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| Rin | Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:40 pm Post #106 |
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The sound of the witch-warrior's voice was enough to reign in all of the Chomai under his control. It was rather remarkable that a single word could effectively halt dozens of dangerous tribal warriors. Rin froze as well, her blue eyes watching the silver-eyed man with unblinking intensity. He moved forward until he was standing within the ring of enemies, although he stayed far enough away that it would be almost impossible for her to reach him before he could retreat behind his comrades. She could detect an undercurrent of raw hatred in his voice that surprised her. Thus far, the witch-warrior had attempted to take her life on multiple occasions, but it had never seemed personal. Since their last meeting, that had obviously changed. Although his voice was clear and firm, there was a venom behind every syllable that made it clear he held her in the utmost contempt. It wasn't until his last comment that she understood the reason for his vehemence. "You... and Chai-Chai?" She pursed her lips slightly as she rotated her wrist, absentmindedly spinning Syel Kasar in tight circles. She allowed the sand she had gathered to die down so that it rested in heaps on the ground surrounding her, a virtual minefield that would make it difficult to approach her. "I think Nkiruka would have mentioned it if her father was a snake-man, so I can only assume that you're nor related. That's good. I would hate to have to explain why I killed her father. Already have a speech prepared for Chai-Chai." Although her voice rang with blissful nonchalance, her eyes stayed focused on the witch-warrior the entire time she spoke "This isn't actually meant to be much of a statement. I'm always on the lookout for new toys, and Haras didn't seem like the jealous type..." She brought the curved saber forward, the weapon's point aimed straight at Soludo's chest. "However, I did expect it to make a perfect distraction." With that she twitched her hand, mentally commanding the sand around her. It rose up in a perfect cyclone, whirling around her and hiding the construct's form in a blur of white grains. Knowing she only had moments to act, the girl raised her empty left hand and narrowed her eyes, sweat breaking out on her forehead from the effort required for what she was attempting to do. Infinite Armory. Unseen thanks to the screen of sand and dirt, the air surrounding Rin wavered and twisted as if it were water. Indistint outlines formed as she used her powers to breach the integrity of reality, pulling the weapons from her pocket dimension out of their resting place and into the material world. Five of her legendary items formed, kept aloft by her telekinetic manipulation. The Spear of Lugh immediately burst into flames, its dark red shaft shivering as if in anticipation. The edge of Morpheus's Shame were twisted and serrated, and dark wisps of smoke emanated from its surface. Excalibur glowed with a gentle, golden energy that no armor could block. Electricity crackled on the metal head of Mjolnir as it started to spin in a tight circle. The barbs of the blade of Gae Bulg glinted in the light, its entire length forged out of a copper-colored material. With a soft grunt of exertion she brought her arm down, sending all five of the weapons flying in different directions. They burst out of the sandstorm, hacking and slashing and jabbing at the nearest tribal warriors. At the same time she launched herself forward, the sand moving with her and twisting into a cone-shaped vortex of spinning grains. It shot straight forward at the witch warrior as Rin danced to once side, lashing out with Syel Kasar in a tightly controlled series of slashes that would allow her to snap the blade back to a defensive position with ease. |
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| Nkiruka | Sat Nov 3, 2012 3:21 pm Post #107 |
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Soludo slid one foot forward, taking on a strange stance that was almost hunched, his body swaying like a snake about to strike. The Ronturan cat riders and Rainfall archers scrambled down the bluff, trying to regroup with the rest of the battle. Rin's obscuring cloud of sand didn't elicit a response from the witch-warrior: none before, and none after five legendary weapons went screaming out of it in all different directions. They wreaked havoc on the guerrillas near the back of the retreating group, initially killing several that weren't expecting it and forcing the rest to scatter into the darkness. Rin pressed the attack on Soludo personally, a vortex of sand around her opening strike. The witch-warrior saw the spinning cone of sand coming and did not move. Only a thin film, like a third eyelid, stretched over his silver eyes and made them look cloudy. The sand struck with full force, but he focused on Rin's much more lethal attacks first. The clashing of weapons gave an evil hiss as Syel Kasar struck Soludo's raised dagger. Using his weapon's curve he redirected the blade's force away from him in a seamless motion, lacking the necessary strength or size of weapon to truly block it. Unlike Chaitaki Menai, who was consistently very quick in a fight, Soludo's strange martial arts style relied on sudden, unexpected bursts of unnatural speed. When the sand settled, much of the old man's exposed skin was rubbed raw; he didn't seem to pay it any mind. Instead, he focused on the fight at hand. The witch-warrior barked a short phrase in a dying language, causing a cloud of thick, colorless magical acid to form around the fingers of his free hand. Otherwise, the motions of his dagger focused on keeping Syel Kasar at bay -- which was difficult, forcing him to remain on the edge of her striking distance and incapable of getting close with his own weapon. That would hopefully change when he made a slashing motion through the air with his magic-wielding hand, sending an arc of condensing acid straight at Rin's chest. Isra 'ela Korzul was beginning to breathe unevenly. