[Plot] [Open] Week 109: Perdition//Revelations

[Valero]

Deni froze as that eye fixed on him. All thoughts seemed to exit his mind at the sense of terror that the huge demon managed to fill him with. The others had gone to fight it up close but even at his distance, he could feel its rage. It didn't feel like a cornered beast, though. It felt personal, if that was possible, as if it was promising his destruction. His blood turned to ice. His heart slowly tried to beat its way out of its chest. It felt like someone with a hammer was trying to smash their way out of his ribcage. But why couldn't he move?

Move, he willed himself. Fucking. Move.

His eyes blinked shut for a moment and he found the willpower to sprint to cover at the edge of the stadium. Beads of sweat started to slide down the side of his face. A great deal of concentration was required to stop himself from hyperventilating.

"Fucking demons," he muttered between irregular breaths. "They're wrong. All sorts of wrong."

As if he'd only just remembered, the rogue's eyes shot wide. Ignis was fighting it up close. Had he forgotten that for a moment under that foul creature's gaze? Shame washed over him at that, but that wasn't all. Both rows of his sharp teeth crunched against each other. It didn't take long for his blood to warm up again. It was time he listened to his own speech.

Let's send it back to Infernalis.

Deni popped his head out around the corner of his cover. He aimed down the sight of his sniper rifle. It seemed as though the demon really wanted to protect that eye. That was a good thing. All he had to do was break through its massive jaw and crush the damned thing.

The velen gasped when he saw the portals appear at the beast's wings. Ignis had been blown out of his sight. Was she alright?

She's strong, she'll be fine, he reassured himself and shoved the concern to the back of his mind. He focussed on aiming at the jaw protecting the eye. His breathing seemed to return to a regular pace. His pulse still pounded heavily, but instead of being filled with dread, it felt calm. Controlled. Certain. As the dragon's wings stopped moving, Deni pulled the trigger and loosed another bolt with a loud bang.

[398/1,138]

Note

Another standard tier 6 sniper shot, aimed at breaking through to the eye-tongue-thing.

 

[Shadowthread]

With losing hardly any momentum from his run, the athlete chanted into the bustling winds the demon had conjured calmly.

”In a faraway, forgotten land, a tall statue would forever stand!” the spell sapping little bit of the athlete's strength as it formed a barrier to block the gusts, Dante winced from the pain as the winds cut into the athlete's flesh through his defensive efforts. By sustaining the momentum the ahtlete jumped as hard as he could and tried to grab the dragon's leg to begin climbing in order to reach the top where he could do more to stop the massive beast from devouring his stadium.

A slight doubt began to swell in the deepest pocket of his mind that charging at the dragon without a solid plan was not one of his brightest moments.

[138/602]

Combaty Stuff

Vigor Remaining : 1755/2051
Turns in Zone - 2/5
Damage taken - 1 tier.

Casted Deflector with a magnitude of 1, reducing sickle wind damage by one tier.

DEFLECTOR
Basic - 100 Vigor
A thin round shield is created in front of the caster, lasting one round. The barrier reduces the damage of oncoming attacks by the amount of its own magnitude, and dissipates or breaks if this magnitude is exceeded. Augmenting with Terra Regia increases the magnitude by 1 per grade of material, for a total of 5 additional tiers.

Verse: In a faraway, forgotten land, a tall statue would forever stand.

 

[Tenchra]

He was running at full speed to get close to the beast trailing it from behind, hearing the sound of combat echo around he glanced about seeing the other people who were going after the beast. They had its attention which was a good thing. Reilly had yet to attack or make his presence known to the demonic monstrosity.


His heart stopped a moment as he fairly out in the open when the beast reared up and began to attack once more, but it had seemed his good luck was coming in spades for the moment when he the attack was entirely centered in front of him, giving Reilly possibly the best chance for success he was going to see. Bolting off into a full stride rush he ran right for the dragon. Once upon the beast he began his ascent using anything he could, scales,, spikes whatever the beast had upon his back to try and climb up.

[159]

 

[Nargles]

Even if it wasn’t originally planned for, the two strikes struck at the same moment. The sniper shot bore through the dragon’s skull bone, though quickly losing momentum as the heavy bone repelled it. The beast appeared to slightly flinch back its neck from the attack. Chunks of bone feel off and slammed into the ground below. However, at the same moment the heavy blade hit the front left of the five pairs of legs the beast possessed. The blade struggled to cut through the heavy scales that covered the upper part of its body. However, the force behind the attack was still potent enough to pierce through. The black scales fell off, revealing crimson flesh underneath. Another spurt of vibrant green blood erupted from the leg, the dragon reeling back from the surprising force. However, for the individuals attempting to scale the beast, the knockback was more a curse than a blessing. The beast temporarily lost balance from the impact, rearing up until all but its hind pair of legs were in the air. Its tail smashed down on the ground, sending rock and debris flying up on impact. With a heavy thud is slammed back down as it recovered its footing, threatening to crush Aelflead in the process. It landed with such a heavy force that it cratered the ground below it, pulverizing everything below into dust. Its anger towards the insects that attempted to bar its progress transformed into pure murderous intent. The beast turned its skull to face the sniper-wielding velen. The creeping feeling that plagued Deni bore down on him once again. It was at that very moment that the implications of the dragon’s previous ability were made aware to him. It knew. A telescoping series of three diamond portals appeared in front of the beast. The citrine colored portals were metallic, the air filling with a tingling sensation of static electricity gathering. A flash of lightning, the boom of thunder! A brilliant beam of electricity shot ripped through all three portals in an instant shattering them. The pinpointed attack aimed true. The remaining energy from the portals dispersed into the air in front of the draconic being. Several shards of concentrated visae, still loaded with residual electrical energy rained down on Ignis, increasing in concentration as she approached. [1252]

Notes

[95] meters remaining.

