Once the reluctancy had worn off, Beuce had caught his breath. The sandstorm was gradually condensing. It wasn't really so much a sandstorm at this point as a hail of gravel. The rocks were condensing into larger and larger forms. If he had to guess, he'd say it was prepping for a desperation move of some kind. That being said, the two of them needed to step up their game. Stratos seemed to have a similar idea to him. Beuce reached into his pocket and grabbed onto an emblem, engraved with an image of the dream sword. Similar to Stratos, Beuce was enveloped temporarily in a black sphere, with a bright red aura around it. When the sphere vanished, Beuce's outfit had changed. He was now dressed completely in black and white, adorned with chains on many parts of his clothing, and short black fur adorning the lining of his clothing. His keyblade had been replaced with a long, pitch black blade without a guard. Stratos would be the back line, and he would be the front line. An aura of power radiated around him, as though he were the pinnacle of strength right now. His magic had been sealed away as a result, but he more than made up for it with the physical boost. Running toward the bloticle, Beuce decimated any rocks that came his way, reducing them to sand once more under the force of his swings. Upon finally reaching the bloticle, he did more than make a simple gash on it. He cleaved his weapon all the way through to the handle with minimal effort, making an enormous, open wound in the bloticle. Ink sprayed out from the opening in every direction. Made him wonder why they didn't do this more often... Spoiler: Count Wasteland: 96% Left Living -Blotlings: 967/1000 -Bloticle: 10/10 Injured: Bloticle 1, Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand - Billy: 357/1000
Damn. If there was one thing that could be said about them right now, it was that they looked cool. Standing on opposite ends of a giant enemy in a flood of storms and cherry blossoms, having left an X shaped wound on it. Between the two of them, they'd cut it down a considerable amount. They needed only keep it up, and it'd be brought down in no time. However, it didn't look like it was going to be dying without a fight any time soon. The rocks in the sandstorm were beginning to get larger, and more jagged. Though it was a slow process, the sand was beginning to solidify into solid earth and assault them. Which was no bueno. Keeping up his assault while attempting to dodge out of the way of the ever-growing rocks, Beuce coated his weapon in a thick purple smog, and struck the bloticle. The volatile substance coating the weapon surged into its body, spreading throughout the ink which formed it. Having rebuilt a fair chunk of his mana, Beuce went to go and unleash another faith spell on it, when a rather sizable piece of earth crashed into his back and sent him flying. It was only due to the barrier that he survived it. He got up onto one knee, panting, when another rock came heading his direction. Slamming his fist into the ground, space began to crack and distort into an amber dome around him. The rock immediately veered off course, so as to avoid colliding with it and potentially breaking it. Reluctancy was something which offered its user a brief moment of respite. A barrier which did not protect through its inability to be broken, but the combatant's unwillingness to break it. It fought against willpower, and forced all to withhold their attacks, so as not penetrate it. The white haired man cured himself and stood up once again. "Damn, those things are tough. Maybe it'd help if i were more durable than wet tissue paper...on fire." How can something wet be on fire, you ask? because its lighter fluid. Spoiler: Count Wasteland: 96% Left Living -Blotlings: 967/1000 -Bloticle: 10/10 Injured: Bloticle 1, Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand - Billy: 409/1000
He let down his arm as the wind magic shielded him from the assaulting wind. "Thanks for the hand. Azphel knows i need one." Beuce said with a slight chuckle. It was then that a rock came flying from nowhere and nailed his friend directly in the head. He didn't seem to be overly hurt thanks to his defensive barrier, though. While Stratos was regaining his mana through the nonsensical process they often used, Beuce decided to provide a bit of cover for him. Sticking close by the young keyblade wielder, he batted aside any rocks that Stratos proved unable to dodge while he was performing his attacks. Once he'd regained his mana, the two backed off slightly. Beuce closed his eyes, and seemed to be in a state of great concentration. Space seemed to warp in front of him, bending and distorting, until the wound they had inflicted, as well as the softest parts of the armor, were all enlarged and made much more vulnerable. Beuce didn't break his stance as cherry blossoms began to fall all around him. In an instant, Beuce had delivered a massive cut across the tentacle's body, causing it to screech in pain due to the increased severity of the already powerful attack. Spoiler: Count Wasteland: 96% Left Living -Blotlings: 967/1000 -Bloticle: 10/10 Injured: Bloticle 1, Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand - Billy: 461/1000
