Daily #40 - Minden Omnisc, Orseth Tameri, Juorem Canide, Escudo Fuerza and Verlis Inglin (cowrriten by Nima)
Sitting on a nearby boulder, a seadweller waves to the newly appeared blueblood.
"Yo," he is Orseth Tameri, Lord of Spark, and he had been brought here just as this blueblood has. Just as another would be.
"Heya." Verlis landed on the surface of the water and caused it to ripple, descending from the air without making a sound.
Sparks were dancing in between Orseth's hands, a bolt of electricity looped around his body. He slowly rose to a stand, looking around. "She said three so I think we're expecting one more, let's see..."
Escudo landed without similar grace, the ground quaking as he landed with both feet. "Greetings." His white armour contrasted against the field, an imposing and regal figure.
"A Knight, a Mage and a Lord, huh?" Orseth was holding an ornate harpoon, which seemed to transfigure between metal and lightning of its own will. "Good set. This is what you were after, right?"
He was calling up to the swirl of green energy above their heads. It began to descend from the air, the psychic powers calming. A pair of tiny hands clutched a deck of cards, eyes of pure lime looking over the three. "I require control of this power to fight for us," her voice was small as well, but carried by her natural psychic presence it reached the three. "Without practise it is weak. But it is still too strong on its own to practise against those who would be put at risk. You are each able to survive; with your help I may learn to draw this power in full. Will you help me?"
Before the others could answer, the Seadweller smiled. "Course," he shrugged. "I owe you as much anyway. I'm good for it."
"Sounds interesting, you have my help if you want it." Verlis brought out two spears, one coloured a shining blue and the other a bloody red.
"Very well." A black shield appeared on Escudo's right arm, looking at it giving the feeling of gazing into the abyss.
"Then," she began to rise back into the air, "let's begi-"
"WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT!"
With a loud thump, a new arrival slammed down between the three trolls and the floating limeblood. With a maniacal grin and a flourish of his blue coat, he stretched out to full. "You're having a party and didn't invite me? I'm fucking mortified here." King of Pride Juorem Canide whirled on the other three, a smile stretched across his face. "Hope you're all content with taking second place in this survival game cause I've got this one in the bag."
For her credit, Minden did not react at all. Orseth just rolled his eyes. The only surprising thing about this was that he didn't see it coming.
Juorem threw a thumbs up to Verlis. "Sup Jumps, how you doin'?"
Escudo's expression couldn't be seen from behind his helmet, Verlis returning the thumbs up to Juorem. "Being better than you at soaring through the sky, enjoying the simple pleasures of life." Verlis laughed after saying this, remembering their competition that seemed like it had taken place aeons ago.
"Yeah yeah keep laughin, I'll get you yet you crazy pirate. YO LIME, are we starting?"
She held a single card in her hand. "Eighth Wand." From the sky above meteors of pure flame began to fall.
"First Gear!" With the alchemical ring providing enhanced physical statistics, Juorem simply dodged the balls of flame, while Orseth chose to burst the ones that got close to him with a bolt of lightning from his harpoon.
"Cosmos Chain!" Verlis begun spinning the blue staff that he held, deflecting the meteors in random directions. Every hit he blocked seemed to make the spear glow brighter, the weapon nearly luminescent as he finished his defence.
"Time for the appetiser." Placing his shield on his back instead of using it to defend as one would expect, Escudo merely punched the meteors with his white gauntlets and had them fizzle against his fists. "An intriguing magic."
"I will now draw." She spoke quietly, leaving her power to carry her words to these four. "Be prepared. Draw." Seven floating projections of the cards from her deck appeared behind her. One by one they spun around to reveal themselves. "Knight's Wand. The Lovers. Eighth Wand. Seventh Chalice. Tenth Wand. Eighth Coin. Fifth Wand."
