AC 2021 - Round Two: Team Three

[Leoric]

Leoric stood, watching his companion storm off and attack an empty section of the room. The confused brawler was wondering if Shin could see something he couldn't. But he asked for a fire tornado, Leoric could theoretically pull it off again, but he needed an astonishing amount of fuel for the flames to consume and in this chamber made of stone there was not much fuel.

In his glancing about the room he did see another figure in the shadow’s hiding. Before he could do anything they had disappeared and vanished and were now behind Shin as sounds of flesh being sliced could be heard. At this Leoric took off at a sprint straight at the assailant as he could just begin to make out their voices.

“Cazri!” Leoric screamed as he flashed a pale white light as his prepared mana surged, he was going at her with everything he had. She turned to look at him with a smirk on her face, that smirk, however, quickly disappeared when she saw how close he was and closing fast.

Leoric had dropped his morality, he knew if he was to end the threat that was facing the world he would have to momentarily become as unethical and immoral as his opponents. Thankfully he had learned to drop his morals and ethics quite easily when he traveled outside of corone, after all he was doing his best to slander his biological fathers ‘good’ name, so making everyone associate Blackwell with disgusting behavior was something he delighted in.

He launched several quick strikes from what everyone would assume was never going to reach Cazri, However she promptly reacted and was sent rolling across the ground away from her injured prey. The determined brawler shot a dart from his M.A.D. device on his wrist which would drag small things to him, or pull him to large things at quick speeds. He connected the dart with a large sized rock on the ground. By the look of it, it was a section of the roof that had collapsed and shattered on the ground. With a quick flick of his wrist and the mental command required the rock began flying towards him as he charged directly at Cazri. He Jumped into the air and entered a spin as the rock soared underneath him and directly at his target. Cazri barely had time to bring her sword down to cut the rock in two as Leoric caused a massive burst of wind to erupt from behind her, pushing her forward into his attack range as he finished his spin in the air and hammer kicked her square on the top of her head.

Cazri seethed and backpedaled away barely able to stand for a second before she shook her head and regained her composure as Leoric finished his spin and landed on one knee and used his front arm to brace himself from falling forward.

“I had heard rumors that there was an intimidating fighter, using a lost fighting style, but all I see is a bar brawler who tries to look flashy.” she flexed her wrist and her sword lit up in front of her as she quickly vanished in a blinding flash of light. She re-emerged seconds later behind Leoric bringing her sword down.

Leoric barely sensed her with his wind magic appear behind him as he attempted a quick roll out of the way, it wasn’t enough as her blade dug into his shoulder and ran down his back, slicing through his enchanted leather vest and causing a deep gouge across his back. His roll had now become a flop as he seethed in pain on the ground.

“Looks like, just like your reputation, you are all talk” she sneered as she began to walk forward to finish off the brawler.

“You wanted to see the lost quaking fist style? Well don’t let me disappoint you.” The now determined brawler used his good arm and got to his feet, quickly entering what was drilled into him by his master, First stance.

From the first stance you launch every attack and defensive move within the technique, the Stance looked as if he was wide open for many attacks but every move was blindingly quick and for the most part unable to be noticed.

Cazri leapt at the man while swinging her sword. She was baffled as it looked like Leoric had deflected her attack with the back of his hand, but his hand never reached the sword to actually deflect it. She tried to attack him again. This time her sword was launched in an upward arc forcing her arms up as well before Leoric quickly rushed forward and grabbed Cazri by the neck, his hand tightening and fingers digging in. cutting off her airway’s and an attempt at strangling the life out of her.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I am not here to give you a lesson on lost techniques, i am here to save the fucking world from you.” he smirked as he noticed the color was not disappearing from her face, and instead of a look of fear she was smirking back at him.

In a flash of white light both of them were now in a free fall above the center of the room, where the portal was located and just before they hit the ground, she struck him with blinding speed and strength, knocking him back into the portal.

“You can be a threat if you stay here, how about you go visit the demon’s you so wish to destroy.” she said with finality as she landed on the ground and slid back a few feet after kicking off Leoric.

Leoric began to panic. Was he about to be sent through the demon portal? Could he get back? He knew the demon’s were coming in through the portal, but could he? All of his worries and thoughts were quickly knocked from his head as he felt himself impact a solid object before feeling like something was flowing inside of him. It felt like something he had encountered in a brothel before where they poured things into his…

With a quick burst of demonic energy the sticky feeling of magic in the air vanished and he was on his knees in front of where the portal once sat. He looked back and only saw the other side of the room. He looked down at his hands on the ground and the black color that was only on his right arm began to pulse and with each pulse Leoric felt his heart skip a beat. Was his heart failing?

