Fantasy Four Suits Volume 3: Shadows Of War

[. D O V E]

Zephyr Terwilliger and Guineverre y Blanca
Valencia - Front lines​

Although the appearance of the gigantic Argossian tank was beyond unsettling, the Royal Flushe and the Hearts royalties chose to continue their second battle.

When Leo leaped back up the wyrm to fulfill his part of the plan, Twig sheathed his sword and took the gun that Guin offered him. Guns usually weren’t a part of Twig’s weaponry, and despite training with Guin on the use of them, Twig never really saw much of a reason to use them over his smallsword and Pemulihan staff. Nonetheless, Twig had a bit of training with it, and he decided to make good use of it.

The bugs were really nothing, considering the fact that Twig had control of wind magic, albeit unstable. A large gust of wind sent the horde of insects crashing down and away from Guin and Twig, and onto the ground. Those who were still left standing were met with an inaccurate but effective rain of bullets.

While Twig busied himself, Guin wasted no time and let out her magic. A sizable platform constructed itself beneath the two of them before it rose from the ground with haste. With Three’s bugs now spread out widely, it would be somewhat risky for her to blink around. However, Twig was tasked with clearing each wave so they could ascend without much problem. And if the bugs became too pesky, she could always pause and activate her drain. Despite Guin’s insults to fuel Three’s chagrin, she knew that she wasn’t foolish enough to have her dear minions rush to their doom.

Eventually, they reached the wyrm’s level, but hovered above it far enough that Four’s mana neutralization won’t affect them. Guin stretched her hands to the direction of Leolin and Four. Instantly, a large barrier formed around the Ace and the Flushe member, it was wide enough so that escaping its space would be a difficult task. Guin gritted her teeth as she focused her mana on the construction.

If she managed to catch Four inside, then the barrier will gradually get smaller. The Queen’s intent was to encapsulate the other woman in a barrier small enough to restrict any type of movements. Leolin, on the other hand, would be able to exit Guin’s construction anytime seeing that the Queen can control what can and can’t pass through.

Meanwhile, Twig was keeping a close eye on Three, making sure she couldn't do anything to harm Guin. He raised Guin's gun and asked sweetly, "Three, can you please not involve yourself with what Guin is doing? Or better yet, can you please buzz off?"

Collab with: Coyote Hart
Tag/s: Kloudy

 

[Kloudy]

Yisstra’s Grove
(Central Spade Kingdom)

​

“Ready? Hah! Yuh cud neve’ be ready fer what dangers lie beyon’ them trees!”

A band of adventurers had started to set up camp at the grove’s edge, a few tents and other miscellaneous supplies were already scattered about haphazardly. From just a glance, it was obvious that they had been roughed up some but were not yet hopeless. A few of them seemed injured and one was laid on the ground with a stretch of cloth over him. It was stained with a worrying amount of red. The one that had called out to them was a dwarf, not so rare considering the kingdom they were in, and he was resting on a crate of some sort. He seemed fairly weary, but hardened enough still to regard the two travels with stony eyes.

“I wud be moor wary of the way yuh die, thans actually dyin’.”

The dwarf glanced to the man under the cloth and it soon became apparent what his ailment was. The man was dead and something was wriggling under the white sheet, writhing like worms or snakes. Another adventurer approached and snatched the sheet away to reveal a mess of roots tangled and struggling in the hole that they had bored into the man’s torso. Like vicious eels they whipped and snapped like a beached fish as more blood sprayed and spurted from the corpse. There was a general groan of displeasure from the band and the dwarf shook his head, resting on his metal cleaver and glaring back at the two artifact hunters.

“Yung’n’s got no fear ‘ese days… ‘specially not that Beastie ‘unter…”

AI10100 Ambiloquous

The Assassin’s Guild
(Valencia - Frontlines)

​

Valiantly into the night did they rise and fall from the depths, the shadows. A mass order had been given from the Guildmaster himself. All who bear the marker must heed the call. From Seconds to Initiates, none were exempt from his summons. It was nigh impossible to track down an assassin from the guild, but the guild had special means to track their own. It was a gift. A talent. The war had been underway for three years without the guild’s help thus far, but today’s battle would decide everyone’s fate. The Guildmaster could not turn a blind eye to its magnitude.

“A coin for a marker. A contract for a life. Mors Vocet.”

“Mors Vocet.” Hundreds of cloaked figures echoed their leader in unison, their motto practiced and prideful.

The Guildmaster, who bore no real name and wore a nondescript cloak like his followers, gazed upon the battlefield coolly. It had taken a week to assemble his army of elite murderers. They had gathered from all over the continent. Even his initiates were worth more than a rank ten if they were sleeping at night, but their combat prowess made them more than useful on the battlefield. It was times like these where the age old question of ‘how good is an assassin in open combat really?’ would be answered with deadly certainty. The Guildmaster raised a hand and a loud metal-on-metal sound rang out once as blades drew in perfect cohesion. Another man, larger in stature and with a few rips in his cloak, approached the Guildmaster and stood alongside him. The Assassins Guild’s champion: The Master Assassin. A hero of legend even throughout the Suits Kingdoms, there had been many over the generations that had upheld the mantle. Around his shoulders was a cloak that possessed a somewhat different look and feel about it. It was black. Blacker and darker than any colour you could find on the continent. Blacker than the night sky and the depths of shadows. It had a strange energy about it, like it held a power that was there and also wasn’t. The Guildmaster lowered his hand and spoke softly to his loyal follower.

“Use your title well, I am certain you will not disappoint this guild. Do not forfeit your ‘Wraps of the Reaper’.”

The Master Assassin nodded silently. And then, without further delay, he sunk directly into the ground and disappeared. On cue, all of the assassins in the regiment vanished into thin air, testament to the guild’s mandatory invisibility-enchanted rings. Bare the marker, meld with darkness. The Guildmaster, accompanied by a small company of assassins, continued to watch on as the battle ensued. On the right flank, Argossian soldiers began falling for seemingly no reason, lacerations appearing through the gaps of their armour with deadly efficiency. The wave of death continued as invisible shock troops sprinted through lines of armed knights, carving a path closer to the War Engine.

 

[BreezeCatcher]

Alaric Westguard - 10 - Hearts
Location: Frontline - The Wyrm

Alaric spun a storm of blades around him as he cut through the horde of insects that had appeared along with the giant wyrm. The Royal Flushe had returned, these were the same insects that had wrecked havoc on Atria. The same people that had brought destruction to the the innocent people of the hearts kingdom. They had escaped that day unpunished, with the heart king held captive. They would not escape a second time. They couldn’t be allowed to escape again. To come back and ruin more people’s lives. Their motives didn’t matter, for they had chosen to A terrible means to reach their ends, to harm innocents.

So as he cleared his way to the base of the giant wyrm he took a moment to watch as the rest of the heart contingent went to war atop the beast. The beautiful Queen of Hearts was busily working to contain a new member of the Flushe, one he couldn’t remember from the attack on Atria. She had to be powerful too, because inside the barrier she was trapped in she was fighting with the Ace of Hearts. The pinnacle of power in the heart kingdom and she was fighting with him.

With a powerful leap he cleared half the beast, and as his feet touched down again he pushed off once more to clear the rest of the beast and land atop its head. Once there he sent his link towards the Queen, for what better shield was there than he. The third member was someone Alaric had yet to meet, but they had to be of obvious importance and ability for they were fighting alongside the Queen and was holding Three steady. Nobody had directly engaged her and her bugs were devouring freely on the ground below. Somebody had to stop her. So as his feet landed firmly on the wyrm he made his approach, four swords forming in the air around him, while the runes burned brightly along the longsword in his hands. They would stop the Flushe here.

Interacted:@. D O V E Kloudy Mentioned: Coyote Hart Goonfire

 

[LazyDaze]

WYSTERIA BEACON

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

WYSTERIA PERSONALITY AND SANITY MECHANICS

Spoiler

Thanks to some of my peers I'm introducing a few new mechinics in regards to Wysteria's character. As you know or may not know xD, her character houses three different personalities. For each post a dice will be rolled to decide what her mainline personality is in said post. Depending on the environment around her, each personality has a certain chance of coming out. (Ex. X pretty much shut down Wuu and backed her into a corner. Do to that and their undisclosed history she currently has a greater chance at having Wendy as her main persona.) I do hope you trust me to accurately portray this. So, you all have a part to play in what happens to that extent since the combination of my actions, and yours can heavily contribute to her personality and whatever further actions they may take. Moreover, Wysteria, obviously, struggles with her sanity. Once again, certain things can raise or decrease her sanity. The sanity/insanity, of each persona is different. For example, an insane Wendy acts much differently than an insane Wuu; on the other hand, a "sane" Wuu might perform questionable acts in comparison to a sane Wysteria. Fair warning, it should be apparent, but everything isn't so black and white. Watching people die may not trigger anything at all, and spilling salsa on her dress might cause her to lose all her sanity points. Who knows, just don't eff up.

Current Roll: 28

Wuu: 16% (85-100)
Wysteria: 30% (55-84)
Wendy: 54% (1-54)

SANITY POINTS: 38 (Green means her sanity is rising, Red means its falling)

Wysteria continued to fly as fast as she could. X was counting on her to deliver Athania to safety, and it was the least she could after trying to kill him with cheap tactics. It was the least she could do after trying to kill someone who was unable to defend herself. She promptly wiped away a tear that trickled down as she couldn't help but recall X's face. She hated when X looked like that. When he had that look, he always did something horrible. Wysteria hugged herself tightly, nearly oblivious to the world around her.

"Please don't kill me, X...I really am sorry I'm...so sorry. Why am I always messing up things...," she whispered to herself although she knew that silence would be the only answer she would receive. "Why doesn't he just kill us already...It would probably be better if," Wysteria slowly turned to the unconscious Athania and studied her for a long time before turning back around. "No, I can't think like that. Right now X said he needed me...we can kill him after this is all over."

"B-but if we fight him...he'll eventually throw us away. I don't think I want that...ever..." Wysteria grasped her left hand forcefully after it began to reach for her sword once again. At all costs, they couldn't disappoint X. She reached her destination...and undisclosed building pretty far from the fighting and out of the War Machine's range for now. She laid Athania down and then looked at her with a serious expression. She reached into her dress and pulled out a folded piece of paper that she laid on Athania's forehead. "I'm not sure exactly why, but X also told me to give this to you. It's an IOU. I guess I was technically a hired transport, or at least that's how he explained it before I left. Had to waste my time helping this heavy bitch. The totals are on the receipt. Well, you can't hear me anyway...get well soon!"

With that Wysteria hopped back onto her cloud and went her to rendezvous with X. She would destroy anything that got in her way of her goal.

Receipt

Spoiler

Boulder Removal: 10c
Human Elevator Fees: 5c
Unsafe working condition Tax: 2c
Club Membership card: No
Wysteria's Lyft Service: 28c
VIP: Yes
VIP Tax: 15c
Still Alive: Yes
Living Tax: 1s
Insurance: Prolly none
Effort Tax: 1g
War Tax: 1c
Out of Kingdom Tax: 10c

TOTAL: 1g 1 s 70c
TIP: _____________

You're welcome and have a nice day!
X

TPBx


XIXIX VALENTINE

It seemed like an eternity before phase 2; however, X realized that was just perception since he was not involved in the chaos around him, not yet. Shortly after Wysteria left with Athania, soldiers appeared before baring witness to what happened with the mage hunter. Before he could correct them and say Athania and Kaiden did everything without his help they began cheering despite X's motions for them to quiet down. They then did the whole honor thing before X could customarily state that they didn't have to use the honorifics around him. "Yo could you-," before he could even respond to their report another mage on horseback reported more mage hunters doing mage hunter things.

"Ah, then perhaps-," Once again X was cut off as the mages present assumed responsibility and decided to take them out while he attended to more important matters. After they left, X shrugged his shoulders since It did save him from wasting his breath. No matter how many times he told people to stay casual they always went full knee bend. Never go full knee bend. However, he was actually thankful they assumed responsibility. The plan was deteriorating and they needed as many people to follow through as they could. He was even more grateful to those who detoured and handled the abnormalities; this allowed him to focus solely on what needed to be done. Well semi-solely, X took a final look at the War Machine on the horizon just before William opened his portal. Seeing that as good a sign as any for phase two X was transported along with the other soldiers.

Once he arrived at the planned destination, he checked to make sure all of his body parts were still in tact. It was his first time teleporting after all. He then saw the brave display of the coalition army. "Woooo kick their ass," X shouted while waving his hand. This did cause some of the infantry that was near him to pause and double take.

"W-wait your Clubship? W-why-,"

"....The pigeons," X said as if his heart was breaking. He buried his face in his hand attempting not to cry.

"Pigeons sir," the soldier stated nervously.

"Yes," X said with his voice nearly cracking. "They won't be coming after all...and it's all their fault. If only I was stronger."

"...Oh yeah, I am stronger. I'll kill those bastards...for the pigeons," X said after suddenly reverting to his trademarked unbothered demeanor while the soldiers continued to be unsure of weather or not they were truly dead. X leapt past hsi frontline and in the midst of the Argrossian forces. He threw quick combinations to attain only a modicum of space before slamming his hand in the ground at which point the earth surrounding him in a 15 meter radius disappeared, opening a chasm similar to the one in his fight with Ylsa save for the pillar of earth he was now standing on. Argrossians, and supplies alike fell through, unprepared for the sudden decent. Ruthlessly X reformed the earth so that several protruding spikes rose out of the pit comprised of the very matter he destroyed. He then removed the spikes, since he made sure everything connected, and returned the ground to his natural state, compacting the earth and burying anyone who managed to survive the attack. "I am King Valentine, those pigeons were my friends," X said as he took his hand off the ground. He stood upright and placed his hands in his pockets. As per usual, he was a blank slate which only helped to make this situation all the more eerie. Four gauntlets appeared on his side as he the Argrossians surrounded the circle of death he just created while the Coalition forces pushed forward.

"You have 3 options. Fight me and die, run and die, or...pray...and die," The Argossians charged at him with a mighty roar and with a crack of the neck X dashed forward, laying waste to any that would oppose him. Blood began to paint his clothes, and mark his face, yet he continued. He continued to push forward and kill his enemies because that was all war was. Despite it all he did not feel anything toward them; they were merely an obstacle that needed to be removed. Even during this push he could hear the reinvigorated battle cry of his fellow soldiers who pushed against the surprised enemy. He knew he couldn't remain here forever with that monstrosity looming over the horizon, but he could at least provide a spark and make things easier on his comrades. Even now he couldn't help but think of the others. He caught a glimpse of Arimand's charge, and noticed that the War Machine was now at a halt...no doubt, whatever he did slowed them down. He could probably guess a number of things that he did to damage it, but it would be up and running pretty soon. After crushing the skull of another Argrossian, X retreated towards the back and scouted the area until he found it er him. "Contact Ari, let him know that Wysteria and I will soon follow his attack on the Argossian Behemoth. Wysteria will be my cover, but I might need further back up. I'm not sure how fast it drains magic as per his report, but I'll try to fire off a single, powerful spell and stop it permanently."

 

[TPBx]

Argossian Backline
=======================

Ethan stirred, his respirator whirring as he sighed. The man sensed the presence of a group of mages he had met before. They were a deadly bunch that had to be dealt with. Marillys did not notice Ethan's reaction, but instead he heard over the communications as Argossian officers were calling for backup at the front, before abruptly being silenced. Gunfire rang in the distance as the soldiers attempted to fend off the invisible threat to no avail. Marillys knew that he had to help his men, so in a flash Marillys ran off as fast as he could to where the threat was reported.