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Her horse stumbled, almost breaking its leg on a divet it didn't see in this darkness. An arrow jutted from the beast's flank where one lucky archer had managed to strike it between armor pieces. The Colonel herself was in no good shape. Her cloak was shredded, revealing hints of iron and gold mechaniks on the side where it was supposed to be covering her. According to earlier reports, Isra's false left arm had been smashed in last night's attempt on her life and she likely kept the cloak to hide that weakness from her enemies. A gash bleeding liquid shadows ran down her back and hip, eating at her flesh and the links on her chainmail slowly. She carried her glaive firmly, but the blade was drooping toward the ground. They all had been fighting nonstop for several minutes, but something had changed. Everything was quieting down. Isra scanned the dark shapes of surrounding landmarks for signs of Rainfall and found nothing. Up ahead was a series of deep gullies and eroded hills that were not meant for heavy cavalry to traverse. The colonel paused for a moment, staring at the boulder fields and uneven ground in an attempt to locate Nadiyah. "Leave your horses behind, comrades." The order, while inevitable, was a long time coming. None of these Chargers wanted to abandon their mounts, but duty necessitated it. Isra put her hand on her horse's face, giving the beast a farewell that possessed an odd finality. Nkiruka, her rage fading, limped up to the merchant-lord woman, tearing arrows from her body and knitting flesh together on willpower alone. "Blessed Major, where is Rinrae Dromigg?" Nkiruka inelegantly spat out a glob of blood and wiped her mouth with the heel of her wrist. "She went to disrupt some archers, I think. She'll be fine in any case." Knowing this, Isra continued the march on foot as fast as their feet could take them, following Nadiyah's signals in the sky. Only a small group was left, but the look in Isra's eyes showed she would stop at nothing to aid her only family. |
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| Rin | Sat Nov 3, 2012 5:10 pm Post #108 |
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Rin paid no attention to the rest of her weapons, simply randomly slashing and swiping with them as she kept the majority of her focus on the witch-warrior. It was probably the only thing that saved her life during the first few, frantic moments of combat. He ignored the blast of sand entirely, using a curved dagger to deflect each blow from Syel Kasar with as little movement as possible. He snapped out several harsh words in a language she didn't recognize, clearly an incantation of some kind. Although the effects of the spell were not immediately apparent, her sharp blue eyes caught the slight difference in how light refracted off the digits of his empty hand as he brought it forward. She suddenly pulled back the curved saber and pulled away, bending backwards at the waist so abruptly it almost looked like her spine had been snapped by some unseen force. Despite her lightning-fast reflexes, the construct was not able to completely avoid the spray of acid. Some of the transparent drops landed on her right shoulder and upper arm. The liquid almost immediately began to sizzle as it ate through the fabric of her sundress and her skin. There was no pain at first, but after a few seconds it felt like she had been struck with a ball of white-hot flames. Her nerves screamed out in protest as the caustic substance ate through them, and she knew that before too long she would probably lose all feeling in that arm. Rin grimaced and let her other weapons drop out of the air. The majority of the guerillas had retreated to the point where their wild, random attacks weren't doing any harm, and she clearly needed to focus all of her attention on Soludo. Wielding the saber in her right hand only, Rin sprang forward, bringing the tip of the weapon up at what seemed like an almost impossibly low angle. At the last moment she whipped her arm upwards in a diagonal slash towards the witch-warriors right knee. At the same time the air around her left hand shimmered, a thin glass vial forming in her curled fingers that was half-full of a transparent, azure liquid. She threw the flimsy container towards Soludo's torso, knowing that the alchemical concoction within wouldn't do any permanent damage to her foe, but would drastically decrease the efficacy of any future spells he cast. She followed up the toss with a horizontal sweep of her unwounded leg to try and throw the man off balance. Rin had no idea how the rest of her party was faring, but she didn't dare spare the concentration it would take to assess their situation. |
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| Nkiruka | Sat Nov 3, 2012 8:14 pm Post #109 |
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A long time ago, back during the modernization of the greater Arash'kana region, a small village was built near the center of Fives Tongues Badland. It was a short walk from the banks of a similarly named river that flowed through it. The complex of buildings was abandoned and forgotten for at least thirty years following the damming of the river. When Nadiyah 'ela Korzul found out that local patrols were spotting evidence of recent human occupation, including the possibility of large machinery, she knew there was no time to verify and warn the task force or the Sultan -- and certainly not Nkiruka Menai. She had scrawled a goodbye letter to her sister and, finding the portal to Arash'kana inoperative, set out into the desert alone. In the middle of the night, scattered Rainfall operatives quietly worked. A wagon shipment from a sympathetic arms dealer arrived and was unloaded into the extensive hivework of tunnels built below the innocuous and abandoned-looking buildings. Workers heard some movement coming from the west: the outline of a single person walking toward them. As the woman got closer, she raised both arms and pulled a two-handed curved sword out of a sheathe strapped diagonally to her back. Dressed in Istan Army patrol mail, the Rainfall operatives could see (by the light of two floating orbs circling her body) that her face was messily bisected by a deep, old scar. An alarm spread through the base quickly. Nadiyah's lips curled into a serene smile. The Rainfall operatives dropped what they were doing and pulled out their weapons, probably feeling some sense of duty or obligation to help keep her out of their affairs. Real enemies would arrive not long after, but this would do for now. It felt right. With a tight pivot and upward swing of her blade, Nadiyah gashed and staggered the first one long enough to come in horizontally and behead him. "Lieutenant Junaid Saqaf," she said, expertly shifting her grip on her weapon to parry an incoming attack on her opposite side. Nadiyah countered by slicing open her stomach and kicking her down. "Lieutenant Riaz 'ela Tarran." Others approached her more cautiously, aiming to come in while she was distracted. Because of this, Nadiyah took two lives at once at one point: a beam from the rune on her back piercing a Komari shadow-man that tried to sneak up behind her, while her blade took the life and limbs of a more mundane Rainfall worker. "Captain Arek Kader. Ambassador Sophia Tasnem." "She's heading toward the dam!" Nadiyah spoke the names of the dead like a chant -- one for every extremist that fell. After spotting Isra's signal in the distance, she was too occupied in a close fight with a witch-warrior to respond quite yet. She tore the catlike woman apart, unsatisfied that she didn't put up a fight as well as Chaitaki. "va-Joseph Silverleaf." The clicking of mechaniks registered from behind her. Nadiyah's prismatic vision allowed her to see clearly a strange, bulky brass device that looked like a cannon of some kind. When it began