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Phoenix512
Exalted Player
Posts: 304
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:42 pm

Post by Phoenix512 » Sat Jun 10, 2006 1:45 am

Phoenix was observing the battle once again which he was just speechless over the destruction that some of his allies were causing to Mac Anu. What are they doing? At this rate, there won't be a Mac Anu anymore but a pile of rubble surrounded by water. There's a point where the line between survival and mindless destruction is crossed and this is it. I'm so ashamed of them at this point especially Rayo who doesn't seem to be the type of person to cause mindless destruction. Shortly after Phoenix made that thought, his old friend has joined him on the roof and spoke to him.

"As you may have noticed, the current battlefield is rather chaotic. Some of the Freedom Fighters are rather enjoying massacring knights and destroying the city. I maybe a coward for being up here and avoiding the battle but I will not be involved in this bloodshed. I do know that words won't work on the Knights but I rather avoid killing them in this way. Also, four admins are supervising the current battle as well. I know the brutality of Kamui and Tritoch have towards hackers. So they won't be persude to stop so easily. You probably know Balmung from legends and such but I don't know who the fourth one is. Do you possibly know about the last admin along with any information about him?"

After Cypher gave him an answer, Phoenix gave a nod to Cypher and before he could ask him anything about himself, he saw the return of the so-called leader of the Freedom Fighters, Nall. "About time he makes his appearance. If he was here earlier, this whole battle would have avoided." Phoenix said with disgust towards him. He listened to Nall's words which he particularly noted that the Elites are coming. This is not good at all. We have to get out of here now. Before Phoenix could even think up of a plan to escape, he noticed that the Chaos Gate has stopped spinning. He could not even think or say a word as the blue substance of the gate began to freeze.

After seeing the gate exploded into many pieces, he continued to watch on as the pieces were going to six locations throughout the once beautiful city of Mac Anu. The various pieces began to form six Chaos Gates which a familiar voice echoed throughout the city. Phoenix violently squeezed his palms as he heard Royce's voice and said to himself, "Leave it to the Elites to make a grand entrance to taunt their superiority over us."

Then he noticed that five other people made their entrance which he recognized Xenobia and Rugudorull from past battles. Phoenix quickly figured out the other Elites from the descriptions that Raine and Sheena gave him and the others in the hot springs. He particularly wanted to fight Xenobia for what she did to him but he knew that it would be suicide to face her especially that the other five Elites were nearby. He spoke once again with fear in his voice, "This is not good at all. This is the worst-case scenario. All the Elites are here and we have no plan at all. We're not ready for this. This is too soon. We must retreat some how. The one thing for sure is that we must have pissed them off enough to consider us to be a serious threat for them to come at us at full force."

Phoenix watched the events unfolding in front of his eyes as various monsters were coming out of the gates including dead knights coming back to life. He continues to observe the area around the former Chaos Gate as Nall and Nighthand both retreated back to the other Freedom Fighters but Kamui and Tritoch decided to fight Xenobia and Rugudorull with no success at all. He realized that he must get back to the others if he was going to survive this battle but he, Cypher, and Suzaku was surrounded by various monsters. Phoenix spoke both to Suzaku and Cypher, "It looks like we're surrounded by monsters. I guess we need to regroup with the others if we're going to have a chance of surviving this. I think we should split up to divert their forces. Today, we are a part of history but I rather not be a part of a causality list for this."

Suzaku immediately spoke to Phoenix in his head after saying those words. I refused to separate from you at this time of need. I am sticking by you to the very end. He knew that she would not back down when comes to his protection and allow her to stick by him since he did not have time to argue with her. He equipped the Ring Mail and Silver Bracer along with the Menhir Sword to have four elemental skills available to him at any time. The other two elements he could just change his sword if he needed them. The monsters that were surrounding Phoenix and Cypher were Earth Mages, Darkness Insects, and Thunder Imps. They cornered them to one side of the roof which behind them contain more monsters on a nearby roof along with monsters just below their location. As the monsters were getting closer, Phoenix has Suzaku used her fire breath to create a barrier between them and the other monsters on the roof. Then he orders his guardian to breathe fire on the monsters on the nearby roof which he uses her distraction to jump over the monsters with his one-half gravity body.

After Phoenix landed on the roof, he discovered that they were three Darkness Insects ready to attack him. He quickly used Rai Rom on the center one which its effect carried over to the other two insects. Then Suzaku followed up with another fire breath attack on them which stuns them long enough for Phoenix to attack the left insect with his sword. He cut off the head of the insect and proceeds to do the same with the two remaining insects. The insects were defeated but Phoenix and Suzaku did not have time to rest and adjust as the Earth Mages and Thunder Imps barraged them with earth and lightning spells. He managed to avoid the full blunt of the attacks but he received some damage to cause him to fall down from the roof.

Luckily, Phoenix's half gravity managed to reduce the shock of the fall but that was the least of his problems as hordes of controlled knights surrounded him. Suzaku used her fire breath to create a barrier behind him as she realized her master's plight. He knew the barrier would not be much help as the controlled knights do not care about their bodies since Xenobia is controlling them without any feeling towards their well-being at all. Phoenix used a Rai Rom at the crowd of controlled knights in front of him. Then he began to attack the weakened controlled knights by some quick slashes to their midsection.

After taking down ten knights in this fashion, Phoenix managed to get out right in the open and sees Rayo and the others nearby but a Frost Giant and two Earth Mages were blocking his path to them. He has Suzaku used another fire breath attack on the group of monsters while he casts a Juk Kruz on one of the Earth Mages. Then he goes after the other Earth Mage who was being distracted by the fire breath and quickly slays it with a couple of quick slashes from his sword. Before he could get to the other Earth Mage, he felt the earth being shaken from under him which meant only one thing. Phoenix jumped into the air to avoid the GiGan Zot but could not avoid injury as the Frost Giant gave him a left hook to the stomach. He landed hard to the ground which he ended up spitting out some blood from the punch.

Phoenix got right back up and cast another Juk Kruz at the remaining Earth Mage which managed to get rid of it along with another fire breath attack from Suzaku. Now the only enemy left in Phoenix's way was the Frost Giant which was about to club him. The monster had the club over his head and about to descend it onto Phoenix but he had other plans for that club. He raised the gravity of the club to six times of normal gravity which made the Frost Giant drop the club onto the ground which cause a mini-earthquake when the heavy club made its impact. Even though Phoenix wanted to release the gravity field around the club so he would not be in more pain, he figures that the giant would make an attempt to lift the club again and wants him to have a hard time in using his club as a weapon.

Phoenix proceeds in attacking the Giant with Vak Crack while it tried to retrieve his club back. The attack went down the Giant's back which caused the Giant to scream in pain. Phoenix's sword was stuck in the back of the Giant and could not get it out as it was moving violently trying to get him off of his back. He realized if he could not remove the sword out of the back then just keep attacking him with the same attack. He used another Vak Crack attack along with another fire breath attack from his guardian. The combined attacks finally killed off the giant as the monster itself and its weapon disappeared.

Phoenix has Suzaku to revert back to her disguised form as she need to rest from the constant fire breath attacks she did. He would like to rest right now to but there are too many monsters and knights to do that. He finally reached Rayo and the others after encountering some great resistance and said to them, "I think I have a crazy idea on how to get out of here. I suggest we tried to use one of the Elite Chaos Gates to escape since monsters are just keeping pouring through it. I believe that the Elites are so cocky that they wouldn't think of us trying to use their Chaos Gate to escape and kept it as a two-way tunnel. I know it's a crazy plan but what other choice to do we have? I rather not be sticking around here waiting to die and watching Mac Anu becoming more hellish like by the second. So Rayo, you have any particular gate we should try to escape from this Hell on the World or you have a better idea than this? I wouldn't mind to hear that idea if you have it."

Phoenix put down his hood as he waited for Rayo to reply back and thought to himself. It's truly a day in history of the World but one I don't wish to be a part of at all. I can't believe I would see the destruction of a city in front of my eyes. The Elites must go down but we must escape first before considering their destruction from the World.

This Post:
Knights: 0
Controlled: 10
Reborn: 0
Mages: 2
Insects: 3
Giants: 1
Imps: 0

Total:
Knights: 2
Controlled: 10
Reborn: 12
Mages: 2
Insects: 3
Giants: 1
Imps: 0
Phoenix
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver

Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Post by Zan » Sat Jun 10, 2006 2:48 am

Zan had barely started to fight when the Knights once more, wading through the weaker of their ranks in a barely-clutched Clabro state. However, as if a universal awe had swept over everyone, the fighting went silent and eyes befell the Chaos Gate with ominous curiosity. The only part of his leaders' conversations with the Administrators that really mattered to him was the very last thing Nall had said. The Elites were here. Zan had only ever met two of them before, one which he had indirectly helped to kill. Usually his Beast was a raging thing of power and territorial monstrosity, but now it cowered in his chest, mutely whimpering and curling up in fear of what he knew had been coming since his Instinct had picked up the calm in the air. He had assumed it was the massing of the Knights, but now he knew differently. Which Elite would come after them now? Which one would Zan have to help to put down? It was all inner banter, really, something to convince his fear-stricken mind that he had any real pull against the Elites. It was blatant bullshit, but he kept it up anyway. Better confidence than cowardice. However, when the six Chaos Gates had formed and spewed out their contents, he felt his sword clatter to the ground from his hand and all bravery fade from his body.

As he had mentioned to Dien before, being a werewolf was being a creature prone to emotional extremities with no real middleground. Sad thing was, Zan wasn't just scared, but he was terrified. He could barely move, could barely breathe. Six of them; not one, but six of the most feared things to exist in this game. Not this game, no, but this world. These were the only six he really believed could delete his mind permanently, could take him away from Leo and the woman he loved whom so desperately needed for him to get free and save her from the horrid life the Wolfsbane group had come to inflict upon her. It could all end here...it could all be whisked away in nothingness with his body nothing but a withering shell. The lycanthrope would never be able to visit his mother's grave again, to tell her that he knew the life she had led before. He would never be able to tell the father that raised him that he no longer would be obligated to him, that he was free from him. He would never be able to tell his best friend that he was sorry for losing contact when he could have flashmailed him everyday. He would never be able to kiss Lowen goodbye. He would never...no. No. Lowen had proved to be the end of his little tail-between-the-legs moment. Zan would see her again, he would hold her in his arms and lose himself in her lips again. Picking up his Flame Sword from the ground, he tightened his grip on the hilt and turned his eyes away from the spectacle just as Garaa called the attack into fruition.

A league of Knights blocked his way from the main force of the Freedom Fighters, the lycanthrope finding himself in a very precarious position. Though the...feeding...had returned the majority of his physical strength, fatigue still ate at his core. Shifting into his Garou form was possible, but Zan didn't need it quite yet and was a touch wary of going into a state that would likely drain all of his strength the moment he left it. No, for now the mildly unstable Clabro form would have to do. He had defeated the Knights in such a condition before and now couldn't be any different. The first opposition he met was a duo of Blademasters that seemed oddly...injured. Hell, they seemed downright unintelligible. Their weapons arched at him in wobbly, unplanned angles, giving him more than enough room to sidestep both attacks and fall his weapon to lop off their outstretched limbs. Expecting horror and pause, Zan had turned his attention elsewhere for but a moment before he realized the things still approached him, having picked up their discarded arms in their other hand, waving their blades once again in hands that still rigidly clutched their weapons.

"What in the hell?" A singular declaration of confusion before he switched out his Flame Sword for the Life Sword, trying a different approach.

The...Knights?...seemed more like zombies than people and, running with the idea that nothing could really live without a head, Zan decapitated the two of them after dashing behind them. Awkwardly they still turned to him, tilting a touch as arms held arms that held blades and swung for a third time. Ducking in his own third round, Zan plunged the Life Sword forward and wrenched it into and away from the first one's heart, finally dropping it to its death before he windmilled away from a fourth attack and repeated the killing blow upon the remaining Knight of the duo. Before he could even hope to celebrate, three more of the shambling Knights, a small squadron of Twin Blades this time around, surrounded him in a triangular formation. No long going for the regular subtleties, Zan let out a call of the Gan skill on his Life Sword and, after having tripped up the Twin Blade in front of him with a strong sweep of his leg, stabbed the nigh-six-foot steel blade glowing with a copper energy into the heart of that same Knight. It wiggled in vain under the weight of his strength and his vaulted form now hanging perpendicular in a lofted head-stand of sorts in the air. Dragging the blade up the pinned Knight's sternum, splitting his skull in half as Zan flipped, the Heavy Blade turned a touch in the air and brought the Life Sword back down with all the power he could muster on another of the three, separating it into two parts with the completion of the skill. Intestines squiggling out as both sections crumpled to the floor, Zan had to turn his eyes away from the sight. Fuck if it didn't make him hungry.

With only one of the zombie-like Knights remaining, he shoved all the strength he could into a clashing blow with their respective weapons (the Twin Blade's held in an 'X' formation to catch his) and shattered the feeble things on impact. It didn't even seem to faze the Knight, the creature it now was simply stabbing the jagged remains in the face of the lycanthrope. Managing to sidestep in time, but not without some pretty raw scratched along his cheekbone that healed almost as soon as he had received them, Zan turned on his heel and cleaved the Knight in half in a different way than he had the other, this time separating torso from legs. It still squirmed, as expected, but Zan silenced it with a shove of the Life Sword between its eyes. Luckily enough, the Heavy Blade's struggle had cleared a path to a new layer of Knights, these holding a black glow to their eyes but looking as mute and dumbstruck as the ones he had already waded through. What the hell was going on? The monsters invading the field he understood, but the Knights going batshit insane? Then again, Zan didn't know why he was surprised. The Elites were here; this world was their whining little bitch. Going with the flow, so to speak, started to bite through this layer of Knights with an initial skewering of the first of the black-eyed Knights through the head. This one, however, simply dropped in death, a touch easier to kill than the stubborn zombies he had just finished with.

Repeating a similar impalement into the chest of an obsidian-eyed Heavy Axeman to his left, Zan wrenched the weapon free and cracked the butt of his Life Sword against the sternum of a Knight who had come to approach him from behind. The shell of a man simply staggered a touch, not taking too long to regain its footing as its axe hissed through the air and hit only that. The slow class seemed even slower with their new black-eyed upgrade and, claws extending out from his right hand, Zan stabbed fingers through the flesh on the back of his neck and simply pulled a handful of his spinal column out with a wet wrench and a loud snap. As all of the others had before him, the Knight collapsed and had two more weeding in to take his place. This time Zan was faced with a pair of Long Arms, their spears stabbing forth in a forward strike in a synchronized strike. Ducking beneath them, Zan brought his head back up between them, hands curling up to wrap about the weapons (his own called back into his inventory) before he jerked them away, turned them around to face the other direction, and drove their steel points from the base of the Knights' guts up and into their heart at a rather awkwardly accomplished angle. When they too fell in death, the lycanthrope was happy to find himself free of another layer of Knights and into the ones he had gotten used to dealing with. They seemed frightened, but as normal as played-controlled Knights could be.

It was only when he mowed down two Wavemasters after two rather simple strikes to their throats, muting their incantations, that he began to feel the weight of all of this fighting so soon after the feat with the building. His muscles began to gain that familiar ache, his vision wavering for but a second before he managed to steady at least that. He could feel the meat he had, er, consumed before offering him a small gate into his Garou form, an extra boost of energy and strength offered up in such a transformation. Breaking the knee cap of the Heavy Blade Knight nearest to him with a slam of his leg harshly into such a spot, the man's head severed from his shoulders as he fell forward, Zan began to wonder how wise such at thing would be. The last time he had invested so much energy in repeated transformations was against Jett and he had barely come through with his body and his mind intact. Would it be safe in the least to do so now? Did he really have a choice? Sighing, the lycanthrope put it off for a little while longer, engaging in a failing battle on his side versus two higher leveled Twin Blades that was ended only when Lady Luck graced him once more and one of the pair of Knights was stumbled into by one of his own. The distraction given, Zan switched to his Flame Sword and ended both of their lives with a quickly executed Vak Drive.

Smiling a touch, Rayo and the rest of them only a few feet away from him and the path he had cleared, Zan took a step forward to make the reunion. However, Lady Luck's intervention before seemed to make her suddenly bitter, Zan pulled back by a league of hands, practically body surfing over the crowd of black-eyed and zombified Knights before being heaved outside of their numbers and away from his friends, all the ground he had gained now ripped back to nothing. A roared shout of, "God fucking damn it!" and Zan managed to get to his feet. Stumbling back from the Knights, his mind too frustrated to formulate another strike through their masses, he find his eyes to the sky as he fall hard on his ass. A turn of his head and he watched a mage mounted on an earth-hued orb zip past him rather gleefully. Now what? Getting to his feet for a second time, Zan found himself being taunted by four of these creatures, each and every one of them mocking him with lewd gestures and speed-muffled chuckles as they zoomed past him time and time again. They didn't seem to have any real formation he could take advantage of and as fast as he was in his Clabro form, it was nothing compared to the speed they held. Growling in frustration, Zan did his best to swat out at them with his Flame Sword but didn't come through with a single ounce of success. It was only when he slouched forward a touch, exhaustion coming in pants, that an idea struck him (along with a rain of earth that pelted his shoulders and grazed his back at the call of a Gan Don).

"Ap Do!" A pain filled voice called out, Zan taking advantage of the Time Headband he had in his possession.