Marillys soon arrived at the scene to the scene of the massacre as hundreds of soldiers lay dead at the scene. A few were still alive spraying into the field and swinging their swords wildly to try and slash into some unknown threat. Marillys however could tell exactly what was happening, his keen kinetic vision let him see the movement of the assassin's weapons, their footprints in the dirt, and the distinct glow of a human outline. One of the assassins tried attacking Marillys, but he instantly countered by drawing his sword, the handle hitting his attacker's invisible weapon and then quickly slashing at his off balance opponent. An arm still grasping its sword appeared out of nowhere and a blood spurt appeared from an invisible adversary. Marillys then lunged into his opponent, penetrating the still invisible assassin with his blade which burst out from the man's back covered in blood. Marillys withdrew his sword from the now dead assassin and flicked it to the right, cleaning the blade, before assuming a defensive fighting stance with a high guard.

Kloudy ( + anyone else attacking the back line )

War Engine, Observation Deck
================================

A shadowy portal opened in an observation deck within the War Engine, and Ethan stepped out from it. He signaled to the guards in the room to leave, and then assumed a position on an ornate chair at the center. A screen dropped down from the ceiling and displayed a man whose face and most of their body were covered with a white robe, for a brief moment a red cross on displayed on his white Argossian armor could be seen. He sat down in the thrown, gently, placing his right hand on the hand rest and the left elbow on the other side. He gave off a benevolent yet malicious, noble aura. The hall that was displayed on the screen glowed with a holy aura as natural light poured in from the ceiling onto the polished granite floors and marble pillars. It was decorated with the insignia's of every Noble Argossian House, each representing some sort of Argossian Legend with the most notable one being the insignia of House Byllarmynt, Darhygaas the Destroyer, displayed behind the figure sitting on the throne next to a couple of others.

"Is everything going according to plan?"

"Yes, my Emperor, the shield around Valencia has been destroyed and your forces are moving in with the support of the War Engine as we speak."

"DO NOT... TELL ME... LIES!!!"

At that moment, Ethan's head rang with various images of death and destruction. He was forced to see blood curdling images of himself being pulled apart again on the operation table and somehow felt every bit of that excruciating pain again. It was too real and unlike anything else he had ever experienced. He heard the man's voice thunder through his head and break apart his sanity bit by bit before releasing the Shadow Mage.

"I sense that your friend, the former of King of Spades, is about to meet his end, and the Mage Hunter you hand picked lost to your bastard child. That is not going to plan. Remember you're only alive and in this position of power now because I have shown you grace. Do not disappoint me, I want that city gone by nightfall."

Ethan gasped for air, wheezing as the screen lifted and the guards returned to the room. The short conversation felt like it took over an hour, but that was the cost of not meeting the Emperor's expectations. The Shadow Mage relaxed back in his chair and continued to watch as the War Engine steamed on forward toward Valencia, until it came to an abrupt stop. Ethan grunted and stood up from his chair made his way out.

(anyone attacking the War Engine)

 

[Athanas]

Helmur was, unlike what anyone would expect, in the backlines. He was furiously looking for his shield and chain of mana stones while his two mates tried to organize the supplies. By all means, this was a very stupid place to be. He of course kept himself posted by the telepaths and thus far nothing had been lost. The news about the War engine made him actually crack a smile. It was so...Excessive and pointless in this conflict. The Argossians could not hope to beat quality and instead had to rely on quantity. You'd think they'd understand that. But, here they were, putting inordinately many resources into making something slower and less durable than an ace. The traitors also appeared to be properly handled, and his queen and jack were holding up fine.
He himself was there for another reason, apart from searching some extra power: He had organized an escape route for his bandmates.

He found what he was looking for: A chain with mana stones and a large, heavy metal shield with some minor enchantments on it. He donned the shield and put the chain around his neck.

"You about done? There ain't no more time!"
Lurcher nodded, already getting ready to channel some illusions.
"Remember the plan. As soon as the others get here, you immediately leave for the Spade Kingdom. It is imperative you escape the queen, and also that the Spade Breaker is seen in a different place than Helmur Bellarmont. Don't worry about your status in the hearts: If all goes well you wont need to come back here for a very long while."
Helmur saluted them one last time and turned to leave, but Lurcher stopped him.

"Commander. Never Forget. Ad Victoriam. To victory. That is all that matters. All else is trivial."
Helmur turned and looked at him, puzzled. Lurcher was a Bellarmont bastard: While never legitimized, he was trained in the Bellarmont estate to aid any small force. His illusions could throw off even the best of trackers, and his anti-scrying and concealment had saved the band many times. He faced everything with a stoic resilience and only spoke when spoken to. So why did he choose to remind him his own family's motto now?

Sensing his confusion, Lurcher continued. "I have seen how you look at the healer, Commander, and I sure don't mean Doc. She's nice, caring, and sweeter than honey. Hells, I'd be lying if I said i don't like her. But don't let this distract you. Remember who you are, and what we do. Dreams of peace, quiet and affection are nothing but mirages for us, traps to keep us from where we belong. We will never attain them, and to sincerely believe to the contrary is folly of the highest degree."

Helmur tried to answer, but couldn't find the words. Instead he simply nodded and ran off.

In but a minute, he was at the frontline. He dropped inside the trench just as Typhus finished the speech. A decent speech, it was. Unclasping the mana stone chain, he placed it on the ground. "You've been doing Stellar, boys! Fuel up. We're going over the top in 2." With no small amount of surprise he noticed Ara was also there, tending to some wounded. He called out to her. "Ara! Get me a telepath. I must inform King Arimand of this."

In truth he could very easily go fetch one himself, but he needed a few moments alone with his boys. Once she was out of earshot, he spoke.
"Boys... I'm not going to lie to you. There's a very high chance we all die today. But even if we don't, our own queen might fucking kill you for speaking out. You're the best damn band i ever had, and eternal shame befall me if I let some stuck-up whore kill ya. When the battle's been decided and the Argos are in a rout, go back to the supply train. Lurcher and Ace will be waiting for ya there. Get the hell out of dodge together. He'll have more information... Except for you, Typhus. You didn't break any of her shit laws and i need you with me. I think i can protect you due to your former status, but only you."
Just then, Ara returned with a telepath. Helmur motioned for him to wait as he began handing out instructions. "Alright. We need maximum shock if we're going to make this work. Demo, be ready to detonate charges. As soon as you do, we all will charge. I will leap ahead and try to disrupt their lines. This shield and armor will keep me safe, mostly, but I will need you to prevent me from being encircled. Typhus, level the left flank. Hanz, right flank. Demo and Imp-Fire support and armor busters, respectively. Doc, buff us all up. Ara-pick up any slack that occurs. Got that?"

Not really waiting for an answer, he got up and moved over to the telepath. "King Arimand. I am sorry for my absence, I was grievously wounded by Argossian explosives and had to be healed. I have returned. I will lead countercharge to meet with the flanking force. Wish us luck"

He willed his armor to appear around him, and his voice to thunder many times louder than normal. It was now or never, and he needed to rouse fighting spirit of the men. His voice boomed across the line.

"Soldiers of the Coalition! For too long have these vile invaders leveled our homes and killed our loved ones! For too long have we awoken under a grey sky, with the constant thunder of artillery. Until now we have been the ones on the retreat. These pathetic cowards dare call themselves equal to us! They hide behind their tanks and their artillery, for they dare not face us head on! Well, today we stop letting them hide! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am personally going into that backline, finding whoever has been making this fucking ruckus of shells that's not been letting me sleep properly, and by the Gods he will regret the day he fired that thing at this city!

So come with me now. Have no fear, for our plan is successful-they are encircled! Charge with me, and let's throw these bastards into the bloody sea!

AVENGE YOUR FALLEN! DEFEND YOUR LIVING! AD GLORIAM! AD VICTORIAM! TEAR EM LIMB FROM LIMB!"


Very quickly, the entire battle line was Reverberating with the Bellarmont battlecry, the soldiers standing up and preparing to charge. He motioned for Demo to blow it. The Argossians, seeking to press their advantage had rushed the first line and no man's land like lemmings. It was tightly packed with men. Demo channeled his magic, laughing maniacally. He ignited dozens of magical bombs, sending some of the argossians flying. Their line did not waver. Then, a chain reaction was triggered. Thousands more explosives, both magical and mundane detonated in batches, causing a massive cloud and annihilating whatever divisions's were there. Demo's manic laughter and excited clapping as he saw the burning man could not be described by mere words, but Helmur wasted no time: Feeling a surge of energy flowing from Doc to him, he stood up, activated his frenzy, and bellowed one final command.

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
The soldiers poured forth from the trench, eager to descend upon the disorganized Argossian forces that were still trying to recover from the chain explosions. Helmur himself closed the gap in leaps, coming face to face with several squads. They all opened fire, of course, but his shield was thick as tank armor, and what little shots it could not block bounced off against his plate. He began hacking them in a display of tremendous violence, occasionally stopping to unleash a volley of flame from his axe. With every kill, he could feel his power growing, and that only furthered his bloodlust. He could only hope the others were doing equally well.

Elsewhere.

The Ace of Clubs who had just opened up the tunnels quickly dispatched some squads of Argossian fireteams so as to allow the ambushers to unburrow with more ease. He quickly identified that the biggest threat right now was probably what seemed to be a moving, armored and armed city. He quickly called for the Ace of Spades who was nearby to cover him from enemy homnuculi as he closed the gap. He delayed his approach a bit, making sure his magic was fully charged and ready to be unleashed. When he approached, The War engine of course fired upon him with multiple guns, but his speed was unmatched: He easily dodged the heavy automatic fire and shelling. With a final leap, he closed the gap, and channeled all of his remaining power, both physical and magical, into an all-out attack against the engine. Even if the thing was not destroyed completely, it would be crippled so heavily it's use would mostly diminish.

Kloudy . D O V E Mechking Anaxileah BreezeCatcher TPBx else currently fighting

 

[Remembrance]

Spoiler: for details ?

Ebel lied flat on his back, staring up into the cloudy sky. The flowers and grass he laid on so comfy and soft, he refused himself any right to get up without a proper reason. The clouds moving ever so slowly, as if with no care for the rest of the world. Ebel wished to be just as such, but he had a mission, is there really time to rest? Ebel arose from his lying position, still glancing upwards as the clouds began to pick up some amount of speed. Observing his surroundings, he realized he had gone off the trail a bit too much. Turning to his left, he spotted the river leading towards the area he was going towards. Ever since Ebel left the Club Kingdom and entered Spade Kingdom, he had been in a mixed state of curiosity and unawareness. Exploring the territories of the Spade Kingdom but remembering his mission created a conflict of interest to Ebel though the willpower he mustered was enough to keep himself from exploring too much.

Ebel's journey so far had been a rather illustrious and fantastical one. Arriving in Spade Kingdom, he took refuge with a small caravan, claiming he was a mage from the Diamond Kingdom and fled westward to take refuge with some family members. They took him all the way to Nalore before gifting him some coins and leaving him for their next city. Finding a small map posted on a wooden board, Ebel found his next stop: A city by the name of Rynhil. Crossing the river and then following it west, he spotted and entered Rynhil. Despite his outward appearance shocking some, he able to take rest in an inn for the night, picking up where he left off in the morning. Ebel had been following the river north of Rynhil ever since this morning, towards a place heard to be of awful things. Ebel didn't care though, he had a mission and that mission required some necessary pieces.

His destination now in sight; his legs ached in pain from all the walking Ebel had been doing this past week; it's not like he really minded though. Ebel wondered what other creatures he'd find at his destination; what remains of past hunters would be there; how the vegetation looked and grew; if there would be anybody else there; he wanted to learn all about it. Ebel approached the forest, he saw the mysticism and mystery hidden inside it, only he would have to travel inward to even get closer to it. Despite the trees not growing so compact, he felt as if he couldn't see deep enough into the forest and had to get closer. Call it the mystery of the grove he was approaching, or perhaps the curiosity of Ebel, or even his drive to complete his mission. Ebel was now officially beside the most infamous grove in the lands.

In Yssitra's Grove, Ebel was searching for a spider said to be as large as a Kauri's base, maybe even larger. Ebel was exhausted from all the walking he had done, and he needed some time to rest up. Perching his halberd against a tree, he found a nicely looking sized tree on the very perimeter of the forest, sitting down and leaning against it. Ebel was, of course, oblivious to what secrets this grove held, all he wanted some extra coins to fund his upcoming journeys.

"This grove is very beautiful."
Ebel said with no care for what could await him, just like the clouds; moving ever slowly, with no care for the rest of the world. With that, he closed his eyes.
(idk Kloudy )​

 

[TPBx]

​

Ethan warped out from a shadow portal to the sight of several explosions and a coalition counter offensive. He witnessed Gwyn tear apart the front lines and saw the man launch himself at the War Engine. Ethan simply raised his hand with his palm outstretched, opened his Grimoire of Shadow in his other hand, and created several shadow barriers between himself and the war engine to intercept Gwyn. The Ace's strength managed to break through all of his barriers down to his last one, each barrier forcing Ethan to summon more Dysidia from the dead Argossian and Coalition soldiers to reinforce the next one. Unlike before on Parma and Jann, Ethan's cybernetic body proved to be useful as the heat he generated from channeling so much Dysidia did not burn him, instead it was absorbed by his mechanical parts and ventilated out into a cloud of steam surrounding him.

​

"So this is the new Ace of Clubs. The Light coming to meet Darkness. Well, this should be an interesting match," Ethan commended backhandedly. He then summoned his shadow armor around him, purple energy pulsating from his hand. "Let's begin." Ethan immediately created several different clones each wielding different weapons and created two more that joined him in gathering shadow energy from around for another attack.

At the front, Marillys continued to battle against waves of Coalition soldiers, cutting through invisible waves of assassins that attempted to challenge him. Then an explosion rattled through the front line as several explosive charges were set off. The homunculus was immediately knocked back by the concussive force as several of these magical explosives blew up in front of him in a brilliant flash of light. Marillys fell back upon the top of a hill of bodies of both Argossian and Coalition soldiers. He coughed and saw that the explosion managed to rip his arms from his body. In the distance he saw his right arm still grasping its sword while the left was mangled beyond belief.

Marillys began stumbling towards his severed limbs when a coalition soldier revealed herself from the fog. She swung at Marillys with a fiery sword. Marillys dodged a couple of the swings but the swordsman stepped forward and lunged at Marillys, stabbing him through the gut. The coalition soldier thought she had won, before Marillys forced himself in closer and dug his teeth into the woman's neck and ripped out her throat. She fell over and Marillys continued trudging through the hellscape of a battlefield with her sword still in his gut. Marillys bent down and squatted next to his severed right arm, placing it as close as he could back into its socket. The tissue reconnected and Marillys could once again feel the sensation of holding a sword. He stuck his sword in the ground, and with great struggle pulled out the still flaming sword from his abdomen, dropping it on the ground with a rattle as it made contact with other soldier's armor. The homunculus looked at where his left arm should've been and saw a stump of an arm growing back slowly, it was severe damage but apparently repairable.

Athanas

 

[AI10100]

Callum

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"The search for knowledge drives us all."​

location: Yisstra's Grove
interactions: Ambiloquous Kloudy
mentions:

​

Callum smiled at Jana's enthusiasm. He knew better than to think that she wasn't nervous - both of them were. Both of them, however, trying to keep up some false bravado that they were prepared. That they could do it. But Callum could never let the nerves override his thinking. They just need to keep moving and keep hoping that their luck would be better than others - among making sure they don't make stupid mistakes of course.

That was when they stumbled upon a makeshift base just outside their entrance. A dwarf had already called out to them - scoffing at their bravado. He looked over to Jana and motioned for her to follow as he walked closer to the dwarf and the other men. They all seemed like they went through a battle or six. They likely came from within the grove and just left because of their injuries. At least they managed to leave?

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure no one can ever be ready to take on this place." Callum couldn't help but agree with the dwarf. He stopped close to the group but kept himself alert to both them, the grove and Jana. Callum turned his attention to the man covered with a white sheet - obviously the man was dead. But it was moving.

His face scrunched up to show disgust for just a moment as they were finally shown what it was. "What exactly happened? Just shot out and made this guy its home?" He couldn't help but ask. It was disgusting, yes, and maybe it wasn't nice to try and dig up their memories about it - but he needed to know. He wanted to know what to look out for. Looks like the plants are carnivorous here - or liked making their homes in other living beings. Either way, it did not spell good for them and they haven't even entered yet.

