08-20-2017, 09:09 PM
Ebony rolled to the side, panting and leaning back on one of the statues. Knees bents, legs tucked in, back slumped, and hood pulled down. The ringing in her ears and the thick fabric did little shield her from the sounds of battle, yet her recovering eyes would have protected her sight should she not have already been looking away. This was meant to be a fun trip. A nice day out to relax in the presence of some cool looking statues. Again were Ebony's hopes of a reprieve from this unrelenting world viciously torn to shreds. She bit her lip, frowning. Maybe I should say out of it. It's not my fight.
She blinked. Not my fight? The world must have truly have been harsh to her to prompt such thoughts. It didn't matter whether it was her fight or not. What mattered was that people were getting hurt. She had to prevent it, or at least help those who were good. But that didn't help her tell who to fight. Couldn't they just wear black biker jackets with 'I am evil' written on the backs? Ebony was, however, fairly familiar with the process of logical deduction. The blue fairy and the demon both attacked her unprovoked. People who attacked without being provoked were evil. Therefore, they were both evil. Assuming all her axioms were true, and she was convinced they were, her conclusion logically followed. Notably, from this logic, the statement that the other combatant wasn't evil did not compute as attacking even when provoked could be done by an evil individual. That said, Ebony still made the assumption he was good. He'd fought with her in her previous efforts to protect herself and stop the fight.
She shook her head, clearing her mind and steeling her nerves; her hand clenched around her scythe, pulling it close. In theory, she could simply stand up and rejoin the fight. Yet, the first step was always the hardest. No matter how many times she did so, it never felt easier. Sometimes she just wanted to stay down, rest, relax. Nevertheless, she refused to give anyone the satisfaction of her giving up. It could take time, but she'd always pulled through, albeit often by the skin of her teeth. Nonetheless, this: this was the worst. There was no purpose. At the Nexus she'd stood to pursue and hopefully find a way home. At the Steppes she'd stood to fight against evil and help her friend. But here: here it would be so easy to just leave.
Shudders resonated up her spine, rattling her bones. A particularly loud feminine scream cut through her mind like butter. In the induced panic her legs straightened slightly, pushing her back against the humanoid statue and raising her slightly off the floor. It may not have been optimal, but the motion served to give her the edge she needed to get back on her feet - a least physically. Leaning on her scythe, Ebony quickly peaked around the side of the statue. From her short glimpse, the battlefield looked messy, chaotic even. Shattered statues from misdirected attacks, scorch and ice marks, and, disgustingly, small puddles of blood littered the area.
Ebony had seen blood before, and over her first day in the Omniverse she practically became an expert on it. It never got easier having to stomach the initial sight, but she'd gotten better at suppressing the nausea that followed. Steady breaths. Just breathe. Fights were fun and games until someone got hurt, and while she denied it even to herself, a small cancerous part of her agreed with that - steadily growing like a tumour with each successive burst of adrenaline.
Short scenarios ran through her mind as she attempted to analyse the situation, yet any thoughts and plans were superficial wishes. In reality, she knew there was no ideal outcome - at least one her strategically inept mind could find. But based on instinct a clear set of doors were still open in front of her; her rushing tide of magic crushed against them, waiting for her to turn one of the keys. Scared and nervous (it was distinctly possible she could even make the situation worse for her provisional ally) Ebony began to craft her spell - still hidden behind the statue and using the sounds as an attempt to visualise the situation.
"Swirling Gale, hear my plea." Ebony peaked around the side of the statue, chanting under her cloak. It was no whisper, but the sounds of combat drowned it out. "Pursue my foe: assist me."
"Typhoon, Tempest, blast away; track her through the light of day." Grunts of pain nearly distracted Ebony as a purple orb grazed the hooded man. He was better off than the fairy, however, who seemed to have taken the brunt of the demon's attacks - a long shallow red gash trailed down from her shoulder.
As an afterthought, Ebony continued, still unnoticed or ignored by the combatants. Her magic was building, flowing through her body, warming her nerves, stimulating her mind, satisfying the addiction she didn't know she had. "Emerald hell, explode... go boom." Not her best line, but it'd do. It started cool enough. Mentally, it was hard to stop once she'd started. Channelling the spell was the best part, feeling the magic ripple through her brain, getting to use all the awesome phrases she'd thought of over the years, it was the ultimate temporary antidote to fear. "Flames, fire, gather by me; for crimson explosions, I need thee. Forces of the darkness: transverse light; chase, rend, pursue and fight."
