Fandom Soul Eater: F.A.T.E

[Merciless Medic]

Noah Wiley​

April 1, 2067
Location: Fire District, behind Fire House
Interactions: Ant Witch, Gauss, Arkayis
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul Peckinou

Noah had to keep from laughing. Wow, Gauss's disinterest was so clear it had him tickled. His thoughts and his spoken words were so far removed that it also nearly had Noah busting out in a giggle. He had to keep himself from losing it mid-distraction though. He managed to get ahold of himself, but then hearing Arkayis also compliment despite his hatred towards witches (even if the compliment was directed towards something else) had Noah attempting to recover.

Gauss's shame didn't really help, either. Noah did eventually manage, humming in the soul space. 'Mhm, sure do. It's on my garter belt 'r whatever the hell I'm wearin'. Ya do realize my self defense skills with just my partial transformation's shit, right? If I didn't have my knife on me, I'd probly be a dead man.' He chuckled.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

All the District is our Stage​

Tags: The Regal Rper Merciless Medic Peckinou RedArmyShogun EmperorsChosen Serei2477 Meredith Mook-LandStrider

---

April 1st, 2067​

On a battlefield with this much chaos, a distraction was no small ask. That said, Davis had a few ideas in mind. In a situation like this, that is how he functioned. His mind worked quick and he was running through various possibilities and options he had. The Bee Witch being aerial with long-ranged attacks already narrowed down options. It didn't seem like any of the agents present had an immediate answer to that. Granted, it was not often they would. Standard combat against Witches was to get in close and utilize the natural speed and strength advantage most Meisters should have over a Witch to kill them as quickly as possible. Counter to that is that these Witches had experience with Meisters, so they were savvy to those tricks.

Creativity was key. Annika seemed to have that in spades, at the very least. Meanwhile, it seemed the other agent was safe... inside another agent. Unorthodox to say the least, but given he was internally praising the ingenuity here, he saw no reason to withhold merit from that strategy either. What it meant to him was that three pieces on their field were taken off the board until that flaming tornado spell was broken. Chances of killing the Witch quickly raised dramatically with more active participants, so that became his primary goal.

"Understood," Davis responded flatly. He didn't have much more to add to the conversation, but communication was key. Even just one word between them meant that he confirmed to Annika that they were on the same page. Even if it was small, it held value. Communication was not just about technology, but about implementation. Words were the original telephone, after all.

He also took note of her feedback on the cloak. He had to admit she was right. These were prototypes and always had room for improvement. The size of the cloak wasn't tailored to her specifically, but designed primarily for testing purposes. He nabbed it upon leaving the labs once he learned there were Witches afoot. Not all of them had alternate methods of perceiving a target, so eliminating or at least diminishing line of sight had the potential to be a huge boon. At the very least, the cloak could be damaged without loss of functionality. Annika could tear, slash, and burn it, but as long as it remained attached to the mantle, it would work. Basically, he just had to hope it didn't trip her up.

Once he saw her lobbing grenades, he realized just what approach would likely work best here and just how he might become the distraction she needed. Davis shrugged his right shoulder to provide room for a set of rails to slide over his shoulder and beside his head. Afterwards, he started feeding grenades from his belt and chest strap into a similar set of rails on his right waist. Soon enough, those grenades that Annika was tossing were being launched out of those rails not dissimilar to a miniature grenade launcher. Her single concussive grenade was now met by three more that started eating into the cloud of bees and once that bombardment started, he answered the ice grenade with a fire grenade of his own lobbed into the tornado. Adding even more fire into the blaze might sound like a terrible idea, but he had a plan.

At the rate he was going, however, he would soon exhaust his supply of grenades. More were in his vehicle, which is what he made a dash for. The rails on his shoulder continued lobbing grenade after grenade at the Bee Witch and with his assisted targeting system, he made sure that the path for Annika remained clear. Friendly fire would have been even more disastrous than doing nothing.

Pinia was caught entirely off guard. These explosions were far too close for comfort, and more so, they were heavily disrupting her magic. Each explosion was fueled by magitech, and that alone complicated the use of wide spread field damage. Not only that, the ice grenade sucked the temperature from the air around it while the fire grenade only added more. Her tornado quickly became turbulent and beyond her ability to manage, forcing her to stop channeling it. Without her magic, the funnel soon dissipated, though the flaming havoc it left hardly constituted a clear battlefield.

The answer to Pinia was simple. Eliminate the source of the Maba-damned grenades. Once she saw them being flung from Davis, she grit her teeth and had an entirely new target to focus on. That pompous bitch from before would just have to wait. She channeled her mana into a green, floating orb of fluorescent energy in front of her, then began launching air slashes all around Davis, forcing the man to dodge and roll repeatedly as he made his way to the vehicle. Realizing that was his target, she also unleashed a flurry of slashes onto it, cutting it to pieces with enough force to cleave through its steel frame and rupture the pavement beneath it.

This wasn't her most ideal situation, but those grenades were cutting into her army. A technique like this allowed her to conjure more between slashes of air, divvying her attention between replacing parts of her lost swarm and targeting Davis. She rationalized he couldn't feasibly keep launching them forever, and once her swarm had been repopulated, she would pursue him with even grander spells for the kill.

"I feel something," Adrian announced, admitting to Elly. His voice was actually incredibly clear inside his chamber. Not an echo or some omnipresent force. Not unlike him simply being there. "I'm not sure what it is. I just... almost don't want to fight," he explained, telling her what odd difference he felt. He was clearly a touch confused by it. And, knowing Adrian, not engaging in a fight was definitely a shift from his normal behavior. Speculation, perhaps, but there was a good chance at this innocence or lack of experience in this realm was proving a boon to him. His mind and body couldn't fall into old patterns, like say Gauss or Zosar, if he never had those old patterns to begin with.

"They used to make me do this on escort missions," he told her, replying to her other comment. As odd of a sarcastic remark as he may have been, he was treating it as if it were a serious comment. "I kind'a hate it, honestly... it's like being a shield, but worse," he explained, which was the honest truth. What he was doing now for Elly was something that in general he detested greatly. He typically preferred a much more proactive role in the field, and the dozens of times he had done this in the past left him with a bad taste in his mouth. HIs experience in doing so did at least have him recognize it as a valid strategy. That might perhaps be more related to his lack of a drive to fight this battle.

Luckily, he wouldn't have to for much longer. Davis and Annika had their plan come together well enough that the tornado died down, and while the scene wasn't exactly clear, it was safe enough for the three to return to the battlefield. That, and Adrian didn't want to remain that way a moment longer than he had to. He quickly transformed back into his normal form, though experience made another thing known to him. HIs form was elevated off the ground. When he transformed with someone inside it, they typically fell. He was prepared for this, and caught Elly princess style before quickly setting her back down, Sage in hand and all.

"I don't know where the blond went," he told her, trying to stay focused on the mission and more so trying to ignore the fact he just caught her. "Davis ran off to the SUV he came in, but it was destroyed," he went on, "I can't pick up on anyone."

Then, like a throwback to their faux mission on the HIll, he said, "Perhaps those eyes of yours could give us some insight,"

---

The termite Witch quickly realized she was not going to make it to the party with the ant Witch.

Nadia throwing her knife was the first trigger for this, but the follow-up from both Sara and Nadia made her forsake the idea of protecting Lizzy. She had to handle herself.

That knife gave her the first tool she would use to make a counter-attack. Nadia couldn't have feasibly known this Witch utilized the element of metal with her magic, but she would learn real fast. The Witch turned and the knife stopped. It seemed the werewolf girl wouldn't be so easily put down either, and between the two women chasing her, she was the far faster one. She outstretched her hands, generating a blue glow around them and quickly not only turning aiming Nadia's knife at Sara, but replicating it. Five, ten, twenty, fifty--the count was lost. It was a swarm of knifes all identical to the one Nadia thrown and now being launched directly at Sara in a huge cloud to prevent her immediate intervention.

Meanwhile, she still had more to deal with. If she was going to fight and if these two could so easily avoid her field of termites, she had to take control over to the next level. Slamming her foot into the ground, runes spread out from where she touched and soon extended out further and further until a wall of glowing text illuminated the ground. With that, she lunged out forward and began vomiting in a cone onto the ground that extended out at a rapid pace, melting almost everything it came into contact with--even dissolving the cement. This was her enzyme field. Her termites were immune, but other materials--organic or not--would be broken down like acid.

She began flooding the immediate area with this odorous spew, surrounding herself and creating an area she could use to her advantage with upcoming spells. Pinia might have dominated the skies, but that didn't mean she was the only Witch here capable of battlefield control. As distasteful as the spell was, it was only a setup for the rest of them. Meanwhile, her termites only increased in speed through the liquid, now coated in it and attempting to mob rush Nadia as she came en route.

"Alright, bitches! If you want to play so bad, you got my attention," she shouted at them, knowing full well each would need to answer to her counter-offense.

---

"Oh? You like Isabella? Refined taste, is it?" she asked coyly, stepping off her broom but advancing no further. These three had made a mistake. These Witches had taken over entire villages by turning men on each other alone. It was powerful. It may not have had the mind-controlling effects of the legendary Shaula Gorgon, but few Witches really could compare to a Gorgon.

"Of course I do," Gauss responded, tying in his own half-smile he'd use a thousand times before in situations honestly not unlike this one. "I am a Thales, after all. The finer things in life are what I'm used to..."

Now this, this actually made the Witch take a step back for a moment. A Thales? Like, the Thaltek Thales? That could make him a valuable asset in the long run. Her mind only went to even more dubious places at the idea of having a Thales under their thumb. Even if just for the sake of ransom. It was a debate over if a Meister counted as loot, but they were promised to take any property they wanted as they ransacked Death City. Even so, the potential of a man like that was tantalizing.

"You know, we could always enjoy the finer things elsewhere... we don't need to stay here in all this," she told him, really toying with him as she would most others under her control. By this point, most of them would be so open to suggestion that they may even jump off a ledge if she asked sweetly enough. "How about... your friends there transform, and I'll let you three take me wherever you want in the whole world," she said, offering it as if it were his idea.

'We only have one opening with this,' he told Noah and Arky from within their Soul Space. 'Pay attention to the knife. The moment you see it flung at her, transform back,' he instructed them, very clearly making sure to note what the trigger was for this plan. The Witch might have been aware of the magnetism, but Gauss ventured she actually didn't know what the source was nor if they had any alternate weapons on their person. Luckily, Noah followed protocol. That discussion with Arky was for another time.

"Well, alright, boys, you heard Isabella... I think the fight is over," he said aloud.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Midori☆Hoshi​

"Dark Star"​

Species Death Golem
Partner Various / Autonomous Weapon
Rank Two-Star

Location Death City, Death Colosseum, Stands
Mission N/A
Status Intrigued

​

Tags: Sybil The Regal Rper

Midori observed the two wildly different approaches being taken to this exercise. Not that either of them would successful. Adra was creative in her attempt, but be it metal or flesh, the tree would inevitably absorb bits of her wavelength through each strike. A different thought ran through his head, though. He wondered how her hands would fair. When Midori himself transformed, his entire forearm became the blade. There wasn't a hand there to feel the vibrations of the strike. Nothing to really wear down. Granted, Adra was basically using her chain as a saw. Perhaps there wouldn't be strike force, but it's not as if using a chain left no exhaustion on the user regardless.

Zosar had such a promising start. He almost had the mechanic down. Midori saw it with his own two eyes. Then he fucked up everything. He did effectively the exact opposite of what this training was about. The goal really is to get as much amplification as you can with your suppression still active. Thus, the goal is to inch yourself further in using both skills until you can achieve a goal no real ordinary human can. It's fundamental simple. It's conditioning. It's honestly no different than the DWMA staircase keeping you fit. But what Midori saw... was Zosar slowly dial back his suppression so that his amplification could peak through.

That wouldn't work. Any time his wavelength peaked through, that tree was going to drink it. He was pretty sure Zosar was going to figure this out, but at this point, he wasn't sure if Zosar or Adra would give out first. Adra wasn't actually using any of her wavelength, so the tree was just passively drinking. Zosar on the other hand was spiking his wavelength, and each time he did, it gave that tree more to feast on.

It was tempting, too. Midori knew these trees. Their bark alone didn't really even burn. It would just sit in a flame blackening for hours until it finally gave out and took fire. The bark didn't splinter off in chunks, either. It had this all malleability to it despite how hard it was. It would just crinkle and crinkle hit after hit. There was a trick to it that most Hoshi picked up on during this training. You had to break open a spot in the bark by hitting above and below where you really wanted to hit, almost like surgically creating a wound. Of course, he wouldn't tell Zosar that. He wouldn't tell Adra, either, and it might be even more useful to her.

Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours. Adra made it a little over two hours before he could see her soul getting dangerously weak. Zosar, through experimentation and the odd quirks of his soul, was down to about a third of his own reserves. Neither had chopped down a tree. The method Adra was using was interesting, but without amplification or some type of unique force, it was like grinding steel into iron. All you really got was the friction. The cutting power of her blades was so minimal in the grand scheme that what she actually did was dig her chain inches into the breadth of the tree. Zosar happened to be more haphazard. Midori wasn't sure if it was from experimentation or this Volatile Wavelength, but he had just not started cutting into the heartwood of the tree. That wood, luckily, was at least a little softer. However, it would also drain him faster.

The trick to that, Midori recalled, is to pace yourself right up until you got to that purplish heartwood, then do all you could to cut through it as fast as possible. It was the only real time you might let your wavelength get sapped by the tree. Because, typically, if you could get through it faster, the net loss of your wavelength was lower. That again was a trick he would not inform Zosar of. He had to learn on his own. Besides, making it easier by using tricks defeated the purpose of the training.