Speed filled his veins, adrenaline fueled and fatigue momentarily forgotten as he gave chase with a renewed vigor. Zan came closer to hitting them now, but the four were still just this side of too fast. Deciding to use his speed to help him and theirs against him in a more proper manner, the Heavy Blade feigned a strike at one that had whizzed past the front of him and slammed out his right leg behind him at his real target. The mage oofed as it fell back and hit the ground with a thud away from his leg, the orb it was riding careening forward and dismounting a second of its kind. Zan wasted no time in killing the first, his hand falling down with a strength and speed that drove knuckle through flesh, bone, and brain until his digits slammed into the ground. Wrenching his hand free of the gaping hole in the Earth Mage's head, Zan darted at his second victim, a foot to its neck collapsing its only proper way of breathing until its squirming stopped and death was at is door. It was then he felt the MeGan Rom clog his own breathing with dirt and pebbles, his body pelted time after time with jagged rocks that swirled about him; rocks that left his body welled with bruises and raw with cuts. Falling onto both knees rather shakily, he turned to find the gleeful Earth Mage who had cast the spell standing idly on its orb behind him. Too cocky for its own good. Gulping down the only Mage's Soul he had in his inventory, Zan switched out his Flame Sword for his Sun Fang One.

Before the Earth Mage could adjust itself for the attack, or even move really, Zan called out the Juk Drive skill that resided on the sword and brought it in a vertical arch down onto the Earth Mage, chopping it in half until the green-glowing blade met the orb it sat on and the clash of the elements shattered it. The remaining Earth Mage near him, too fast for him to catch but too slow to outrun the outpour of conflicting energies from Zan's skill and the Gan inside of the orb, found itself vaporized. The Heavy Blade took the inflicted burns from the same conflict and healed them in stride before dropping the Sun Fang One and falling to all fours. He could barely stand to keep himself this way, could barely stand to do much of anything as his vision once more became a blur...a blur he couldn't correct this time around. As shitty as his senses were becoming, as unable to keep a hold on his Clabro form as he was, he could still see the vague tri-visioned split of a single giant as it lumbered towards him. Zan couldn't fight him this way, couldn't hope to come out on top in such a manner. It was then and only then he poured the last of his will into another transformation, his body ripping itself apart from the inside out, spilling blood and splitting bone and muscle until he was that nine and a half foot, eight-hundred-plus pound muscled hulk of a wolf.

A second wind granted to him, he lofted himself to his feet in a blur of movement, the Ap Do only adding to the formidable speed this form offered to him. Orange-amber eyes glowed with the intelligence and fury of the wolf, his lips curling up into a snarl, revealing two rows of thick, sharp teeth. The Frost Giant only hesitated for a second before it realized it was still a good three feet taller than Zan and still held more muscle mass. A smile given to Zan at the would-be challenge, the giant club crashing into the lycanthrope's chest before he could fully gain ground after his change. Flying back several dozen feet and into the Save NPC's building, cracks spiderwebbing from his impact, Zan could only shudder past the numerous broken ribs and shattered sternum, not to mention the lacerations on his aching back from the impact. Well, there goes that fucking idea. His breath already labored, Zan barely had the mind to retrieve his Sun Fang One into his inventory and pull out the Life Sword, calling out an Ol Repth to aid his naturally and eerily fast regenerative abilities. The Frost Giant's approach was slow, confident, giving Zan all the time in the world he needed to wobble to his feet with mildly-renewed strength and wavering determination.

His bones knitted together for the most part but his ribs still significantly aching, Zan had no drive to go back and face that creature and that club a second time. Calling an Ap Vorv to help in his defense against the creature, his regenerative abilities fueled further with the spell as well, the lycanthrope stood his ground. It was a foolish fight, really. It was obvious that the Frost Giant didn't mind a little physical force and Zan had no ability to cast magic in this form. Sad thing was, he couldn't go back. Reverting to his human state would mean another collapse and another inevitable feeding to keep him going. Zan knew he didn't have time for that. The Elites were here and he had to burn through every fiber of himself to keep going. No other choice was offered up. This in mind and the Ap Vorv backing him, Zan leaped over a horizontal swipe of the club and grabbed onto the steaming giant's shoulders, digging four-inch clawed feet into the thick flesh of its stomach as he finished his latching. The Frost Giant found it only amusing and, blinking away a headbut from Zan that only left the werewolf momentarily dazed, tossed the creature from him and onto the ground with a thud. The strengthening spell Zan had cast aided him in barely the impact, flipping onto his feet in a rather graceful motion almost in the same second he landed. Charging the Frost Giant for a third time, Zan found it faster than he had expected, barely ducking in time to avoid the brutal force of the club.

Not all of him did, unfortunately. His left hand was still on its way down when the club smashed into it, crumbling the appendage into nothing. The pain was unthinkable, enticing a loud yelp of pain from the lycanthrope; bones protruding out from flesh, his hand shaking uncontrollably. Even his amplified healing would take a while to handle that one, tissue and sinew in complete and utter tatters. Doing his best to think past the pain, Zan found a decent plan formulating in the back of his head. Like the Earth Mages before, Zan would use this giant's literal strength against it. Leaping not only to his feet but into the air in a spring-action of his muscled legs, Zan flipped onto the creature's back, holding his battered hand behind him as his forearm looped around and got a would-be choke hold around the Frost Giant's neck. It did indeed laugh this time, not even trying to pry Zan's arm from its neck. Good. Instead it slammed the club in a swirl back, attempting to smash Zan's head into pulp. Ap Do still activated, but wearing thin, Zan suddenly dropped to the floor and watched with satisfaction as the club instead hit the giant upside the head, lurching it forward and onto its stomach. Getting to his feet for the umpteenth time, Zan darted over to the still-moving giant and smiled at the fractured crack in the back of its skull that revealed the beautiful gray-matter of its brain. The werewolf found himself in a frenzy then, claws scooping out the thought-center of the creature and, though it was now amazingly dead, he continued to claw and rake at its back, ripping apart thick muscle and pounding its spine into dust until he was damn sure it would never move again. Useless hand held against his chest, Zan surveyed the world around him and wanted nothing more than to collapse. He knew he couldn't and he knew he wouldn't. It was a war and Zan was a soldier.

A soldier against an army.

----------------
This Post:
Knights: 5
Controlled: 5
Reborn: 5
Mages: 4
Insects: 0
Giants: 1
Imps: 0

Total:
Knights: 7 / 40
Controlled: 15 / 30
Reborn: 17 / 30
Mages: 6 / 20
Insects: 3 / 30
Giants: 2 / 10
Imps: 0 / 30
Last edited by Zan on Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).

Lord Canti
Exalted Player
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.

Post by Lord Canti » Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:13 am

(At first, the idea of a conversation between the Admins and members of the Freedom Fighter group had not even occurred to Canti at all. Too much fighting involved. When people want you dead, they kinda' divert your attention from all the other things going on around you. The dark Twin Blade had not yet killed anybody since the last little grouping, but he was still planning to make a few massacres before he allowed anyone to drag him down. No Knights, no Admins, no...nobody was gonna take him down without getting their asses handed to them on a pike. That particular thought was what he was thinking about doing to Kamui when...)

"...that threat is coming!”

Canti: Huh?

"AGH!! Bastard..."

(He'd realized now, about a step or too late, that the fighting had stopped and that everyone was now watching the Admins talking with Nighthand...and Nall. Oh, so he was alive, then? Excellent. Well, he hoped that whatever he did with Suraisu, it was something of a permanent fix, unlike the condition of the guy he'd just stabbed when he guard was down. He dead, yo.)

Canti: Errr... My bad.

(So now, everyone had stopped fighting for the time being and Canti was listening to the arguement between Kamui and Nall. Natually, as Nall was civic-mindedly warning the Admins about the arrival of the Elites - as in here and now, very soon, sealing their doom - Kamui failed to show any signs of intelligence and scoffed at him. Honestly... Ignorance in the face of the obvious had to be the lowest form of stupidity ever recorded in history. Nall even laughed at this, just as Canti noticed that he had a message from Reinier. It was for him and Ryok, telling him to head for where the Item Shop-)

Canti: What?!

(It...wasn't so much that buildings had been trashed in all of this that got Canti started . These were strong fighters, so collateral damage was bound to happen. In an event called "Protect The City", a copy of Mac Anu was wrecked in battle badly, especially by the part where Canti personally had to take on half a dozen Killer Snakers at around half his current level. That was crazy... But no! The reason it bothered him was because...in this goddamn war, wasn't it a bit conceivable that they might need to get some items? He would've ranted and raved about it on the spot, but then something happened. The Chaos Gate was shaking... Canti was one of the closest to it and had a perfect view of seeing it split into six parts and fly all over the place to create six new gates. And then, from those gates emerged...well...his future enemies. Ironically, the first one to appear was a Twin Blade, owner of the voice that had simultaneously retorted Kamui's accusations and basically taken responsibility, even though the lot of the Elites seemed to be here now. They did look Elite, some more than others. Then, he heard one of them shout...)

"Bring forth the armies!"

Canti: Oh shit.

(Monsters of all different shapes and sizes appeared, a veritable flood of digital doom made manifest. Man, with alliteration like this, he could make an appearance on Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire! As Canti took this all in, seeing the beasts and badass creatures making their entrance, he also saw the mind control and necromancy at work. Specifically, the Knight that he'd just killed was now standing up again, turning to face him with fiery-glowing eyes.)

Canti: No hard feelings, right?

"....."

Canti: Well, if you're gonna be that way, I'll just have to kill you again!

(Not that this was a problem for him. The people and things that met the business ends of his knives were not important at all, but rather all that mattered was that they got there repeatedly before he became acquainted with their business ends. Suffice to say, the Reborn Knight didn't last very long, being ill-prepared and just awoken as the battle started up once more, only with quadruple the amount of enemies. His first slash went for the the glowing eyes, and then the stomach while he was distracted. Actually, he had to jab the stomach several times before he fell, but that was one down...twice.)

Canti: I wonder if I get bonuses for double-killing...

(Okay then... He had to make it to...Sparky. Who the hell was Sp- Oh right! That was what they called Rayo. Huh... Funny name, even if he is another lightning dude. Anyway, he had to get to the Item Shop's location, which was across the bridge and through a ton of freakin' monsters. Lovely... Well, he was kinda' near the spot where he could save his info, so Canti did such before almost getting run over by something fast. It missed because he was aware, but...this was a lousy time for his Speed Charm to have lost flavor.)

"This is all your fault, hacker!!"

(A live Fist-Fighter Knight attacked him suddenly and Canti was forced to defend himself, noticing that the - Earth Mage, was it? - monster was about to cast Gigan Don or something. Canti forced himself away, which pushed the other guy into a wall and the stones came down on nothing but ground. This then allowed him a moment to speak by saying...)

Canti: Open your eyes, you dolt! We're all outnumbered here! Get your damn Knights to attack the MONSTERS!!

(Geez... What an idiot... So now, Canti looked around and tried to figure out what was going to go on. It took him all of two seconds to realize that using the ever-loving bridge was out. Too many bigwigs and not enough personal 'oomph'. That left him to investigate some other way. To be honest, Canti wasn't sure if he should try the canal. Back at that one event, the Killer Snakers hated water. He was safe there. Here... Well anyway, he was following the bouncing and weaving mage-thing down the stairs and jumped at it in a lunge to knife it hard before hitting the ground. It was wounded and coming back his way. Perfect! Canti sliced it cleanly and skillfully, killing the Earth Mage. He wondered who that one was so easy...for about three seconds. The reason was...there were lots of monsters here!!! Four Darkness Insects accompanied with...three other Darkness insects! There was a pack hunting mentality here, but it was still alot to worry about on one plate. Canti was about to run back up the stairs when he heard heavy footsteps up in that direction.)

Canti: Bastard bugs or a ginormous giant? Tough call...

(The Insects didn't give him an option, running around him to corral him to this lower area. Alright... Have it their way... Canti's Fuse Blades were in place to fight the mantids. He ducked low as one sliced at him and he swiped his claws at it to cause damage and a little entomological unrest, flashing around his Thunder-charged weapons around, hitting a couple of them while others got angrier and bolder in attacking him. Wait a minute... Duh! Thunder Dance! Canti dove into the four-group as they tried to swarm him and they were caught in a lighting-filled mess that killed one and left the other three of that pack hurting. It should be noted that the only reason that Canti was not being hit by all at once, aside from programming, was that there wasn't all that much room for this, so he could just barely keep it together properly. With that in mind, it was rather easy to get stabbed in the back, or rather sliced. It went right down his back with a shiver and he turned on the Insect violently, finishing on it what was started. Okay, this wasn't working out so well. They weren't stupid. Or at least...not very. But then, Canti saw his way out.)

Canti: Of course!

(He stepped back and jumped off towards the canal...landing in a gondola! Perfect! Now, he'd use this thing to get over to the other s- Oh shit. The other wounded Insects jumped after him, rocking the boat terribly as the other three came to flank him. They could just barely reach as he ducked and dodged attacks from two sides and almost in the rear. Then, one of the bugs fell out and he fell with it. Well...more like on it. He was grasping its poking out head from behind whilt the other one attacked him. His blades clanged against the mantis' until he finally made a finishing stab from where he was, and then tore into the head of the bug he was with. That was four from the whole seven, and they were out of range, on the far shore. Canti sunk under the water a moment and then rose two peer out carefully like in Apocalypse Now! before getting out onto the right shore. Nobody was there for the moment, but once he got up the stairs, he saw a pair of Controlled Knights, Heavy Axeman. These guys fought with unthinking abandon, but not like the clever version that Canti used. See, they charged head on with their axes raised high and Canti jumped at them with his arms spread out, knocking them off balance and forcing them to fall down the stairs, and he ducked as a Heavy Blade of the same variety attacked from behind, making him fall too!)

Canti: Pffffft! Ha ha haaa!! And just when the other two were getting up! That's great! Just marvelous! YAAARGH!!!

(He jumped them, performing another Thunder Dance in a "Death From Above!"-like fashion. Having already been damaged by his hijinx, Canti was able to mostly-kill them with this move, and then all-the-way kill them as they struggled to get up, attacking him on the spot. Fortunately, they were dead and this area wasn't too crowded right now. Plus, as it happened, he'd made it to the spot where he was needed and both Rayo and Dien were now coming back from behind the buildings.)

Canti: Alright, I'm here and this is...one messed up shop. What's going on?

"If you couldn't tell, the battle isn't going well. We're going to try to stay closer this time and just keep on moving while fending off any attackers. Hopefully they'd rather be fighting each other than us..."

Canti: Yeah, I saw the mayhem on the way in, and that's just the big four. So, we just idle by in the chaos and slip away without notice?

"Slip away the best we can...as long as we're in the root town we're in danger. We need to get out, somehow."

(That was a given statement, something that definitely went without saying. As they continued talking, Canti heard the sounds of clicking nearby. A look of annoyance passed across his face as he noticed that the Darkness Insects that he hadn't killed before had just followed him here, stalking him apparently...)

Canti: The way I hear it, we're in danger anywhere, but I get the idea. As long as one of them out there hates our guts, it's trouble. Funny thing is, much as I'm not a hacker, I think I'd want one about now to bail us out.

"Work with what you've got...look for a way out but right now survival takes priority."

(As the Insects closed on his position, the middle one leapt down first, almost throwing him off his feet as their blades clashed, its claws stuck in his Fuse Blades. It was a trial of strength and he wasn't a muscle-king. Big problem there... Also, his brothers were making their way down the stairs in order to get at him themselves. This day was just one pain in the ass after another. It put him in a really bad mood...)

Canti: No shit. Hey, I've got a way out. Let 'em kill each other and then we can walk out free!

"Negative...we would just have to deal with the survivors, and we're too weak to defeat either at present."

(He was obviously joking, but the sarcasm in his voice seemed to soar over Rayo's serious-minded thought-process. Canti would've rolled his eyes at him for that, but who would even notice with those black eyes? That was the second time today he felt like doing that... The Twin Blade forced back the Insect with a kick and casted Juk Rom on their entire rank of three to keep them busy.)

Canti: I figured as much.

(Canti then began to think aloud...)

Canti: Let's see... Enemies everywhere, one Chaos Gate, hmmm...

(Of course, the problem with that was that he tended to think in bursts of abbreviated data, meaning that they were small but useful chunks...that may or may not be his whole entire thought in one bite. For instance, he meant that they needed one Chaos Gate... He turned back to Rayo with an idea just as he casted another Juk Rom.)

Canti: Speed Charm everybody and hit the Gate while they're busy?

(Rayo's reply was less than heartening.)

"Problem one, there are six gates to choose from and where they lead may not be where we'd want to go given what has come out. Two, the administrators and hackers would each probably have a barrier up. Problem three, any elite or admin would be able to delay us too much. Fourth, we'd lose people as we went."

(His list of cons for this plan made Canti sweatdrop a minute. He recovered, though, shrugging it off. This wasn't defeat for what was essentially a guy known for his actions and not necessarily his ideas.)

Canti: And that's why I don't lead. I'm just not a planner. Ah well. Back to killing.

(This was said in an offhand and disturbing way, of course. Canti took all this seriously, but never on the surface. And now, with his buggy pals reduced in HP by his standoffish magic attacks, he threw his weight into them and slashed apart all three in their diminished health, making the world safer for non-predatory species or some junk like that. But the battle was not done. Not now...and not for a long time. Canti awaited the next line of enemies, basically deciding that Rayo's plan was best for now.)

What I killed...

1 Admin Knight
1 Reborn Knight
3 Controlled Knights
1 Earth Mage
7 Darkness Insects

What's killed in TOTAL...

Knights: 8 / 40
Controlled: 18 / 30
Reborn: 18 / 30
Mages: 7 / 20
Insects: 10 / 30
Giants: 2 / 10
Imps: 0 / 30

And one Friday evening. *Ba-Dum-Bum!*
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.

User avatar
Dien
Exalted Player
Posts: 226
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 1:59 am
Class: Blademaster
Location: The "Who's Online List," Stalking People...