Keyblades, when thrown by strike raid, would always return to their wielder regardless of any trajectory that would otherwise make it impossible. So, the spinning keyblade seemed to do a 180 and immediately come spiraling towards its master. Holding out his hand, Beuce let the weapon return to his grip before dodging out of the way of the fists. Moving over to regroup with Stratos, as he wanted to avoid a situation like the one that had just recently occurred, he stood next to him. "Well, congratulations. We've successfully pissed it off. And if it's pissed off, that means its working." said the man with a slightly heightened confidence. If they could simply keep this up, the thing would fall to them sure enough. Picking his assault back up, Beuce extended his keyblade as the air at its tip began to chill, and then froze into a crystal of ice. At his command, the spell fired, and stabbed into the creature, as its protective armor had been thoroughly worn down. He followed this up by running into melee range and striking it with a regular combo, as his magic reserves had been more or less spent. It screeched in anger and thrashed around, causing sand to pick up around it. It lurched back, and began swinging itself in a circular motion. The sand seemed to follow its motions, and spiraled around with it. Beuce shielded his eyes from the small grains of earth now assaulting them. Their field of vision was now greatly reduced in the wake of the sandstorm, but the enormous shadow of the bloticle was still visible enough to read its movements. The real problem would be the attacks it sent that came flying out of the sand. "This could be a problem. Aerora should be able to shield us from the direct effects of the sand, but we've gotta be a bit more careful, unless we've suddenly got a fetish for being crushed under giant boulders. Which i mean, hey no one is judging but i don't think now is exactly the time to get your jollies." Spoiler: count Wasteland: 96% Left Living -Blotlings: 967/1000 -Bloticle: 10/10 Injured: Bloticle 1, Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand - Billy: 513/1000
Beuce, having set up a line of mines for the blotlings to go around, was able to break through the ranks toward the bloticle. He was coated with a white light, as a shield hardened and formed around him. using this opportunity, he plowed through the few blotlings still in his way. Though some moved out of his path to avoid being killed by the attack, others didn't. His charge immediately decimated the unfortunate creatures, and left an open path for Beuce to rejoin the battle. Initially, Beuce let out a rain of thunderbolts onto the massive inky tentacle. Next in his assault, he threw his keyblade spinning, and struck it into the creature. His onslaught utilized his strength and magic in equal parts. He began picking up speed as he dashed toward their enemy. His keyblade had struck its mark, and was now spiraling through the air back to its owner, but it wouldn't reach him quite yet. The white haired man waved his hand, and called upon his magic to halt the keyblade where it was. "Stop!" with the powers of time working under his command, the keyblade stopped midair, horizontal to Beuce. He jumped into the air and put his feet against its blade, before using kicking off it, using its inability to be moved to his advantage. Beuce too, glowed with a light. However, his was red. He placed his remaining hand over his chest, and drew out his power. Once it was gathered in his fist, he let it out in a singular, destructive punch against the bloticle. Spoiler: Count Wasteland: 96% Left Living -Blotlings: 967/1000 -Bloticle: 10/10 Injured: Bloticle 1, Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand - Billy: 565/1000
Beuce had been taken out of the fight with the Bloticle temporarily due to being somewhat swarmed by blotlings. They weren't overly threatening to him, but they were enough of a hindrance as to keep him from participating in the battle. "Out of the way!" He delivered a roundhouse kick to the body of one, sending it flying. He might not have been as strong as Karina, but he still took pride in his physical prowess. In addition to that, he was adept at one other thing. A white light began to glow around Beuce, as he poured out magic. Raising his keyblade toward the sky, he called down the most powerful magic he knew. One after another, four enormous columns of blinding white light pierced the clouds and assaulted the tentacle. The Faith spell seemed to burn away a bit of the earthen armor shielding it, but this was probably one of the most durable things he'd ever fought. They were only now starting to make a dent in the armor. "Keep it up, it's working." His brief assistance given, he returned to the enemies surrounding him. Quickly enough, he cut down the one directly in front of him. Turning around, a brownish energy cracked along his keyblade. Holding his keyblade toward the sky once again, five large mines appeared in front of him, one of which detonated immediately as a blotling had been standing on it, incinerating the unsuspecting creature instantly. The rest seemed intelligent enough to not immediately step on them. Spoiler: Count Blotling: 977/1000 Bloticle: 10/10 Bloticle 1: 727.5/1000
