Saiyan

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Yeah, I don't watch films like that either tbh I'm clueless about actors

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Protect.

Melee class. Front line. To defend his party - that was his job.

And yet Clive was murdered right in front of him. Lillianna was at death's door. All because he wasn't strong enough - wasn't fast enough. And now he was left lying in the dirt, yet again.

Zell coughed up blood as he sat up, spat the sanguine onto the ground and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He was just in time to see the giant of a monster charge past him. Seems the Gods of this universe enjoyed shitting on outsiders, because this was just fucking overkill. He looked around and felt his blood boil when he laid eyes on the ninja. His hands formed fists so tight, his knuckles went white. Spite and fury fuelled him now. He had very little else left in the tank. But it was enough to get up, his breathing heavy as he struggled to control his rage. First, some stupid bastard of a bus driver took everything from him. Credit to Zell; he'd accepted that almost immediately on finding out. But now; This motherfucking tin can was taking the only people he had left here in this world?!

Well fuck that!

He looked across the battlefield, his eyes darting left and right for his sword. When he saw it, he ran for-

The metal ninja's movements drew his attention. Movements toward MacKensie. Zell's eyes flared, his stomach turned, his heart skipped two beats. "No," he murmured breathlessly. "Not her." There was no time to grab his sword. He instantly changed course toward the Ranger, his boots kicking up dirt as he ran. But once more, he was too far away. The ninja was too fast. He could see he wasn't going to make it. Not again! He couldn't bare the thought of being powerless to help again. From the pit of his soul came a gutteral noise that started as a mere shout but grew into a thundering roar.

"NoooooOOOOO-

Reality distorted from sheer desire. Zell mid-sprint disappeared. The very next moment - the very SAME moment - he reappeared right by MacKensie and the ninja, his speed and momentum unchanged, the once-large distance between himself and the Ranger all-but gone. An instant transmission of mind, body and soul to his desired location.

Teleportation.

-OOO!"

He crashed into MacKensie, tackling her and sending them both flying out of the way of the ninja's deadly strike. The sword barely missed Zell's head, cutting nothing more than a few brown hairs that fluttered away in the wind. The two adventurers hit the ground, Zell first, then rolled a few times, over and over eachother until finally coming to a halt with Zell straddled on top of MacKensie. The swordsman's expression was wild and frantic as he stared into her blue eyes, an inch away from her face.

"Y-y-you okay?" he blustered out. No jokes. No dumbass comments. Nothing about lives saved and drinks owed. Nothing but a need for an answer that she wasn't hurt. He rose up a little and looked down to see if she'd been stabbed. No wounds. He let out a breath of relief. "Holy shit, thank fuck," his gratitude came out a wheezing whisper, a smile quivering onto his face as he met her eyes once more.

He kicked himself up into a handstand, then half-flipped onto his feet. Seeing the bare-chested big guy close by to his sword, he shouted across the battlefield. "JOJI!" When his fellow swordsman met his eyes, Zell pointed at, "My sword!"

His fiery anger came back instantly as he looked side-on at the ninja. Joji, reliable as the night-following-day, threw his weapon over. The sword span hilt-over-point towards Zell who was too damn angry to take his burning gaze off the ninja. Pure instinct - he held out his hand high to one side and caught the sword by the hilt perfectly. As stated; Zell didn't think much about anything. He just did stuff.

"I swear on god; if it is the last. Thing. I Fucking do...!" then he turned to face him proper. "...I'm going to cut your fucking head off!"

And with that he rushed the tin can with what may have been the last bit of energy he had left. Stone stance. Slash, thrust, high, low. Combinations, probing for a riposte that he could counter-counter. And again! He would not let up until the ninja stopped him or he decapitated the freak.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Ah fuck," was the extremely strained voice of Zell Brooks. "That hurt."

He rolled over and struggled to even get to his knees. The pain of the cutting wind was searing through his body still - no physical cuts to speak of, and yet he felt like a thousand sharp razors were cycloning around his insides. He could barely feel the ground underneath him. His nerves were shot, at this moment. Unluckily for him, he took the brunt of power from the 360 wind attack of the Alpha Male, being right in front of the jaws of the beast when it barked the spell. And now he was barely able to move his limbs, while he watched Joji make it up to his feet before the Englishman.

Beyond Joji, he could see MacKensie facing off against the Alpha Female and he smiled. He could tell she was frightened, but it only made her more admirable, for her back was straight, her determination on display. Two drinks, huh? he thought. Sure... why not.