The dragon's scales are on its body and reduce damage by 1 tier. A strong enough attack can break off the scales, which Aelflead did with Gangway! There's a patch on the front left of its 5 pairs of legs that reveal its flesh, and will do full damage if struck there. The underside of its wings also do not have armor. The skull has 5 tiers of damage reduction left. Hitting the eye does full damage as well.

Gangway! is a 5 meter knockback on normally sized things but this is MUCH bigger than Aelflead so it really isn't moving it. However, it was still enough force to cause it to lose its balance temporarily.

Though, for the people climbing the dragon, this probably wasn't that helpful. The dragon recoiled backwards, flailing its body and limbs wildly. It smashed its tail on the ground to send debris flying everywhere behind it and onto its back. Think trying to stay on a bucking horse... except this horse is a giant dragon... and this giant dragon is actively pissed off. (What I'm hinting at is that it might be really hard to stay on without getting extremely creative).

The dragon is landing back down on the ground with a full force body slam. Though the sheer size of the beast and the amount of rubble and shit that it launches on its landing will do damage. If you get hit by the full force well... it'll crush Aelflead. Otherwise treat this as a 3 damage tier attack (though handy reminder that damage tiers are a guideline and you should RP the damage in a realistic fashion!).

LIGHTNING CANNON
Advanced - 2,500 Vigor
Heralded by roaring thunder, a beam of searing golden lightning rips into the world, present in the mortal world for only an instant, though its effects are not soon forgotten. The lightning strikes all targets in a line up to 50m ahead. Augmenting with Terra Regia increases the range by 25m per grade, to a maximum of 100m.

The turn before, the dragon used a version of Pinpoint on Deni to take note of his locations. It has fired an amped Lightning Cannon
at him (100 m forward). It'll do 4 tiers of damage if it hits.

Basically tons of glass shards are raining down on Ignis as she approaches. These will do minor damage, 1 tier or so, if they hit. However, they'll shock repeatedly and flying through might be a pain (flying through glass shards that electrify).

 

[Shadowthread]

The athlete struggled to keep his position on the massive beast, but he could tell that the grip was weakened, and quickly came to a conclusion. He felt that instead of trying to struggle to hang on he decided to bet on a risky move, after all he lived for such risks, if he dared not to, how could Dante call himself a professional kinchaa player.

”Gliding up high,” he spoke out while positioning his left leg to kick off from it, ”through the air,” briefly closing his eyes to focus, ”leave the world without care!” and he jumped from the dragon as the spell took hold on the kinner, he knew that if he missed he would have probably injured himself severely from taking a nosedive to the dirt and be crushed by the demon. The athlete's jump had a form similar to a somersault and while he was mid-air Dante could feel the air around him felt more substantial than normally. Pulling his knees together in the air, the athlete collected as much force and extended his legs as hard as he could and it felt like having kicked off from a platform of air not dissimilar to the ones they used in kinchaa stadiums, while reaching out with his arms towards the dragon as the impact tremors shook the ground below. Trying to grab any scales or what he had used to hold onto it.

He managed to grab back onto the dragon at few inches below what he had been before it had tried to shook off its ´free´ passengers. Glancing down to figure what had potentially caused such an incident, Dante saw a female with a huge sword near the dragon's leg. Oh of course, the athlete shrugged to himself.

”Hey you down there! Are you a vis damned idiot?! Can you not see I am climbing here!” the kinner spouted off in slight rage to Aelflead. The athlete was sweating as he tried to reach the back of the dragon grabbing onto whatever in order to pull himself higher. His stamina was fading and quickly, the magic he had used having taken a bigger hit than expected. Filled with determination and drive to stop this battering ram from Infernalis the athlete looked up to estimate how much further.

[386/988]

Notes

Vigor Remaining : 1402/2061
Turns in Zone : 3/5

Spell used :
AVIATE
Basic - 250 Vigor
The caster begins to hover an inch or two off the ground for two rounds, making for easier footing and allowing them to cross surfaces which would normally not hold their weight. Once per cast of Aviate, the caster may also 'step' off of the air after jumping, for additional height or maneuverability. Augmenting with Terra Regia increases the duration of Aviate, by one round per grade of material used. For every increase in the magnitude of the spell, an additional 'step off' may be performed while it is cast.

Verse: Gliding up high through the air, leave the world without a care.

 

[Tenchra]

He held on as best he could using all his strength to hold on, but at the last moment he could do so no longer and dropped to the ground throwing his hands in a cross before him to block debris flying up, leaving his arms scratched and cut along them. As he reached the floor and the moment his feet met ground, he summoned up every ounce of strength he could in his muscles and jumped up back into the air high grabbing onto the dragon’s body, gripping the scales as best he could pulling himself up to grab more of the dragon’s body until he reached the back of the dragon, his muscles aching a bit from pulling his body up, though they did not hurt.


