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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 18, 2017 20:15:42 GMT -6
"f**k!" It was more of an inarticulate rasp than a really impressive shout, but the fierceness of it was no less real for its lack of volume, Nayru once again made fully aware of the cost of that ability. She was no Manakete, that much was certain, her control of large amounts of energy aside from what she could physically hold was still garbage. But - she was still a dragon. She still generated immense quantities of raw elemental essence. And as much of a kick as that damn breath attack had on her body, it still packed a punch.
It hadn't quite obliterated the scorpion like she'd hoped, but the molten flesh sloughing off its right claw spoke to the damage it had done nonetheless as the creature seemed to cradle it somewhat. So that was good; it gave her a little more of an opening at least. On the downside, if it was mad before, it was livid now, and that was... probably not good. Unless she could use its anger against it somehow, but who knew how that would work. She coughed, once, again, shaking her head to get the cobwebs out and the soreness slightly distracted. "Time for round two, ugly."
The dragon could vaguely hear the sounds of motion and combat going on around her, the PEWPEWPEW of Remus'slight magic and the impacts of the scorpion's attacks, but didn't pay too much attention to them as she charged the injured creature once more, its roaring ire more than enough to ensure it met her rather than flee. Again they met, same as the first time - but much like the previous scorpion Nayru mixed it up, this time using the coming claw to vault over it and inside the scorpion's guard, its off-balance attack weakened by the pain of its injury, bringing her right hand down in a resounding blow on its... did bugs have skulls? No, she'd read it in a book once... cepathloa... prona... f**k it, she punched the heady bits hard enough to smack it down to the ground, though this one didn't quite go flat like the last, and followed it up with an electrical uppercut from her left to raise its front end off the ground a bit. The weight of that thing was pretty intense actually, she'd kinda hoped to squish it and then punch it away, but... not so much.
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Post by Remus on Jan 18, 2017 20:57:34 GMT -6
The priests eyes snapped open. He lift his hand high and quietly felt the rush of magical essence while he thrust his palm forwards. A series of small blossoming bursts of light flashed open before they sustained themselves like faint glowing orbs of light forming an arc like structure of dots around his hand. Each one no larger than a small ball, but burning so brilliantly they were like tiny suns. Then they began to unleash a barrage of burning angry bolts of divine magic. The barrage was far more intense, and this time the priest concentrated it. A spread as volleys of five bolts at a time hailed into the upraised claws. The same spots being hammered over and over and over while the creature began to briefly relent. The hiss of pain like a sound doubled by rage before it's legs worked furiously. Remus lifted his staff aloft quietly and the intensity of the barrage quickened.
The creature was growing more berserk. The impact of its legs more frantic and that ever so horrid tail waving about. Taunting. The priest kept his staff gripped in left hand while the barrage continued to hammer down. Faster. Harder. More intense with every volley. Small gusts of sand kicking up now from the impact of its strides and the heavy thuds of his bolts starting to rip into internal chitin and carapace were prevalent. That tail reared back, and Remus lifted his staff right as it began to descend. When it hit the ground, there was a thunderous ripple through the sand from the wild force of the now agonized creature. A plume kicked up as the muffled thud and crunch of the heavy tail punctured the ground, but a split second before the murderous tip crashed through the priests head, in that instant prior, he vanished.
A brief shine of magic about twenty feet away lit up to take the form of the priest. Dauntless, he lifted his right hand as the lights burst back into existence around his hand and he resumed the barrage on the confused and unsuspecting creature once more. A shrill shriek like hiss in agony while he began to batter away the same point along its claw. Energy now melting further through the burnt and began to liquefy heated flesh. Melting through steadily so that now singed segments burning a bright orange emphasized the damage upon its flesh. With every passing moment the intensity of his barrage amplified further.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 18, 2017 22:23:47 GMT -6
If she'd had the time for it, Nayru would absolutely have started making fun of the ugly sonuvabitch - up close, staring romantically deep into the eyes of her big black buddy, it looked less 'badass giant killing machine' and more 'oh god it's a giant bug, kill it with fire' which was much less intimidating. Unfortunately, she did have a minor disagreement with its tail, in that she wanted to live, and, well, it didn't. Want her to live, that was. It wasn't trying to commit suicide. It WAS however trying to spear her like a Nayru shish kebab, which sounded very uncomfortable and less than ideal to her continued existence if she had any choice in the matter.
This time, though, she was ready. The bladed tail came down like the fist of an angry god, scraping her shifted arm with enough force to warp the scales, but her arms were already closing in around it before it could even begin to retract, and when it pulled the appendage back up there was a Nayru flavored addition to it. It, uh, turned out she had underestimated the speed a little bit though, the whiplash of being ripped up that fast and then abruptly stopped disorienting her from being able to immediately follow up on the advantage, though she did manage to keep her grip. There was also the, ah, minor issue of what to actually DO up there, she hadn't thought that far ahead.