Zosar absolutely had to learn how to balance those two skills until he reached a threshold that he could begin real training. There was no other way about it.

"Adra, Adra, Adra... in about another ten minutes of this, you're gonna be out cold. I suggest we head back unless you want to be carried in my arms like a limp damsel," Midori said, finally chiming in.

"Zosar, please for the sake of my sanity, really take a moment to think about the training you're doing here," Midori told him, eying down the Meister not with condescension but concern. One could spend years out here trying to brute force their way through these trees and either end up dead or maybe cutting through one in a day. Zosar originally was only meant to spend a couple of weeks here at the longest. If he intended to train, he had to be smarter, else there was a solid chance he would overstay his welcome.

 

[The Regal Rper]

Ark | DWMA | Dall Island | Rings: 3/3

He had to admit picturing a raft made out of ants was something almost comical. In his head he pictured a bunch of ants gathered together in raft formation, linking legs or mandibles, the Queen sitting comfortably in the center. The whole image in his mind, was, honestly funny.

Ark's reaction however was to look wide-eyed and then furrow his brows and shake his head as if the image he was working with, was no longer appropriate for the current topic of conversation.

Expect the unexpected​

Boy wasn't that the truth. Barely even a full day here and we got to see royal spiders engage us in a full on brawl with an entirely different breed of spiders. The more oddness he learned about this island the more he wondered what it had been like years ago when Rand himself and other test subjects for the early version of FATE came here. Things hadn't been as dangerous back then since no mutated spiders had existed, but still- if this place was this volatile he wondered what sort of creatures might have existed before the spiders screwed the entire system over and the creatures evolved into a different form to adapt.

At the suggestion of a makeshift hot Air balloon, Ark's head swerved to look at Maria to see her reaction and he was- though he didn't show it- pleased to see that she initially thought Rand had made a joke also. Comedy was always good for stress, so he'd heard- and hoped his own Wiccan House would learn to take to heart more often, but when it became clear this wasn't a semi-joke, the Earth mage ran a gloved hand over his mushy hair.

Then Maria continued with: "We would be better off making an Airship..."

"Here we go" Ark turned, looking northwards as their crafter went on what he took as an understandable tirade. Though her sarcasm could have been executed with more tact, he had to admit he was really starting to enjoy the wit this group had to them from Raphael's commentary to Rand's sarcastically jabs and Maria's occasional dry humor, he honestly was looking forward to seeing Chant's reaction to everything once she was better and they regaled to her the story of how they had killed a 50ft tall Spider Queen and her army.

Which if Raph is telling the story it probably would be fifty feet tall. Thought he.

From how Maria spoke though he couldn't imagine them taking an air balloon along with supplies even with the 24hr time frame. It'd honestly be easier for him to just literally throw all of them across the Dead Zone with his magic-- and he'd do it too, but not through the Dead Zone and only in circumstances where it was direly necessary to violate such trust. Suggesting that wasn't really something he even considered. Not only were none of his colleagues meisters- whom he had experience working with- could enhance their bodies to take a hard landing, and whom he personally had experience literally throwing around both on and off the job, he would rather not imagine the state Maria would be put in if hurling her and all her puppets in the air ended up getting them damaged in the process.

There was also throwing an unconscious Chant through the air that just didn't sit right with him for obvious reasons even if Rand could catch her.

Besides, spending 8 hours or even 5 to go through the process of building an air balloon just seemed like a giant waste of time in his opinion. They had barely been here for a full 24 hours and had gone through two fights already with the native occupants of the island, there was no guarantee there would not be another anywhere within the time frame of building. He was glad to see Rand saw that also.

The revelation however that they were racing against other Witches, Witches that were the seniors however, sparked the heat of competition in Ark's eyes. That was until Raph unloaded on to Maria, distracting him from his follow up response.

Though he couldn't read Maria that well- the way she bit into her finger like that really was a habit they should get her to stop, made him wince internally seeing that.

It was at least good to see there would be no need breaking up any fight between the two as Maria immediately got to work and left schematics of what was necessary. Ark clapped his hands, looking down at what their crafter had left behind.

"Sooner we get finished the faster we'll be able to approach our goal then." Squating down and going through what was necessary Ark nodded. "Alright let's get moving!" He said with a thumbs up to them both. "Sooner we get up in the skies the sooner we get back into race."

Mentions: n/a

Interactions:: Merciless Medic Sir Les Paul RedArmyShogun Meredith
[/color]

 

[Merciless Medic]

Sara Middleton​

April 1, 2067
Location: Behind the Firehouse, Fire District, Death City
Interactions: Eva, Termite Witch, Nadia, Dani
Mentions: N/A
Mook-LandStrider Sir Les Paul EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun

Sara had hoped the knife would have done something to the termite witch, but upon seeing the blade be deflected like how Gauss used his magnetic wavelength, Sara assumed she also had control of metal via magic. Of course, there wasn't really much she could do with that information and just hoped Nadia realized that throwing knives against her was useless.

Not wasting that momentum, even as the cloud of knives came at her, she lunged forward, twirling the lantern in her hand quickly to avoid the brunt of the knives. They bounced off the little impromptu shield she made while falling through the hole she made with it. However, some of the knives did cut her as she passed through, but that did not deter her. Letting the sting empower her, she landed after rolling in the air and continued her lunge, losing only a small amount of momentum.

The witch had jumped back and began vomiting on the ground after it started glowing with symbols, ten feet all around her with thirty feet in front of her. The termites were unaffected by this goop, but it had began breaking down everything. Sara knew not to land on this goop, nor in the termites covered in it. She skidded to a halt, knowing she won't be able to jump the distance, nor would she be able to get out if she managed to get to the termite witch in the middle. She saw the termites rush after Nadia.

While this goop was magical, she wasn't sure if Nadia was immune to its acidic qualities. She took a step back and looked around for anything she could use. Then, she saw fire hydrants.

"Perfect!" She cheered, rushing towards one of the fire hydrants off to the side. Wrapping the chains around and using the handle as leverage, she used Eva's form as a makeshift wrench, opening up one side facing the termites and goop, then got behind the fire hydrant and used the makeshift wrench of a weapon to twist and twist and twist.

Soon enough, water trickled out before coming a massive torrent of harsh, battering waves of water. That is - hopefully the acid didn't hit the sewage or the water line that led to the fire hydrant. Still though, this was enough for now to disrupt her termites and enzymes by heavily diluting it.

 

[EmperorsChosen]

Eloise Keegan - DWMA Festival Grounds
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Listening to Adrian, he seemed to be withstanding whatever pheromones there were. At the least, he wasn't trying to impale her to simp for the witch. However, Elly wasn't sure how long that would hold. Lack of experience or no, it still made him more influenceable by the witches. That was something to take in consideration when proceeding.

"Well, that would do it," Elly replied with a hum.

His next comments were of some interest. Elly wondered if he had taken this form out of some interest in protecting her or if it was a method to avoid direct combat with the witch. It certainly was a shift in behavior. Leaning against the interior walls, she let him speak. He certainly had some internal issues to work through pertaining to his weapon form as well. Regardless, this was not the time nor place to unpack all of that. Especially since the fire tornado was dying down.

Elly found her surroundings engulfed in light as Adrian transformed before landing in his arms. As he set her down, she had already begun casing the area with her sight. "Locating Annika is a dead-end... but~ the dull little witch and Davis are brighter than all the fire," She chimed back with a smirk. "C'mon. We need to keep her attention from Annika and Davis. You've done well so far, so I'm sure you can behave yourself a while longer. If not, I may have to tattle to your girlfriend about when you were flirting with my pretty eyes."

Elly didn't believe he would actually do anything. He was too straight-laced and his timidity was clear as day with regard to such topics. However, the Irishwoman was sure it would either fly over his head, or get him a bit red and keep his attention off the witches themselves. With a light snicker, she cued him to follow before dashing in a direction with purpose.

As she has said, Annika was out of the question unless the two got closer to her physically. The girl's wavelength paired with Davis' cloak would make her hard to track, so Elly was just heading for Davis and the witch.

As she came atop the rubble of a building, it seemed the witch was replenishing her insects while trying to keep Davis at bay. Splitting her attention was certainly beneficial. Gaining a cheeky grin, Elly wasted little time getting back to her old shenanigans.

"Awww, having stamina trouble dearie? That little inferno didn't even last long enough to have a nap. Or was it just too strenuous multitasking? Perhaps you should stick to your boring little bugs, after all. Don't want to give you a migraine wracking your brain for some originality~!"

Mook-LandStrider Serei2477 Sir Les Paul

 

[Sir Les Paul]

It's All Hot Air​

Tags: The Regal Rper Merciless Medic RedArmyShogun Meredith

---

March 28th, 2067​

The construction of the balloons proved to be much smoother than initially expected. Not only was Maria industrious when her standards were lowered, but every other facet of the construction became incredibly fruitful. The blood of a sorcerer--much like a witch--often carried the memories of those that came before it. In the case of Raph, the spells Rand taught him to manage the fibers came to him easily. While Ark was procuring resources in the beginning and managing to acquire them an abundance of the specific reeds Rand pointed out--in fact, far more than what they would need--Raph was out making his father proud.

There were several steps in getting the raw, wet reeds into the fibrous and later woven form Maria would need. The only portions of these reeds that would work were the hard, outer layer when broken up. While there was a spell for that, it was actually easier to have Ark do it with carefully placed pressure using some stones. Once cracked open, Rand taught Raph a basic spell that would open up a world for the man. Something basic and rudimentary that Maria likely mastered years ago. Magical Attunement. When Raph poured his mana through the reeds, he could then pinpoint areas he wanted to work on and through willpower make it happen. It may only have been effective on inert, inanimate objects, but the sheer versatility of it was insane.

It also wasn't the end. What would have taken a skilled craftsman hours with bamboo took Raph no more than a half hour once he got the hang of it. Flooding his mana into the reeds, then running razor like bits of mana down them to slice them over and over until they were fine and uniform. From there, the weaving process. This is where that weaver's blood really shined. Once Rand showed him the standards Maria outlined, Raph found himself quickly making the entire lot of reeds into this woven fabric. Upon presenting them to Rand, there was even a moment of surprise when he explained that all of the reeds were now woven.

After that, it came down to a joint effort to dry and coat the reeds. This was a whole second spell that required ample more effort. Ark needed to reduce his power to its absolute minimum to slowly remove the water from the reeds while they poured over a syrup-like tar pulled from some of the trees. Maria oversaw this project, making sure each fiber would soak up the substance and dry down to close the fibers tightly, making them most definitely air-tight, fire-resistant, and much more durable. Given they were constructed by the hands of Raph, it also made him perfectly aware of how to manage them for Maria.

Ark meanwhile was pushed in a completely separate direction and even taught a Magic Circle of his own. The fine control at relatively low temperatures over a long period of time would be taxing without some type of intervention; at least, they would be for him given the combat applications he was accustomed to. While not as grandiose in nature, what Rand taught him would not only allow him to control much lower temperatures, but for much, much longer without exhausting himself. That, and he needed caught up on Magic Circles in general given he was the only one aside from Chant not brought into the fold.

Ultimately, what was constructed out scaled initial expectations by a good margin. The timeline was expedited a fair bit by their impressive progress, meaning Maria could expand the size of their balloons to carry just a little more goods. In the end, this balloon structure hovered above the ground powered by hot air from Ark and held together by nigh-weightless chains from Raph. Room not only for Chant, but a majority of the leftover dolls for Maria and even some of their goods would be capable of making the trip. It wasn't practical to bring specimen containers along, but with the secret out that their true mission was the Ley Line at Nordall Lake and the Great Dall Oak, those were a much lesser priority.

While a little bumpy and plenty turbulent, the flight itself proved to be incredibly effective. Ark handled his new Magic Circle for regulating his lower power spell well, Raph was likely more proud of the work in the materials made for the contraption than he was the act of just holding it together, and Rand utilized his wind magic to assure they would float effortlessly into the correct direction. That left Maria to oversee Chanterelle and their limited cargo, making sure her construction held together. And, it did.

Their magical flight did awaken dormant spiders below them, but they were far, far outside of their range. The same creatures that gave them such troubles the day before were now mere smudges on the map below them, aimlessly wandering and sometimes attacking each other as they had no recourse for high-altitude prey. More importantly, the theory that the draining effect of the Dead Zone proved absolutely true. While most of them were in fact actively casting spells, there was no excess drain on them from doing so.

Then they saw it. The end of the dead zone. It wasn't some hard wall transition like where it started. Instead, it was a gradual shift from no ambient mana to an abundance. The air here quickly became so full of mana it was almost humidly thick like a swamp. The undergrowth below them shifted, too. The treeline was again taller and thicker, various bushes and thickets were present, and the trademark appearance of magical foliage with brightly colored leaves and vines became present. Present in far greater number than even some other places in the Witch Realm.

It also happened to be the reason for their eventual landing. As the ambient mana intensity grew, Ark would find maintaining his fine control much more difficult to manage. Even Rand found keeping the control over the balloon more difficult, especially with Ark inadvertently taking them up higher. After some time of this struggle, and being well-beyond the dead zone. Making it to the Lake itself might be a bit too much. Luckily, by the line of sight they had here, they could easily reach it before it even fell dark.

Admittedly, landing the balloon was a different type of difficult. There wasn't a solid clearing anywhere with the overgrowth. The closest area possible was less of a clearing and more of a large tree that had grown and in its shadow fewer could grow. It was an endeavor to even get the balloon landed. With some effort from Rand to stabilize it and Ark only heating it enough to hover, unloading what was on it then Chanterelle was a slightly tricky but ultimately successful endeavor. Then, it was just getting the balloon down and stored away.

With everything settled, Rand was quick to check on Chanterelle. He had hoped even being in this mana-rich environment would start bringing her back. It was no ley line, but it had similar properties.