to buzz, gathering energy, Nadiyah summoned down a tremendous column of light. It impacted like a wall and caused an explosion so large that several operatives were caught in it. "The 1st Arash'kana Pathfinders." They did everything they could to stop her from reaching the dam. Rainfall might not have known exactly what she wanted to do or why she was there, but they could guess that it wasn't going to be good. The witch-warrior was forced even further back by Rin's unrelenting attacks. He stepped back to avoid getting his knee slashed open, but didn't anticipate the construct producing a vial of what was unmistakeably mana-burn concoction out of thin air. Soludo Jeneta raised his arm out of reflex, but blocking it wouldn't do much to stave off the effects. The thin glass vial shattered and splashed the liquid mostly over his magic-wielding arm, with some droplets hitting his torso and face as well. The witch-warrior grimaced in pain as his internal mana stores were slowly consumed by the concoction. Without mana, his repertoire of spells was limited and his chance of winning this fight even lower. He kept fighting. Rin's leg came in low with a kick, sweeping Soludo off his feet -- a bit too violently. The moment the witch-warrior hit the ground he fell into a roll toward the construct, magical fire erupting around his feet midway through the roll. Now within ample range to make his own melee strikes, the witch warrior swept one leg in a wide arc as he pushed himself up, using the last of his mana stores to try to strike her with the burning extremity. Soludo aimed to jam his thumb hard into the hollow of Rin's throat while he pushed the tip of his dagger straight toward her heart. |
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| Rin | Sun Nov 4, 2012 4:10 pm Post #110 |
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The thin vial struck the witch-warrior's upraised arm and shattered, spraying the blue substance all over him. Rin's sword stroke might have fallen short, but at least his ability to cast magic would be impaired. Her leg sweep caught him just underneath the knee, but he made no attempt to weather out the force of the blow. Instead he fell over her limb in a dexterous roll as one of his legs erupted with intense flames. He kicked at her torso with that limb as he pushed himself off the ground. The construct grunted and firmly set her feet so that when his heel struck her stomach, she only slid back a few inches instead of being launched into the air. The flames caught on her dress almost instantly, filling the air with the smell of charred fabric and burning flesh, but Rin barely seemed aware of the pain of the burns. She brought up Syel Kasar in a tight slash so close to her body that she almost cut her chin, knocking the dagger aside. The construct brought her head up, opening her mouth and biting the witch-warrior's thumb to keep him from thrusting the digit into her eye socket. The rusty taste of fresh blood filled her mouth as her teeth scraped against bone, jerking his hand to a halt. She let go of her saber and brought her right knee up straight towards Soludo's groin. She brought her free left hand up now and caught Soludo's other wrist in a vice-like grip, squeezing until she felt the bones grinding together underneath her fingers. Rin tried to keep up the assault, not giving him any time to recover as she spat out his mauled thumb and slammed her head forward, aiming for the bridge of his nose with her forehead. Edited by Rin, Sun Nov 4, 2012 4:11 pm.
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| Nkiruka | Sat Nov 10, 2012 4:20 pm Post #111 |
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Getting close had been a grave mistake that Soludo was prepared to pay for. His face twisted in a pained grimace, but he didn't cry out. Within instants the tables were turned as both of the witch-warrior's hands were locked in place, unable to free himself from Rin's supernaturally strong grip. Rin brought her knee up and struck between his legs, but her knee would only strike a hard, protective surface -- but it still hit hard enough to hurt anyway. However, that pain paled in comparison to Rin's rapidly constricting hold on his arm. Bones ground together, Soludo struggled in a sudden panic as the pain spiked. A sickly crack was audible just moments before the witch-warrior finally cried out in pain. The hand on that side went limp. He dropped his dagger. He tried to move in any possible way that could free his arm or reduce the pain, but Rin was relentless. A cold sweat broke out on his brow. When Rin released his mangled-up thumb he almost immediately struck with that hand again, but was interrupted by a painful headbutt to the forehead that almost knocked him out cold. He stopped after taking this hit. Despite the sweat and the fact he was breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating from the intense pain of his shattered arm, something clearly changed in the witch-warrior's expression. He calmed himself down. The intensity of his rattlesnake eyes dulled, making him look tired. "Rinrae Dromigg," Soludo said between breaths, "this night is very peaceful and quiet, isn't it?" His lips split into a horrifying, pained grin. Blood trickled down the bridge of his nose. Around the two of them, the whole badland was empty. Not a single living soul was visible, much less the small group of Rin's allies that were deeper in. Urgency had necessitated the battle move far on from this place. No light signals lit up the distant formations. Beyond Soludo's fast breathing, it was entirely silent. "I did my duty. May Chaitaki Menai have mercy on your gullible, bloodthirsty soul." Soludo basically spat the words, already well on the road to dying as it was. He certainly sounded like he was ready to die. It became abundantly clear that this entire fight with Rin had been a trick -- and a suicide mission. Soludo, like any Rainfall operative, never expected to engage Rin in a direct, one-on-one duel and come out of it alive. His job was merely to separate Rin, taunt her with the prospects of revenge and a good fight, and distract her for long enough that Rainfall could move in and kill the three mortal intruders. And, as far as separating the construct from her allies was concerned, the plan had worked. Nadiyah 'ela Korzul climbed the banks of the Five Tongues River, leaving a trail of blood behind her. The dam was just ahead. Shadows bled from a few small cuts on her face and torso, and the shadow-man's corpse was still twitching on the boulder a few meters back. The attacks were slowing down, but annoying skirmishers and mages wore her down once they realized engaging her in melee was a death sentence. Despite being tired, wounded, and running low on mana to fuel her beams of light, Nadiyah had been in worse situations before and was determined to reach that dam. At the top of the hill was the Five Tongues Dam, one of the larger dams in southern Istan. Nadiyah climbed to the top of the final