The creature seemed displeased with the developments for some reason, swaying the tail back and forth as if to try to dislodge her. Crap. She couldn't focus during that inconsistent motion, but neither could she really fight well from the... ground... Inspiration struck like a bolt of lightning as Nayru steadied her grip, waiting for the right moment as the tail swung back and forth up and down, forward and - there! As it rose to its full height, almost straight up, she let go, using the upward momentum to propel her own ascent. It wouldn't last long before she started falling again, but she was momentarily above the creature and about to be nearly stopped, not to mention safe from its assault for a moment.
"Geeeeeeeeeet-"
the air around her exploded with electricity as Nayru drew on more of her power than she had since the fight against the chimera, far too much to control with the finesse of a manakete, but it wasn't what was outside that mattered - that was just useless waste, overflow that she didn't have a purpose for. The coagulating storm inside her was all she was focused on, the scathing tsunami of magic battering at her insides with enough heat and force to begin to batter through the protection that was all that kept a dragon from destroying themselves with their own magic. But she needed something big, and this was about as big as it got short of a full transformation; a fire that coursed through her veins and ignited her soul, mostly figuratively but also uncomfortably literally as well. She couldn't hold it for long.
"-DUUUUUNKED OOOOOONNNNNNN!"
The storm of electricity around her vanished in an instant, a momentary silence that was almost underwhelmingly nondescript in how little there was going on, before a pulsating lance of screaming light speared down from the airborne dragon, a roaring pillar of heat and light that evaporated the creature's tail almost as an afterthought before slamming down into its abdomen like the collective fists of an entire pantheon of angry gods, smashing the creature to the ground instantly. Physical force given form, it crushed and burned and melted and pummeled the creature like the hammer of dawn itself for a few seconds before evaporating.
The top half of the creature's tail was gone entirely, and a solid, foot-wide hole had been punched entirely through both upper and lower carapace, though the entirety of the hole was closer to a two or three foot diameter of hissing fire and baking flesh. A mortal blow, and yet it still lived, hissing in agony even as it struggled to pull itself up from the glassy sand beneath it. As she fell back to the sand below, Nayru couldn't help but be a little impressed by its sheer tenacity, the will to live that it exhibited even in the greatest adversity.
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Post by Remus on Jan 18, 2017 22:48:31 GMT -6
The priests body was starting to feel the ebb. The sustained volley's and barrages were beginning to accumulate. A few small drains here and there was seldom noticeable. What was however was when he maintained it in a focused constant stream like he did. The Priest felt his pulse swiftly climbing, and not from the induced augmentation prior. His hand began to grow a bit heavier. He was no where near his limit, but he wouldn't have been able to maintain the gatling barrage that he was unleashing forever. Every volley however did continue to burn further and further into the claw. Though bolts would hit a bit higher or lower sporadically, the general area was still being whittled away. Burned away steadily, and Remus was ready to keep that up.
Geeeeeeeeeet-
The priest turned his gaze as he heard Nayru shout. He saw her at the height of her ascension. When she'd raised to a level above the beast and was about to come plummeting down. The explosive shockwave drew even the fiendish scorpion's attention that had been approaching Remus. As if responding to the ripples in the air while she came crashing down with thunderous(heh) force upon the scorpion.
-DUUUUUNKED OOOOOONNNNNNN!
The priest saw the explosion while turning to obscure his eyes as a small veil of smoke burst outwards and back.
Well... I'm glad she's having fun...?
Remus lifted his hands while the smoke cleared. There was a sudden screech like hiss. The colossal scorpion that had battled Remus was rushing forwards. Though...for a brief moment he was unsure if it rushed for Nayru, or the other scorpion. Were they cannibalistic? Did it intend to offer it a mercy kill? Help by striking Nayru? Eitehr way, the priest couldn't have allowed it to strike at her openly. The Priest halted the flow of aetherial bolts and lifted his palm. Light brightly shining before he guided it, and a single thin beam of light flashed downwards from the sky and burnt swiftly along the sands between Nayru and the arachnid he'd been fighting. A line burning into the sand that forced the creature to halt, before Remus leaned his palm forwards. With a faint huff from exertions, Remus renewed the barrage. Intent to separate it from his comrade even as it visibly grew more frantic at it's impeded progress to its mate.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 19, 2017 19:37:52 GMT -6
The sand came rushing up to meet her like a blanket of knives, in equal parts hard and rasping. Normally Nayru would have preferred to hit the sand swearing, but given that speaking was momentarily beyond her she settled for hitting it like a rock instead, slamming into the earth in a plume of sand and... not moving a whole lot immediately. Yeah, dragon durability was enough that it hadn't killed her, but GODS her throat burned, the two breath attacks in rapid succession having scarred and savaged her from within, and her whole body felt sore.
"Urgh..."
She lay there feeling very sorry for herself for a time, eyes mostly shut to keep the sand raining down around her from getting in her vision, then abruptly sat up like a Nayru-in-the-box. Blah. She didn't really feel like doing anything more than taking a nap for now, but at the same time Nayru was quite aware that there was this whole uh, battle thing going on; she had to finish off this sumbitch and then help Remus finish off the other, assuming he hadn't killed it already. Had he? No, she noted, glancing his way. He hadn't. He was just lasering it, that thing he did. Turns out that quantity really was a quality all its own!