Focusing her mana, Ebony guided it towards the last part of the spell, draining her strength. "Take my might but follow my mind; my soul is yours, with it we bind." Her legs bent, crumpling slightly as her energy rushed into the spell. She locked her arm around the statue's leg, bracing herself. It was hard to think with magic shrouding her mind. She barely remembered why she was casting the spell but reined her body in enough to finish the job, screaming the last segment into the air. The three were all visible, fighting on the stage. "Disperse, my shadow - take over the light!"
The demon reacted first, throwing herself to the side as the first projectile rocketed towards her, initially missing yet curving around to return later. The fairy was not so lucky: as skilled as she was, she lacked the speed to dodge. The blast exploded into green smoke, sending her crashing into a stone penguin man. The hooded man stumbled, being pushed away from his opponents - to safety. In her attempts to avoid the first spell, the demon was shunted by the second back into it (this one not exploding). Nonetheless, she managed to maintain her footing enough to avoid a third fiery explosion.
Through the magical fire, the fairy floundered an orb already forming on the end of her wand to retaliate. Shock showed on her face as another blast, this one dark - almost evil looking, pierced through the air, heading straight towards her. In a last-ditch attempt to avoid the dark attack, she kicked off the ground, jumping to the side. It followed, arcing with her futile motion. Meanwhile, the demon had originally disregarded the shot, seeing it head far enough away for her to be out of the blast; her eyes widened as its target headed straight in her direction, the dark orb trailing behind, ready to explode.
She blinked. Not my fight? The world must have truly have been harsh to her to prompt such thoughts. It didn't matter whether it was her fight or not. What mattered was that people were getting hurt. She had to prevent it, or at least help those who were good. But that didn't help her tell who to fight. Couldn't they just wear black biker jackets with 'I am evil' written on the backs? Ebony was, however, fairly familiar with the process of logical deduction. The blue fairy and the demon both attacked her unprovoked. People who attacked without being provoked were evil. Therefore, they were both evil. Assuming all her axioms were true, and she was convinced they were, her conclusion logically followed. Notably, from this logic, the statement that the other combatant wasn't evil did not compute as attacking even when provoked could be done by an evil individual. That said, Ebony still made the assumption he was good. He'd fought with her in her previous efforts to protect herself and stop the fight.
She shook her head, clearing her mind and steeling her nerves; her hand clenched around her scythe, pulling it close. In theory, she could simply stand up and rejoin the fight. Yet, the first step was always the hardest. No matter how many times she did so, it never felt easier. Sometimes she just wanted to stay down, rest, relax. Nevertheless, she refused to give anyone the satisfaction of her giving up. It could take time, but she'd always pulled through, albeit often by the skin of her teeth. Nonetheless, this: this was the worst. There was no purpose. At the Nexus she'd stood to pursue and hopefully find a way home. At the Steppes she'd stood to fight against evil and help her friend. But here: here it would be so easy to just leave.
Shudders resonated up her spine, rattling her bones. A particularly loud feminine scream cut through her mind like butter. In the induced panic her legs straightened slightly, pushing her back against the humanoid statue and raising her slightly off the floor. It may not have been optimal, but the motion served to give her the edge she needed to get back on her feet - a least physically. Leaning on her scythe, Ebony quickly peaked around the side of the statue. From her short glimpse, the battlefield looked messy, chaotic even. Shattered statues from misdirected attacks, scorch and ice marks, and, disgustingly, small puddles of blood littered the area.
Ebony had seen blood before, and over her first day in the Omniverse she practically became an expert on it. It never got easier having to stomach the initial sight, but she'd gotten better at suppressing the nausea that followed. Steady breaths. Just breathe. Fights were fun and games until someone got hurt, and while she denied it even to herself, a small cancerous part of her agreed with that - steadily growing like a tumour with each successive burst of adrenaline.
Short scenarios ran through her mind as she attempted to analyse the situation, yet any thoughts and plans were superficial wishes. In reality, she knew there was no ideal outcome - at least one her strategically inept mind could find. But based on instinct a clear set of doors were still open in front of her; her rushing tide of magic crushed against them, waiting for her to turn one of the keys. Scared and nervous (it was distinctly possible she could even make the situation worse for her provisional ally) Ebony began to craft her spell - still hidden behind the statue and using the sounds as an attempt to visualise the situation.