formation, almost slipping, clambered behind cover and pushed herself to her full height. She raised her arm toward the dam. The sparse, wispy clouds in the sky above began to spiral. The skirmishers pursuing her, suddenly coming to terms with the reality of what was about to happen, picked up and ran. That was when the beam came down. Nadiyah stared directly at the column of burning light, her face unchanging. As dam bricks rapidly superheated and exploded from the power of her last remaining beam, the Brigadier General felt a tinge of worry about her sister. Isra was still in the badland, but she knew how to swim -- they used to swim in the river all the time back when they were kids. She would be fine. Nadiyah had to do this, she reminded herself, and her headstrong sister couldn't stop her from such an important duty. Rainfall was massing for an offensive against the canyon and possessed technology the army barely understood. This was a critical forward base. Chaitaki, who was likely already in Arash'kana by now, would be relying on these troops. Destroying such a critical gathering was worth the property damage and loss of agriculture, in Nadiyah's mind. Indeed, nothing really mattered to her at this point except killing as many Rainfall as possible and protecting Isra. She didn't want to admit that in this case, the former came above the latter. "Looks like we might be almost there." "Thank the merciful gods." The gash on Isra's hip was taking a toll. She was having difficulty walking and balancing, but refused any offer from Nkiruka or her soldiers to help steady her. Nkiruka eyed the liquid shadows bleeding from the bandaged wound and was clueless as to how to fix it. It wasn't like any wound she'd ever seen before. A narrow passage between two needle-like formations revealed an abandoned village of sorts. They all gaped at the site of a recent massacre: bodies all the way down the wide main street. Most were wearing plainclothes, but Nkiruka spotted a witch-warrior among them. This was a hidden Rainfall base. No one was above ground, but there were likely tunnels full of them. "Ah, probably my sister's handiwork." "Nadiyah!" Nkiruka called out to the empty air, scanning the area for signs of the brigadier general. "What the hell are you doing?" The remaining cavalrymen poked through the carnage. One woman brought a strange piece of blasted metal to show the group. The mechanikal part looked like a combination of Nejm's false eye and one of Sheikh Nadav's tools. Isra commented on how it reeked of magic. They didn't have more time to deliberate on the nature of the destroyed technology as a great column of light filled what seemed like half the sky. The nearby river, barely visible amidst the formations, flowed more intensely. Whitecaps formed. The water level rose too rapidly. Fifteen-foot waves crashed against the rock, toppling formations and coming straight at them. Nkiruka flung Isra over her shoulder and ran. |
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| Rin | Mon Nov 12, 2012 2:30 pm Post #112 |
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The change in the witch-warrior's demeanor came as a rather sudden shock. He was still reeling backwards from the headbutt, blood gushing out of his nose and one hand flapping uselessly at his side, but all of the venom had left him. The construct paused, her blue eyes flicking away from him to scan the heavens. After several seconds of tense silence she smiled and shook her head slightly. "Yes, it is. I have always been surprised by how clear the nights get in the desert." She listened as he continued, spouting off some drivel about how Chaitaki would sit in judgment of her. The girl threw back her head and laughed, her mirth echoing eerily across the abandoned badlands. She got herself under control quickly, but humor still sparkled in her eyes when she looked back at Soludo. "Haven't you heard? I don't have a soul." She made a slight gesture with her left hand, summoning another weapon. The Lan De Yue Jia always seemed to glow brighter at night, as if it sensed the proximity of the moon for which it had been named. She pointed the tip of the sword towards the witch-warrior and for a moment it looked like she was preparing to skewer him straight through the heart. Then her lips curled up in a tight smile and nodded her head at the man. Bars of silvery light shot down from the heavens, slamming into Soludo and holding him in place. In a few seconds the man was completely encircled in a cage of starlight that would prevent him from so much as twitching a muscle. "Your punishment is to sit here and know that there is nothing you can do to stop me from destroying Chaitaki. That you fought for nothing." With that the construct turned and walked away, limping slightly. Rin only paused for long enough to banish the rest of her mythological weapons so that she could call upon them later before charging towards the dam. She wasn't in the best shape; her right arm still hung uselessly at her side from the debilitating acid attack and the gashes on her thigh made every step ring with liquid agony. Still, she kept up a steady pace. From the look of it, the battle had escalated quickly. She kept seeing bright flashes of light that starkly illuminated the outline of the geological structures, reminiscent of the beams of light that Isra had been firing into the sky earlier. Clearly, the Istani forces were still under attack. Rin might have felt guiltier for effectively abandoning the main force, but a magician as powerful as Soludo couldn't be allowed to flank them. If they did have to retreat, the witch-warrior could have torn them to ribbons. Before too long a giant pillar of golden energy shot down from the sky, blasting into the ground so violently that the earth shook beneath her feet. Rin stumbled slightly, pausing for long enough to stare at the beam with wide eyes. ... I should hurry. She had just started running forward again when a bulky figure came tearing down the canyon straight for her. The construct prepared to attack before she realized she recognized the pair: Nkiruka was running for her life with Isra thrown over one shoulder like a sack of wheat. Several of the surviving cavalrymen were in hot pursuit, but the woman was actually outrunning the horses. Before the girl could shout out and ask what was happening, the reason for the soldier's haste became readily apparent. A massive wave crashed down the canyon behind them, racing down the canyon like a living creature. Rin swore under her breath and up her left hand. "Poseidon's Trident!" The golden polearm formed in her grasp at once, the pearl set at the juncture of its three times shimmering with an opalescent glow. "Stay close to me!" She spun the trident over her head, eying the approaching water and narrowing her eyes. Instead of sweeping down the canyon and washing them away, the water slammed into an invisible barrier. It wasn't enough of an obstacle to completely halt the flow of turgid water. It swept around and over the unseen wall, surrounding them with swirling currents. Right after the wave passed Rin it crashed back down to the canyon floor unheeded, leaving the survivors completely encapsulated in a bubble of breathable air. "... Well at least they won't see us coming?" Now that their lives were no longer in immediate danger, the construct noticed that Isra was not in good condition. "What happened? Did you find Nadiyah?" |