"HUP!" jumping back to her feet, Nayru stalked towards the struggling scorpion, almost feeling slightly bad for it as it spasmed. Tailless, missing part of its right claw, and suffering from a bad case of f**k**g DESTROYED, it was clinging to life with a desperate fervor that was almost admirable. Honestly, in some circumstances she might have spared it. Despite her general... history with monsters, Vinland had taught the dragon that not all of them were evil; these scorpions appeared to be along those veins, powerful creatures fueled by hunger, but not by the Nether. No different, truly, than a dog or wolf - just a lot more dangerous.
But... she had already killed it. There was simply no way it could survive the massive hole ripped through its body, and they both knew it. Probably not even Remus could heal that level of damage. As harsh as it sounded, there was nothing she could do for it save put it out of its misery. Walking around to its front, over the remaining left claw lying uselessly on the sand without the strength to even raise it, she placed a hand on its forehead(?). Gently. Not an attack. Just... it was hard not to humanize the stupid thing when it lay there, in such obvious agony, trying to pull itself together enough to fight or run away. She didn't know which, and by now it didn't matter.
"...Good fight."
Nayru didn't really know why she'd bothered giving it a parting message, but she didn't regret what she had done either. She had fought for her and Remus's lives, and she had won. That was all there was to it. This WAS kindness.
The blackened arm rose like an executioner's axe, and slammed down into the creature's head, smashing through the carapace with the relentless grinding force of the ocean, before a explosive pulse of electrical energy spread outwards from the impact point, frying flesh and body equally from within the cooling carapace. The mercy of an almost instant passing.
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Post by Remus on Jan 19, 2017 21:23:54 GMT -6
The Priest had caught a glimpse of Nayru's humanity. He'd seen that soft gesture. Part of him...was glad. Glad that the overwhelming guilt he felt upon the helpless state the struggling creature had been brought upon was not lost on her as well. That was to say, he wasn't the only one that felt a sort of pity. The Priest might've even attempted to impart some sentiment. That was...if he hadn't been the only one to notice her act. There wasn't a sound the priest had ever heard, akin to the unsettling wail like shrill shriek which seemed almost as much a loud hiss and buzz combined to that very hair-raising tone. It was with an intensity almost unlike anything he'd seen from any of the creatures yet, and in that single hanging moment an overwhelming wave infused with a mixture of confusion and dread led him to shield his ears and involuntarily step backwards.
The scorpion he'd been fighting was writhing. Shaking with such intensity it's body in totality seemed to spasm. Like a ripple that originated at the claws and seemed to traverse the length of its figure all the way down the bulk of the tail and ending in the tip. Nearly like its figure was wrought with tremors. The arachnid figure quivering so furiously that its body chattered, claws wildly snapping as the shrill sound lasted for several long moments before it began to wildly flail and lash at the air around it. Explosive bursts of sand launching in torrents to the right and left before it abruptly leaned down, body nearly touching the sand as it's legs bent before...
boom
With thunderous force it leapt backwards and through the sky. Impressive distance and height both from the single action before it landed with colossal impact into the sand and shook the earth around it. It's body was beginning to...hum. A faint cracking sound could be heard from the priests distance and fairly average hearing, but his gaze lingered on what it seemed to be...doing.
The scorpion turned its gaze, body adjusting so it could stare. First looking to the initial scorpion they'd felled. Then...to the one Nayru had next. A second shrill cry came upon fell winds that seemed to very loosely originate from the scorpion. That was when the priest noticed. Veins of red began to show up along the length of the beasts figure. Angry red networks that burned with an angry sanguine shade, as if a molten core within had ignited and veins of magma now ran hot and flowing free. He...could feel it. Faintly, the magic within it. No different than the feeling he got when in the presence of a great spell being cast.
The sudden rush of air pressure gathering around it drew his notice, and he saw the tip of the beasts tail begin to burn with a radiant light that only magnified the priests now nearly overwhelming sense of dread. His pulse climbing within further even as a bright crimson light shone brighter from the scorpion. In an instant, the tail cocked upwards and a colossal beam like trail of magical energy burst forth. Scorching hot magma composed blast of burning magic erupting outwards into the sky before it arced and crashed down into the distance. Even the impact as the beam lost composure and cascaded down into fiery magics was thunderous, the heat visibly staining sand darkened shades.The scorpion's mandibles began to pinch wildly, body burning brightly now with red networks as magic coursed wildly through its veins.
Thick globs of bright red fiery magical liquid trickled down, before the scorpion shrieked a third time. This time, it's legs rising and falling in a violent wild cocophany as it stomped in place aggressively and shook its claws. The shriek spewing crimson fluids upon its claws that seemed to set them ablaze for a moment, until it stopped glowing with a hot orange shade and the thick sludge like matter started to cool. Until a thick layer of basalt like substance coated the claws of the scorpion. Droplets from its tail staining the top of its heavily armored carapace until similar effects transpired, lining formidable chitin with a thick layer of blackened harder substances. Beneath it though, as if threatening to burst forth, burned the crimson veins still. Its eyes alight with an overwhelming aura of murderous intend exuding before its tail rose, cocked and leveled towards the priest and female dragon. The shrieking creature now slowly moving towards them even as the tail began to glow angrily another time.
