Prodigal Son

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

Raiya let out a grunt of irritation at Nemo's pun. After he released the rune, Raiya fell down, exhausted from being essentially paralyzed. Raiya knew Nemo was right about her acting reckless. In fact, this entire mission was just her messing up time and time again and it was starting to weigh her down. "Damnit..." She cursed under her breath as she picked herself up off the ground and brushed herself off. Instead of dwelling on her mistakes she decided to just force herself forward, she'd have all the time in the world to pick herself apart after they got the paragon and returned. She followed Nemo up the stairs as he began to walk towards the outpost. She also made sure to keep her eyes especially peeled for any more traps, her most recent encounter with runes kept her on edge as they walked forward.

"What happened?" She asked curiously as they walked towards the outpost, "Did you guys take the sniper out?" She said as she conjoured her pistol in her right hand.

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

Raiya continued to advance forward as everyone was putting their plans into motion. As she continued to zip at a relatively high speed she recieved word from Travis where the sniper was located so she changed her direction. Running at full speed towards the sniper nest she knew she would be there in an instant. However, as she reached the steps heading upwarss to the lookout post she wasn't paying attention and stepped on a runic trap that activatedd the moment her foot came into contact with it. In an instant she went from moving extremely fast to instantly halted. The rune she had triggered was a stasis rune that completely and instantly immobilizes anything it comes into contact with. Since she was unable to move ahe was also unable to call out for help. Raiya then decided to build up a large charge of mana in her body and instantly discharge it outwards creating a large blast of electricity that could be seen by the group to alert them that she was in trouble.

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

@ShiningSector we need your glorious posts

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

Raiya listened to the suggestions of everyone else in the team. and while it seemed the group had figured out a plan to blackout the deck to keep themselves hidden from the sniper's eye, it seemed it was easier said than done. They had a rough idea of how their plan was going to go about, however before Travis could complete his runic spell, a shot from the sniper blew apart his cover and almost winged him. Needless to say, things were not going well. Raiya had been fleshing out a long ranged lightning attribute spell, a small thin beam of plasma that could take foes out from a medium to long range, but she had not put enough effort into finishing it and the finished product of the spell was still a long way out. And unlike Nemo, Raiya did not carry with her a rifle of any kind. So the only thing she could do was try and get closer.

Raiya activated her speed enhancement spell and zipped in the direction toward the sniper, making it only about 30 feet before zipping to cover behind a series of small metal crates stacked up upon each other about 5 feet high 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. She crouched behind the crates waiting for the next shot to ring out.

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

@ShiningSector I believe we are waiting on your post, friendo.

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

Raiya walked out to see the dead body of the enemy the three other members of her team had to encounter. "Good job," She said with a bit of a facetious undertone. Raiya did not have much of a ground to stand on when it came to her own encounter with the enemy, but she felt a bit irritated that the smell of ozone from a fresh spell being cast still hung in the air which meant they only just got done with their encounter. She felt like the three of them should have been able to take care of their enemy quickly. But it seemed like it took these guys as much time to get rid of their one encounter while Nemo and Raiya took care of four major magi on the ship.

Raiya would have said more about the issue, but the sniper fire stopped them from any further discussions. The first thing Raiya thought of when Nemo asked for suggestions was to split up on deck. "We should probably all scatter. The more grouped we are, the quicker she can fire. Everyone well versed in barrier spells should pick areas that are more open and uncovered, while those who are not good at casting barrier magic should hide under solid cover. We should keep moving towards the sniper's nest with each shot. Once we get close enough we will enter the sniper's blind spot, and it should be easy from there... This is all assuming the sniper doesn't have any movement spells, though." Raiya suggested.

