Pious

Indeed! Almighty thanks to NCSoft for doing this! Especially since I was broke as* all weekend. *phee-yew*!

PS: here are some photos we captured; first half is mainly me and family but second half has the guys in clicky here for album (44 pics)

Nice. I think that's just as interesting as magic though. And I guess the spirit thing could be classed as natural also.

The weird one would be technology or science Incarnates. I suppose in that sense, you just don't play it as an actual Incarnation of whatever other being.

PS. I'm now stuck with an image of Ellie doing a Pokemon-style evolve at the statue. o.O

Yet again it appears you've posted yours while I was typing mine. I can go in and edit my post to account for your rock-phasing super long range laser sniper blast that may or may not have made contact with the body before Tyran's guards took it on board the chopper. It's up to CB what difference it makes, if the body was hit and burnt or not, meaning they would currently have a body of ash on board the helicarrier that's been teleported away to Paragon.

But seriously, I bow to your alien energy-dragon of cosmic power who is secretly actually a giant-monster sized, dual-cannon wielding, EMP spacecraft-riding Arachnos Widow with the unlimited Deus Ex ability of spawning random machines with random guns who aren't really Arachnos underlings.

Wow. Is it just me or is all that just weird and implausible with the way we RP here. Case closed.

Submarine Docks, Eastern Caves (F11)

Priest's inexpressive facial muscles displayed no emotion, but his eyes betrayed the pain. As the Nictus faded away with Tomb's spirit, he lost the strength to stand and fell defeated to his knees. He felt responsible. He had failed to spot the third projectile. He had failed to protect his charge. He had failed to help the little girl, he had failed to save Tomb. The lifeless body laid dead not too far from him. A horrifically devastated corpse of young girl, now stripped of all her hopes and dreams. The injustice of it all, the unfairness of life, the cruel and murderous nature of man, all came crashing down on him like the burden of Atlas.

And it angered him.

His eyes glowed flaming red with bright hot energy. He rose to his feet and slowly trailed his gaze upon Patsy. This was the rocket-girl he had shown kindness to, the one he had foolishly helped down through the elevator. Now she would face his wrath. "You two" he thought out, communicating with Tyran's guards through the amulet. "Take the girl's body and board the Helicarrier with everyone else. It's already airborne and departing. Don't worry about me. I'll be right along." Priest ended the broadcast and gave Patsy his full attention. One step followed another as he moved towards her, vengeance burning in his eyes.

Submarine Docks, Eastern Caves (F11)

Priest's attack had affected the villain with minimal damage, it seemed. It's hovering cloud of Nictus energies responded with a series of blasts that collided with the Priest but would disintegrate with minimal effect under the holy man's strength of will. He felt the ground crack but maintained his posture. He watched as the man suspected to be Erez'Zul tried to siphon the villain's shield energy. He noted the hooded girl was also on the offensive, trying to break the shield.

"Oi, twerp!" came a voice from the direction of the one called Patsy. She taunted the little girl before opening fire with her grenade launcher. Priest was quick to do his job as her guardian and fired a repelling laser beam from his eyes which pushed the two grenades out of the air and into the nearby cavern walls. He was shocked by the resulting explosion which swallowed two huge six-feet wide chunks of rock, threatening the natural support structure of the cave.

Priest fired another concussive blast with his laser beam eyes towards the rocket-girl. "Hold your fire 'Patsy' or I will be pressed to use greater force" he warned her, before turning his attention to the Nictus villain and the girl stood next to him . "I don't know your name, Tomb, but I do know that you are a very precious little girl. Incredibly smart and uniquely, very world-aware. Yours is a curious and tentative case, because you have so much potential to do great good in this world. So much potential. Please, do not choose the dark side; it's a painful and meaningless existence. Come with me instead. Unlike him, I would do anything and everything to ensure your happiness, safety and comfortability. I am a father. You've seen here the benefits of my trust. I would die a million times to protect you. Nothing personal, it just how I was made. It's who I am. My offer still stands. All you have to do is walk away from that man and take my hand."

As he preached on, reaching out to the girl's heart, Priest had failed to see the grenade shot towards the submarine. He wouldn't be able to deflect it off-course.

((Written with Intel from CB))

Yeah it might have to if Dev and I have to talk things over.

Submarine Dock, Eastern Caves (F11)

Even at the brink of death, Tomb had denied his kindness. Something inside him broke right then. Maybe it was his heart, maybe it was the various hopes and dreams he had for the poor little girl, or maybe it was the life seeping out of him like a leaking dam. Just as everything went dark, he felt a revolting Kheldian energy wash over him, something that awakened the stolen Peacebringer essence within him. Then came the dark magic. It brought him back from clinical death, jump started his failing heart and aided in regenerating the bullet wounds that had been gaping through his then exposed skull.

Physically sickened by the dark magic, Priest keeled over and retched. He shot a confused look towards Lucard, wondering why he had saved his life. Like he planned to do with Erez'Zul, Priest made a mental note to question the old vampire at a later time. Right now, he was enraged. Slowly he rose to his feet, restored to his full power. As he gathered all of his energy, a bright glowing aura emanated from his body, his dark hair rising up like dancing flames before turning pale white. Above his head, a faintly glowing angelic halo could be made out, the nexus of his faith-based powers. One look at the Nictus and a great beam of fire jetted towards him, blasted forth from the Priest's laser-hot eyes.