Meanwhile, a whole different foe started to emerge. Similar, but different to the last few. For a brief moment, it seemed as if the forest itself was coming alive. Mana coursing through the trees, vines and shrubs sparking to life like magical creatures themselves. Raph was the first in this case to see this in full swing as the vines off a nearby tree dropped down with the goal of swooping up his neck to strangle him. Moments later, more and more of this environment started to spring to life, attacking virtually everyone and everything around.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Annika
Behind the fire house.
Sir Les Paul EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun Merciless Medic Peckinou Serei2477​

An opening, that was all she needed. As the last grenades exploded against the witch and her swarm defense Annika began moving. Adrenalin shot through her system as she finally saw her opening starting to form. Moving through the wrecked scene she managed to vault off the top of an ant to continue towards the nearest building.

Moving at a decent speed Annika picked up the pace and broke out into a full on sprint. Amplification starting to flare she pushed herself beyond her limits as she leaped and started to sprint up the wall of the building. Clearing the first, second and third floor Annika reached the peak of her amplification as she propelled herself from the side of the building in an amplified leap towards the Bee witch.

She had been yearning for an opportunity to try her chainblades against a truly organic opponent. She hadn’t expected it to be a witch, let alone a possible cousin of hers. It dawned on her that her specific brand of crazy would probably be extremely weird to hear about without any sort of context. It didn’t matter, she was absolutely enthused with how her approach had gone… that was until the giant bee bumbled into her.

The bee had come out of nowhere, like a giant bumbling isekai truck late to its morning appointment. It had been through sheer luck that Annika was above it as it passed below her. Using it as a momentary springboard she managed to breach the bee witches defensive swarm and lunge at her.

Adjusting from her leap Annika gunned the engine of her left chainblade and struck out at the bee witch. Hoping for a clean cleave through the middle it wasn’t meant to be. The woman had seen a glimmer of Annika’s vibrant hair as the cloak fluttered in the wind and moved just slightly. Feeling resistance for a split second Annika cleaved through the witches right shoulder, completely severing it.

Tucking her arms and body in as she tumbled away from the witch she landed in a roll, slamming into the remains of a destroyed golem and causing her to grunt in pain.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Nadia Semyonov - Daniella Ethalyn - Death City - Fire Station

​

With the sudden shift in tactics and her knife being used against them, Nadia glares. ‘Just like a fucking witch.’ Swinging Dani at a line of them, she glared as acid was thrown out upon the streets, or spit out, however this magic stuff worked. Nadia was not amused, as she called out in english;

“Your mother was a whore that wanted you for a magic battery! And Stupid bitch! I have legs!” With a few more swings of her blade and a kick of her legs, Nadia cleared a small gap between her and them. A gap that her empowered state the cityscape around them was as good an opportunity as any, as she picked a three story building with ledges and a window facade, in a single leep she snatched hold of one and threw herself by the left hand to another, twisting as she did so to plant her feet against the wall, before leaping off to another, bringing herself, closer and closer as the insect swarm got water for their troubles.

“WHO’S SO FAST NOW!?”

Dani pushed her wavelength into Nadia, aiming to give her as much of a boost as possible. The witch had many tricks, but surely they beat her out in physique and power right? Nadia certainly seemed to be having “fun” in a way, even if she seemed to be entirely annoyed.

“We want to play? We were minding our own business when you thots and your fucking clown-fucks popped up. You don’t get bitch out now that your skin’s on the fucking line!” Dani added with a growl.

“RIP AND TEAR!” With that Nadia makes a wide swing, aiming her blade for the witch’s neck with her snarling face, partially hidden beneath the mask. There was nowhere to go but into another building, the street was a mess below them.

’Fuck, I wish I was learned enough to remember how one neutralizes acid, you know?’

‘Fucking Death, you’re too into this shit sometimes,’ Dani remarked after a brief shock-induced pause as a result of Nadia’s—enthusiasm. ‘I know I said that shit first, but… nevermind. Keep being crazy until they’re dead.’

With an internal sigh, Dani glanced at the street beneath them, racking her brain for the answer to Nadia’s question. ‘What, with like baking soda or lime? I know you need a base, but I don’t see how that helps us here. Not like we can fucking stop for chemistry supplies.’

’Fine if we kill her, we stand on her fucking corpse, if we don’t I’m aiming through the windows of that Highrise, we’ll hit her again.’

Sir Les Paul EmperorsChosen Merciless Medic Mook-LandStrider Peckinou The Regal Rper Serei2477

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Maria Mayer - Dall Island​

Everything went well Asides from the fact they were riding in a hunk of garbage. Being associated with this thing was too much. She would die of embarrassment. They didn't understand, these philistines, art and precession was lost upon them, especially instructor Rand. She would have to pay him back for this somehow, nothing too serious, it wasn't as if she hated him. Still, the pen she planned to give him would now not be made. As they traveled along the ride was rough and unpleasant, it made her wish for her mobile workshop, or the ship, this was far worse than the sea sickness. But still her composure remained calm. Even. All of her work, rushed and trash as it was, held together, her platform smooth, well smooth enough. Lumber and reeds interlocked where needed, as needed, and the boys did well enough on the balloon, she had to admit her plans were followed enough to be content. Even if she felt like vomiting off the side.

Then as they neared the Dall Oak, or some landing zone, or near enough to it, she basked in the energy of the mana rich zone, letting it join her own significant amounts of man, aiding the recovery of her own mana, it was a shame she had to depend on a medium to access it all, if only there were some way to change that, to put those Witches in their place. Filled with such thoughts, her facial features did not surprisingly break with what was to come. A snarl formed from her lips, she gave herself to her magic and to her rage, while not quite the pull, it was dangerously close, or maybe feeding off of it, as her eyes turned a glowing red, she gave herself over to all of her boiling resentment and anger. One could be forgiving as her face became stone fixed, immediately her wires formed, and her book turned into a blade connecting to her arm as the Medium doll was connected and formed to attention. One may suspect the girl had gone well and truly mad as she chuckled and laughed, her face eerily still.

For in fact she had. "My, my! Such disobedient Materials! Nature will never varnish and polish you! Showing the hidden beauty you have!" She said as she jumped from the platform and into the vines.

"If you keep up such foolishness then I'll be late! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Much too late, much too demanding. Now be seated and know your place!" The emotions in those words were far graver than her looks showed, as she twirled in a mirrored fashion with her doll, lashing out with blades, spinning, slashing, it seemed she was dancing as her footwork carried through the snaggles. Her armored knight cleaving what she could not dance over with its twin blades, continuing to laugh once more, Maria was at least not attacking her allies, hinting at some level of self control.

Though it would likely be a very bad idea to stop her now. "NOW BE SEATED!"

Merciless Medic The Regal Rper Meredith Sir Les Paul

 

[The Regal Rper]

Zosar | Japan | Hoshi Homeland

Fifteen minutes. That's how long it took him to realize that each spike of his wavelength allowed the trees in their environment to sap more of his wavelength. Suppressing eased that burden, but at the same time, releasing his suppression gave them access to his reserves once more.

Fucking ridiculous, how the hell did his ancestors figure out how to deal with this thing?

The answer was, they were smarter. And even with that thought, he knew he'd need to figure this out if he wanted to get anywhere. Midori's comment hammered in the point that he was on a time limit- Hoshi had years, he had nowhere near the same amount of time. What he needed was to understand how Midori did it, to understand how he applied amplification and how the Hoshi kept themselves suppressed so well that their very signature faded out of existence.

Yet, seeing Adra give it a go, he couldn't quite just stand there and do nothing- so he began trying different angles of handling the situation. At first- he tried aiming for a different spot on the tree-- that did nothing. He went low, still nothing, went back up to a different spot, hardly much give.

Two hours of this, and Zosar could feel the ache. Ah this brings me back he reminisced as he could feel the signs of not exhaustion but that burning sensation one got in their muscles from a workout- the kind that wasn't draining in its entirety but also wasn't exactly going to be rejuvenating either.

A hand ran through his hair and Zosar took a moment to actually think as Midori suggested instead of trying out the same old trick or pulling from his usual bag of tricks. When he'd realized the trees tug on him manifested with spikes, he though about spiking smaller but that didn't give him enough- then he tried increasing the amount of wavelength but stretching the usage of the flow he pulled from, but that didn't do much either. It led to the same result- little dig into the trunk of the tree.

Clearly he wasn't going to get anymore help from Midori here- this really was something he needed to figure out on his own, much like how Jason and Hiroshi had given him a single pointer and then allowed him to make decisions that proved fruitful or disadvantageous, this was the same.

Deciding to take a break and sit and think- Zosar considered his clearest instance of observing Midori in action-- when they'd fought the day he Death had sent the Hoshi to collect him.

Standing there and staring at the tree, Zosar closed his eyes and re-envisioned that fight.

Midori's very spirit energy had barely been perceptible when he'd struck. Even when they'd fought hand-to-hand, where Midori hadn't been using his Weapon form entirely- the Hoshi's reflexes and agility as well as martial prowess had caught him off guard in the same way their mock fight had earlier even though, by theory, he should have won given his power.

Power wasn't the key here though, it was understanding how to use it. So what am I missing? He wondered.

When Midori's cousin had attacked them in the halls, executing his comrades- he hadn't even been aware of her presence till it was too late. Her bloodlust struck him the same instant she'd struck his allies- and in a realistic fight, by then he'd be dead and it wouldn't matter if he could pick up on the enemy presence quickly or not when they struck you down.

"Could it be the enhanced state?" He wondered aloud. He knew people that trained enough in Wavelength Amplification fundamentally altered the very state of their bodies. Spiritual energy empowered cells, changing them, making them supernaturally stronger- they adapted, but didn't give an individual the same boost they got from doing Amplification itself, at least not entirely. These boosts were small, micro alterations in the state of biology- this was something he understood well from watching his seniors and superiors in action. From Hiroshi to KoJo whom had once been a member of DWMA's European branch.

But-- he doubted that was true also. Otherwise, brute force would have made this easy-- and he'd tried that in one of his tests. He'd utilized an amount of wavelength he'd normally use to kill, and all that had done was leave him briefly winded without any result.

Suppressing himself as he currently was made it so the trees could not get him, but if he didn't suppress himself completely, even if partially suppressed, a simple touch allowed them to leech off him. The more he released his restraint, the more their pull called to him.

Suppressing was key to this, but full suppression took him nowhere. At the same time, releasing his suppression as fast as he could to amplify was still costing him the same amount no matter how quickly he did it or how short or long.

Taking a deep breathe in and letting out his frustration in a sigh, Zosar decided to try a different take. If speedy suppression release was not doing anything and fast-track amplification was doing nothing, then perhaps trying to suppress while amplifying himself at the same time could work. Contain his wavelength but use what little he could manage while keeping the suppression there.

Zosar moved towards the trunk and suppressed himself entirely. He felt nothing. Not a tug or a yank from the tree. In position as he was now, he considered his next step.

Spiking his wavelength had done little for him. Each time he did it he'd felt the immediate pull. These trees clearly latched on to spiritual energy immediately even if it was small. So instead of spiking- he focused on taking from his suppressed state.

The axe went up, suppressed entirely, he struck. The blade did nothing to the tree. He swished back, struck- it did nothing. The repeated motion, was a mental build up. Each time he swung, Zosar thought of himself pulling from his wavelength while trying to keep it under control.

It was difficult. Very much like containing his wavelength for the first time had been. When he pulled back after the first strike he spiked his wavelength without meaning to, instinct taking over- and immediately felt the tug from the tree in front of him, forcing him to suppress himself again consciously.

He struck the tree suppressed, then tried again. Each time he pulled back, he would practice this- staying suppressed, but also trying to draw from his wavelength.

The goal here was to limit the drainage from the trees, while also getting the maximum effective power he needed to cut through the tougher exterior.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

By the fifth consecutive strike, Zosar had stopped his instinctive spiking. The first three had elicited a spike each time he hit where he'd paused, and then suppressed himself entirely again. His expression stern, blank- focus. He saw himself back with the Enlighteners, in the makeshift dojo back in Jaimaca on that open gravelly field that his father had made his sparring place to train him in martial arts.

By the tenth strike, he had progress. The spiking had ceased and this time, Zosar maintained suppression as he called upon the scraps of what wavelength he could manage without spiking. When he did, he barely felt the tugs like he had when he opened the door to Amplification. It barely yanked at him like it did before-- but at the same time he had barely made a dent.

He grimaced. And could practically hear his mother telling him from afar as she used to watch them spar.

Try again.

He twisted, then struck harder, maintaining the stable state between his suppression and the meager wavelength he'd pulled while in it. If he could get used to doing this, soon he'd be able to pull in more- but he needed to get this done faster. Five trees waited and he hadn't gotten through his first one. He didn't have years to practice like he did with the Enlighteners. So every few strikes, Zosar alternated. He swapped between the stable state he managed, to adding more of his wavelength while keeping himself suppressed- where anytime he spiked, he would grimace, grumble- and then repeat from the beginning until he he hit that stability again.

At this point he was focused- he didn't acknowledge Adra or Midori's presence, he mainly kept his mind on the new goal.

If I don't cut one down today, then I must cut three down tomorrow. Keep going Zose he thought to himself, hacking away at the tree and pausing to rest his hands and arms.

Keep going until you get through the tougher parts then keep adding more.

Mentions: N/A

Interactions: Sir Les Paul Sybil

 

[EmperorsChosen]

Eloise Keegan - DWMA Festival Grounds
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Seeing Annika's strike connect, Elly grinning confidently. The teeth of the chainsword rent the witch's arm from the rest of her body as it tore through flesh. The witch would be distracted by her wounds and the debilitating pain, which presented an opportunity to hopefully put an end to this encounter.