He stood as best he could on top of the dragon and looked about at the people fighting with him. He could not help but shake his head as he recognized them all, but was a bit relieved that he had worn the mask during that job, so the chances of them recognizing him were slim. Sucking in a deep breath he yelled out as loud as he possibly could.

“Do not kill the beast. Do not send it back until I have claimed its name! Do you hear me beast? Give me your name and this will be over soon, refuse and we will make your pain last for an eternity, you will beg us small ‘insects’ for sweet release when we are done with you. I want a name.” He had yelled out to them all, he had hoped his words would reach them all loud and clear enough. He wanted that name more than anything.

[260]

Skills Used

Vigor left: 4715

Adrenaline Rush
Of all the races, the Laicar are easily the most tenacious. Their stubbornness at times makes it seem like they always appear to be right where they need to. Partly, this is due to the ability to push their muscles to their absolute potential in dire situations. When activated, the Laicar suddenly is capable of calling a burst of fight or flight energy, greatly increasing their running speed and jumping height.

While this ability does not have a cost, it can only be used once every other turn.

Glory
It may be an unfair assumption that all Laicar are naturally boisterous, but history at times says otherwise. That aside, their natural charisma does tend to have an almost magnetic effect. Somehow, they always seem to be able to make themselves the center of attention. When used, the Laicar is capable of drawing the attention of everyone in a 20 meter radius immediately to them, ally and foe alike. While it seems to inspire courage in allies, enemies on the other hand seem to have this growing urge to attack them.

The Laicar pays 5% of their vigor to use. For the following turn, this greatly increases the propensity of affected enemies to attack them. This is considered a 2 tier mental effect.

 

[Dysney]

The last of the harsh winds ruffled her feathers and made her cloak dance around her light form. Eyes narrowed against the breeze, Ignis stared down her target. She noticed a flash of something headed for the ram's head encasing the dragon's eye-tongue. What was that? Perhaps a bullet from Deni.

A second later, the dragon reared up.

Ignis, remembering the last spell the dragon cast wasted no time in instructing Amicus to whisk them away from what was sure to be another nasty storm of debris and cutting winds at the very least. The shield curled around her form and flew lower and further away.

The avian watched the dragon call up a bolt of green energy, eyes widening in horror as it raced back towards the stadium.

“Deni!” she cried out.

Her breath caught in her chest and her stomach started to hurt. A sharp sting as something sliced her cheek went all but unnoticed, but the electric shock that followed could not be ignored. Ignis grit her teeth, body jolting at the sting of the electrified glass.

She pushed back the worry and beginnings of grief. There was a dragon to slay. Her head tilted as a faraway voice reached her ears. It was hard to understand what it was saying from this distance, but Ignis thought she heard the words kill and beast. She could do that.

Once the debris settled down, Ignis urged Amicus to take them forward as fast as he could. Her face was disturbingly calm, save for her slightly knit brows and narrowed eyes. Ignis took in the forms of three people near the dragon. Two of them were climbing onto the beast. Aelflead was near the rampaging dragon’s feet.

Squinting, Ignis noticed an off colored patch on one of the dragon’s limbs. Had Aelflead managed to wound the beast? Time to find out.

Cora sailed ahead of Ignis and fired a spray of bullets at the spot before changing directions mid air and zipping away.

The prod at the dragon’s defenses might make it rear up again and knock off the people on it’s side and back, Ignis noted numbly. With Deni hurt and potentially dying, that didn’t matter to the avian as much as it should have. She needed to send the damned thing back to whatever pit of infernalis it came from and then get Deni to safety --if he was even alive. Ignis didn’t want to admit to herself that she was reluctant to return to him for fear that she’d discover her lover’s corpse.

Val growled, hissing at Ignis to sink her talons into the lizard and rip it into pieces for daring to hurt what was hers.

Ignis embraced the voice in her head, feeling rage bubble up in her chest. She would show it and everyone watching exactly why it was dangerous to go after Deni in front of her.

[1908]

Stuff

Cora fired off a 2 tier attack, aiming for the spot where Aelflead ripped off the dragon's scales.

Oooh, she's mad

Soo... Ignis no longer values any one else's safety or goals as much as getting to tear the dragon a new one. Hope no one gets in her way

 

[Valero]

Deni leapt towards the nearest cover, but that did nothing to hinder the effects of the ethereal lightning bolt. The gush of electricity flashed and roared as it seared through the air. The entire area surrounding the stadium was illuminated for just one moment as the bolt struck its target. The velen yelped as the dragon's attack lashed at his leg mid-stride, tearing the rifle from his hands. The powerful current coursed through Deni's body and flung him through the air.

Thud.

The pale gunslinger hit the ground hard. Steam rose from his leg where the spell had made its first contact, though the burning sensation radiated throughout his entire body. He let loose a low, guttural rumble at the pain. More than anything he wanted to remain still and let the others deal with the massive problem. It was justified in his eyes, since he'd just been hit by an electrical charge strong enough to incapacitate a trained fighter. The thought was tempting.