Six of the seven cards began to glow, the third having already been used recently and thus requiring more time to restore itself. The flaming debris covering the area from its previous activation however was put to use, being sucked up to surround Minden, forming a fiery shield. Suddenly the flames exploded in magnitude into a fiery tempest, before flowing downwards into the ground. A volcanic pillar emerged, the ground around it beginning to soften and liquidise to molten stone. All the fire continued to wrap around the pillar, before shooting forward as a fireball of immense size aimed at the group.
"You're a terrifying woman, though I know one scarier." Stabbing the red spear into the ground and using it to vault, Verlis jumped back and up out of the range of the fireball. "I've long gotten used to fire." A laugh was heard from Escudo, the man holding his shield and kneeling on the ground as the fireball neared.
Orseth stepped forward, spinning his harpoon overhead. If he were moving his hands slower, one would see he also grasped the staff that was part of his alchemy, using the two in combination in order to create a storm of thunder, black clouds condensed into a ball of darkness. When he brought both weapons down to unleash the attack, a cyclone of wind shot forward, crashing into the fireball. Thought it did not destroy it it did appear to strip away at it, reducing its size as it came in significantly.
Still using his First Gear Ring, Juorem simply raced out of the way and watched to see what would happen.
As what remained of the fireball crashed into Escudo, it seemed that he had been engulfed by the flames. A soot covered and singed figure walked out of the inferno, his shield somehow acting like a vortex and sucking in the flames from around him. "That might have hurt if you didn't reduce it." The people on the field with him were rather impressive, the Lord doing well to strike against the blow.
"She doesn't really have any control over that does she though," Orseth rubbed his head. The individual cards were fine, but that draw had some crazy power in it, something that went above and beyond appearance. And the volcanic pillar was still there, the ground around it still molten rock. He'd have to watch out for that. "You okay up there?"
She looked down at the collection. Each individual card drew its own power, but the draws required her psychic abilities as well as the strength conveyed by her title. How many could she perform? That was another thing to test. "Prepare yourselves. Draw." And once more, the floating cards appeared. "The Tower. The Fool. The Chariot. Fourth Chalice. Ninth Coin. Sixth Chalice. Queen's Wand."
Once more six of the seven cards glowed, the second this time being unable to meet its activating condition. Waves of searing flame and chilling frost began to emerge from her, constant pulses of fire and ice. Magnified by The Tower, she was not provided immunity to her own magic, instead requiring to form a psychic shell over her body to protect herself. She dropped to the ground, removing focus on her flight to maintain her own personal defense. She landed before Escudo and Orseth, the waves still emerging rapidly.
Orseth responded with a wall of thunder and wind, but the mixture of heat and cold were causing strange reactions, and jolts of pain from burning, heat and cold, emerged through to reach his outstretched hands.
Landing next to Juorem without a sound, Verlis watched the tougher pair of the four attempt to survive the magical attack. "I'm eternally thankful for the ability to dodge. he patted the other blueblood on the shoulder, laughing while doing so.
"Frost and flames, stronger together than alone." Frost built over his armor and was melted by the heat, but Escudo continued to stand still with his shield held firm. It continued to absorb the attack, the empty vacuum aiding his defensive efforts.
"Yeah part of winning is knowing when to avoid losing situations," Juorem watched as the waves of elemental energy subsided, leaving a heavily breathing Minden before Orseth and Escudo. "She's got crazy strength but I think they're worse. I mean look at that, if this were real she'd be dead now. Probably. Limebloods man, you ever had to deal with one?"
"The limeblood in our session is insane and can create a sun in his hands, I saw him kill a boss monster by pushing it through." Verlis recalled his memories of Clenui, deciding not to think about it too hard.
"Are you alright?" Escudo moved forward to check on the magus, exhausted from performing feats of destructive landscaping.
Crackling green energy surrounding her, Minden held a pair of cards outstretched in her right hand. "Seventh Sword." A jet of wind displaced her from her current position, moving with unexpected speed across the field to stand before the pair of onlooking bluebloods. She still held the second card.