And then everything changed. The menacing voice of the new threat. The red light falling on the area. The death of the Alphas and MacKensie's shout.

A new shot of adrenaline combined with James' stamina buff to boost Zell's muscles and get him to his feet. He started running, but faltered and fell down to one knee. As the metal ninja began barreling through his friends, brushing them aside with ease as he targeted Lillianna, urgency pushed him through the pain and back to his feet. The fact that nobody's attacks seemed to be able to damage the powerful enemy occured to Zell as he continued towards the action. Running off instinct, his brain need not calculate the benefit of grabbing the ninja's sword, which was sticking out of the Alpha wolf. He didn't consider the consequences of touching a weapon tainted by a user who was clearly enchanted with evil magic. Zell was never one to think much about anything.

He just did stuff.

Throwing his own sword to one side as he ran, he twirled as he passed the dead Alpha - gripping the ninja sword and pulling it free all in one motion - and kept on running, only a few steps behind Arthur, preparing to follow up the anchor-wielder's attack with a strike of his own.

When the ninja dropped into a puddle of water, Zell refused to take the time to be flabbergasted by the ridiculousness of the situation. He instantly changed tack and continued to run, dropping into a roll to avoid Arthur's wide-sweeping attack, then back to his feet and heading right toward Lillianna. Whatever the hell just happened to the ninja, if Zell couldn't track him, he could anticipate where the enemy was going.

Bingo!

And there he was, materializing behind the spellcasters. But he was too far away! Zell pushed his pained muscles as best as he could, sprinting with everything he had. But the ninja was too fast. He wouldn't make it.

"Lillianna!"

The impact of the water-blade making contact, felt like a stab in the chest for himself. As the blade poked out of the wizard's back, Zell crumbled to his knees, his wide eyes watering, his jaw dropped. He was too late. He wasn't fast enough. The distance was too much to cover. And now one of his friends was dead. He'd been trying to mentally prepare for the possibility this would happen, but nothing could've prepared him for this moment - this feeling of loss. Unassailable, violent loss. Right in front of his eyes.

Both wizard and ninja suddenly exploded into a crackling thunderstorm of electricity and Lillianna's screams filled the labyrinth. Zell could only watch on in shock and awe. The brave woman had replied to her enemy with her own powerful counterattack. She's not dead! was Zell's thought - his only concern.

"Zell! Separate them!"

He blinked back to reality so fast, a single bead of tears jumped off each eye. Zell rose up and ran into the storm, grabbing Lillianna by her shoulders and kicking the plate-steel ninja backwards. Electricity rushed through the Englishman's body, causing him to cry out in agony through a tightly-clenched jaw. Nonetheless, he was successful in separating them, and fell to his knees with Lillianna in his arms. Thank fuck that the lightning did not persist for long after that, because the pain was far beyond anything Zell had ever experienced in his two lives. Even after the electricity dispersed, Zell's jaw remained clenched shut and he was growling in pain. All his focus was on trying not hurt Lillianna anymore than she already was, as he cradled her in his voltage-stiffened arms.

When James came over and took her off his hands, Zell fell sideways, face hitting the scorched earth. Seeing the ninja sword lay there next to him, reminded him that the fight wasn't yet over yet. There was still the impossible task of defeating this ridiculously powerful foe. He grabbed the sword and used it as a walking stick to get to his feet.

Dropping into Stone Stance, he stood in protection of James and Lillianna, waiting to see the next move of the enemy. Stone Stance was a classic duelists discipline, tailored for one-vs-one encounters and embodied the art of counter-fighting. For every enemy action, there was a solid reaction, with a deep theory of traps and counters laid into the foundation. If the ninja attacked him, then this would be his best chance to land a hit on the enemy with his own sword - some kind of counter strike.

On the other hand, if there was no attack then at least James would get time to try and heal Lillianna.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

OMG I write a post, click refresh to make sure no one has posted. Crusader Lord has. I have to delete half my stuff and rewrite. I finish, refresh again. Teyao wtf!

lmao I don't care, it was worth it to read what you guys came up with. Two great posts. Bravo good sirs.

citizenkane.gif

The Second Falling of the Big Brother Government - (A Tale by KrystalKleo & Saiyan)

A five second kiss. A moment that lasted a lifetime.

Eyes closed - the hand on her shoulder pulled her into his embrace just a little. For the time they were connected, Isaac forgot the wasteland around him. The dirt and rubble, the tin cans, the torn up roads... all gone. It was just him and her in a void - a vacuum. Nothing else mattered. When it was over, his eyes opened, still locked on hers. He smiled.