Deni turned his head to the side. He could see the others still fighting that bastard thing. Even at his distance he could see Ignis thrashing about. She wasn't doing that before. Was she doing that for him? Seeing her like that... it wouldn't be right for him to quit. No, it was more than that. He didn't want to quit, not while she was still in danger.

"Well," he croaked. With an effort he managed to lift himself onto his knees and crawl towards his rifle. "There's nothing quite like the scent of singed flesh to keep you awake."

His webbed fingers wrapped around the weapon's grip. The rifle seemed much heavier than before. The rogue lifted one knee to use as leverage to keep his aim steady. He looked down the sight. It was a lot harder to aim after that blast. His heartbeat raced inside his head after the recent charge, the sound of every heavy breath filling his ears. Finally, he caught a steady shot at that weakened jaw.

I don't want to die, he thought to himself, but if I do...

"This one's for you, honey!" he shouted, regardless of whether anyone could hear him. The layer of bone protecting the damaged eye was in his sight. He smiled. Then he pulled the trigger.

Bang.

[384/1,522]

Note

I've got news for you! It's another tier 6 shot to the bones protecting the tongue-eye again.

 

[Mystydjinn]

Aelflead followed through with her strike down below and smirked at the demon's bellow of pain, though that smirk turned into a grimace when she realized the demon's foot was coming back down.

The redhead turned and leapt to the side away from the plummeting claw, only to be launched into the air by the resulting mini earthquake. She crashed into a rock unfortunate enough to share her fate, bounced off it, and hit the ground hard. Her sword had fallen out of her hand at some point, and was nearby but her body felt like she'd been hit with a ton of bricks.

The woman groaned and rose shakily to her feet, wishing she'd cut her losses and left the city a month ago. She looked around the city and sighed disdainfully. Taking in all of the city's destruction was a bit unsettling, even for Aelflead.

Buildings had come down all around the current battlefield, and were either crushed and pulverized to dust or burning. In fact the place they stood now, if the redhead remembered correctly was a semi-residential business area. That was where all the rubble, steel, and stone beams the fighters had been battered with was coming from. "All those years of work and dreams of success huh?" The question was, did she care about that though?

She looked around and drew her sword from the rock it had gotten stuck in. With all the dust swirling around from the demon's earlier attack, Terminus looked like an abandoned Aridus village, complete with swirling dust storm. Why am I even fighting this thing? Aelflead looked up at the two laicar pityingly, then scowled when she caught Reilly's voice on her ear. "I don't even like more than half the arseholes I'm fighting it with." She considered for a moment staying for the sake of killing the beast just for the sake of fucking over the laicar, but she'd almost died. Even I'm not that spiteful, she thought. My life isn't much, but it matters to me, I've got something to do with it.

"And come to think of it, that's much more important than dying with a bunch of purebloods I don't like." The redhead hefted her blade onto her shoulder and turned to leave, but stopped short after the first step.

The woman sighed. "You've got to be kidding me."
[396]

explanation

She landed roughly 30m away from the others and is contemplating her options atm so she's not knocking the demon's knees in atm so bonus I guess for the ice climbers?
She's not leaving though and will run back next turn, I'm gonna post a mini-chap to explain the period between since it's too long for a turn.
Yaay, character development

 

[Nargles]

The beast turned its head towards the incoming shot. Unfortunately for the sniper-wielding velen, his attack pattern had become predictable to the draconic beast. It was presumptuous to think a demon of such a level would fall for the same trick three times! Folding its wings in front of its eye, a thick shield of scales covered its eyes. It bent down slightly so its eye was lower than usual and out of harm’s way. The ebony scales, shimmered and met the oncoming sniper fire. The attack pierced clean through both sets of wings, though the thick scales dampened the attack. They carved overlapping circles through the flesh of both wings, spewing green blood outwards. The beast roared and bucked with pain once again, the shivers sending another tremor below the climbers. As it took another step forward, the droid’s splattering of bullets on its leg caused it to halt immediately. It reared back once again as the drone’s fire hit the exposed flesh underneath. It reared back again in reaction to the shots on its leg, the climbers being forced to hold on to dear life. However, for those brash enough to climb the beast, the instability of their climb was not their only worry. The dragon’s attention became acutely aware to Riley attempting to scale its back. The three sets of claws that were positioned between its main front and rear legs retracted into its body. The flesh below Riley and Dante appeared to contort and pulse ominously. Suddenly, the six claws erupted from the flesh to skewer the two! Four dove towards the boisterous laicar, Riley, while the remaining two attempted to grapple and pull apart the athlete. Brandishing razor sharp nails, they threatened to rip and tear through their flimsy flesh with ease . The beast’s rage continuing to grow from the constant assaults. The pests out of reach were currently the most aggravating to the draconic demon. A malefic aura radiated from its body, the black energy dissipating into the atmosphere. Another chill radiated through Deni as well as Ignis. Cora beeped loudly, its sensors picking up danger. Two black portals appeared around Cora, Ignis, and Deni respectively. The rectangular portals appeared to be made out of charcoal, the insides of the portals swirling with an ominous void. They emanated a sound similar to a storm in the middle of a desolate canyon, echoing repeatedly within itself. Unleashing the force stored in the portals, a shadowy claw not that different to the ones assaulting the climbers fired outwards. The demonic claws were made of pure energy capable of burning and ripping through whatever they touched. They frantically slashed and lashed at whatever they could in front of the portals. [453]

Notes

Dragon's gotten pretty used to the 'sniper fire at eye strat'! It created a shield around they eye with its front wings and moved its eye out of the way. The attack was reduced by 2 tiers because of both sets of scales from the overlapping wings dealing 4 tiers of damage.