"Aw fu-" Quick to react, Juorem activated the Third Gear, leaping back from the Limeblood.
"King's Sword." A figure of wind formed before her, launching itself after Juorem. For all his speedy dodges, the wind being hounded him expertly, forcing him to continue dodging. Minden looked over to Verlis. "Please return to the others," she stated simply, floating up into the air once more.
Swinging his projection bat around, Juorem slammed the massive construct into the Wind King. When it completely failed to have an effect, he swore and attempted to sprint over to the others to get them to deal with it.
Verlis walked forward slowly, letting out a leisurely yawn as he rejoined the group. "Take it easy." The Wind King was impressive, nothing in his arsenal could defeat it with minimal hassle. "Either of you have an idea?"
Orseth raised a hand to shield his eyes from the natural light of the bubble, watching Juorem running about while being cut off repeatedly by the King. "My stuff is all lightning and wind, I think it'd probably benefit from that. What about you?" He looked over to Escudo.
"I could kill it, though I would rather not." He placed his gauntlet over his face for a moment, eyes that could see the death of anything hidden behind the visor.
A blast of wind caught Juorem in the back and bowled him over, setting him bouncing and rolling across the field. A thunderbolt zapped past him as he flew and to everyone, himself included, it was obvious that the King was toying with him. Burning with anger at this, Juorem forced himself to stop, digging both feet into the ground. "ALRIGHT JACKASS!" The Wind King was flying in, Minden above still recovering her breath. "Then," he raised his right hand, five rings, the five gears, one on each finger shining brightly. "Let's go all the way. Fifth Gear."
He was gone. And then there he was once more, the other side of the field. Faster than the King. Faster than Minden with her card. Orseth avoided whistling but still... faster than him. Moments passed of silence, and then a massive surge of wind, force from movement, followed behind Juorem. It caught the King and kept moving, cutting a deep gouge in the ground itself. When the winds faded, the King was no more, ripped apart and consumed by the strength that opposed it. Juorem breathed heavily, looking up at the limeblood. "THERE!" he pointed. "YOU HAPPY?"
"That was impressive, you showed it who was the king." Verlis clapped his hands, having stabbed his spears into the ground so he could do so.
"I cannot argue that, the speed was blinding." Escudo placed his shield on his back to applaud similarly, though his clap was slower and more metallic than Verlis'.
Showing no reaction, Minden raised her hands. Once more the projections appeared. "Prepare. Draw."
Seven cards. "Tenth Chalice. Seventh Coin. Sixth Sword. Queen's Coin. Fifth Coin. Ninth Chalice. Eighth Chalice." All seven began to glow brightly.
The ground below Minden cracked, and a vortex of wind and water surged up, ripping the ground apart to create a funnel of mud. When the storm finally subsided, a figure emerged, crossing the savaged earth. Blasts of water erupted around her as she slowly took each step, the suit of stone armour she wore being moved by her psychic abilities, her own body lacking the strength to budge it. Streams of water and currents of air ran through grooves in the decorated armour, providing a strange and magical appearance. "Attack me." She stated simply.
Wasting no time or words, Juorem was the first to cross the distance, still a little sore over being embarrassed by the Wind King. Swinging his metallic bat overhead, he brought it rushing down onto the arm she raised to block.
The weapon exploded into fragments and Juorem's gleeful expression crashed. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I don't think she's joking around." Verlis hopped into the air, the blue spear changing form under the light. "Paragon!" A honeycomb barrier appeared around Verlis as he approached the construct, the dragoon stabbing rapidly through his own defence with his spear. It seemed that the longer he kept it up, the more the light of the Cosmos Chain faded away. His spearhead started chipping as it hit against the armour, though it didn't break outright due to magical protection.