He noted he was no longer alone in his crusade. He saw the hooded girl charge forward, apparently wanting Tomb aboard her submarine. He wasn't sure of Lucard's motives, but he had called the rocket-girl Patsy and directed her to fire upon the common enemy; the purple-clad smooth-talking Nictus. How could Tomb possibly want to trust him, over a Priest. Priests love children! Was this jealousy he was feeling? Some protective love for the criminal child? He shook the thought and strengthened his laser eye beam, enlarging the optic blast, now hot enough to burn through re-enforced steel.

Phew! Thanks for the revival. I was desperately hoping someone there would have a heal power or I was screwed. Time continuum is safe, thanks to Lucard!

Wait... Lucard helped the Priest? o.O Why?

That's one heck of a debt Priest will -not- like. Hehe. Oh well.

Submarine Docks, Eastern Caves (F11)

Priest was relieved to see the flaming red-haired fire at the feral and not at him, for if this man was the Court member Priest thought he was, having his trust could prove useful. Especially now, where he needed all the allies he could get. Focused and ready, he counted the number of possible threats in the room versus his own. He saw the hooded girl Damsel had warned him not to trust. Rocket-Girl had also found her way here into the caves, twice already, she had tried to kill him. The purple stranger was another possible threat, as were the two underwater machines the Helicarrier had reported about. Aside from the ferals, the vampire Lucard had also entered the fray. Four high-level threats and four underlings. Fortunately, as far as he could tell, the four villains were not allied together, possibly even working against one another. For example, Pious calculated, the red-haired Courtier he suspected to be Erez'Zul was apparently not in line with Lucard's allegiances to the Countess. He had just attacked the vampires. Then there was the remaining two Nighthunters from Tyran's team, currently guarding the pink submarine. Three allies to side with against four enemies, an even match.

Fists clenched and eyes darting about the cave, Pious's attention arrived upon Lucard, an old vampire who was stereotypically drunk with megalomania. The lifeless creature had once already threatened to kill Pistol, after it finally became clear that the usually pious and faithful Priest had no intentions of upholding the fine-print conditions of the Nighthunter/Court peace treaty. Pious became certain that any hope of extending the existing alliance with the unholy creatures of the Court of the Blood Countess was now long gone. He fully expected that when all this was over, the Demon War to start again. Both the Circle of Thorns and the Mu Mystics have been increasingly volatile of late, even without the Court to deal with. He hoped however, for no more declarations of Open Season, financially-fuelled manhunts or other complicated bounties.

Priest disregarded Lucard and turned his attention back to the feral vampires. But he was forced to pull back his fist and listen up, as one of the intruders yelled 'enough'. As a man of faith and magic, he knew when to throw out logic. But clever as he is, he knew when a situation called for reason. He heard the villain out and watched him speak of leaving the choice of fate to Tomb herself. He disagreed.

"Nonsense", Pious spoke out. His tone preachy as always and very matter-of-fact. "Young she may be, but this girl has caused mass murder. Let's remind ourselves of why we're here. This young girl is accountable for the deaths of all those victims at the St. John's Catholic School terrorist attack, which she probably formulated out of some ill-considered attempt to instigate and justify the genocide of the Vampire race, having tried to pin the incident on the House of Bathory. It's terrorism. It's criminal. This girl is the very makings of a super-villain, but that's hardly due to a fault of her own. She's just a child. A very confused, scared and grossly misguided child. Don't you think it's down to us as members of society to help her? We should raise her, lead her out of this dark and evil place her mind has fallen to, and onto a more righteous path. This little girl should be back at home, under the careful custody of the American Government."

"You sir, propose we step aside and leave her to make more bad decisions. Recognise the magnitude of this situation" he implored before turning his attention to the girl. He moved over to her and knelt down, a characteristically warm and friendly expression in his demeanour. "Tomb, is that your name?" he asked her. "The reality is, few here would actually honour your wishes. Especially if it goes against their own mission agendas. The truth is, you're better off in the hands and care of the United States Government. See, I'm a pretty important person myself. I can make sure your stay is comfortable, make sure you find a nice loving family if you think that's something you'll want. Your record, your past crimes, even the St John's incident are proof that you need a lot of kindness and support. It'll all eventually be put behind us. The people of America can be very forgiving and once they learn you're on the mend, the majority will accept your repentance. Now... my friends have worked very hard to bring you safely to your Little Pony. Those two guys right there will see you board and escort you back Stateside, okay? I'm sorry but for now, you'll have to go with them. Someone has to stay here and fight for you, see that you escape safely, so I'm afraid I won't be coming on board with you. You chose a good ride Tomb, long, hard and very pink. You'll be okay. Trust me... I'm a priest."

Just then, the two machines struck with a supersonic sniper attack.

Priest reacted in reflex. He had only enough time to push himself in the way, his skull taking the hit. He knelt there motionless as life slowly drained from him.

Priest reacted fast, flicking the back of his hand down towards the creature.

He was ready now to do battle, and would fight for the little girl's safety. Even if it meant sacrificing himself duelling on this self-imploding all-consuming Island.