The drone fire hit the leg causing it to recoil back and reducing it's approach to only a 10 meter move forward. It's getting pretty freaking annoyed at Deni from sniping it so much!

However, Riley's taunt is also grabbing its attention to the climbers and it's not happy about people climbing up it. I would say 2 turns of uninterrupted climbing will get you near the head. Three depending on how much you want to spend time not getting damaged. Though note, you don't need to attack the eye. The inside of the wings and are also scale-less, furthermore a patch of scales can still be removed to create a weakspot.

It's pulling in its three pairs of internal claws (leaving out the largest outer and rear sets of legs on the ground), and is essentially doing some creepy demon stuff to try to get the people off its back.

There are 4 claws slashing at Riley and 2 slashing at Dante. These can be treated as Novice (Mainly brute attempting to flail at them) level attacks and will deal 2 tiers of damage if they hit.

As for Cora, Ignis, and Deni, it has used Coiling Abyss to summon 6 portals. 2 are around Cora, 2 are around Deni, 2 are around Ignis and they're busting out one claw each. Getting hit by them will do 3 tiers of damage.

COILING ABYSS
Basic - 1,400 VigorA portal of darkness opens in front of a target within 30m, and a demonic claw lashes out at them. Augmenting with Terra Regia increases the number of portals opened, to a maximum of 6 portals.

 

[Shadowthread]

Oh crap! Was the only thought in the athlete's mind as the claws erupted from below. Dante managed to avoid the most of the impact by contorting and twisting his body thanks to his reflexes, one of the claws grazing his left rib, while the other pierced a part of his flesh covering the right side ribs. The athlete screamed in agony as he lost his grip from combination of trying to evade the attacks and the impact of failing to do so.

Dante plummeted and crashed hard into the various wooden beams and assorted rubble. His fall somewhat slowed by a few support beams hitting him in the back, the athlete managed to protect his face by crossing his arms in front. Every part of the kinner's body was aching or worse, the waves of pain whenever he would try to move either arm of his completely paralyzed the athlete, whose body was covered by some rubble pressing against it, making sure the athlete would stay where he had landed.

Shit, both of my arms are probably fractured or worse. I'm sorry everyone, but looks like I won't be able to help out anymore, the kinner mused to himself from underneath all of the pain. His back and leftside had bruises all over. His left arm was twisted in to a shape so unnatural for a human, that it made him want to throw up. The athlete's vision had become cloudy and blurry as he barely held onto conciousness amidst the rubble with tears in his eyes.

[258/1246]

 

[Dysney]

Amicus immediately yanked their platform away from the portals just in time to evade the claws that burst forth. Well, mostly avoid them --one of the damnable spectral claws managed to slash at them anyway, shredding through part of Ignis' cloak. The enlil squawked and tried to dive out of the way, but sustained scratches on her back.

Similarly, Cora was able to evade one of the clawed hands, but was batted straight at Ignis by the other. The drone warbled, sounding rather angry, as it careened towards its mechanic. The little ball of metal stopped just before crashing into Ignis when the engineer hastily threw out a hand and flared her vigor.

She hadn't even had time to react. This wasn't good. A sense of dread ebbed at the anger that had previously fueled her actions.

While Ignis was still reeling, Amicus decided enough was enough. The platform curled into a ball around Ignis and her minions before sailing at top speed back towards Deni's location.

The enlil would have protested, but her injuries distracted her. She could feel Amicus' displeasure and assumed that was why he hadn't moved to heal her or numb the pain yet. Gritting her teeth, Ignis tried to ignore the stinging wounds on her back. It wasn't as bad as when that basilisk had nearly shredded her arm, but moving wasn't at the top of the list of things she wanted to do.

Finally, once they were closer to their destination, Amicus' branchy hands began to glow and the gashes on her back began to subside.

"Thanks, buddy," she said quietly, "I'll be more careful from now on."

[2182]

 

[Valero]

Deni heaved an exasperated grunt when the demon moved its wings to protect its weak spot. He was hoping the massive creature was a big, mindless brute, but that was clearly just wishful thinking. He didn't have time to make up for his failed attempt at breaking the eye, however, since a portal formed in front of him. His parents had taught him about spells when he was young. He knew that it was bellator, but had no idea what was going to come out of the portal.

"Shit," he uttered as he leapt back from the ethereal gateway. A large claw emerged and tried to hack at the velen sniper. He was lucky that he was used to brawls starting around him, or he might not have had a good enough reaction time to escape the attack. Then he looked behind him.

A second portal. Another claw. He hadn't even seen it. Gasping spontaneously, he twisted his body awkwardly away from the attack. The talons tore at his jacket and scraped across his back. The rogue let loose a howl of pain as skin was ripped from his back in the shape of the strike. The bellator spells dissipated and Deni hit the ground, face first.