Appearing behind her, as she endured Verlis's spear strikes, Orseth wielded his own weapon, the Lord's Harpoon. Transfiguring it to electricity he attempted to sink it through the armour, however naturally found the rock resisted it. The water currents however electrified, allowing him to amplify the power around the armour and begin causing it to flake under the pressure of his title power.
Escudo looked at his red rifle with a pale and sickly white scope, before putting it away and deciding to bring out one of his swords. He wasn't trying to kill the girl, merely help her reach her potential. "Scorching Soul!" He recalled the fire that Yuehbi had taught him to light, a pillar of flame reaching into the sky that he brought down toward the construct.
She held both hands out, taking the ball of fire head on. Though the armour was further cracked, it was still in one piece. Orseth took a moment to admire its resilience. "YO FISHBOY, HEAD'S UP!" And then far less than a moment to dodge to the sidce as a massive projection slammed into the armour, shattering it into pieces. Juorem grinned wildly, the second of the many bats he kept stored away in his hands.
"Really?" Orseth shook his head. "How many of those do you even have?"
"As many as I need to win," the blueblood stretched an arm out and pointed a thumb down to the stone remains of Minden's armour. The Limeblood coolly stared back from the air, having flown up immediately the moment before his attack hit her armour.
"Backup weapons are the sign of a smart soldier." Escudo gave Juorem an offhanded compliment, holding a huge arsenal of weapons himself.
"Do those just get bigger and bigger?" Verlis laughed at the immense bat, Paragon returning back to the form of Cosmic Chain as the light went out.
"Big as they need to be, baby," Juorem threw it into the air, catching the spinning weapon as it fell. "Yo Limeblood, this survival game is all kinds of getting boring here, why don't you turn it up to eleven already?" Orseth just sort of stared at Juorem and wondered exactly how many times the blueblood had fallen on his head over the course of his life.
Silently Minden sighed. The most emotion anyone had made her show thus far. "I do not control what I draw," she stated simply. "I only add direction to the powers I bring forth. However... as you wish. Draw."
Juorem grinned and raised his bat while Orseth took a more defensive stance. Anything could happen next.
"Temperance. Queen's Wand. Justice. Ninth Wand. Third Coin. Knight's Wand. The Empress."
Balls of dusty earth began to rise across the field, suddenly exploding into violent flame and blinding light. Shielding his eyes, Orseth attempted to raise an electrical storm around him to hopefully block out any attacks he may be unable to see.
Escudo held his shield with both hands again and braced himself while holding it over his eyes. Verlis was unaffected by the flash due to his enforced blindness, Cosmos Chain beginning to spin so that he could deflect attacks.
Deciding the best way to deal with this was to not be in the centre of it, Juorem activated his Second Gear and picked a direction to run in, an arm over his eyes. This didn't quite work out perfectly as one of the exploding orbs was close enough to him to touch him with flame, but it didn't stop him and his movements caused the air to strip the flame back. The horrible blackness now cutting into his arm was not okay though. Juorem clamped down hard on his lip to prevent exclaiming. Yeah, this hurt. This hurt a lot.
The unleashed flames began to drift upwards, spiralling together into a single collection before Minden. The shining fire resolved itself into a form that she alone was able to grasp, and holding the blade of heat and light, Minden descended from the sky like a rocket, swinging the blade downwards.
Escudo held the Black Famine out, intending to match the immense power of her flaming blow. As the abyss clashed against the inferno, it ate away at the force of the blade and the sheer momentum from her rocket movement. Despite the greedy devouring of the shield, the blade pushed him back and scorched his white armour. It was an attack that could seriously hurt him if he was hit directly, and even with his layers of magical and physical protection he could feel the numbness in his arms. "...Could you elaborate on that attack, Miss?"