Beuce had been waiting to be able to hurt these things for a while. Running forward with the other wielders, he took a swipe at a nearby blotling, obliterating it instantly. It showed no sign of regenerating any time soon. "Finally." It felt good to be able to kill these things. Although, Beuce looked on the sheer size of the army and immediately had war flashbacks to the thousand heartless battle. He was hoping this wouldn't be repeated any time soon, but their luck wasn't so amazing as for that to happen. He just hoped he didn't lose any more limbs in the process. Although, if this was going to be a massive scale reenactment of the battle before, then he was glad of one thing, if nothing else. "Stratos! You look like you could use a hand with that thing!" He called out to the dark haired boy as he sprinted toward Billy. As he approached, the tentacle of ink seemed to slam itself against the ground, causing a massive piece of earth to fly upward from the ground beneath him, propelling the white haired man high into the sky. The dark blue mantle Ananta had given him fluttered above his head as he descended back down, toward the bloticle. Spellbinder keyblade in hand, he dove for the thing. It looked like it had a hard outer shell, made of earth. Seemed like this one had an earth theme, with how it had been performing so far. No wonder it was called The Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand. The real question was how he knew that. Plummeting toward the monster, he let his power flow through the keyblade. Clouds began forming in the sky, and a torrential rain began pouring down onto the area. While the rain wasn't enough water to actually wash away any of the ink creatures, it accomplished two things. One, it wet them, and made them more vulnerable to follow up attacks. And two, it made the battle look much cooler. Everything looked cooler in the rain. "Rain down!" Beuce performed the next two actions nigh simultaneously. A massive bolt of lightning struck across the sky, down at his target. It was a flash that would be missed with the blink of an eye, and Beuce rode along side it to match the speed. A red and blue blur was all that could be seen, slicing through the bloticle and chipping away some of the shell. In the same spot, the lightning exploded onto it, creating a massive boom of thunder. He rolled onto the ground, next to Stratos. "An ink tentacle that uses earth. Well, it's not nearly as weird as Shac the Clownmoth." After a slight shiver at the name, the wielder ran back at their foe. Spoiler: Count Wasteland: 99% Left Living -Blotlings: 990/1000 -Bloticle: 10/10 Injured: Bloticle 1, Ruler of the Ever Shifting Sand - Billy: 940/1000
The yellow dog whimpered slightly, as his friend was running out of steam fairly quickly. At this rate, they wouldn't last too much longer. Though, it didn't have to stay at that rate. Pluto began sniffing the air. There was something around that would help them. Why it was there was anyone's guess, but that didn't matter right now. He pressed his nose to the ground and began sniffing out something of use. Finally, he found it. His paws dug into the dirt as he sent it flying behind him at an incredible rate. Buried beneath the dirt were healing orbs, which immediately sprung out and were given to the group.
Hm? Oh. Oh right i was supposed to be working on that uh... I mean... Yeah! Man i am beat after all that hard work i've been doing to prepare and improve them. A hand would greatly be appreciated!
Ra was surprised by Sagittarius' words. "An enemy? So quickly? Surely they can't have found them already...." Nevertheless, if the spirit said there was an enemy at the gates, then an enemy was indeed there. They'd have to deal with it. He walked to the entrance with the rest of his group. The sight that met them was a horrific one, to say the least. Some kind of...gaping dragon. He turned around to find that the dragon had sealed the entrance...somehow. "It seems we can't expect any help aside from one another. Let us show this beast the power of Sapphire Eclipse." A golden magic flowed from Ra, turning into sand as it reach the ground and flowing forward, toward the dragon. "Arise!" A tall armored figure stood, formed from the sand, with a long golden lance in his hand. Yet, the sand kept flowing. Beneath the man, a stallion, plated in gold, with sand flowing from its mane and tail. "Charge forward!" With the order given from Ra, the stallion took off into full gallop, with its rider extending the lance toward the dragon. Ra used Arise! (Horseback MP enhance) and commanded the soldier to use wishing edge. Well, the tree was just about dead. It would probably be finished this round and then they could proceed on with this godforsaken mission. Honestly, why did she come on this mission? There were much better choices. Like...Hm. Well maybe city of ember. But then she'd have to deal with Thea and her explosions and tantrums and explosive tantrums no one wants that kind of trouble. In any case, she used sliding dash and prayed for a good roll to end the fight.