The first thing he noticed beyond the fresh pain across his back wasn't his heartbeat. It wasn't his uneven breathing. It was the heat. Sweat dripped from his forehead and slid down his cheek. It was so hot that he thought he would boil alive before that demon could cast another damned spell. Regardless of the heat, it felt as though his muscles had been turned to stone. Every ounce of his body wanted him to stay on the ground, to rest until help could arrive. For all he knew, help wasn't going to arrive. He couldn't rely on anyone turning up to save the day. So he fought his body and tensed his aching muscles. He heaved his upper body off the ground and managed to bring himself up to his knees.

Bloodshot blue eyes stared ahead. He could make out a blurry figure running towards him. Was it Ignis? She was getting closer. If it was her, he couldn't tell. A pulse ran through his fingers as he maintained the hold on his custom sniper rifle. Every ounce of his body ached to stay on the ground, but every ounce of his spirit told him that the demon was wrong and needed to be killed.

From his knees, he lifted the rifle and aimed down the sight. His breating was unpredictable; heavy then soft, fast then slow, but he still knew how to fire a rifle despite his wounds. The three long marks burned at his back, only adding to the heat. His teeth slammed together. In his fury he found the apex of his concentration.

Bang.

The round was fired from the rifle, aimed at the creature's wing on Aelflead's side. His arms dropped the weapon the second the round was loosed. His body had taken a lot of punishment and his strength was starting to fail. He had managed to fire the bolt, but how much more could his body withstand?

[532/2,054]

Note

Used Thread the Needle on the wing on Aelflead's side.
Remaining Vigor: 14,473

 

[Mystydjinn]

Aelflead arrived on scene a moment later, and with a sigh stopped her return to battle by shoving away the stone that appeared to be blocking the athlete's motion. A strained grunt of effort along with the sound of stone scraping against splintering wood sounded the relief of pressure on the trapped man. "You're lucky I decided to be nice for today," the redhead groused as she worked, raising a wood beam and shoving it away harshly. She glanced over the man's arms and frowned.

There were at least two breaks she could see, and probbably more hairline fractures she couldn't. She inwardly sighed, I almost wish I'd bought into that Castus stuff Velden was always talking about. Maybe he's got something. The woman nudged the man's foot brusquely. "Hey, d'you know any of that castus hocus-pocus stuff?"

[138/1,709]

 

[Nargles]

Another splattering of green blood coated the ground in front the beast. It roared out in pain as the shot pierced through the wing cleanly. A burst of stored up energy signaled that the beast’s ability to control its magic in that wing was compromised. The wing retracted to the side, as the beast was brought down to its knees. The combination of the panicked reaction and the onset of claws threw Riley clean off the beast’s back, sending him tumbling violently on the ground. Visible lacerations and claw marks covered his body, painfully leaking crimson blood throughout. Though this respite from its magical assaults was fleeting. At this point, its attention was fully drawn towards Deni and Ignis. The beast had identified them both as the most important threat, the other ants being nothing more than drones. For a brief moment, the casing around the beast’s eye opened, revealing the damaged eye. It continued to ooze out blood, the bloodshot eye scanning the area intensely once more. A circular disc of green energy appeared in front of the eye. A chill ran down the spines of Ignis and Deni, one more than familiar to the velen. The green disc shone before rotating along the central axis. The dragon roared once more, a bevy of lasers firing out towards both of them. While Ignis was caught in the crossfire, it was clearly evident that the brunt of the assault was pointed at the velen who as currently the most annoying to the draconic demon.

Notes

Dragon used Light Fang towards Ignis and Deni with more of the lasers pointed decidedly towards Deni with Ignis caught in the crossfire.

It is a 3 tier bellator spell.

 

[Dysney]

Amicus allowed the shield to unfurl a bit so Ignis could see where they were going. The enlil couldn't see where Deni had gone, but the dragon's roar and bleeding wing meant that he was probably still kicking.

Good, Ignis thought. The idea of Deni not making it out of one of their crazy escapades alive was...

The enlil frowned and pushed the thought away. She couldn't let that distract her now, couldn't let grief over something that hadn't -- that wouldn't happen consume her. The engineer's attempts at centering herself were interupted by a dreadful feeling. Slowly, she turned to see a portal forming in front of the dragon's now open eye. Her head whipped back around.

"Deni!" Her voice was desperate, and a bit shrill.

Amicus stared at the beast, beady little eyes as wide as they could go. His first instinct was to get out of the way of whatever was coming and drag Ignis with him. The mons infsans found that he couldn't; the curled platform wouldn't move. Amicus tried to make it fly away, but it wouldn't budge. The familiar felt Ignis' pull on her vigor, grip iron tight and hysterical.

The mons infans pinched her cheek, bruising it, but to no avail. Her energy rammed up against his will. The platform snapped shut, but didn't move out of the path of the oncoming attack.

"Please. He's... he's my--" her throat constricted, cutting off whatever the enlil might have uttered.

Amicus heaved a sigh, and caved. There wasn't much time and he couldn't let his crazy, stupid, loyal friend get herself killed. He yanked on Ignis' vigor as hard as he could and closed his eyes.

The first blast made their little capsule of vines and branches shake, sending it hurtling in Deni's direction. More lasers hit the tiny, curled platform, batting it from side to side like cat paws. A laser punched a hole through the bark and vines above Ignis' head forcing her to duck. Another flew by, grazing her right arm. The attack just kept coming, relentlessly until the shield dissolved.