"A strong defence." She complimented him simply. "Without that shield, there is this." She slid across the battlefield and swung the blade around at Orseth, who brought down a blade of lightning, formed around his staff, to counter it. The two weapons exploded in a surge of elemental energy, but when Orseth leaped back to check the damage it was to find the flames now pursuing him, forcing him to dodge and attempt to blow them away as they continuously found themselves draw to him. The flames of the weapon looked significantly less intense. "That is enough of this." She said simply, and squashed the blade between her hands. Whatever link existed between her and the magic she cast with these cards, it seemed to provide great power over what was unleashed.
"Miss, I wish to test the limits of your potential." Escudo placed a golden crown on his head, a source of malevolent power filling the atmosphere. Changing to a set of green embroidered clothes with a rapier and cape, these outdated equipment sets were strengthened by the power of White Conquest. "Would you indulge me in a spar?"
Whistling, Juorem beckoned to Verlis with his still good arm. "Yo Jumps! Let's see how this goes." He was partially paying attention to (muffled) Orseth dodging flames in the background, but Minden performing draws was going to be far more entertaining. Orseth meanwhile was trying his best to put these hounding flames down, but wind was only a consequence of his power rather than something he had direct control over and his lightning wasn't really doing much at all. All he could do was try to run down the clock. This sucked.
"Escudo is the measuring stick of our group." Verlis seemed pleased that the knight had taken an interest. "We test out our Alchemic Weaponry on him, and if it causes him to react at all then we've got a keeper."
"I will draw." She was standing instead of floating now. While Juorem didn't care enough to contemplate such things, if Orseth had been able to notice he would've drawn the conclusion she was beginning to exhaust herself. Seven floating cards. "Draw. Justice. Ninth Sword. Jack's Sword. Temperance. The Devil. Fourth Sword. Ninth Chalice."
Escudo rose his Red Capote towards her, /increasing/ her offensive power. A feeling of viciousness filled her, red energy suffusing whatever her next attack would be.
Five glowing cards. One still recovering. One still failing to trigger.
Becoming as the wind, Minden flowed around the field, hard to see as light itself obscured her from sight, bursts of wind emerged from her as she raced around Escudo. Momentary drops in her windy state caused her to hang in the air while a larger blast of freezing wind emerged from her body, before she continued rushing about with the smaller windbursts.
The bursts of wind bloodied Escudo, even the smallest hits causing wounds. The alchemy he was wearing suited a masochist, increasing her power while decreasing his own defence. Standing his ground even as he was damaged by the onslaught, his sword suddenly gained a wicked glow. His hand didn't even move as the attack headed towards her, an incredibly damaging and piercing blow against her weakened defence that didn't aim for a vital spot.
The wind form she was travelling in did not provide immunity to attacks, and so Minden's eyes bulged as the blade sunk through an arm, catching her out of the air and throwing her to the ground. A loud crack echoed as the earth beneath her split, Minden bouncing off of it and hanging in the air, suspended like a doll. Odd creaking movements raised her head and arms, like she was a puppet on strings. A surge of force blasted Escudo, something of a different make to the wind magics just prior.
Juorem, the only one available to recognise it, felt his eyes widen. "Aww fuck too far. Jumps with me!" Bringing up his Fourth Gear, he crossed the field back to her, feeling his deeply injured right arm scream in pain. Grasping his bat with his left hand, he swung it down at the back of Minden's head.
"Juorem, get back here!" Verlis tried to warn the other blueblood, too late against his reaction speed.
Her psychic power was already permeating her surroundings, she knew everything about her. She knew he was approaching him before her brain had time to react. It was easy enough to stop him. A wall of force countered his charge, and with his lowered resistances thanks to his own Gears, his body cracked and was filled with shattered fragments from the sudden and absolute stop.
Sinking to his knees, Juorem managed to at least spit some blood at her feet. Damn it all, he was the first out. He'd never hear the end of this.
Verlis grabbed Juorem with a forward leap before hopping again out of the field, looking towards where Escudo was. During the time he was knocked back with his teal blood spilled, Escudo sheathed Andalucia and changed forms into a red martial outfit with a knife and frying pan. He was suddenly engulfed in burning hellfire, seeming to be a raging demon rather than an honourable knight. He banged the knife of fire against his pan, launching fireballs into the air toward Minden before approaching with an enormous burning blade.