"Swirling Gale, hear my plea." Ebony peaked around the side of the statue, chanting under her cloak. It was no whisper, but the sounds of combat drowned it out. "Pursue my foe: assist me."
"Typhoon, Tempest, blast away; track her through the light of day." Grunts of pain nearly distracted Ebony as a purple orb grazed the hooded man. He was better off than the fairy, however, who seemed to have taken the brunt of the demon's attacks - a long shallow red gash trailed down from her shoulder.
As an afterthought, Ebony continued, still unnoticed or ignored by the combatants. Her magic was building, flowing through her body, warming her nerves, stimulating her mind, satisfying the addiction she didn't know she had. "Emerald hell, explode... go boom." Not her best line, but it'd do. It started cool enough. Mentally, it was hard to stop once she'd started. Channelling the spell was the best part, feeling the magic ripple through her brain, getting to use all the awesome phrases she'd thought of over the years, it was the ultimate temporary antidote to fear. "Flames, fire, gather by me; for crimson explosions, I need thee. Forces of the darkness: transverse light; chase, rend, pursue and fight."
Focusing her mana, Ebony guided it towards the last part of the spell, draining her strength. "Take my might but follow my mind; my soul is yours, with it we bind." Her legs bent, crumpling slightly as her energy rushed into the spell. She locked her arm around the statue's leg, bracing herself. It was hard to think with magic shrouding her mind. She barely remembered why she was casting the spell but reined her body in enough to finish the job, screaming the last segment into the air. The three were all visible, fighting on the stage. "Disperse, my shadow - take over the light!"
The demon reacted first, throwing herself to the side as the first projectile rocketed towards her, initially missing yet curving around to return later. The fairy was not so lucky: as skilled as she was, she lacked the speed to dodge. The blast exploded into green smoke, sending her crashing into a stone penguin man. The hooded man stumbled, being pushed away from his opponents - to safety. In her attempts to avoid the first spell, the demon was shunted by the second back into it (this one not exploding). Nonetheless, she managed to maintain her footing enough to avoid a third fiery explosion.
Through the magical fire, the fairy floundered an orb already forming on the end of her wand to retaliate. Shock showed on her face as another blast, this one dark - almost evil looking, pierced through the air, heading straight towards her. In a last-ditch attempt to avoid the dark attack, she kicked off the ground, jumping to the side. It followed, arcing with her futile motion. Meanwhile, the demon had originally disregarded the shot, seeing it head far enough away for her to be out of the blast; her eyes widened as its target headed straight in her direction, the dark orb trailing behind, ready to explode.
Quote:Post notes:
1245 words.
Just some internal angst stuff at the start. As for the spell, Ebony casted Meta Magic: Elemental Blast using multi-spell (store spells, cast each with 1 second between - so there's basically 3 explosions over 3 seconds with that stray non-explosive one trying to hit Black Ash) to create:
>Air + Homing (~10m knockback, homing, 75 mph projectile) targetted on Black Ash. [Hit Black Ash from being back towards the centre of the stage]
>Air + Homing + Explosive (~10m knockback, homing, 2m radius AoE, 75 mph projectile) targetted on Aqua. [Hit Revan a bit, knocked Aqua back a lot into a statue and Black Ash back a bit]
>Fire + Explosive (damage, 2m radius AoE, 150mph projectile) [No direct hits but Aqua got caught in the blast, Black Ash was able to get out of the way]
>Darkness + Homing + Charged + Charged + Explosive (pretty high damage, homing, 2m radius AoE, 75 mph projectile) targetted on Aqua. [Probably a direct hit on Aqua, Black Ash is probably getting caught in the AoE]
Basically, artillery. Ebony is pretty tired from this and used 2 or her 12 possible uses of the charged modification. She also partially used the damaging spells on accident.
Ebony is officially allying with Revan, should he accept. Mostly targetted spells on Aqua because she shot Ebony first while Black Ash was more tame with her attacks.
In terms of off scene combat, Revan has a couple of small scrapes, Aqua has a fairly long (but shallow) gash, and Black Ash is doing pretty good with her "armour" tanking pretty well - although she had a few scraped from that. This doesn't include the damage from Ebony's attacks.
Honestly, I ran out of words. Somehow. Didn't think that'd happen. Protip: never ignore Ebony.