((Okay, Devious, W, T, and F? The ghost started to distintegrate on contact with the tank? What?!?))
Whatever the M7A7 had done to Sun Tzu's armour quickly became moot as it vanished in a roaring cascade of burning light. The tank he had remained in stubborn pursuit of was also caught by the god-laser (albeit in the fringe effect); what this did to it, if anything remained to be seen, although considering how indiscriminate the Archlich was being, it was doubtful that it was somehow specially excluded from the beam.
The point of impact was obscured by a cloud of boiling steam and vapourized stone.
The beam struck the dragon squarely amidships, looking almost like it had cut her in half, although the illusion didn't last long. The titanic beast screamed in rage and pain, and the great head swivelled around, burning eyes locking on to the archlich. The undead wizard had gotten Yinglong's attention.
Around the battlefield, the CPSR forces had lost nearly a third of their people to the death raining from the sky, although given that the majority of them had gone in pursuit of their true objective, the Sovereign, as soon as he had disappeared, the death toll was lighter than it might have otherwise been. The battle moved upwards, the Chinese wizards and Ancestral Spirits borne aloft on wings of twisted gravity, teleportational energies, spectral powers and terrible winds in relentless pursuit of the quarry they could sense high above.
Moving far faster than could possibly be expected of a beast the size of a loaded train, the dragon hurled herself at the Archlich, her head drawing level with his body, blood and fire streaming from torn scales along her wounded flanks.
Tiny dead thing, you wield magic with all-surpassing skill. You have neglected one thing, though. You wield magic; I [u]AM[u] MAGIC!!
With the scream of her final word, the dragon exhaled. Raw annihilation thundered from her throat, blue-white flame like the heart of the sun wrapped in anti-magic lancing out, her own anti-teleportation spell coming into play in an attempt to prevent the lich's escape. Building faces twenty metres away slagged or burst into flame, the street itself sagging and running molten into the spacious sewers beneath. Whatever troops, friend or foe, luckless enough to be anywhere nearby didn't even have time to scream as they were reduced to their component atoms.
The dragon's attendant Chinese sorcerors, caught in the backwash of the huge magic-killing aura Yinglong had imbued into her breath, plummeted from the sky, shrivelling away and dying of old age before they even had time to hit the ground as their magic was stolen, their very life-force torn away by the spell.
Sun Tzu coughed as he straightened up in the base of the crater, his armour blasted away and the fifty sorcerors who had been feeding him power reduced to barely twenty, sacrificing themselves to protect him. "Arrogant abomination." he muttered, but made no move to pursue the Overmagus; anything that came within half a kilometre of Yinglong's wrath was going to die without her even realizing it was there.
Instead, he began to chant, his sub-mages joining in after a second as they understood what spell he was casting. The hundred or so ghosts that had gone missing earlier reappeared, the object of their ambush vanished into the transports above. Their outlines blurred, ran together in a blinding effulgence of ectoplasmic fire. When the air cleared once more, Sun Tzu stood in the heart of another ghostly armour, this one looking far more... streamlined. His twenty surviving attendants each had their own, smaller flight-ghost.
With a lunge and a warcry, Sun Tzu took to the skies in pursuit of the Dark Sovereign. His prey would not escape him this day. By the time he cleared the rooftops, he was already doing more than 600 kilometres an hour, and had gone supersonic less than five seconds after that. The hunt was on.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
((Wait. Huh? I got lost again.....What happened and why is Rebel waiting on me? Stupid work and stupid sleep keeping me awy..
))
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
((Hm, guess Khell's waiting for me then, not the other way around, okay. 
And yup. Want to know why? Investigate. 
))
Sun Tzu's skyward lunge was actually quite unnecessary, Teivos having all intent to return and mop up what Archlich might've missed. In the meantime though, the situation on the ground gradually peeled itself from the smoke and dust.
One M7A7 hung in a building, its front chassis hanging through the wall like a nail gone wrong, most of its armor a torn, mangled mess of half-molten slag. MPDAS armor may have been able to deal with plasma relatively well, but the vehicle had indeed been too close to a blast, and suffered an analogous fate to Sun Tzu's spirit armor. Unlike he, however, those inside lay injured and out cold. Seatbelts and armor might've saved their lives, but they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
A large, western-looking dragon hued somewhere in-between sea and shamrock green felt a lot like just doing the same, the creature easily the size of an Arachnos Flyer groggily emerging from the rubble within a sizeable crater, wings dragging on the ground beside.
Owwww...my back...
These were the thoughts of Ryuu Hotaka, bruised and battered despite the myriad of protections he'd woven into his human guise - not to mention a rather decent grasp of electromagnetism. Sadly, Archlich's beam had just proven too powerful for him to abuse the principles of questionable physics to their fullest extent.