Part I

Post by Dien » Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:58 am

Against the bright sky of Mac Anu, the blood and gore that filled the streets seemed almost ironic. The sun’s perpetual retreat from this never-ending day illuminated it all so well, giving the whole place a feeling of relaxation and almost tiredness. It was strange, then, that in such a relaxing and calming place, such a fierce battle could be waged. Dien stood in the midst of it all, quietly trying to calm his nerves from their jaggedness. No, he wasn’t really afraid at this point, nor sad, nor tired (save the fatigue that comes with a half hour of perpetual fighting): no, he was beginning to get angry – annoyed at the sheer numbers of the enemies and their inability to listen or learn.

Currently, they were all paused at their leaders’ decision to chat. Apparently Nighthand had said something to spark one of their interests, and so all of the knights had decided to watch what would happen – either to see if they were going to continue running to the slaughter fest or if they could high-tail it out of there. After all, Zan had performed the relatively simple task of throwing a building into the river, which flooded the bottom half of the parallel alleys with enough water to use in electrocuting knight upon knight. Yeah, simple enough to make your muscles tear your skin open and force you to be dragged out of the crater by your winged ally to God-only-knew where. That the knights hadn’t turned and fled at that display of power baffled the blademaster, along with the blindness of their leader.

Nall apparently found the blatant ignorance laughable, and granted, in some twisted sense, it was amusing. A sudden crack, and the Chaos Gate was gone. All of it happened so quickly, and Dien watched on as it all rained its doom upon the town. The town’s glory and symbol of pride broke, hideously rendered into a contemptuous and horrid set of points around the town – six, to be exact. Exact replicas of the town’s port of entry and exit floated, spinning in their maniac dance to let a high rush of evil in. Even from the first moment one of them emerged from the rippled azure surface of her gate, Dien could feel adrenaline shooting out of his body. The rage that had been there was suddenly overtaken by a nearly petrifying fear. Eyes widened, and he stared at the new enemies before him.

Six – there were six of them. These were the Elites: warriors and hackers whose powers were unrivaled in the World. Even with a fully-hacked character these players would be nigh-impossible to go hit for hit against. This raw power – the kind that could make a person freeze at just the slightest glance from one of them – this was why he’d been belittled about his hacking. From his standpoint on the ground, Dien could see that there was no battling these opponents. They would need to make their escape as quickly as they could.

The Admins proved themselves powerless just as Zan and Reinier had said, and the blademaster could only stare on in horror as a new flood of evil rushed into this involuntary arena. Wait, he could stop it, couldn’t he? There had to be a way to stop it – to bring this hell to an end. Yes! That was it. They’d all be thanking him in a moment if it worked. He closed his eyes, waiting a moment for his applets to once again appear. Fear: there was a lot of that here. He could feel it in his very muscles and in his brain, confusing him and halting his movements. NO! He had to make this work. His eyes once again pinched shut, and the applets finally showed up. Which one?

Hastily he scrolled the cursor to the raw command prompt – it’d be a stretch, but he’d done more desperate things before. A few lines of code quickly entered, and a few queries returned, before a sudden jarring pain overtook his head. It spread from his forehead to the base of his neck in a flash, overtaking him and throwing him to the ground in pain before he knew it was coming. Another moment and it was over, leaving him on the ground in the face of another flood of evil. He had no clue how long he’d been down, but chances are it had been long enough for the horde to approach.

With a push, he rose from the ground, one hand on his head to make sure the pain was gone. Now to see what was going on. The Elites had shown up, and an attempt to hack while in-game and under his limited resources had proven unwise. So, that left him with…fighting. Wow, big change there.

“Zhao, Dien, let’s meet up with Ryok and Canti, they aren’t far off. We need to work with a running battle, fend off whatever comes by but don’t stop moving. There are just too many monsters and knights alike to stay put, and I’d prefer not giving the Elites a sitting target to play with. Let’s go.”

The blademaster looked up to the wizard-tactician of the group, and nodded. It would be tough even going that far in this mesh – he was lucky that the monsters hadn’t closed in on what was left of their formation yet, and hadn’t filled in the gaps. Still, it wouldn’t be long before the fighting came to them, and as he was sure Rayo knew well, they probably wouldn’t even make it to Ryok and Canti before they were caught in all-out melee.

Sure enough, it began.

Zombies seemed to grow out of the ground, or at least in the way they stood up from the earth, their bodies contorting to however gravity pulled against them – they were the damned rising from Hell to enact revenge upon the living, and if they were anything like the flesh-zombies in Suraisu’s hacked field, then they wouldn’t be hard to fight. Instantly his mind was brought back to the rainy plains with the mud interjecting in parts of their cobblestone pathway like a disease. The undead had been a disease then, as well, and that infection had apparently spread to Mac Anu. Great, Dien thought, pulling out his sword and getting in a more classical fencing stance, their filth is here too. Too bad we can’t clean house this time, though.

A pathetically-wielded spear came towards Dien, which he batted away, leaving one hell of a notch in its wooden shaft. His spin continued, albeit a little bit weaker, and reopened the beheading wound in the necromancy-driven thing. A couple of the other knights jumped back from his swing, even if they, too, were still zombies: surprising. There was something a little bit different about the ones that jumped back – like they seemed more…alive. They still had life and were still afraid of losing it, like some lower form of animal. Had they really been reduced so completely? Then again, they had just died.

Another slice downward through the open neck wound left the long-arm falling to the ground in useless near-halves. One of his buddies showed up, a heavy axeman of low levels. Dien walked up to him, the tip of his sword dragging over the cobblestones lightly and sending the bump and patter through the air. He had another kill to make, and with that thought he leapt into the air, calling out Souleater’s non-elemental skill: Crack Beat. The heavy axeman tried to defend, but his weapon couldn’t put up with the strain of being hit by the physical blow in the manner it had. Its shaft snapped, and the blade sank through the owner’s skull, down to his clavicle. What phased Dien, though, was the fact that it didn’t die, nor even react to having been so badly cut.

He cringed, pulling the blade out of the deep wound and plunging it into the corpse’s chest, meeting the same wound that had proven fatal during its life. Sinew shot up through what was left of its throat, an apparent attempt at a cry or scream. Eww, he thought, removing the sword and then making another pair of cuts across the thing’s chest, the deep cleaves cutting through the bone and severing lungs, heart, and several other life-sustaining organs. Finally it died, falling to the ground in a vivid clangor. Dien’s breathing was hard, and as he wiped sweat away from his jawbone, he knew that if he went much more he’d be down for the count.

Just not quite yet – he had to hold on, if only a little longer. He had to save these people who’d saved him. A voice inside was telling him to stop, telling him to rest and give fighting a break, but he knew he couldn’t heed it. He had needed them, and now they needed him. He stared downward, the blood and bits of flesh from his most recent kill dripping off his sword. I will fight, he thought, looking up to the horde that slowly approached and thinking of the others scattered about the town, and I will win! It was a determination he’d only known one time before – in one fight where he’d been up against something that should have destroyed him in a heartbeat, but somehow he managed to stay alive.
____________________

This Post:
Controlled: 2

Total:
Knights: 8 / 40
Controlled: 20 / 30
Reborn: 18 / 30
Mages: 7 / 20
Insects: 10 / 30
Giants: 2 / 10
Imps: 0 / 30

Yeah, it’s not a lot, I’ll be sure to do more in my next post.
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Image|||Level 35 Blademaster (+200 EXP)
Wishlist: EXP, Ends of Earth, Armor with Status Effects

Rayo
Exalted Player
Posts: 485
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2003 7:21 pm

Post by Rayo » Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:37 pm

The wavemaster listened to Phoenix’s plan while rolling out of the way from a whip cracking down where he had been. Why couldn’t the knights forget about them for a little while? Dealing with one set of enemies was enough for now, was it not? Rayo batted away the second strike from the cord before dashing off, keeping with the moving group. Catching back up to the blade master, he got out a fast reply before any further distractions flew his way.

“That might not be wise, we don’t really know where they might lead. Assuming we can even access them, we might be dropped off in Yamiyo. If we were to end up there, we would lack even the administrator army which is helping keep the focus from being on just us. For now, let’s just gather everyone together so that whatever we do, no one will be left behind.”

Soon enough Canti joined, but no Ryok came within sight. Given what happened on the mage’s side of things, the fronts had broken down as the foes multiplied. Reinier had taken Zan off his hands, but the only one from that flank who hadn’t made an appearance was the other swordsman. Still, no calls for help had been made, so there was no need to worry. As it was, his group, the five of them now, would be headed in that direction. After explaining for a second time why he had reservations about attempting a run for a gate, the wizard looked around for Ryok, who had to be around somewhere.

However, one of those pesky imps that had burst forth from the gate slipped by knocking into the lightning mage, giving him a small jolt before fleeing from the scene with great haste. The shock wasn’t bad at all though, as the lightning elementalist had the best defense for just such an attack. Spying another imp speed on by, Rayo reached out and grabbed it by it’s arm, feeling the small electrical force but shrugging it off. There was only the initial shock it would seem as prolonged exposure didn’t result in greater damage. Getting the critter into a headlock, the caster finished his move. Turning to Dien, he called for some assistance.


“Dien, stabbing time!”

Letting the monster go as soon as it grayed and faded away, the player removed his Grunty Flute and played the tune once more. There were only a few more imps within their general vicinity, but not everyone would be quite as protected from their forces. Fighting thunder with those who shared the elemental affinity seemed liked the safest way to play it for now. Hopping onto his newly arrived pig cow, from behind to avoid the biting habits, the grunty was commanded forward, towards the scattered imps. Speeding along the path, one of the zombies was cleaved as they passed, mostly because it was stupid enough to walk towards a moving blade at eye level. While the Thunder Imps were faster than a wavemaster on foot, the mount was designed to change that around. Coming to an abrupt halt beside one of the magical creatures, Bell pivoted, turning the weapon so that it sliced through the monster before charging off at the next closest one. In this scenario, she was taking the voltage, but her armor cut thunder damage in half, leaving her in an advantageous defensive position, much like her master. Plowing past Kamui’s knights who were wise enough to steer clear of the rampaging grunty. Closing on the nearest shocker, Bell head butted the caster before trampling it, and then spinning around to deal the real damage to the stunned monster.

Finding his next target, the wizard rode towards the imp before forcing Bell to come to a complete stop. There was a giant wielding a club in between them and the target. Battling something like that could be left for later, grunty mounted blades wouldn’t be enough and Rayo just hadn’t regenerated enough SP to waste it on a lone creature. Turning back around, Bell kept on going until the mage was back with the group and dismounted.


“Try to avoid those little guys, they zap on impact. Oh, there’s also a titan with a smashing implement a bit ahead. We might want to move through the building to get around some of the mess up ahead.”

ooc:
This Post:
Knights: 0 / 40
Controlled: 0 / 30
Reborn: 1 / 30
Mages: 0 / 20
Insects: 0 / 30
Giants: 0 / 10
Imps: 3 / 30

Total:
Knights: 8 / 40
Controlled: 20 / 30
Reborn: 19 / 30
Mages: 7 / 20
Insects: 10 / 30
Giants: 2 / 10
Imps: 3 / 30
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Post by Zan » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:16 am

Zan hadn't even begun to feel the pull of the double transformation yet, something he was far more than grateful for. Perhaps there was too much adrenaline fueled by the situation, perhaps he didn't really have time to get as tired as such a thing suggested. Perhaps. All he knew was he was still a functioning part of the Freedom Fighter militia and, thank God, his mangled hand had fixed itself. The one thing he happened to regret at that point in time was the fact that he was separated from the collecting point of their power and he was helpless to really apply to any strategy they might be planning. It wouldn't be impossible for him to come up with a plan, no, but without the proper army behind him to fulfill the things already brewing in his head, such plans were pointless. He needed to get back to them, to the rest; only then would this whole chaos move forward for him to some place more sane, more reasonable. Swallowing down the mild pang of guilt for being stupid enough to get separated from them in the first place, Zan decided to attempt to maneuver his way into the red river and crawl out onto the bridge to Nighthand. From there he could be better aimed and better armed to collect with his friends.

Nodding a touch to himself, the Heavy Blade charged towards the river, two simplified Knights maneuvering to block his approach with one more to either flank and one trying to sip silently behind him. Rot and entropy filled Zan's flaring nostrils, making even the wolf in him turn up its nose in disgust. These weren't for eating like the other; they were a challenge on his territory and nothing more. Though Mac Anu wasn't really his, his Beast saw no difference in the matter at this current time. They were invading some place he had inhabited; invading being the word that triggered that anger in his belly. And now...now they dared to block him from his goal? Anger quickly swelled to rage and Zan outstretched his muzzle to the two before him and roared, a sound that once again echoed through the air as both hands clenched underneath the roof of their mouths. The lycanthrope could feel their jaws begin to clench, to try and gnaw his fingers off even as he focused power to his biceps. With a sickening tear of flesh Zan removed their heads from their bodies, half of their spinal columns still dangling from the base of their severed neck as the rest of them became crumpled heaps at his feet.

Using his two new "weapons," Zan turned himself around and whipped the dangling vertebrae against the two at his flanks in unison, their faces whipping away from him, only to come back with two of their fellow Knights' heads used as boxing gloves towards them. Their faces caved in with all the right sounds, brains punctured by fracturing bone at the same time Zan discarded the dangling, improvised weaponry and plunged his open hands and reaching claws into their stomachs. As concave and misshapen was their faces were, they didn't die, but fought the inevitable attack to come. Ripping free handfuls of intestines, throwing them on the ground with an audible slop, the same two unfortunate Knights fell forward without question. The remaining opponent didn't even flinch but instead completed the fall of its Blademaster sword into Zan's shoulders, enticing a howl of pain from the lycanthrope. Grabbing the offending hand, the Heavy Blade pulled it away from the sword and snapped its wrist at an impossible angle, something that only deterred it for a second. Using that second to wrench the sword free from his shoulder, the wound not healing as fast as he would have hoped, he decapitated the Knight and skewered its heart in the same fraction of a second with a speed and grace that made it all seem to flow timelessly together.

Before he could even reconsider what it was he wanted to do involving the river again, a similar unit of five balls of light zipped harmlessly past his face. Blinking for a moment, using his magnified vision to follow their path for but a moment, he turned towards the river for a third time and found those same light sources hovering right before him, slowly but surely coming to set on the Mac Anu's cobblestone. When five very bright imps had replaced them, nothing outwardly malicious about their behavior, Zan lofted a leg to get over them. They were light, light had to mean good, right? Sadly, he was proven wrong. The bottom of his padded foot grazed the top of one of their heads in his attempt to get over them and that just didn't bode well in the least. A high pitched squeal echoed out from its vocal cords, lightning bolts coming down like sunlight to bite and burn along his flesh, sizzling and blistering wherever they hit. Snarling in pain and frustration, the wound on his shoulder just about closed, Zan called his Flame Sword into his hand and watched as it grew from its five and some odd inches occupation to a few over eight feet of flaming steel. Ah, one of the perked side effects of his Twilight infection. The four other imps took a step back as Zan swung back and arched the blade forward, a hundred and eighty degree angle of attack accomplished with the monster of a blade he held in his hands.

Only the Rai-happy imp was killed in the process, the others managing to scramble away with only scratches. This was about the time they seemed to find themselves as ancy and pissed off as their leader, a quad-combination of Rai runes lighting up around his general area. They were smart. They hadn't cast it really on where he was, but everywhere he could be. And, of course, Zan didn't take the time to realize this and ran back and right into a mine field of pain. Though less than half of the bolts struck his flesh, enough did to bring him twitching and flailing on the cobblestone, his body going into a momentary fit of panic. The sound of a similar batch of spells brewing over his head shook him from that state and, flipping to his stomach, he snatched up the elongated Flame Sword (sporting a wolf howling along the blade from its temporary transformation) and heaved it in a continuous spin towards the concentrating casters. Just as the runes above his head began to crackle with a preparational heap of energy, his sword chopped the rest of the little troupe in half and ceased their spells from coming into fruition. It all happened in less than two seconds from his fall and yet it seemed so very...lucid.

For one reason or another the Elite squadrons seemed to find units of five a formidable force, five insects as black as the night sky encroaching upon his position before he could yet again attempt to rejoin his friends and fellow warriors. Thoroughly annoyed at this point with his continuously thwarted efforts, Zan indulged himself in a slam of his fist back against the wall he had crashed into before, that force and the already weakened foundation from the previous impact causing the Save NPC building to collapse in upon itself. Err, oops. Leaping up from the settling dust, using it as a distraction to the best of his abilities, Zan found himself on the back of one of the hideously huge insects, Flame Sword called to his hand and plunged just below the thing's neck. Leaping away from it then, Zan dug his weapon down its back as he fell, the insect collapsing with gurgling and inhuman blood as the lycanthrope's feet hit the ground. One down. The others didn't seem too happy with this development, odd screeches and clicks of something or another reaching his ears as they spoke up their disagreements. Igniting the fire already on his sword into a wavering inferno with the inner recitation of the Vak Drive skill. To Zan's dismay, the skill only took down a single bug in its hack n' slashes, the others scrambling wisely away from him and the fire he brought. The last of his Ap Do brought him to another brought before it wore off, the last of his SP consumed with another Vak Drive that, luckily, brought down a duo of the black insects as he twisted and added some air into the move; the lycanthrope having hacked through hard carapace and nigh-acidic blood.