Remus turning, before almost instantly gripping his staff. Though it seemed to be moving slower...he had a feeling he would've soon preferred that. Magic infused within his stave and he began to channel it, frantically trying to think of something, anything that might be of use as his skin grew pale. Dread threatening now to entirely overwhelm him.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 19, 2017 22:29:25 GMT -6
"Wwwwwwelp."
Nayru watched intently as she walked towards Remus, intrigued and a little alarmed at the creature's horrific transformation. Not necessarily at the absolute power level it embodied, though it was definitely among the more impressive things she'd seen. But the way it channeled magic, literally fueling itself with fire. Not only did it look uncomfortably familiar to some of her own higher level abilities, but she hadn't even thought that it was a possibility for these creatures. Certainly neither of the others had pulled off anything similar before death, which suggested that this one was a... unique specimen. And unique monsters, as she had learned the hard way, tended to be uniquely dickish to fight.
The tail death laser was ESPECIALLY uncomfortable given, er, what she had just done herself as well. Could these things mimic their foes, or was it just... kinda similar to her in some way? It was bad enough trying to approach a creature that just had a sword tail, but one that could launch furious jets of molten fire hundreds of feet was... well, not a whole lot easier to face off against. To put it lightly. Given that it seemed to have reinforced its claws for sure and possibly even body as well, it wasn't going to be as simple as just walking up to tall dark and ugly over there and giving it a friendly love tap or two. In all honesty, Nayru wasn't actually sure how to even try to approach it. She couldn't fly, she didn't have super speed, she couldn't teleport, and... well, reinforcement let her take hits pretty well, but it didn't immunize her to area-effect magic, ESPECIALLY given her own unique reinforcement. Quickly shifting power was sometimes a benefit, but it meant that anywhere she wasn't actively bolstering was literally just human flesh, and, uh, last time she checked, people weren't immune to melting alive.
Finally reaching Remus's side, though standing a few feet away to make it harder for the creature to hit them both with any surprise magic it might launch, Nayru stopped moving. They'd face it down together, at least for now. She cocked her head in his direction. "...I don't think running is an option anymore." f**k, her throat still felt like it was on fire, and she was a bit messed up... but still perfectly capable of fighting, even if the stress of her 50% shift was starting to wear on her body. Dragons were good at magic and all, but the downside of all that power was that nothing short of their true form could truly handle it unscathed; anything less and you risked overwhelming your weaker, squishier human bits. But it wasn't the first time she'd gone through this song and dance, and Nayru had some idea of how far she could push herself. Remus... he didn't seem as certain. "You ready for this, Remus? You and me, brother man. We can do this."
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Post by Remus on Jan 20, 2017 11:51:53 GMT -6
So. Arachaphobia might have been an irrational fear of arachnids, but Remus was one hundred percent certain his fear was perfectly rational. If anyone had attempted to criticize him for it he would've kindly pointed out to them that a scorpion had just fired jets of energy beams from its tail like Nayru's mouth laser, and literally adorned itself in molten armor while glowing red and looked strong enough to now decimate a small army. He would've been entirely bothered by it Nayru's approach though instantly sent a soothing wave through his mind. As if he priest was able to find himself an inner state of calm. Perhaps just knowing she was near? Either way, the Etruria priest lifted his staff quietly and let a faint glow envelop himself. A defensive layer of magic encasing himself with softly glowing blue veils of energy casting a sheen upon the visible segments of flesh that his desert garb exposed.
His shoulders squared and his expression visibly hardened into a more serious one. Gaze steeling as he prepared himself. The drops of sweat trailing down his jawline were from his magical exertions, not from the overwhelming heat that he'd long since forgotten about. The slowly accumulating dual depletion of his magic from his lightning barrages and the maintaining of his bodily enhancements were also beginning to take a toll. His skin had grown a more ghostly visage of pale white despite the sun's efforts to cook him red.
Remus lifted and swept a hand through the air as if to cast off his burdens. The air burning with magic once more as the priest began to accumulate holy energy. Light slowly infusing within his palm as his eyes faintly lit with golden hues and he began to steadily acrew more divine power. The sand rising ever so faintly as the miniature pulse globed outwards around him. Remus's tone grew a bit more stern even as he stared intently towards the beast. Eyes drifting from the tail to the mandibles while he tried to level out his frantic mind. He had to steady himself. Nayru was counting on him. He would not let her down. As the visibly drawing light began to stain his palm with brighter shades he chimed in with a nod.
"I'm ready Nayru. We have handled everything else thus far. We can handle this."