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

Raiya followed behind Nemo, but she kept a bit of an awkward distance between them. She was still thinking about the feeling she felt from the mana she took from Nemo. Raiya thought about saying something, bringing up what she felt, but she ended up deciding against that. Every time her mind wandered to that abyssal feeling she felt from Nemo's energy, a shiver would run down her spine. She still had a flask of alcohol in her hand, she took a quick swig from it while she continued to follow behind Nemo. Nemo's spell certainly had worked, that was one boon from this experience. Raiya could feel all of the energy she had absorbed, the little bit she had over-absorbed had quickly faded away, which was good, Raiya didn't want to have to feel that void energy at the top of her mana pool.

Nemo had reached the hatch to the deck and opened it up, allowing a flow of cool air to rush into the doorway, clearing Raiya's mind for a moment. Let's just finish this mission and get back to the headquarters, Raiya thought to herself.

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

Raiya felt the energy rushing into her through her palm. It was like someone had opened a fire hydrant valve, a massive amount of energy through a relatively small opening. It didn't take long for Raiya to start reaching the point at which she had almost fully replenished the energy that she was normally capped off at. A thought came through her mind, the thought of absorbing all of Nemo's energy and then using it to leave and exact vengeance upon her parent's killers. Unfortunately for that fantasy, her code of honor prevented her from doing such a thing, especially after being saved by Nemo. However, something unexpected happened while she was debating that idea. She had topped off her mana wells, but the energy kept rushing into her.

With the energy now increasing the size of her pools a bit, she began to feel something she had not been paying attention to previously. She felt a bit of the nature of Nemo's energy. Darkness. The absences of light. A void so black that she almost felt as if it would fundamentally corrupt her from the inside out. Immediately she released her contact with Nemo, giving Nemo a brief look of shock and horror. What was that? Was I supposed to have felt that? Is that what Nemo deals with all the time?, These thoughts ran through Raiya's head before she quickly looked away from Nemo. She stood up and dusted herself off from sitting and resting on the dirty ground of the ship. It was important to note that while her pool was slightly larger than it was before, she had released contact with Nemo before any considerable change was made.

"Ehem," Raiya cleared her throat before speaking, "Well, it seemed to have worked. I suppose I won't have to play the benches for the rest of this mission after all." She said, "Uhm- Thank you." She said awkwardly. "Let's get back to it then." She suggested before abruptly heading forward towards the deck.

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

Raiya took her sweatshirt and jacket back from Nemo and slid them on one by one, sweatshirt first the leather jacket going over the sweatshirt. Raiya's ahoge perked up a bit when Nemo explained his magic to her.

It seemed to her how Nemo phrased it was that his technique had different layers to it, and that the glove acted as a sort of interface device. "So, let me get this straight, you have a spell you activate, on top of a rune which is enchanting the glove as an interface device? That's a lot of layers for an ability." She said as she placed the glove on, "Is the spell what syncs your mana to the rune or does the rune inherently have a formula associated with your mana?" She asked adjusting the glove.

After the glove was on, she placed her hand outwards towards Nemo awaiting for him to continue the ritual of sorts. Raiya wasn't used to the idea of a spell being activated for her through a rune by a third party individual, and she didn't pretend to know exactly how all of it worked. But if it helped her continue the mission on her own two feet she was game for it. Nemo had proven to Raiya that she could trust him as a team member on the field, but she still didn't fully trust him on a fundamental level.

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

A shiver ran through her spine as Raiya remembered Nemo's true nature, a mana vampire, or cannibal. She was now all too suddenly aware of all the points of contact between herself and Nemo as she visualized herself becoming a shriveled empty husk of dry flesh. It wouldn't even take Nemo but a split second with how drained Raiya was currently. She calmed herself as she ran through Nemo's suggestion in her head. Raiya was aware that Nemo could absorb mana energy, but gifting it back? It seemed a bit of a far fetched idea.

"Well... I'm not too sure how your power works in the first place. Is it really as simple as just reversing the process? What incantation or ritual did you use before the spell became second nature to you?" Raiya asked innocently. She was not at all interested in becoming a mana vampire like Nemo, but this crucial detail would be important in helping Nemo craft a theory on how to reverse the spell.