With only one of the critters left for him to immediately deal with, Zan called the sword back into his inventory and let the smell of burning insect start to waver as he leapt into the last bug's face, caught off guard with a bite that sunk into his still sore-shoulder. A new wound opening over the old, boiling blood bubbling up from where the teeth pierced, Zan felt his Instinct tell him to go still and he did just that. He couldn't rip himself from the teeth without making the wound deeper. The Heavy Blade had to wait until it either let him go or he killed the thing and, quite frankly, he didn't expect it to let him go. Claws ripped at his back as he stabbed into the thing with the Life Sword that had come into his hand with a quick call from his inventory. He was going stab for rip, stab for rip, until finally the creature collapsed on its back, Zan rolling free from it to lay and pant on the rough ground, the Life Sword called back into his inventory like the Flame Sword before it. It wouldn't be any use here; Zan barely had the renewed SP for an Ap Do. Luckily enough, Zan's swinging and twitching away from the claws had made the wounds shallow, his body knitting them up at a remarkable pace. What was still healing and seemingly doing so like a snail was the bite on his shoulder. How big had the things teeth been? Not really wanting to look, Zan wobbled to his feet and clutched his bloody shoulder with his eerily large, opposite palm (which, curled up as it was over his shoulder, looked like a paw).

The large mass of brown fur and rippling muscle and animosity shambled back against a building that was still intact and waited as his SP began to climb. He would wait until an Ol Repth was possible and then he'd do his best to wade into the water without interruptions this time. Why don't you just jump over everything, idiot? A rather aggressive comment to himself given for what should have been an obvious strategy before, Zan made note to stop with the "charge through and kill everything until you get what you want" strategy. Gulping down his only Health Drink, the thing only numbing the pain and advancing the healthy state of the wound a fraction. The mass of monsters seemed disinterested in the hunching, mildly-hidden werewolf for the time being, giving him the time he needed to collect the proper SP to cast the healing spell. However, when a lone Earth Mage came gearing towards him, he knew where that SP would have to go instead. It was already headed for him so an Ap Do was unnecessary, but he wanted this one strike to kill and count. Retrieving the Sun Fang One out from his inventory, he hefted it forward with the inner-call of the Juk Drive it possessed. The completion of the skill, oddly, wasn't met with the burning outburst of conflicting energies into the globe as it had been the last time. Oh no...

The Earth Mage, dead, fell from its position on the shattered orb and Zan's attuned eyes caught the glimmer of something gold lying in the center of the shards. Picking it up from the "rubble", Zan rolled it around in his massive palm; the golden object no bigger than a marble. It seemed to make him entranced for a moment, taken out of the battle by something out of his control. It was only when it began to burn in his hand that he was shaken from this stupor and, before the freakish object could hurt him further, he chucked it into the air with all the strength he could muster. God damn thing. Laughing the best laugh he could in the Garou form, the Heavy Blade took a step forward when his eyes were called the sky at the whistling that began to pierce through it. What in the hell? Curiosity magnified his vision and he saw the golden marble of an orb hissing towards him with a determined velocity. It was too fast, far too fast, and all Zan could do was hold a hand out to shield his face from the impact. A split second, a hair of time before it hit him and he was suddenly human, bare palm half-reaching for the thing.

Before Zan could register what had just happened, the golden orb seemed to simply fuse and disappear into the center of his palm. In that instant he watched in anxious horror as his body began to crawl with black and green hexagons, the six-sided shapes like ants over his flesh as he began to feel his mind drawn into the object. It wasn't taken...no...but copied, extracted, and read into the orb whose golden light had begun to shine out from his all-too-human hand. All of the duel-hued hexagons migrated into that palm until they had seemingly vanished and, for but a moment, Zan felt as if the object was judging him. When the golden light died out completely, the lycanthrope clutched his hand into a fist, glancing at the top of his hand. A small, inch-radius patch of black veins branched outward until they disappeared into normality; the anomaly just above where the orb would be in his flesh. A tighter clench of his fist and suddenly his hand glowed with an unearthly green light, that light flashing out like a beacon for a second or two before the light died down and became nothing more than a dull pulsing light in his palm and over his hand in that same inch-radius of space. Hoping his friends were distracted enough to have missed it, Zan slid his fingerless leather gloves over either hand and decided to handle that later. There was no time for further distractions right the--his mind froze as he looked down, his body once more the visage of the Garou with power coursing freely through his veins and all. Only one thought came to him then. Only one that made sense.

What in all hell?

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

This Post:
Knights: 0 / 40
Controlled: 0 / 30
Reborn: 5 / 30
Mages: 1 / 20
Insects: 5 / 30
Giants: 0 / 10
Imps: 5 / 30

Total:
Knights: 8 / 40
Controlled: 20 / 30
Reborn: 24 / 30
Mages: 8 / 20
Insects: 15 / 30
Giants: 2 / 10
Imps: 8 / 30
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).

Reinier
Awakened Player
Posts: 164
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:49 am
Location: UNKNOWN ERROR, please try again later
Contact:

Post by Reinier » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:50 pm

The deafening roar of metal clashing with metal blanketed the once peaceful town. Reinier, before he became a full part with the world, had read the background on the Root Towns, the Chaos Gates, and monsters. He remembered a part, that the Chaos Gate was simply an opening to the outside “world,” which separated the monsters from the safe zones of the towns. Only one gate per town, because if more gates had been created, the harder it would be for monsters to enter…

… or in the case of the Freedom Fighters, escape…

~*~*~*~*~*

With a kick to the face, a knight fell to the ground. Reinier looked around, gripping his sword tightly and ready to defend, looking for any sign of Rayo or the others. Reinier shot his fist towards a knight, hitting him in the neck with the butt of his sword. The knight gripped his throat, falling to the ground, grasping for air. Out of the corner of his eye, Reinier spied a flash of blinding light. He shielded his face with his arm, but gradually lowered his arm to a blessing.

Nall had returned.

Reinier pushed his way through the knights, attempting to get closer to the group. With the Elite of Time back, the group stood a chance. Hopefully Nall could pull his act together long enough to slaughter half the knights. “SEE! THEY’RE HERE!” The sound of Nall’s voice boomed through the field. Reinier’s arms swung limply against his sides, his sword eventually falling to the ground.

The sounds of shattering glass echoed through the field, and instantly the knights fell to the ground, cowering like dogs before the storm. Fear had washed over Reinier, but he swallowed his pride, and went down to the ground. He picked up his sword, and stood back up, taking a gulp. Shards of the gate flew around the town, creating new Chaos Gates around the town. Six total.

Six gates… they’re all here… all six remaining Elites. We struggled just to kill Jett, how can we manage to even survive with all six here?

With that, Taimat flew down, landing next to Reinier. He surveyed the area, watching as the Elites gradually made their grand entrances in to the town. “Fight to survive… Run if necessary…” the dragon huffed. Reinier gazed upon each hacker, a few he knew, a few he didn’t. A large demon stood, gripping a mace in one hand, roared, “Bring forth the armies!” The demonic roar chilled Reinier’s soul, as monsters poured out of the gates. Wave after endless wave of monsters spewed forth.

The slain knights began to rise once more, some holding limbs and then suddenly smashing them back in to place. Other, living knights seemed to twitch, and straighten up. Their eyes dulled over black with the desire to simply kill. Everything dead in the area had a master, and now even the living had a new mistress: Xenobia. The woman who started this trek of survival for Reinier. “ATTACK!” The roar of the demon echoed, and instantly the clamor of fighting continued.

Almost listening to the call of the elite, Reinier began his rampage. He sliced and diced every which way, attacking zombies and knights alike. He spied an oddity, weaving in and out of the monsters and knights. Without warning, let out a scream, caving down to the ground, gripping his knee. That… thing, on the crystal ball, smashed his knee backwards. The screams pierced partly through the noise, but had still been overpowered.

Pulling out his Life Sword, still groaning and grunting, he mumbled the spell, “Ol Repth.” The spell washed over his body, his bones taking their right place once more. The cracks and pings of the bones moving back in to place had been nauseating, but worth it in the end. Reinier climbed to his feet, looking around to see even Taimat having trouble with the monsters.

He bathed the knights in flame, some perishing, but some wading through the fire-bath. He sliced across the zombies faces with his claws, and flung his tail at speeds enough to shatter skulls. The monsters, however, were too much for the dragon. Taimat let loose another flame attack, roasting alive five of the Knights of War. Their corpses felt to the ground, stayed dead for a moment, then gradually stood back up; stronger.

Taimat stood rampant, smashing together two reborn knight’s heads together. The crumbled to the ground, staying dead for once. Reinier delivered an upward arch swing to a nearby knight, one whose black eyes seemed to pierce his soul. The knight’s head cleaved in two, and he too fell to the ground, dead. He stayed dead for a good moment, then eventually came back to “life.” Reinier let out a groan, kicking the knight to the ground, and running his foot up to the man’s neck. With a jab of his sword, which went through the monster’s skull, the beast had died. Reinier pulled out his sword, surveying the area. “Where are you Rayo…” Reinier muttered, knowing that he would have some sort of plan fixed up by now.

In the distance, Reinier spied something unnatural. Bodies where flying off the ground, in to the air, in a linear way. After a few moments, it became apparent the cause. A dark praying mantis sliced its’ way across the battle field, killing most anything in its’ way. Reinier pounded his sword in to the ground, and once more a ring around the area where he stood burst, and the loosened rock continued twist and writhe until becoming dust. Reinier flung out his arms, and the dust scoured a nice amount of the field, enhancing the allies earth attack and defense.

Reinier flew across the gap he had created, flying towards the insect of darkness. Reinier threw down his sword, arching it over his head, in to the monster’s right claw. The claw smashed in to the ground, slicing one of the Admin Knights in the skull. After a moment or two, he pulled back his body, his head not exactly reforming perfectly, zombified. The insect threw its’ left claw in to Reinier, puncturing through his skin, through his left shoulder.

The monster pulled across its’ body momentarily, then flung its’ arm downwards and to the left. A pack of knights, controlled, zombie, and normal, cushioned Reinier’s fall, as they all fell to the ground. Out of seemingly nowhere, Taimat flew through the dust cloud, raining fire down upon the insect. The scarlet-haired boy leaped to his feet, charging forward to help his friend. The insect managed to bring its’ arms over its’ head to shield itself, but couldn’t locate the dragon. With an over head strike, Reinier managed to bring the insect to the ground. The boy kicked the insect in the face, rolling it over slightly. Scraping his sword across the ground, Reinier cleaved off the insects’ head with one last strike.

Blood seeped out of Reinier’s shoulder, with bits of flesh protruding outwards from when the claw came out of his shoulder. “I just Repthed myself, too…” Reinier muttered, still looking for any signs of the lightning mage and company. Rather ominous screams echoed particularly from one to direction, a direction Reinier’s head shot to. He could see a massive figure smashing people, and in one instant the building, relentlessly. “Let’s go, Taimat,” Reinier called to his friend, spreading out his wings. He took to the air, with his dragon friend following close behind. He stayed as low as possible to the earth, surveying through the masses for signs of his friends.

With a barrel roll, Reinier stopped mid-air, shooting out his wings for all to see. He landed on the back of the Giant, stabbing his sword in to the side of the massive beasts’ neck. He attempted to pull the blade out, but it had been lodged in to something. With a back flip, the boy avoided a swipe of the beast. Taimat pulled behind the distracted monster, shooting out flames against its’ back. The beast swung around, forgetting about Reinier instantly with the presence of heat apparent. With a stomp, two bricks shot out of the ground and hovered near Reinier’s head. He clapped, the two bricks coming together above his head, and he pulled his body to one side. He brought up his hands, and began to pull them away from each other. The bricks had become one, and began to stretch out and gained a spear like appearance. He through his body forward, following through with his right hand as if he had thrown the spear himself. The spear landed at the base of the beasts’ neck, his attention diverted away from the dragon.

“Reinier!” The sound of his own name piercing through the screams and clash of the people in the field. He turned his head, to see Rayo and a group of fighters coming his way. A momentary feeling of comfort drifted over his body, as he forgot about his task at hand. He snapped back to reality, just in time to leap back from a club strike. The group came to a stop near Reinier, and with him keeping his attention on the Giant. A side-swipe swing came from the Giant at this moment, which made Reinier turn to his friends. He leaped to his side, screaming, “Watch out!” He pushed Rayo out of the way, but took the full force of the attack. With a crash, Reinier smashed in to a building. His HP had dropped to nil, and he would have survived if it hadn’t been for the building collapsing on top of him moments later.

Reinier felt as if he had been ripped out of his once fully functional body, in to a dark void. He peered around, wondering what had happened. “Go figure, I’m not a selfish bastard after all…” Reinier muttered to himself. He looked around, seeing glowing whitish-blue figures all around. No noticeable features to anything, just the fact that he was surrounded by people. He looked to his side, and saw a hovering dragon-like figure, looming above what appeared to be a Giant.

“Rip Mean!” The revival spell had been cast. Reinier blinked, and instantly everything became colorful again. The screams of people dying and fighting echoed all around, the void of darkness filled with buildings, sky, and people. He looked over, to see Taimat still attempting to kill the Giant. He landed, shooting a concentrated stream of flames in to the back of the beasts’ knee. It seemed to take a few moments for everything to register in the boy’s mind, but he suddenly remembered what he needed to do. Survive.

He spread out his wings, and took to the sky. He once more landed on the beasts’ shoulders, and gripped his sword. He thrust his right leg in to the back of the monster’s head, his sight now thrown down to the ground, and applied force in both legs. After a few moments of struggling, the blade flew out of his neck, Reinier flying backwards and doing back flips in the air with it. With a thrust of the wings, Reinier stopped flipping and managed to hover. He flapped his wings, and flew forward on to the Giant’s shoulders once more. He thrust his foot on the top of the monster’s head, brought both hands on to his sword with the end pointing towards the earth, and raised his arms.

Reinier swung downwards, arching the sword in a circle towards the beast. With a roar of the Giant, the sword punctured the eye, and after a few moments of forcing it, through the skull and brain. Gradually, the monster began to sway to the side, just long enough for Reinier to pull out the sword and back up a bit on to its’ back. The Giant crashed to the ground face first, Reinier riding it down to the ground. With a few of the knights so enthralled in the battle, they didn’t notice the beast falling. Three of the Admin’s knights had been crushed under the Giant, their arms and legs protruding out from under the massive corpse. Reinier stood on the giant still, his right foot lay on the back of its’ head and his left on its’ back.

Reinier stood upon the giant, and gradually lifted his arms up in an outstretched “t,” his elbows bent at forty-five degree angles. The sword stood in his right hand, blade pointed down, and his fingers bent slightly towards his body. “Hey there!” Reinier called to his teammates, with a smile.

“So that’s where you were...and where is Zan?” Rayo called up to Reinier. The boy jumped down off the corpse and walked towards the mage. Reinier became silent, thinking for a moment to when they were last together.

“No idea... It’s odd how a Werewolf acts. We lost track of each other when the Elite showed up... I remember reading that they only have extremes when it comes to emotions. The sheer shock of seeing them must have put him in such a state that he couldn't move. I just hope the kid's alright…” Reinier said, trailing off in his sentence.

“We’ll need to find him next then...right now I’m trying to track down Ryok,” Rayo said. Reinier gave a nod, and chuckled a bit to himself.

“I always forget about that kid. I sent a Flashmail to him and Canti, tellin’em to meet up near... uh... Er…” Reinier gave a pause, trying to remember where he told the two of them to meet up at. It clicked, and he said, “The item shop. So, we should check there out first.”

“We have Canti, but we haven't been near the item shop since before you even took Zan...and that's not exactly too close either. And there's also Hijinx to account for as well…” Reinier shuddered at the mention of the demon of a rabbit.

“Jinx can take care of herself. I feel more sorry for the monsters that Jinx finds then anything else. Well, what should we do? I can probably create a dust storm high enough for everyone to see, and send out a mass Flashmail telling them to go there…” Reinier could feel the flames pass by his back, nearly searing off his wings, as Taimat most likely eliminated some sort of foe behind his back. Reinier turned around, and sure enough, there lay an Admin Knight. The man began to climb back up, but with a snap, a spire shot up from the ground through his face. He stayed dead.

“I’d hate to attract the unwanted attention...though it might be necessary nonetheless,” Rayo said. Reinier gave a nod, and took in a deep breath. He shook his hands, attempting to loosen up for what he was about to do.

“It beats looking around and fighting. I just need ya’ll to protect me while I steady this baby out. It'll probably take a lot of concentration…” The dust began to funnel around Reinier’s legs, in a rather thick amount of dust and sand. The dust began to stop, as Reinier lowered his arms. He realized something, and shook his head. “There’s a better way to go about this, let’s head on over to the back. Zan’s probably still fighting back there. We just regroup with him, and figure out a plan, whether it be fight fight fight or just run.”

Rayo gave a nod, which Reinier returned. He threw up his hand, sending the ambient dust storm back in to circulation. “Taimat!” Reinier called out, grabbing the dragon’s attention. “We’re going to find Zan! Do as you please! If I need you, I’ll call!” Reinier yelled over the noise pollution of the area. The dragon went back in to action, raining fire on everything around. Reinier turned, and pushed forward, knocking knights out of the way. And the group followed, to the boy’s surprise. Reinier, walking and looking around, pulled up a Flashmail box to try and get the others to join.

To: Freedom Fighters
From: Reinier
Subject: Finding Us

Currently, it's Rayo, Dien, Canti, Zhao, and me. We're off looking for Zan, at the moment. If you follow the dust storm, the stronger it gets the closer you are to us. We're going to get together and plan our escape... somehow. We're all traveling to the back of the city, so start heading that way.