"Plenty of fear going around, sir." Callum responded before raising both of his eyebrows. "Beastie Hunter? There's someone in there? Alone?" That... would be a wonder. It was risky enough going artifact hunting with just two people like Callum and Jana did, but if this guy was alone... then that must mean they're rather powerful.

[/div][/div]

codedbycrucialstar | hidden scroll​

 

[Mechking]

Iris and Arimand

“I am ok, Bob, no one attacked me. Here is your shield.”
With that Arimand threw the large shield back to Bob, who looked disappointed. He knew better than most that Arimand couldn’t be seen weak in this situation, but to lie in the face of his best friend about being ok? Not acceptable. Not even for Bob.

Iris, on the other hand, was practically fuming although she did her best to portray a calm exterior. “Are you certain you are alright. Is anything broken? Your arm, ankle...brain? Yes, I believe your brain might need medical attention because you left it here before you went galavanting on your own without so much as a word to anyone.” Iris knew he was a King, but to hell with it. He wasn’t a royal of their kingdom anyway, and if he felt insulted he could talk to them about it. “No one questions your strength, bravery, and contributions; however, doing everything on your own is the same as saying you don’t need us. If you want to change the system, King, then I have a suggestion of where to start.”

After her mini rant she turned to the battlefield, drawing her blade as she pointed to different areas of importance. “The war is slowly coming to an end. The soldiers were on the brink of despair, and some might have even pondered desertion. However, implementing the next two phases of our plan, combined with the sudden halt of that war machine brought the morale back to our side. Our biggest problem is the massive creature that continues to decimate the battlefield. I had believed with so many mages attacking, it would have been finished by now. If the morale is to stay on our side I think the King of Diamonds need not have a bloody nose.”

Iris took out a handkerchief and began to doctor his face. Removing the most obvious marks of battle from his visage.

Arimand was completely baffled and stunned by her performance. Never in his life had someone of such small stature and ranking spoke to him like that. While he slowly processed what just happened, Iris was already done patching him up.

“...I...am once again impressed, Miss Bastille. You are completely right and I apologize for not informing anyone what I was about to do. This...massive Machine of War simply needed to be stopped as soon as possible. You have mentioned so yourself, it helped to bring back the morale of our soldiers.”

Now having fully regained his composure, he smiled a bit and continued.
“I am accustomed to working alone, most of my commanding staff being either dead or incompetent. Now then, from here on out we shall face the coming challenges together, starting with the Wyrm. It is currently being attacked by Queen Blanca and Ace Leolin Hravart. A killzone is established on our side, preventing the bugs from advancing too far while the Argossians are whittling it down on their part. How should we proceed further?”

With an even bigger grin he grabbed a few mana stones to replenish himself and added:
“Oh, and I believe a bloody nose won’t change the tide of battle.”

The light returned to the King’s Assistant’s eyes after King Arimand spoke. She blinked a few times, studied his face, and then the weight of her words finally fell upon her...again. Over and over, her words, and his, replayed in her mind. However, out of all the words that were said, one continued to prod her mind relentlessly. “T-t-together?” What the hell did he mean by that, and why did he say it like...well that. Obviously, he must have meant the entire army because what could a paperwork fairy like her offer the King of a foreign land? She then realized how close she was to King Arimand which prompted her to abruptly push the handkerchief in his face, with an unusual amount of force, and backpedal at a speed that would even make the homunculi envious.

“I’M...SOOOO...SORRY! I was totally out of line, and I should have asked your Diamondship if I could touch your face, NOT THAT I WANTED TO TOUCH YOUR FACE, oh no I totally touched his face and I’m just a rank 4. I’m going to be demoted to rank -9. Did I just start a world war? *Gasp*, I’ll be executed to preserve the peace between nations when I really just wanted to get the blood off and be useful, not that I could stop a giant war machine, but if you did everything you would probably get hurt and I just want to help and and…...YOUR NOSE IS STILL BLEEDING! Let me just...GAAAAAAAH, I almost did it again. I-I’ll leave it alone, you know what’s best for your body-, NOSE...nose, you know what’s best for your nose and…...oh shit I screwed up. I’m usually not like this. I’ll have to cut my hair...move somewhere else. I really don’t want to be a pirate…"

Arimands face dropped to his usual expressionless calm, the smile seemingly wiped away. He listened carefully to the analyst stumbling over her words in front of him, not realizing that she is saying every thought out loud. The soldiers surrounding the two began murmuring among themselves and a medic ran towards the King. But he silenced everyone with the lifting of his right arm. With his cold eyes now fixated on those of Iris, he spoke in a commanding voice.

“I CARE NOT FOR YOUR BELIEFS! EVERYTHING HAPPENS AS I WILL IT! IF I WERE TO WANT YOU GONE, IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED ALREADY! FOCUS AND STAND READY, YOU ARE NOW UNDER MY COMMAND BASTILLE!”

Iris looked up at the king, unable to process his words. She wanted to be angry, resentful, but all she could think about was how she deserved such harshness. Maybe, her position as X’s assistant had gone to her head to the point that she truly believed she was one of them. It has been months since she had truly been reminded of how little power she had. He was right, he could get rid of her at anytime and no one would truly care. During the entire war she had been out of her element, unable to truly stand out, or contribute much. To be honest, she wanted nothing more than to die out on the front lines at this very moment, but she had a job to do. To his response, Iris simply nodded, turning away so he wouldn’t be able to completely see her face.

With Iris now being somewhat calmer, Arimand sighed.
“I presumed you could handle yourself a bit better around nobles. Then again, I am the King of a foreign nation who you just met today. You are not really to blame here. My apologies, know that you will not be held liable for anything unless I say otherwise. Meaning that you are now under my protection and I will listen to what you have to say. Sigh Are you ready to assist me, King Dornwell and acting commander in this battle? This battle which will decide the future of all of us?

Iris flinched at the start of his statement, she had been a liability thus far. The rest did little to comfort her, but she understood that if she wanted to rise in rank, she could not expect to be coddled by every person in higher authority. “...Yes...t-the most troublesome of our enemies is undoubtedly the Wyrm and the third. The Argossian’s have had their attention divided by so many factors that it won’t be long until the fruits of our labor will be evident. Their strategy thus far has been pretty simple and easy to predict: Roll over Valencia with a desperate charge of power. Even their trump cards hold little strategy aside from simply adding more power to the situation. This is precisely why the Wyrm must be taken care of. Although we have the might, we simply do not have the numbers to continuously operate in division like the Argossian forces. Furthermore, it is difficult to plan for an enemy whose purpose for being here is unclear. I believe we have two options. Allow the battle to run its course with the hopes of a timely victory while we place our resources elsewhere, or divert resources to the Wyrm while the enemy is discombobulated from Helmur’s charge to ensure a faster victory against this troublesome foe. Perhaps, there are other options I’ve yet to consider…I’m certain you’ll enlighten me.”

Iris was calmer, although she was on the brink of tears in exchange for a level mind. She couldn’t help but think of the squandered opportunity, unsure if she could truly make up for the failure of misrepresenting her kingdom and the King who had faith in her. Even now, she was ashamed of these selfish thoughts during a battle of life and death. All she could do now was to win the war, return home, and return to her rightful place in the world, a place she just recently rediscovered...a harsh reality.

Somewhat happy about Iris returning to her senses, Arimand faced the battlefield once more. Thoughts, plans, strategies, everything rushed through his head at once. For now they had too little information to act, but he could easily change that.

“The Wyrm is indeed our largest immediate concern. As you stated, it being here and controlled by the royal flushe has significant meaning. They have a purpose, some sort of plan and we have no clue to what it could be. If they simply wanted to wipe us out, they would have done so already. The large energy beam speaking for itself...No use beating around the bush, Ace and Queen of the hearts may be able to beat it without further assistance. Way more frustrating is to be selected acting commander and subsequently being ignored by them and other royals. I presumed them to be less reckless about their actions. However for now we have received no messages from either of them.”

Iris cleared her throat and fiddled with her hair since she didn’t have the heart to tell him this was to be expected. Royals were not accustomed to being told what to do. In fact, there was rarely a situation in which any ridiculous whim of theirs was unchallenged so she wasn’t surprised at all that things turned out the way they did.

“Speaking of which,” Arimand continued, turning his head to the older man beside him, remembering the change in his, or rather their, system.
“Officer, please inform us about any updates.”
“Gladly, your Diamondship.”

The telepath promptly informed them about the progression of the battle. The plan was in full motion, every step of the phases being implemented successfully. Except for two of the tunnels apparently having collapsed by the attack of the Wyrm, two tunnels full of thousands of their coalitions best soldiers. More worrying news arrived with Helmur reportedly being back in action after being injured by explosives. Some reprieve came with unseen forces killing the argossians mercilessly and carving paths through their ranks. X’s request for backup has also reached them both.

Everything was developing quickly; nevertheless, Iris took it all in and began preparing accordingly. At the mention of X, Iris turned her full attention to the telepath. Once she received the full report, Iris turned to Arimand, barely able to maintain her composure before turning away again to hide her worries. X contacted her...for everything. Even during this war, he had been using a more obsolete method of communication for gods know what. Yet, he was suddenly using a telepath now...he must have been trying to hide something from her. What the hell was he really trying to do? She was unsure if she should share these worries with Arimand, but she held her tongue. Instead, she pulled out a piece of paper, closed her eyes and then tucked it back into her gloves…
“Wait did he just say us?”

Iris took a nervous gulp and listened intently, trying to appear as important, and formidable as the Diamond King. She supposed it was a nice gesture, even from a diamond dome. She contained her gitters in order to keep hold of the faith he had in her.

“Commander Bellarmont was injured? I must look into this after the battle, there might have been a massive oversight that should not be repeated. Ever. And it seems we got ourselves some new allies.”

Arimand wanted to relay several commands immediately but decided against it.
“We have a lot of organizing and ordering to do. Per your suggestion, we should start with the Wyrm. We could easily divert some of our armies to charge at it, but in this case, I think a more precise approach would be wiser. Perhaps a few nobles and royals could be sent instead? Cutting the head off should send their forces scattering aswell. Our archers on the left flank are also in range to attack it. And our Airforce is on their way, the bombs and golems that they carry might pose a serious challenge for the swarm of bug, although I doubt it considering their numbers...”

Now asking Iris directly, there was no hint of doubt or concern in his voice anymore.
“In your opinion, how should we proceed?”

Iris looked out to the battlefield to find inner reflection. In milliseconds she ran through a number of scenarios, discarding those with a high probability of failure. “Indeed, it would be a fat chance that you would get anyone involved in that fight to help elsewhere, so the only logical approach would be to get rid of the “distraction”. We need the quantity to continue pushing the main forces while the quality puts an end to this annoying creature. Once it’s gone we’re playing with house money. Ha, this war is as good as ours...” Iris didn’t realize how passionate, and quite frankly devious, she was starting to sound. It was as if she was the ringleader of a dark syndicate, doing nothing to hide the sinister glow over her eyes that set their gaze on total victory.

With a devious smile, Arimand recognized Iris slightly echoing his words about their victory. But his full focus was on the battle and everything else seemed unimportant.
“Small correction, the war was always ours to win. You are just now seeing what I see.”

“Well excuse me, I do not have the luxury to make a habit of having a bloated head,” Iris stated playfully. “Nevertheless, I suppose it isn’t a bad thing that our acting commander ensures victory,” She said with a genuine smile. Iris really believed that they would win, the terror of failure, the responsibility of death, it would all end soon. As long as she continued to support Arimand.

“Aaaand she’s back.”
A few seconds of pause were followed by him clearing his throat.
“Anyhow, we agree then. Officer, relay the following orders: The envoy of archers on the left flank are to assist the royals and nobles attacking the Wyrm. Royals and nobles on the left flank that can reach the Wyrm without much risk are to attack it immediately. Airforces, strike with great precision as you approach the Wyrm.”


“Now that that is dealt with…”
Arimand replayed the different requests and updates in his head, once more syncing them up with countless studied battle reports and years of training.
“Now then, the Archers on the right flank have asked for permission to fall back, as they are now within range of the Machine. I suggest they do so and continue to do so if it ever resumes motion. Furthermore, they are not to attack it themselves with anything but their most powerful attacks, as the shielding would render the attacks useless. Are we one in this?”

“Yes, of course I mean that in the agreement sense, not the um…ANYWAYS,” Iris said clearing her throat once again as she felt beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. “*sigh* they really left us with no option there. Luckily, we don’t have to come up with a strategy to take out the war machine immediately, but we will have to think of something soon. We must also remember, they probably have a ton of soldiers operating that thing. Best case scenario, we destroy their soldiers along with the tank. If the only thing we can do is stop the tank, we have to be prepared to deal with a bucket load of soldiers who might abandon ship. Perhaps a siege would be appropriate as a viable backup plan, assuming we take care of everything else. It would save us the trouble of having to deal with the magicite directly.”

“The archers request for withdrawal is granted. Do not attack the machine unless you use very powerful magic. Withdraw further if it resumes movement.”
After relaying the message, Arimand commented quickly on Iris’s thoughts before moving on to the next order of business.
“I disagree with a siege, we would have to disable the cannons first. But as long as it doesn’t resume movement, you are right, it is not an immediate threat.”

Remembering the other acting commander of this battle, he left him a message.
“Whenever acting commander Bellarmont has returned from his charge, please inform him about all the information that we currently have.”

“Other...acting commander,” Iris asked innocently through a few blinks when a maniacal laugh and boisterous yelling filled her thoughts. She placed her face within the comforting palm of her hand as she tried to wish it all away. “...Seriously, do I have to? Don’t answer that. Just let me grieve for the last of my brain cells.”

Iris stood up straight and took a deep breath, finally coming to terms with the ordeal. “I suppose we can include him. (Who made the decision to put him in charge?)"

“Oh, I meant for our telepath to update him, not you. As you seem...highly dissatisfied with his role.”
Arimand continued with his next line of thought.
“I think we should send troops from our backline to our lost envoys in the tunnels, if only to investigate. I don’t want a nasty surprise crawling out of them into the city.”

“Hmm, aside from the Wyrm, their behavior has been strange. They haven’t surfaced after crawling into the tunnels. You would think they would continue to decimate the soldiers on the battlefield. I’m just worried about sending our troops down there since we really don’t know what happened down there; however, there really is no other way. We should send them.” Iris balled up a fist, wishing those investigating the tunnels luck on their mission. Out of all the chaotic situations that surrounded them, the situation regarding the tunnels was the most ominous. She hoped that she was overreacting to it all.

Sensing more determination from Iris, Arimand relayed the next order.
“Our backline is commanded to select their least exhausted members and send them to investigate tunnels one and two. There might still be soldiers down there, or more concerningly, bugs trying to push into the city. Report all findings immediately!”

Addressing Iris once more, he simply asked:
“Who is Wysteria?”

Iris could not contain her annoyed groan as she rubbed her temples at the mention of her name. “You have no idea how difficult that question actually is.” She could never guess why X allowed someone so...unique, to enlist in this battle. In fact, last she heard, Wysteria didn’t even want to be here. The fact that she was helping X, only made her more nervous about the entire situation.

“She’s a powerful mage in our army...but she is far too unpredictable to be placed in a role. In fact, I honestly have no idea why she is here, or what she was doing. The only info I got from X was to not sweat the details…” She thought about it for a bit and then continued. “I believe he is mainly utilizing her ability to fly in order to traverse the battlefield without much resistance. I don’t think you should trouble yourself with her.”

“Very well then.”
Arimand relayed the next message to X with a bit of snarky sarcasm.
“Sure thing, be careful about the ace in your area. We wouldn’t want you getting in their way.”