Freaking Jesus Beam...where'd that little jerk get to?
Unfortunately, Hotaka didn't get the chance to join Yinglong in her revenge, for a raucously drawn-out crack of thunder gave him all of two instants' warning of the energy wedge that rammed him right back into the crater he'd come from. The second M7A7 apparently felt fantastic, and was thus still alive. Moreover, it had picked Hotaka as its target. Wasn't that just dandy as could be? Well, fine. It wanted dragon? It'd get dragon!
Hotaka launched himself from the crater like a coiled spring and with a vicious roar, trying to surprise the hovertank with speed and agility, then simply take a bite out of it. The tank in turn replied with another shot, but the dragon was too quick, and snapped his gaping jaws closed over...
...thin air? What the-?!
Another blast took Hotaka to the ground again, the tank having zipped up and over, out of the reach of his jaws. The dragon let out a perturbed groan. Since when were hovertanks actually fast and agile? A tank was supposed to be slow, casual, and pack a wallop. Substituting slow and casual with swift and speedy...well, that just wasn't very fair at all. What kind of cheating...wait a minute - that last blast had hurt a lot more than the one before! What was going on here?!
Mimicking a springboard, Hotaka sought cover behind a nearby building for a moment, the tank's next blast going wide and giving the dragon a bit if time to puzzle this out. Was this thing's cannon adapting to him? Yes, yes it was. It had to be. It clearly wasn't a sonic weapon. No, the tank was analyzing the effects of its weapon and adjusting to make it more effective. Doubleyou-tee-eff?! What kind of garbage was this?!
Okay, fine. You guys want to play? Let's play.
As the tank moved back in, Hotaka gave a flick of his right forepaw, and a cloud of sickly-green gas rose from the ground, forming some manner of oblong shape before the dragon addressed it with the order, "Chlorine elemental - take the tank crew."
"Creeewww..." the cloud rumbled and moved toward the tank, seeking to seep into its interior or ventilation system and do in, or at least incapacitate the crew inside.
Right. Fat chance. The vehicle didn't even have to shoot. A few centimeters off the hull, the elemental simply began to lose cohesion. Shocked, Hotaka wasn't even able to countermand his order before the summoned entity had completely evaporated.
Wait, this junk goes for all summoned entities? Oh come on, this is ridiculous!
Great. So now what? Somehow, he doubted summoning up some ninja would be of any great use here. Whatever that tank had going, Hotaka had no reason to believe it wouldn't work against animated shadows. No, here he'd have to go in personally, hard and fast, otherwise the little weasel would just evade and shoot him again. Well okay, chances were it would shoot him regardless, but if he timed it just right, maybe he could make it worth that by catching the thing.
Of course, as Murphy would demand his pleasure, this was right about the time Teivos and his entourage returned, and with Hotaka currently being the only thing in range, naturally took a bead on him. Yeah, he wasn't having that. Ninjas may or may not have been able to get to the damn tank, but he was fairly sure they could brawl around with the infantry. Luckily, he was right. Sort of. Their katanas didn't seem to be quite as effective as usual, but at least they kept people busy while Hotaka zigzagged toward 'his' M7A7.
In the process, however, he couldn't help but wonder where the third tank had gone. He knew there had been a third one - and logically, it should've been covering the Sovereign. But out of the corner of his eye, the dragon couldn't see anything above Teivos.
Don't tell me these things can cloak too.
One way or another, he could neither confirm nor deny the presence of a hovertank near the dictator at this time, mostly because he was junta little too busy with the other one to 'look' at the one that did indeed hover there with anything that could pierce its thermo-optic camouflage.
Nooot to mention that thing he'd worried about from the beginning - the reason the Sovereign's clearly outnumbered troops hadn't cheesed it.
From down the road approached another tank division - ULA FBTs, so not too threatening, but it did mean reinforcements had arrived...
--------------------
In the sky, things went a bit more calmly, at least at first. Vlasta couldn't help but smirk when the Comanches now escorting the Molvias informed the flight of approaching bandits. For only a moment, Teivos was tempted to just forget going back down and instead telling the third M7A7 to come up and have at it. But only for a moment. Then he opted differently.
A. Teivos: How about them rocket pods?
The Comanches' gunners delighted, set their choppers' Hydra 70's to proximity airburst and let loose, a veritable wall of firepower coming at the CPSR forces upon their ascent, and in a staccato to boot.
However, that wasn't the worst of it. Up here in the sky, reinforcements tended to arrive much more quickly than on the ground, and this stood by no means false in this situation. Hotaka's worry here came not in the form of tanks though, but rather a flight of F-22s, the aptly named Raptors hungry for prey.