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

My Kills:

Knights: 10
Controlled: 1
Reborn: 3
Mages: 0
Insects: 1
Giants: 1
Imps: 0

Total:

Knights: 18 / 40
Controlled: 21 / 30
Reborn: 27 / 30
Mages: 8 / 20
Insects: 16 / 30
Giants: 3 / 10
Imps: 8 / 30
Image
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Reinier's Wishlist: Sakabatou|Sharktooth
Abraxas' Wishlist: Complementry|Summon
The Hack's Wishlist: Wall lvl 2

ryok
Elevated Player
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 6:38 pm
Location: Unknown

Post by ryok » Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:27 am

-Ryok looked down for a brief moment, still hanging on to the buildings edge. A momentary brain lapse, that lasted forever, caused him to miss the entrance of everyone who was ‘important’ at the time. When he came back to, what was actually happening, he realized everyone had moved out. As he gazed around he noticed a half dozen chaos gates, which lay in various places around the shattered town. Each shadowed an elite whom stood with enough confidence to break his own into billions of unfixable parts. Knowing he didn’t have time to gawk at them his thoughts quickly shifted. He turned toward the new monsters, and reborn slaughtered knights that lined the streets. He scanned the area for his companions again. Nowhere in sight did he see a single being that was his comrade. Pulling himself together, a slight thought of panic came and fled as he continued the search. The only thing standing out was the string of fallen enemies that were strewn across the ground in a path. Knowing that was his best bet he stood upright, but instead of taking off in the direction of the path he froze. A cool breeze washed over him as the fist of the massive monster struck his side.

-He impaled the building he had previously been leaning against. A portion of the building above him caved in as he passed into the brick. The hand followed up by reaching into the new hole and feeling around for him. The giant’s hand slid in half, as ryok’s blade left its sheath causing it catch fire. The monster backed from the hole lifting it’s club off of its shoulder and readying it to smash into the building. Ryok’s hand hit the pile of rubble that sat in front of the buildings new entrance. His hand guided him over the pile as he slid over it. The monster brought the club back like a baseball bat and swung it. The whole side of the building collapsing as the wave of force rippled through it. Ryok sprinted away as the buildings side fell to pieces. Sliding to redirect his path he set his focus on the giant’s leg. Putting his blade back into its case he stopped on a dime, his hand slapping the back of the creatures leg. The sound echoed throughout the town as two red glyphs appeared under the creature’s body. One being a spell of weakening, the other a spell of attack were both unleashed onto the monster. The flaming boulder cracked the creature over the head as it turned from the building, just now realized the bug bite on his leg was it’s enemy. Ryok jumped back as the slow moving club waved past its leg. The creature spun using the momentum from the previous swing to send in back around. Ryok started forward the second swing passing before he got to close. The creature stopping the spinning motion and bringing the club back turned its entire being toward him to swing. Raising the club above its head, planning to crush ryok, it waited. Ryok hopped and fell back onto his hip sliding to a stop just outside of the creature’s great range. His hand reached down into his pouch feeling about for a paper like item. Finding it he attached it to his torso, just above the pouch. The club hit the cobble, shards of rock cutting into the soft tissues of ryok’s body. His leg muscles tightened as the charms power flowed throughout his body. Ryok’s hand pushed into the ground, his lower leg catching him as he came back upright.

-Pulling back for a moment his hands set themselves for the finishing attack. His right hand grabbed the scabbard, his left clutching the handle of the blade. He started forward, up the steep club of the creature. The weapon lifted slowly from the ground rising back into the air as he ran its length. Ryok’s feet lost their grip as it became too steep to stand on. He fell facing the monster and the ground, pulling back to ready his blade. A streak of flames lit the creature’s body as ryok’s right foot hit the ground. He stood straight as the flames engulfed the monster and it melted from its torso out. Pulling himself from the kneeling position he wiped the dust off his shoulder from the collision with the brick wall a few seconds earlier. The sheathing his blade he took a mage’s soul from his pouch and drank it down knowing that he’d need it to get back to his companions.

-Stepping forward started his sprint to the opening that he hoped was left behind from his comrade’s slaughter of the monsters. As he approached the opening three knights that he had previously killed stood in his way. He smiled gaining speed through the full use of the charm and getting closer to them. He readied his blade. He planned to run through them without a thought to cutting them down like the newbs they were. Though it would be much harder than he had originally thought. The archer pulled an arrow back and let it fly, two others following only a few milliseconds after. Shifting he dodged the first two the third grazing his left arm as it passed. The heavy blade stepped up as ryok came into range. His blade flew from its casing his favorite move being unleashed upon the poor knight once again. Ryok’s eye caught the charred black scarring of the knights skin as he passed the first not understanding what it meant until it was to late to retract his second attack. His right hand tapped the axe man and the red glyph appeared under it as he came into the striking distance of the archer. His thought bulb popped as he threw the Demonic Blade into the air and equip the Horse-Killer. The Demonic Blade disappeared into his inventory, leaving in its place tiny sparks. With the Horse-Killer already in its sheath he passed the archer while using the second cousin of his favorite attack. Hirameki escaped his lips as the blade came out of its sheath. The blade glowed a dull shade of brown, with branches emitting from it as he cut down the last enemy in his way. Sliding to a stop he turned back from the opening that hopefully led to his companions and stared at the two remaining enemies who were obviously healed by his previous attack.

-Ryok knew that if he took off to leave them behind they’d follow him, so why waste time. A smirk crossed his face as he noticed he low Sp again. He had to take them out the old fashioned way. The way that could take longer then he wanted to. A way that involved using no spells unless he gained enough during battle to use one. Ryok’s hand shot into his pouch pulling out a pair of glowing blue rings. Looking down he switched out his Fire Bracer for the two blue rings. Two shadows over took him as he finished putting the second on. He looked up the Light Giver being ripped from its place on his back to just above his head. It was perfectly placed and just in time. His left hand braced it on its handle while his right palm lay on the swords width. The cobble under him cracked and started caving inwards. He fell to his knees under the force of the two attacks. Ryok’s arms fatigued under the weight of two massive weapons. The Light Giver had only been used in dire times because of his dislike of the larger blades, but it was perfect timing to use it. Such a large blade provided perfect defense just in time. Ryok needed to do something or have both of the weapons impaled in his head in a few short moments. So, he did what he had to do. He pushed up with what strength he had left in his tiny arms, and pulled up almost to the point of letting the enemy weapons down upon him. He threw himself forward past the legs of his opponents and behind them. Sitting upright he placed his hands on the back of both of the enemies calves and whispered a spell into the air. The spelled placed to hold them if they had noticed his absence from under their blades. He rose reequipping the Horse-Killer slipping past the axe man. As the frosty storm engulfed them ryok’s Horse-Killer passed into the Axe Man’s throat. Pulling back the Axe Man fell. He adjusted himself for impact.

-He turned the Horse-Killer’s slender shaft vertical to the ground and caught the real ‘heavy blade’s point in the crease of his sword. The small width of the Horse caused ryok’s hand the slip. The blade shaved his palm clean off his hand. The released force allowed the enemy heavy blade’s sword turn the Horse-Killer sideways. The enemy’s blade slid across the Horse-Killer as it came in for the kill. The point aimed for the center of his gut was instant death, but ryok pushed the Horse-Killer into the side of it sending it off course. The point of the enemy blade passed by his stomach and the blade continued until it widened just enough to hit him. It tore through the inner layers of his muscle tissue on his torso, just outside any major organs. The blade passed out the other side of his body. Only a quarter of the blade’s width managed to cut into his side. Ryok’s last ditch effort the save himself actually helped a great deal. Ryok strained the muscle of his left arm to raise the Horse-Killer in one arm. He lifted it so that it hovered horizontally to the ground and just level with the enemy’s neck. Bringing it back he grabbed it with his bloodied hand and swung as hard as he could. The blade cut clean through the resurrected knight’s neck. Blood covered ryok as the artery to the brain was clearly severed. Ryok pushed his leg into the ground as the heavy blade’s sword fell from his wound.

-Ryok pushed his Horse-Killer into the ground and leaned on it. He held his open wound with his left and temporarily stood reaching into his side pouch and grabbing out a health drink. He knew he had to use what he had left in consideration. The battle was long from over, but he kept being attacked. He needed to catch up with the group. As he placed the health drink back into the pouch a flash mail appeared in front of him. He took it up and read it…

To: Freedom Fighters
From: Reinier
Subject: Finding Us

Currently, it's Rayo, Dien, Canti, Zhao, and me. We're off looking for Zan, at the moment. If you follow the dust storm, the stronger it gets the closer you are to us. We're going to get together and plan our escape... somehow. We're all traveling to the back of the city, so start heading that way.


-Looking down the path the dust storm didn’t seem all to far off and Timat loomed over many of the enemies on the field. Which were two good indications as to where the Reinier and company were. Weaving in between fighting enemies he reached the outer edge of the street without any confrontations and began making his way towards the group. Hoping they hadn’t strayed far from where the dust storm indicated he traveled toward it. He started into a half sprint that was limped because of his side injury. As he got closer to the storm he realized that swarms of little imps cluttered the front of the storm from where he stood. They floated shooting off white balls of repth at one another and anyone really passing by. With the other side of the storm covered by an advancing Frost Giant he decided to take his chances with the small schizo bat like creatures.

-He picked up his fast limp towards the creatures hoping to scare a few off by surprise attacking them. Indeed he was successful in doing so, but it in turn caused one of the remaining two to turn and fire a Rai Don his way. The bolt struck his battered body with a kick to it. He fell on to his back and slid a few feet away from the creature, smoke rising from his shoulders. Casting what little rejuvenated Sp he had left on the imp in the form of a Rue Rom he stood and started back a. As the icy tornado picked up in speed ryok rushed at the tiny creature pulling his Demonic Blade out and readying it for a normal attack. He brought the blade across the creature. A slight shock fluttered through his body on the impact of the blade, which passed through the creature with satisfying ease. The creature’s blood sprayed out into the air calling the attention of the other lingering imp who hadn’t been paying attention up to this point. In a late attempt to cure its friend it miscast a spell that landed upon the closest receiver other than it’s dead comrade. Ryok absorbed the already cast spell relieved that he wouldn’t have to heal again to take out the other one. A dull smirk rose across ryok’s face with the imp’s stupid mistake. The inner layers of severed tissue of the deep wound re-bonded themselves along with the inner bruising of when he met the brick wall healed. Twisting his back, it cracked up its length. Sprinting at his last opponent it met with the same fate as the last had. Though this one with much more spunk then the previous left him with more of a going away present then the last. The blade passed through the appalled creature spraying more blood on to the battlefield. The blade hit the ground shortly after motor functions briefly leaving ryok’s arm as the shock registered in his brain.

-As the feeling faded he grabbed his blade up and switched it out for the Demonic Sword. Walking into the storm he emerged in front of the giant dragon that was Reinier’s pet with his Fire Bracers back in place around his wrists. With a quick salute/wave he passed the dragon and caught up with the group who weren’t too far from him yet. Coughing a bit as he approached his comrades who had their backs turned he spoke up.

-“Don’t forget me…”

Killed:

Knights: 0
Controlled: 0
Reborn: 3
Mages: 0
Insects: 0
Giants: 1
Imps: 2

Total:

Knights: 18 / 40
Controlled: 21 / 30
Reborn: 30 / 30
Mages: 8 / 20
Insects: 16 / 30
Giants: 4 / 10
Imps: 10 / 30


(OOC:Yeah, yeah sorry it takes me so long..; )

Image
Ryok| Lvl. 27| Heavy Blade| Demonic Sword| Kagayuzen| Fire Bracer| Suzaku Fiery Pants
Karin| Kannon| Miu Lei| Vak Rom| Vak Don| Dek Vaks| Ap Vaks
Skill Drain| Death

Wish list:Black Sharp Angelic Wings| Time Headband| Unique Weapon

Hijinx
Exalted Player
Posts: 591
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 11:28 pm
Location: New look, check it out!

Post by Hijinx » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:08 am

Frowning with mild disapointment, Hijinx changed a few things around on the terminal in front to adapt the hold message slightly. Instead of asking Kelvin to wait, it stated that they were experiencing technical difficulties and cheerfully suggested that the admin try back again later. Nodding with satisfaction, she watched the orange screen pop out of existence before turned the better part of her attention to the recent and pressing matters at hand. The rabbit smiled to herself as royce stepped out. She could still remember how funny nighthand had looked with her sitting on top of him. The others came in with a little less banter, though Xenobia made a decent amount of noise when she started tossing Kamui into buildings. A couple more words were tossed around, then the battle got underway. Surveying the scene below, Hijinx grinned and giggled as she placed her hands on the edge of the building and shoved off.

Halfway down the building's side, the rabbit burst into rainbow light as changes began to take place in her appearance once again. Colors fading as she touched the ground, she cheered and examined herself quickly. Her form had become human again, without any fur to hide her skin this time. Where there had been black and white fur, she now had a darkly tanned layer of skin. Clothing she had worn before had modified itself as well; the shirt was decorated around the neck and shoulders with white feathers and green jewels. While sleeveless still, the shirt now covered her stomach completely. White pants had taken the place of her original black ones too, though they closed below the knee and were signifigantly more poofy with a blue sash dangling from a criss-crossing cloth belt. Decorating the former rabbit's head was windswept, medium length, sun-bleached blonde hair that swayed in the occasional breeze. It was also interesting to discover that her class had changed again. Giggling cheerfuly, she threw a few quick jabs and kicked hard to the side. By the time the force of the strike died away into a sliding halt, she had confirmed that she had become a Fist Fighter. Cheering loudly, she snatched her pet up and took off in a dead sprint. She was feeling the urge to show off her newest change now, and a recent flash mail confirmed her friend's location for the most part.

With a deft hop, the newly transformed Hijinx cleared the sweeping strike of a mantis and jumped from it's shoulders. Swinging Urbosh to her back, she reached out and grabbed hold of a mage's floating ball and kicked forward. The blow threw her weight up and forward while spinning the Earth Mage upside down and launching her skyward. Now clearing the top of a waterfront building, she flipped forward and landed running on a giant's club. Taking full advantage of it's surprise, she tossed the blob in the monster's face and bounded up the massive shoulder and over a frenzied group of imps that were casting repth indiscriminately on friends and foes alike. It took a fraction of a second to develope an idea, now that she could see Nighthand looking pressured, though slightly bored in her personal opinion. Landing with a vicious grin, she spun around and pounced back the way she had come, noting the chilly giant's difficulty with her pet as he grabbed at it repeatedly without success. Stretching an out out in front of her, she grabbed an imp by the neck from behind and whirled around, snagging a second in her other hand before they could get away. It took incredible effort to keep from laughing as she began to release the first imp and shout in Nighthand's direction, despite the shock damage she was inviting with this particular game.

"BATTER UP!"

The first whizzed by his head as it caught him off guard, flying into a window behind him with an audible crash and screech as the shop lit up with lightning. He was more prepared for the second, following seconds after the original, and split it into data clouds with one good strike. Pulling the sword back the other direction, he sliced through a third Hijinx had neglected to mention before she returned her attention to the giant, who had made an interesting noise just after she tossed the last imp. Jumping backwards, she narrowly avoided the falling corpse of the huge creature. Apparently in it's wrath, it had taken a swing at the blob that encrouched upon it's face. It had subsequently bashed it's own head in and was now fading to grey as the blob jumped onto her shoulders with a pleasant burple , casting Ap Do.

With a wave and a thumbs up at , she dashed suddenly forward, clotheslining a charging knight and rendering him airborne momentarily before landing heavily on his back. Spinning to his feet, he swung his blade and caught air as she ducked the strike. A second later he was depantsed and on his face, the greaves he had been wearing sitting on his head mockingly as Hijinx snickered at his heart covered boxers from behind. He hastily re-equipped the leg armor and stood, surveying the area behind him with seething rage as she shifted sideways and shadowed the enemy blademaster, trying to mimic his ugly expressions and silently copying the flood of curses and erratic gestures before she grabbed him under the arms. Laughing happily, she flipped him backwards and into the water. Fun would have to wait a little longer now if they were going to be getting out alive. Clearing the river effortlessly, she turned on the other side to wave at the soaked player and point out the incoming mage before turning on her heel and rejoining the group.

OOC:New look for Hijinx, so make sure you check before you call her a rabbit! :woo: _____________________________________________________________

This Post:

Knights: 0
Controlled: 0
Reborn: 0
Mages: 0
Insects: 0
Giants: 1
Imps: 2

Total:

Knights: 18 / 40
Controlled: 21 / 30
Reborn: 30 / 30
Mages: 8 / 20
Insects: 16 / 30
Giants: 5 / 10
Imps: 12 / 30
Hijinx the Lucky Former Rabbit
Level 35.000 Fist Fighter
Equip: Fist Guards, Wyrm Hide, guard cap, Snow panther, silver bracers
Item: 5 ressurect, 2 antidote, 10 healing potions, 6 Emperor's Soul, 3 Raging Earth, 5 Ice Floe, 4 Gale Breath, Knights Bane, 10 Speed Charms
Money: 1103gp
"The problem with life is there's no back-ground music."

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Post by Zan » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:58 am

Reinier's flashmail was sent to even him, Zan's eyes scanning over it almost as quickly as he had opened the thing. Putting aside the thought to respond to him at a later point, he used that moment to once again allow his body some proper healing time. The Ap Vorv's unique effects on him were rather enjoyable, aiding further the already impressive rate at which his body stitched itself together. Unfortunately, it was still taking more time than the lycanthrope felt comfortable with to heal the insect's bite wound. It wasn't poisoned or anything of the sort, he would have felt his body's battle with the toxin. No, it was simply deep and the energy it took to heal himself wasn't exactly small. All his body wanted was time. So, for now, he indulged it. It was reasonably difficult to hide, what with him being a nine and a half foot tank of fur and muscle and roiling animosity, but he managed to maneuver out of oppressive sightings as best he could.