Fire. A chemical reaction. Reacting with the provided air. Air. Molecule. Matter. Manipulatable. She raised a hand. Psychic Power. Control. Squash. No Air. No Fuel. No Reaction. No Fire.
The balls of flame snuffed out, she raised her other hand to point at Escudo. "You are to defend. Stand still." Troll. Movement. Legs. Signal to move. Electrical pulses from brain through nerves. Required alive. Cannot deactivate brain. Block signals? Precision. Effort. Force barrier? Simple. Raised.
A cloud of dust rose from the ground as Minden placed the focus of her psychic power there, a wall that the tealblood was not to pass. His was not the role to attack.
Pulled away by Verlis, Juorem finally gave up trying to watch and just willed his dream projection to vanish. He'd had enough of dealing with this. Everything hurt, his pride most of all.
Having finally outlasted the flames, Orseth turned to race back to Minden, wreathing himself in electricity to attempt to confuse the senses of her psychic powers. But she'd erected a barrier. He wasn't getting in this time.
"You're going to hurt yourself!" He yelled to her, knowing it was pointless. But she was using too much mental power this time, this could have effects on her real self. That would be bad. Anything but regression.
"Wench! Who are you to command a /king/?!" A tremendous willpower that had managed to resist the ego of a tyrant fought against her psychic power, enough to allow him to move his hand and thrash his flaming pillar of a blade against the psychic barrier. "A mere magician, nothing bereft of her tricks! You know no honour, restrain me at the risk of your doom!"
"The Emperor?" She held a card in her hand, comparing it to the tealblood whose blade was close to reaching her. "This is not your card. Draw."
Seven cards. Her mind was beginning to collapse under the burden of her psychic powers, her body fuelling it to allow her to last just a little longer. But this dream form she would not be able to maintain after this. This draw would be the last.
"The High Priestess. Strength. Second Wand. Queen's Coin. Ninth Sword. Seventh Wand. Seventh Sword."
She raised a hand, and her every movement caused fires to spring up. Arrows of flame shot from her body and with each step more came about. Yet of the unleashed arrows, while some curved around to shoot to Escudo, others came back upon her. And those did not harm. The colour of her flesh was improving. Her expression cleared. She almost smiled. Almost.
"Were I to restore you the same way, Knight," she quietly spoke to Escudo, who was weathering the storm of fire arrows.
"Pardon, my words weren't chivalrous." Escudo gained control of himself and changed costumes again, a blue suit along with a feather sword and a stack of papers now his equipment. "Take That!" He tossed papers into the air, blocking the fire arrows and being updated with information about them. "Hold It!" Time stood still for Escudo, his mind accelerated as he plotted out his next move. "Objection!" His feather sword parried the rest of the arrows, pointing at Minden as he finished.
Changing into the white armor, he removed the crown and replaced it with the helmet. "Ask for providence, that your next blow shall be your strongest." He brought out his red rifle and black shield, eyes glowing teal and lighting up his helmet from behind the white scope. "I will clash against your strength with my own."
She nodded, and brought forth the cards. "I have gained understanding. My reward is as follows. Draw."
One by one, they spun around to reveal themselves. "First Sword. Sixth Wand. The Devil. Second Wand. King's Chalice. Tenth Wand. The World."
"Red War." Escudo pressed the trigger of his rifle with a click, a blood red blade extending far into the sky and casting a shadow over the area. He wouldn't give her anything less than his full effort. "Death approaches."
"These guys are terrible, aren't they?" Verlis walked towards Orseth and talked to him as Red War blotted out the sun. "You're on their level, if I recall correctly."
