Channelknight Fadran

"Hiya!" Jami waved, smiling. "'S this the place?"

Ayia stood, stretched, cracked her back (VERY audibly), then reached out a hand for Queen. "You didn't even puke once! Nicely done."

Tengo's eyes went wide and breathing caught. That bullet... that strike... A feint? Both of them? Damn! No. Nonono. He couldn't... he couldn't feel... Lights. Where the lights was his body? Where the lights was his body? How in the world had they outplayed him like this? Was all that nothing more than a false security? There was no way they could've downplayed their own abilities for that long. He'd stabbed that mercenary, for lights' sake! Even for a group of respectable warriors like this, they couldn't have maintained that level of willpower. It was always easy enough to put your life on the line in theory, but in practice... No. No, that wasn't it. His thoughts turned to a memory. Something that Transporter had told him, ages ago: back when he'd first joined the Reapers. You're being allowed to join because of your powers. William had said. But you'll only stay if you learn to use them properly. He'd just let his guard down. It wasn't that they were stronger--it was just that he'd held back. If only he'd held them in a higher respect, treated them like an actual threat... then, by lights, they wouldn't have been! It was his own damn fault for playing with his prey like he always did. Not once since he'd joined had he ever actually put his back into it. All of it had always come naturally. Lights, even his powers were just a one-way conveyor of energy. Not once had he taken anything seriously. Not once had he actually tried. It was all just a game, because how in the world could he have actually lost; and to a bunch of losers like these, to boot? "Hey..." Tengo managed to croak. "Y'know... I coulda..." He stopped himself. That was actual fear in their eyes. That little girl in the jacket, the kid with the fire... they'd been fighting for their lives. But he hadn't been. And that's why he'd lost. One last smile pricked up across his face. "Kudos... ta you guys... pals..." He closed his eyes, the last bits of life finally seeping away. "Keep it up." Then his body went limp, the life left him, and all the pain finally vanished. William's pistols dropped. His arms and legs went limp, suddenly pale. Blood trickled down his chest and soaked around his neck. How? What? All the portals vanished. The air blasted about in response, filling out the empty spaces once again to their natural state. It tossed Elya's hair over her face, even fluttering the edges of her coat a bit. Who was it? Ji? Lyanor? John? Had they already defeated the Lifegiver? LIGHTS! The fatigue crashed over her, sending Elya sprawling to the ground. Her sword clattered to the street as she barely managed to fling out her arms to catch herself. Blood rushed about, heating her arms and fingertips at long last. How fast was her heart pounding? Two hundred beats a minute? Two-fifty? It just felt like a steady vibration, like a hummingbird's wings. It took seconds before she could hear again; minutes before she could see. How long had she been maintaining that level of concentration? Even breathing sounded like a scream now, burning against her lungs like the devil's own fires. No matter how hard or long she trained, her body simply wasn't compatible with that threshold of power. It was like overcharging a battery, or a pressure wave inside a flask. And it had almost been for nothing. Who...? Didn't matter. She'd been spread out like this for ages now. If they were an enemy, they full well could've killed or captured her by now. If it didn't matter to them that Elya's own tears couldn't even squeeze their way out or that not even the storm of rapid, gasped breathing could circulate all the blood she needed, then it didn't matter to her that they had saved her. It was only human that agony like this could overtake all other things; and only human was all she would ever be.

"The problem is..." Ellis replied, frowning, "is that it shouldn't be this easy."

"Give up the Amulet, I should think." Ellis glanced between the fountain and the crystal in his hand.