The one drawback to this was the fact that it would make it even more difficult for those looking to find him. He'd have to make it easier for them. Eventually. For now, however, staying ducked into the shadow of a nearby alleyway was all he could do. It seemed a decent hiding place, what with the poor lighting, but it wasn't long before a rather large unit of Knights (these ones with intelligence gleaming in their eyes) had begun to pierce it's blackness with squinted eyes. As much as Zan wanted to, he couldn't hide his eyes in this form; the orange-amber glow of the wolf pierced the darkness with casual blinks, the sight blatantly disturbing the advancers. However, the only thing that actually halted their movements was the growl that echoed along the alley walls. It was all theatrics, really, and Zan was using it to the best of his advantage. He took slow motions forward, a stalking gesture, making sure every step was heard in conjunction with the ever-increasing volume of the rumble in his throat. Every step he took forward had the Knights taking shaky steps back until his muzzle alone emerged from the black, lips upturned in the continuing snarl, duel rows of predatory teeth exposed and dripping with hungry and purposefully over-produced saliva. Zan was going to milk this thing for all it was worth. Funnily enough, their leader, his hands shaking, held out his Blademaster weapon in a wavering stance against the lycanthrope's snout.

"H-hault, hacker. Don't come any f-further. By order of CyberConnect y-you are to stop y-your resistance!" The only reason the others weren't moving was out of fear, plain and simple. Zan could barely breathe through it, such a palpable thing in the air.

For a second time seemed to stand still, an eerie calm lying over the area like a thick blanket. They all seemed to hold their breath in unison, waiting for an attack they were sure was coming. Zan gave it to them. The werewolf moved forward in a blur of motion, blood spraying in an arch along the wall, the leader's neck in his jaw, his head ripped from the rest of his slumped body; all of this happening before many of them could blink. With the narrow alleyway disabling any sort of sweeping, forward onslaught from them, Zan was free to take advantage of the bottleneck maneuver he had forced them into. Twin Blade weapons fall to the ground with a clatter, their user following them soon after with five large, deep wounds cut diagonally upwards through the thick metal of his armor. The rest of the unit had begun some fruitless venture towards him, steel and other metals glimmering in the sunlight as they flashed upwards. Zan grabbed the wrists of the Heavy Axeman nearest to him before he could complete the strike, slamming his head forward in a headbut far more successful than its use on a giant; the poor Knight's brain practically liquefying when it tossed back against the inside of the kid's skull. The next, another Blademaster, managed a shallow cut along Zan's chest that (thanks to the Ap Vorv) healed almost as soon as it was made. Grabbing the left side of the offending player's face, Zan smashed the right side up against the alley wall, practically flattening the Knight's head in the process.

It was Zan's turn to go on the defensive for a small while after that, a duo of Twin Blades from the little alley brigade flailing and charging at him with disgust and blatant hatred. Wow, how far had the Administration brainwashed these lackeys? Well, the Heavy Blade supposed they wouldn't be very good lackeys if they weren't brainwashed in some way or another. Sad thing was, these were the all-human version of the Knights. At least, the ones not too insane. When they had fought him back into the darkness, Zan closed his eyes and removed their target, backing up far faster than they could follow. And yet they still came. Good sheep. A smile spreading the best it could on his muzzle, he crouched back against the wall and sprung forward with new momentum, the impact alone splintering the one on the left's sternum and killing the partner on her right only when the man's head had bounced off the cobblestone of the alley. Now immersed in the light once more, a rather bold Heavy Blade called out some battle cry about swearing to kill all hackers, blah blah, before he tried to start a Calamity attack. Nuh uh. Not on Zan he wouldn't. Simply grabbing the kid's waist before he could properly react, the werewolf heaved him into the air several dozen feet, the Knight's screams fading while he rose several feet past the rooftops of the nearby buildings, only to pick up volume as he came back down. Stepping back, Zan's Beast reveled in the sickly crunch of his opponent's body hitting the ground. Seven down and it looked like there were only three more left in this squadron. Goody.

These three, sadly, had decided to high tail it at the upheaved body of their companion. The last one to escape the alley was yanked back in by the back of his armor, yelling for help from his friends as he was dragged kicking and flailing into the pitch black patch Zan had continued to use in the very back of the alleyway. The Knight's friends, being so, had indeed come after him but stopped like the cowards they were just outside of that same area of darkness. Even when his agonizing screams sounded only inches from them, turning to bloody gurgles, turning further into a silence only pierced by the sounds of ripping flesh...even then they didn't move. Paralyzed with fear, their weapons slacked and slipping from their grip, they still stared forward even when the arm of their fellow Knight flung out past their heads with no body attached. For a while nothing happened, a few seconds of torturous nothing before two very large arms shot out from the darkness and pulled the remains of that strike team into the darkness to meet a similar fate. When Zan emerged from the darkness once more, fur coated in crimson and wilderness in his eyes, he took a moment to evaluate himself. The Beast didn't mind the lack of forceful control it had over him anymore. Oh, no. It was having much more fun watching Zan really merge with it, fuse with it. Day by day the werewolf was losing his humanity. The more he indulged, the more he felt himself slip away. How long would it be until he was useless to the Freedom Fighters? How long would it be until he was the one they had to kill? Luckily enough, they had people like Nighthand and Nall. Zan wouldn't last two seconds against them.

Using his easy demise at the hands of his leaders as a comfort blanket, Zan peered out ahead to see another large group of Knights having gathered in lieu of the mass of screams and violence that had erupted from the seemingly harmless alleyway. Their eyes, however, glowed a dead black and screamed of stupidity. Joy. With no bottleneck to help him against such a large number, Zan would have to be a touch more strategic this time around. The natural thing was, of course, to take out the Wavemaster at their center. Even as thicket scratched into the lycanthrope's back with the call of the Juk spell, Zan rocketed toward the man. The Wavemaster's innards spilled onto the ground the moment the Heavy Blade appeared before him, the Knight-doll simply slacked onto his knees and flattened on top of his own insides. Perty. Zan's hands clenched on top of the heads of the Knight to the corpse’s right and the one to his left. A twin jerk of his hands and a snap of their spinal cords and two more bodies were added to the pile. The carnage was growing repetitive and, yet, Zan still lived for it. It was a sad day indeed.

Reeling back from a sudden impact inbetween his eyes, his vision splotching with stars, Zan shook his head and did his best to put everything back into focus. It had been a blunt force, thank God, but it had been dealt with some serious power to back it. A Heavy Axe, no doubt. Scrambling back, swatting his arms in front of him while his vision quickly began to restore itself, Zan found one missing from their approaching ranks. When the axe sank into his kidney from the back of him, his Ap Vorv having run out, Zan knew he was in trouble. The hot rush of blood welled out from the wound, flowing even more freely when the weapon was pulled out from its...holster. Spinning on his heels, one hand gripping the rather deeply set wound, Zan dealt his revenge when all five of his fingers appeared out of the kid's back, freed back into the air with a wet pop and the Knight's fallen form. With the Ap Vorv spent, his body was healing even slower than it had before. A side effect to over amplifying that ability was burning it out a bit. Not as much as a Blood item would have, no, but it was enough to have the blood loss he was suffering be significant. Growling at the slow-approaching Knights, the black-eyed wonders seeming to be trying to slowly wrap around him with their five remaining members. Knowing he'd regret it later, Zan called his Life Sword into his hand and watched as it grew to accommodate his height; another temporary eight foot something blade for him to use. He did two things then, burning out the rest of his SP with a re-cast Ap Vorv on himself and an Ol Repth from the blade.

The werewolf felt better, much better, but could still feel the wound stitching itself up. Zan was good by himself. No arrogance there, believe it or not. But, sad thing was, he could only last so long. He needed his friends and he was not afraid to admit it. The lycanthrope knew he had to clean out the rest of this unit and find a way to grab the attention of the rest of the Freedom Fighters so he could guide whoever was coming to his location. An idea already forming, he let it finish doing just that as he matched strikes with a Heavy Blade, using its blatant lack of an IQ to practically use the man as a meat shield and prevent his buddies from any real circular formation about him. When the Knight's use had ended, Zan impaled him with the Life Sword and used the ironically named blade to bring only death as he yanked it free with a large slice upward. If Zan could use the Gan skill on the blade, he could find a way to clear out the four remaining, but the lack of SP and any Mage Soul's prevented such a thing. He would have to do this the old fashioned way. Several moments later and Zan stood at the head of several bodies (several without their heads) with his own series of wounds, not all of which were stitching up as nicely as they should have. The Ap Vorv was helping, but it was only burning out his system further. He could only go so far. It was time to get the others' attention and, leaping on the roof of the nearest building with a single pound, he turned to face the crowd.

Flashmail!
To: Reinier
From: Zan
Subject: Heads Up

I'm going to make it a bit easier for you guys to find the rally point. Keep your ears perked.

-Zan

Flashmail! Ended


Taking in a deep breath, orange-amber eyes coming to a close as his muzzle lofted into the air, Zan let out that breath in a long and war-song-sounding howl comprised of but one note. He didn't keep it up for long, but if Pebbles hadn't seen him by then, he wouldn't find him at all. Sighing the best he could in his current form, he could only hope they'd get there soon. Zan was running out of fuel.

Come on, Reinier...

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

This Post:

Knights: 10
Controlled: 9
Reborn: 0
Mages: 0
Insects: 0
Giants: 0
Imps: 0

Total:

Knights: 28 / 40
Controlled: 30 / 30
Reborn: 30 / 30
Mages: 8 / 20
Insects: 16 / 30
Giants: 5 / 10
Imps: 12 / 30
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).

User avatar
Cypher
Exalted Player
Posts: 235
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 11:01 pm
Location: Who am I...?
Contact:

Post by Cypher » Wed Jun 14, 2006 6:03 am

After three buildings crossed, hopped and dashed over, Cypher no longer possessed a clear view of his comrade, although with good reason. Phoenix was a gravity user, that is, his ‘special’ ability in ‘The World’ was full mastery of gravity. Albeit such abilities were indeed illegal, and went against everything he stood for, Phoenix possessed both the lack of fault, as well as an unbreakable bond of comradeship, making the other end of the relationship feel as if their faith and dependency was not misplaced.

”Thinking like an admin again?”

A deep male voice interrupted his thoughts, and unfortunately, his jump as well. Midst his momentum gain, the interruption caused Cypher to loose focus on his intentions, causing all balance to be lost as he took flight. The haphazard jump resulted in a nasty fall, breaking his aerial form and preventing the jump to be properly executed. As he was in between two buildings, he would soon find himself the victim of a long, nasty fall, one which would take a tool on his health, as well as severely stop his progress to meet the others.

Fortunately for him, the long time spent away from the game commonly referred to as his second life did not affect his instincts. Both arms shot forward and grabbed, barely holding onto the building’s ledge. His negative descent would quickly be hauled by the sheer strength used to hold himself up, although at time the notion of slipping appeared due to the weight he brought along, which caused his dangling legs to constantly shift left and right, a situation which severely altered his ability to hold himself down.

It took a full minute before he could stabilize himself, loosing Phoenix for good. Yelling out for help was not a good choice, since many knights still surrounded the area, making their presence known by the loud noise their foot wear produced while frantically moving about.

The search had turned intense as demands turned into threats. Even amongst allies, the pressure to succeeded was such that the lines alliances created were often blurred. As he attempted to return safely onto the ledge, several fights broke out which caught his eyes. Ironically, all the brawls were between the knights, all born from pressure and unnecessary accusation. Letting out a small chuckle, Cypher pushed up with all his might.

”I found something interesting regarding your item.”

It took Cypher some time, but he finally realized the mysterious voice which nearly caused him a virtual broken leg was none other than his admin friend, the one which re-granted his admin powers and aided in returning into this world. Further instructions came from him regarding talking back, stating all he needed was to use the mic on his headset, since he had enable a voice activated program to run on the background, one which was secure and untraceable.

Cypher gave it a try as he finished getting up, simply yelping the usual ‘testing, testing’ phrase common for those testing audio equipment. Once his friend could understand him well, Cypher proceeded to crack a joke, as well as state that was the first time he had heard his voice. From that observation, several more jokes ensued, in the end resulting in both men laughing. However, the laugh in Cypher’s ear was cut short by a gasp and a warning.

Yet Cypher did not need to pay attention to see what it was. Floating through the air at high speeds was a heavy axe, weapon anchored behind him, ready to be unleashed onto the unsuspecting ex-admin. Instincts kicked in as Cypher’s feet danced to his left, allowing his body to remain uncut as the weapon grazed his face. Contrasting his flowing movement was the brutish jerks of the axe, whose weapon entered the building’s roof and early demolished a quarter of it. Under the power of his blow went the contents that constituted the roof, slowly crumbling away, creating a gapping hole.

Cypher gasped at the power his opponent carried, and gasped even more when he realized who his opponent was. At first it was hard to believe, but the large, oozing hole in his chest and hauntingly similar looks ruled out coincidence; he was now facing the knight which he had previously purged. A small wave of shock washed over the blade master, enough to caused hindrance in evading, although he managed to avoid death, despite how fine the line was that he crossed.

Each attack the axe delivered augmented in strength, making haphazard blocking attempts to dodge a harder task with time’s passing. Also, all strikes were of an up-to-down nature, causing major damage to the roof each time a dodge was successful. Soon, most of the roof was destroyed, and the building underneath followed suit. During this dodge and run style of combat, he delivered several strikes to the abdomen, much like before, but found this tactic no longer carried the same amount of effectiveness as before.

Cypher was amazed at the fact he had been able to survive such a digital assault. Didn’t the purge equal the data drain in power? Wasn’t this new item going to help him? Why were these knights still here? So many questions, yet not one answer allowed itself to be seen. Just when desperation began to take fruition, his friend’s voice brought a very pleasing answer.

”It’s an admin tool!”

Before Cypher could react to the new revelation, he observed his entire equipment set, as well as the glove’s bar, was gone. Obviously there was protest, but all he heard from his friend was to trust him, that he had figured the item out. Furthermore, he needed a full minute before Cypher could have his equipment back, and that until then, he would need to fend the man off.

Easier said than done

And indeed it was. Loosing his equipment loosing his stat boosts, although luckily for him he had cast an Ap Do as soon as the man’s presence was made. Seeing the current rooftop they were on would no longer served as a proper battle ground, Cypher rushed off, gaining momentum in order to jump off towards the next building. Such an endeavor reminded him of his younger days, where was very active and athletic, and enjoyment came with every step, jump and hop he took.

As he took flight so did the axe, trailing only a few inches from Saipher. His augmented strength and speed was horrifying, especially for someone for his level. As such, it was obvious he was no longer the man Cypher had fought before, and instead a horrible edit, a controlled puppet with a horrendous master pulling the strings. Yet regardless of the foreign connection, he had chosen Cypher as his opponent, and there was no way to avoid the battle.

It had almost been three minutes, and there was still nothing from his friend. Cypher began to worry, and often wondered if his end had come early. Such a thought reinforced himself when he found dodging an impossible task, being forcibly thrown on the ground, pinned by a heavy foot, and subject to torture before decapitation. Now the blade of the axe dangled above his head, just over his neck. Cypher closed his eyes and waited for it to come…

”Now, use it!”

The voice that saved him…Cypher’s eyes opened at the sound of his friend’s voice, alert, ready, and hopeful once more. His re-entry into ‘reality’ was shocking, for he now starred into the eyes of a surprised and shocked axe master, whose gaze fixated itself upon Cypher’s left arm. It seemed the axe’s path was completely stopped, detained slowly by Cypher’s appendage.

And where his appendage once stood now appeared a large, ‘arm’; such a description was the only thing he could come up with at the moment, since the arm was not merely an arm, but covered in the same kind of digital imagery when he attempted a drain or purge. However, the size was bigger, extending almost to his shoulder. The idea he had stopped such a menacing attack gave him the notion that the new ‘item’ passed power extending past that of the axe. With this notion cemented into his conscious, Cypher swung his arm, as if swatting the axe away from him.

And it worked!

The knight’s body took flight, resembling a rag doll with no control over its movements. Such was the force behind the push that the knight flew back towards the previous building the fought on. Consequently, a combination of his mass, momentum, and the destruction he caused on the roof earlier resulted in the knight’s body tearing through the building, plummeting down several feet before hitting the solid ground of Mac Anu. Some of the building caved in with him, although the building’s size was enough to maintain most of its original integrity.

Cypher’s mouth dropped open, revealing a black, gapping void of disbelief. Such power! But where had it come from? As if reading his mind the friend would answer, revealing the item’s secrets.

”The item isn’t hacked, but in fact is a prototype admin tool, used as a more convenient way for work to be done. However, the uniqueness comes from the fact it’s not a fixed statistic, but instead attaches itself to the player, and evolves according to that player’s potential and power.”

Cypher remained awed in silence, however finding the inspiration to rise and observe his work. A mere flick of his arm and half a building was demolished. The power induced a stupor filled state, as if the power had made him drunk. Yet his conscious was ever clear, aware of the million possibilities. As a pair pf crimson dots scanned the building, the glove began to adopt a heavy glow, similar to when he first attained the item, where he learned to release such energy build ups in the form of small, almost unseen balls.

However, the growth in power his glove was experiencing was nothing like his previous encounters, and in fact was at least tripled, although such a sum only increased with time’s passing. Part of Cypher was ever excited for the newly attained power, yet the other half of him was scared, because he knew he was unable to control it. And with each increase in his power there was an increase in his doubt.

That is, until he was told to fire it off in the same manner done so before. So with that in mind, Cypher stepped up to the edge and began to target the building. No longer did he detain the power increase, but in fact allowed it to flourish, to the point where he could no longer keep his arm still. In order to proceed with control, Cypher’s other hand grabbed the one with the glove, using all his strength to keep it in place. When the power grew to limits Cypher established as the brink of control, he aimed, prayed, and fired.