He stood up ready to try and finish this before his heart failed him, but as he stood up his eyes fixated on his enemy, the target of his rage, and he felt an outside force in his mind. It felt betrayed, it felt anger, rage, it wanted to flay the skin from her corpse, it wanted her to suffer.

” Oh she will suffer, and by my hand, there is no doubt about that” he thought as a feeling of content resignation washed through his mind before every muscle on his body pulsed with energy and in a flash of sickly pale gray lightning, his entire body became covered in the same black skin that was on his right arm. His hair began to fade in color and now matched the arcing pale gray lightning that was now arcing around him and into the room. He stared at Cazri lifting his left arm and pointing at her

“Cazri! You have betrayed not only your own government, but those that would once call you Ally, The Court of Nine are coming for you, and they send me, their Herald, to destroy you and everything you have spent your whole life working towards.” As Leoric spoke there was more than just his voice, it felt like there was a group of people talking in unison, all saying the same thing through him. But not only that, he didn’t mean to say any of that. Whatever had now granted him power was speaking through him. Before he had a chance to question what was going on he felt a thought in his head

“You agreed to our request, we have granted you our power as long as you see to it that nothing of her legacy remains upon this world, you are our Herald of Destruction, now deal with her as you see fit!”

“Shin, Let’s show her what happens when she crosses the wrong people.”

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

As Leoric Blackwelll bravely challenged the dark elf Cazri head on, Shinsou’s wounded body passed from one moment of consciousness to the next. The transformation to Shin no Kotei 5th grade had long since worn off, and the ethereal healing properties that it gave to the Telgradian were now lost to him for another day. Dragged by trembling limbs through the searing waves of pain, his very life wavered on the edge of existence.

Get up.

Shinsou’s wrecked nerves felt as if they were being cut on blades of grass. His lungs could barely cope with the dense air. His throat thirsted for water to wash away the greasy blood and the burning film of gastric acid left in his throat. He pressed his arms into the floor as crimson spattered from his lips onto the sandstone below. His legs were like the drooping boughs of millennia-old bloodwoods, shivering in nights not yet free of winter’s chill grasp.

Get up.

Time slipped past like breath on a mirror, ephemeral as ripples on a pond. No dose of harsh reality could wholly extinguish the seriousness of the wounds he had endured. Shinsou could feel the searing of some sort of infection in his exposed muscles, and the gaping hole in his back festered in burning agony, incessantly branding torment into his vulnerable mind. It was then, though, that the desperate struggle to live doused the fires consuming his thoughts. The Telgradian pushed through the pain until he could stand again on his own two legs. Every limping step buckled, each attempt to brace sending fierce lightning racing up his wounded thigh.

The trail of blood-stained torture faded to the grim but determined totter of a man with nought left to lose.

The cacophonous thunder of unseen voices gave Leoric the unholy mission of destroying the dark elf Cazri, but these soon gave way to something else. Even as death tried to settled like motes of tar in the depths of his lungs, sickly sweet and cloying, Shinsou began an unfamiliar incantation. It was one belonging to Telos Soltair, his father. A spell that would end this once and for all.

Respectful hand, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hand, unable to reflect the blue sky. The road that basks in light, the wind that ignites the embers, time that gathers when both are together. There is no need to be hesitant, obey my order and fill the soil.

The very temple seemed to quake in fear. Foundations around the chamber shattered like brittle crystal, and in the distance the winding corridors and smaller collapsed in thunderous ruin. Roiling waves of wind emanated from the epicentre of the spell, revealing Shinsou to be the source from which the powerful magic spewed forth. Sudden violent gusts tore at his exposed ears, and powerful strokes of razor sharp wind carved deep gashes into the tiles of the floor and the sandstone walls around them.

The dark skinned Cazri darted from tile to tile to avoid the many crescent shaped pulses, settling almost instantly on a fallen boulder in the centre of the room. Within a moment, her hands wove a powerful, heady cloak of wind. The sphere of cyclonic air dominated half of the chamber almost immediately, decimating the deadly gusts with its majestic bulk.

