Cottonmouth

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

"Good... good. I'm really glad you see it that way." Nemo replied, his tone and 'sincere' smile he gave afterwards had a fake feeling to them, only elevated by his white eyes which seemed to be methodically watching her reactions.

What a familiar feeling in the air... fear. She compliments me the same way you would try to get on the good side of a maniac with a gun to your head so he doesn't pull the trigger. Just feeding me what I want to hear, it's a disgrace. I really had hopes that a gang leader would be different, but she looks at me the same way everyone else does. Just wants me to die, disappear.

The only action Nemo made during his inner monologue was his right eye twitching once, something might have actually upset him. He reached over and patted her a few times on the shoulder with his left hand, causing her metal decorated jacket to faintly jingle a bit. "That really is a lovely jacket you've got." Nemo commented before resting his hands in his pockets and shifting back in the middle of Travis and Raiya.

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

Nemo took action as soon as Travis' spell activated. That'll do splendidly. He released his own spell underhand, emitting a football sized ball of white energy traveling as fast as he hurled it. The spell didn't seem all that impressive until it reached about halfway to the golem, speeding up and transforming into a giant X mid-flight about one third the size of the golem itself.

As it approached, the remainder of the blizzard covering the golem seemed to be dispersed by the energy emitting from Nemo's own spell. Sensing the oncoming danger, the ignis spell was overcharged, breaking it's arms lose at the last second. It attempted to generate a magic shield backed by it's massive arms, but Nemo knew it would be pointless. The spell he used was the same type he defeated the late Garvian Stellos with, and one of his strongest. It combined both his raw power and his anti-magic capabilities.

The spell collided with the barrier, instantly shattering it and continuing onto the golem itself. It exploded once it connected with the golem, transferring all the energy forward, ripping through both its arms, and it's body itself. While the front of the golem sustained heavy damage, most of the energy expanded outwards, completely hollowing out the back of it.

Nemo himself was already on the move, he closed in on the golem while it was weak like a jackal. Once in good range he used his warp spell to transport him to the paragon as quickly as possible. Without it's arms, and still reeling from both Travis' and Nemo's attacks, it had nothing left to stop Nemo from plucking the gem from it's socket in time.

Nemo surgically removed the paragon from it's rocky setting, immediately causing the body of the golem to collapse. He dismounted from it before it crashed to the ground, crumbling back into rubble.

After getting back onto solid ground, Nemo strolled back up to the group. He eyed the gem in his hands much like a jeweler would, fascinated by its power but more so by it's beauty. He eventually looked to Travis. "That was a wonderful display, Travis. Very avant-garde. Here, how about you hold it." Nemo complimented him before suddenly tossing him the paragon.

"And you" Nemo continued as he looked over to Raiya, holding his hands up and giving a light but frantic clap for a few moments as he shifted over to her. "I'm glad to see someone can still take it easy around here. High strung people can really start to give me a headache." Nemo explained as he began to almost violently hit himself over the head a few times during his last words. "It's not often I get to have a real audience, so I hope that I can really surpass your expectations, hmm?."

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

A being as large as the golem was easy for Nemo to predict it's physical attacks, he swiftly dodged to right with a enhanced dash and shuffled out of it's range from what he had gathered. So there's no absolute physical barrier between me and the paragon. That makes things easy. He noted.

Nemo used the reprieve to look back to his teammates, seeing Raiya sitting down seemed to spark his thoughts. It was just a joke, I didn't mean I was literally goi- He cut off, his blank faced expression turned more unhinged as he looked at her. No... no-no no-no, nothing that innocent, this isn't ignorance at play her, it's quite the opposite. She's doing three things all at once: She's trying to get me killed by neglecting my well being. She's trying to gauge my capabilities to defeat me later. And all the while showing me as little of her own magicks, conserving her own mana. How impressively vicious. At this point Nemo had begun to grin uncontrollably, letting out audible chuckle as well.

Fine, fine fine fine, if it's my abilities you want to see, then I'll have no choice but to oblige you. Nemo thought as he cupped his hands together and brought them up to his mouth, whispering some phrase hidden to the rest of the group.
@ShiningSector
Nemo turned away from her and glanced to Travis. "Travis! I need you to do something to momentarily disrupt the construct for me." He declared with an upbeat tone. To anyone paying attention, the X on Nemo's glove now gave off a feint glow after he uncupped his hands.

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

Nemo stood in place and used his warp to send him forward and out of the way of the death ray. He was confident the other two could handle themselves and thus didn't expend the mana to assist them.