Another wave of portals went up. It didn't matter that she'd slowed down her perception to read everything one instance after the next, draining her vitality like nothing else--somehow, they all appeared almost simultaneously. The massive sphere of warped space completely threw off every current and soundwave, throwing even her own incredible sensory capabilities into a general chaos. Was there anything at all she could do to account for any of this? How in the world was he managing to maintain all these? One more moment passed. He was all set up now. William's arms began to move towards his entry portals. Assume a weakness! That was her only option. It was either die here or get lucky. He was a Transporter, and he couldn't aim while traveling through his own portals. That meant his own senses were relatively lacking, so setting up a massive branch of portals like this had to follow some sort of preloaded pattern. He'd either have a few possibilities to use at his fingertips, or a sort of internal algorithm to place them in a foreseeable order. Given his remarkable ability to read momentum, angles, and triangulate information, that just had to be it. He'd almost aligned his shots now. Elya could see every muscle in his body straining or contracting. Even from here she could discern his heartrate, blood pressure, minute brain wave outputs... what else would he be using as a seed for his patterns? Regardless of whatever a soul was supposed to do, bodies always worked by reacting to stimuli. Everyone's actions could always be predicted, no matter what. What the lights? None of that mattered. Even if she could somehow derive the pattern before he fired, there wasn't any way she could force her body to move accordingly in time. You're more powerful than I am. Elya admitted. She... couldn't win. I'm sorry everyone. "Just keep it up, you fools." V'Harte taunted, white skin now starting to finally grow back over his muscles and tendons. "Once I'm all better I'll give you some quick deaths, painful though it is to say that... I guess you sorts of folks really aren't the type for enjoying pain. Pity." Still, his breathing was ragged and panty. He was clearly focusing almost all his power into just healing himself at this point, not even bothering to move. Explosions, knives, bullets... he let them all take him. They were shoved out by rapid healing in just moments. "Do bear in mind that I hold no grudge!" He added, smiling. "This was a lot of fun. None of this killing is personal at all. Full kudos to you." @Frustration @DramaQueen @Tani

H A L P We all know that an epic army is only as good as its epic salute, and I'm afraid that I simply don't have such a thing for the Silverclad Enclave. I'm currently working on doodling Corrin in my fancy schmancy new sketchbook, but I can't decide where to put his arms--in other words, he needs a salute to do. Y'all are plenty aware of the Bridge Four salute, and I've been absolutely madly in love with the the ones for the soldiers in Attack on Titan ("Dedicate your hearts!"). So... just giv ideas, if ya have any. Thank.

"Has that master assassin of yours not taught you anything?" V'Harte asked, now growing enough to even grow skin back over his face. The euphoric grin never faltered.

Hundreds of portals, all around her. Elya's eyes went wide with shock, her heart rate zipping up involuntarily. Lights... it had taken intense levels of concentration just to determine where two portal ends were facing. There wasn't any way she could read every single one in the fraction of a second it'd take before he'd take his next shot. Even if her base skills far exceeded his, there wasn't anything she could do in the face of being so overwhelemed. There was only so much one girl with a sword could do. His hands flicked upwards, aiming down towards the two portal ends he'd set up to strike her. Elya, in desperation, swung out her blade, ran, and spun in a lopsided circle. The shots went wild, unable to compensate for the non-uniform movement: but that would be a one-time trick. He'd be able to account for that next time. One observation would be all it'd take for a Mystic as powerful as him. What angle had the bullets gone from? Displaced heat and air told a complicated story: somehow, they'd each shot through a massive network of portals before soaring out and striking the walls. Even for him, that level of planning should have been impossible in the split second he'd had; lights, it would've been impossible for her. What does that mean? What does that mean? Elya puffed, pouring energy into her power to force her thoughts into an even more rapid pace. Everything... everyone... they all have a weak point... what the lights is his? The Mystic began to scream: still insane, enraged, and euphoric, but screams nonetheless. The blood on the surface of his rancid body started bubbling and boiling, roasting tendons, ligaments, and muscle. The smell of burnt hair and flesh spilled through the air among the gas: like a burnt loaf of frybread, but a million times more tepid. V'Harte threw a fist at the flaming creature, but his fist only passed cleanly through the fire, coming out the other end charred and blackened. A dozen more swipes passed through the creature, faster than the eye could see... to no avail. The screaming stopped. V'Harte thought for one agonizing second. "Aha." He chuckled, then began--once again--to laugh like a madman. "Oh! How wonderful! Such a sensation. And you've opened yourself up to me! Why thank you. That makes things an awful lot easier on me." Now completely engulfed in flame, the Mystic closed his eyes once again. The blackened muscles and organs began to reknit, faster than ever before--and Kazh's blazing form began to flicker, dim, and sputter.