Shinsou clenched his teeth as the intensity of the upkeep of the spell started to erode what energy he had left. Cazri, far more comfortable and contained in her shield of wind magic, flashed her eyes towards another section of roof that had fallen from the ceiling and noted the long shadow it had cast next to the swordsman. Instantaneously, arcane energies allowed her to wind a path out of reality and twist, like a sinuous river, through the sandstone and out of the shadows behind the pair. Her shrewd silver eyes loomed closely over the two warriors, the lashing golden sword of the first king barely visible as it swung towards them in a wide arc.

Shinsou’s life flashed before him, reflected in the silky pools peering so effortlessly into his soul. Then quickly, imperceptibly, he reached out. His wounded muscles screamed. His mind felt as if it would explode. His golden eyes exploded into that familiar burning scarlet as Enpera’s blade glowed like lit magnesium by his side.

A heartbeat later, the edge of the sword was in his hand.

“Wh-“ Cazri stuttered, her eyes wide in disbelief as the cutting edge scraped against the armour plated palm of the Telgradian; a shrill, metallic sound echoing through the ruined hall. Clenching his fingers around the blade, Shinsou growled and suddenly yanked it from her grasp, flipping the golden sword of the first king until its ornate guard was firmly in his grasp.

“This wasn’t my doing. Enpera wanted me to live, and used up its own power.” Shinsou explained, holding the edge of the sword up to Cazri’s exposed jugular with one hand and restraining her movement with the other. The power of his transformation had already begun to close his terrible wounds, but even as the situation looked hopeless for Cazri, the woman dismissed his bridling antipathy with a wave of her stick-thin wrist and her nose wrinkled in perfect pantomime mockery. Her gestures conflicted jarringly with the emptiness of her expression.

"I'll send you both to hell myself!"

Cazri smiled as a burst of wind magic allowed her a skillful riposte of the blade at her throat, grabbing onto it as Shinsou staggered momentarily. Before Leoric or Shinsou could do anything about it, the dark elf channelled the sword’s power. A thin blue cross ripped open to reveal a portal of black expanse. With a tug, she pulled the sword free and used a second burst of wind magic to try and knock the adventurers into the portal. All of a sudden their shoulders slumped, arms dragged downwards as if laden by invisible weights. The crushing pressure upon their chests swelled unbearably, flinging bolts of piercing agony through random muscles.

Through it all, Shinsou could sense the dark flame that still licked at Leoric Blackwell. His eyes saw the power grasp his companion, the demonic energy beating down upon his form as though a seperate entity, attempting to sweep him away.

"Use it, Leoric! Don't hold back!"

Shinsou's head slumped and his vision wavered as the energy Enpera had gifted the Telgradian to maintain the Shin no Kotei 5th grade dissipated. Adrenaline and focus faded into the void ahead, and in their place rushed the recurring waves of agony from both shoulder and leg, and the slippery sensation of losing control over his faculties that suggested he meant to fall asleep soon.

Time was running out for them both.

[Leoric]

“Shin, Let’s show her what happens when she messes with the wrong people.”

Leoric thought it would be easy with his new power arcing around him; However, just as what looked like the last defiant bit of energy erupted from Shin, a heavy force pushed both of them to their knees. Cazri had more tricks up her sleeve. With an impressive burst of wind magic, she sent them sliding backwards before an unnatural weight began to bear down upon them, attempting to crush them.

”Is this the extent of my new power?" Leoric pondered to himself "Is this the extent you grant to your herald?" He shouted in his mind to the one who spoke through him moments ago "Cazri didn’t get this far without learning a few tricks or two!” Leoric reflected for a moment before his own wind magic began to swirl around him and erupt into the air. It was rapidly expanding, creating a column of equal pressure around himself. Leoric flashed a grin at Cazri before leaning forward and kicking off the ground with everything he had in him.

CRACK!

A bolt of lightning erupted from the ground where he was formerly standing. and collided with the roof as Cazri could no longer spot the demon blooded brawler. She franticly began looking around for him.

“Oww, for fuck’s sake.” Came from behind her as Leoric was stumbling back from flying face first into the wall, rubbing his nose, feeling slightly disoriented. “There must be a trick to using this power..”

“This is the Nine’s Herald?” she scoffed, emphasising the first word as if in disbelief. She turned to face Leoric with her sword outstretched, pointing it in his direction. “Hardly a threat to me.”

“Only hardly?” Leoric said as he felt the muscle in his left leg twinge in agony; apparently his body was having issues dealing with this herald power. With a quick expelling of breath, he focused his strength and this time kicked off at a much more controlled speed. In a flash, he was now in front of Cazri. He reached across with his left hand, grabbing her wrist while his right hand flexed, then swiftly became a fist as he swung and impacted her chest alongside a sickening crack.