"Hmm," was his note of pleasant surprise. He gave her another peck on the lips. "I could definitely get used to that."

He let the moment hang in the air a little longer, then looked back down the gun sights, his hands gentle as they steadied her form. "Remember; squeeze the trigger. Like a tube of toothepaste."

He stepped back and waited to see how she would do. She managed to hit one the molerats from the awkward angle of the tree branches. Was it just luck? It didn't matter really. With some practice and the right knowledge, Isaac had no doubt she would progress in no time. What truly seperated good shooters from the rest, was the mental side of things. Can you aim and squeeze under the pressure of return fire? Can you stomach the idea of killing? Do you have the steel to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs? These were the things that would take decidedly more practice. Unless you already built for it. Zara seemed the type that would have no problem in this department. And that was why he was so confident in her. Wether she hit the tin cans or not, it was only a matter of time before she got the hang of it.

Atom bomb baby.

"When you're ready, strawberry-lips."

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Jeez, shit escalated big time while I was gone lol Oh, and is that a powerful boss sword I see just lying around unattended? Me likey

I'm gonna need a second to think about this, but I will probably post shortly

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Help Adam, we can hold them off!"

Zell nodded at James and turned back to the enemy, a sharp whip of his sword to rid his blade of wolf blood, then started towards the Druid, only to find MacKensie was a few steps ahead of him. He ran over, watching the lightning strike the Alpha Male and stun it, then he covered the retreat of Adam and the Ranger.

"You're not bad at this reverse-damsel-in-distress thing, are ya." His loud comment to MacKensie came with chuckle and a teethy grin as he back-pedalled alongside them, watching both enemies and ready to spring into defensive action should they charge his retreating friends. That's when he saw Fenna engaged with the Alpha Female. He would have left Adam and MacKensie's backs there and then, but Arthur had dispatched his opposing direwolf and was now moving to support Fenna. "I did grab that branch though."

"Mother fucker."

Seeing the Alpha Male was still stunned, Zell let his attention be drawn to Joji who'd joined them. "Shit," Zell remarked as he looked upon the blood-soaked arm of the swordsman. "You okay, big guy?"

The man's arm suddenly started glowing! Was this James' buff? Did it have more properties than the superhuman energy rush? Zell couldn't see what was happening under all that blood, but Joji was quick to let them know.

"Damn didn’t know these gloves healed my wounds. I’m glad Clive gave me these things.”

"Speaking of..." Zell looked around and saw the American getting off the floor. He ran over to him as he looked pretty messed up. His weapon was broken too. "Oh man, I think you might need to sit the rest of this out, my dude."

That deep roar sounded off again. "Shit." Zell could only hope that the ruckus they were causing here didn't draw whatever that was to their location. Chances weren't great though, as it sounded even closer than before. He suddenly did a double-take at the dead wolf on the ground, that for some reason, had a rusty halberd sticking out of it's corpse. Where the hell did that come from? He didn't think much about it and sheathed his sword, "I'll be taking this," then picked up the halberd and turned to charge. He'd been out of the fight for long enough. "Joji, I'm right behin-"

Holy shit.

As Zell charged with the new two-handed weapon, he was wide-eyed. He barely managed two steps and Joji had already crossed the short distance back to the Alpha Male, a light trail dust kicking up with the sheer speed of Japanese man's sprint. Zell could barely follow the man's movements, seeing nothing more than what felt like a few flashing images. One thing he did catch sight of was Joji cleverly whip blood at the Alpha's eyes. "Ha!" He was impressed with Joji's resourcefulness and made a mental note of such a trick. "Joji, incoming!"

Seeking to take advantage of Joji's attempt to blind the Alpha male, Zell - still charging and now closer - used his momentum to spin around, swinging the heavy weapon around his head, before launching the rusty halberd with all his power, sending it spinning overhand towards the Alpha Male.

Such was the momentum in his move - such was the might he'd mustered - Zell almost fell on his face, but with his hands free for balance, he kept his forward motion, drawing his sword off his back once more and lunging into a combination of diagonal strikes.

The Second Falling of the Big Brother Government - (A Tale by KrystalKleo & Saiyan)

Isaac suppressed a laugh, scratched his head and nodded. "Sure. Mole rat steaks sound pretty good, right about now, if my stomach growling is any indication."

He was actually about to relent on the shooting training when she groaned, thinking that maybe he was being a bit over-zealous and pushing her too hard. Fact was, he hardly knew her - they were perfect strangers - and here he was determined to give her marksmanship lessons. Not to mention, she'd just escaped slavery - likely malnutrioned, overworked and now walking the lonely miles, all day. Give the girl a break! But right before he could say anything, she gave him a solid answer. She was tough alright, but she'd already proven that.