Elly dashed from the mound she had place on, maneuvering to a different point of attack in case the witch still held enough sense to watch for a follow-up from her old position.

'Alright dear, let's see if we can end this early,' Elly spoke internally to her weapon.

Holding Sage in a reverse grip, she leveled him perpendicular to herself over her shoulder with her other arm extend out as an aiming mechanism. Breathing in, she twisted her right side back before stepping forward. She amplified her wavelength to increase her physical strength as much as possible, then allowed her body to whip counter-clockwise to send Sage hurdling up at the witch with great velocity.

She wasn't particularly keen at leaving herself weaponless, however this was as good of an opportunity for a kill-shot as they may get. Best to capitalize before the witch adjusts, and as a weapon, Sage was durable if the mage caught with of the attack.

Sir Les Paul Mook-LandStrider

 

[Sir Les Paul]

The First Death, the Second Act​

Tags: The Regal Rper Merciless Medic Peckinou RedArmyShogun EmperorsChosen Meredith Mook-LandStrider

---

April 1st, 2067​

Noah watched as Isabella stepped off her broom, and he couldn’t help the smug smirk that crept over his face as he watched her fall for their trap. The giddiness from his soul was palpable, not unfamiliar to the sensation he’d feel when managing to get a plan to work in a boss fight when he had prior difficulties. However, despite how well this was working, Gauss’s own aptitude in doing this did worry him. Just how often did he do this? When they weren’t connected, was he honest and transparent with him? The worry was brief, but it was likely Gauss had noticed. Still, the worry fell away, as he didn’t let it bother him at this moment. It was incredibly useful, and he was somewhat glad that Gauss was capable of this manipulative behavior.

After Gauss said his surname however, did Noah take great interest in the witch’s reaction. He wondered just how she thought of him. Ransom money? Maybe putting him in a kennel to be used like property and for siring kids? Well, those were from horror stories of witches he had heard from his father, who wasn’t exactly too keen on them himself.

Once things shifted to them needing to leave, he chuckled. Oh, of course. Leaving. ‘Heh, the only way she’ll be leaving is a coffin. Closed casket, hopefully. Will do, Gauss. Don’t burn ‘em yet, Arkayis. Almost there. Too early, and we’ll lose our deep-cooked witch.’ He said, his voice within the soul space oddly smooth and maybe a bit soothing. He transformed back as Gauss said the fight was over. As soon as he did so, he started acting the part, his eyes widening at the witch and he chuckled, giving a perverted glare at her as he looked her up and down.

Man, she really was plain. Gauss was right. He’d much rather flirt with Nadia, at least the reaction would be far more interesting.

“The whole world, hm? Well, we are quite generous.” Noah continued. If this were an anime, he’d have hearts in his eyes with the way he was staring at the witch. But ohhhh, Noah was far too clear-headed to be affected by such silly pheromones. Sara’s pheromones didn’t really work on humans, and yet he got more affected by hers instead of this witch’s. Oh, right, it was cocaine.

Huh, he must have forgotten he snorted a couple times earlier.

The whole charade wasn’t exactly something Arkayis was fond of, even with the pretense of trying to get in close with the witch. The only place they wanted to send that witch was into a blazing inferno, where she would be properly reduced to ashes. Even with Noah's assurance Arkayis wasn’t exactly happy to go along with this plan, and was even less happy with having to transform back. Even with the intake of cocaine in his body, he couldn’t help but groan out in the soul space, unable to think straight they opted to just relent to Gauss's idea, ”Mhmmm, fine…” reluctantly Arkayis transformed back, his face was red likely from anger or the effects of cocaine, he wasn’t exactly sure which, though Arkayis went on to turn his head to the side instead of towards others. It took a lot of willpower to not try to burn the witch in their weapon form, and faking admiration for the witch was not on his to do list. Though with any luck he figured that the witch may mistake his reddened face for one out of embarrassment, and with any luck would play in Gauss's favor.

”Oh my, it seems you boys can behave… that’s almost disapp–” Isabella said coyly, growing in confidence and even dismounting from her broom once Noah and Arky transformed. She wouldn’t get the chance to finish her sentence as her first step forward was met by a high speed knife being ripped from the garter belt Noah was on and flung directly at her heart. She hadn’t the reaction speed to entirely dodge, only being able to step to the side slightly. The end result was the blade plunged directly into her ribcage through her lung and caused an immediate flood of terror to course through her.

She fucked up and she knew it.

Gauss knew this was the trigger for Noah and Arky to return to their weapon forms, and he prepared himself by extending both of his arms and preparing his wavelength to match each of them. Given they weren’t touching yet, he had to announce his plans out loud, only instilling that much more fear in the Witch.

”Arky, burn the broom; Noah, make her sizzle,” he told them. Knowing Noah could reach her faster with a blast of electricity and Arkayis could destroy her only means of viable escape, this plan minimized her chances of escape. Not that she had a huge chance of it regardless. Falling to her knee and grabbing her side, blood overflowed from her wound and quickly she could feel it gurgling up from her esophagus. She tried to close it over with her ant exoskeleton, but that did little other than stop the outward flow of blood.

Arkayis didn’t hesitate before eyeing the witch, the hate in their eyes made his intentions clear, as he began to transform back into their weapon form. He began to charge the flames fueled by his hatred towards witches, and the fact he was finally given the go ahead to burn things to the ground. Arkayis didn’t let loose, as they went all out in blasting blue flames towards the witch's broom, the sight of blue flames with a bit of violet mixed in, was enough to burn a person's eyes and would easily be able to burn the broom almost instantly.

Noah immediately transformed and flew into Gauss's hand, his electricity coursing through until his weapon form was cloaked in the electrical, arcing energy. The lightning shot out in an arc with the intent to stop her movement from the amount of lightning he coursed into her body, locking up those muscles and hopefully causing her internals to fry or liquefy, especially with the knife still inside her becoming hot and a ground for his lightning.

Izzy knew what to do. Another electrical attack. Another ground to avoid it. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. Survival was all that mattered to her. The flames aimed at her broom were a death sentence should she try to save it. How these three were functioning like this was beyond her. Most men at the very least couldn't bring themselves to harm any of the three, let alone be so ruthless. She hadn't the time to figure out what caused this.

As it turned out, she hadn't the time to cast a spell, either. Mana surged through her as she attempted to conjure another pillar to ground the lightning, but such was for not. Blood filled her lung, the pressure on her chest was growing, and the overwhelming urge to cough until she nearly vomited was only halted by the arc of electricity that struck her. Had she not been wounded, redirecting that electricity would have been no more difficult than before. Now, her body was failing her and she had no recourse. Her attempt to seal the wound and apply pressure with the foreign metal had been in vain.

Seeing that the lightning connected, Gauss had no intention on letting up. Arky had wanted to burn a witch for so long and Gauss was curious about an interaction between Arky and Noah regardless. Fire was plasma, plasma was highly conductive--much more so than air--and he theorized that if Arky created a constant flamethrower with his blue flames, it would only make the arc from Noah that much easier to maintain. With the broom now little more than ashen cinders, it was time to test that theory.

'Arky, looks like your dream is coming true,' he commented internally, tilting Arkaysis over to aim directly at the Witch, 'burn her and shock her--it may be overkill, but I want to see how it works. I vote Noah gets the soul since he HAD HIS FUCKING KNIFE ON HIM,' Gauss added in, hype fixating on the fact Arky left behind the standard issue knife. Had they each had one, Gauss might have gotten to inflict even more damage. Despite his personal fixation on the knife issue, Arky seemed entirely content with the fact his flames finally got to engulf a Witch.

Izzy had no recourse for this. Her lung full of blood, body failing, now being electrocuted, and flames on her way. Her hubris was her downfall.

The effect of channeling electricity through the fire was less than impressive, unfortunately. Gauss didn't quite know what to expect. He was hoping for some type of awesome neon light show or interesting ionic affect. He wasn't sure. Just something showy. Something eye-catching. Instead, all it ultimately did was make it it easier for Noah to channel his electricity at Izzy and he wasn't sure if it did anything for Arky; he was just having a field day getting to watch a witch burn to death.

Entirely overwhelmed and facing death as the intense heat from the flames shot her way, Izzy could only mutter a single question. A question she had asked herself trying to figure out how these three had so many abilities and somehow resisted the pheromones. "What the fuck are you..."

The flames hit her. Their blue coloration was not just for show. They burned hot. Incredibly hot. Izzy would be gone entirely within a few seconds and probably dead before Gauss would even get to finish his answer, yet he did so anyway.

"Just a high-class drug addict and, depending on who you ask, the biggest fuckboi in the DWMA," he said aloud, defining himself as many--or at least as he expected Nadia--would do so if they had but a sentence.

Witty one-liners aside, Izzy was dead. She was dead, her soul now surrounded by the same flames that burned her body. Her death did not go unnoticed.

---

Several things happened in incredibly quick succession.

Pinia's arm fell helplessly to the ground.

Elly launched Sage at Pinia for a kill shot.

Davis took this brief opportunity to salvage what he could from the back of the truck.

Adrian opted to make a mad dash to the arm that was falling for whatever reason.

All of this stemming from one pivotal action. Annika managed to land a clean cut on Pinia. Arguably, this one attack was more impressive than anything her teammates had done. While one could argue that the cloak introduced an element of deception, that deception was based in skill. It wasn't some witty wordplay or manipulation, but a cunning and creative strategy based on something entirely new given to her by Davis, whom she was working in tandem with.

It occurred so quickly that Pinia hadn't even had time to register the pain before she realized another projectile was heading her way. Some more mocking shouts from the little bitch still on the ground, but more dangerous was the spear headed her way. She couldn't afford to just take blow after blow after blow. Hell, she really couldn't afford to take that first one. It was time to eliminate something and she had just the idea to take one piece off the board.

Her swarms of bees surrounded the spear as he flew her way. Sure, some died slowing it down, but they died in service of their queen. A worthy cause. Caught in air, the demon weapon was now entirely helpless and surrounded by an army of angry bees that started... buzzing? Buzzing loudly. More importantly, heating up. Radiating an intense heat with the intention to eventually cook the Demon Weapon from the inside. This was the type of tactic Witches used to deal with Demon Weapons. Isolate them from their Meister, then confine them in such a way that transforming would mean death and remaining in their Weapon form would be excruciating despite their nigh-invulnerability.

Pinia was not one to forget about transgressions. As she saw it, the only actual threat on the field was Annika. She didn't know her name, but she knew one thing. The bitch touched her. That's all it took. Annika was marked with the scent of Pinia whether she knew it or not, and Pinia used that to track her down. Or, more accurately, to assign her largest bees--eight of the remaining large, white ones--to attack her indiscriminately. These massive SUV-sized bees coated in golem goop provided Annika no time to rest her bruised body after her impact as they came down on her with oversized stingers at speeds far outclassing the cars they were the size of yet again with the sole intention on crushing her.

Meanwhile, Davis took this brief respite in being attacked to return and reassess the field. He originally wanted to give Adrian one of his toys given he expected the Maiden to be the least useful in this case, but with Elly now having lost her weapon and Adrian having ran off, that situation changed. Davis appeared almost cartoonish carrying a large railgun of sorts in his right hand and a massive metallic crate full of grenades on his right shoulder, but such was the absurd gift of his arm. Not that other agents couldn't replicate it, but Davis wasn't exactly of the same built, muscular, or even remotely toned frame that most three-star agents were, making the juxtaposition a little more apparent.

He sat the crate down beside Elly, showing her its contents--an abundance of grenades identical to the ones he provided Annika with earlier. The railgun happened to be a bigger, better variant of the one his shoulder. While loading his own empty clip up and the ones he removed from his chest strap, he started instructing Elly, "Grenade launcher. Loads four at a time. No time to explain the targeting system or visor. Just shoot and try not to blow us up," he told her, shoving the railgun-now-explained-grenade-launcher into her chest. "Red is incendiary, blue freezes--"

He was cut off.

What could only be described as a gale force storm picked up, reaching outward for multiple city blocks. Pinia was crying. Enraged. Upset. Heartbroken. She felt the death of Izzy through their shared magical field. This was not the same type of magic she was using earlier. This was not a channeled spell. This was something entirely different. This was magic fueled by the Pull. This was magic when it was fueled by Madness. She wasn't casting this; it was secondary to everything else she was doing. As a passive effect, it was only a step or two down from the tornado she had conjured before. Pinia started screaming obscenities, damning each of them, threatening to kill them, and from her remaining hand shot out blasts of completely uncontrolled wind slashes. They weren't aimed at any one person, instead simply randomly destroying buildings in her fit of rage.

Adrian had retrieved her arm. His logic was, if she couldn't regrow it, perhaps they could use it to distract her or barter with her or something. She would need to reattach it, logically. If he threatened to make it into an irretrievable pincushion, that could be leverage. That plan might not have been so poor given he didn't draw attention to himself, but he had no way of knowing this Witch was about to radiate Madness. Even though it was much weaker than his own outbreak and the Madness from the Pull didn't translate perfectly onto humans, his interaction with it was recent enough that he could feel it. That pressure bearing down on him. The drive to protect. The drive to do more. The reality that he was meant to cause pain. It flooded back to him, and all he could do was hold his head. Stumbling over the rubble, he grasped himself, fighting internally not to go back to that dark place.

He refused to endanger them like he did before.

Davis lifted his metallic arm over his head to try and block the incoming wind and debris. He starred at the Witch seeing the massive surge in her mana and how chaotic it was becoming. Whatever threat level she was before, she just leapt up a stage. At the very least, he had his favorite weapon at his side. With Elly now having the grenade launcher, he pulled a metallic shaft from the interior pocket of his coat and it quickly connected with a set of glowing purple tubes from his sleeve. In a quick moment, out from it shot an intense beam of light. It was his plasma sabre. Perhaps the grand daddy of creates like Phobos and Demios.