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| Nkiruka | Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:12 pm Post #113 |
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As she ran, Nkiruka reached down to her hip and fumbled to pull out one of her blades. Leviathan's Fang glistened even in the low light, a gently curved shortsword with a mother-of-pearl inlaid hilt and a rough diamond set in the pommel. She glanced back at the approaching waves and tried her best to direct them away from the cavalrymen behind her. However, more carefully directing the flow of the rapid-moving water required complex motions of the blade that she couldn't focus on or even have space to perform while Isra was on her shoulder. The colonel was tensed in pain, but silent; she clearly knew when to swallow her pride. Waves crashed close at their heels, but Nkiruka was able to direct away some of the most dangerous ones. It was around the bend that Rin finally reappeared -- and was wielding Poseidon's Trident. Nkiruka shouted for everyone to pick up their pace, and the whole group launched into a final sprint. The badland narrowed and the water sped up. They all skidded to a stop around Rin just as the water slammed into an invisible barrier. There was enough river-water to even flow up, over and around them, completely locking them into a large bubble of air. Nkiruka, breathing hard, set Isra down and rifled through the emergency first aid kit one of the cavalrymen offered. She gave a breathy laugh as though it hadn't quite set in that they weren't being thrown through deadly currents right now. "You sure know how to make an entrance," Nkiruka said, relieved. For a moment she, dumbly holding a length of bandage, silently deliberated whether she should let Isra's unnatural wound bleed out the shadows or wrap it in. "My sister destroyed the Five Tongues Dam... why?" the colonel asked Rin. She was sweating and her cheeks were red with fever. "That water irrigates so many crops. Lives depend on it." Nkiruka, having finally decided to wrap Isra's hip, glanced into the abyss of dark water around them. "She probably just crushed that entire Rainfall base." All the weapons and technology they had, all the manpower, would be buried or swept away just from the sheer power of the Five Tongues River. "I guess she... thought it was worth it?" Nkiruka paused to cough violently, shuddering from pain. The adrenaline was finally wearing off, and she finally realized she was badly wounded. Arrows stuck out of her back, and the red tattoo on her shoulder was burning red-hot to fry any poison that had gotten into her body. When she was done attending to Isra, Nkiruka pushed herself up and began the painful process of ripping arrows out of her body. Rin wasn't exactly in the best shape either, but both of them would have to make due. "We weren't able to get to Nadiyah. I don't know why she did this, but she must have thought it was critically important... Can you help us get to the surface?" Nkiruka said between arrows. |
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| Rin | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:31 pm Post #114 |
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Isra mumbled a query about what madness had motivated her sister to destroying the damn, which played a pivotal part in the agriculture of the region. Nkiruka had the answer: with one decisive action, the Brigadier General had completely eradicated Rainfall's presence in this region. The mechanical devices they were building were incredibly complicated and required the utmost care when being constructed. Flooding them would surely destroy them. The construct nodded in agreement with the soldier's analysis of the situation, barely wincing when her friend started the painful process of ripping arrows out of her own flesh. "I can get us to the surface, but it's going to take all my focus..." She looked at the surviving members of the task force, pointing at four men who looked to have survived the confrontation with few injuries and still had bows strapped to their saddles. "You, you, you, and you... Watch the top of the canyon. Any Chomai that survived will be watching for survivors to surface for air... Take them out as quickly as possible. They shouldn't be expecting this." She spun the trident and stabbed its tines into the dusty earth, rubbing her hands together and focusing. "Amenonuhoko." The naginata appeared in her grasp. The girl lifted it into the air, muttering calculations to herself as she eyed the dry patch of land they were standing on. After a few seconds of this she thrust the blade of the spear at the ground, making a slight upwards motion. A fissure started where she was pointing and rapidly extended in a rough circle that included all of the surviving soldiers. When she started to raise the weapon the earth began to rise, forming an artificial plateau that raised them from the bottom of the raging river to its surface. The sound as the rocks ground together was cacophonous, so loud that some of the horses whinnied nervously, but thankfully none of the animals tried to run away from the source of the noise. Progress was slow, and by the time they breached the surface Rin's face was pale and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. She wasn't just lifting the earth; she was also raising up the weight of all the survivors, plus their armor and weapons, the air encapsulated by Poseidon's Trident, and all of the water between them and open air. It was pushing the capabilities of Amenonuhoko to its limit, but she managed to raise them completely out of the water before half-collapsing to one knee and breathing heavily. When she recovered her strength and looked up her pupils had dilated until they filled almost her entire iris, indicating that she had forced herself into a martial stance to keep going. |
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| Nkiruka | Sun Dec 23, 2012 9:38 pm Post #115 |
