Necrophage

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Ada's prison rolled down into the midst of her army. Oz warped its trajectory with his power to bring it to a full halt. Those minions around him not distracted by immediate combat turned their attention on him. Somehow Oz had managed to preserve the veil energy in his hand, even after that tumble.

Atlas was his ticket out of the bubble. He willed the extension of himself to fill the space inside the bubble until there was none left and kept pressing. He gauged his power well so that he would not crush himself in the middle of it all. After all the pressure it finally gave way and popped. The minions watching him spilled around the opening given. Familiar and unknown faces alike swarmed at him before being driven back by Atlas' burgeoning form. The amorphous energy originally held back by the bubble spilled out and coalesced into Atlas' torso rising above from Oz's position. It reeled back before spinning into a true whirlwind, smashing divots through the earth, crashing through surrounding ooze and minions alike while clearing a good amount of breathing space for Oz to work with.

With a moment to act, Oz lifted the energy he had cradled up to the air. It evaporated as Atlas transferred it to itself. The massive avatar lifted both arms into the sky as it conjured a great hammer from the veil energy it gained and started swinging down toward Ada's position. This would draw Dacer's attention without fail. So that the moment wasn't wasted Oz separated from his avatar, leaving it to its action and ran forward toward the location the hammer would fall. He needed to be there the moment after the impact so he could follow up.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Ada was confident in Dacer's ability to protect her. With Alvios drawing her attention away it left Dacer to watch for long range assaults against her. The safest bet was to stay up here and continue a long ranged assault while Bruce and the others kept the witch's forces at bay. Oz had some new tricks to use with Geode's help. Perhaps it was time to start drawing from a new bag.

The edges of these rooftops were treacherous enough with Jeff's machine on the move but with an experienced marksman like Dacer focusing on him for his ability to strike hard from range Oz had to operate carefully. Knowledge of meta energy was one thing Oz had been given by the creator but the experience of using it in such a setting wasn't something that would come as easily. Oz sat back, away from the edge and any easily spotted area. He knelt down and projected a small shield over himself as he meditated.

Few people had the convenience or calmness to close their eyes during a duress like this battle. Oz, like the others, had consistently proven he was among the few the world had to offer for its salvation. It was a good thing Jenso came across him in the citadel. Without Jenso's help he likely wouldn't have come away from that place in one piece, or even as himself at all.

Oz reached deep inside himself. To him it was like jumping into a well, only to find a dark lake hidden beneath that kept stretching onward until no more light shined. Only the thumping of his heartbeat and the regular tapping of his hand kept him focused. There he found it. Beneath the thick blackness lay a seed of light. A little light that grew in intensity as he swam closer. It felt warm as he reached out to it. Like he'd finally come home after years of being away. This was his light. Here he was beyond the whispering and psychic jeers of Ada. Yet here in this deep introspection he was also most vulnerable to the enemy that probed his energy before Jenso's rescue.

Something swam through the dark. The feeling of being watched was more potent here than if someone had been physically staring him down. It was still here. He was still waiting. Watching for a disruption to take advantage of before he faded. A weakness Oz could not afford to show. Those eyes tracked him from beyond Oz's light. It paced through the darkness as a torrent of garbled thoughts, personal doubts and skewed memories of past failures assaulted Oz. He shrugged it off as he always did and pressed into the light. The psychic pressure grew stronger like the sound of overbearingly loud static until Oz took his light in hand and raised it aloft. All at once the darkness began giving way to his light, filling the emptiness and banishing the onslaught. The eyes vanished into the distance, trailed by whispers too quiet to understand.

Oz finally opened his eyes. It had only been mere seconds since he began. He looked at the brilliant sky blue orb grasped in his hands. His light. The power that pushes back the void and makes way for life to blossom. Veil.

"I wonder what Dacer really thinks. Did we ever need Ada's candle? It's time to see if you were right Geode." Oz whispered under his breath. All he needed was to touch Dacer with this to see if it would work. Unless Ada really was a telepath she would only think of it as some kind of attack. The others would focus on killing her body. Oz would try to battle her for Dacer's mind.

Oz steadily stood and took up position on the edge of the building. "Atlas!" He commanded. He opened his arms wide as the surge of ki from his body enveloped him instead of forming a separate entity. The Atlas avatar encased him as he held the powerful orb in his hand. Oz jumped up, directing the mass of energy that encased him in an upward arc toward Dacer and Ada's position. It was only expected that Dacer would see him.

Something in the back of his mind panged with a sense of competition. The question wasn't whether or not they would succeed. It seemed to be over how they would succeed. Would Oz accomplish his goal and Dacer be freed to take care of a weakened Ada for them? Or would his companions kill the witch before that could happen?

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Alvios had some sound advice. With the mass of instant minions the witch had at her beck and call it would be pointless to cut them down for any other reason than to reach her. He just had to hope that her copies didn't express the exact same abilities they did. If her clones of himself had the ability to shield her this would be a little more complicated. And even if that were the case he did have a work-around.