Tip #11: generally ignore any poetry advice that Fadran might have for you

I just steal manga styles from various animes.

Lookit the frens!

He was focusing all his energy into his movements now; not even such a steady shot as John's could do so much as scratch him. V'Harte dashed forwards and swiped with his pocketknife over and over, stance low and agile. His movements were almost inhumanly fast. "There isn't anything you can do to kill me!" V'Harte shouted, slashing John across the face to keep his energy up. "Not even with your little Lifegiver over there keeping you healed. Especially not, even... energy in you is energy in me." Elya leapt over one last shot and swung at his head once again, but put too much power into it. As he vanished once again, her momentum carried her around in a spin as her hand gripped another throwing knife. This was the only opening he gave: a single instant of disorientation before he could start shooting again. She'd already discerned his exit point, so all she needed now was a perfect throw. The knife went flying. More portals for his shots appeared; but none for his escape. Scraping the ground once again with her heel, Elya prepared to dodge again--but no shots came. She dashed forwards, scanning the area for the first time with her eyes. The Mystic had stumbled backwards, teeth gritted against the knife now jammed into his sternum. Blood drained down and began to stain his shirt. This is the moment! There wasn't any time to breathe or hesitate. Elya took one last leaping dash and reared back her sword, pouring energy all throughout her body. He still wasn't moving--her blade was finally about to connect. His eyes turned up to meet hers, completely unfazed. Lights! And then a hundred portals appeared throughout the entire alleyway

V'Harte slashed out with another pocketknife relentlessly, eyes wide and insane without any lid or brow to cover them. Every string of blood his knife flicked aside generated a line of sinew, slowly sapping the strength of his opponents to heal himself. "Things would be an awful lot easier," he growled, "if you would stay still!" Darting forward, Elya slashed at the opening. The Mystic once again dropped backwards into a portal, leaving only open air for her to cut. She scraped around on her toes to slash again, cutting out another bullet and facing towards William again. As soon as there was a moment to move, she was running again. Any outside observer wouldn't stand a chance of keeping up with this fight, only catching glimpses of a black coat, flashes of a blade, and a figure disappearing over and over again just before the assailant could catch him. Lights... he was judging her speed too well. Elya's feet barely touched the ground as she sprinted towards him once again, reading his reactions and forcing her movements to compensate. It didn't matter that she was focusing so hard that every brush of breeze against her hair was enough to indicate a tensed muscle or catch in his breath, or that the moment another portal opened she knew exactly from where the shot would come and to where it would go--there wasn't a thing she could do to stop him from slipping through another portal the moment her blade started swinging. There has to be something. Elya ran through her options by the hundreds in just a fraction of a second. His portals... why does he always wait for the last second to dodge? He isn't reckless like the Lifegiver, so there must be something he's more focused on. It takes him a few moments to align his portals and fire through them; is he just conserving time? Or... That was it. She slashed once more at the air, pulsed out with her power, then twisted again on her toes to spin around and start running. More bullets rained out at her in quick succession, either dodged or slashed out of the air. The only thing holding her back at all were the dozens of shots, one after another, forcing her to sacrifice speed and time to dodge or deflect them, meaning the Mystic was prioritizing offense over defense. So the only reason he waited for the last moment was because he couldn't aim while stepping through his own portals.

"Oh... wow." Ellis blinked. "This... wow. Okay. Wow."