Streaking in at supersonic velocities, they added liberally AMRAAMs to the mix while Teivos gave command to head back down.
"I want the prisoners secured as soon as possible." he told Toy with a respectful nod, but a wary finger, "No roundabouts this time. We can't underestimate them."
"Wolf, let's go." he motioned to Wolfgang, then to the pilot, and a moment later they were gone again, leaving Toy with the Molvias to head to the VB detention center to pick up Isabel - and of course to drop off the VB officers aboard the transport helicopters, just about all of whom needed medical care of one form or another. Vlasta only took his teams back down to the road. The ground reinforcements would be here shortly anyway.
Arriving on said ground, however, he was of course quite surprised at yet another dragon having appeared, taking a short look into the sky to assure himself that this really was another and the black one hadn't pulled some manner of chameleon.
Wolf3r: No, that's a second one all right.
A. Teivos: I can see that.
Wolf3r: Kind of puny against that other one, isn't he?
A. Teivos: Who cares? Get him!
Needless to say, the sudden arrival of a black-clad Jounin squad surprised him even more. Thankfully, they didn't seem so tough, the Sovereign's own plasma pistol vaporizing the closest to him with just one shot. Sort of. The short-lived black cloud indicative of an arcanely manipulated shadow told the tale. Regrettably, Vlasta wasn't one to properly interpret it. He thought these were just some new variation of ancestor spirit.
Burning Brawler and those with him may have been able to corrently inform him. But were they even around here somewhere...?
--------------------
World of Thread
Griffin shakily peeked over the counter he'd jumped behind when the clothing store's windowfront had blown in from some huge pressure wake outside. He didn't know it of course, but that had been Archlich's strike, and it had wreaked havoc even at this distance, bowling over racks and sending clothes and people alike flying.
Then the ground shook yet again, though this time with much less ferocity and greater duration. Still, the shaking did reach a good, steady vibe for a little while there, as a quad-treaded behemoth of a tank rumbled by outside. Well, most of one, anyway. And it was on fire. Not a very pleasing picture.
Nevertheless, Griffin made his way back into the wrecked store proper, looking for the others, who may or may not have been buried under something.
"Hello?" he called out, "Is...is anyone hurt...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
"Hello?" he called out, "Is...is anyone hurt...?"
[/ QUOTE ]
A muffled yell that was most likely "I'm fine!", came from under a pair of clothing racks against the far wall, Valerie struggling out from under where they'd fallen on top of her. She ducked hastily behind one of the few still-standing shelves as the tank went by outside, though really she probably didn't need to. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
-------------
Isabel whistled softly at the views of the destruction being reported on the local news, as she leaned against the door of the cell they'd put her in. "Yeah, I think surrendering was the right option after all", she commented to the two guards stationed outside who were currently watching said news on the small TV that sat on their desk. They didn't answer, apparently having been ordered to not talk to her or some such.
She did wonder though why they thought she deserved two guards - without her powers, she would be hard pushed even to overpower one before he managed to raise some kind of alarm.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
There was a grunt and a creaking noise as one of the toppled shelves in the store was shakily tossed off of what was revealed to be a disoriented War, who stumbled forward a couple of steps.
His composure was quickly regained as the tank passed."
"This wasn't us, somehow, was it?"
"No, hell no." Famine coughed from across the store, untangling himself from a pile of clothes. "Whatever's going down is some serious type [censored], and we'd better haul if we want to keep this guy."
"Agreed." War nodded. "Hey Grif, we're leaving. Say bye to our new friend."
Apparently the mercs didn't think she's be too useful.
Indeed, without so much as waiting for a response, Famine and War collected their myriad gear and shepherded Griffin out the door and stealthily away from the conflict...
"Hey, there lady. You all right?" the elder biker said. There was sinercerity in his voice.His crew had their hands on their guns, ready for an attack. Max's eyebrows perked as the two mercs ushered Griffin out of the store. He merely shrugged his shoulders and put his attention back towards the woman.
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
OOC: It just now occurs to me the similarity to what I did and the Space Marine Commander's Orbital Strike.
BIC: Archlich simply floated there with his arms crossed, seeming to smirk at Yinglong as she roared in pain and rage, unleashing the pure destruction of her breath weapon on him. He ceased to exist, melting away like some sort of wax sculpture in seconds as the wave reached him. It looked like it was over.
"Your arrogance makes you blind, wyrm," hissed the Overmagus into Yinglong's ear, though he was no where in sight.