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 20, 2017 14:23:08 GMT -6
Well, Remus sure seemed to be hyping himself up, casting what she assumed was Barrier and probably some other crap she didn't even know about. Dude had more staves now than she had fists. Wait, that was a horrible metaphor. Point was that he had a lot of staves was all, not that she was some kind of horrific arachnid monstrosity with more arms than brains... though Nayru had her doubts about that sometimes. Given that sometimes it felt like she didn't have two bits of her brain to rub together, maybe it wasn't so inaccurate after all.
It did feel a little underwhelming that she didn't have much fancy to do while he was chaincasting every spell he knew, but at this point Nayru wasn't really in the mood to show off - she had risked maximum halfshift in hopes of finishing the battle quickly and was already feeling the burn a bit, being about to start another, much harder battle only made her think about how to CONSERVE power for once in her life, heh heh. Funny how that worked. The problem still wasn't that she was running out of juice, it was that she'd literally tear her body apart trying to use it if she got too reckless. Out of the frying pan and into the... lava.
She couldn't think of anything else particularly smart to say so Nayru just bum rushed the damn thing, kicking off a clod of sand in her wake as she dug her heels into the sand and PUSHED, momentarily shifting some of the power not being used to sustain her halfshift into her legs to strengthen those muscles and propel her forwards faster. But uh, this time she knew better than to charge straight at the ugly bug; had worked well enough with the last two, but they hadn't had tail deathbeams, and besides, she wasn't just trying to get to it instantly. She charted her course swerving off to the right a bit, putting some extra distance between herself and Remus to force the creature to prioritize.
Tall, dark, and on f**k**g fire over there seemed to generally agree with her notion, the fire of its tail burning brighter and brighter - countless lines of raging crimson ascending its tail and coagulating in the tip - before another beam of molten light spewed forth, distorting the air in its path as the torrent of unrelenting heat sliced through the air towards her at dizzying speeds. The dragon had time to get about the first syllable of something nasty out of her mouth before having to throw herself to the side bodily to avoid it, vaguely noting the sand instantly erupting in smoke and fire as it melted, but the sustained wave of heat continued, tracking her... faster than she could turn her own breath, honestly, forcing her to right herself immediately and continue charging ever further to the right, almost to what had been its side as it continued rotating to track her, before the torrent finally died down temporarily.
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Post by Remus on Jan 20, 2017 14:53:41 GMT -6
Remus knew, for almost a certainty that he wouldn't be able to damage the monster with his weaker projectiles. Those bolts of magic were far less impact and focused primarily on heated energy. Which is the very thing that seemed to from into its current armored figure and give its hardened layers existence. Which meant it would take...more force. His body was already suffering from the ache of his prior spells, and he knew that another purge would take alot out of him. None the less...he couldn't leave this up to Nayru.
Sure she'd probably have been able to handle it but he didn't know her limits. As their recent talks and moments in the temple had conveyed, she did have a limit. One neither of them it seemed, liked to acknowledge. All Remus had to remind himself was that he had a limit or else he'd be likely to wantonly expend himself trying to help Nayru further. Which meant two things. That this process would take longer...and be harder. The eight legged freak was distracted and trying to fire the volatile energy towards his draconic friend, and deep down once more...Remus felt a slight surge. His palm gripped tighter, knuckles bleeding white while energy shone between the folded cracks of his hand. Like small rays as he centered his fist opposing his chest and closed his eyes briefly. Another pulse of energy rose as the divine major gathered in a thicker concentration within his form. Remus directed his gaze squarely to Nayru once he snapped his eyes open to visibly ensure she was okay. Ever since the deathgoyle battle, he'd been having a hard time really wrapping around his emotions in battle.
It scared him though. That he had to put so much of himself into it. Staves utilized a composed magic. Light magic needed...belief. Fervor. Emotion. It made it that much more frightening to him. Still, Remus could feel his body churning as energy filled it. As if his veins threatened to burst with golden aura even while he tried to condense and master the gathering light magic. His eyes directed to the body. Scanning furiously. How could he maximize it? Impact somewhere Nayru could hit as well. Until, he thought back to the one she'd killed. The crippling blow had come from a strike above. So..perhaps if he could weaken it...there?
The priest out-stretched his hand. Quietly guiding his magic as the faintest of lights came down like a sliver of a beam upon the creatures back. No pressure. No burn. No damage. Remus held the spell back for as long as he could. He'd no idea if he'd be able to open it up..but he had to draw its attention if nothing else. His gaze squared, and he searched frantically for the strongest point to punch at, barely grasping back the spell from his finger-tips as if trying to prevent a wet rope from slipping through his reach.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 20, 2017 16:10:01 GMT -6
Righting herself from one last roll to escape the sputtering spurts of the ray of flame that had been following her, Nayru had but a moment to focus and rebalance herself before charging again, again forced to alter her approach to account for the creature's newfound ranged abilities. Rather than charging straight or at an angle, she mixed it up, abruptly changing angles of approach every so often. Far less immediate than a straight line, but keeping the creature unable to guess exactly where she would be was worth it, even if constantly having to kick off from the shifting sand in unplanned directions was murder on her legs and definitely slowed her down objectively speaking.