The new attack resembled the purge, but lacked the extra tentacles that induced all the nasty status ailments. In place of them was a larger energy gathering, taking shape of a colorless white ball. This form remained for a few more seconds before the beam itself was released onto the building.

Impossible!

What once resembled the building now began to crumble by the destruction his glove caused. The explosion took resemblance to that of a high powered bomb, causing a sort of implosion at first before releasing all its energy. Those in the root town would experience a blinding white flash for a few seconds, as well as a small ripple of energy before returning to normality. Cypher remained blind for almost a minute, and missed out on most of what he had caused, yet judging by the constant crunching and cracking, as well as the energy wave that knocked him on his back, he knew he had done something big.

Once the effects of the flash wore off, Cypher crawled back to the ledge, and to his awe and amazement found a large, smocking crater, with pieces of the building scattered around the area. The structure itself was destroyed, no longer retaining even the smallest hint of its original form, and served as a reminder of his power. An attempt to find the knight midst the rubble was impossible, as all he could see was smoking pieces of concrete, and a few shattered pieces of wood. Cypher began to celebrate his victory, but was soon cut short by his friend.

”Stop. You are in a very bad situation, possibly the worst given you were trying to come back. My best advice now is for you to leave. However, knowing you, you won’t do that…several admin and unknown players have gathered at the bridge area. No, they aren’t you friends…these people, needless to say, are against both your cause and the administration. Also, the enemies faced have increased, and serve new masters. I’ve intercepted a message that was unprotected coming from one of the ‘good guys.’ I say you head it if you want to stay alive. I can’t stay on anymore, since this is no longer secure. I’ll contact you soon.”

And with that, the connection was cut. No more advice would be given from his friend, left alone to wander the battered world, where enemies were uncertain, carrying hidden intentions most likely non beneficial for the blade master. Still, he had his newly discovered item, an admin tool, used only by admins, made by admins, for admins…

Which mean the person he drained was an admin.

Oh no…

Several waves of regret and confusion began to sweep over Cypher as he pondered the results of his actions. Such a situation like draining an admin was the last thing he wanted, since now all attention would be drawn towards. He began to worry and regret, but the constant beeping of a flash mail interrupted his emotional storm. At first he was confused by the message, but quickly remembered how his friend stated a message was intercepted, and should be used to his advantage. Without hesitation, he opened and read.

To: Freedom Fighters
From: Reinier
Subject: Finding Us

Currently, it's Rayo, Dien, Canti, Zhao, and me. We're off looking for Zan, at the moment. If you follow the dust storm, the stronger it gets the closer you are to us. We're going to get together and plan our escape... somehow. We're all traveling to the back of the city, so start heading that way.


Rayo and Dien!

Two somewhat recognizable names, albeit encounters with them were limited to dueling and questing. Still, with the presence of Phoenix, it was most likely Nall and Nighthand were there as well, causing new hope to shower over the blade master. Leaving the building in shambles, Cypher moved out in hopes of finding Phoenix and reuniting with the group.

---
This post: Killed 1 Knight

Knights: 29 / 40
Controlled: 30 / 30
Reborn: 30 / 30
Mages: 8 / 20
Insects: 16 / 30
Giants: 5 / 10
Imps: 12 / 30
Wishlist: Ends of Earth (11 BM), Black Sharp Angel Wings, BM Swords (Rare/Common)

New sig coming soon!

Rayo
Exalted Player
Posts: 485
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2003 7:21 pm

Post by Rayo » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:36 am

Soon after Reinier’s arrival came Ryok and a not so furry Hijinx according to the user ID tag. That left only Zan to really find, as Nighthand and Nall weren’t so far off and were more than capable of defending themselves. Nearly the whole group was reunited, but no one had an escape plan yet. The Chaos Gates were still too risky to take the chance, was there even another way out? The gates and anything else the hackers used probably would lead to Yamiyo or somewhere equally dreadful. What of the administrators however…in all this time, were they able to establish an alternative exit strategy? Their numbers were being slaughtered the entire battle and now even manipulated…couldn’t they set up a different gate that could transfer them to somewhere safer, like Dun Loireag or Carmina Gadelica? If the administrators were the only ones with a barrier, surely Nall could get them out of there. Hadn’t his program, Nayru, been able to do so last time? Still, there was no way of knowing until one found out.

The knights wouldn’t supply the information knowingly to those regarded as hackers, but what if they didn’t know who they were dealing with? Knowing what such a plan would require, the mage knew that a large group would only get in the way. They’d be getting Zan shortly, and then everyone would be trying to find a way out.


“Reinier, I’ll leave everyone with you! I’m going to scout out a possible exit route. I’ll find you guys once I’m done.”

With that the player activated one of his speed charms, embracing the feeling of being as light as a feather before bounding off, weaving through the crowds of opposing forces. Step one of the plan, find your shield. In any battle, some form of defense was always necessary; whether it was a physical or a mental form of protection didn’t make any difference as long as it fulfilled it’s role.

Turning into a dead end, the lightning user made it just in time for one of the mage monsters to fire off another earth spell. Gan Don…that left the archer from the Knights of War on the ground, crippled practically. What luck, the wizard had expected a longer wait before such a convenient scenario was available. So far all of the possible targets were heavier classes with much better stamina. There were a pair of the Earth Mages, but the monsters couldn’t move around much in such a tight space.


“Rai Kruz, Rai Kruz!”

Centered on both of the creatures, the balls of light slammed into the pair enough force to kill them instantly, while remaining a safe distance from the soldier. After all, that armor would be gone if the knight were to turn into a pitiful ghost.

The steady and constant sound of steps stopped right above the archer. After a moment’s silence, the concussion to his head paralyzed the light classed warrior, and a bit of a chill as all of the official armor of one of Kamui’s loyal soldiers was…removed. Removing his own cloak to ensure a better fit, Rayo squeezed on the breastplate, tin boots, and the less than stylish head piece. The emerald cloak was tucked into his golf bag for safe keeping and slung it back over a soldier. The Great Elite went to the very same place as the wand though, storing it since it would give away his secret within an instant. The uniform was that of an archer, so while a quiver and golf bag resembled each other, a bow and staff shared no such resemblance. It wouldn’t be all that functional, but the bow was picked up as well as the single arrow it’s previous owner had drawn but never launched, most likely to the falling stones.

Continuing to run along, the ‘knight’ halted as some ‘comrades’ were faring poorly against another one of the Frost Giants. A fellow wave master seemed to be commanding the five blade masters, but the experienced knight seemed almost paused, again and again. Either flash mails were rushing in, or that player was dealing with too much lag to be very effective. Stepping out from the shadows and tossing a quick salute, Rayo went about asking his question, wishing to address his important concern.


“Sir! My squad has been hit, they’ve all been wiped out. Nothing we did was at all effective against that small yet vastly more efficient and tactical group, sir! Should we be retreating? Has the captain issued any orders, sir? Sir, what will we do, sir?”

Now, obviously Auth had never taken any acting lessons in his lifetime, but saluting and saying ‘sir’ a lot was the only thing that seemed natural when you didn’t know your unit’s name, or the names or codes you aught to be familiar with. Facing the truth, it was clear that subterfuge was best left to someone else. Still, how smart could some of these soldiers even be?

“Calm down, damnit! I’m busy with all of these other damn units that lost their own commanders! Lord Kamui would never order a retreat. A lesser administrator might consider it, but our captain would surely slay any foe before her. No knight here would ever think of leaving, not with what Lord Kamui might do. Wait…why do you carry a bow and store a wand in your carrying case?”

Deception worked a whole lot better when you didn’t over think things and plan for the enemy officer noticing your uniform design before your two contrasting weapons of choice. Fortunately, good luck within bad luck balanced those sort of things off. That, or a distracted commander not noticing the titan’s club smashing down from above. Either one worked.

Snapping out of ‘sir’ mode, Rayo hopped back to create distance between the creature and his own vitals. The four remaining blade masters were bouncing all around, delivering small cuts here and there, but were ultimately unable to pierce the thick armor. The occasional skill or spell used wasn’t even taking advantage of their elemental 101s. Water based skills and wood spells were not the way to go against something like that. Such a display was too sad to watch, even from the enemy. Swapping helmets with the commander while no one was paying attention worked rather well. It had spilled off during the impact with the tree trunk like weapon, so it was easily accessible for the imposter. Sure the heights were different, all of the armor didn’t match, their voices wouldn’t be even close, but if these low leveled soldiers were as incompetent as they appeared, maybe everything would work out like one could hope.


“Pull it together troops! We, the brave knights of Kamu--, Lord Kamui must be more clever than this brute. Assail at our foe with the power of flames in the form of magic! Go, go, go!”

Sure enough, soldiers trained through fear acted much faster than when acting on the vague commands. None even questioned someone who looked sort of like a knight, that club was what they were all focusing upon.

“Fire Tempest! Meteor Swarm! Flame Blast! Vak Don!”

Between scrolls and natural magic, the slightly wounded monster finally spiked down in health. Magic defense and fire were not strong points for the creature, and the follow up of two more Vak Dons and a Vak Rom continued the pattern, notably short one more caster within a few seconds time. Each round of spells left one less to aid in the barrage, until the entire group ceased to cast, walk, or live for that matter.

By that point, the only live target with range was the one giving orders. Thankful for the presence of his Ninja Anklet as the borrowed boots would have made changing leg armor a pain, Rayo dealt the finishing blow, burning away with BiVak Rom.

Entirely drained of SP and all alone for at least a moment, the wave master gave up on his current plan. The knights would know nothing, the armor would amount to little. Discarding it all, the spell caster did not bother to retrieve his cloak from his bag, but simply readied his favorite weapon and ran off to rejoin the group. The speed charm would wear off soon enough, leaving the mage trapped behind enemy lines.


ooc:
This Post:
Knights: 7 / 40
Controlled: 0 / 30
Reborn: 0 / 30
Mages: 2 / 20
Insects: 0 / 30
Giants: 1 / 10
Imps: 0 / 30

Total:
Knights: 36 / 40
Controlled: 30 / 30
Reborn: 30 / 30
Mages: 10 / 20
Insects: 16 / 30
Giants: 6 / 10
Imps: 12 / 30
Rayo
Lv.47 Archer 745HP/311SP
Bell, the Silver Grunty of Thunder
Skills/Spells-Shocking Arrow of Voltage(30), Arrow of the Burning Stars(10), MeRai Rom(40), Rai Kruz(10), La Repth(20), Rip Maen(40), MeRai Kruz(20), GiVak Kruz(20), MeRai Don(20), Rig Saem(15)
Weapon/Armor/Book-Golden Royal Bow/Thunder Torque, Thunder Cloak, Able Ring, Ivory Greaves/Thunder Magic
Wishlist: YL Fukuoka, Stormlore, Winter Stone, Silver Grunty

User avatar
Nighthand
Master of Games
Posts: 1265
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:23 pm
Class: Bladesmage
Location: ...Tracking...please wait...

Post by Nighthand » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:42 pm

Nighthand was having a heck of a time in this battle, though notably less trouble than he could have been having. The party was pulling it's weight well, well enough anyways. They weren't dead yet. A fact that was probably quite irritating to the Elites.

After killing the imps that Hijinx chose to shoot off at him, He retreated a little ways, leaping up onto the rooftops to get a better view of the battlefield. Perhaps he could have some effect as artillery, perhaps not.

From the ground, it was hard to tell just what was going on more than a few feet away. Engrossed in battle, one couldn't get the full picture. Even up on the rooftops, with the chaos ranging below, he didn't feel safe. Royce wasn't on the buildings anymore, but was down below, with the other Elites.

And truly, it was chaos. There was nothing short of total war going on below him. The lines of the enemy had been blurred by the combat, the monsters mingling freely now. They didn't attack each other, but they didn't care much about each other either. The Imps especially. Several of them were raining Rai Don upon the masses below, heedless of whether they hit their allies, their enemies, or each other. He watched as one of the dark insects sizzled and died in the fury of one of the imp's spells.

Worst, perhaps, were the elites themselves. Once the troops were in, they seemed to care less about them. Their goal wasn't specific; killing the Freedom Fighters was only the ideal, now. With the Admins here, and attacking, they killed. And killed. And killed. Flashes of light and faint screams heralded Royce's presence, destroying all in her path. Chill winds drifted over the battlefield, the main lane of the town, as Melzas littered the area with frozen corpses. Klive's section of the town was alive in flames; all who strayed into the area were ignited. The only things that moved within that inferno were the zombies that rose, to fight on the other side.

The crashes of thunder were almost constant, and deafening, as Rugudorull littered the town with high level spells. PhaRai Don crashed down again and again, scattering corpses everywhere. Xenobia alone was doing nothing; she barely even moved, in fact. After her scuffled with Kamui, she merely waited for those dumb enough to attack her. When they did, as they were sure to, they found themselves unable to move and then, heedless of the input of their controllers, beginning to slaughter their own kind. Garaa's quarter was perhaps the most dangerous, as it was shrouded in shadow. Nighthand had seen what the hacker could do with the shadows, and the roars and screams coming from that darkened area were a testament to the destruction they could cause.

The sky was black with smoke and clouds, flickering with lightning. Tritoch was up there, somewhere. The Wavemaster Three was only evident when spells of his own lit up the ground, as destructive as those of the Elites. He, too, was heedless of taking out his own kind. Kamui was a red blur, selective in her slaughter, destroying everything she could to limit the control the elites had over the situation. She seemed wary of attacking the elites directly, after her scuffle with Xenobia, though no doubt it infuriated her. Kelvin too was in the sky, skillfully swooping around, dodging all but the most predictive of assaults. Magic didn't bother him, apparently; Nighthand watched as the winged Admin flew right through a down-crashing spell and it simply flowed around him like water. Magical tolerance, probably. He, too, was selective; he singled out the corrupted and revived knights and destroyed them. Even Balmung was in the fray, though less impressively equipped in the way of skills. Even though, he was holding his own against an impressively large mob of darkness insects. His blade flashed in what little light there was as he seemed to dance among them, using the acrobatics of the blademaster to his advantage.

Nighthand's gaze rose and he witnessed another building fall. Dozens of soldiers of the battle below were crushed, some wounded and crying for help. No help came for them. No help could come for any of them, now.

Half of the town was in rubble. Buildings were fallen, buildings were on fire. The bridge had a great crack running through it, and looked as though it would fall into the river at the first chance. The river itself rushed around rubble, a violent swirl in the wake of thrashing fighters and stolid corpses. The violence of the peaceful river was as the town that took it's name. Mac Anu was filled with violence and death.

When he could bear it no longer, Nighthand decided once more to take action. He ran his fingers along the inner lining of his cloak, along the many pockets sewn there, to find the two particular scrolls he was looking for. A pair of Meteor Swarm items came to his hands, and he quickly chose his targets. A pair of Frost Giants were standing some distance away. Activating the scrolls one after another, each giant found itself pelted on the shaggy skull with fireballs. Furious, the looked around and spotted him on the roof, the most obvious nearby source of fire. His Corona Blade was glowing frightfully bright, a beacon to them.

With twin roars, the giants swept their clubs in front of them, clearing the way to reach him. Hapless knights were crushed under their feet as they rushed at him, and he grinned. The anticipation of what he would next do was enough to overcome even the depressing destruction the town now faced.

The giants neared and roared again, raising their clubs to smash down on his low roof. He shifted to speed and watched the clubs slowly descend, and climbed onto one as it neared him. He dashed down it and alighted on the shoulder of the giant as both clubs slammed into the building where he had stood moments before.

”Death Bringer!” He called out, shifting to strength as he did so. It stuck him then, as his blade dug into the shoulder of the giant and he poised upside down, balanced for the moment before the skill took full effect, that State Shift was probably the best and most reliable of his powers. It allowed him to shift between speed and strength at will, sacrificing one for the other. It allowed him to do such things as the speedy maneuver he had just completed... and the devastatingly powerful one he was about to unleash.

The skill took full hold and he flipped, all his weight and all his power driving the blade full circle and into the beast again. Bone splintered and cracked with the sound of a block of wood splitting, and he found himself on the ground, the split halves of the giant toppling to either side.

The second had finally realized that something was up, that it's strike had done nothing but damage a wall, and it spotted him at its feet. Another roar and it send it's club crashing down on his head.

Or would have, anyways, if not for his action. Nighthand's blade rose in his hand's, glowing bright with it's internal heat, and sheared cleanly through the club. The top half continued, smashing through a mob of knights that had been fighting nearby. The giant stumbled, looking at the bare handle of it's club, dumbfounded.

Nighthand took the opportunity to swing yet again, activating the other skill inherent in the blade as he did so. Vak Divider took a huge bite out of his SP, but that didn't matter. He didn't need to use more than one anyways. His blade, which was barely suppressing it's fire as it was, burst into ragged flames. The heat was such that he might have dropped the blade, had any of it actually touched his skin. The giant, though, felt it plenty. That is, for the few remaining seconds of it's life, before the blade swung, passing through the monster's thick belly and slicing it in two.

The fire flickered and died back to it's standard dull glow, like the banked embers of a bonfire

Impressive. Too bad you're not done yet.
I see you're back from... wherever it was in my head you were. Have a nice vacation?
Not exactly. Something odd has happened to my abilities. They aren't the same ones you knew. I've been trying to find out just what they are, now, but I haven't yet. I'm sure you don't want to test them in a battle as important as this, so I've been quiet.
I see. Well then... we'll do something about that later. For now, I've got a war to win here.

Silverblade's presence comforted him, somewhat. With the AI, the personality, there... he wouldn't be alone in this fight, even if everyone else left. Though sometimes it made him wonder how exactly it would work out when he returned to the Real World.