The winds that surrounded Pinia began to darken and form clouds, thunder roaring through the air and lightning illuminating the darkness overhead. Storm Magic was absurdly rare, stupidly powerful, and at the moment, likely only possible due to the intensity of her Pull. Adrian was off to the side in some rubble having his own breakdown, Annika was being bombarded by bees, and all Elly had was a grenade launcher. Davis inhaled deeply, trying to formulate a plan, but all he could mutter was a single word:

"Fuck..."

---

Sara was fucking brilliant. The flood of water from the hydrant began shooting out, cleansing the field of the enzyme that coated it. Even where it didn't wash it away, the water was mixing with it and diluting it. Termites, unlike ants, were not so fond of the water. They could survive it, but it made it more difficult for them to move. Not only that, remaining submerged for long enough would put them into an immobile state as they tried to conserve oxygen. Her quick thinking turned the field advantage that the termite witch created right around on her.

Even if this new change to the field might result in an amendment to the plan Nadia had, the outbreak from the Witch most certainly would. Being closer to Izzy than Pinia, she was hit by the reality that her sister was gone significantly sooner. Not only that, this Witch happened to be personally much closer with Izzy. The death hit hard. The Pull hit harder. Unlike Pinia who lashed out in rage, this Witch only sobbed silently at the loss of her friend. Her heart was truly shattered on a different level than Pinia would ever know.

In a way, she wished it was Pinia.

Much like the Bee Witch, however, the scale of her magic grew dramatically. The ground beneath them erupted violently, launching the witch upwards into the sky nearly twenty feet on a platform of dirt and stone that began to take shape as a massive termite mound. These were not the puny wood-eating termites found in the Americas. These were the African mound-building termites and this mound was a large structure that fortified itself against attack. From the thousands of holes that were littered across the dirt mount poured out that same enzyme and from it washed up an army of larger, lighter brown termites with much more aggressive looking jaws. It seemed the fighting style of this Witch changed entirely, not unlike what Ark had done in the tournament.

Not only that, the gale force winds created by Pinia were now picking up in their direction. The ground shook as more of these mounds started to erupt upwards around them, slowly but surely destroying the surrounding infrastructure and buildings, but also creating more sources of the termite army. The ground was unsteady, thunder roared through the air, lightning cracked above them, and the winds were enough to even give these agents a strong push.

Nadia should have known what the Pull was like. How dangerous it was. How it took magic to the absolute next level and was fueled by raw, primal emotion. This was not some predetermined spell or plan from these witches, something must have happened to trigger a change like this. Whether it was some crazy effect by the same force that turned the dolls against the population or some internal struggle, the threat here was real and aside from Davis himself, Nadia likely knew that best. This type of fight was what her heritage was known for. This was the type of fight ancient Jotuun thrived for. This was the type of thing a Legacy of Ice Blood would be sung about.

Meanwhile, Sara had an entirely different experience. Despite all of the smells that filled the air, what radiated most off of this witch was not just her Pull, but her heartbreak. It was intense. It was raw. It was not unlike losing a sibling or a lover. It was, in truth, a human experience fueling an absolutely devastating event around them. One Witch apparently could conjure a storm through it, the other reshape the land itself far more than the Sorcerer from the tournament had debuted.

The contrast between the two for this event only served to demonstrate the vast difference a single event like this could have. The saving grace for Nadia and Sara at the moment was that it appeared that the termite witch was not attacking, but merely defending herself. There were no advancements. No onslaught. Nothing pressuring them. It seemed whatever forced her to break down in tears, to elevate herself away from them and defend her mound, forced her into a moment of seclusion where she needed to process that loss.

---

Across the comms of the Agents that wore them, Gauss finally chimed in with an update, "ladies and gentlemen, we killed one. Should make things easier."

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Nadia Semyonov - Daniella Ethalyn - Death City - Fire Station

​

So, this was it was it? Laughing a bit at that as the pillar of earth shot up from where she was heading, Nadia boosts up and off of the dirt, the stench of magic carrying across as she thought of it, her blood boiling. Finally, finally, something strong, it had been small fries, a draining war of attrition, now she had the bitch just where she wanted. Death was assured, for the witch bitch or herself. She was giving herself to the Pull. One must have died.

Still, she had but brief moments to handle this, as she crashed through a window of the Highrise and took off running, barreling through office furniture as she smashed through a wall and then jumped up to slash and punch her way through the ceiling. Calling Sara over the comms Nadia called out.

“Bento girl! No time to explain! Don’t hit the big tower! Keep away from it! I’ll drop her to you! Keep them distracted! We have one shot!”

“One bitch dies and it just makes me angrier. Even as a corpse these c*nts are fucking annoying…” Dani growled out, the pull starting to affect her as well. It was starting to take hold, making her more bitter and silent. The familiar urge was coming back, and the witch’s tears only further drawed the sword’s ire.

“No! Do not knock that one down!” She calls once more, before taking note of what was going on with Dani. “Wait, she will come to you, then you must strike!”

Thankfully in their soul spaces, time moved just a bit slower, and mid move she was able to stop, with the fire and the seat at her own place was offered, Nadia did something very unexpected, she did not sit on her throne nor waited for Dani, but rather, walked to the edge and reached across.

“Dani. I need you to focus. You are not alone, and we can get revenge for all those who died, to all those who were robbed. We must work together and use Resonance. I cannot kill her but I can make sure she dies, but I need your help.” It was unusual for her to be so direct, much less to ask for anything, which likely spoke of how dangerous this situation was. But there was something more, the very soul of Nadia seemed to grow and glow and the beating of Drums upon the waves was calling once more, not in challenge, but in invitation. Her ice blood and all it entailed seemed to summon fading ghosts, be it from the ice giants or the magnitudes that died today, or was it even real?

“I’m not not focused, fuck.” Growling that out, the pink-haired one was half-submerged in the darkness of the cave, dimly illuminated by the fire in front. She was touched by the pull, but not taken out to sea by it. This was shown by her visibility, though the blackness behind her spoke as to an eerily silent rage. “I haven’t lost it yet ya’ fucking amazon… You aren’t getting rid of me that easy.”

Taking the outstretched hand with her own, Dani’s next words held a snarl that didn’t seem to come from her, but rather bellowed from the blackness behind her where a red gaze hung intimidatingly. “I’m your Medved, da?”

With that Nadia meet her gaze with that in the darkness. As she pulled Dani towards her. “I do not recall why, only that I did, that I accepted her and that means accepting you as well… Russians may keep bears as pets, but a bear is still a bear.”

With that Nadia achieves Resonance once more as Madness pressed in from all around. Leaping upwards and making use of Dani and her left fist, Nadia pushed and shoved her way through materials and wiring, cursing in a mix of English and Russian as she did so. Communicating with Sara once more she calls out hastily, “Sara! Front of the tower now! Be ready!”

“We are going to go for a little flight and I’m going to find out how durable you weapon's really are. Ready?” They were now above the witch she could tell, soul perception was useful, all that was between them was drywall and masonry work.

“This won’t even chip me,” Dani remarked. “Go.”

“Da! Hahaha!” With that she busts through the wall a look of rage on her face as they dive in on the witch, almost immediately huge termites shot out with pincers and spitting acid, the witch in her madness or sadness standing firm. Pushing into the horde Nadia swings Dani through the thin necks of two and breaks the mandibles of one clean off with the use of her left hand.

And then she broke out into Song,

“Pustʹ yárostʹ blagoródnaya
Vskipáyet, kak volná!
Idyót voyná naródnaya,
Svyashchénnaya voyná!”

(Let noble wrath
Boil over like a wave!
This is The People’s War
a Sacred war!)​

Even as the defenses rushed out to meet her, Nadia stabbed Dani into the ground, grabbed hold of the witch as dozens of mandibles snapped at her and termites climbed out of the hive. And then she did what she had once before, to her old partner at that. Firing soul force through the witch and down into Dani.

Dani growled as chill passed through her. Even if she withstood it, it wasn’t comfortable to say the least. ‘I can take it… certainly more than this bitch!’

’Heh, I’ll buy you something nice. Provided the Wolf does her part.’

With that said She forces the mound to break apart along one side as she repeatedly used Soul Force, depleting her energy but cleaving the tower in half. Well, maybe in a 5th, either way the bugs seen them and were pissed. As claws cut her at times, or acid lightly burned her skin as her blood nullified the effects in part, it was clear that the situation was rapidly turning against them. Grabbing a hand upon the witch, Nadia grabs her and throws with a single hand as her mask is clipped by an approaching grip to her head, ramming Dani into the head of the attacker, she quickly punches another through the eye and grips into the burning acid, to the organic insides the witch sought to recreate as she threw it into three more of its kind, knocking them back.

“COME ON! GLORY AWAITS!” Nadia screams in challenge as she faces off with the encroaching doom.

Sir Les Paul EmperorsChosen Merciless Medic Mook-LandStrider Peckinou The Regal Rper Serei2477

 

[Merciless Medic]

Sara & Eva

April 1, 2067
Location: Fire District, Death City
Collab with Mook-LandStrider
Interactions: Nadia, Dani, Gauss, Termite Witch
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun

Watching the fire hydrant do its thing, Sara giggled as the water drowned the termites and diluted the caustic termite cement. Now this was going to be a piece of cake!

Leaving the fire hydrant on, Sara ran into the fold again. Only to pause upon hearing Gauss on her comms, and smelling something else in the air. She scoffed at Gauss’s comment, sending a message on her comms as she rolled her eyes. “I mean, it did make it easier and didn’t at the same time. Unbridled magic fueled by the pull and madness are far more dangerous. At least the termite witch is a bit emotionally comatose.” As she said that, the ground shifted, and towers of dirt and termite cement erupted high into the sky, with the one mound the witch was on only reaching half the height of this taller and skinnier mounds. All of them poured termites the size of her hand with scary mandibles, but what came with great power also came with great losses.

Or… Something like that.

Some of these pillars didn’t look too sturdy, but Sara knew she couldn’t resonate with Eva just yet. However, there was a way to circumvent that in exchange for the raw boost resonance gave. Thankful that speaking in shared soul spaces was faster than normal, she spoke to Eva. ‘There is this thing we can do. It’s called Soul Conduction. I send you my wavelength, and you utilize it without trying to resonate with it to make your strikes stronger. I send it to you like what I would do with Soul Force in my hand - if I can even use it, haha - and then you use it right when we make contact. It’s just brief enough that it shouldn’t hurt you too much. That good?’

As she asked that, she heard Nadia’s voice in the comms. Humming in understanding, she smirked and put her plan into action as what Nadia wanted her to do was something Sara already wanted to do anyway.

Toppling these termite mounds.

However, something in the air that she could smell only soured Sara’s giddiness for the fight. It was the scent of heartbreak. The scent of grief. It only upset her. Calling Nadia on her comms, she spoke. “She’s going to focus on defending. By the looks of things, she’s a support unit. Her death is inevitable. Be careful.”

As she darted around avoiding the sea of termites, she smelled the rotten egg scent of madness and spoiled magic, but the scent of heartache pervaded her senses and she swore she would be seeing red if she weren’t controlling herself. These witches came here thinking this was going to be some easy win, and they didn’t even prepare emotionally for the death of each other? That they were going in with the thought they would be coming back out alive with naive hope everything was going to be alright for attacking the DWMA and their agents, Fate or no? How immature! Sara lost one of her greatest friends back there, but the several hour reprieve wasn’t enough to help her emotionally ground herself, especially when the golems at the fire station became hacked. That didn’t mean she was just going to give up so uselessly! How could this witch just close out the world around her and think they wouldn’t come in to kill them for being on the side who killed Allie?!

The madness was itching at Sara’s mind. Not enough to fully do anything horrendous, but she was starting to lick her teeth, gritting and snapping them like she wanted to feel meat between her choppers get crushed and gush out with blood. It felt like she was hunting again, with her family as her brother relentlessly poked fun at her for not being able to transform but still acting like a transformed werewolf regardless, which was rather comical thinking back on it. But now?

She may not be a weapon, but she desperately wanted to sink her teeth around that witch.

Getting the go ahead by Eva to try out Soul Conduction, she began darting around, using the tall, skinny mounds as places to wall jump from one to the next, smashing some near their bases with the boosted power from their Soul Conduction to send them toppling after a few hits. Some landed on the swarm that littered the streets, others landed into each other if they were near enough.

She heard Nadia yell at her to not knock down the one the witch was on and Sara rolled her eyes. “I know that, I’m not aiming for that one!” The chaos Sara was causing had made her an enemy of the termites, as they began to embroil into a sea full of pinching mandibles. Yet, they lacked direction and control from their witch, so it was merely a matter of making sure she landed on a termite mound’s wall and then bouncing off with a surge of speed into her legs to make sure she wasn’t getting covered in angry termites.

Hearing that she will come to her, Sara wondered if Nadia was going to get on the mound and throw her off. After running her way around the termite mounds and toppling some of them, she heard Nadia’s voice again. She hurried to the front of the tower, watching as Nadia burst through a wall to land on the central mound the witch was on. Was she… Singing?

Her singing caught Sara off guard, making her chuckle. Watching a portion of the mound get cut and start leaning towards the side after the witch had been hit with Soul Force, the termites changed course. Some of the termites had left chasing the fast wolf and began climbing the tower to get at Nadia and protect their termite queen. The others tried to either attack Sara or crawl up one side of the leaning mound to keep it from falling.

She watched as the witch was thrown off.