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History always repeated itself. Once again, the witch-warrior Soludo Jeneta was forced to watch impotently as those he swore to protect died painful deaths. Half a century ago, it was his band that had been crushed under the relentless, all-entombing power of falling earth. Now his brothers and sisters in the New Rainfall Rebellion would meet their ends under the weight of the Five Tongues River. It was almost like the elements themselves were bent on crushing everything he held dear. Waves crested over distant formations as the river began to retake the area. Soludo wished it would carry him along, as well, but he knew that Rinrae Dromigg had imprisoned him at too high of an altitude for that to happen. A familiar, purring voice from behind made his skin crawl. "<I knew you wanted to die.>" Chaitaki Menai, speaking in the native language of the Choma tribe, walked into Soludo's view and knelt in front of his starry cage. Her orange eyes, the eyes of a lion, were eerily reflective in the darkness. The Rainfall leader had two arms again, but the one that was cut off had slightly lighter skin, like it hadn't originally belonged to her. "<With respect, child, I am tired. I have finally realized that the age of our tribe has passed, and nothing will bring the world back to the way it was,>" Soludo replied while Chaitaki examined the threads of magic holding him in place. "<I am done with this struggle.>" Her eyes met his, but they were unsympathetic. "<Honestly, I'll never understand that feeling.>" She gave a slight shrug, pulling the flyssa Khaa'in out of its sheathe. Its blurry edge released a constant dull hum. "<I don't know why she didn't act as I expected, but you deserve a painless end. Is that what you truly want?>" "<Yes.>" He wanted nothing more than to shed this human skin he was trapped in, abandon the rattlesnake, and forget everything that happened to him and everything he'd done. Soludo wanted nothingness more than anything. Chaitaki exhaled softly, her face blank. "<I hope I meet you again in the other world someday, old mentor.>" She cleanly knocked him out. He saw blackness, and thanks to that merciful unconsciousness never felt his head being cut from his shoulders. The river water bulged up, parted, and arrows let loose in all directions seemingly before the waves had settled. A dark figure perched on the top of one of the tallest formations was hit, and their now-lifeless body fell far until it hit the water. Another hiding behind some jagged formations got clipped and cursed in pain. Nkiruka shuddered in the center of the plateau, feeling her flesh crudely knit itself back together. "Let's try this one more time..." The soldier took in as deep a breath as the damage to her back would allow, and shouted at the top of her lungs a final signal. "Nadiyah 'ela Korzul, your sister is dying!" The words echoed over the roaring water and through the night air. "Light a torch," Isra commanded her men. Nkiruka couldn't fathom why, and just assumed it was some half-delirious mumbling on the colonel's part, but one of them obliged. The cavalryman shoved it into a crack in the ground, bathing a small area in flickering light. They waited. One Rainfall straggler in the distance ducked out of the way of three arrows shot virtually at once by the keen-eyed cavalry. Nkiruka got agitated just sitting here like this, especially with the torch giving away their position -- not that her own shouting had helped with that at all, so she couldn't complain. Someone climbed over a ridge, stumbling. All the archers converged their aim on that figure, but Nkiruka's enhanced vision allowed her to quickly realize who it was. "Wait. Hold your fire!" Nadiyah 'ela Korzul, leaning with her hand on the rocks, caught sight of them and disappeared in a burst of light. She reformed instantly inside the light cast by the torch. Saying nothing at first, the Brigadier General marched over to her little sister and checked over her injuries. Her scarred face twisted into a scowl when she saw the blackness leaking onto the bandage around Isra's hip. With a terrifying urgency Nadiyah sliced off the bandage with her combat knife and -- to everyone's surprise -- opened up the wound even further. Viscous shadows gushed from the injury to an almost sickening extent, bubbling and steaming. Isra clenched her jaw, only allowing one pained whimper to escape. "Gather around me and listen very carefully." Nadiyah's tone made Nkiruka's stomach sink a little. There was a finality to it. She spoke in a hurry. "Rainfall is making their move. We lost contact with army headquarters at Astrauka-en-Kalaar just recently. It's likely the whole canyon is about to fall. This is the last message we got from them." She rummaged through her pocket and placed a piece of parchment in Nkiruka's hand firmly, leaving behind bloody fingerprints. "I destroyed the weaponry they were going to use to attack Istan City at range, but this is only a delay for them. They have their eyes on Arash'kana first. And," Nadiyah took a quick breath, "she's coming. I saw her approaching from the west." "Chaitaki? But isn't she supposed to be leading the attack?" "That's for you to figure out later," Nadiyah snapped. She held a glowing palm over Isra's bleeding shadows to burn away the mucky substance. The archers used the last of their arrows to fire at an outline that clambered over some rocks to the west and jumped over the flooded areas deftly. Nadiyah tensed, clearly struggling to keep her breathing steady and focus on purging the seemingly limitless corruption from her sister's injury. Nkiruka chewed her lip a bit, realizing the colonel would have most certainly died if Nadiyah hadn't come -- and it would've been Nkiruka's fault. Putting this thought aside, the soldier faced the familiar threat, waiting and listening for any flying knives or other tricks. Chaitaki stopped a ways away, the torchlight faintly playing off her catlike eyes. She was not grinning or smirking. Her features were set into a hint of a scowl. It made the resemblance between mother and daughter striking. Blood was half-congealed on the edge of her flyssa. "I am not in a good mood tonight," she stated. Nkiruka began to pad up to the edge of the plateau, anticipating a fight. Chaitaki glanced for a moment down at the roiling waters of the Five Tongues River. "Do you feel better, Nadiyah?" "Not quite yet." Chaitaki looked to Rin. "You made me kill a very dear old friend of mine with my own hands." Although the movement was very subtle, Nkiruka noticed -- to her abject horror -- that her mother's grip on her flyssa was trembling with barely contained rage. |
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| Rin | Thu Dec 27, 2012 7:10 pm Post #116 |