Oz overlooked from a building at the edge of Jeff's fortress, staring down at the burgeoning horde of purple figures below. It was time to take that advice to heart. He held his right hand aloft. Oz conjured his classic force spear in a display of shimmering violet light. With his other arm he pointed down toward Ada like he were using it to aim and measure his trajectory. Circles of arcane lettering wrote themselves in mid-air pointing toward his target like a tunnel. Oz reeled his arm back and supercharged the spear. It thrummed a deadly beat as the condensed force sought release. He hurled the spear at Ada. The shear velocity caused it to ripple through the air with an intense bang as it broke the sound barrier. "I hope you're arrogant enough not to dodge this."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Let's come back after all this and share a round. Plan out our way forward and a new beginning." Oz crossed his arms and observed as Jeff helped them make their own preparations. He took the supplies and nodded to their benefactor. "Thanks. Let's hope it doesn't come down to this."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

While the earth shook Oz stood his ground, not even needing to lean against something to stay steady. "Looks like Yzeira is upping his timetable. We should do the same." Oz looked around the room at the gathering even while the ground still rumbled about. If the world's state was worsening events like this would only grow more dire. "Is there anything else we need before we start the assault? This is the last stretch and we'll be using some of what time we have left just fighting them."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Oz pondered the answer. Geode was an independent being. He did as he willed. The creator was never really a hostage to begin with. Ever since that fight at the citadel he had been floating about one location in the Guild or another. There was no doubt the others kept a tab on him whenever they could. For good and bad Oz never really cared to. He was rather innocent at heart and still felt the megalomaniacal creator had redeeming qualities despite his blatant threats otherwise. Oz was indeed naive.

"I was a little busy getting pincushioned and smashing holes through walls." He flashed Jeff a goofy smile. "My thoughts: Geode found an alternative to his original plan." He stopped at that vague hint.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Oz angled his shield against the arrow, deflecting it into the roof. Much like his earlier deflection, crash noises ensued as the arrow broke through to the ground level before stopping.

In a plume of smoke Chaos had literally arrived. Or so Oz thought until Jeff sailed through the air at him. Wherever he just came from this was bad timing. Oz centered his focus on himself, increasing the value by which gravity affected him. With the boost to keep him on his feet, he braced himself and caught Jeff across the waste. With all the gentleness of a tank Oz dumped the wind sage on the ground and called out his avatar. "Atlas!"

The brilliant purple visage appeared above him as if floating in the air. Atlas was not massive like before however, it was the very size of Oz himself. The Fist of Kario cut his hand through the air, directing the visage forward. "After all this I won't let you leave so easily." Atlas didn't so much fly as it crashed against the roof that Shaidra and the archer stood upon, plowing all the way through to the courtyard below at an angle. Maybe if he disrupted their footing he could keep the Order member from fleeing with their assassin.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

At this rate the assassin's leg would give out if more pressure were forced on him. Oz had the intention to do just that, quite literally. He stood his ground and kept his left arm raised to deflect attacks. With one step forward he fanned his right arm out, releasing a rippling wave of force and dazzling energy across the ground that spread wider as it traveled toward the archer. It ripped up chunks and layers of the roof as it rolled.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Screw nature. The archer needed to be stopped before any further harm happened. Oz stretched his wounded shoulder, grunting at the pangs of pain before outright ignoring them and moving towards the edge of the roof. He could hear the scuffle below as Alvios demolished another portion of the Guild in pursuit of their would-be assassin.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Oz wasn't anticipating such an aggressive retreat. He crossed his arms in front of himself and pumped energy into his shield. The charged arrow exploded at near point blank range and blew him back as the unseen lightning arrow zipped at him from behind. He thought he was done with the arrow, completely unaware it was able to track him. It stuck him broad in the back of his right shoulder as he recovered from the explosion. He rolled through the air and skidded against the roof, finally landing on his hands and knees. The arrow had lost most of its initial momentum and being a tracking arrow that hand done a complete three-sixty it wasn't the prick that was lethal, it was the shock behind it. Oz's muscles spasmed as the electricity wracked his body. He was barely able to keep from falling flat on his chest atop the roof.

By usual Oswald stubbornness he fought the torturous arrow's effects and reached back to the arrow to wrench it free. His projected a shield around it to contain the energy before prying it out so that the constant amperage wouldn't weaken his grip. He held the contained arrow for a second, even shielded in his grip it seemed to want to turn on him again. Oz applied a surge of pressure and force onto it, pulverizing it.

The Fist of Kario knelt there longer than he would have liked but this was necessary. That shot took a lot out of him. At least he was in the clear for just this moment with the archer on the move. After a brief respite he forced himself back to his feet and glared at the sky. "I should probably try to do something about that." He pondered about the gathering storm. The unnatural clouds only grew. The arrows were likely used as lightning rods of a type. That would explain why the initial attack split partially into the sky. What could he do to fix it before nature took its course?