Bolts of energy slammed into Ignis' side, back, and legs. The smell of burning flesh and scorched feathers filled her nose, making the avian gag. Her eyes watered at the stinging sensation. Her body fell through the air, halting when she threw her arms out. The move was instinctual, and without thought. Ignis bit her lip at the strain on her muscles and the way the motions of gliding through the air stretched her burns. Her arms trembled, struggling to support her weight, the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth.

Amicus clung to Ignis for dear life. Her injuries were painful, and even though it was her own fault for being so stubborn, he couldn't let her suffer. The familiar whimpered, but didn't release his grasp on her vigor.

Ignis sighed in relief as the pain dulled. She craned her neck to see where Deni was.

"Deni!"

[2678]

Stats & Techs

Remaining Vigor: 15,766
Amicus and Ignis moved to block the attack aimed for Deni. Then, Ignis used feather fall to not go splat. Amicus used basic minion skill to numb Ignis to her injuries for the next three rounds.

 

[Valero]

Deni instinctively fell forward and lay flat against the ground as soon as he saw the bellator portal opening. He didn't have the energy or time to get up and try to move out of the way. He was already weak after that lightning bolt, and the fresh slash marks across his back still burned. There was nothing else he could do. He closed his eyes as he gripped his rifle tight. His teeth clenched together as he embraced the oncoming attack.

The velen flinched as one of the narrow bolts of energy hit the ground barely a few feet from him. Another few seared overhead. Others landed a little further away. There didn't seem to be as many as he thought there would be.

A scream snapped Deni's eyes open. Ahead of him he saw the shield of vines and branches getting decimated by the bellator spell. Those blue eyes widened. His stomach churned up a storm as he watched Ignis get thrashed about by those lasers. To watch someone so close to him enduring that assault... it was hard for him to accept, but he could not tear his eyes away. He had wondered if that demon had appeared straight out of someone's nightmares. It seemed as though he was right, since it was causing one of Deni's own nightmares to unfold before him.

Ignis' body hit the floor and rolled until she was only a short distance away from him. Steam rose from various parts of her body. Some of her feathers were singed. Blood dripped from her mouth. And still she called his name.

Moisture became apparent in the pelagic rogue's eyes. The heat of the wounds on his back didn't matter. Nor did the feeling that he hadn't eaten in days after that lightning bolt zapped the energy out of him and burnt his skin. The velen hissed. Keeping low, he leapt onto his feet, rifle in hand, and surged forward clumsily, trying desperately to ignore his own pain.

Deni dropped back down to his knees as soon as he reached Ignis. He briefly glanced over her body. She was in bad shape, but it seemed as though her shield had dampened a lot of the impact. Her wounds didn't seem life-threatening. It was only a small sense of relief, but it was something.

He opened his mouth to say something, but so many sentences tried to fight their way out of him that he didn't end up saying anything at all. She was alive and he was going to make sure that she got out alive. Then he remembered the dragon. His sharp teeth slammed together.

Deni placed himself in front of Ignis and lifted himself onto one knee. He aimed down the sight of that rifle. Getting the pair of them to safety probably should have been his priority, but he couldn't ignore the fire that burned in his mind, enraged at that bastard for hurting Ignis. It deserved to pay. It deserved to die.

"Spero vos ardebit," he uttered with the guttural twang of his native tongue. He focused his rage as he tried to fix his vision on the target's weak spot. One deep inhalation. The jaw lined up with his sight. The bullet was loosed with a loud yet brief crackle. He lowered his smoking gun. His heartbeat was growing fast and heavy. He didn't know how long they'd be able to keep up, but he wasn't going to die without a fight.

"If you can gather up enough energy for another shield, any shield," he said with a hoarse voice, "then I'll take you out to another fancy restaurant. My treat."

[612/2,666]

Note

Tier 6 sniper shot at its lower jaw, trying to smash through to the weak spot.

 

[Shadowthread]

Something relieved his chest from the pressure of the rubble and prodded his leg. Hearing a question, the athlete glanced towards the female.

”Yeah, I know some but I can't reach my Terra Regia reserves, help me out with this?” the athlete slightly nodded towards his left arm, ”It just seems to be dislocated,” he mused to the spurii.

Aelflead knelt down to grasp the man’s arm pensively, she was more used to breaking arms than she was used to pushing them into place. She felt around the appendage with some care, roughly checking for hidden breaks before making eye contact with the man. Her expression poised as if to say, “You might wanna bite down on something,” before jamming the arm into place with a *POP* like cracking a knuckle.

“Better?” She asked, watching the athlete’s expression.

A short scream escaped the athlete as the redhead jammed his arm back to normal. Spinning his arm around the shoulder, Dante kept feeling it about.

”Yup, seems to be just fine, always feels unpleasant putting it back though,” the athlete smirked at Aelflead, before grabbing some dahlitium pulveris from his pouch and sprinkling it over his right arm.

”O wondrous light, I beseech you to set right these fractured bones of this lost caitiff,” he prayed and as he finished a golden light shrouded his right arm. His face showed relief as some of the pain was lessened by the glowing splint his spell had created.

The redhead stifled a small laugh from the athlete’s exclamation and watched his prayer skeptically until the light forced her to squint and turn her head.