“Fat chance, he’s been in the way since birth,” Iris joked before turning to Arimand, her expression holding a trace amount of worry, and regret. “If you can...make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“That...should be...everything…”
After noticing a lack of anti-air from their own side, Arimand became worried. Their ace hasn’t responded anymore after he opened the portal. What, or rather who, could possibly prevent him from answering? His worry increased when he thought about the different royals he lost sight of during the fight. With regret and defeat in his voice, he made a transmission.
“Officer, please...tell me that my Ace, my Queen, and my Jack are in safe conditions...Also please inform me about the whereabouts of the queen of Spades.”
“Right away your Diamondship. But it will take some time.”

Arimands eyes lost their focus, now aimlessly pointed at the sky as he sunk deep into his thoughts. Because even though they were fellow royals, even though they were strong and even with the soldiers at their side, Arimand wasn’t sure about anyones survival. Finally, after watching so many people die around him, he truly realized once more the cost of war. Arimand could not stop imagining them getting slaughtered. His friend Macdolas being consumed by his own wrath, losing himself in the rush of dysidia. His long-time study partner, Queen Syrakusa, getting demolished in the frontlines despite the protection of their golems. He saw them both die at his side, both passing way before their time. Now he saw them die again, a perfect replay of his memory. And his ally, already emotionally hurting as much, if not more than him, Queen Mortemiah being stripped away before his eyes by death’s cold embrace, he could see it as if it was real. It kicked in full force, the memories of his family dying right in front of him. Everyone he ever loved, ever cared about being lost forever. Everyone going up into flames once more. Everyone falling apart into ashes in his hands. Everyone vanishing into the darkness…

Just before Iris could speak on further developments she noticed that Arimand’s expression, aura, and demeanor had shifted. She doesn’t remember ever seeing him unfocused at any point during their time in Valencia, so seeing the ultimate mind become what appeared to be a dazed pillar of doubt was shocking and for some reason...sad. She took a few cautious steps toward Arimand to make sure she just wasn’t imagining things. She was too short for him to see her as she stepped in front of him so she placed her hands on his cheek. She then slid them down to his shoulders. Slowly, she leaned in and then………..shook him vigorously. “KING DORNWELL, WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GRANDEST OF ALL WARS AND HERE YOU ARE HAVING A STARING CONTEST WITH THE SKY! WE CAN’T WIN WITHOUT YOU, SO FORGET WHATEVER YOU’RE DREAMING ABOUT AND GUIDE US OUT OF THIS HARSH REALITY!”

Iris stared into his eyes after her rant and then chuckled. She had to get him back for his actions earlier. “Come on Diamond Dome, we need you...here. It’s as you said, we were never going to lose this war.” Iris spoke softly as she backed away, ready to aid him in any way that she could.

Being rudely awoken out of his daynightmare, Arimand needed a few seconds to take everything in. With a small chuckle, he was once again back to his senses.
“And to think I ever had my doubts about you. I still have a lot to learn, especially from you. Now, now, now. To finish this damn battle, costing way too many lives by the second. What do you think of a charge to the frontlines, meeting up with my personal army and delivering the finishing blow?”

Iris smirked, drawing her blade in response to his question. She couldn’t imagine that someone like him could learn anything from her; if anything, it was the other way around. Regardless, all of her fears were cast aside in the midst of this battle. “Sure, as long as you don’t doze off again; I’ll be counting on you as a shield you know. I left mine at home.”

“And I’ll make sure as not to run off again (unless the situation requires it). Let us go.”
With a new smile and old determination, Arimand picked up the metal cover surrounding them and melted them together with the rest of the metal balls in the crate.
“Attention soldiers! We are now heading to the frontline! You are to protect Iris, the officer and me in this order of priority! Now, follow me as we are heading to our brothers and sisters that are so valiantly fighting for us all!”



---



A soldier buried himself deep into his trench. Massive cannon shells were dropping all around him and his fellow mages were nearly all dead. The War Engine was relentless and he began to weep at the thought to never see his family again. “Goodbye my dear Keralia, goodbye my princess. My beloved daughter, I wish I could have said goodbye!”
Another big shell whirred lose from a cannon, heading straight towards him. He hugged the ground tightly, awaiting his death. After a few seconds of near silence, he realized the shell never hit. Looking up and slowly crawling out of his trench, he saw the reason why. A mage dressed in royal blue robes stood but a few feet away from him. Iris was close by, undaunted by the weapon that was rendered harmless by Arimand’s power. With his magic, he was holding the explosive ammunition in mid-air, only for him to throw it back at the machine with little effort.
Acting commander, King Arimand Argus Dornwell of the Diamonds, had arrived at the frontline together with Iris Bastille, the King’s Right Hand.

With his voice amplified by one of the mages with him, Arimand shouted words of encouragement across the battlefield.
“This is no day to die, soldiers! See now that the enemy is crushed and weak, helpless before our combined might! Yes, I say that victory is closer than ever before. Today shall mark the day we get our revenge, on these people that have taken our lands, homes, and families from us! Today is the day they shall feel the pain they inflicted upon us paid back tenfold! Today shall mark a new era! Today we take back what is lost! Today, victory is ours!
For the Four Suits! For the Coalition!”

Iris rose her weapon, along with the other soldiers inspired by the actions of King Dornwell. Perhaps it was because he was relatively reserved, but his words held more weight, they were real. Even Iris couldn’t help but share the sentiments of the soldiers.






(Amazing collab with LazyDaze )

( Athanas vielpotato Anaxileah TPBx Kloudy . D O V E and the others at the Wyrm)

 

[Goonfire]

Ahlmus Thorn

Ahlmus saw the traitor assume his mist form and knew what he needed to do; it was exactly what he wanted to happen, the absolute best-case scenario. He rushed towards the wall and jumped, grabbing a large tapestry hanging there. Using his legs, he pulled it away and kicked off the wall, utilizing weight and momentum to tear it off. As it streamed down, he hurled the weighted end towards Travis, the rest of the damaged fabric trailing behind it, generating a substantial amount of wind. Honestly, he wasn’t entirely sure if such a simple trick would work, but he knew of old fairy tales describing vampires whose mist forms were disrupted by wind.

TPBx

—————

Vivianne Frisk

Vivianne emerged from the lower decks, feeling pumped by the commander’s unique motivational speech. She certainly didn’t recall any bard singing that, but she accepted it and sprayed magic confetti nonetheless. While getting the other crewmen pumped, Vivi also equipped a parachute; she was not entirely sure of her exact role, since she and a few other Clubs arrivals were jostled towards the airships. However, she had a good idea when she saw they were losing air superiority. “Commander! If we can get close enough to those Argossian flying machines, I can tether them to us and let ‘em tear off their tails. They’re more delicate than we are.” Now that was using the old noodle, girl...

Xanto

—————

Leolin Hravart III

Leo was playing with Four, at this point; with the damaged airplane losing altitude, he needed to think quickly. He could see the masked fencer and Guin in his peripheral vision, and decided to use his current foothold to his advantage. He slid over and drove Hot Poker through the fuselage again, this time impaling the pilot. Then, Leo twisted and wiggled the sword to force the flailing man in the general direction he wanted to go, which was right at Three and Four. ‘Block this, toots,’ he thought to himself before cannon-jumping, causing the fuel tank to rupture and spew gasoline that soon ignited. Topping it off was a powerful fireball to really make this an explosion they’d never forget. Leolin then used his cannon jumps to bounce off the heads of the various airborne insects with precision, watching the literal fiery plane crash covering his teammates’ rebuttal.

Kloudy . D O V E Coyote Hart

 

[vielpotato]

[class=Notes] // Forward slashes are comments and do no show up in the final design, these are to help you find everything easily and explain some code as well. These comments must be with in a class or script tags in order to be hidden, from what I know// // Long URls are images # followed by letter and numbers are Hex codes or color codes.// // This code does not show breaks unless is shows the
code When typing responses to rps, be aware that when you press enter it will not show that you did. You'll have to use the
tags// [/class] [class=BackgroundPicture] Background:url(https://d39l2hkdp2esp1.cloudfront.net/img/photo/162968/162968_00_2x.jpg); Padding:30px; //The background image that become the border// [/class] [class=BackgroundColor] padding:20px; background-color:#fbe7d1; Color:Black; //the solid block of color that makes the border appear as a border all your content will be in this box// [/class] [class=Name] float:right; margin-bottom:10px; text-align:center; border-radius:5px; background-color:#142740; padding:5px;color:#fbe7d1; width:calc(100% - 15% - 20px); //The Box around the name// [/class] [class=Img] border-right:10px SOLID #fbe7d1; border-bottom:5px SOLID #fbe7d1; width:15%; float:left; //this class has a border to create a false margin so the horizontal lines don't appear to go behind the image if you change the back ground you have to change the colors here too// [/class] [class=Image] border:1px SOLID #142740; line-height:0px; //The border around the image// [/class] [class=Line] border-top:1px SOLID #142740; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:5px; //The tiny lines everywhere// //You can see here they have a set width, which is the shorter length, the bottom two lines have a specific 'style' which overrides what happens here to make them full length. if you need longer lines, copy and paste the style from the bottom two (be careful, they float right, making them too big at the top messes the code up) If you need the bottom lines to be shorter, delete the Style=" and such// [/class] [div class="BackgroundPicture"] [div class="BackgroundColor"] [div class="Img"] [div class="Image"] [/div][/div] [div class="Name"] The Bloody Baron[/div]
When the Guildmaster calls for all assassins to join in something, it would take a fool to not notice something is up.

Arriving to the scene- the mass gathering of trained killers- is an interesting feeling no matter what one has experienced in their life. The sheer power together, the sheer destruction available in this group got him excited. But the bloodlust was to be saved for a more pressing matter, as he felt like he must talk to the Guildmaster himself after the Master Assassin got his turn. After the blending of shadows, the eager assassin got on one knee and bowed to him with the Guild's insignia across his heart with the right hand.
"Guildmaster, I'm going to assist the little mages in their fight. If you require my blade for anything in particular, it will always be available for you."
Thereafter, he lept to the middle of the battle. The smell of iron filled in the air from the blood shed from both allied and enemy. The sensation was amazing. He finally felt free from all chains that held him down. He was finally free to do what he loved the most. Murdering fools who dare invade the only home he ever had.
The blood began to rise up as he began to laugh- slow at first, but the higher the liquid went, so did the volume and the repetition- until it formed into multiple creatures of bloody goop. As soon as the quarter dozen were formed, they awaited their orders from their Baron of Blood. "Slaughter the fools" were the three words spoken by him, before they instantly went forward to slaughter with their claws that rivaled steel in strength. The soldiers tried to kill the enemies, obviously to save their sorry assess but the storm of bullets did nothing as it went clean through the liquid-solid hybrid of a construct.


The Baron smirked as the smell of iron became even stronger, as he sent a small blood raven to the air to search for some sort of commander, which was quite easy when people announce their arrival. The raven became a rain of blood as the Baron sprinted to the announced 'King' who could 'save them', despite the high chance of them still dying as no one is truly safe from danger. Arriving relatively shortly, the Baron tipped his head to the King as stared directly at his eyes. "Hello, King of the Diamonds. If you wish to have a chance to win, may I recommend following my lead? Also, as it should be stated as an obvious fact but one I shalt highlight anyway, please don't attempt to attack my men. I'd hate to kill some friendly faces because some idiot decided to do something silly, wouldn't you agree, sir?" The baron smiled. The King couldn't touch him even if he wanted to, as the man lacked any strength in the outside. "Shalt we head to the enemy then?" That was the final comment, as the beasts finished their spree of murders, growing in size after the draining of the blood in each attacker. [div class="Line"][/div] Interacting: Mechking and the Guildmaster| Mentioned: Mechking Athanas Kloudy | Located: Frontlines [div class="Line" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div]

Code by @AgWordSmith

[/div]

 

[Kloudy]

Coalition Forces
(Valencia - The Battlefield)

​

“Hmph. These magical bastards sure are putting up a resistance. Half of Ornare burns, yet still they struggle and flounder?”

The soldier in mobility-enhanced knight armour shook his head and snorted. There were three of them sitting on large rocks in a circle, awaiting commands from their squad leader. The soldier’s friend chucked an ashy stone across the ground, while another checked their rifle in a huff, clearly anxious to get into battle.

“All this waiting is taxing. It feels like we’re waiting for something to come to us, when we could be taking the fight to the enemy!”

There was a general grumble of agreement, but not much could be done. Order were orders. Until…

A strange energy sound could be heard behind the group and they whipped around in comical unison, surprise evident on the faces under the steel helmets. A swirling cyan portal had appeared before their very eyes. Magic! They scrambled up and attempted to get behind cover, but it was too late. Coalition forces spilled out from the deep hues enmasse, bolts of magic and ranged weaponry flying in all directions as the shock troops rushed the unprepared Argossian rear forces.

Heralding the flanking attack was Xixix, King of the Clubs. Argossians flocked to strike him down with various rifle-bayonet attachments and power-swords, but all met a similar fate in the face of overwhelming power and skill. As this was the backline reserve force, there were no active armour or mobile vehicle units on standby. Just artillery and communication camps. The reserve infantry were quickly decimated before active units could arrive to the scene, but by then the majority of the LMRA’s had been destroyed along with the radio tower trucks used to send long-distance communications. In hindsight, it would have perhaps been more advantageous to seize the radio equipment than destroy it in the long run, but there would still be various pockets of information camps left untouched for future research purposes.

Now that backlines were a frenzy. The main central Argossian force backlines had turned around in numbers to face the Coalition attack with considerable rebuttal. Armoured tanks and sentinels peddled forth in a steadfast advance on the mages, firing heavy rounds at the infantry that moved to meet them. Ballistics flew one way and magic missiles the other. Chaos and bloodshed followed with little room for respite or relief. The surprise-flank assault had been effective, but without reinforcements or a route for retreat, X and his soldiers would soon find themselves in a dire spot. William’s return portal was not activating, meaning he was either preoccupied with combat or… incapacitated. Either way, it would spell many meaningless deaths for the Coalition men unless the Clubs King could find a solution.

LazyDaze

~~~

​

On the frontlines, the bloodshed was no better. As the Empire dogs had closed in on the retreating Coalition frontline, they had run into many explosives and mines that dotted the battlefield. Unbeknownst to them, many mana and gunpowder traps had been set with specific Leyline paths designated for Coalition forces to follow to avoid friendly-damage. The leylines were illusion spells cast so faint that even the most mana-sensitive Argossian couldn’t see it, yet any military-grade mage would be able to spot it without fail. It was a nigh-impossible charge in the face of unrelenting death from further Coalition ranged support from the mountains in conjunction with the mines.

“AHAHAHAHAHA- HAHAH- HAHAHA- AHAHAHAHAH!!!”

However, Helmur’s demolitions trapper mage existed. And his maniacal laughter was only insult to the injury left by the simultaneous detonation of the network of explosives left unexploded under the boots of Empire soldiers. There was a loud bang that shook the ground and split open the earth. Body parts and armour flew in all directions across the battlefield and a slew of red poured down from above thereafter. It rained blood on the Coalition forces, drenching them in crimson. And still they slogged on, charging along with Helmur and his rage-driven crew in a frenzy of bloodlust and adrenaline. There would be no more retreating today.

As Helmur advanced with his troop, various Argossian tanks and mobility armour came to meet him. Sentinels and heavy ballistics troopers with machine guns began blitzing the Coalition attack, attempting to repel the charge with as much firepower as they could humanly carry. Up above, Sky Steeds corkscrewed through the air and raked the Suits’ forces, further pelting the charge with increase dual-barrel repeater blasters. The Empire was certainly not beaten just yet, nor did they remotely intend to give up now. For Emperor, victory or death.

Athanas BreezeCatcher

~~~

Meanwhile, the wyrm needed to be taken care of. Three and her hordes of overgrown insects were causing too much unnecessary damage and it was proving debilitating. On Acting-Commander Dornwell’s orders, the left flank archer unit swung its aim away from the Argossians and focused their fire on the land-leviathan before them. A hail of magical bullets, weapon constructs and other projectiles launched with considerable velocity in the direction of Three and her beloved beast.