"I'll get him!" Nemo called out, a noticeable hint of fake confidence and sarcasm in his voice. He picked up a grapefruit sized stone on the floor and suddenly hucked it directly at the Paragon. It was a seemingly futile action, but Nemo did want to find out what the Golem's reaction to a physical threat would be.

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

"Now we're talkin'." Nemo replied to Travis' suggestion. He held his right palm out, causing a white X shaped glyph to appear in front of his palm and hover in place. Nemo then made a finger-gun gesture with his hand, his thumb being the hammer. The glyph glowed bright white and let out a faint hum as it charged, until Nemo suddenly dropped his thumb down, discharging all the energy from the glyph and into an explosive beam straight at the Cyclops Golem with a bang.

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

Whoops was the last thing that went through Nemo's mind before being flung across the room. As he soared Nemo took the time to feel the breeze on his face and view the party from above, upside down. After taking a few moments to enjoy it Nemo suddenly locked his hands together, the action seemed to spur a short distance warp spell, sending him standing back upright onto the floor.

One thing that could be noted was that during the delay before the spell finished the space between Nemo and his destination seemed to optically distort, telegraphing his destination a split second before it finished.

"If it can repair itself like the last constructs, destroying or removing the crystal that powers it is likely the only option. Considering we want to keep the paragon intact, we'll probably have to remove it." Nemo still spoke calmly as he replied to Travis despite being flung moments earlier.

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

As Nemo walked further down the passageway he began to sense the presence of what could only be the paragon. The massive power of the artifact gave him a feeling of hunger, only amplified once he made his way into the chamber of the artifact. Nemo's concentration was interrupted by the static over the intercom, resulting in him turning it off with his manadial.

"I will." Nemo suggested as he began walking over. He figured that it was likely that with abilities such as the ones he possessed, people didn't really trust him touching the paragons. If he planned to turn on the group, attempting to absorb one of the paragons would be the go-to choice for most people in his shoes. However Nemo was a man of his word. He did what people asked of him, and no matter how tempting the raw mana of the paragon may be, he has a duty to fulfill for now.

The pile of rubble wasn't much of a challenge for him, he gracefully hopped from rock to rock to the top of the pile. Once Nemo made it to the top he finally was able to get a good look at it. It really was beautiful, but now wasn't the time to admire, he reached out his left un-gloved hand and touched it.

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

"Very ingenious, Travis." Nemo agreed as he followed Raiya into the passageway. After a few moments of walking he continued. "Let's just hope the... walls don't close in on us." He said, looking to the side. "That would be unpleasant." Nemo finished, he hoped none of them were claustrophobic.

After the accident from before Nemo made sure to scan the ground for anything out of the ordinary as well.

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

"We know that the last people to travel this route were Academia. And they made it out to make that seal. So instead of the most commonly used route, if we can figure out what the most recently used route is, that would make things easy." Nemo explained.

Since Travis seemed keen on investigating it, Nemo looked over to him. "A tip I also used when faced with possibly fatal passageways, is looking for the one with signs of people coming out on the floor." He added.

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

Nemo rested his hands back into his jacket pockets as they continued on. He looked back, seeing Travis and Artos still following along. As he turned back he took the time to reflect to himself. "Not good, not good at all. My attempts at socializing always end the same way, with that look of fear and unease, it makes me very... frustrated." Nemo thought.

"But expecting any different would've been vacuous." He continued. "It's a pain to think about it, Felix's opinion of me likely hasn't changed all that much, and on top of that it's unlikely I can still beat him. He's improved while I've stayed the same. However, that's only if it's a fair all out fight."

"The student doesn't bother me, he seems honest, I can respect that, but the same thing can't be said about the other two."
"She's a schemer..."
"He's a schemer..."
"I really don't like schemers... The difference between them is that I can make a good guess on what her angle is already. She just wants to go back to her own business, I'm an obstacle to that, so I must be removed."
"But the swordsman, he's different, I don't know what he wants, but he's bad news, I know that. That really bothers me, it bothers me so much I just might have to-" Nemo was cut off from his thinking when the walls suddenly slammed shut.

Nemo turned back, seeing Artos gone and a pool of blood seeping out from the crease in the wall. "...I guess some things just work themselves out." He finished.

He turned to Travis, looking to the wall, Nemo then glanced over to the other routes now that they were in the room. "Are you okay?" He asked. "Nothing can be done about it now, and we have to figure out what route to choose."