"Alright, let's step outside," Isaac quipped ironically. "After you, doll-face."

He foraged a few tin cans from the immediate area, then set them up on the fence-posts that marked what was once... a garden maybe? It was hard to tell, the ground everywhere around here was a mix of concrete silt and dirt, broken up periodically by torn up roads of tarmac. Isaac wasn't bothered. He didn't really think about the state of the environment much, nor what it might've been before. Once upon a time, as a greenhorn vault dweller newly emerged, that was all he thought about. Constantly comparing the pictures and words he'd seen and read in books, to reality. That kind of thinking only led to despair and he soon grew out of it.

"So; Weaver Stance," he started as he walked back from the targets, towards her. He smiled and bounced his eyebrows in mock excitement. "You'll need to set your feet shoulder-width apart, right foot back, left hip turned towards the target." He demonstrated for her, then walked up to her and checked her feet. He tapped his foot against her back foot, "Move it back an inch. There. You're good. Now: Take aim."

After going over the details of what he'd told her in the molerat shoot-out, he repeated anything she needed to hear again and showed her his own stance to give her the visual. He looked over her form and nodded, then without thinking about the potential consequences, he moved up against her. His chest touched her back, his right hand on her right shoulder as his left hand adjusted her aim slightly. He was busy looking down the gun sights when he suddenly realised he could hear her breathing, and that's when it occured to him how close they were.

"?" Her smell, her body heat - it all completely distracted him from what he was meant to be doing and he looked at her. Eye to eye - this close up - that vivid green gaze was just as interesting as ever.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Was this really happening? Fuck am I thinking, of course it is, Zell thought.

While Lillianna spoke to the ghost, the Englishman leaned his weight onto his back foot and casually folded his arms in wait. His non-reaction to the extraordinary situation playing out in front of him was signal enough that he'd had enough of being surprised by this world. Witch Queens, walking skeletons, smoking-hot circus archers, tree-bridges... why not add spirit mediums, huh?

He looked about at the environment absentmindedly before Joji drew his attention. “I’m sure glad to have crossed that gorge, but did anyone hear that roar?”

"Yeah," Zell replied, looking at his fellow swordsman. "Sounds likely the clearing full of corpses that MacKensie found belonged to the owner of that roar. Whatever it is, it's big. And probably isn't the most civilized host." When Lillianna was done and made them aware of the impending danger, Zell simply nodded a few times. "Wonderful."

Zell got into formation with everyone else except Adam who he watched go forward and start breaking the bridge. Clive decided that this was the best time to make sure his boots were tightened up. The direwolves were on them pretty quick and Zell drew his sword, twirling it in a single circle before dropping into a one-handed stance. The Druid bravely stuck around, exposed, to finish destroying the bridge, which resulted in taking out two wolves.

"Nice, Adam, now get your ass back here!" he said loudly as the direwolves began swarming. Realising Adam was in danger and without a weapon, Zell rushed forward to help, but... "Watch out!" ...had to leap to one side to avoid the blast that came from the Alpha Male, his hair fluttering with the wind that blasted past him towards the group. Then a shadow materliazed around his feet and he was forced to dive back to the front line to avoid the aerial attack from a Lesser Wolf. "Shit."

With a commando roll back to his feet, he turned about to meet the onrush of direwolves, hoping that Adam was okay. One of the wolves leapt at him, blocking his view of the Druid ahead, and Zell was forced to put all of his attention on the ridiculously strong predator trying to bite his face off. He'd managed to use his sword like a dog chew-toy, the wolf clamping it's jaws down on the horizontally held blade while Zell held hilt and the dull side of the tip to push against the awesome canine power. His feet slid back, bringing up dirt around his boots as he was pushed backward with the force.

"Urrgh." Zell struggled to not buckle under the pressure, his triceps bulging with work. The Lesser wolf's front paws were thrashing about, fortunately unable to reach him. "James, that blinding spell would be pretty good right now!"

If the Cleric obliged, then Zell would seize the opportunity and make quick work of the direwolf.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Time for a bit of fisticuffs eh. Sweet. I'll catch up with the reading and post tomorrow.

lmao I think I went too far with her quick mastery of it. I got a bit happy while writing xD

@Zool

Nah, you nailed it imo. I was playing an ex-circus gypsy in an RP, last year. I did wonder about getting his hands on a similar-type gauntlet. Never worked out, but I can live vicariously through you now lol