Surging her wavelength through her body, she jumped off a termite mound’s wall to meet with the witch in mid-air. She pulled Eva overhead, only to see something happening to the witch. With Soul Conduction, Sara swung Eva down then began letting loose a flurry of lantern flail bashes, hoping to bash in her upper chest or head hard enough to prevent her from doing anything or to break through whatever armor she was trying to create and interrupt her spell.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Noah Wiley​

April 1, 2067
Location: Fire District, Death City
Interactions: Gauss, Arkayis
Mentions: Bee Witch
Sir Les Paul Peckinou

Noah watched with glee as the witch fell for their ruse and died to her hubris. Though, he started laughing because Gauss began speaking to a corpse. Coming out of his weapon form as the corpse fell away in the flames to reveal a deep purple witch soul, Noah strolled on over with his hands in his pockets. “Hah, talkin’ ta corpses now, are we?” He shot Gauss a teasing grin. “Can’t even let the dead rest with yer own hubris, eh?” He chuckled, casually walking over to the soul.

“Since it feels like fire boi over there had a few witch’s souls with how powerful he is, I might as well.” He grabbed a hold of the witch’s soul’s tail with a forefinger and thumb, watching ants run around the surface of the soul. He grimaced. “Ew… Definitely not puttin' that in my mouth, as much as I enjoy it.” He transformed a portion of his arm into a tonfa-like weapon and pushed the end into the witch’s soul. It absorbed into his tonfa, then the power surged through him.

He felt like a different man.

He turned around, giving Gauss a giddy grin. “Aite, I’m ready.” And with that, he transformed, ready to be useful.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Raphael Valerias​

March 29, 2067
Location: Past the Dead Zone, Dall Island
Interactions: Rand, Maria, Ark, Chant, Tree
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul Meredith RedArmyShogun The Regal Rper

Raphael watched to make sure what he said struck something in Maria, whether good or bad, didn’t matter. Her porcelain doll features that fixed themselves in one stony look only had him irritated, especially that smile and the look in her eyes as if his words didn’t amount to anything. But finally, she bit into her thumb at the mention of being inferior. Good.

A reaction.

While she may not have anything or anyone to prove to, this wasn’t about her anymore. This was about all of them, and she should focus on everything just as she would with her dolls. But thankfully, she gave instruction he was happy to oblige with. Rand having helped him in utilizing a hidden talent had him in awe with himself. All Raphael could think to himself was Yes, yes, chains, not just chains, but chaining things together. How stupid can I be to pigeonhole myself in my own shortsightedness? Magical Attunement was quickly written down in Raph’s grimoire when he had the time, and he began detailing many ideas he could use with it. If he could chain materials together like this, what about chaining spells? Immaterium? He was already quite adept at switching between the two spells or using two at the same time if they were the weakened versions of them.

So to see this had made Raphael insanely happy that he found something he could expand upon. Hell, he probably gave Rand a big bear hug before going back to work for teaching him something so vital. That meant all that his father could teach him would actually be useful! He’d have to tell him when he gets back, and probably repair that relationship with him.

Feeling the very reeds he attuned to get worked on was fascinating. He was soaking everything up like a sponge, watching how Ark and Maria coated them while also figuring that if he could attune something and have someone work on it, it could be for a few other things besides helping in the coating.

He added weightless chains around their structure that they were standing on, so as to help anchor in areas and aid in landing by controlling them. Since they were flying, the Dead Zone didn’t fuck with them, neither did the spiders, and Raph had the pleasure of laughing at them and sending them many middle fingers their way. And then continually insulted them in a jovial tone to the others. It was like nothing horrible could go wrong now that he felt powerful with his team.

Right as they passed the dead zone, there was a sudden uptick in ambient mana. Raph felt extremely rejuvenated and it was almost difficult to fully control his giddiness in being able to use his mana again without taking breaks. But as they were hovering and getting everything on the ground, Raphael had slid off to then create anchor points with his runes to pull down the balloon with the chains. He only got to creating his third anchor point when he was suddenly swiped up from a nearby tree’s vines.

Of course, it had to go wrong.

Growling, he gripped his grimoire tightly in one hand while the other grasped at the vine trying to strangle him. All he could think about was how downright idiotic this tree was being - trying to copy his ability and use it against him. There was a surge in his madness, as it would be a blow to his pride if he died to his own trick. He growled and gritted his teeth, his mana then trying to attune to the vine that was strangling him to make it let go of him. Maybe through attuning, he can find who the fuck was doing this.

But for right now, his anger-fueled madness and pull had a small spike, and he tried using Magic Attunement on the vine by pouring a large amount of his mana inside. Whatever information he gleaned from this would be remembered later, he just needed to assert dominance on this piece of nature to not fuck with the self-proclaimed chain-master.

 

[Peckinou]

Arkayis Misonuka

Sir Les Paul Merciless Medic EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun Mook-LandStrider

Arkayis was pretty content now that the witch had been dealt with, but couldn't help but roll their eyes as Gauss explained who he was, though seeing the witch burned to dust made Arkayis chuckle and say "I find her to be quite lovely now." . Arkayis smirked darkly as they transformed out of their weapon form, but then frowned when Gauss said that Noah would be the one to gain the witches soul, cause they actually brought their knife. Arkayis simply shrugged not really bothered by it all too much, as Noah took the soul and absorbed it, though Noah was right about one thing Arkayis did have their fair share of souls, and by fair share he meant quite a lot, not having one witches soul wasn't exactly a huge loss to him. Besides he figured Noah would need it more than him anyways, Arkayis gave Noah a dismissive wave, "That's fine, as long as that witch is turned into dust I'm fine."

Arkayis attention then turned to the other witches who were causing such a ruckus now that one of their friends were dead, one being driven to madness cause of it made Arkayis wince a bit, perhaps a memory of his resurfacing, maybe a ounce of pity for the witch. No, Arkayis quickly shook the thought out of their head, as their hatred for witches came back into place, they were part of the reason their family was gone, and their sister was pretty explicate with the fact that witches would be better off burned from the face of the earth, and were worthy of no sympathy whatsoever. A frown etched Arkayis face as they looked stared at the Madness ridden witch, "We still got a few more witches that need to be dusted, so, what is your master plan for this one Gauss." Arkayis couldn't help but groan a bit, likely since they were still under the effects of the drugs Gauss gave them."Has Noah even had any witches souls before?" a bit of a late question but Arkayis wasn't really thinking straight and wasn't caring as much, though he was luckily still able to keep most of his senses together.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

A Witch's Soul...​

Tags: The Regal Rper Merciless Medic Peckinou RedArmyShogun EmperorsChosen Meredith Mook-LandStrider

---

April 1st, 2067​

A Witch's Soul...

It can be a terrifying thing.

True may it be that not all Witches are born equal. Far greater than the divide between Witches and Sorcerers is the divide between those born royal and all those not. That divide is more than nobility; it is power. The bleak but true reality of Witchkind is that some are simply born more powerful than others. That power comes not only from their blood, but from their soul.

What Noah held in his hand with his disgusted grimace was much more than he gave it thought. A soul is a reflection of the mind and body. It is the very core of a personal. Their heart. Their ambitions. Their love, their hate, and all that lay in between. For a Witch, it was even more so. Generations of selective breeding and royal lines created bodies genetically tailored to generate more mana and control it in greater quantities. That made for stronger magic. It made for more potential. It was fueled the Witch Realm. What he held in his hand was the furnace of magic itself for the Witch that was Isabella Clava.

Her heart may have been but ash now, but the soul in his fleshy palm was the spiritual representation of it nonetheless. All that she was, all that should ever be, was now in that translucent, violet orb, pulsing its last beats of life away, dissipating moment by moment as wispy ants crawled off its surface.

He did not know her ambitions, or fears, or love. He did not know her, aside from at best the vicious criminal and apparent terrorist he knew her as for the brief few minutes he knew her. Perhaps if he did, he might had the respect to consume her entire identity in another way. After all, she was truly about to become part of him.

Demon Weapons are incomplete creatures by nature. In their early years, some even considered them true abominations. The soul of a human tainted with the soul of a Witch so deeply that even the children of these unholy beings of ritualistic origin could not escape such fate. It is not those early years now. That stigma is gone, for better or worse. What remains is the fact that Demon Weapons are incomplete by nature. The very ritual that brought them into this world sealed them into that fate.

Only through the consumption of corrupted souls in the number of ninety-nine and a Witch's soul may they ever be fulfilled. And, of those one-hundred total, none held such an influence as the soul of a Witch. More so, none had such an impact as the first one ever consumed. It was his very soul that wrapped around hers like a phagocyte consuming a virus, breaking it down inside itself to destroy it and absorb what it contained. All that Isabella ever was now merely a concoction of spiritual energy and mana flowing into his own being. He did not see her memories or gain any deeper understanding of who she was; that was not how this process worked. No. At best, he caught traces of her last few emotions like an after taste in fine, distilled whiskey.

Fear. She felt plenty of fear. Fear of death, fear of the demonic fire that burned her flesh.

Yet also, the heartbreak of knowing she would not see Ash again. Or perhaps, to never fully understand what they had.

Regardless of those flavorful glimpses, what poured through him was a greater sense of power. Not unlike the process Arkaysis had went through so many times over in his pursuit of personal vindication, Noah became privy to what a Witch's Soul did to a Demon Weapon. It was unlike any Corrupted Soul. Those offered a touch of power, a small enhancement to the natural qualities of their Human side. A Witch's Soul when broken down was forcibly fused with the sliver of a Witch's Soul already present, opening a door the door for the evolution that would eventually come as a Death Scythe. Though he was not one yet, he had a glimpse of what was to come. Arching electricity like a tesla coil branching out through the air against all odds to reach him, a newfound pool of reserves he never knew existed, and an odd serenity that came with it all.

In that moment, there was a type of clarity. A realization about himself and his powers that only came from the innate understanding of the magic that created his spiritual abilities. His lightning and his healing were hardly separate abilities, but in truth, one in the same. Using them separately as he did for so long only held him back. Witch's understood their innate abilities through instinct, and now his instincts were more keen to those nuances.

Witch's Souls truly are terrifying things. They are the source of great power within some of the most powerful individuals the world now knows, but also possess a great power in their own right. The power to shift perspective. To give insight. The power to bring fruition those fated to forever be incomplete. That type of power, of course, would instill terror in anyone that understood it.

---

The Termite Witch was in no state to be fighting. He heart still shattered, her body and her magic now defending herself through whatever natural accord they could muster. She was not casting. There was no true spell here. This was the Pull at its worst. This was Madness unbridled. This Witch might as well have been a font for wild magic itself. This state of hers was only worsened by how much those three often relied on the Pull to empower themselves. Their mental defenses had cracks. Their walls against it were not sturdy. All the DWMA and Council preached was to avoid moments like this when their own power escaped them.

Those innate defenses from the Pull proved ineffective against Nadia. Fear soon fell upon her as the realization hit her as hard as the Soul Force Nadia poured into her did. If she did nothing, she would face the same fate as Izzy. This was where her true despair set in. In that brief moment mid-air, watching as Nadia cleaved through her mound and her body ached and twitched from the impact of spiritual energy shot through her, she realized she wasn't even sure if she wanted to continue on. Years and years ago, when she and Izzy made their first small fortune with Pinia, she wanted to leave. To get out while the getting was good. To live a simple life for a hundred years or so. To travel to more than just the Americas. To see Europe and Africa. To see if the spark that she had always felt with Izzy was merely just the excitement of being rogue Witches, or if it had more to it.

Now, she knew that would be impossible. Izzy was gone. She would likely die here, too. Yet, even if she could survive, would she want to? Would she feel guilt for not fleeing these two faster? Would that wall of blue flames forever echo in her mind and consume her dreams until they were but nightmares in the lonely darkness? Could she live with that?

Did she even want to live?

She didn't know. Time slowed and her life flashed before her eyes. Her childhood in the Witch Realm working on the mana mounds, being told she was fated to marry some random man from another family because he was higher in station, fleeing the Witch Realm, and her first time stepping foot in the human realm. She was not always the monster they saw her as. At one point, she was but a young witch--a young woman--naïve to this new world and not understanding the vast majority of it. Those were simple, quiet days. Even the most dangerous of situations a young woman might find herself in were almost trivial with her magic. But then, that part of her life changed entirely. She looked on it fondly, but burning and sacking villages, toying with the hearts of men--those were just as exciting, too. Because they were there. Or more aptly, because she was there.

She wanted to quit for so, so long. Izzy was born in this realm, so she didn't understand how horrid the Witch Realm was. Pinia was in a higher class, so really, a different world in a different way. Now, she would die here because they didn't understand. In a way, they never really did.

Anger boiled within her. Her first taste of pain. The heartbreak and the soul force. All at once, it came crashing down. It was the spark that finally ignited her flame to burn as brightly as it did for Pinia. But, unlike the Bee Witch, termites were grounded creatures. Not for a moment did she ever think she could get out of this alive. She would die here, consumed in anger. The ballad of the berserker swordswoman and the feral nature of that werewolf girl only cemented in that there was no chance to surrender. She would not get a chance to retire, or taste her dream, or make those two understand.

She had one option. If she were to die, she would take these agents with her. She would make sure any that loved these agents feel as she did when Izzy was lost. She would pour forth the hurt and pain she felt back into the world tenfold over even at the cost of her life. With that desire in mind, the Pull was always there. Strong in her, almost an entity itself. Perhaps it was. Perhaps the Pull was an intelligent being no different than the voices that formed from Madness. Regardless, there was an unspoken promise. A promise of power if she were truly willing to forfeit her life.

And, she was. Truth be told, it was already lost. She had no hope against that mad woman with a sword or beast below her.