Abruptly a thin beam of light shot from a point in the sky some several hundred meters behind and above the dragon, connecting the empty point of space with the massive wound dealt earlier. The beam lasted a fraction of a second, but the coruscating arcs of lightning blasting down from the cloudy sky lasted a bit longer. Four bolts of lightning unerringly targeted the spot the beam had picked out, smashing down with a thunderous boom. Impossibly the lightning lasted for a bit more than an instant, each bolt diverging and carving a swath of destruction over Yinglong's hide. One bolt slipped off, however, and obliterated a building before all four finished unleashing their energies.
"You will be but a roadbump in my acension, beast," laughed the invisible lich as he teleported to the edge of Yinglong's interdiction field, down near the ground this time. "But I will be magnamonious and alow you this one chance to retreat, life intact, if you wish."
*********************
"Affirmitive," Dispenser replied, already turning to inspect Zeo in his icey cage. "I shall return once the prisoners are secure and the wounded disembarked."
After Teivos, Wolfgang, and the Sovereign's guard had departed, Dispenser gave the order for the two Molvias to make all haste to the VB detention center to pick up Isabel. It would be a brief lay-over to drop off some of the more critically wounded soldiers and bring the metahuman aboard. With her in power-dampening manacles and Zeo trapped in the block of ice, Dispenser anticipated little trouble getting them to tátna Zbrojovka.
Till then he paced around the captive fire dragon, taking the time to scan and analyze him as much as possible without any interference. The next time they fought would see the android victorious if he had anything to do with it.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
((Really? I thought that you meant to do that. >.>)
Pyra listened for the to the communication, looking at the strange cloud. "I sure don't know what that is," she muttered. "Torch?"
Torcher materialized next to her in a flash of light. "Boss taught us to fight as a team, didn't do much in-depth magic studies. Think any of these guys might know?" he said, thumbing back toward the remainder of the squad that was finishing patching up its wounds.
"Where is the boss?" said Pyra, suddenly concerned. She looked back to where she had last seen him, where he had saved her from that damned Lichbeam. Eyes narrowing, she leapt out from the cover of the building, dodging the blasts of the spirits still lingering.
She stood in the center of the crater left by the Overmagus. The smoke hardly hindered her vision, her eyes so used to the sting and shady sight. A little further off, she could see a darker patch slumped against the ground. Pyra ran forward, biting her lip, frightened. She came to a stop in front of the huddled form on the ground and tears came to her eyes.
Torcher teleported next to her, his usual smirk soon replaced by an expression of near-horror. "Oh my god," he muttered, placing a gloved hand over his face.
Pyra held a hand to her ear, fighting back tears as she shouted over the network, "I need a med-vac now!"
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"Bu-" Griffin started, looking in multiple directions in a confused manner as the mercs just about pushed him toward the door, speaking curtly and without much cohesion, "Wai-...shouldn't we-? Um...okay..."
He wasn't really sure about this, but these two (or at least one of them) had gotten him out of that creepy hospital, having apparently had a good idea of the consequences - and though Griffin couldn't say he exactly agreed with them, sticking with the two was probably a better idea than the soldier chick and the biker gang, whom he knew even less about...
--------------------
Valsta raised a hand before his eyes as another building exploded, giving a curt, despondent sigh. One of these days, he really had to get it across to Archlich that not everything should be written off as collateral damage, even when (as now), everyone stood in the middle of a firefight. Right now, it was kind of moot, the immediate area already evacu-
[ QUOTE ]
"I need a med-vac now!"
[/ QUOTE ]
...ated?
Teivos' gaze snapped back into the horizontal. That shout hadn't come solely across the network. Where was...?
A. Teivos: Wolfgang!
Wolf3r: Got it.
Wolf3r: On it.
Wolf3r: Over there.
The cyborg's network trace had found the source exponentially faster than looking for the sound, and Vlasta didn't waste a moment before giving the order to get moving with a shout to the like. As far as he was concerned right now, the second tank could handle the green dragon over there.
He didn't care about further maintaining the secondary trap either, ordering the tank above them to decloak so those below could grab on and a faster transit to the crater Wolfgang pointed out was achieved. All in all, it didn't take but a few seconds for them to home in on Burning Brawler's group, the M7A7 and supporting infantry giving no relent in their near-constant covering fire in all directions, sticking close as the black-clad dictator dropped into the hole.
"What are you guys doing here?!" was the first thing out of Vlasta's mouth upon seeing the VB officers, needing to shout over the fighting to be vocally understood, "Why aren't you on a Molvia?!"
That he didn't really care, however, was plainly visible to even the most inept observer, the bulk of Teivos' attention consumed by the downed man his rushed course headed down toward, hoping to find a wrist with a pulse. At the same time, Wolfgang already launched a scan of the same Burning Brawler.
What had happened...?
