Channelknight Fadran

Vance handed him the staff with the aether stone. "Just... be careful."

Yeah, we're always looking for more workers! Vacity began to grumble - it was quite a strange sound. I mean, I'm not even supposed to be here in the first place. The manager just ran off to go clean out the junk yard and nobody else was around.

Fadran applauded politely. "Nice job!"

She didn't hesitate this time. Instead she lunged forwards to ram the knife into his throat.

Between them all, the wyvern seemed to really have its claws full. One of the first things they’d all learned in advanced combat training was how to recover on their feet. Against the likes of the monsters at the bottom of this mountain, it was simple enough to make a tactical retreat to catch their breath before charging back in - but if those were the only kinds of monsters seeking the souls of the dead on their path to the Gates, then there wouldn’t be any need for the Reapers in the first place. Kaeni dodged between a pair of strikes and weaved into another opening, flame once again flashing into her dagger for her to slash through the fur and hide. From there it was back to leaping and dashing around and about each attack; narrowly avoiding the uncannily quick claw strikes. Each blur of movement was an entire moment of full concentration, soaking up every ounce of her energy in that instant just to stay alive. Full focus: the ability to fight a battle consciously. The veterans had hammered it into them over years of training. Instinct was fallible, the senses incomplete. To destroy a being of tremendous power, it took an effort of tremendous skill. One feint was all it would take to kill a Reaper on their guard by fight or flight, so to stay alive a Reaper had to stare each attack dead in the face and decide what it was going to do. From there it was strength, speed, agility, and foresight. Every one of them had gained that and then some. They’d learned powers beyond anything a common mortal could imagine, and were set on the path to abilities capable of rivaling gods. And to use that in battle could burn through a mortal body’s essence in minutes. Burning Veins alone was an ability that would leave Kaeni unconscious the day after for hours, and here she was flaring it beyond the likes of anything they’d done in training. A single instant wasted of its potential was the equivalent of a dozen dead fighting warriors - like a chest of kindling lost to the sea. To face an opponent that fought with any less than the entirety of its potential, a Reaper would have to conserve every idle fraction of an instant to its max. The body needed energy. Energy came through the blood. Blood became potent through the breath. Thus, to recover, even every breath had to be conscious and controlled. Kaeni cut through another hint of exposure, sucking in sharply between then and the vicious retaliation - then after that, in the air as she leapt over the claws, heaving out the pent-up air to relieve her lungs. Dropping to her feet and compressing through her knees, she held the strain of each muscle to let Burning Veins’ power circulate through her body, outputting - just for an instant - nearly nothing. Perfect efficiency. This fight required nothing less than perfect efficiency. And so - as it seemed - they all appeared to be winning. @The Wandering Wizard @Tani @Frustration @NerdyAarakocra @The Bookwyrm @PyroPhile

Okay, so - I'm quite proud of my Iconar Collective villains but hesitate to divulge why

A charger. A brute. No grace in that - but that was the grace itself, she figured. It was its own grace of just strength and brutality. Speed did not beat strength if the strength was insurmountable. This strength, however, was far from that. It was rage and fear. A coward's strength. She crouched, leaning down onto her knees and ankles, waiting to strike like a grasshopper. The other knife stayed gripped in her hand, the harsh tip waiting to dig into this man's flesh. Her throw had only gone so deep without any weight behind it, but with the strength of her body she could cut through any hide. The man jumped. What a fool. Instead of dodging, shrinking, or ducking aside, she met his strength with strength. His body crashed over her, slamming with the force of a beast onto the ground - enough to knock even her wild-hardened head into a daze. That mattered less, however, than the pain he'd be feeling soon enough. As he crashed down on top of her, she kept the knife pointed straight up to cut deep between his weight and hers.

She hurled one knife into the captain's chest, accuracy just as deadly as the stab had been before.

She hissed at him. For real hissed; bearing her teeth and everything. She crouched down low, bringing out another knife from the ribbons around her back.

She sprang to her feet and stabbed the guard in the heart with her knife.

"Be silent. They are here."

"Be silent," she hissed.

She seemed unperturbed, simply glaring at him. Frustration, more than anything. What a brutish creature.

"I don't want to be seen. You don't want to be seen." She kicked him in the knee and spun over to get back on top. "So I am not your enemy."

She shut him up the best way she knew how: grabbing a fistful of dirt and leaves, then shoving it in his mouth. "You want those guards to find you? Die by your own people? Be quiet!"

She grabbed the spear and pulled him to the ground. "Shush!"

Some... person was running down here. Running from what? There weren't many predators to speak of in the cities. Sounds of shouting. Other people. To think she'd forgotten the greatest predator of all. Letting him pass would be the best option, but those guards were looking for someone - most likely this man with the bloodied spear. It wouldn't do to have them find her, so it wouldn't do to let him lead them here. As the man passed, she grabbed his arm and yanked him into the foliage.

She hid in the shade of the trees. Unmoving. Silent. People tended to look beyond those things.

Consider me signed

so it wasn't a rick-roll

Kris rubbed the bridge of his nose and took some deep breaths. "Apologies. I... again. I get quite worked up over these things."