Orseth shook his head, but paused after that moment. "When she uses her psychic abilities all bets are off. I don't think she can be beaten when she goes that far." He raised a hand, a tiny storm of electricity dancing in it. "But maybe I could've been more serious. Those cards are unpredictable and impossible to prepare for. But no, there hasn't been anything I couldn't fight in that deck." He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Verlis. "Though I think you're up there too, maybe there's just more to yourself you've yet to discover."
"Escudo is our resident god of battle, he's just incapable of taking things any less than completely serious." Verlis laughed at the clash, not afraid of the fight they were having. "First time he got that crown, he turned into a moving Denizen that we had to team up against just to knock the dumb thing off his head! Forced a bunch of us to God Tier before dying out, was a huge pain in the butt."
"Ha." Orseth chuckled, thinking of the god tierings he'd had to deal with as well. "Yeah."
Minden raised her hands, willing the seven shining cards, glowing brighter than any draw before, to bring about their power. A meteor of huge size was slowly descending from the air above the two, loose flames and dust from around the area being drawn up into it. The dust suddenly clumped together, forming a pillar of dirt material that seemed to catch the meteor, holding it in some sort of massive volcanic decoration. A swarm of flaming arrows, travelling in one stream and flying as if birds, began to pour from the caught meteor, spiralling down around the column before shooting off towards Escudo.
"A light drizzle." Holding Red War with both hands and making no attempts to defend, the arrows hit him and caused damage as they bounced and deflected off the armour. Teal blood spilt through the gaps, but he didn't care how much he was hurt as long as he could put everything into this next attack. Despite several holes and fire covering him, Escudo stood upright when he should have died.
The meteor and pillar shuddered as the last of the fire arrows were exhausted. Slowly it began to crumble apart, and a burst of molten dust emerged, trailing lazily down to touch one of the last pools of water. A jet of steam emerged, hissing violently. Minden raised her own psychic shielding and placed her deck away. She was spent. But this one, this one was here at last.
The arrow shower had just been excess power being vented, the creation of this one requiring significant turbulent power. A core of magic forged in a volcanic meteor. Flame drained away. Heat mixed with water.
It rose, a form of white gas and a glowing core of power. A King of Water and Flame. A King of Steam. It rushed forward to Escudo, clouds of scalding water billowing out behind it as one great wave, ready to crash down upon the warrior Knight.
As he did with the arrows, he made no effort to defend against the onslaught. The magical and physical protection of his armour defended him from the majority, but the attack scalded his skin and threatened to buckle his knees. This was not a battle of honour, but a mere test for a single girl. Truly there has never been a more painful display of chivalry. Agony drowned out by willpower, he endured solely through the power of White Conquest.
The Steam King was raising pillars of burning liquid about Escudo, more material for it command and wield. However long it would last under the effect of this draw, it would fight with full power from beginning until end. A great orb of superheated liquid formed in its hands, and it popped it directly over the head of the defending troll.
"Behold the blade that defeated the Black King." His eyes glowed teal as Red War split the heavens and earth, the enormous blade rending the world in half and taking a path through the Steam King as it engulfed Escudo in a wave of water far past boiling. The ground shook as Red War impacted the ground, the entire battlefield threatening to split. Though the King was a construct and wouldn't die even if it was killed... "I bring death to the deathless." As the blade tore through it, it fizzled into a puddle instead of reforming itself. Killed by the power of the Knight of Doom, the final end to any who meet his blade.
With his mental power exhausted and his body ravaged beyond what could be considered a corpse, Escudo finally kneeled as he retracted the Red War. "My role here is over, I hope that I have aided you well." He disappeared into the light as he said this, having once again gotten the chance to show his power.
Her power was drained now, she could tell she would not be able to manifest another card. A little psychic power left to perform a simple joint. She stretched out a finger and thumb to point at Orseth; a mock pistol made with her hand. Bang. He woke up. Verlis. Bang.
And to her own head. This had been an experience. She knew more now. Hopefully it would all be worth it. Only one way to find out. Bang.