She had been the first to take an attack from the tree. Which kind of sucked because ow. However, she was in luck because Meido-chan had taken the task of friend blocking for her. Man, those spirits were handy things to have around. Beucette's attack hadn't seemed to do an overwhelmingly large amount, but once the poison had fully run its course, then that hit would be up there with the most damaging. In addition, the poison had...corroded it's...protective bark or something i don't ****ing know. It reduced it's defense. Thematic reason why that works is your job. Yes. You. You in particular. You know who you are. You're the stat debuff thematic reason finder, that's who. But i don't have to tell you that, because you already know. Got it? Good. Beucette heaved Ego up onto her shoulder, and with a good swing, she threw it at the tree in such a manner that it hit it, went completely through it, and then just kind of reversed its course midair and came back to her. Tldr; strike raid. Ra nodded at Thomas' suggestion to go out and find the hunters, as well as Gaius' agreement. "Indeed. Victory to he who strikes first, after all." Ra thought over the situation briefly. There was still the problem of where they were. Searching the entire area would take too long, and if they were separated to cover more ground, one person may encounter the hunters without anyone else being nearby enough to help. So, searching the entire area at once would be the best course of action. "If they're only touching her hand, they ought to be done with Cassandra by now. I need to speak with them about the hunters." One of the golden keys that hung from Ra's staff began to hum with power. It levitated until it was completely horizontal, rather than dangling down. "Open, Gate of the Archer!" In a puff of smoke, the oddly dressed man appeared. "Sagittarius. I need you to go to the highest point of this castle, until you can see the entire surrounding area. I need you to look for someone. I'll meet you there briefly to give you the specifics as to who you're looking for. In the meantime, be waiting." Ra turned toward the door. "Come then. We've spent enough time here. Let us go and speak with the brothers." Ra strode off toward Cassandra's room. Even if they weren't finished, all they were doing was touching her hand. At least, he hoped that's all they were doing.
Aias felt no sense of dishonesty from the woman, so it wasn't as though she were deliberately lying. He looked at the house before them with his usual stoic expression. He'd sensed an air of sin around it. Perhaps that was why. "As of now, we've no way of finding this Beadle. We'd be wasting time searching around aimlessly. Instead, why not follow up on the lead in front of us? I believe we should visit the judge."
Beucette looked as four people managed to be stupid enough to walk off the same cliff together. "Hah." Was all she said. "No but seriously though that's probably where the plot is. Let's mosey." A hop, skip, and a jump later, (Literally as it was an impressive display of acrobatics) they were at the sawmp. Their leaders were confronted with some kind of tree monster. Beucette took a brief glance at Ezekiel, who looked as though he were annoyed with his inability to use magic. She briefly considered trolling him, but remembered what the oracle had told her. In order to strengthen her weapon, she needed to kill shit. So, she'd put it off until after the fight. She let her magic flow into the blade of her weapon. A dark purple smog covered Ego, and a frightening liquid ran along it. Yet, she strengthened it further with her magic, until it was at it's full capacity and swung it at the creature. Beucette used Poison Dragon's Fang (MP Enhance)
Jeffery the Voidling
He's the top player in like, three stats, and is pretty decent in the ones he isn't
Is it an illustrated poem about the tragedy of not posting?
Nominating Hikaru because he's just objectively the best player stat-wise. Karina because we need the damages D'Daear because my god he's tanky Kel because we need the damages again And Base because we need more mystics
Aias' brow furrowed as she spoke. They had no reason not to believe her, but something about what she said left a bad taste in his mouth. One that made him look down on her, feeling as though she were lesser. As though the words were offensive to his very existence. He realized, he knew she was lying. The unpleasant feeling from her, she had sinned. The part of him that was now an angel could feel the wrongdoings of a person. No one was without their sin, and so he could feel a slight unpleasantness from most people, but he'd quickly learned to tune it out. Though, it was more apparent when it was fresh. Like, when someone lied. The worst of it, he'd gotten from Ezekiel. The blood on that man's hands had nearly made him sick. "Thank you for your time. We must be going now." Aias stood after she'd shrugged in regards to the beadle's location, and hurried out the door along with the rest of them. "She lied. When she told us what happened to the family, I could feel it. She wasn't entirely truthful about what happened. Nevertheless, it would still be best to find the Judge." Aias said, informing them of her dishonesty.
Ra listened to their story, staring at them with a skeptical expression. As Charlotte said, demons weren't known for being the most trustworthy of beings. Though, Malkira and Calxiyn seemed to have bought their story immediately. "Simply because there are exceptions does not make it less valid. Because you are trustworthy does not mean that all undead are friends to us. Orpheus proved that beyond doubt." He said to Malkira, then sighed as he turned to Calxiyn. "It is not my decision alone. If the rest of my team believes we should help them, then I will not object." Charlotte didn't trust them, but seemed to be in favor of helping them, if nothing else than to watch out for Calxiyn. He himself was of a similar opinion. So, he turned to the other members of Team King. Gaius, Veilen, and Thomas. "What will it be? Their fate lies in your hands." He offered the decision of helping them or not to his team.
Aias sat quietly at the table. Without a word, he nodded his head when offered a pie. Delicately, he dug his fork into it, tore off a piece and stuck it in his mouth. Expressionless, he set the fork down and sighed. "It's terrible..." It didn't seem like he'd be finishing it any time soon. Though, pies were far from the reason they'd come here. "If I may, how long have you lived in this building? Did you know the people that lived here before you?"