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
The sight was disturbing to say the least. Burning Brawler lay on the ground, face twisted in a grimace of indescribable pain as smoke rose from his body. A body now burnt and scarred beyond recognition. All hair and clothing had been incinerated, his very skin was the color of coal, what skin was left anyway. Large, open sores were revealed, yet he did not bleed, the wounds cauterized by the same heat that had created them.
His pulse was frantic, but regular. His body was working double-time to keep him alive. At best guess, after rescuing Pyra, Brawler had not been in the blast when it came down. But he was still close enough that even wrapped in his own firey protection, he suffered incredible damage.
Yet he remained alive.
But for how long?
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
[ QUOTE ]
"Hey, there lady. You all right?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"I'm fi- Wait, the hell did my gun go?", Valerie replied, looking around in search of the misplaced weapon. Finally spotting it nearly hidden under a bundle of clothes near where she'd landed, she went back over and pulled the high-tech looking rifle out from under the clothes. "Right. Now I'm fine", she added, before looking to the retreating backs of the two mercs and the griffin with a frown. "The hell are you three off to in such a hurry?", she asked as she hurried after them.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
"Get lost." Famine snapped at Valerie from his position behind Griffin, whom War was leading away at a healthy but cautious jog. Famine then proceeded to ignore the woman, putting his left hand on Griffin's back to hurry him along while sweeping his SMG around the area with his right. In the front, War had adopted a sort of sideways movement and drawn his Falcatas. His right blade was in a low, upward slash-ready offensive stance, while his offhand blade was protectively twisted to block his shoulder and face.
The two were moving away from the scene of the fight as subtly as they could, and as quickly. After moving to a side alley and holding behind a dumpster to get a better perspective on their next run, Famine took the time to further question Griffin.
"Alright, alright. Tell me a little more about yourself. What 'chips' do you have in right now? Who is 'Babe?' You remember where that lab you mentioned was, or who owned it?"
"He might have the portal tech we'll need." War interjected.
"That's what I'm banking on, jackass."
((Apologies for the wait, all- it's been a crazy weekend. I'm engaged now, for one >.>)
The lich's lightning struck, glowed for an instant, and then became a shimmering wall of light that enveloped Yinglong in her entirety. The light shimmered, then grew into a vast, glowing orb. Darker patches shifted across the face of the coruscation; viewed from the proper angle, it had become a titanic ying/yang symbol.
The orb shattered like an egg with a bomb in it, glittering shards blasting out to form a massive magic circle more than three miles across- if anyone were to bother measuring it, they would find that it encompassed precisely nine square miles, a Taijitu visible from space. From the heart of the light, two smaller dragon silhouettes emerged, resolving into one black, one... not white, exactly, but a perfectly negative image of the first.
The two dragons twined sinuously around one another, a mass of midnight black and iridescent white coils. They spoke in unison.
Tiny dead thing; you are an affont against nature. The very balance cries out against you. Life and death, the great cycle, must be OBEYED!
The titanic circle pulsed once, a senses-shattering flash of magic as the divided Yinglong brought her will into play, a surge of wild magic that sought to restore the natural balance- alloys began to lose cohesion, synthetic fabrics simply distintegrated, concrete crumbled, plastics melted away into bubbling patches of crude oil... and undead would find the magics sustaining their quasi-life being blasted like a candle in a hurricane.
------
High above, the mages continued their assault against the molvias. Flickers of wild energy slid across the protective screens as the sorcerors probed for weaknesses, shifting up and down frequencies, combining elements, even warping space and time itself as the CPSR forces jinked and danced amidst the hail of fire. Now and again, there would be a scream and a blossom of flame that quickly became a comet as another of the mages was stripped away, but the ringwall of ghosts was surprisingly effective at keeping casualties down. They wouldn't last forever, but for the moment, they were enough.
The incoming jets were largely ignored; shattering weather was set in their path as they came around, winds that could shear the wings off in a single gust, lightning that tracked with laser-like precision, and monstrous chunks of hail that hung suspended in the air like an asteroid field.
Amidst the meteorological chaos, a squad of the nimbler spirits lurked, streamlined supersonic ghosts dubbed Interceptor Spirits by one of the less-creative but highly influential elder sorcerors. If the Raptors got anywhere near them- which they would have to, if they wished to continue their attack run- the invisible ghosts would simply phase straight through the cockpits to deliver a single slice, and Teivos would find out how well his jets flew without pilots.
Just as a bonus, the Interceptor Spirits were actively trying to crash the headless raptors into the molvias, in an attempt to break through the anti-magic defenses, and possibly smash the heavy choppers from the sky entirely.
------
Aboard one of the helicopters, Flashpoint Zeo's eyes roamed back and forth, still encased in the heavy block of ice. At the moment, he was trying to keep his flames under control as they reacted to the massive concentration of Chinese sorcery outside, but otherwise he was largely unimpeded- the ice would vanish between one heartbeat and the next if he decided it was time to move. In the meantime, he was observing as best he could.