While the attacks did very little to the creature’s armour, it’s owner was forced to take cover behind the ridge of its head in order to avoid taking any stray hits. She cursed momentarily, a furious furrow slashing across her brow as she continued controlling her army by psychic means. It soon became apparent, however, that the attack was not entirely futile. Chips and slivers of armour began flaking off of the wyrm. They were whittling it away, albeit very slowly, and in time it would crack. And then it would leave the leviathan exposed.

The wyrm towered up high in the air, so it only made sense for the aerial fighters to engage it. The airships that rose from Valencia like bees burdened with nectar began dotting the skies. In charge of their operations was Commander Alderidge, who stood at the bow of his flagship overlooking the battle below. A loud crack that shook his ship put the entire crew unsteady and it was obvious that Helmur and his men were up to their ridiculous antics once more. A few sailors even muttered slight curses at his recklessness. Operating an airship and fighting in the thick of war were two different environments, but even so none of the men could understand how those warriors slept soundly at night considering the details of their profession.

Speaking of profession, it was time to fulfil theirs. The Airship Fleet had drawn close to a thick fog in the sky. Only, the fog was no fog, but actually a dense cluster of Three’s insidious hover bugs. Arm blades readied, the airborne insects soared at the flying boats with unfaltering focus, each an extension of Three’s consciousness and thus her entirely divided but just as equal hatred for the Suits people. It was not just the Hearts Kingdom that she hated, but all humans. This was revenge at it’s finest for her.

As the bugs drew close, many fell flat against the defensive mana barriers that materialised into existence as multiple Manastone generators activated in unison at the hand of Kaiden’s crew. In practised unity, the cannons swivelled and fired, enchanted cannonballs casting wide explosions midair to encapsulate as many of the deformed ex-citizens as possible. They could no longer be saved, but the Coalition crew could at least end their suffering. Many broke through the firepower and continued to slash at the shields, but there was enough mana stones to last a while.

They were making steady progress and would soon be upon the wyrm. However, a further hurdle placed itself in Kaiden’s path.

“Commander! Empire Sky-Steeds, twelve-O’-clock!”

Indeed a wave of dogfighter two-man planes were approaching from the left flank of the battlefield, enclosing on the Coalition airforce and the swarm of bugs. Gatling guns fired off in a riddling barrage and gnarled bodies began falling from the sky as a path was cleared. The Sky-Steeds were too quick for Three’s flyers to catch and the planes soon closed the distance between themselves and Kaiden’s aerial army. Sky-Steeds had less firepower and definitely inferior durability, but their high mobility made them perfect for air-to-air dogfighting combat. Able to dodge the magical cannon fire relatively easily, they began circling individual airships while pelting them with gatling fire from the rear-crew gunner position.

It was not the most punishing attacking, but still did some airships go down under the sheer number of planes that began shovelling firepower on their shields. Manastone generators went down and soon the decks were filled with holes and the wind mages too. It was lightning-fast fighting with casualties coming inversely slowly, an airship losing altitude every few minutes. Even so, Kaiden’s crew looked at him for orders, the shields buzzing and generator humming with each barrage.

Mechking Xanto

~~~

“This way! Tunnel One is this way! You, take them through there and report back what you find! You and you, follow me.”

A commander was ordering his lieutenants around when he heard a rumbling come from above. Dust and dirt showered them lightly, but the walls and ceiling remained otherwise undisturbed. With the battle raging so violently up above, it would be no wonder if the battlefield crashed through from above to meet them in the tunnels.

He gazed down Tunnel Two, wary as to what to expect. Acting-Commander Dornwell had ordered him to investigate the cause of the lack of communication from the envoys, but there was nothing and no one here. No signs of battle, no bodies or blood, no guards posted at the entrance. It was like they had all just deserted. Various weapons dotted the ground, but there was not much else in the way of evidence as to what had occurred. The commander wandered through the tunnel, leading his squad through the wide cavernous tunnel with torches illuminating the way ahead.

It was not until a few minutes had passed did the commander realise he was entirely alone. Panicked, he dropped his torch and drew his sword, waving it about in fear of an ambush.

But none came. Instead, a feminine chuckle.

Faintly, under bated breath, he could make out the sound of slight scratches over and over. Rhythmic, frequent. They grew louder. It drew right up to him, the sound, then around him. Then it stopped. It was too dark to see much as someone had knocked out the torch lamps that hung from the walls and ceiling. The commander moved to pick up his torch with a shaking hand, his other proffering his sword weakly at the darkness. His heartbeat was in his ears, blood roaring with survival-instinct adrenaline. Then a voice.

“You dropped these…”

Looking up, the man extended his hand to shine the light of his torch above. What he saw defied anything he possibly possessed in his mind that dealt with reason and control. A woman, borne aloft by an array of spider appendages, was grinning down at him with a face-splitting fanged smile while holding the severed heads of his telepath and his lieutenant. Their faces were frozen in horrified shock. Just as his was at the present moment. Juliana, the spider-lady, waste no more time toying with the poor man and skewered him on one of her elegantly long insect legs. He slid down the length of sharp forelegs, a small streak of blood sliding down the black chitin carapace.

“My, my. Let’s not make a mess, shall we? I’m expecting company.”

She carried herself up to the ceiling of the tunnel. Although no human could see it in such dim light, it was littered with webbing. Cocoons roughly humanoid-sized that contained thousands of bodies, the webs catching any spilt blood. Juliana was one of the more advanced creations of Three, just like the wyrm, and had made a banquet of ensnaring the poor Coalition soldiers that had been awaiting orders from above. Many more spider-like bug creatures skittered across the ceiling, subduing any cocoons that were exhibiting too much movement and keeping the webbing strong. In the other tunnel, the same scene would be found with the other exploration team having met the same fate. Arimand would find no confirmation message reaching back to him, no word of the forces he had sent down below.

Mechking

 

[TPBx]

The soldiers quickly reacted to Lloyd drawing his pistol, immediately jumping away and firing off grappling hooks to the rooftops of the area around the square. They circled around Lloyd, flying around and looking for an opportunity to strike.

"This doesn't look good," Phantomsong commented.

"No, grappling hooks are great," Lloyd countered. He was keeping a close eye on the soldiers, and got ready to fire as soon as they began to swing

One of the mage hunters fired off his grappling hook a meter and a half behind Lloyd and soared from his position on a balcony down to the mage, preparing to strike with the sword from his off hand. Simultaneously, two other grappling hooks shot towards Lloyd as one of the soldiers on the ground aimed for to strike him while flying to the building directly behind the sword wielding mage.

Lloyd, not anticipating that they would get so close so quickly, decided to draw the sword near his free hand in a backhand grip to block the nearest swordsman's blade. It was a jarring blow to his wrist, but Lloyd didn't have time to worry about that now. He then reached over the blade with the pistol in his right hand, firing off a shot at the man's head.

As for the man swinging over the building, Lloyd panicked, aiming at the man and shooting off the remaining two bullets in his pistol.

"Good job choosing me over Phantomsong," Mia commented, "Let me show you what I can do."

The soldier that attempted to strike from behind fell dead to the floor as the shot landed cleanly into his skull. The other who flew over Lloyd disconnected one of his grappling hooks and shot it back at the mage, wrapping the cable around Mia in an attempt to disarm him. Two more mage hunters stepped from the shadows to engage Lloyd while he’d be distracted. Though they would be met with resistance as reinforcements from the Coalition Garrison came to help.

Lloyd dropped his pistol and drew Phantomsong with his other hand and began to start hacking at the cord wrapped around Mia.

"I am Amelia Chevrolet, the first Queen of Spades; the Death Queen. Prepare yourselves to meet your doom," Mia thundered as Lloyd wildly slashed at the grappling hook. Mia went silent for a second before she said, "Lloyd. Stop panicking. It's not helping anyone."

"I'm trying!" Lloyd said, obviously not trying.

"Ow, ow, ow," Phantomsong complained, "I'm going to have a headache."

Finally the cord snapped, and with it, Mia was free. Lloyd sheathed Phantomsong and drew another pistol and charged at the two mage hunters that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Their blades clashed, though while traditionally Argossian steel was strong enough to cut through Coalition swords, Mia cut through the Argossian weapons like a hot knife through butter. Lloyd’s deadly counter was able to penetrate into the Mage Hunters’ space. One of them, having no time to react was instantly cut down, while the other made his escape using his grappling hook to quickly jettison himself out of the way of Lloyd’s attack with a twirl, landing gracefully on the ground.

"First Queen of Spades?" Lloyd asked with disbelief to Mia when they finally got a moment of respite. Lloyd usually wasn't used to fighting many skilled soldiers at once, so his mind was not at the right place when Mia had revealed herself.

"Shut up and fight," Mia-- no, Amelia replied.

"Ah, yes, alright," Lloyd replied. He reached into his belt and drew out another pistol-- his stock of three shot pistols were running dangerously low, and as he charged at the swordsman, he fired the three shots at the swordsman. The shots connected and the soldiers fell down in a heartbeat, lifeless on the floor.

“I’m glad that’s over,” Lloyd commented, leaning on his knees for a moment to rest. Moments later though, he stabbed Mia into the ground, and accusingly, he pointed at her, “Explain. Now.”

Collaboration with Coyote Hart

 

[Coyote Hart]

My name is Amelia Chevrolet. Although you may know me as Mia, or if you studied the history books, as the Death Queen and the first Queen of Spades. It was suspected that I’ve killed hundreds of Spade citizens during my time in power. Why? To further the reach of magic, of course.

The Argossian empire was distrustful of magic, to say the least. Practicing it was completely and utterly illegal. This really didn’t bode well with me, as a little girl who, out of the reach of her parents, discovered the fascinating charms of magic. Of being able to bring the dead back to life-- if only as zombies. My dog named Sugar, who died when I was twelve, could be brought back to life, if only as a shell of the corpse that he was.

This sort of magic seemed so beneficial, I couldn’t understand even despite all the education, tutors, and books that I was given, at why such a gift was considered taboo and forbidden. So when the James Stryker and mages that had been shoved under for so long rose up to fight against the Argossian empire, I was proud to be one of the first ones to join in, with my whip sword and necromancy powers.

And when we emerged victorious at the end of the day, I joined in with my fellow mages in our passionate and fervorous thirst for magical knowledge. Except, unlike them, I focused on one specific part alone -- trying to obtain immortality. This usually involved a lot of testing; a lot of torturous pain to a test subject. But I told myself that this was for the better of humanity. If we could be immortal, we could be anything. Heck, I already was halfway there-- I discovered how to be young forever.

But really it was all because I feared death. I feared the afterlife. I was taught that those who practiced magic were condemned in the heavens. Even if we, as a new nation of magicians, obtained our independence, we would still be damned.

So I toiled in the backroom of the Spades castle for five years. Five years of reign, and finally, one day my plans were halted.

The day of my downfall was a sunny day. I was performing my usual experiments, injecting dysidia into the test subject, transfiguration of an arm with destructive doses of magic and such. I was trying to find a way to trap the soul in the body as well as figure out how to keep the body functioning after death.

“I know it really hurts, but can you shut up?” I said impatiently to the man splayed against the wall. It had been two hours, and honestly, the man’s screaming was beginning to hurt my ears.

The man replied by screaming even louder. So loud in fact, that I didn’t even notice the door behind me open.

“Holy shit,” a man’s voice said. I turned around to look at the newcomers in my hidden room. It was six guards, all of which I recognized personally. They were all men who I had grown to trust throughout the past five years. The guard that had initially spoken ran off, likely to grab some backup.

“Hello boys,” I said calmly. At the time, I was so blinded by my mission for immortality that I didn’t even realize that I had done something wrong. Later, when I sat alone in a tavern room that smelled of turd and piss, I realized just how immoral my actions were. But at that time, I didn’t even realize.

“Oh God,” one of the other guards exclaimed. His surprise was short-lived though, as he recovered quickly and drew the sword on his hip, “My Queen, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go with me.”

“No, of course not,” I replied defiantly. I had no idea why I was being arrested, but I had no intention of being so. I reached to my sword at my hip, although I knew that there wasn’t much of a chance I could win against all five of the guards. Three, maybe, but five was too much.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to fight all five of them. One of the guards, a young man named Fyodor Einstadt, had a look of doubt in his eyes as everyone else drew their weapons. Finally, when they began to descend on me, he raised his cutlass, and with two quick movements, impaled the guards next to him. Within seconds, they both went up in blazes of white fire, leaving nothing behind.

I took the opportunity to draw my whip sword, and with two quick movements, slashed the chests of the men in front of me. They all fell to their knees screaming as insidious dark magic went up to their bodies and rendered them into lifeless zombies.

“Come on, my Queen, let’s go,” Fyodor said to me, urging me to go.

We fled town, knowing that the King of Spades would be sending an army to track us down at any given time. When we thought that we had gone far enough, we found a tavern to stay at. Over a breakfast of sunny side up eggs and bacon the next day, I asked Fyodor the question that was nagging me the entire night.

“Why did you save me?” I asked. There was absolutely no reason why Fyodor should’ve saved me. He would’ve gotten nothing out of it.

“Well, villains help villains,” Fyodor replied, flashing me a good natured smile.

I didn’t believe a single word that came out of his mouth. How could a guard that held his duty with upmost importance (and therefore wasn’t an annoying pain in the ass) and was also friendly be a villain? I could imagine myself as the villain of a story, but how he?

"I don't believe you," I said frankly.

"So this little gem here," Fyodor said with a grin as he pulled out his necklace. It was made of shining sterling silver with the shape of a lion's head, baring its fangs as it bit down on a large, round yellow manastone. The thing was a powerful artifact and a pretty one at that. Fyodor waved it around as he said mischievously, "I don't own this."

"You don't... WHAT?" I asked.

"Stole it from Djer himself," Fyodor said with a wink, "But nobody would know."

"Djer? As in The Djer?" I repeated in a stunned manner. This young, passionate soldier was a common thief, elevated into a high position simply by his plunder?

"You got it," Fyodor said. He chuckled and continued, "I know now that I'm completely wrong, but I thought that you knew about it. And if you get dumped off the throne, then I'll probably face criminal charges from the next Queen."

"No, I didn't know about this, and I would charge you, but I don't think I can."

"Oh, that's a shame," Fyodor looked disappointed, "I thought you were on my side."

"I am," I insisted, "We're stuck in this mess together."

"Yeah, I guess," Fyodor said, still looking crestfallen. What did he want from me? I couldn't condone his thievery, as the Queen of Spades.

"I guess that if I am no longer the Queen, I suppose... no, I can't," I tried. And failed. I lowered my head and stared at the eggs and bacon on my plate.

“That’s a shame,” Fyodor said, leaning his head back against the chair with his arms folded over his head.

“Are you crying?” I asked bluntly.

“No, no, no,” Fyodor lied, his eyes sparkling, “Real men don’t cry. If my worthless Argossian scum of a father taught me anything, that would be it.”

“You’re definitely crying,” I said, and quickly added on, “Which doesn’t make you less of a man.”

“It’s just that I thought that I had someone in the world who could understand me, and wasn’t like my spartan father or my traitor of a mother,” Fyodor said.

“No, I do,” I objected, “Villains need to stick with each other, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Fyodor said.

At that moment, the front door of the shitty tavern flew open… no, rather it blew apart. A man wearing a fancy coat and wielding a ridiculous looking war scythe emerged into the tavern. He looked like some sort of military officer. He shouted, “Is Amelia Chevrolet here?”

“Yes?” I said, rising to my feet and walking towards the man, “What do you require?”

“There’s a warrant for your arrest,” the man said, “I’d suggest you come quietly.”

I took a moment to think, then I settled on saying a quick “no.”

Before the man could react, I reached over and sank my hand into his chest. His eyes widened in surprise before they constricted with fear. Then, a strained scream emerged from the man’s throat before he collapsed, with a dark aura streaming from him.

“Grab your bags,” I commanded Fyodor, ignoring the stares of the other tavern people, “We got to go.”

Rather than comply, Fyodor began to shovel the eggs and bacon into his mouth. When he finished, he rose to his feet and walked upstairs, but not before asking me, “Vuh did ‘ou to that ‘an?”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” I reprimanded him, “And it was just dysidia poisoning.”

Minutes later, when we walked out with our bags over our shoulders, I saw a group of soldiers waiting just beyond the hill that the tavern was situated on. At the sight of me and Fyodor walking away, they shouted at us and started charging towards us with their weapons.

“Is an entire army hunting us down?” Fyodor asked as he drew his cutlass.

“Damn it, how did they follow us?” I exclaimed as I similarly drew my whip sword.

Thankfully, the army was no match for the two of us. Fyodor’s angel fire burned away at every soldier’s weapon, armor, and body that it touched, and my whip sword ensured that nobody got close to me, while my magic turned members of the army against themselves in their insanity. Eventually, there were just the corpses of the soldiers remaining, which were quickly burned away by Fyodor.

We fled deeper and deeper into the Spades kingdom. It was honestly a stupid plan, but we had already gone the wrong way, so correcting it would have just led us back to the capital, the worst place we could be.

Finally, one night in an unusually clean barn that had been on an abandoned farm, I broke down.

“I’m more than sixty, and you’re just in your twenties,” I said as I heated up a cup of cream of mushroom, “I’m just getting in the way for you.”

I didn’t mean that my age was slowing down-- on the contrary, my eternally young body had adapted to the tense, on-the-run lifestyle that we had for the past week.

Fyodor frowned as he leaned against a cube of hale and watched me, “I don’t think you’re getting in my way.”

“No, what I mean is that you could be living your life as your own,” I handed a cup of soup to Fyodor, “Rather than being trapped with me. The army doesn’t know that you’re involved. So far you’ve killed every one of the soldiers that have laid eyes on you.”

Fyodor said nothing in response, instead he just sipped soup out of the ceramic cup I gave him. While on the run, we had stolen several things. Milk from farms killed some chickens from some chicken coops, stole a few things from stores. It allowed me to utilize the cooking skills that my father had forced me to learn (“No lady doesn’t know how to cook a splendid dinner”) to make our food on the run. And as I was about to learn, thievery didn’t just get us food.

“On a happier note, I found this,” Fyodor said as he reached into his bag and pulled out an intricate shortsword. It was an elegant blade, with glowing runes covering the blade. It was by sight a powerful sword. You might know it as the very sword I possess today.

“What?” I asked, almost spilling soup, “Where the hell did you get that?”

“I stole it from Djer,” Fyodor said casually.

“Again?!” I exclaimed, “And when?”

Fyodor chuckled, obviously pleased, “Djer passed by us today on the road. He was probably going to make a weapon for someone. So I lifted this off of him, and with it, came this!”

Fyodor passed me a note, which I snatched and quickly skimmed, mouthing the words as I read. It was a very personal note, directed towards one of Djer’s friends. The sword that Fyodor had snatched was a soul-sucking sword that wasn’t completely finished-- it still required a soul to house it.

“I know that it isn’t particularly useful since we can’t really force someone to work for us once they’re trapped,” Fyodor said, “Sorry.”

“No, no, this is amazing!” I exclaimed, “This is just what we need!”

Fyodor raised his eyebrows in confusion, “Pardon?”

“If I put myself into this sword, I wouldn’t need to fear dying at the hands of the soldiers!” I said, “And then you could just escape the kingdom by yourself, without me burdening you!”

“Uhh… are you certain about that?” Fyodor seemed dubious towards the idea.

“I am iffy,” I admitted, “I’m honestly afraid of dying. But this is our best chance to survive!”

Fyodor’s face still held doubt as he said, “Well if you’re certain. Thanks for being considerate of me.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be deeper in your debt,” I said with a smile as I read over the instructions to clearly recognize how to imbue myself. From what it seemed, I would have to kill myself with it.

“I don’t believe in debt,” Fyodor countered.

“Well, I’ll see you on the other side,” I said as I inverted the blade towards my abdomen. It was such a weird sensation, knowing that the sharp end of a sword was aimed to possibly end my life. I smiled towards Fyodor, “And if I die from this, thank you for everything.”

And with that, I summoned all my courage, and thrust the blade deep into my chest. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any pain. Just the feeling of being sucked away into an abyss. My senses began to fade until it was just darkness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A swordsman wearing the garb of a Spade's soldier walked out of the barn, his new sword strapped onto the scabbard of his hip. Now his only job was to sneak past the army that was surely still after the Queen of Spades and escape-- either into the Diamond kingdom or into the Heart kingdom.

Unfortunately, he was stopped by an old man with what seemed to be a sickle in his hand. He was wearing what seemed to be a nightshirt and fur pants-- he was likely the farmer that resided on the abandoned farm.

“I saw the young lady that commited suicide,” the old man said, “She was the Queen, right? The one the King is after?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Fyodor said slowly to the old man. He didn’t want to be in this mess, not when he knew that he was very close to achieving freedom.

“Don’t play dumb on me, young’un,” the old man said, raising his sickle, “You’re one of her accomplices, right? Then it’s my duty to strike you down.”

Fyodor raised his sword and intending to strike down the old man like any other man he had struck down, but when the sword connected with the sickle, his angel’s fire didn’t burn the sickle to a crisp.

“You’ll have to try harder than that, m’boy,” the old man said, “I’m a veteran at this. A little magic isn’t going to stop me.”

But what the old man didn’t see was the new sword-- me-- slicing in an upward angle at the old man, which impaled him. With a scream, the old man collapsed, his body shuddering.

“Well, that man’s gone insane, hopefully, he’ll give the army a nasty surprise,” Fyodor commented.

“What’s next?” I asked.

“Freedom in the Diamond kingdom hopefully,” Fyodor said, as he walked to the sunrise. Like one of those fucking stupid children’s stories with their happy sappy bappy endings. No. Fuck you. That’s not how the story ends.

The story ends with Lloyd Einstadt, Fyodor’s grandson’s grandson’s grandson’s… etc etc etc’s grandson, striking down five professional Argossian swordsmen with me!

No, fuck it, the story isn't even close to ending!

 

[Mechking]

Arimand



An individual he had never seen before approached Arimand and subsequently proceeded to break all forms of decency and respect. After practically drilling into the eyes of the assassin with his glare, Arimand decided to take him seriously. At least to some extent.
"You dare command me around? I am King Arimand Argus Dornwell, acting commander of the entire coalition forces! I could exterminate your so-called Assassins Guild with a snap of my finger! Disrespect me again and know my wrath!"
With his rant now over, he continued with the tactical side of things.
"No, your troops will not be attacked, but it would have been very beneficial to know of your support before the battle starts. Now go and charge with the others. If you wish to contact me again, this man beside me is my telepath."

Mentioning the telepath, Arimands thoughts were intercepted by important news.
"All telepaths entering the tunnels have gone silent."
He then relayed the small order back to the telepath via the still open telepathic connection.
"Curses! Station troops at the entrances, nothing enters or leaves."

---

Bob



Bob shielded Iris from some gunfire as he moved forwards. Bullets doing seemingly nothing to him and all the damage that he sustained slowly reshaping itself back, leaving no lasting marks. This seemingly invincible warrior simply walked into one of the enemy trenches, his heated sword making short work of everyone inside.
"I hate this. I hate violence. Why, just why must you come and invade us? Couldn't you have just stayed at home, enjoying your lives? But no, instead you had to come here and disrupt our small squabbles and take the last amount of peace that I had left away. Now I must see my creator lead entire armies to battle, I must be at his side as he commits mass murder. All of this because of you!"

---

As the next volley of cannon fire rained down on the coalition forces, a lot of the shells, especially those aimed at the command bunkers, suddenly halted in mid-air, only to be thrown back to the cannons that fired them. Arimand was now mostly dedicated to countering the War Engine. Any gunfire targeting him or the ones near him would be blocked by molten metal suddenly intercepting it, only to then cool down to form new pieces of cover. In the few pauses between cannon-shots, Arimand attacked the Argossians with ruthless efficiency.

The men and women that were tasked with defending Arimand's position did so diligently. As soon as anyone came too close, they would meet a grizzly fate. Magical barriers hindered any attack that the king couldn't block and powerful spells prevented even tanks from advancing to a certain point.

As tanks and sentinels moved to attack the charge, one after the other would suddenly explode. No one had any explanation for it, even though they have witnessed it before. The solution was quite simple really. Once Arimand had figured out their weakness, he simply began targeting the ammo supply of them, letting it detonate as it heated up. Some of the sky steeds were targeted as well, but their speed didn't allow for Arimand to focus on them for too long.

It was quite the display of power, as the King of Diamonds moved from one spell to the next. Almost seeming like a dance, Arimand graciously weaved his magic from target to target, his precision and speed something to behold. Elegant movements from his hands resembled those of a maestro, controlling an orchestra of combat, war, and death. Soldiers of the coalition were in awe, while those of the empire were terrified. Some had witnessed Arimand before and a few who were paralyzed by fear were impaled by spears, made of the armor of their comrades. The others were simply crushed by the advancing charge, their newfound morale as of yet unbroken.





( vielpotato Kloudy TPBx LazyDaze Athanas )

 

[Kloudy]

The Royal Flushe
(Valencia - Frontlines Left Flank)

Four’s eyes shifted up towards the Queen of Hearts in mild surprised as a large box-like barrier formed around the Flushe member. They intended to capture her? She smiled, curious as to why their usual kill-tactics had changed. It was clear from the sheer mana coursing through the construct that escaping the mana-made cage would prove exceedingly difficult for even her abilities, however. Of course, Four’s expression remained entirely calm and amicable. She had not been trained to display anything other than a cool exterior after all.

“Goodness, what trying times. My master would be rather disappointed if I were to die here,” She conceded, mostly to herself.

Her attention was further captured by the actions of the Ace of Hearts. Leolin had seen fit to launch the fiery airborne wreckage of the Argossian Sky-Steed he had forcefully commandeered in Four’s direction, the mass of molten slag and flames bearing down on her with the force of a meteorite. Despite the barrier around her, Four knew that even if the plane couldn’t pass through Guin’s ensnarement spell, it would blast through either way from the extra force the Ace had applied to it.

Wasting no time for a witty remark, Four’s face grew serious as she began to channel her chi is larger volumes. Performing a series of hand and arm movements to generate chi in a swirling motion around her body, she got into a specific defensive stance and pushed her hands forward, palms open, fingers splayed, thumbs together. A bead of sweat traced down the side of her forehead as she concentrated. Stream Breath was an excellent martial art for deflecting enemy attacks in close combat, however it was not without a strong arsenal of chi-use blocking moves that transcended beyond the physical form.