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Rin allowed the cavalry to take up the role of attacking the nearby guerillas, focusing on herself. Her injuries were healing, but not fast enough. She turned her attention to the worst of the wounds, determined to restore full use of her limbs before they finally faced Chaitaki. The construct barely seemed aware of Nadiyah's return to their group or her unusual treatment of Isra's injuries, almost as if she were meditating. It wasn't until a figure began to approach one of the banks of the river that she rose from her trance, resigning herself to the fact that her injuries were as mended as they would get for now. Chaitaki had somehow replaced the arm she lost only a few nights ago, although the limb was much lighter in coloration and lacked the ritual scars of a witch-warrior. The leader of the insurgents stared at Rin, her lion-like eyes flaring in the light of the torch. The construct could see no emotion but pure, raw anger and hurt reflected in their depths. The comment about forcing her to kill a dear friend made little sense at first, but after a few seconds she put realized that Chaitaki had come from the direction in which she left Soludo. The girl stared at the blood on the blade of the flyssa, taking her time before responding. "I left him his life to do what he saw fit. It was your blade that took away his breath, not mine." She pressed both hands against the ground, pushing herself to her feet. Despite the martial trance she had entered, she still staggered slightly as she rose. "The blood of Soludo Jeneta is not on my hands, Chaitaki. Do not blame me for your own actions. My conscience is heavy enough." There was an uncharacteristic undercurrent of exhaustion in the construct's voice, and she had abandoned the carefree smile that usually defined her expression. She watched the woman with a mien of grim finality. "Famed Alchemical Blade." She held both hands out in front of her as the weapon appeared, wrapping her fingers tightly around its hilt. It looked similar to a forward-curved falchata, although the blade itself was much thicker than one would expect. The flat side of the blade had three unusual nozzles incorporated into the design, the tiny fan blades slanted closed. Rin flipped a switch on the pommel, activating the internal mechanisms of the sword. The fans began to spin, collecting air from the environment and alchemically removing trace amounts of specific elements from the atmosphere that could be converted into explosive fuel. She settled into a defensive stance, eyes locked onto Chaitaki as the Famed Alchemical Blade began to hum. |
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| Nkiruka | Thu Feb 7, 2013 4:48 pm Post #117 |
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Nadiyah gave a nod. Rin had a point there. Chaitaki merely stared at her, the witch-warrior's reply clearly reflected in her expression. The Brigadier General didn't leave Isra's side quite yet, although she stood up to her full height just in case Chaitaki were to initiate the attack. "Nkiruka." The soldier turned her head just a bit to indicate where her attention was. She didn't want to take her eyes off Chaitaki. "We can't win like this." "What?" "Take Isra and her unit back. Get a real medic." There was the unspoken assumption that her and Rin would stay back to delay Chaitaki. Nkiruka looked to Chaitaki to see what she was doing. The guerrilla leader was badly trembling now, hunched a bit, eyes unfocused, sweat beading on her face. She didn't even look like she was paying attention. Not herself at all. "We will stay," said one of the cavalrymen. "You will die protecting my sister, if you will die at all." Her words were so firm they elicited no complaint. At the edge of the artificial plateau, Nkiruka hesitated. Why couldn't they end it now? After all this struggle, after so many people had died on both sides, going from Dragonspine to Striberg to Balefire to the Deep Cities to Istan, why couldn't they get the final battle their efforts deserved? Why did she have to leave her friends behind for some officer she met just a few hours ago? And why didn't Nadiyah want to save her own sister? A staggering fatigue fell over the soldier just thinking about it. Nadiyah picked up Isra. "I love you. Be strong," she whispered in Istani to the dying colonel, and handed her off to Nkiruka. Nadiyah spoke to Nkiruka, but kept her eyes on the unstable Chaitaki. "Don't think about it. Just go." Nkiruka looked down at Isra, then to Nadiyah, then a worried one to Rin. She bolted, leaping across the chasm between plateau and shore. The other cavalrymen, having mounted back up, jumped their horses over the divide and followed. Chaitaki didn't attack them. Nadiyah drew her blood-caked heavy sabre with both hands. Balls of light flared up around her, as did the markings that shone through her back. "That was polite of you to allow." Chaitaki didn't seem to have heard her taunt. She muttered, "Why... I can't..." and her words cut off with a strange sound. With the added light the Brigadier General was giving off, an astute observer might notice her pupils were wildly oscillating in diameter. It was the same thing that had happened to Nkiruka back when she was trying to choke down a berserk rage as they rescued an imprisoned Zaman from Demir. Chaitaki grit her teeth as if in pain, eyes wild. She used her free hand to shakily draw her sickle. Her pupils expanded to cover her irises. She took a deep breath, but instead of screaming a war cry for her people, a lion's roar warped the air. Chaitaki leaped onto the plateau, bringing her weapons down on her two remaining enemies with earth-shattering force. |
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| Rin | Fri Feb 8, 2013 3:12 pm Post #118 |
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Rin kept her eyes firmly on Chaitaki while Nadiyah and Nkiruka talked, never oncediverting her attention from the witch-warrior. The older woman didn't seem fully in control of herself. She stared at them with wide, furious eyes, breathing heavily and swaying back and forth. It didn't take long for the soldiers to reach a decision about how they should proceed: everyone but the construct and the brigadier general would retreat in order to get medical attention for Isra and the rest of the wounded. Rin smiled slightly and nodded to show her acceptance of the plan. She could feel her friend's worried look and glanced away from Chaitaki for an instant, her blue eyes dark and unreadable. "Go, Nkiruka. I will be fine." Although it was obvious that the woman didn't entirely agree with Nadiyah, she didn't put up any more resistance. She quickly took charge of the remaining elements of the Army of Istan and led the cavalry over the raging waters to firm ground. Rin let out a slow sigh that she hadn't been aware of drawing in, closing her eyes for a moment. "Thank you Nadiyah. I would prefer her not to see this. You are a worthy companion." When she opened her eyes again they had dilated drastically, leaving only a pale ring of blue surrounding them. Chaitaki didn't give them much more time to discuss strategies or tactics. Her mien rippled with emotions so raw and powerful that she looked more bestial than human, and with a cacophonous, leonine bellow she leapt across the distance between them. The construct spun to one side to avoid the downswing of the two weapons, raising the Famed Alchemical Blade above her head in a high guard position with both hands. The rock she had summoned from the bottom of the canyon shattered from the sheer strength of the witch-warrior's assault, shards of stone flying in every direction. Time seemed to freeze for Rin as she watched Chaitaki uncoil from the attack, all sinuous motion and uncoiling muscles. In that instant she knew that this woman was too strong for her to handle at