Cazri was involuntarily pushed back several feet, dropping to her knees, coughing up blood as she tried to catch her breath. Leoric looked at his left hand that now held the hilt of the first king’s sword. She was now disarmed. He shot a glance at the portal behind Shin and immediately closed it before unsheathing his own sword while sliding the king's sword into its sheath. This way, he knew no one could use it for evil.

“No, no, no!” Cazri shouted as she slammed her fists into the ground like a toddler throwing a tantrum. It would have been funny had she not continued talking. “If I am not leaving here, then neither shall either of you!”

There was a tremendous build up and detonation of magical power coming from Cazri as the building began to shake, even more destructively than when Shin had cast a spell himself. While Leoric was busy looking around at the crumbling tower, he felt a pressure on his chest as if someone had just poked him with their index finger accusingly. He looked down to see a shocked Cazri holding an iron dagger with a now blunted and bent tip... She had tried to use her burst of magic to stab the herald in the chest while he was distracted, but the black skin granted to him from his demon blood proved to be too strong to puncture. With a flurry of movement, Leoric grabbed her by the face and lifted her off her feet. Her arms and legs were swinging wildly, frantically trying to hit him, to get free, for a miracle to happen.

Leoric lifted his sword and tapped it against her chest almost wistfully. “You know, if you weren’t such a murderous bitch, we could've been quite a team.”

He slowly sunk his sword into her chest, rupturing her heart. Blood spurted from her mouth as she drew her last breath, her body going limp. Leoric discarded the trash in his hands and let out a sigh of relief. A sudden, immense pain erupted all at once across his body as his skin gradually went back to its beautiful olive tone, his hair regaining its pigment and the boundless amounts of power he felt vanished from his body.

Every muscle group screamed in agony, it was more pain than he had ever felt in his life - and that was saying something! With a pounding headache, he sauntered over to where he had discarded the body and after a few moments of struggle managed to decapitate it. He was going to need proof she was dead when he reported back. This would make her fate quite clear.

The ground shook violently once more as the ceiling began to collapse in chunks followed by the walls falling inwards. He reached for the sword of the first king at his hip and with a shock, Leoric discovered the sword was gone. He couldn't find it. He frantically scanned the room, searching for it; he needed it to get out of here before he was crushed.

As a chunk of roof collapsed nearby, he looked towards it and noticed the shining hilt of the blade near where Shin was. Shit, Shin! how was he going to get both of them out of here?

“Leoric! Go, I will be fine!” Shin called out as if reading the brawler's panic-stricken thoughts.

“Fuck, fine! But I will meet you in Sanctuary when we report our success together!” Leoric ran to the hall they had entered from, turning back only to add “If you die, I will go to Hell and drag you back myself!”. With that, Leoric forged his path out of the temple.

[Preston]

Judgement: Round 2; Team 3

Congrats on getting to the second round. I’m looking forward to judging. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like additional commentary. I will keep the feedback brief for the most part. =)

Overall: It was good that you both found a way to generally run into each other and continue the story. I felt that there was some missing on the part of Leoric, such as what happened with your past party and what the purpose of his being there was. I also, really, didn’t understand the fire tornado part and the why behind that. Transition between posts was a bit off, but not horrible. The overall Action was ok, but in all of it throughout the thread there seemed to be a (as a reader) a significant lack of concern over losing a fight.

Plot - 19

(Story, Setting, Pace)
I’m not sure what the purpose of the flashback to the boat and Felicity was related to other than a back injury, which could have been summed up in a sentence or two. Aside from that, the setting was well done, there was a fair amount of story, and the pace was ok.

Character - 18

(Communication, Action, Persona)
Leoric - A little confusing with the dialogue, at times, as it seemed realistic to the character previously and a bit on the nose this time. Some of it simply felt like it was forced and very “roguishly heroic” in a cliche way. With the action, it comes out as ‘telling’ the reader, not ‘showing’ the reader and letting the narrative and actions express current state.

Shin - The action scenes were full of imagery and metaphor, but were a little hard to follow here and there - one example is the paragraph about the spears and the demon minotaur at the end of post 6.

Prose - 17

(Mechanics, Clarity, Technique)
Leoric - Lots of little grammatical errors such as capitalization and missing punctuation, and run-on sentences.

Wild Card - 7

Noticed a random Deadpool reference thrown in there.. twice.

- Score - 61

- Rewards -
Shin: 2787 exp | 700 gold
Leoric: 1333 exp | 333 gold