Her good deed done she turned her attentions back on the dragon’s wing. The membranous appendage was a lot higher up than she remembered. She glanced back at the athlete and his currently working arm. Hm, those muscles oughta be good for something.

“Hey! Terran,” the spurii jabbed a thumb at the demon over her shoulder. “Think you can give me a lift?”

Having some idea for what the female planned to do, he simply nodded and moved near her. Lowering his stance, and putting his left hand down for her to use as a step.

”Whenever you are ready.”

“Quick on the uptake I see,” the corner of her mouth curled slightly and she drew her sword onto her shoulder and took a breath. Then her muscles tensed and bulged, before a bright aura of scarlet light flashed around her intensely.

She placed her foot in the man’s hand and on his shoulder, and nodded. “Ready.”

Even as his whole body still ached from the rough tumble in the rubble, the athlete exerted every ounce of strength from his muscles to propel the female as high as he could with an accompanying shout.

At the apex of the man’s lift Aelf lept off and sailed up and towards the wing, before coming back down sword poised to crush the wing beneath her blow.

A sharp exhale crossed with a shout left her lips as the brought the blade down, and she aimed for the bone to break the wing. This dragon wouldn’t be flying after they were done.

[285/1994]

[246/1492]

Notes for Dante

Vigor Remaining: 1152/2061

SET FRACTURE
Advanced - 250 Vigor
Requires: 1x Dahlitium Pulveris
Shrouds the target limb in golden light, acting as a splint and healing one fracture on a target within 10m, over the course of five rounds. Ineffective on flesh wounds and burn wounds. Augmenting with Terra Regia increases the magnitude by one tier per grade, to a maximum of 6 tiers. If the total magnitude exceeds the spell's minimum by five tiers, one additional fracture is healed, plus one for each five tiers beyond that.

Prayer: O wondrous light, I beseech you to set right the fractured bones of this lost caitiff.

 

[Tenchra]

Just when he had gotten a good grip on his footing the dragon sought to knock him from his plateau. Four claws had ripped from its body rocketing upwards to strike him. Dodging them would have been a walk in the park if the dragon had not shifted just at that moment which caused him to brace his footing and remained planted as the claws ripped into him. He was blessed that the wounds were not great and that he had remembered to slip on his armor before leaving the Hospitium and thus each claws only grazed him.


The force of four attacks however was enough to shatter his balance and he tumbled to the side. Rolling off the back his body threatened to slam into the ground from the great height, which would probably have put him out of commission if not for the second stroke of good luck in which he fell close enough to reach out and grab hold of the wing on the right side. Gripping as best he could he continued to slide and slip down the dragon’s body ultimately losing his grip again and falling, but his momentum was far less than it would have been and left him with a good solid thud onto the ground.

He was lucky for his condition otherwise he might have been rolling in agony. His pulled himself to his feel and checked his movements seeing if anything was hindered he not doing what it was supposed to. His shoulder movements were slowed a bit as he felt a sort of clicking motion in the joint. Making a mental note to check it out soon, he rushed up towards one of the hind legs and with his non clicking joint side he slammed a fist into its body, it was about time he started to actually do some attacking.

[311]

 

[Nargles]

One after the other, the three attacks hit in succession. The beast was overwhelmed by the sudden combination of attack that assaulted it. The sniper shot ripped through the bone mask once more, the hard calcium disintegrating away to reveal the damaged eye underneath. However, before the beast could even react, two more assaults hit true. The woman’s heavy blade initially met resistance from the scales that covered the top of the beast’s wing. However, they were quickly ripped through as the full force of the attack tore into it. The blade ripped through the flesh, a trail of green blood splattering outwards and onto the young woman. Unstable energy stored in the wings erupted outwards, as the dragon lost control over the magic in that wing. The bones shattered from the impact, the beast frantically seizing its wing in pain. The woman was thrown back as the beast began to trample around. For Riley’s part, his fist made contact with the hind leg with surprising force. As he withdrew his fist, scales shattered around the source of impact, revealing bruised flesh underneath. However, the beast’s attention was more focused on the pain radiating out of its wing and protecting its vulnerable eye. Before the gathered could rest, a surprising amount of energy exited the beast’s body. A panicked counter attack, no longer interested in systematically eliminating individuals, was levelled towards the gathered. What appeared to be seven different crimson portals appeared around the dragon. They were similar to the portals that razed the city earlier, though noticeably smaller in size. One crimson portal appeared next to each of the gathered individuals, the heat from the portals already being insufferable. An additional portal appeared next to Deni and Aelflead, the two who had done the most damage to it. With little care for actual aim, immense pillars of flame erupted from the portals. Vibrant red flames surged out with a deafening roar, ready to burn all in their path to cinders. All the while the beast continued to trample the ground below it in pain, stomping primally around to simply crush the attackers underfoot.

Read

Each of those pillars is an Infurnus and is treated as 2 tiers of damage. Pillars of fire and whatnot. It's pretty damage and at this point it's not really aiming that well other than just putting the portals around people. They're pillars of fire but at this point it's strategy is more... 'burn everything especially all of these annoying people' and it's stomping around and making ruckus.

Two pillars aimed at Deni and Aelflead each, one for everyone else.

The eye is visible.