It was also worth noting that the creature clearly had some sort of limit on its tail laser, whether a cooldown or a chargeup, she couldn't tell just yet. Both were entirely possible; the creature was channeling enough fire magic to burn itself up given time, Nayru suspected, but as she knew all too well on a personal level, all the power in the world didn't matter if you couldn't safely manipulate it. Theeeeen again it wasn't like tail lasers were all that this jerk had going for it so she couldn't really get too comfortable.
Whether due to her erratic approach or the limits of its abilities, Nayru wasn't entirely sure, but she managed to close in on the creature without too much issue from there - though it would potentially be equally accurate to say that it closed in on her, bringing one of its newly reinforced claws, the left one, down with phenomenal force that cratered the earth and knocked her backwards just with the sheer force of the shockwave. Holy f**k, she could... survive a hit, probably, but it felt like the damn Bael battle all over again, where 'one hit' was about the grand total of her durability. So much for being an invincible godlike being that transcended the limits of humanity, huh?
Uh, well, anyways, shattered pride aside, she DID kinda have a job to do while Remus did... Remusey things. Easier said than done, admittedly, but... welp. Using the plumes of sand and dust as a cover, Nayru skirted the lifting claw trying to find an opening, thought as it turned out she found its other claw coming at her with all the tender gentle love of Kraft caressing a heretic's cheek, and about half as much mercy.
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Post by Remus on Jan 20, 2017 17:21:43 GMT -6
Remus was beginning to feel bad for every bag he'd ever ripped by putting too many groceries in when helping his parents. Because that was precisely how he felt. The radiant magic was wafting from his figure, a glow permeating around him as excess holy energy bled outwards from an inability to contain it within his body without imposing physical harm. It almost felt akin to the sensation of trying to grab water and pick it up through clasped palms. How it just..trickled away. So idle. So quietly. The priest frowned and lifted his hand while leaning slightly forwards. Heel shifting in the earthen mixture of dirt and sand while he tried his best to effectively ground his body.
The light around him was a fully enveloping aura. Though he'd cast this powerful magic a handful of times now, never before had he held onto it so insistently. Never before had he gripped at it with a desire to restrain himself. Still, how heavy he felt! As if layer after layer after layer of heavy armor were upon his figure completely. He grit his teeth, gaze fixated still upon the flailing beast that hammered about its colossal claws. It shook the ground with thuds and thunderous impacts. He felt it's force in every motion. The priest instantly faltered for a moment though, when he saw it swing to Nayru only for her to dodge and it to lift its other claw to swing. The priest shouted frantically, blue hair messily obscuring part of his face in that moment while his body profusely sweat and universally ached. Horror bled into his expression as concern for his friend became the universal thought in his mind.
"Nayru! LOOK OUT!"
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 21, 2017 16:40:27 GMT -6
"HRAAAAAAAGH!"
The massive club met Nayru's left arm with furious grinding force, sending shockwaves of strain and pain through her body. Normally the intense mass of her halfshifted scales ablated most force to the point she had trouble feeling it at all, but this... it felt like trying to stop that Bael with her bare hands. Like it was something she just wasn't ready to fight at all, despite how much growing she'd done in the interim. It grated at her pride as much as it wore away at her body, bringing out the rebellious streak within her to the very top.
By the time the pressure subsided, her whole left arm felt numb, shaking a little bit, but pushed by her anger Nayru ignored it and rounded the curve to try to repeat her earlier successes in getting inside the creatures' respective guards. After all, they couldn't see her through their large claws, meaning she had a moment or two to re-position before they could react. And it seemed the same was true this time. Rather than following up with a tail strike or blast, or even its left claw, the creature almost seemed to truly have no followup to that attack, at least not an instant one, giving her a tiny window to slip inside through the countless particles of sand that had been kicked up in the wake of their clash. It was actually pretty trivial to just dash around the claw and stare it in the... face...
Hm. She didn't remember the others having fire breath.
For a tiny instant so small it hardly spanned a fraction of a second, the dragon almost felt time slow down around her, almost feeling as though she could inspect every grain of sand around her, as though they were all part of a curtain falling around the final act of the fight... and perhaps her story. If the creature's tail blast was anything to go by, it was likely to be more than she could simply tank; as she had noted earlier, halfshifting was an incredibly useful tool in melee battles and against small-scale magic, but hers especially was far weaker against larger-scale magic, and after the damage her left arm had just sustained she... actually wasn't sure if she would survive it.
But she wouldn't - couldn't - give up now. Not so close to Arcadia, not with Remus here. She had to figure out SOMETHING to survive the blast. Hm. Could she cover the whole front of her body? Nayru wasn't actually entirely sure about that one, she'd never tried, but based off of her smaller scale experience she didn't think she could actually reinforce it thickly enough, and not quickly enough, to casually take the hit. There simply wasn't enough time to fullshift, completely regardless of her aversion to it, it was a process that took time and focus, and her body would be incinerated too quickly for it to kick in. The sand wouldn't do a whole lot to stop it either, the curtain here might at best take away 1% of the force before it too evaporated.
Sand...