Taking a deep breath, the heavyblade sighed. There was still a lot of work to do. A pair of knights, the normal admin kind, were advancing on him.

“Stop, hacker! This will be your last batt-AUGH!” came the voice of the first, before Nighthand's blade sliced him in two. It seemed like that was happening a lot lately... slicing things in two. Then again, with a weapon that was basically a large metal plate with sharp edges, there wasn't much else to do with it.

He didn't even bother attempting to reason with the knights. They hadn't listened to them before and they wouldn't listen to him now. It was a moot point. The second fell before he had time to scream.

Nighthand looked around for more to fight, and was rewarded with a pack of insects. The strange, man-sized creatures surrounded him, pincers and mandibles clacking audibly. Nine of them, a large pack, out for his blood.

The heavyblade didn't hesitate. While the insects surrounded him and prepared to feast, he lunged forward, his wide blade splitting the carapace of the first insect. It let out a high-pitched shriek and writhed, while he yanked his blade from it's body. He spun and twisted his blade, crushing the abdomen of the second insect as it approached. The third and fourth came at him from opposite sides, and he dashed forward again, ducking under their sharp claws. Bowling the nearest insect over with a shoulder, he used it to trip the next one, and slammed his blade down on both of them. A dark gritty blood stained the broken cobblestones. Insect number five fell quickly, an upward slash taking of one arm and half of it's chitinous head. The rest scattered, in search of easier prey.

Finally, with the heat of battle wearing off in his immediate vicinity, Nighthand noticed that he'd gotten a flashmail. A quick scan and he composed one of his own.

Flasmail
To: Freedom Fighters
From: Nighthand

Good plan. I'll stick around up here for a bit longer as a distraction; don't worry about me. Nall, stick with them. Try to keep the worst of the baddie's away.


Odd, how he'd risen such as to be giving orders to Nall. Nighthand shrugged and spread his wings, once more hopping on top of a building nearby. The town was much as it was before, though if anything a bit more destroyed. More buildings had fallen.

A distraction... hopefully that won't get me killed.

Another finger running along his cloak's lining and he pulled forth another scroll. This one was different from the previous two, though, as it was filled with darkness. The scroll was a Chaos Spell, appropriate for the situation. The level two darkness would make a fine starting point.

He activated the scroll and immediately reached for the energy, letting the spent item itself disappear. His first thought was to split it; form this one spell into many, and release them everywhere. (8) The effect pulsed from his grasp, though, and the spell stayed itself.

Oh well. Why have a lot of small spells, when you can have one big one? He twisted up the energy in the air, knotting it, forcing it back on itself. (18) It grew and grew, feeding itself more than he'd thought it would. The energy seemed to vibrate, to reach a peak, and he released the spells, now level three in it's power.

A great black rune traced itself on the ground below, taking up quite a large area. Thankfully enough, it was a distance away from Garaa, who would have no trouble taking control of the energy. The edges of the rune cracked and gave way to blackness, and a great wave of the black energy shot from the ground. A sound like a long dull whine filled the air as the wave tapered into a pillar, into a thread, and disappeared. The walls fell to nothing, and the spell was gone, leaving nothing but dead and dying in it's wake.

Nighthand grinned, and spread his wings to their fullest. Leaping off the building, he glided into the center of the now-cleared blast area, and furled his wings once more.

”Come and get me, men and beasts!” he cried, he blade held level with the ground, pointing this way and that.

Foolhardy, perhaps. But certainly a distraction.


-=-=--=-=-
ooc: Nall will now sort of be protecting the group. Figure he's taking things out that are the greatest threat, stopping that giant's final smash, that kind of thing. He can't be everywhere at once though.

This Post: (mostly from that final spell)
Knights: 7
Controlled: 5
Reborn: 6
Mages: 3
Insects: 8
Giants: 2
Imps: 6

Totals:
Knights: 43 / 40
Controlled: 35 / 30
Reborn: 36 / 30
Mages: 13 / 20
Insects: 24 / 30
Giants: 8 / 10
Imps: 18 / 30

Lord Canti
Exalted Player
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 3:58 pm
Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.

Post by Lord Canti » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:31 pm

(Chaos spread throughout Mac Anu and all the land, with Armageddon well at hand. The Elites and the Admins fought again and again with each other and all their minions, continuing to stir this horrible melting pot of confusion and strife. There lay betwixt...those who would call themselves Freedom Fighters. And indeed, it was thought to be a rather corny title for this group. But for the life of him, the one called Canti just couldn't think of a better name, not while all this fighting ensued. There seemed to be no end in sight, accept for the rear-end of beasts. While fighting, and keeping watch, the various members ofthe team that he was currently stuck with were Flashmailing everyone in their group with up-to-date messages on the situation. They were gathering and forming and splitting and still trying to find a way out of here. It was not working very well. And now, Nighthand was a living distraction. Was that wise, even with Nall here? Maybe, maybe not. All he knew was that any of the Knights that he'd seen lately were questioned at knifepoint for a way out, and then kicked into the river once they were done. It went like this...)

Canti: Alright, how are you and your friends planning on getting out of here?

"I'm not telling you, hacker scum!"

Canti: Wrong answer! Next!

*Sploosh!*

Canti: How are you planning to escape this mess?

"I'm here to fight, dammit! I'm not running from-"

Canti: Yeah, nice knowing you. Next!

*Sploosh!*

Canti: And you? You don't look very brave or stupid. How're you getting out?

"I don't even know! The Chaos Gate has never split like that!"

Canti: Not good enough! Thanks for playing! Good night!

*Sploosh!*

Canti: Damn... Nobody here has a fucking clue! You'd think they'd have a backup plan or SOMETHING...

(Nobody was paying attention, though, to the direction Canti was in. They were all too busy fighting and keeping an eye out for things that could harm the group. That had left Canti with less to do for the time being, but he was going to have to make up for that as he spotted...something. Those Knights he tossed into the drink were crawling out awfully fast as a mass headed over to his shoreline and climbed up...and up...and up...until it kinda' towered over him. Canti was now looking up into the nostrils of a Frost Giant.)

Canti: Oh, shazbot...

(In the real world, his MP3 selection suddenly shifted to music tracks from the old game, Shadow of the Colosssus, just as it took a ground-shaking step forward and raised its club to swing. The club came down, but there was fortunately a sudden lack of Canti where it struck, throwing up dust and dirt and a cold wind, but no Twin Blade bits. No, the Twin Blade had taken a dive in between its legs to get behind it before it could stomp him flat. They were slow, but powerful. That was always the way. Canti took a look at his guide with one eye one a secondary display while keeping his other peeper on the task at hand.)
Canti: Now, lemme see here... The guide says that its weakpoint is the head, but I have to climb up there by getting at the calf of the leg. Hmmm...

(Canti leapt at the back of the left leg-calf and grappled with it before stabbing one of his Dark Blades into it. Then, when the creature lurched, he did it again with the other and the Giant stumbled for a moment. This allowed him to jump up and climb to its back, using his knives like mountain cleats. The Frost Giant shook around to shake him off, but to no avail. Finally, he was on top and made a stab into the creature's head, a deep one. As soon as he withdraw, a gusher of black liquid spewed forth from the head for a moment and it began to buck and weave maddeningly! Canti was thrown from the head with his two Dark Blades still caught in the beast's head and neck, finding himself grappling the arm with no club in it with his Fuse Blades as the Giant tried to shoo him off.)

Canti: The guide...really...didn't...cover this!!

(Of course, it wasn't suppose to, but that didn't stop Canti, really. He let himself go and almost soared right over the Giant's head, but jabbed into its shoulder instead, stabbing into that appendage from there with practically insane glee. However, a sudden lurch threw him off his Fuse Blades and Canti selected his leftover Phantom Blades to stab into the back. Then, the Giant slammed into a building, which knocked Canti right off and into a wall, turning around to confront him as he was stuck with his Rusty Nails, which weren't all that good. He kicked the Frost Giant's shin in anger...and it hunched over, finally dead. As it disappeared, Canti's discarded knives clattered to the ground, forcing him to go and pick them all up. While he was busy with that, another Frost Giant came around the corner, and approached the Twin Blade. Canti was furious, because he noticed a triplet of Darkness Insects hopping onto a boat to get at his group next.)

Canti: Oh no you don't! Go kill THEM!!

(Mui Lei was cast, and the Frost Giant suddenly remembered that it had something else to take care of, like scuttling a boat full of bugs. The monster took a dive into the drink and took the bugs with him, who floated to the surface, dead, as the Giant went off on a rampage to kill anyone but Canti. However...)

*WHOMP!*

(He was still hit by a Gan Don spell from an Earth Mage, who zigged and zagged and... Canti suddenly got very pissed and held up a Speed Charm. Afterwhich, he closed the distance to the Mage and planted his boot where the sun don't shine. And after he realized that Earth Mages lack certain male organs, he noticed it had another one like it nearby and casted Juk Rom when they were near each other. After that, he used Thunder Dance to finish them off, getting a GiGan Zot in the process.)

Canti: Repth, Repth, Fuckin' Repth...

OOC: Three Insects, two Earth Mages, and one Frost Giant gave their lives so that I may make a decent post, with one other Giant Charmed for the moment. Let's hear a round of applause for our grand total!

THE TOTAL

Knights: 43 / 40
Controlled: 35 / 30
Reborn: 36 / 30
Mages: 15 / 20
Insects: 27 / 30
Giants: 9 / 10
Imps: 18 / 30
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.

Zan
Exalted Player
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:28 pm
Contact:

Post by Zan » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:09 pm

When the howl had come to an end and Zan's eyes had stopped scanning the crowd for his friends, he found the mischievous imps rather interested in his perched position on the rooftop of one of Mac Anu's buildings. Balls of light skirted around him and formed into these creatures, each one mass spamming Repth spells onto the werewolf. Aww, too bad he'd have to kill them. They simply wouldn't stop the healing spell. He was now patched up completely, sure, but the inner fatigue wasn't going away. Sad thing number two was the fact that his Ap Vorv had run out once more and he knew attacking the entire league of these creatures that had wrapped up around him would need some over-endurance. Hitting them was going to be hell. The lycanthrope's body was already screaming at him for overdoing the spell, for making him heal a little too rampantly. Hope in his chest was dwindling that they'd ever get out of this. The monsters simply didn't seem to be thinning. It was as if the Elites controlled an infinite number of the things and just spawned them out of boredom or something equally as ludicrous. He was about to make his first move when the image hit him.

----
The world was swimming in white, an ocean of pigment removed to leave her in the stark non-existence of the room. Huddled into the corner of this room, knees tucked tightly against her chest, the girl did her best not to relieve the weight in her chest and sob. The drugs had worn off, her transport from one facility to another finally complete. She was aware of the effects her drifting consciousness had wrought upon who she now knew to be the son of Zahn, Ceros of the Clan of the Umbral Tear. Her clan. Her people. The odd drug-induced, slipping coma she had experienced had actually given her knowledge of her past and for that she was grateful. She now knew who the man had been in her visions and why she had been so attracted to him when they had met in The World. He was probably the last ounce of her clan left on the planet, the last remnants of her pack. Even as she shook, draped in a poor excuse for a hospital gown, her teeth chattering at the cold of the room...her heart was warmed. She knew he was with her right then, hovering in her mind as she happily welcomed him in. Just knowing he was alive would make this all easier. She wouldn't feel quite so abandoned. Looking up, as if to look into his eyes, Lowen spoke.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted you from anything important...I just really wanted to hear your voice." Such relief in her voice, a wave of it practically slamming into Zan.

Don't be sorry, Lowen. Mac Anu is being torn about five or six new assholes at the moment, but I'm matched up with things that just want to heal me until I die. Or something. But...you. They aren't even letting you have clothes? Zan could feel the rage in his gut, in his heart coming to a boil. The imps would suffer for it, he'd vent alright.

"It's just the next step for them. Wolfsbane is more than they've told themselves to be, Conner. They know about our...real family. What we are. Well, what we could have been. They've found the Wyld cells in my body, the dormant ones you and me and all the borvos have. They don't believe me when I say I can't Change. They're treating me like a lab rat; seeing how I react to extreme cold, extreme heat, sonic sound, pain. If I really heal fast, how strong I am. Anything and everything. It's gone so beyond the whole deleting that file thing they have you doing...so beyond. God, I just..." Her will finally breaking, the beautiful, raven-haired girl slipped into tears, her body wracked with the sobs that consumed her. "I just...I don't know how much more I can take Conner. The pain, the abuse...I'm in Hell with no way out. God baby, everyday I wake up I hope to find you breaking in and scooping me up. I need the knight and the white horse ordeal right now, I'd give anything for it." And yet, Zan couldn't help her. It broke his heart to hear her cry, to hear her beg for salvation.

And I'd give anything to be in the real world again, Lowen. Anything. I hate feeling so helpless. And I'm sorry for yelling at you last time. I was in a tight spot with Atra. I... Thoughts were drifting, the imps still moving about him curiously, launching a Repth every now and then to see how he'd react.

"That's in the past. It couldn't be helped. I'm going insane in here, Conner. I'm breaking." He could feel the truth in her words and for a moment he forgot where he was, the war and the chaos filtering through their sympathetic connection and into her mind. "We'll talk later. Just stay alive, please. If I lose you I lose everything." Only then did her tears stop.

Alright, hang in there. I know it's a stupid thing to say, but try. I will find a way to get you out of there. Good bye, Lowen. Turning, he called the Flame Sword into his hand and prepared to strike.

"One more thing, in case we don't get the chance to speak again. I love you. Just know that." Sincerity, only sincerity in her words.

I love you too. I always will. And with that...their connection was severed.
----

With no more distractions, Zan slammed his sword will all his might into the one who had spammed him with Repth's the most, blatantly annoyed. It died upon impact and only then did Zan realize how stupid it was to kill his prime healer. Calling upon an Ap Do and an Ap Vorv (for a third time) to aid him in this assault to follow, he let the energies course through him. Once again his defense and his regeneration began to pump on over-time, but he didn't care. He didn't have the time to care. Slaying another two imps with a horizontal swipe of his sword, dinging a third, he leapt from the building at the following crash of lightning upon him. A second casting of the Rai Don struck him in the back with a few stray bolts as he fell, turning him in the air and taking away the grace of his landing. Stumbling, pain flared up on his back but washed away almost as quickly, he turned up and looked at the imp that had stupidly jumped down after him. A swipe of his claws and the thing just barely managed to avoid death. However, when it struggled to get to its feet and a Rai Don was still cast, Zan realized that he had attacked the wrong one.

Two of the same spell struck him full on then, sending his body into fits and convulsions for the duration of the runes' stay. The Flame Sword ended the life of the imp that had come too close, about to cast the spell again. However, when another five imps pounced happily onto his chest, one maliciously raising its wand, Zan tossed them from him and apparently activated their defense mechanisms in turn. Five pissed off imps that wanted nothing more than to kick his wolven ass. Wishing very intensely that he had some Ani spells, but finding himself with none, he turned and ran, narrowly missing a legion of lightning bolts that came crashing down behind him. With a troop of Giants showing ahead of him, he halted in his tracks and turned to face the lesser of two evils. Taking a deep breath, exhaling it in a snarl, the werewolf launched himself at the imps and managed once more to take out two more with a swing of his blade. Sadly, three Rai Dons still struck him, littering his back with electrical energies and rendering him still for a moment. The pain was uncountable, so intense that he could no longer pinpoint individual wounds. He was simply a shell of pain. The Ap Vorv and his natural abilities were doing plenty in patching that up, but it was patching it up...too fast? Zan could feel his body going into overdrive and that just wasn't going to be a good thing.

He thought about running away again but remembered his flashmail, knowing full well that his friends would be meeting up below the place he had howled them to. Gritting his teeth, crushing one of the imps' heads in his palm, he awaited another onslaught of Rai Dons and received them with yelps and howls of agony. He had so little energy left. Wobbling to his knees, using his Ap Do and a call of Vak Drive to get rid of another imp, he stumbled away from his companion and the last of the squad that had approached him. Another Rai Don was called and again Zan was too slow to outrun the outpour of energy. Barely on his knees now, he couldn't pick up the sword, let alone his arms anymore. He was finished. Burned out, defeated; he didn't know how he'd get out of this one. Hope sparked when he saw Reinier and the group approaching his position, a hope that was turned to ash as a charmed Giant clubbed the remaining imp to oblivion and caught Zan in the arch of its hit. When Zan watched form above as his body collapsed, bloodied and beaten, he could only sigh. Nothing more than a billowing cloud of smoke, formless, in his ghost state...he did his best to cross his arms and wait for his revival. Even as a ghost he felt fatigue eating at him.

Looking around at the city that burnt and crackled around him, raining lightning, ash, and blood...he truly knew where he had ended up. He had said it before, but now a part of him believed it.

He was in hell.

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

This Post:
Knights: 0
Controlled: 0
Reborn: 0
Mages: 0
Insects: 0
Giants: 0
Imps: 9

Total:
Knights: 43 / 40
Controlled: 35 / 30
Reborn: 36 / 30
Mages: 15 / 20
Insects: 27 / 30
Giants: 9 / 10
Imps: 27 / 30
Lv. 50 Heavy Blade
Wishlist
Special: Levels, GR Sendai, PL Sakai, Darklore.
W: Tonosama Sword, Mineuchi, Jundachi.
A: Samurai Helm, Able Hands, Rare Greaves.
I: Holy Sap, Treebane, Cooked Bile, Nightbane.
EX: Elemental Summon (Lv. 2), Overdrive (Lv.1), Elemental Attacks (Lv. 2), Enhance Dark, Elemental Breath (Lv. 2).

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