Hatman1801

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios followed Jenso outside, jumping up onto the roof after him to look out at the army in front of them. Thousands large, covering every inch of area between the now-bound flying castle and the Tower, looming behind Ada. As Jenso leaped into the fray, he waited, looking out at the expanse. Some of the soldiers seemed familiar, although he couldn't tell exactly why from his vantage point. Instead, he looked past all of it, towards Ada.

'She's exposed herself, yet she seems to be sending this army after us. She said she wasn't holding back anymore either, which at this point, is safe to assume. Her position in the back is reasonable, but...defenseless. Why?'

Alvios paused for a moment, drawing his sword and cloaking himself in Ki in preparation to attack. He had a hunch, and pointed his sword forwards like the head of a cavalry, shouting to everyone who could hear.

"The witch is in the back! This puppet army is exactly that, puppets! She needs to focus to control them, which is why she hasn't surrounded herself defensively; she can't look behind her and in front of her at the same time to focus on different sections! Anything that is sufficient enough to take her attention off of her army, do it now!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios looked at Luke, furrowing his brow. "Maybe they don't know any better. They probably think it doesn't matter what they do here, or anywhere, because they can just cause Armageddon at a whim. A challenge frustrates them, but it doesn't matter because of their perceived absolute victory."

Alvios's mouth broke into a smirk, and he laughed alongside Jeff. "Maybe we can exploit that. Their pride, their arrogance, the side effects of being at their level of power. They either don't remember or don't even know what defeat is. Even defeating just one of them might remind all of them that being immortal and invincible are different. They could get reckless once that happens. It could all be a domino effect, as long as our resolve doesn't waver."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios paused, his smile fading a bit. "Hmph. Adarine torturing people. What she's done still feels insignificant compared to when I first met Shaidra. When I fought her and Yzeira showed up, he didn't hesitate. Brought me to the brink of death, and killed almost everyone in the village while I was forced to watch. And then left me there, like I wasn't worth his time." His hands tightened into fists for a moment, but he kept composure. "It's become about more than revenge by now, but haunted by that masked man consoling that child-murdering girl while he laid waste to everything around him... it still chills my blood at night."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Maybe he can't use it while being controlled by Adarine? It seems like whatever kind of assault they launched yesterday, if they planned on trying to pick off one or two of us, having Dacer exert his maximum potential would have made the most sense." Alvios closed his eyes, taking a breath as he mused over it. "Once it was noted that Dacer wasn't against someone who knew him, retaining his personality was a waste. Two-versus-one against people who weren't killed by the first shot, One With Nature. Only then would I have made the decision to recall him, or let him die. Better for them if he dies than we rescue him and gain another ally."

Alvios let out the breath, opening his eyes and smiling again. "Sorry, I shouldn't be talking about your friend as a weapon like that, I'm just trying to understand why. If they believe so much in their overwhelming power, they should have taken care to either wipe us out full-force, or they shouldn't have cared enough to attack at all. Especially if they planned on doing this reality-destroying bit today anyway."

Alvios paused for a bit, and chuckled some. "Listen to me, going on like a tactician. I sound like my father. That's right... my father, my sister... Melina... guess they're all out there, wondering why the world is ending. Hope I'll be able to go back and tell them this hero's tale, once this is over."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios tucked his own mask into a jacket pocket. He was a little skeptical on how useful it would actually be, but Jeff was right; blocking a cheap shot could turn a battle's tide. No sense in letting any resource go unused right now anyway, since this was the now-or-never moment for their entire existence. He had sat back down to think about it some, but a nagging thought intruded: 'Did he say airborne...?

Fast forward to after takeoff, and Alvios was sitting back at the table, arms folded, muttering to himself. "I better not have been the only one who didn't know this castle could fly--oh!" Alvios straightened himself as Jenso approached, smiling at his comrade. "Something tells me that it's you by our side that's going to win this fight for us, Jenso. Still, doesn't change the fact; we'll make these bastards repent for all of their atrocities."

Alvios rose from his chair and leaned against the table for a moment, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "So, that archer I fought, you said his name was Dacer? Friend of yours? If so, hope he isn't too irate about me stabbing him through the leg after we save him."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios was already standing despite the tremors, lifting his sword from the table and strapping the blade and sheathe properly over his shoulder. Despite everything, he felt a sudden rush within him. He thought he'd feel intimidation, or have to fight off panic. Instead, he was feeling excited. Perhaps it was because it was all finally going to have closure; his path began with Shaidra and Yzeira, and now he was coming back for them again, with more than just pride in his heart and spirit in his body.

"Power pills or not, I think the only thing Jeff could bring us that would be helpful now is another drink for Bruce. Hell, I could go for one myself. Might as well challenge the end of the world with no regrets."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios gave his own solemn look at Mikey, before trying to lighten the situation himself as well. "Didn't think I'd have a wake-up call like that. At least this time I wasn't bedridden, and the healing process went smoothly for everyone. Still..." Alvios turnedfully to Mikey now, raising a brow. "They put unexpected effort into this attack from what I understand. Do you think they're just trying to keep tabs on our strength, or was this a full-on attempt to try and destroy us?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios was not deterred in the slightest. He went through with it, his sword driving itself through Dacer's leg as the lightning bolt crashed into him. His flesh was seared in places, but his wounds were immediately doused with regenerative Ki. The pain was tremendous, but missing out on a chance to cripple his enemy would be worth it. The assailant presumably used his last resort to defend himself against the attack, which meant he likely couldn't handle the consequences of it. Oz could follow through if the impaled leg didn't decide the victor.

Alvios landed on one knee, looking up to see how the archer responded to a blade through his leg muscles. He looked pretty strange, with patches of glowing Ki covering several parts of his body, and most of his shirt and jacket simply seared away, but he gave a painful smirk anyway. "Wonder which one of us hurts more right now..."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"You're not going anywhere, archer. You think I taunted you out of sheer arrogance?" Alvios spun around, kicking off the ground with a burst of Ki, his sword aimed to impale Dacer through the thigh; he didn't know the assailant, and would rather incapacitate him to gather information before deciding to outright kill. He wasn't an obvious member of the Order after all.

Of course, 'not kill' and 'severely injure' were just far enough apart. The original three swords that Dacer dodged instead of destroyed before had made a roundabout, and were coming down from above for a multiple-angled pincer attack, aimed at his other limbs. Alvios could heal pretty much any non-lethal wound after all, so puncturing a limb or three would be fine. Maybe a kidney or something would be a pain, but manageable.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios had a poor vantage point from the ground, but it looked like Oz had forced the archer to start retreating from the roof. Good. Time to try and reach the landing point before him. He gathered more power in the blade in his hand, swinging behind him and releasing a blast with the intent of neutralizing the lightning attack following him. If that didn't cut it, maybe the debris would.

Alvios focused more power into the blade, letting the energy cover his whole arm, and gathered power in his feet, kicking forward with a Ki-infused lunging thrust...straight through the wall and the building separating him from the staircase. Dacer had both horizontal and vertical distance to travel. Launching himself up and over the wall to follow Oz would waste precious time when he could just pierce through what was ahead of him.

He just hoped that Jeff wouldn't be too upset with him putting a massive hole through the building.