((Random aside, since I couldn't think how to include it above- Yinglong's latest trick is a highly obscure one- it's doubtful even another dragon would recognize it- but it means one fairly obvious thing. Without medical attention or healing, she's dying. Of course, when that happens, she's going to go off like a nuke. There's going to be an impressively large amount of raw magic discharging, mostly in the form of fire, when she dies, assuming none of the sorcerors manage to break loose and keep her together.
And, as always, if I missed something, let me know. Writing while exhausted, just didn't want to keep you lot waiting))
"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"
((Well congratulations. 
))
"I've got a pulse." Vlasta stated grimly, not taking his eyes off Burning Brawler's charred form, "It's on the clock. Wolfgang?"
The cyborg gave his head a sideways bob, a gesture to underscore the uncertainty, "I don't know. It's pretty severe. But I'll try."
Tossing his rifle over shoulder by the strap, the metal Caldok kneeled by the broken human while Teivos rose to make him space, then set his fingers onto Burning's throat and chest, willing his 4th-generation nanobase into the man. The repercussions lashed at him almost immediately, a wave of agony striking the cyborg, but if there was one thing Wolfgang Wolf was familiar with, it was pain. Thus he attempted to form a conduit, to take the human's pain away and restore him to health right here and now, the nanobase tasked with physical regeneration while Wolfgang himself took Burning's pain upon his shoulders.
If this succeeded though, he wouldn't stop there. No, the resulting inner quake required a release, and what better target than the man whose pain had brought it on? He would channel and additional pulse into Burning, a temporary burst of tremendous power that would make the man an inexhaustible killing machine; a painbringer, as some people had come to call it.
Regrettably, the others about didn't get the chance to see the result right then, a brilliant flash of light blinding all about. Sure, eyes closed and filters went, but still everyone saw spots for a short while. Luckily, the effects it brought along worked to the Pozemna Armada's advantage...well, sort of. The light tanks closing in were doubly struck as both their own structures and that of the road beneath them suddenly failed, knocking them out of the fight with a snap of imaginary fingers, but at least the latter also applied to the hostile forces assaulting the crater position - and that stood protected by the M7A7, the hovertank's Odcarovat forming a sort of magic umbrella for those beneath.
Even Hotaka wasn't left unscathed, the ground beneath his feet becoming unsupportive from one instant to another, and if he hadn't taken flight then and there, that cheating tin can of a tank surely would've won. The dragon couldn't help but curse. What in blazes was Sun Tzu's deal here?! Couldn't he even control his own forces?!
Of course, he had no time to ponder this, the tank still on him like the proverbial monkey on one's back, except in this case it was more like a gorilla. Fortunately, by now Hotaka had figured out how its pilot thought - and upon it evading another lash of his tail, the dragon breathed into its path a squall of venom-green flame, bathing the machine in a stream of vilest toxins and corrosives that immediately set to work.
True, they didn't cause a much structural damage, but this stuff got in everywhere, eating away at engines, control surfaces, antennae, what have you. In short, the tank spun out like a racecar, crashing into and through the nearest grove of trees. It may have been far from destroyed, but without navigation and control, good luck having it do anything resembling useful from here on. Hotaka just hoped these guys weren't smart enough to turn it into an artillery piece.
Of course, that was when the second tank got the order to engage, and Hotaka yet again spasmed with a burning pain against his side, crashing over unto the unstable road. He groaned bitterly. This just wasn't his day. Looking up into the sky, he saw the exchange intensify. Truth be told, he didn't even know what Sun Tzu was thinking anymore. Was the man after the Sovereign or the transport choppers? It had seemed to Hotaka to be the former. But then, why wasn't he down here helping out? The helos looked to be the more difficult target anyway, the aerial combat forces running smart interference to cover their rather speedy retreat.
The dragon rumbled a sigh. To think, all he had wanted to do was get a look at Teivos. Maybe a short conversation. What was it with humans and this 'ready, fire, aim' stuff? Oh well. Not like he had time to think about it. After all, there was still a hovertank headed for him...
--------------------
"Yeah." Griffin nodded in a gradual, unhappy manner, eyes downcast, "But I'm pretty sure Player wrecked it - and where...the owner is, that I don't know."
And I don't want to either.
"I doubt there would've been anything to help you, though." he looked up again, "It was focused on bio-stuff, making weapons, not going anywhere. As for Babe..."
The griffin put a hand to the back of his head, shifting about his long, red hair, "...that's actually a good question. I thought he was a mountain dragon...then it turns out he's some kind of robot...I think. You know...come to think of it, I really don't know. The chips, however, I can explain to you. What they're good for is..."