Sara would have ripped her throat out given the chance. There was no doubt about that. But, this last spell would prevent that. Though, it would not save the Termite Witch. In fact, it would be her undoing. The earth itself wrapped around her body and hardened. The cemented dirt that Nadia clove in twain fell apart even more so than it should have with the raw force of her attack only so that it could pulled to the ball of dirt that was compacting around the Witch. Which grew. And grew. Surrounding her entire body and soon crushing her. Blood dripped from between the loose piles of gravel, the sound of shifting earth was met by the sound of cracking bones. They could not heart it, but soon her heart be no more. Her lifeblood, her mana, and her soul were forfeit to a massive dirt golem that formed from the mounds she created.

A hulking beast fueled by her soul that dwarfed even Anathema. The abomination they slew stood at maybe half the height of this creature. Four arms set atop a legless mound. No more enzymes, no more termites, just Earth. A true Earth Golem. Its eyes awakened, glowing a malicious purple hue, and all that radiated from this construct was malice and anger. In truth, the Termite Witch was gone. Her life sacrificed to imbue this final creature with her soul for as long as it may last. This type of magic was not permanent. Inferior in many ways to the doll constructs they fought earlier. It was crude and inefficient, but regardless large and powerful. It's roar bellowed through the air.

And its massive, hammer-like hands came down like the gavels of God in their lumbering attempts to crush both Sara and Nadia.

Yes, it was must be. A Witch's Soul is truly a terrifying thing, no matter its form...

---

Noah and Arky were back in his hands. It was actually news to him that Arky had already consumed so many Witch Souls. Not a common occurrence and apparently something that came up in their bro talks between Weapons. Regardless, it did explain a lot. Arkaysis likely only held so much power because of what he consumed. In a way, it almost took something special away from him, Gauss thought. It would have been quite incredible if Arky could have gotten even more powerful with those absurd flames of his. Alas, such was not a possibility.

He didn't need his perception to feel how absurd the situation was getting. The winds were blowing, shrieking unnaturally, and the mana in the air was turning unstable. It was hardly his specialty, but even a fucking novice could see this. Hell, even a civilian that was just a little sensitive could see something was wrong. Being a decent distance away from both Witches, though admittedly slightly closer to the Termite Witch, Gauss did at least decide it was best to at least get eyes on both of them before deciding where and who to help.

There were few tall buildings left in the area. It was municipal, after all. The tallest he could find appeared to be a library, and he scaled it with a quick run up its surface and a hook or two from the scythe end he held to keep his momentum going. Such was easier than toying with his wavelength. Moments after he reached the top, the vicious roar of the new earth golem that Sara and Nadia seemed to be fighting hit his eardrums like a brick. It was loud. Obnoxious. But, it was from his point of view, quite slow. It heaved its massive hands down onto the ground, creating small pressure waves as they hit and even pushing back cars and broken pavement alike. Strong though it was, he had full faith that Nadia and Sara could dodge it.

Nadia was probably the only one there whose skill with amplification could match his. She could also resonate with Dani. In his mind, there was zero chance that thing could catch her. Four arms or not. The only question he had was if it would reattach its limbs when Nadia removed them. Sara was known for her agility. Annoyingly so. Her speed itself was nothing to scoff at, but she might as well have been a liquid on the battlefield for as crafty as she was.

Meanwhile, Annika was locked down, struggling with the bombardment of massive bees. Not that she couldn't destroy and dodge them, but that there were so many constantly reforming that she seemed in a vicious cycle of dodge and destroy with no real progress. Gauss couldn't even find Adrian. Truth was, Adrian was in the fetal position on the ground trying to prevent the Madness from overtaking him again. In a way, that was an unspoken victory in and of itself, though a pathetic one. Davis, or who Gauss presumed to be Davis, was rushing over to help Annika, and Elly was off on her lonesome firing grenades haphazardly at the Bee Witch whom was primarily focused on some massive congregation of bees that floated in the air. Gauss with his own Soul Perception could not see past them to know it was Sage.

Truly, both situations could use some help. Realistically, Gauss had to calculate the most effective choice here. Sara, Eva, Nadia, and Dani were two complete pairs. Annika, Elly, Davis and possibly Adrian were all now essentially alone. Not only that, Gauss doubted lightning would do anything against a creature made of earth, and he feared melting it into lava would only make it more dangerous. The decision was made. Their next target would be the Bee Witch.

"Two step plan. Burn the bees so they can't reform, then we're going to try your Healing Wavelength on the Witch. If that affects her Pull like it does Madness, then it should weaken her,' Gauss informed his weapons before taking a swan dive off of the building, free falling until he was near the bottom of it only to kick off the backside of its brick wall and dart at a breakneck pace to the battlefield of the Bee.

First step, simple. He arrived near Annika, though he had honestly never met her. Swirling around Arkaysis to pour his wavelength into the weapon, he let good ole Arky do his favorite thing: pretend he was a flamethrower. At this point, though, there was a reality setting in. The brilliant blue flames Arkaysis normally utilized were now fading back to a greenish-amber hue. Their heat was weakening. The three were so coked up they hadn't realized it, but they had expended a large some of their reserves already. As powerful as Arkaysis was, he seemed to go at full blast all the time. They would really need to work on reigning that in for extended fights.

Regardless, the massive swarm of bees began burning as they tried to reform their doll-corpse bodies, and consistently failing to take flight because of it. Instead, they scurried around as flaming husks on the ground, and bees weren't terribly mobile with flaming legs. That should at the very least allow Annika some breathing room to get back into the fray.

Then, this was also the first time Gauss had ever met Annika. He glanced over at her in the now-tattered cloak she wore, which still obfuscated some of her form, but not entirely. Mostly, he saw her face. And, his attention broke entirely. Noah may not remember this, but Gauss had a thing precisely for women like Annika. Bright hair, bright eyes, a fair face, quite tone. Even in the midst of battle, Gauss fell prey to his own tendencies and just caught himself admiring for a moment. Bella might be pissed at him later, but he was coked up and unfortunately easily distracted.

"I'm not exactly in shining armor, but your knight here goes by Gauss," he told her, introducing himself. Disturbingly, or at least potentially to Noah and Arky, his tone wasn't that different than the one he took with Izzy. "Perhaps when this is ov--" he continued on, but the stopped himself and inhaled deeply. The storm above them had started to create a little drizzle, which dampened the smell of singed golem-stone-flesh in the air, but even if it didn't, his sense of smell was obviously not quite so keen at the moment.

"No. Gauss, focus," he said, turning back to Pinia and exhaling again. He was genuinely speaking to himself, but he needed to stay on task. Breaking his attention right now for a pretty girl was wrong in so many ways it acted as a reminder as to why he was here in the first place. He extended his arm out to hold Noah and began spinning the staff like a propeller, initiating their standard form of powerful Resonance. His wavelength coursed into Noah, but it was now apparent just how dangerously low it was. Gauss hardly had the energy to really pull this off, and even if they did, the others would need to do the heavy lifting after.

Regardless, he was determined. He doubted Arkaysis would notice, but he was sure Noah could feel it. After a Witch's Soul, Noah would have been rejuvenated, but that only made it clearer to him the state his partners were in.

'I know what you're probably thinking, Noah,' Gauss chimed in, self-acknowledging how reckless this idea was. 'Just do it. Have faith in the others to finish them off,' he told him with a type of blind confidence you only found in a fanatic or an idiot. It wasn't quite sure which Gauss was.

What was clear was their combined adherence to the plan. Not necessarily because of Gauss', but because of the newfound vigor in Noah. Combining his Healing Wavelength and Lightning wasn't necessarily new, but doing it with an innate understanding of how it worked felt entirely natural. As if two opposing sides of him came together in a union that was long-overdue. Even without Gauss at his peak, Noah could carry this through.

Noah would carry this through.

A radiant bolt of lightning shot through the air from the sparking disc that formed when Noah spun, glowing a golden hue that was new to his electricity, and carrying the full brunt of his wavelength no longer splitting his halves. Almost akin to a golden dragon soaring through the sky, the bolt struck Pinia and poured into her that healing wavelength. The electricity did her no actual damage, but it did disrupt her spellcasting. The flock of bees surrounding Sage dissipated soon, leaving the weapon to plummet from the sky to the ground not unlike her arm from minutes prior.

A Healing Wavelength truly does not heal. Not the body, at least. It heals the soul. Soothing, calming, the best weapon against Madness. And, as it turns out, a powerful one to combat the pull. Pinia was knocked out of her rage and upset, and while it did not fade entirely, her power from the pull did. The storm itself would not dissipate as fast as the bees, but the thunder and lightning from it almost immediately stopped, leaving only a light drizzle and cloud cover over them. Pinia herself was at a loss, confused by her shift in emotions and temporary lapse in casting. This was not something she had ever encountered before. It was shock, no pun intended, and as she would soon realize, perhaps another kind of shock if her shoulder kept bleeding. For the time being, all she could think to do is conjure bees to cauterize that wound with the same magic she used to burn Sage, though even now she felt herself drifting out of the air, being pushed by the same winds she conjured just moments ago.

The bolt had struck and performed its task and her magic was no longer interrupted, but she was now weakened and confused.

"Oh... fuck," Gauss said aloud once he felt the remaining energy he had course through Noah and at the Witch. He was drained. Almost a dead battery. His mind started to fog despite the cut of the coke and spiritual exhaustion was just around the corner. He couldn't even amplify himself if he tried. Truth was, without that coke and that witch's soul, that bolt might not have been possible. The use of two weapons like Arkaysis and Noah had its toll. It was no wonder Kilik Rung was considered such a badass. He could fight for hours on end like this, and did so much more intensely. Gauss was still leagues behind him. Leagues and leagues and leagues...

Gauss was now half dazed, though not unconscious. Annika or Davis could have got his attention if they tried, though Davis saw the event and was mildly impressed until he saw the state the Meister left himself in. Davis instead rushed over to Annika to acquire her input before they proceeded. He was thinking a two-pronged attack, but she might not be so quick to attack when Adrian, Gauss, and potentially Noah and Arkaysis were sitting ducks on the ground. He nodded over to him, as if asking her indirectly. If she failed to answer, he fully intended to attack of his own volition; he had no intention on letting the Witch get riled back up. The suppression on her pull was temporary. But, at least it was there. Gauss may now be a liability on the field, but his unorthodox attack gave the rest of them a much-needed opening.

Though a Witch's Soul be a terrifying thing, attack it nonetheless. Oft have they no defense for that which grants them their power...

 

[The Regal Rper]

Ark | DWMA | Dall Island | Rings: 3/3

Fine tuned control in temperature management proved more difficult than he ever recalled. Some part of him-- that bit of internal anxiety that always demanded better as a influence from his Wiccan life, felt embarrassed. It was easy to create flames that could reach levels of heat strong enough for him to help his father melt or heat up metal, when using raw fire magic by itself.

Rand coming to the rescue with a Magic Circle was more of a relief than he would have thought. It facilitated the process, even if it was taxing- more so than he would have thought it should have been. With the reeds dried and Raph's handy work along with Maria's personal oversight, things came together quickly. Yet, to say he could not help but glance at their crafter from sensing her increasing distaste at the 'abomination' they were creating, was not something Ark himself could entirely ignore. Mages had all kinds of quirks, some more so than others. But it was not something to address in the moment as they took off, Ark maintained focus on the very thing that gave them the buoyancy they required to stay above the ground below them. Mentally prepared for the worst possible case, skepticism even in the eagerness to move forward, not shaking in the slightest.

Their contraption held, and luckily- despite the thought of creatures materializing that possessed the ability to fly and target them- they saw no such obstacles. More of a relief than anything else. Overseeing the passing of the dead zone over them, the passing sights below, from the visual of the spiders moving along the ground- attacking their cousins or doing their rounds, was all just a reminder for Ark to do his part and make sure they didn’t plummet.

When they did cross that threshold into the mana side once more, it hit Ark like having a bucket of cold water dumped on you felt when in a state of groggy exhaustion- it woke him up, so to speak- enough so that he didn’t even realize he was elevating the team as a whole higher into the air until it was brought up to him directly.

To which he then looked over most heads to try and figure out how exactly to bring their transportation to a gentle landing. Trees- did not exactly make for a good landing place- common sense aside, he knew that from experience. Their hastily made transportation could get torn up or damaged if they tried using the trees- but at the same time leaving it on the ground left it open for attack.

It was eventually decided that the best place to land would be as Chant and cargo were moved off the balloon and the balloon itself stashed.

Nothing however could stay calm for long. No sooner had they disembarked did the forest, literally, come alive. Shrubs shambelled, vines slithered- and as he sensed it, they were already being set upon.

Maria being the first to react to the danger, and Raph fighting against the vine wrapped around his throat.

With a simple spell and a bit of molding, a shard of stone went shooting towards the length of vine, slicing it to free Raph’s neck- while in the same instant, Ark turned towards the shrubs, leaves raising like razor blades as it curled into itself like a ball- rolling like a wheel- and launched towards them.

Ark threw a fist up and rose a cylindrical pillar right underneath the bowling bush of razor leaves- sending it arcing over their heads before he flicked a wrist, shattering a part of the cylinder as it rapidly formed into a spear and then launched that spear towards the shrub- piercing it against a distant tree.

Peace never seemed to be among the options, he sighed. It would have been nice to simply walk through a distance before another fight began. Yet if they were racing against other teams- this was only going to slow their progression down when the others had much more experienced or flight capable individuals out there.

Still though, it was interesting to see that this side of the forest had something more akin to a reaction to their presence immediately. Some sort of hivemind at work here perhaps?

He didn’t have time to consider it- or if there was even a source controlling the bushes or the vines. He merely focused on providing support- striking with spears from that poked out of the earth or upsetting the balance of their opponents to provide greater openings.