With a great shout, Nayru slammed her right fist into the ground beneath her at a forwards angle, sinking to one knee as a massive blast of sand and earth erupted around and before her. A storm of electricity began to emanate from her right arm in particular as she brought both up before her like two gates, trying to minimize her profile and focus her power forwards.
The storm of fire came almost instantly, a cone more than a focused beam but no less dangerous for it - a wall of heat and force that slammed into the burst of sand and consumed it whole, crystallizing and evaporating the mass of earth in short order. It did serve to protect her from the opening salvo so to speak, Nayru realized with some degree of gratitude as she watched her world turn to fire, but any pleasure turned to ash as the fire magic burst through the spray of earth and carved a path through her momentary surroundings, the single blast splitting into two torrents of living flame as they impacted her arms. Pain was immediate and intense, her lightning swept away almost as quickly as the sand had been, leaving only the blistering blackened scales between her and certain death.
It was all she could do to hiss in pain as everything turned to heat and flame; while the direct magical attack was temporarily blocked by her makeshift barrier, the twin torrent of flame coursing around her emanated a heat so intense that her skin felt as though it were burning away simply from their presence. Even with an amateur job of trying to mimic Aerious or Shara's full-body reinforcement, barely protecting her from literally catching fire, it was still enough to singe her hair and flesh and clothing and send a solid wall of agony through her nerves. To say nothing of the consuming blaze before her, gnawing at her hardest scales and melting through them all simultaneously.
The funny thing, the half-delirious dragon thought in a moment of bemused clarity, was that what actually bothered her most was the lack of air. She hadn't even thought of that, only trying to survive the blast, but the only things entering her lungs were ash and cinder, a fiery heat that stole her breath and left her closed eyes watering as her strength began to leave her.
The blast ended as abruptly as it had began, though it took precious seconds for the battered dragon to even recognize that fact, and longer to actually process it. She could hardly even tell if she was alive much less functional; everything was still fire for her. But it was time that she did not have. The creature's left claw came scything through the gently raining ash, shattering the remnants of her savaged right arm, smashing into her right side, and sending her flying limply through the air as consciousness bent and buckled under its weight.
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Post by Remus on Jan 21, 2017 17:40:13 GMT -6
"HRAAAAAAAGH!"It started with that shout. The slowed, and most agonizing few seconds that Remus had ever experienced in his life. As if every aspect of his body had been engulfed in a temporal stasis registering him unable to act while he witnessed events proceed before him. Like any other cataclysmic disaster, where one felt helpless but to watch on despite the power they may actually have. Cataclysmal disasters usually referred to a disaster that shaped the world. However Remus had only three people at that precise moment with whom he considered a significant part of his world. Amelia, Owain, and Nayru. A third. A full third of his world at that moment was engulfed in flames as the priest felt absolute terror grip his heart with such a vice that it almost robbed him of breath. The magical energy within him, and the pressures it built up were almost instantly forgotten. When his palm reached out, it did not glow with light. His tone held no strain beyond that conveyance of pure worry. Absolute fear consuming him and though his body rippled with power it was as if such a great burden had repressed it that it had faded entirely. His eyes glossed with a thin veil of water instantly welling up from that most potent anxiety which threatened to blossom into an overwhelming torrent of internal agony. " Nayru!" They hadn't known each-other much longer than a year. However in that year, Nayru had helped sculpt and mold him into who he was from nearly the ground up. All his life, he'd been that same person. All those years, the same hapless fool. Unable to acknowledge his efforts as having any baring or weight. Content only to effect the immediate small few and never allot himself to much beyond that. Amelia and Owain were all he'd focused on. Until Ilia. His first conversation with Nayru. How fast time had passed. Hours melted between conversations of ideologies, sentiments and lessons learned or neglected from the past. The priest had, for the first time, spoken to someone who urged his dreams. Who had reinforced that he should follow them. Unlike his family, who had supported and nurtured them but sheltered them beneath the regime of the Prophet. He'd never felt before that twilight conversation, that he could've amounted to anything of real importance. Then Bern. When Nayru had confided in him. How much that had impacted him. How much weight it had given to their prior conversations. How much had it effected him further. Their talks of lament on humanity's past actions. On a peaceful world. She was a dragon. Yet she tried to help humanity despite it's terrible crimes towards her kind. How hard she'd striven for peace. Her consoling him when he struggled with the sensations of battle. His own doubts. Again, when he fell low, she was there to lift him by the arm and guide him to his feet. Vinland. If ever there were a time he'd felt closer to someone. More understood, it'd been wiped from his mind. She consoled him and confided in him. She lay bare her inner demons and trusted him. She'd helped him sculpt his hopes, and dreams, into purpose. Into something he could see before him. He could see that road that lay before them and though he'd seen the potential road blocks they seemed so...frail. His confidence in their friendship so great that he was absolutely sure they could endure anything. Even before this the ghostly recollection of her smile while she approached still upon his mind. They'd agreed to face it together. Was that not enough? The priests body instantly lost it's illuminating aura for an instant. No more than a battered, broken looking young man who was