~~~​

Meanwhile, Three was dealing with her own difficulties. While her consciousness was split between the thousands of insects all psychically linked to her mind through magic, she was not comatose in her original body. Indeed if anything, she was more aware of her entire surroundings than she had ever been before. The hundreds of flying bug monsters hovering all around them saw to that. As Twig in masked form came to corral her from aiding Four, she sneered nastily without looking at him.

“You and that sultry wench will feel my wrath,” Her body shook somewhat unnaturally, twitching in various places involuntarily. Her neck twisted violently and her head snapped to the side, glaring at the incognito Jack with pure malice and hatred.

“BRING ME YOUR SOUL!!!”

Through her multidimensional view from her connection to the bugs around them providing line of sight from all angles, Three calculated her attack strategy flawlessly. As Alaric charged her with swords at the ready, various flyers attempted to approach Twig from behind enmasse, using their cluster of weight to push past the heavy winds he was producing. As he would undoubtedly be distracted by this new threat, Three twitched again and something else rose from a crack in the wyrm’s armour nearby. It crawled its way out on four legs, covered in heavy chitin armour itself.

And then it stood up on two legs.

Muscles pulled taut under its thick skin with a body frame that seemed to be chiselled from a mountain, the giant humanoid cockroach towered at ten feet tall. Without wasting another moment, it launched itself at Three just as Alaric was about to reach her. In the same moment, the bug monster, which Three had named ‘Adonis’, tackled the Hearts soldier and flung him with incredible speed and power at Twig in an attempt to swat him out the sky with Alaric being the projectile. Being distracted by the swarm, Three was certain Twig would be unable to deal with this combination-threat and the thought drew an evil grin across her malevolent features.

~~~​

As the flaming Sky-Steed drew close to Guin’s barrier, it seemed to hit another invisible one just before. Squashing up as the weight of the vehicle’s frame impacted against its nose, the plane then seemed to disassemble into several neatly cut blocks of fiery steel. Chunks of the stuff blew past and entered through the Hearts Queen’s barrier and impacted all around Four. Several pieces of plane-hull all varying in size and combustion hit Four, although she did her best to deflect the shrapnel as best she could.

“Good...ness…”

Four coughed and fell to her knees, blood spouting from her mouth. She felt her hand around her side and noticed a large shard of plane-wing sticking out of it. Her brow somewhat creased as a dull throb ebbed into her consciousness, but she ignored it and assessed the rest of the damage. She had multiple lacerations and bruises all over her body and she could definitely feel a few fractures.

The well-devised combination of limiting her mobility and launching overwhelming ranged firepower at the fourth Royal Flushe had proved quite effective. Four rose to one knee while attempting to hold the shard of metal in place. If she removed it now, she would bleed out and die very quickly. Despite this damage, Four still got herself up and into a shaky defensive stance. She called out to Three in a strained version of her normally courteous demeanour.

“Time is up Three... Begin the next phase now.”

Three all but snarled in response, “Don’t tell me what to do!”

Goonfire Coyote Hart . D O V E BreezeCatcher

The Assassins Guild
(Valencia - Frontlines Right Flank)

There was no need for orders. There was no need for direction from a commander or a need for collaboration or working together. An assassin works alone, the Guild was merely a structure of tradition to ensure maximum efficiency concerning their art. Working together was rare and reserved for contracts that explicitly require it. Today, on the battlefield of Valencia, there was no such requirement. Invisible forces of blade and blood dashing through the Argossian right flank mercilessly, precise and calculated cuts between armour and across vitals ensured quick kills so they could move on swiftly to the next target. An elite unit trained in the art of murder, there was no way the average Argossian infantryman could possibly compete.

The Guildmaster gazed on through slit eyes, observing the battlefield from his vantage point atop a slightly raised hill. His Guild members had quickly cut a path from the Coalition frontlines directly up to the massive War Engine before them. With any luck the Acting-Commander Dornwell, of whom’s identity he knew of through secret channels, would capitalise on this advantage and press forward his armies to destroy the titanic construct. In all his years, the Guildmaster had seen many both wondrous and terrifying sights in his life. He had seen the immeasurably valuable use of their house Artefact, the Wraps of the Reaper, revolutionise the art of assassation. He had seen mighty wars fought between kingdoms in their bids for supremacy by conflict. He had seen the unimaginable power of the Aces as they lay waste to entire armies.

But this… this leviathan of metal and energy, it was something else entirely. It was something he could not fathom nor explain. Modern man had birthed such a creature as this? The Guildmaster was not an easily shakeable man, but the Argossian War Engine was a marvel in itself and the elder man could not help but wonder as to how far the Empire had managed to reach its hand to the infinite expanse of technology.

And he wondered what may have reached back.

~~~

​

The Master Assassin had been busy.

Phasing from the ground and into the underside of the War Engine, the masked man had been whirling through tight corridors and compartment rooms for various vehicle systems. Twin swords flashing out in arcs and glimmers of light, he flitted through hallways like an arrow as a mere heat-blur in the red emergency lighting. Argossian engineers fell in near-unison as singular clean cuts relieved their bodies of their heads. By the time he had made his way to the top roof of the War Engine, the entire front of the mechanical behemoth was de-staffed and his swords bloodless. The giant guns stopped firing, neutered until more engineers rushed to re-man the facilities.