Mentions: n/a

Interactions:: Merciless Medic Sir Les Paul RedArmyShogun Meredith

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Rand Mabason​

"Soundwave Sorcerer"​

Species Witch
Partner N/A
Rank Two Star

Location Dall Island, East of Lake Nordall
Mission Excursion to Dall Island
Status Interested

​

Tags: Meredith Merciless Medic The Regal Rper RedArmyShogun

Finally. Finally something he was familiar with. During this entire excursion on Dall Island, it had changed so much that Rand hardly recognized it. Even though a good majority of the terrain was the same, it wasn't as if he knew all of it. Last time he was on the Island, he was started on the South end anyway, so this was all virgin territory to him. The massive black spiders with their royal escorts--new. The brown spiders that consumed mana--new. The crabs they encountered--new. The dead zone of mana they just flew over--new. The reports mentioned nothing about a majority of these encounters, making this effectively a blind mission.

But, the trees and plants attacking them? The mana-rich atmosphere? That he was familiar with. That was something he had encountered on his previous adventure on the island. It also clued him in on something that the others had no way of knowing. If this was truly the same encounter he had three years ago, these plants weren't actually sentient. They were being controlled.

Little did Ark know, he was actually on to something in his thought process. Had he followed through with searching for a source, he might have found it. Rand did not immediately attack. Not that he needed to. Maria was slicing through the vines with ease, Ark had them pushed back with his spears, and Raph was disrupting the flow of mana controlling them using that new spell he was so fond of; though, he doubted Raph did so intentionally as it was doubtful that he immediately concluded what was going in.

Instead, Rand honed in with his magical senses. His eyes glowed a deep purple, reflecting his Wiccan Soul, and the veins of magic and its flow through the flora became apparent to him. He didn't need his third eye for this. Chances are, if Maria didn't go into a frenzy or if Ark opted to track the flow of magic, they could have seen it all the same. These vines and limbs were being manipulated, and notably not that far away. It was an innate technique adjacent to albeit much less refined than what Maria used herself. Though, in this case, it was based less in skill and more in the naturalistic relationship these spiders had with their environment.

Rand then made a mad dash off through the tree line to the source of the control. It wasn't far away, only a few dozen feet, but lo and behold, it was there. These spiders were smaller than the rest. Perhaps the length of an arm span at best from leg to leg. Each were difficult to make out given the fine fur coating on them would match the color of the trees and shrubbery they modeled themselves after, not unlike the adaptations of an octopus underwater. A simple, but effective tactic. That was, until someone could trace their magic. Rand drew his sword and began leaping upwards to the majority of the spiders, impaling and slashing them one by one as they remained dormant on the trees. Though, after the first few, many others began to spring to life. Unlike their cousins, however, these ones attempted to scurry away.

As Rand did this, the resistance offered to Maria, Raph, and Ark began to lessen drastically. Whether or not they noticed what their mentor had done in the form of darting off was unknown to him, but it had an immediate impact on the almost overwhelming omnipresence that the flora had in combating them. It was hardly a dangerous situation. More so, it was tedious. Where one limb was cut down, two or three more grew back in their place. Where one limb was chopped, thin sprouts that were weaker but more agile and prehensile grew back. It made combat a dance. The forest seemed able to mend itself each time it was damaged, and it was damaged easily. Once Rand began cutting into the spiders, however, the aggression lessened greatly, although the healing factor of the forest seemed ever present.

Raph had a unique situation in that he had an opportunity to have the most insight as to what was going on. These trees and vines were not acting of their own volition. There was a foreign mana impregnating them and subsequently bending them to do their will. It became a tug-of-war between himself and this other foreign mana, fighting for control over a section of the trees, and he at the very least was halting them from coordinated attacks. Once Rand started cutting down the spiders controlling these trees remotely, Raph found himself winning that match of tug of war more and more, until there was next to no resistance.

But then, a surprise. A meek and meager voice shot through the lines of mana that connected it to the trees then to Raph. A weird type of communication that few Witch's ever experiences. Mana Message Transmission. A difficult spell for Witches and Sorcerers alike. Accomplished only by making personal mana useable by another, or by a method of using spell to encode the mana and a second spell to decode it--a process that required the sender and receiver to know the codex spells. Yet, this spider accomplished that same feat with what seemed like relative ease, and it did so in haste. It pleaded with Raph.

"No kill! No kill! No kill!"​

"We defend home from sky beast. If not beast then we talk. No kill!"

 

[Merciless Medic]

Raphael Valerias​

March 29, 2067
Location: Past Dead Zone, Dall Island
Interactions: Rand, Maria, Chant, Ark, Spiders
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul RedArmyShogun Meredith The Regal Rper

Maria slashed at the attacking trees, and Ark did his best in saving him and using rock spears, but the vine that did get cut was only replaced by another. Raphael saw Rand run off somewhere, and he was just about to curse at him. These vines were just growing back and it was wasting their time. He growled, but as soon as Rand left, he was able to get more and more control, releasing himself of the bind, but he still had a hold of it to prevent it from attacking.

That’s when he heard it.

A small, grating voice in his head. He stood there, confused. He heard the tree speak? No, it came from something else. He looked to where he saw Rand run off and cleared his throat, rubbing it to soothe it before yelling. “The spiders talked! Stop fighting! They want to talk now!”

Hopefully that was enough, he shot Maria and Ark a glance. Then a smile. “Hey hey, if we get these spiders to help us instead of attacking us, it could prove fruitful. Of course… I’m not just gonna trust some eight-legged insect just because they say stop.”

He then shouted out the wilderness, looking around for any spider on the trees or on the ground. “If you want to talk, we can talk. We talk through vine. We are not beast, just travelers passing through. We kill to protect, so if you’re not gonna kill us, we won’t kill you. Kapeech? You understand me?” He then grinned mischievously. “How about we make a deal? What do you want?”

He waited for an answer, and hoped that Maria and Ark stopped their onslaught. His hand gripped the vine harder, eyes crazed from his prior madness spike, but otherwise he was stable. For now.

Potentially controlling a bunch of spiders was a nice madness soother for his type of madness.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Sara Middleton​

April 1, 2067
Location: Fire District, Death City
Interactions: Dani, Nadia, Eva, Golem
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul Mook-LandStrider EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun

Trying to smash the earthen rock forming around Izzy was futile, even with Soul Conduction. There was nothing she could do. Clicking her tongue in mild frustration, Sara changed her bodily orientation, diving towards the ground before rolling on the ground roughly, making her growl. She looked up as the Witch floated there in her coffin, crushing herself only to reform the mounds into something huge. Bigger than Anathema.

Her eyes widened as she saw the thing in front of her. It reminded her of not only Anathema, but Iris back at the tournament. She grinned at the size, knowing it was going to be a cake walk to avoid.

It tried to smash them, but Sara was faster, especially with all that surface area slowing down the beast’s hurtling arm.

She lunged to the side, avoiding it entirely but not the shockwave that had her jump in the air and push her away. She wasn’t so sure if the water was going to weaken and soften the earth holding it together, but she also knew it was magical by nature. It was likely water wasn’t going to make it easier.

Heartbreak and grief still lingered around the golem, which only made Sara more upset. “Coward! Killing yourself when I’ve gone through loss today, too? How dare you!” Growling, she charged towards the beast, needing to find an opening or create one for Nadia to slice right through.

Powering her legs, she jumped to be behind the golem, looking up at those four arms. She needed to dismember this thing if that was even possible without it rejuvenating. This golem really reminded her of this monster in one of the games Noah played.

There wasn’t much Sara could do besides being annoying, so she went to smash the side of the creature with another Soul Conduction to check how durable this thing was, and then shot the arms above her a glance to ready a lunge away. She watched as she destroyed a chunk of the side and she was able to peer within, but the earth began moving up to "heal" it.

Man, she was jealous of this healing factor.

But considering this was a construct fueled by magic, Sara wanted to get rid of what was fueling it. She began sniffing and found the strongest smell of this soul was emanating from its chest. "I think I found it. Eva, pinpoint where it is with your will-o-wisps for Nadia. It's in the middle of the chest." She called out, hoping the flames found the soul for Nadia to stab.

She then jumped on its back and used Soul Conduction on one of the arms to dismember it before jumping away to avoid getting grabbed by the other arms, rolling on the ground and then charging again, rinsing and repeating until Nadia destroyed it.

 

[Sybil]

Adrasteia Chandrice

"Adra, Adra, Adra... in about another ten minutes of this, you're gonna be out cold. I suggest we head back unless you want to be carried in my arms like a limp damsel.”

The statement itself passed in one ear and out the other as Adra’s hands had bruised one another, the pain keeping her mentally awake. She felt the exhaustion, but her body was not giving in so much as it was giving up. Her blood pressure wasn’t rising, and her colorless complexion only became more ghostly as the heart slowed. It wasn’t ideal, the words of the fellow weapon to her and her partner just passing through her as she looked down at her hands and up to the tree to see its stalwart appearance. The tree taunted her, her hands now releasing each other to let the chain arm fall to the ground. The spiritual drain exposure was enough to cause the normally eccentric or rude weapon with a very present mindset to drift mentally. She no longer had the concentration or control to keep her mind on task, and she slowly began to realize that as she stared at her hand on the ground with her length of chain. The hand flexed slightly, reflexes from the pain in how hard she had gripped her hands together. The pain itself was barely enough to help her reform her thoughts, her mind catching up slowly. She looked over to Midori finally after a minute, eyes losing most of the intensity they normally carried.

“…. Where we headed….?” Her tone wasn't of being tired but of being out of options, her mind not able to come up with quips or insults. Instead, she just slightly hunched forward and arms hanging free, a result of a rather wavelength-deaf weapon doing what she did best. Not listening to others.

At the very least the effects were temporary, though all Adra cared for now was to leave the tree line before—

….

…

..

.

She fell. Ouch.

Her body turned but her legs had not, her legs encountering the slight resistance of being in the way of one another. That small inconvenience caused her legs to release all tension in the muscles, almost like cutting supports from a marionette. It was likely comedic, as she turned slightly and then fell to her knees suddenly only to fall flat on her face with a grunt. The impact robbed her of a good bit of air in her lungs, and the sigh of annoyance leaving her body only released more.

“…. Just don’t say it… just don’t…. Just fuckin… drag me or… somethin….” Another sigh left the weapon, unable to muster the ample anger she would feel any other time. She didn't even grant the smallest goodbye to Zosar, having been silenltly working and now drained. She had her own fight now, and frankly? She did not want to hear anyone comment on what had just happened. Much less a conversation.

coded by: @s e v e n

Interacts: Sir Les Paul
Mentions: The Regal Rper

 

[Merciless Medic]

Noah Wiley​

April 1, 2067
Location: Fire District, Death City
Interactions: Gauss, Arkayis, Adrian, Bee Witch
Mentions: Annika, Elly, Davis
Sir Les Paul Peckinou Mook-LandStrider EmperorsChosen

Noah wrote off the witch’s soul as something gross, only because of the ants crawling all over it. However, absorbing it was amazing. He had no words. While he had acted as if it were no big deal and transformed back like it was nothing, it was because he didn’t know how to process this, and they needed to help the others quickly. To Arkayis’s question, he told him. “Nope, this is my first one. I have only absorbed about twenty corrupted souls, too.”

But that witch’s soul had him realize something. Not only did he gain power and energy, but insight on his wavelength. Why was he trying to separate them as if they were opposing skills? Yeah, one was fundamentally different from the other, but they both came from the same place. He decided to work on his lightning and healing at the same time then, which he knew healing wavelength could just be turned on and off when using his lightning.

He was going to be better.

As Gauss got some high ground to see what was going on and he didn’t feel too concerned about Sara. Nadia and her were fine, they could handle themselves. Their plan was simple. He began charging up for when he needed to be used, and he felt the rejuvenation wishing he could keep going. However, he was aware of Gauss’s tiredness. “I last recall madness bein' a component of the pull, so it should.”

Noah was still riding on a high, but he was a lot more focused now after that witch’s soul. Of course, Gauss had to get distracted. ‘Come on, man, I thought you’re gonna cut that out. We need you.’ Though, Annika was cute. He couldn’t blame him for it.

Once he was spinning, he completed their resonance, the power he had been charging up earlier proved useful. Gauss’s words had him smirking. ‘I believe in these people more than I do the DWMA. I know that’s not much, but we don’t have any other choice. Besides… This isn’t as reckless as what Sara usually does.’ He fired off a healing bolt of lightning, which looked far more impressive now after absorbing that soul. He was amazed at his own power, but that sudden feeling of Gauss nearly collapsing had him immediately turning back to normal.

Swiftly, he put Gauss’s arm over his shoulders, his want to help passively electrifying Gauss in small arcs to help give him some energy - but he was sure the healing wavelength didn’t do that. He then pulled Gauss away from the field, only noticing Adrian in a fetal position nearby.

“Fuck…” He growled. At least the witch was stunned. “I gotta set ya down somewhere to chill, okay? Arkayis, help me find a good spot for him to sit at.” Once he did find a piece of rubble to hide him behind and let him rest, he rushed over to where Adrian was, which was directly underneath the witch. Gritting his teeth, he stayed low and ran as fast as his trained-ish legs could carry him (well, trained enough by the DWMA’s stairs that is) then slid on his knees, kneeling before him.

“Here. I won’t let the madness take ya again.” He put a hand on his shoulder and zapped him, parting his healing wavelength to help calm the young man down. He looked up at the witch and gripped both of Adrian’s shoulders, zapping him again with healing wavelength. “We need ta get out of here, come on.” He looked up and cursed, gritting his teeth as he readied for whatever was going to happen above them if Adrian didn’t get up and run.

If something bad happens, Adrian could just transform. Hopefully it didn't come to that. He didn't know if Sara would be proud of how reckless he was or concerned, but he wasn't going to just leave one of their own cowering from their creeping madness.