struggling with the idea that he'd just seen his closest friend suffer unspeakable. That was when he felt it. That tiny part of him. So faint he hadn't really recognized it, snap. Faint droplets trickled from the corners of his eyes as he blinked furiously once, the rush of sound overwhelming him while he heard the dull thud of Nayru's body colliding with that ground as she was launched away. It was that final impact. That limp thud that broke him. His shoulders shook. His palm clenched so tightly, that with that faintly enhanced might still infused in him his nails punctured his skin. Trickles of blood lightly filling the crevices between each finger while he felt an overwhelming sensation threaten to consume him entirely. His brows furrowed. His expression contorted for the first time into one of... rage. He'd never been a violent man. The idea of harming a living being had always been one of a struggle for him. That hesitance melted away. For the first time in his life he felt an overwhelming desire to see something broken. To see it obliterated. Instantaneously wiped away from the face of the planet until it's very existence had been removed. Until every trace of it, every minute aspect of an impact it'd left upon Elibe was expunged so that none would know its presence had ever deigned to foul the air it currently occupied. Remus took a single step forwards with bodily rage ravaging the length of his figure. The moment his foot touched the ground that energy exploded. The priests eyes burned furiously with both a divine power and the holiest of rages. A single unyielding one hatred. His lungs burned as he inhaled, as if his very breath took in some of the magical essence now exuding so heavily from his body that it was like a miniature gale around his immediate presence. His palm flew through the air while the priest shouted with a blind and wild rage. " OOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" PurgeHis hand leveled in an instant and the energy that discharged from his body alone was like a tiny detonation. The sky above the scorpion was cast into a blinding pillar of light from the heavens above. Every ounce of rage. Every ounce of willpower he'd ever been able to muster in his life took form as the air became dense a milisecond before his wrath embodied cascaded down upon the scorpion. A colossal pillar of light blasted downwards with such force that the explosive wave propelled thick torrents of sands outwards. Fragments of glass and crystallized granules swept up while the ground fragmented and splintered. Rippling, it caved and the blinding light of energy engulfed the scorpion in totality while it thundered with a near deafening rumble. Remuses eyes burned with a white light, and his palm with a golden hue as he shouted through out the spell. His exhale long, and hard. Every ferocious tone without relent. Until he'd seen this thing before him destroyed. Crippled. Helpless and squirming with the inability to prevent itself from dying by another hand. Until every fiber of its being screamed for a release it could not grant itself and he had crushed it with that raw torrent of pure power. No other thought dared encroach upon his mind. No thoughts of home or friends or family. No lament of the heat or his own body is the sheer strain burned at his very core like a fire lit within. Just that purest and simple desire to break the thing that dared to take his friend from him. The realization that it almost had causing him to add another emphasis into the breathless syllable of his shout while squeezing every last ounce of power he'd gathered into the pillar of light magic. His nose trailed small trickling paths of blood. His head ached. His body screamed in protest, and it only fueled his anger further with a frustration that his body would attempt to give out. He gazed into that light directly, his entire body cast in a near blinding white hue from the sheer candescence of the beam, and when it finally ended, he found himself unable to see anything with heavy thick veils of sand looming. His gaze turned not for the scorpion though, but for Nayru. His words expressed that as he breathlessly shouted, hands cupping to his mouth while frantically looking about. " Nayru! Nayru!"
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 22, 2017 2:19:25 GMT -6
Consciousness returned to her with a flash, and Nayru immediately found herself wishing it hadn't. Behind the burst of light was a solid wall of pain, an avalanche that crawled across every inch of her body, burning and breaking and brutalizing every inch of skin, every nerve, every muscle, every sense. The scent of burning flesh, the ash in her mouth and the fire in her lungs as she tried to breathe real air again, the ache in her back as she lay on what she only assumed was sand. The dragon was vaguely aware that she was looking at a mix of blue and brown, but it took an embarrassingly long time to actually put the thoughts together that hey, maybe she was lying sideways, and the sky was up and the sand was down?
She tried to push herself upright, and regretted that one pretty fast too, the immediate torrent of pain shooting down her arm enough to drop her back to the sand immediately, hissing in agony. As vision slowly returned to her she gradually watched the sand sharpen in focus and after a time, looked down to inspect her arm. She'd half expected it to be missing or on fire, but it was... still attached, at least, though the mix of red and black skin was, um, not quite what she wanted to see. Maybe if she was heavily halfshifted, but... not on her flesh, or at least what was left of it. But hey, she HAD an arm! Woo. Baby steps, Nayru. What about the other one? Oh! Right, she was supposed to have two arms, but the other one was off to the left, behind her. Why? Oh, she was lying on her right side. Duh.
She tried to stand up, and got about as far as one knee before that effort gave way entirely, hissing again like she was part Lafiel. Did lamias hiss? They were snakes and stuff... it was interesting that she couldn't seem to keep her mind on one thing at a time, or really on anything. She tried moving her left arm, and regretted THAT, too. It... didn't really go anywhere at all, but the instant extreme pain erupting from it suggested that it was broken. Been a while since something like that had happened. And why was her right hand shaking like she had the palsy, anyways?
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