the moment. If she had been well-rested and uninjured it would have been a struggle to keep up with Nkiruka's mother; right now she would only be delaying the inevitable. Unless she changed the situation, she would die here. "I'm sorry, Nadiyah." The change that came over Rin was as sudden as a storm at sea and arguably just as deadly. Her resignation and exhaustion vanished, replaced by an anger so intense it defied description. Her eyes dilated further, impossibly wide, until her pupils had consumed her irises entirely and were pushing on her sclera. She had not entered a true rage state in months, not since her training with Nkiruka, which had been designed to allow her to control her emotions. She let all of the anger and frustration that had been building up in that time flow through her, her mental faculties disappearing under a tidal wave of undiluted emotion. She growled and swung the Famed Alchemical Blade forward with blinding speed, leaving herself open to a counter-attack but not caring, her entire being devoted to the destruction of her foe. |
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| Nkiruka | Sat Mar 23, 2013 2:23 pm Post #119 |
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The force of Chaitaki's next blow came down on Nadiyah's two-handed sabre which she blocked just long enough. The power of it forced her blade downward, the tip sweeping across the ground and gouging it, chunks of earth flying everywhere. She countered by twisting her body and shunting the terrorist with her shoulder, making her stumble backward. Then Nadiyah tore out her sword and came in with a burst of tight, effective chops. Chaitaki parried them each in turn, coming in with her sickle that defied size and shape. To counter this, Nadiyah pulled her weapon back just far enough for her to step in and slam her elbow into Chaitaki's face. A cracking of bone followed the classic IIC maneuver, and Nadiyah teleported back to the light of the torch before the blur of rage could do more than scrape her hip with that sickle. She could have chased the Brigadier General over that short distance had Rin not come in, reigning blows with a towering fury the guerrilla leader had never seen before. Blood gushing down from her crooked nose, Chaitaki devoted every inch of her fighting on counter-attack and none whatsoever on defense. She took deep gashes to her face, torso, arms and legs while she attacked Rin with a flurry of expert mandak blows -- weapons, knees, elbows -- similar to Nkiruka's own style but to a level on par with a Grandmaster of the discipline. That lethal efficiency carried through even when Chaitaki didn't and couldn't think about her attacks; she did it without her usual calculation. Nadiyah flanked the battle without effort. The balls of light started to spin around her body. As they spun faster, they shot searing beams of near-blinding light into the darkness. They cut into Chaitaki like a knife, burning stripes of flesh and cauterizing some of her wounds. Nadiyah, the sanest person remaining on this battlefield, considered her options for a moment. Rin was badly wounded already. So was the soldier herself. All they had to rely on now was Rin's tenacity and Nadiyah's tenuous sense of discipline. She made the mistake of thinking about Isra and everyone under her command who had died to this woman. Shuddering, Nadiyah's will turned into a sheen of light coalescing against the extreme edge of her sabre. Chaitaki sensed the attack coming from behind and twisted to put her sickle in the way -- but only for a speedy counter-attack. That second phase of the strike never happened as Nadiyah's sword cut an inch-deep gash into the steel. The enchantment on the sickle flickered just long enough for the Brigadier General to commit its size and shape to her memory. |
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| Rin | Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:40 pm Post #120 |
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Later, when she would discuss the fight with Nkiruka, Rin would have no memory of what had occurred. Her last conscious thought was the decision to let her instincts take over and hope that it would be enough to overcome the guerilla leader's defenses. She whipped the Famed Alchemical Blade through attacks that relied on nothing but raw speed and strength to be effective, wielding the sword with none of her usual efficiency. If she had been fighting against a person in full control of their mental faculties they doubtlessly would have taken advantage of the situation, but Chaitaki was lost in her rage as well and fought with a primal ferocity that defied description. The sickle and flyssa left cuts all over the girl's body, bloody gashes on her arms and legs and torso that Rin didn't even seem aware of. Unarmed blows rained down on her as well, elbow- and knee-strikes smashing into her with bruising force. Two of her ribs snapped from a single strike, knocking her to one knee for an instant. If Nadiyah hadn't re-entered the fray the fight might have ended there, but the Brigadier General began firing beams of light into the fight with unerring accuracy. The lances of energy cut through flesh like a scalpel, filling the air with the nauseating scent of burning flesh. Rin surged forward, stabbing straight at the witch-warriors sternum with a earth-shaking bellow. Chaitaki managed to bring her flyssa up and knock the tip of the blade away, but she still managed to score a wicked line of blood leading up the woman's breast to her right shoulder. Another lance of brilliant light cut between them, this time only searing a strip of skin along the guerilla's hip before burning its way through Rin's upper thigh. The heat of the attack burned a coin-sized hole straight through the muscle before exiting the back of the limb, the edges of the injury crispy and blackened. The soldier eventually attacked herself, swiping her saber at Chaitaki's back and forcing the witch-warrior to turn and deflect it. Some lingering trace of consciousness seized this opportunity. Rin's thumb flicked down to the the pommel and depressed the button. The Famed Alchemical Blade roared as an internal mechanism produced a spark, igniting the unstable elements it had been absorbing from the air this entire time. Flame gouted out of all three nozzles on the back of the blade, the force of the rockets strong enough that it carried the girl forward. She lunged at the same time, spinning and allowing the alchemical reaction to slash the razor-sharp edge towards Chaitaki's neck. The sword continued on its arc afterward, spinning her entire body around in the air and threatening to tear the sword out of her hands. Rin blindly kicked out with both feet as she twirled around, muscles straining as she yanked its path back towards the Chomai warrior. She brought it back down in a vertical blow that had all of her strength behind it, intending to split her target in half. |
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7:02 PM Jul 11

