the bargain you've just offered me.
*Summons a massive white and gold greatsword in my own hand, with a blue gem decoratively encrusted below the hilt*
How could I turn it down?

@Valiance

*Grunts*
I don't have time for this.
*The gems spread out across the area and one of the green crystals flies into the center of my crossguard*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*Bursts from the center and stands on the surface of the ball of metal that is forming, then slams my fist down on it, bursting the mass into stray scrap that flies like large shrapnel in all directions*

@Valiance

*As soon as they start flying, the entire armada dissolves, and a studded sword forms in my hand, while an array of colored gems float around me, and I check something on my wrist*
You don't have to forfeit your life here. Meddling in business that's not your own is only going to make today more difficult for us both.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*The more that pile on, the more they seem to be incapable of escaping some sort of strong central force that quickly reaches crushing levels of intensity*

@Valiance

*More continue to break away from the mining operation and slam into the crowd*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*They bite onto bits of my armor*
Your workforce doubling as your armada isn't a great design choice.
*Claps my hands together in such a way that it slams two dragonoids together with crushing force, then holds my hand toward them, creating an intense force from the center of their heads that pulls them toward my hands**

@Valiance

It's efficient.
*More slam into you from all sides*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*Thrusts out my hand in a gripping motion toward the device*
I get the picture now.
*The device begins to be crushed under immense pressure*

@Valiance

*The dragonoid platoon swarms you and bites onto your limbs*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

Sure. And maybe I would be willing to even accept that, if we were just dealing with individual lives.

@Valiance

An inconsequential number in this war.
*The device appears in a state of flux between disintegration and operation, destroying its past self and creating much stronger paradox distortions in spacetime than before*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

Why I care about people dying? I know you don’t want me to get sappy, so I won’t, but people dying as a consequence to some other people’s cause just doesn’t sit well with me. I’m the kind of guy who looks out for the little guy, I’m sure I’m not the first you’ve met.

@Valiance

That kind of reasoning isn’t one of my duties. This is much bigger than any individual life.
*Places and arms the cylinder on top of one of the dragonoids*

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*Scans over the entire dimension for any signs of life*

@Magnanimity

*Several planets have sizable populations*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

Awesome. Chickpea, you heard her. We have permission. Get me some scans.

@Valiance

Now answer me why you care.