@ERode@NanayaRio successful in intercepting. Archer down. It's hardly of importance to Hildegunde - not with the sight of her bullet before her. This was the first time Hildegunde has actually witnessed the bullet. While her rifle seems to have expended a bullet when it fired, it visually does not match the rest loaded in her rifle - it's a blueish silver thing, and were it not in motion, Hildegunde would've been able to see it as strangely ornate.
"Your Ethos? I'm impressed."
You should be. For the wrong reasons."It appears it'll keep going like this, until either it breaks through, I let it through, or I deflect it. But in the time it'd take to remove it, it could be just the second needed to find an opening in my perception. Attempting to deflect could, maybe, be worse than letting it dig through my essence."
It won't be deflected. Not permanently, anyways - she's sure it'd find a way back. Hildegunde is almost certain of this much, now that the bullet refuses to cease its forward momentum, even with the seemingly impossible barrier before her. Of course, why wouldn't it? That seems to be an immutable law of her ethos - the bullets always find their mark, some way or another. This one just might take its time.
Still, she wonders, what would happen if he did try to move it. Would it burrow through his hand the way it currently attempts to burrow through the PB?
Then, something changes.
Even over the piercing noise of metal on metal, it couldn't be drowned out. Hildegunde needed not to turn around to recognize the sound of breaking wood - the forest was, after all, her home. Needs not pay attention to the shadow increasing before her for more than a split second. She immediately makes a dash for it without so much as a glance behind her. She feels the ground rumble on its impact, a few feet away from her. Hildegunde keeps her senses sharp for any other incoming threats.
Otis knocks. A question is posed. Hildegunde looks at the bullet.
Alto. Left eye.It does not budge. Seems like once a target is decided, there is no swaying it. There's more Hildegunde has learned about her ethos today - even if it's knowledge that doesn't surprise her.
Otis, buddy, they are not buddies and they both know it.
I hate to break it to you, but as of right now, I can only guarantee your safety and everyone else's with one eye, she admits, being deliberately vague. Otis can probably piece together why though with fair ease. He seems a smart man to Hildegunde.
If you want two, in the worse case scenario, someone will die. Until I think my own life is in danger, I don't think this is worth that risk. So I'm either going to need different instructions, or you're going to have to settle for one.Moreover, she did not like the idea of possibly blinding - permanently blinding - her professor. One eye, though?
He could manage.
Another thought occurs to her. She never had a reason, to try and further channel her ethos before. Bullets were too fast and generally too effective to bother attempting it. But now she wonders, if there's a way to infuse the bullets with further power. Never before has Hildegunde had to strain for her ethos, so sparingly used as it is, that she is at a loss for how to push it. Could she move the bullet with the same sort of
Maybe coming to this school wasn't a mistake. She's not sure where else she'd be thinking like this.
It must be like a muscle, Hildegunde reckons. It stretches and pulls and eventually fatigues. Hildegunde focuses on the bullet, which whizzes through the air, which she breathes, and mentally pushes, in a manner not unlike how she'd go about primal magic. Would such an application do anything - could it move with any more force? Or was the bullet truly fixed?