He came to a stop wordlessly. Ethan Lenor Kaloronos, Ex-King of Diamonds and Commander of the Argossian Empire’s armies. He was currently engaging the Coalition nobles, so the Guild’s finest decided to move. Assassinating the Argossian’s chain of command would be a great blow against the Empire. He walked forth slowly, taking all the time in the world. There was no way Ethan would turn around to fight him in time thanks to his unique and highly advanced magic - Presence Erasure. A unique subspell he had created from invisibility, it allowed him to mask not only sound, but vibrations, smell, visual sight, thoughts, intent, his mana aura - even the physical disturbances he left on the world were masked from notice, masked in his inscrutable magic. He was undetectable.

It was a near-perfect ability and one that had ensured his place as the Master Assassin of the Assassins Guild for he was unmatched in his art. It had only one drawback. The higher one’s mana, the more sensitive they were to detecting mana in the world. That included the mana in other people. His Presence Erasure was powerful, but it became less effective the closer he got to people of similar or higher mana as him. Judging from Commander Kaloronos’s aura, the masterful assassin would only be able to get within 10ft of the man before he realised something was wrong.

But 10ft was all he would need.

The Master Assassin twirled his two thin swords. Just before he stepped within range where Ethan would be able to detect him, he crouched low and entered a stance no one would see.

“Serpent Stance, Strike of the Sandviper.”

In less than a second, the assassin leaped forward at incredible speed to close the distance as impossible fast as one could fathom. If anyone had been able to perceive him before, they would have seen him simply disappear from sight with an afterimage being his only footprint. Midair, both blades reared over his shoulder, his body snapped into place as he cocked back his swords and swung them thusly to deliver and masterful cut to Ethan’s neck with clear intent to sever his head just as he had with the many Argossian engineers before. He was certain the man would not be able to react in time to notice his presence and defend himself.

Mechking TPBx

The Forest
(Yisstra’s Grove - Southern Border)

The dwarf shook his head once more and gestured vaguely at the forest with his weapon, “Leas’ of all us lot…”

A few of his companions either sighed loudly or snorted, jostling each other halfheartedly. They had been through proverbial hell. Creature after creature, fight after fight. They had started off with twelve, now they were down to half that many. They had entered the grove only four hours ago. They were all exhausted from running, fighting or generally getting beaten up by various plant creatures. The dead man on the floor was, as aforementioned, their sixth loss. The dwarf’s eyes regarded his fallen comrade with dubious caution, as if he was about to spring back to life as some kind of plant zombie and try to eat them all. There was solace in the fact that necromancy of any kind had been banned long ago.

“Aye, not quit’ ‘shot at’ as su’ch. Cus ‘e et some kinder berry or summit. Look ‘ere.”

The dwarf dug into one of his pouches with a leather-gloved hand and proffered a red berry to Callum. It didn’t seem particularly out of the ordinary and even appeared quite delicious. A quick survey of the forest’s edge revealed that these berries seemed to be quite common and grew on pretty much all of the low-lying shrubbery and bushes. In fact, there seemed to be an overabundance of them. Almost as if no one was eating them.

“Fear? Hah, walkin’ in ther’ I ‘ad no fear. Now… I per-fer not tah say.” The short adventurer tossed the berry away and shifted on his crate, before spitting on the ground.

“Aye, a Beastie ‘unter. Normalleh travals alun, but ‘e took our offa fo’ this ‘ere quest,” The dwarf brandished some kind of scroll, most likely containing the details for a contract with which they must complete to then collect payment. From just a cursory glance, Callum would be able to tell that it was from the Mercenary Guild.

“Oy, ‘e wus ah strange ‘un. Took off on ‘is own when we said we wus goin’ back.”

The dwarf shook his head and spat again, apparently just as mystified as to why anyone would want to delve deeper into Yisstra’s Grove twice, and alone.

~~~

CCCRRSHSHSHHHH!

Ebel was startled by a loud crash in the nearby treeline, followed by a series of slashing sounds. Without further delay, several trees slowly made their way to the ground and a man wrapped excessively in armour, aside from his left shoulder, flew out from the foliage. After him, some kind of 6ft bark-made golem or dryad stomped its way clear. The man was of tall stature and clearly a well-trained fighter judging from his build. He wielded a large two-handed battleaxe in one hand and twirled it about like a polearm. The minor dryad did not roar or make a show of aggression, but instead stalked its way directly toward him and swung a trunky forearm in his direction.

With a forceful grunt, the Beast Hunter ducked under the blow and sliced off the creature’s arm easily, sending it crashing backwards with a powerful kick. Striding off after his quarry, he pulled what looked like a ring from a pouch and slid it over his finger. The dryad had gotten to its feet and was already attempting to charge the man, who responded by sinking his axe into it’s knee to halt its movement, before holding his other hand into a tight fist. Mana surged into the ring with ignited his fist in red flames, which he consequently thrust into the slowly-regenerating stump the dryad now possessed. With the regeneration-point burnt off, he kicked the dryad back once more before retrieving his axe and sinking it into its torso. The dryad flailed for a moment before the Beast Hunter withdrew his axe, plunged his aflame fist into the wound and pulled out the still-glowing green mana crystal within.

The dryad died immediately, its bark beginning to wither and peel. The movement stopped and the Beast Hunter took a step away, regarding his admittedly small prize as he walked along the forest's edge. He ignored Ebel entirely and continued onwards as if he had not just brutally slaughtered some kind of tree-creature.

Remembrance AI10100 Ambiloquous

 

[Coyote Hart]

​

Sultry wench? Did Three mean Guin? What in the world? Was this woman really that jealous of Guin's good looks? It was shocking to see someone so fixated on having good looks, enough to want to kill someone for it. Or was it perhaps that Three was not in the best mental state?

Whatever the case, Twig didn't have any time to wonder, or even wonder why she wanted his soul. The swarm of insects that she sent towards Twig was stable enough to withstand the offsetting winds that he was throwing at them. It meant that Twig had to put Guin's gun to good use to fend off the swarm of bugs that threatened to overwhelm him. But that wasn't the primary worry now.

Out of the corner of his eye, Twig saw what seemed like a gigantic, muscular bug pick Alaric up in the middle of his attack on Three and chuck him like a giant bowling ball. And the trajectory was directly at Twig.

Completely overwhelmed, Twig let his panic instincts take over. With one gigantic boost, Twig burst into the air to avoid both the bugs and Alaric at the same time. Once in the air, Twig flailed for a good second before crashing back down onto the wyrm, landing heavily on his side, in a way very unlike the silly 'cool and quiet' swordsman persona he was trying to keep up.

So embarrassingly, Twig bounced to his feet, struck an intimidating pose, and said underneath his breath, "Scary swordsman pose~~"

This wasn't the best idea since he burst into an ephemeral second of laughter at the silliness of it all. He wasn't even wielding his sword. Then he realized something crucial. Alaric. He must have crashed into the swarm of bugs. Was he okay?

A cursory glance down the wrym didn't give Twig any idea of where he was. He hoped that Alaric wasn't dead. Twig doubted he could accept that someone he just talked to earlier before the battle would die because of one of his mistakes.

But there wasn't any time to worry or let the cold teeth of uncertainty knaw at Twig's mind. He needed to focus on the situation at hand. With Four out of the fight, it seemed as if she wanted Three to begin the next step of their plans. And Twig knew that whatever it was, he couldn't let them.

It was more of a desperation move than anything, but Twig aimed Guin's Doombringer at Three and fired off a multitude of shots. Then, from a different angle, Twig channeled a short burst of wind. The goal? To either push Three off of the wyrm or hit her with mana bullets.

. D O V E Kloudy BreezeCatcher Goonfire

 

[SentinelSevn]

He sat slumped upon the wooden table, a deck cards arranged in front of him in rows as he played himself a game of solitaire. The game was nearly complete. The diamonds sat at their neat little pile at the top of the board, all but a handful of cards. The clubs followed suit, then the hearts, and finally with the least cards set, the spades. A simple game this time, of the many hundred he's played perhaps the easiest one of them all. So easy, it was as if he his mind had been absent as each card was drawn..

Across from him stood a door. Every day that door stood, and every day he watched. He watched for it move on its own, to twist on its hinges. To reveal something other than a mirror of some old room accursed to look exactly like the one he sat in now. Perhaps its creator hoped it be some form of hospitality by making it exact to the proportions he once had at home, but instead it convinced him to curse it and to despise it with all his being. Oh how he wished upon the lone star sun, that never seemed to fall from his gaze at the windowsill, that the same star would finally shift in its position and allow night to envelope him. But alas, doomed to an everlasting day, in an everlasting room, in an everlasting cell.

The cards played in his hand like magic, his fingers fiddling with the corners of the card as his eyes lazily glanced over each and every one. There was no effort as each card fell into place like a puzzle, until on the table lay one card left unstacked from the rest. The man let out a sigh, for yet we had another game meet its end with no different of a solution.

Completing the game that had helped quell his impatience, he quickly rose from his seat to find something else of amusement. Him meandering around the room was a regular occurrence, apparent by the worn floorboards that traced his path around the table . His right hand rubbed his forearm, grasping the edges of his forearm for the band of steel that hugged flush to his skin. He picked and pulled at it, his skin pink and scarred from this habit of trying to wring himself free. But as always, like the result of everything he had always attempted to escape, the band remained unchanged. Symbols of black pulsed from the band, stretching across the entirety of his forearm and glowing a dull purple as a result of him trying to force its removal. It was almost as if it were laughing at his attempt.

The man traced his fingers along the lines made by the branding, dragging a pressed finger along its roots until he was met with the cool metal of the band. Eventually, the glowing began to fade until all that was left to the eyes were the accursed bands. How he wished it were that simple..

As he began to pass the door in his oh-so-amusing walk, shadow flickered across the window pane. He froze. Watching again as another, and another, danced from side of the glass to the other. Until finally, beneath the glow of the door that stared at him, another shadow crept from beneath its edges.

As curious as any caged beast was, he deferred from his path and crept towards the door, eyes still dancing in tandem with the shadows. His fingers latched around the wooden knob of the door, and with a twist of his wrist he pulled it open. He expected yet another room, with his cards lying atop the table and the one card centered waiting to be put in place. Instead, he was met with a breath of scorched air, smokey and hinting of metal and flesh. His ears were filled with wails of pain and panic, it was as if he were reliving the horror story of what had happened that very day, years ago. The day that had put him in his place. The day that despite being so long, felt as it had lived it just yesterday.

Adrenaline ran through his veins at the realization that he was free at last, no longer chained to the room by his once foe-turned-friend. He briefly wondered what could have happened to the brat, knowing full well the boy he could squish beneath his thumb held more latent magic power than even other high ranking mages. He wouldn't have let his spells slip intentionally.

But that was unimportant to him at the moment, for now it was figuring out where he was. The short snippets of the war he had only been vaguely informed of by his captor's last visit months ago led him to believe that the war was either deep in Diamond territory, or at the early front of either the Hearts or the Clubs. Either way, his goal was to head west back towards the Spades. At least there, he had the chance of being reprieved of these accursed shackles.

The man made his way west, running down the city streets and avoiding the chaos of fights and skirmishes that littered the city. At one point, he had no choice but to duck into an alleyway lest he run straight into a duo of soldier's riding horseback. Their armor looked foreign to him, either way not wanting to risk being made a captive while he was unarmed. He ducked to and from the shadows, avoiding the gazes of Argossian and mage alike. He wasn't sure of the nature of his reputation since last he had been here, but he was sure it had been sullied by others if not by his own doing.

He approached the exit to the alley, opening up into a courtyard strewn with the bodies of both sides. He was quick to retrieve a cloak of a fallen mage, splayed with his own blood spilled by an Argossian blade. The cowl was immediately pulled over his face, shadowing his steel grey hair and revealing nothing but the bottom half of his face, and perhaps the faint glow of amber eyes poking from the dark.

The man continued his dash away from the city, only making it halfway across the courtyard before he spotted a lone figure standing alone. He narrowed his eyes and caught a glimpse of a blade embed tip-first into the ground, mistaking it for some kind of vigil for the dead.

"Sir Mage," the man called out towards Lloyd, taking a slow, walking pace towards the boy so that he himself wouldn't be mistaken for another foe. "I'm sure their spirits rest easy now, with you guiding them to whatever maker they chose to follow." He finally came close to the point where he stood against the mage, and the man kneeled as if to show his own respects.

"But there are larger worries at hand," He rose his arms from beneath the cloak, revealing the bands around his arms and the menacing glow of purple aura that branded his skin. "The Argossians have developed shackles that prevent us from using our magic." He then lied, continuing by pleading "Quickly, help me discern what kind of mischief lie within, so that we can continue to avenge our comrades."

Coyote Hart

 

[Kloudy]

William Rundell Haus Code
(Valencia - Backlines Centre)

​

“You have work to do.”

“No…”

“Save them from themselves.”

“...”

“...”

“The End of Existence...”

~~~​

The battlefield was amok with melee and gunfire. Blood sprayed in all directions as haphazard explosions popped off in the distance at random intervals. None of that mattered, however, as the sounds and sights did not register in his mind. A few hundred feet up in the air, William was turned to face Valencia. The shadow from his hair casting a dark look across his face. Mana glowed from his irises as he released a few internal limiters he normally restrained himself with. He flexed his hands, stretching his gauntlets and feeling their grip. His Chaos Skulls glowed with purple energy at his hip.

“I must end this.”

A loud sonic boom exploded in the air as a massive aura of mana made its presence known to everyone on the backlines, in Valencia and all the way to even the frontlines. It was a cold feeling that washed over the armies, who were mostly all too engrossed in their own combat to turn around and marvel at the feeling of icy dread they were suddenly feeling.

Gazing down at the city of Valencia before him, William took a moment to take in its beautiful architecture. He was not often one to notice aesthetic over function, but for the first time he felt slight sadness at the sight of the city. The front-centre walls had been blown apart, the two shield generators meant to be casting barriers above it having failed and the resulting artillery and rubble from the fallout of the wyrm’s manabeam caused plenty of damage to not only the wall but many of the buildings behind it. William raised an open hand.

It was unfortunate he had to destroy it all.

Behind him, an array of ice-blue spell hexes appeared as an amass-spell was crafted, manifesting several spear-shaped ice constructs by the hundreds. William’s gaze did not falter nor waver as he finished forming his attacking. There was no grand speeches, no proclamations of grandeur; he was not one for theatrics. The wall of ice spears raced from zero to a hundred feet per second, spiralling in tandem to bombard the city of Valencia. The area around the second and third generators were obliterated quickly, rubble and chunks of ice littering the streets. The barriers above the rest of the city faltered and began to fail very quickly, until soon the shields above the city had many holes in them where individual generators had given out.

Mage Hunters and Coalition militia in various spots around the city were blasted together under a hail of the cold piercing rain that eternally silenced them. Death was the most absolute form of secrecy. Dead men tell no tales. It was gruelling means to a righteous end, but William was doing what he had to so as to bring about true peace to everything. This back and forth between Argossia and the Suits Kingdoms could not be allowed to continue. He had been shown true grace, true truth. It all made sense to him now.

Standing on his portal, William turned around with a dark, blank look on his face. He needed not to feel now more than ever. He understood the others now. This was so hard, yet it must be done. He twirled his index and middle finger in a circle and a swell of snow began to twist, turn and swirl in front of him. Soon a bank of blue-grey clouds had formed over the entire battlefield. It began to hail, lightly at first with a few small balls of ice raining down, but soon that ice became snowball-sized and then boulder-sized until 10ft-wide comets were raining down on everyone. A blanket of snow began to coat the ground, making it slippery and hard to get proper traction on.

Despite William’s apparent switch in loyalties, he still targeted both sides of the battle. Indiscriminately landing crater-impacting frozen meteorites on the ground from his snowstorm above, the Ace judged his work without so much as a stir or a twitch as chaos ensued. His cool demeanour remained as he orchestrated the deaths of many. It was as she had said, this was the only way.