A brilliant flash interrupted his sentence, Yinglong's magic wave crumbling the both the buildings about and the concrete of the very ground, an earthquake nothing compared to the paraspatial lash. Griffin held his footing though, despite teetering a bit in an effort to stay on his feet, arms outstretched in a wobbly manner to maintain balance.
Oddly enough, the immediate vicinity remained solid even as chaos gripped everything outside that small, unseen bubble, ripping the targeted materials apart. Well, not quite unseen. But only the keenest of observers would've noted the faint, barely visible shimmer that had attached itself to the immediate surroundings, as well as the clothes and equipment of the people within. Guns, armor, grenades, all the stuff one would've expected to bite it, stayed decidedly normal.
The cause was of course far from inexplicable, especially once the shaking stopped. Even without Griffin's shifted stance, back ducked halfway, arms bent at the elbows and fingers spread out as if he were holding something only he could see, any sensor capable of detecting thus would've made out the telekinetic force that had held stuff together.
"...that." the griffin smiled slightly, looking about to make sure it was over before gradually returning to a normal posture, "They're good for that..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
(( I could swear I posted this once already... Either I'm really not properly awake or the forums ate my post. ))
[ QUOTE ]
"Get lost." Famine snapped at Valerie from his position behind Griffin, whom War was leading away at a healthy but cautious jog.
[/ QUOTE ]
Valerie did nothing of the sort. "Answer my question and I might", she shot back in a more than a little irritated tone. Until they did, they weren't getting rid of her. She did however stop as she noted the... whatever that was... generally wreaking havoc on anything man-made. She also noted the sphere of space around Griffin that apparently remained unaffected, and hurried into it before anything became damaged beyond her ability to repair.
----------------
[ QUOTE ]
It would be a brief lay-over to drop off some of the more critically wounded soldiers and bring the metahuman aboard.
[/ QUOTE ]
Isabel went fairly quietly, though they undoubtably would notice her taking note of anything she passed that might be of use, and several things that probably weren't. Although she had no plans to attempt an escape at the moment, it never hurt to have the plan ready in case it because necessary to do so. Mostly she watched the android as it paced around Zeo. If the worst came to the worst and she had to bail, he and his minions be most of what might stop her from leaving.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Max shrugged at the scene. "Well, boys We following the Mercs who don't want help, or jump into a fray we have no idea who's the evil @#@whole this time is? I, personally, just wanna go home." the elder biker regarded his crew.
"Well, I like a fight as much as the next guy, but, I ain't gotta clue what's goin on out there. So, We should prolly follow those two knuckleheads" Axel said, strecthing as he stood.
"I agree, mon." Syxx piped up. He walked closer to the area the others had taken Griffin.
"Well, ese, whatever you guys want. I'm down" Eddie the Blade responded. Timmy next him, strangley, just pointed out the window, nodding and giving Max a thumbs up. Seems he wanted to fight.
Bear hadn't respnded to the question and instead was gazing out the window, looking at the warzone. "Run. Now. Towards Griffin." The large man said suddnely, charging towards the bird man. The crew followed , a mixture of confusion and worry across their face.
Standing near the woman, the crew watched how, what seemed like the world, went up in fire. "Holy @!#. What was that?!"
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
Famine and War seemed pleased with Griffin at his saving their hides, but before they could acknowledge this Valerie decreased the proximity between them and her rapidly, entering their literal and metaphorical 'bubble.'
Famine and War spun around, brandishing their weapons. Famine took a quick knee.
"I think I told you to [censored] off." He snarled at her, staring down his irons. War leaned close to Griff, both of his blades in a parrying stance.
"You help us ditch the company, the rest of this little trip will be hella smoother, pal." He muttered softly.
Burning Brawler's eyes flickered, the red coming back into them. As another wave of power came from Wolfgang, his eyes flared with a dangerous light. He rose to his feet, exposed flesh soon covered as the flames wrapped around him in a protective shield.
He didn't seem to notice the others, least of all himself as he kicked off, rocketing towards the spectres that were causing the choppers so much grief. Brawler led with fires as hot as dragon's breath, tearing into the ghosts like paper.
Pyra stared up, open-mouthed, as her boss grapped one Spectre with a flame-wrapped hand, yanking it away from a flier and sending it into a group of its fellows, where it exploded to damage the others.
"Should we help him?" asked Torcher.
"I... I don't know that he needs the help right now," Pyra replied. "We just need to be ready for when he... when he realizes."
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
[ QUOTE ]
"I think I told you to [censored] off." He snarled at her, staring down his irons.