“This is the only way oblivion can be avoided.”

​

 

[Coyote Hart]

Lloyd Einstadt
w/ "Phantomsong" and Amelia "Mia" Chevrolet

"I'll explain later, I promise," Mia whispered to Lloyd before the hooded figure with the purple bands approached the three of them. The three of them kept silent to let the man finish his speech. Then the three of them kept silent, doing their best to gauge what sort of silence each of them was showing. Phantomsong was confused. Mia was sheepish. Lloyd himself was simply taken aback.

"I totally like people bowing for me and things," Mia hissed to Lloyd, "But this is honestly kinda weird."

"Shush! It's rude to talk about people when they're right in front of us!" Lloyd hissed back.

"I swear we've met before... do I know you?" Phantomsong asked the masked figure.

"I suppose I can help you out," Lloyd responded to the man. He moved closer to the man's wrists and looked down at it. From what it seemed, the bands preventing the man from using magic wasn't meant to also affect anybody other than the wearer, which was weird. If the Argossians were able to find the technology to prevent magic, why not have it radiate outward from a mage to affect their comrades? It certainly wouldn't be a detriment to the Argossian soldiers, who likely didn't know a shred of magic. But that didn't matter, all that mattered was that he couldn't figure out how to crack the bands open.

"Bingo!" Phantomsong said, "I know who you are! It's been a long time! Lloyd, Mia, I'd like you to meet..."

"... Quillon Downs, the Ace of Spades."

"Sades of Capades?" Lloyd felt his words jumble up at the shock of hearing that. This man was the legendary Ace of Spades? Wait... that wasn't right. The Ace of Spades was... who was the Ace?

"How did a man like you get caught up in Argossian technology?" Phantomsong asked cheerfully, "And of course, let me help you get those wretched things off."

But Phantomsong didn't have an opportunity to. The next moment, spears of ice hailed down from the sky, destroying everything in their path. It shredded the buildings down into rubble before Lloyd could even react. Everything that was in its path was reduced to nothing.

"Save yourself!" Phantomsong shouted to Quillon before Lloyd felt his arm move, draw, and slice at the bands covering Quillon's wrists. Lloyd didn't have time to dwell on the fact that his arms had moved on their own accord, because at the next moment, Phantomsong showed a glimmer of his true power.

Electricity radiated off of Phantomsong to a degree that Lloyd had never seen out of any mage. ZAP! A tendril of lightning burst out of Phantomsong, cleaving one of the ice spears that threatened to hit Lloyd into two. ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! It was a show Lloyd had never seen. Such a terrifying danger from the skies was cleaved into two through the bolts of lightning that Phantomsong summoned. Within moments, the scene was over. The entire city was rubble, save for the tiny circle that Lloyd and Quillon stood on. Snow began to heavily fall from the sky like miniature meteors. Lloyd for his part stood stock-still, shocked at the events that had unfolded in mere moments.

"William Rundell Haus Code, you fucking farce of an Ace," Phantomsong roared. Lloyd doubted that he had ever seen the usually lucky-go-happy sword so angry. Phantomsong continued to shout, "Mark my words! I WILL END YOU, YOU PIECE OF UTTER TRASH!"

SentinelSevn Kloudy

 

[TPBx]

Ethan had already divided into his separate shadow clones by the time the Master Assassin's blade connected with his neck. He truly was incapable of perceiving the assassin's presence concealing ability. His body collapsed headless and onto the floor. The clones however did not disappear as expected and continued to channel their incantation, before the pair of other Ethan Clones slammed their hands on the ground, submerging the area around the Engine in a fluid flow of darkness upon the now chilling land, seeing William's spell rip asunder the City of Valencia as he leveled the mountain fortress in a similar fashion to Quill's unchained attack upon Parma and Jann.

"Now come forth, Beast of The End"



The two Ethans that summoned the beast rejoined into one entity and beside them, a foul beast whose face was concealed by a golden mask was instantly formed from the shadows around them. Ethan stood there in awe of his creation and looked at the crowd that had gathered there. Between the Master Assassin and the Ace of Clubs that had come to stop the War Engine, it was now a seemingly even fight as this powerful entity came into being. Around them the figures of bodies reached out from the muddy darkness beneath in an eerie fashion. He smirked underneath the guise of his mask.

"Have a taste of what awaits us at The End."

Beast of the End: 1000 Magic / 2000 Physical - Passive - Unaffected by War Engine Mana Drain. Rapidly regenerates health while in the pool of darkness.
HP: [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[][][][][]][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Ethan retreated behind his monstrosity and assumed a defensive battle stance, activating his Shield of Darkness Spell and summoning several shadow soldiers who bore only shields around himself. Ethan barely dodged the assassin's blade before by having split his consciousness between his shadow clone bodies. If he took another hit like that he would be down for sure, the Shield Shadows he knew would automatically react if anyone tried attacking him directly. He watched cautiously as he controlled his other shadow clone bodies and his Beast of the End to take on the Ace of Clubs and the Master Assassin.

Athanas Kloudy

 

[LazyDaze]

XIXIX VALENTINE|WYSTERIA BEACON​

Shortly after his message to Arimand, X began to make preparations to travel toward the War Machine, but something felt off. "I think we're beginning to overstay our welcome," X said jokingly. The telepath he was with nodded and promptly went to check on the status of William to no avail. "Alright plan B, we're going to surrender," X said casually which made some of the soldiers noticeably nervous. "Plan C, martyrdom," X phrased as a question. It was at this point the soldiers knew the king was truly mad and their deaths were certain. First it was the random talk of pigeons, and now he was asking them about battle strategies. Meanwhile X was using the time to think up of a real plan. It was good that they were able to draw so many forces, but now the main force had basically become reserves for their back line. In just a few moments they would be overwhelmed if William didn't activate the portal. The death totals would be astounding. X looked to the sky for what seemed like minutes, before returning his gaze to the battlefield. This was one of the troublesome scenarios he had tried to push out of his mind, however, he knew it was possible. To make matters worse, there were supposed to be a few other notable faces leading this charge. With no way to escape, and not much help coming his way, he knew he had no way out except by winning.

The surprise attack was effective. Communications, supplies, and weapons have been utterly decimated. The forces fighting on our front our weakened; however, we are now drawing the attention of the main force behind them. They are coming in pretty rapidly with little caution. We appear to be a priority at the moment, and if this goes on any longer we probably won't hold out. Wysteria is on her way to rendezvous with me...I got it.

"Put in a request for aerial support, we will coordinate an attack with our air force. Center line fall back! Flanks hold your ground and then follow suit. Bend but do not allow the enemy to break the line." As X commanded, the center most of their forces began to retreat while occasionally returning fire while the flanks held the edge and followed afterward. X smirked beneath his mask as the plan was set in motion. He took a gamble, but with how arrogant and aggressive the Argossians have been this entire war (plus how aggressive they were at this moment), he was certain he could get them with the same trick. Just a little further and he could catch them in his horseshoe; then attack them in a pincer styled attack like in their original plan. Perhaps that would buy enough time for the next phase. Almost instinctively, X looked to the sky yet again; however, what he saw next defied all reason. Large chunks of ice were raining down on all of Valencia. It wasn't until he saw the few that was approaching their current positions that he realized exactly how destructive these chunks of ice were. "HEAVY RAIN INCOMING! FOCUS ON DEFENSE!" Everyone knew exactly what X meant as they too looked to the sky. Some saw the ominous hail storm right around the same time as X and began defending immediately, others couldn't believe what they were seeing. Nevertheless, the coalition forces halted their retreat and focused on defending their position as instructed. The meteors pelted both armies indiscriminately; however, given their position from the source, X surmised the main Argo forces were getting the worst of it. It would be a risk, but the ever opportunistic X rose from his defensive position and pointed toward the Argossian army. As of now, the hailstorm was more violent towards the inside, so this would essentially level the playing field as long as they didn't push too far. He had many questions, but those questions meant nothing if they did not come out alive. He had originally wanted to coordinate his attack with the air force, but who knew how they were holding up after that attack. Now was as good a time as any. "Change of plans...kick them while they're down!"

The Coalition forces charged bravely and began to clash against the Argossian forces. Just before X could join in the fight he saw something else barreling down from the sky...was it a bird a, a cloud, a plane..."Oh...it was a cloud." CRAAAAASSSSSSSHHH

Wysteria coughed a bit, unaware that X had broke her fall. Prior to arriving, she had gotten caught up in William's attack; however, she managed to avoid most of it on her way here. Even still, her luck did little to improve her spirits. Using her sword to prop herself up, she began to ramble and growl. "TO HELL WITH THE TANK! TO HELL WITH THIS WAR! TO HELL WITH CLIMATE CHANGE....wait...that's...NEVERMIND! I am...KILLING EVERYONE IN THIS PISS POOR EXCUSE FOR A CITY! THEN....It will be my very own castle ...................AS IF! THIS DAY, EVERYTHING WILL BURN! HAHAHAHA!" A storm cloud began brewing up above as Wysteria began to charge her mana to unleash a powerful attack upon...well anyone and everyone. X grabbed her shoulder and stared into her eyes as she turned around; however, she met his with an equal amount of determination as blood trickled down from her forehead and down to her chin.

"Do you...wanna fucking die..."

"Yes...but more importantly, the Argossians have developed a weather altering machine. It is supposedly controlled by someone in their main force. I couldn't get to them in-"

"So it WAS THE TIN CANS THAT RUINED MY FACE! This is unforgivable!" Wysteria raised her sword, now that she was done charging her attack, and unleashed several bolts of lightning down on the Argossian forces, laughing maniacally as she did so.

X face palmed after obviously lying to appease Wysteria, but the situation bothered him. The ice was clearly a mage's doing, but to attack indiscriminately across the entire area of Valencia was inconceivable. A chill ran down X's spine as an unpleasant thought entered his head, however, he had immediate things to tend to. "...At least it can't get any worse....*sigh*.....Crap, I just doomed us all..."

Kloudy Xanto

 

[SentinelSevn]

Abilities

Location:
- Valencia, Hearts Kingdom

Interactions:
- Lloyd Einstadt Coyote Hart
- William Rundell Haus Code Kloudy

Quillon Downs
41 || NA || Spades
♠

Quillon's eyes narrowed on the two swords as they began to speak, quickly realizing that this wasn't the type of scenario that he had pictured it to be at all. The corner of his lower lip curled inward, biting hard upon it between his teeth when he began to consider how quickly this position of his could turn south.

"Bingo!" Phantomsong said, "I know who you are! It's been a long time! Lloyd, Mia, I'd like you to meet..."

"... Quillon Downs, the Ace of Spades."

He let out a low growl when his cover was blown, in disbelief that after three years he would still be so easily identifiable. There was no point in the cowl, and he stood when he drew the hood back behind his head to reveal the rest of his features. The edge of his lips curled into a soft smile, hopefully displaying that he wasn't hostile. Not that it would make a difference to them; if they so wished they could strike him down at any moment, since they knew full well that he was unable to use his abilities.

Quillon was hardly listening to the sword's, Phantomsong's, questions of curiosity. He was more concerned whether or not they were still willing to help him get the shackles off of his wrist, or if they planned to subdue him in some other manner.

"Save yourself!" He heard the sword scream, an unexpected change of tone that drew his attention towards whatever it was that Lloyd was facing. In that one moment Phantomsong had drawn itself and split the shackles, Quillon felt a surge of energy begin to well up from inside of him. He felt his vision dizzy for a fraction of moment as mana surged through him once again. He felt as if the blood in his veins had been at a standstill, and his freedom sent it rushing throughout his body once again. The moments before felt nothing like how he felt then, as if he had lived his life fatigued and was now fully invigorated.

Quillon quickly got over his mage's high, and looked up at the sky to see a rain of ice spears whistling through the air above. His use of magic came naturally over him, his precognition kicking in with an enhanced sense of sight that watched every spear with a trajectory that would have been anywhere near their position. And he watched effortlessly as the boy swung at the approaching shards with a strength that didn't appear to be his own, the bolts of lightning that broke from Phantomsong cleaving each spear as if it were a warm knife through butter.

Quillon already predicted the moment the spears would wane in their barrage, seeing the creation of them from high in the sky begin to fade as the battlefield was dealt a heavy blow. The dust began to settle, and where buildings once stood now lay patches of ruin and rubble. He saw Lloyd, his back still turned towards him, with his gaze shifting between his sword and the small figure that floated distantly in the sky. Quillon too turned to look up upon who cast it, only marginally surprised when Phantomsong identified the figure along with a string of curses.

His gaze towards William never faltered as he took a few steps closer, to stand besides Lloyd. Quillon was sharply reminded of himself standing in William's position, watching over a tattered battlefield after a devastating attack that wiped a majority of both sides. The disaster at Parma was his doing, and it was William who vied for Quillon's sentence to exile instead of an immediate execution.

Quillon weakly willed William's vision to fade, only going as far as attempting to make the opposing mage's sight to appear blurred. William would easily be able to shrug it off, but that wasn't the point. He wanted William to know he was there, and to know he had a challenger for whatever belief he held that would justify such actions. Quillon also utilized his telepathy, only to secondarily alarm the Ace of Diamonds of his presence.

Quillon could have struck William down then and there, while he floated unknowingly in the sky. He could have stripped him of all his senses, depriving him to a black void of nothingness that would sustain him until Quillon could fully manipulate his every actions. It would have been simple, easy. No, he would have done it. Had it not been William.

He turned his attention back towards Lloyd, giving him and his swords subtle nods of approval. "Not bad, brat. he said harmlessly, commending him for fending off at least a small portion of William's attack. "But you'll need more than not bad. Find some cover, but not until you've ran your little legs far, far away from here." Quillon then stepped forward at a casual, almost carefree pace. Like he wasn't going to just walk headfirst towards the Ace who just obliterated the battlefield.

He couldn't predict whether or not William would just outright try and obliterate him or confront him like he wanted. Quillon knew that William was the person who wouldn't let himself slip into a disadvantage. If William acted solely on his calculative tendencies he would attempt to be rid of a threat, may that be out of fear or out of respect. But Quillon also believed he would acknowledge the disadvantage Quillon sacrificed of himself, the element of surprise that surely could have made it an uphill battle for William, and honor that enough to justify a brief meeting.

 

[Count Brimstone]

Throm guided Newmoon, his sassy white-spotted gray mare, down the barely matted grass that served as a road in these parts. The elves were some of the poorer races that inhabited Ornare thus leaving them to trek of foot, steed for the few who could afford such, or use whatever forest magic they had at their disposal. Though, now that he thought about it he had never actually met an elf long enough to learn to much about them so the stories he had been told and rumors whispered with ill-natured jeers could all be just exaggeration and somewhat cruel prejudice towards their race. Never the less he would be finding out first hand after the few remaining days he needed to travel to get to the closest village he was pointed to by some other people making their escape deeper into the Suit's territory to escape the encroaching war-front.

He served the Diamonds solely for the fact that he felt he owed then due for fostering him in one of their more prestigious academies. His master, skilled as he was in life and wisdom, lacked the magical talent to direct a constructive environment for someone of his apparent potential. Or the haughty professor continued to bring up, never missing the chance to rub my lack of lineage into my face.

Throm shook the negative thoughts away taking a few breaths to calm his blood that has started to burn at the thought. Newmoon shook her main in her way that told him she felt how agitated his mind had made him. He could almost hear her role her eyes as she steadied on the path. He could never be completely sure but he always had a feeling that the incredibly fierce and intelligent horse could understand him just fine. Which lead to mischief from the mare from the day she was gifted to him before he left to learn how use his mana. Regardless of her temperament, which left quite a few teeth marked bruises, she was one of the best mounts he had ever had the privilege of seeing much less to call his own.

Reaching into one of the packs on the side of Newmoon's flank he grabbed some dried jerky he prepared before he left the sisters. Ripping a piece off with his teeth he sighed before he started chewing all the while wishing he could just be at this town sooner than later and that no further complications would arise. But he knew to expect the worse in war times.