[/ QUOTE ]
"And I think I told you I will do no such thing until you tell me why you're in such a hurry. Actually, let's add why you hate me so much to that as well", Valerie replied perfectly calmly, not even bothering to retrieve her rifle from where she'd slung it across her back. Not like it'd do her any good anyway, if they were this bad just cause she walked up to them - for the very obvious reason of not wanting her stuff destroyed - then she'd be willing to bet she'd have more bullets in her than flesh before she got the weapon even half drawn.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Just as the mercs raised their weapons, Max and Crew raised theirs. "Hey! Why the hell you pointin' guns around?!" the elder biker shouted. The others, except for Bear, looked rather edgy. "I think the lady asked nicely. Think maybe you goons should start talkin?" Max said, a smirk lighting his face.
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Griffin's eyes grew larger once more at the sight of all the guns, arms stretched forward from himself and toward Max and his gang, his face one big worry, his tone curt and nervous, "Guys! Easy!"
"Seriously, you too." he glanced back to the mercenaries, " Shouldn't we all be, you know, helping each other out or something? Work on getting home? I thought that's what we all wanted."
"Well..." he looked to Valerie, "...maybe not all. Who're you...and, um...why are you following us?"
He had a sneaking suspicion War and Famine's hostility toward the gray-uniformed woman was due to just that, namely her apparently being a soldier. Since he didn't know anything about the context, his imagination of course played devil's advocate without restraint, envisioning her as an instrument of the regime the mercs had spoken of...
--------------------
Vlasta couldn't help but let out a whistle at Burning Brawler's rocket-like takeoff, remarking to Wolfgang, "I think you gave him a little too much juice."
"Possible." the cyborg gave but a single chuckle, looking after the VB officer as well, the smile in his mind clearly visible despite his metal jaw, "But you know...somehow...I'm not regretting it."
"I didn't expect you would." was the answer out the side of the Tsaigon's mouth as he turned to Torcher and Pyra, "Now, you two: what are you doing here?"
Before they could answer, however, he brought up a hand, "On second thought, tell me later. Right now, this is no place for Verejná Bezpechnost. Move, people. Fast response got nailed, so until the main groups are here, we're on our own. We need a better position."
Group in tow, Vlasta kept his plasma pistol raised as he began the climb out of the large crater, which despite its 'shallow' nature got rather steep at the rim...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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"If you honestly think we trust you enough to let you follow us, you're insane as you are ignorant, lady." Famine growled, taking a step back. "We don't have to fight here, but we're not gonna let you have yourself a jolly [censored] good time trailing us around the place."
War eyed the Thugs warily. The mercs were outnumbered, but not quite outgunned. Still, he stayed in his stance, making no hostile moves.
[ QUOTE ]
"Well..." he looked to Valerie, "...maybe not all. Who're you...and, um...why are you following us?"
[/ QUOTE ]
"I'm Valerie", she replied simply. "And I was following you cause I kinda got the idea you did something to piss off the Sovereign or his subordinates, so I was going to offer a little help. But since you so obviously don't want me around, I think I'll head back to that shop and get out of this uniform. What with the whole 'shoot on sight' thing, swapping it for something less conspicuous is a good idea. And for the record...", she glanced to the two mercenaries. "I probably am a little insane. I'd have to be, to go up against the Sovereign."
With that she turned and walked back in the direction they'd come, past the bikers (one of whom hastily got out of the way before she walked right over him) and toward the now somewhat derelict-looking store. Outside the griffin's bubble, it seemed whatever that energy had been had certainly taken its toll on everything man-made.
(( Khell, Devious? Anyone have something for Isabel? ))
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: STOP!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WAIT ONE SECOND!
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: WHAT IS A SEAGULL DOING ON MY THRONE!?!?
Max cocked his head at the lady as she strode by. Luckliy, Timmy moved, wisely, out of her way. "Hey, Valerie? Want some help? Name's Max and this my crew." the older biker said.
The rest of the crew though, kept there eyes steadily on the two mercenaries.
Self-Proclaimed Number one Fanboi of the RP Forums and it's writers.
Me: How about "Zeus, The Pimp God"?
A friend: It'd be too hard to dress him up like a bull
((You and your Warhammer...))
Burning had just rejoined the squad when the dark spots began to cover the sky. He gasped, unable to believe the Overmagus's complete disregard for the lives of the men on the ground, that of the VB and the Chinese forces.
He looked out as a beam from the darkness lit up a form leaping toward them: Pyra, with another member of the squad under her arm.
There was no time to think. Burning rocketed forward, a hand outstretched. He grabbed for Pyra's arm, swinging her around and sending her hurtling far from the beam. His flight barreled out of control, he was almost out of the radius of light. He wrapped himself in flames.
Then the blast struck.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell