Titanomachy (IC)

[RacingeR]

Team Baka
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Field of Ruins (Rest Spot)
Time: Day 5 – Noon

Jin’s motions stopped when hearing Sarah’s comment. It was clear that he’d been interested in her words, or at the very least, the word ‘hunt’ had carried a certain weight for him. However, after nodding at her, he lent an ear to Jordan’s words as he kept working on the blue-colored mixture.

“This is medicine, yes. I’m using a mixture of herbs from this world with very strong healing properties. The orange one is meant for that lady’s arm. The blue one, for that young friend of yours.” He gestured with his head towards Adam. “If it was to heal something of spiritual or magical nature, those herbs of yours would be useful, but they serve no purpose for the ailments of the body. Keep them.”

Having said that, he put aside the pot, and repeated the process for a third time. This time, the potion he was mixing acquired a very unpleasant vomit green hue, slightly luminescent, causing both Esther and Evangeline to give it rather unsettled stares. However, his motion paused when he heard a certain comment from Jordan.

“I am not a samurai.” He said brusquely, with a very dry tone. Seemed like you had managed to annoy him. “I come from…” There was a small pause. “Korea. Although I was a swordsman before being thrown here, that much is true.”

Jin returned his attention to the potion, releasing a slight sigh as he did so, apparently calming down rather quickly. “You misunderstand something. The way this world interacts with the other worlds is not… what were the words she used… ah yes, it’s not lineal. For example, although I have been five-hundred years in the Warped World, I come from…”

The swordsman’s forehead creased slightly, as if trying to remember something and finding the task very hard. “It would be from around… two hundred from three hundred years from your time?”

“There were Survivors older than me who came from your time, or… even your future, although you’ll never meet any Survivor older than Quinn or me, unless you have the bad luck of running into a Spirit.” He shook his head. “Either way, there’s even a woman from what you call, ah… the Stone Age running around.”

He made a very annoyed pause.

“She has the Lightning Muramasa, and I have no way of getting her to give it to me.” He grunted, sounding very much like an old man annoyed at a stubborn child.

“Anyway.” He looked straight at you. “I have no questions for you regarding your world. I have already heard a lot about… the modern times.” He said with some distaste.

“However, there’s one question I’d like an answer to.” The swordsman pointed a finger towards Infis. “What’s her story?”

“Huh?” The ghost seemed surprise that someone addressed her, but then immediately changed to annoyed. “And why would I have to tell you?”

Jin merely fixed a level stare on you, waiting for an answer.

[Mormarth]

Alexandra Gray
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Broken Earth (Ruinous Jungle)
Time: Day 4 – Night

My mind slowed as I took in the variables.

Problem: Pursuit by physically superior adversary, dangerous unknowns harrying passage, though take no sides. Some members slowing, one member deceased. Injured, panicked, running blind.

Organization shattering, need to maintain control, form plan.

Proposals?

Drop cargo?

Negative, cargo prime objective, non-start, moving load will destabilize other member, must remain on-hand.

Cut branches to deter passage?

Unlikely, pursuers too physically strong to be deterred without unacceptable loss of time.

Run interference, distraction?

Endangers cargo, may damage morale.

...

May not survive.

Need plan.

Grenades?

Possible, noise may attract further problem.

Replace problem with other problem?

Possible.

Combination with previous stratagem for maximum effectiveness.

Cut branches to reduce visibility, harass pursuit, taunt.

Then explosive countermeasure to deter passage and attract dangerous unknowns while slowing opposition.

Ergo, make them easier to catch than us, already being preyed on by unknown ambush predator.

Conclusion?

'Don't use them unless you really need to, we don't know what the noise will wake up.'

...

...

Acceptable.

Without change, this pursuit will end in death.

"Hang on," I grunted to my current passenger, focusing power to the edges of wings that had been there as if I had been born with them.

"I'm about to do something ill-advised!"

I took a small breath, then tilted, the edges of my new appendages gleaming like acid-soaked knives.

Ch-ch-ch-chun-cha-chunka-thunk.

It was like a machete, it passed through the bark with little fanfare, stick and branches and bits of strange wood came cascading down behind me like rain, I kicked at the thicker ones so as to angle them into their bodies, glancing behind me for brief, fleeting moments, for reference.

That's right, yeah, look at me, big and annoying, aren't I?

I spun around, flipping my wings around me in a taunting fashion.

Then, as I flared my feathers to focus attention on them, with one hand securing the girl, I reached into my pocket which held one of those mysterious grenades.

A simple enough sleigh of hand.

As I spun, I palmed it, primed it and then batted it backwards with my turning wings.

Suck on that.

[RacingeR]

Crooklyn
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN - Field of Ruins (Skeletal Skyscrapers)
Time: Day 4 – Afternoon
Angel vs Man vs Devil vs Deva
Turn 4

Cyrus:

“So you know your own standing in this, your own ignorance, and yet you still speak it.” The one who replies first is not the Devil, Ispira, but instead the red-haired Angel, Yasariah. Her voice is cold and beautiful, but also charged with authority and power.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cheeky.” Ispira’s tone was amused. “I like it. I mean, I’m still going to kill you, but hey, gotta admire the cheek.” She paused for a moment, eyes meeting yours openly, not showing the least fear. She’d been definitely wary of the necklace that Red had given you as a spoil of victory, but she hadn’t been wary of you, yourself. “I agree with you, human kid. There won’t be any sort of peaceful agreement here.”

Suddenly, tension rose in the air. It seemed that somehow, rather than defuse the situation right now, your words had only contributed to paint a target on yourself. Or rather, it was quite understandable, after all, given how your crew had interrupted their routine scramble and had bloodied quite a few of their ranks, and even killed some of them. Human gangs would’ve riddled you with bullets for less, much less a group of superpowered winged assholes.

And you had just reminded them of what you had done. Furthermore, even without taking into account the more ‘human’ reasons you were able to read, there was a more alien undercurrent to this, that you were yet unable to understand. It seemed that something you had done, or perhaps something your group as a whole had done, had constituted some sort of more personal challenge than just a plain gang war.

Craps, who somehow had freed itself from its engagement, warily made its way towards you, its orange mass sitting between you and the duo. You slowly felt a thrill you had only sensed in the most heated matches of poker against the strongest opponents you had faced, or when standing being Johnny in the most dangerous fights the gangs had undertaken, trying to guess the schemes of the enemy before they guessed yours.

The hands at the bottom of hell stirred. You were in your element. After all, this was a gamble.

Could you reach out to the necklace or unleash your Spiritual Power to bind them before they shot at you? The answer was, most probably, no. And then it’d be up in the air if you’d survive enough time to do something to them. Even with Craps, chances were you’d die the moment they engaged you. That much was quite clear. To you, that is.

Not to them. For them, your capacities remained unknown. You were a completely unknown factor, after all, and they had little to no way to judge them. What they knew was that you had somehow dominated a slime, and had somehow obtained the recognition of this world’s most dangerous being. They had nothing else to go on but your poker face, that could easily be qualified as Earth’s Strongest Poker Face. If not the strongest in the Warped World.

Tension mounted as a few minutes passed, three adversaries eyeing each other in a Mexican standoff of a gamble.

Then, Ispira smiled, brightly, raised her hand, and-

“Hey, Tenya! Come over here!” She shouted at the air.

The Angel spun her head to look at her, eyes narrowed, a gun pointing at the Devil, who regarded it as if it was air. Moments later, the scythe-wielding Devil that had been fighting one of the Angel knights disengaged, and flew away, landing behind Ispira shortly afterwards.

Both Devil girls whispered at each other momentarily, and then Tenya took a step back, raised her head, and loudly shouted something in an unknown language. Shortly afterwards, the Devil troops engaged in combat nearby started to back off, including the soldier that had been harrying Joaquin.

“Sure! We’ve got a deal!” Ispira replied to you, catching you completely out of guard with her words and actions. And evidently, the Angle was much more surprised than you had been.

“What are you scheming?!” Yasariah asked, both guns pointing at the Devil. Her wariness had evolved completely into alert. Ispira’s decision to take your deal meant that she had figured out something, or that there was something else going on, or- it could mean quite a lot of things. None of them good. Those were the thoughts you saw surfacing on the redhead’s face.

Ispira merely smirked at her. For your part, you were getting the always ominous feeling that she had appropriated your gamble, somehow.

Yasariah gritted her teeth, then barked an order in yet another unknown language. Angel forces nearby also disengaged, retreating into a more uniform and ordered formation compared to the strange horde that the Devils were. Now, the only ones that remained in conflict were those near were the two Devas were fighting, and the forces engaged elsewhere in this particular pocket of the Field of Ruins.

And of course, the two figures of the Archangel and Archdevil high above, going at each other’s throats like there was no tomorrow.

“Hey, Tenya, this is Cyrus. We made a deal. Say hi to him!” The Devil continued as if nothing had happened. “This one here’s Reaper Tenya. She’s kind of shy.” She clarified to you.

As if to confirm her words, the white-haired, red-eyed Reaper was hiding behind Ispira, shooting a wary look at you. “… Hi.”

Johnny:

You didn’t quite get an immediate answer. The Deva were too busy just slaughtering the devils wholesale, and some angels that got in the way too. Finally, after some moments of bloodshed and death, the Skullhunter horde started to retreat, as did the complement of warriors that had been supporting them, evidently having had enough of getting massacred for a while.

The taller of the girls spat in the ground, then let out a guffawing, satisfied laughter, before turning around and walking towards you. The other kept on harrying the retreating devils, slaying some angels in her way. Finally, she stopped, made a strange gesture, and along with a pulse of spiritual power, unleashed a flak-like blast of daggers upwards, towards the angel troop flying above.

Four of them died instantly. The others, the majority archers who had been taking aim at her, were wounded or sent into disarray by the attack. One dagger nearly clipped Hakamiah’s wing, who looked at Pheia with trepidation, and retreated along with her archers.

Behind you, the angels that had been bothering the vampire had dispersed, and now she was free to duel the angel knight however she wanted. Which meant she was dominating him like you dominated your usual bar fight. You saw a spray of blood go up when Amelie’s claws hit the angel’s throat, and you knew she was almost done.

But then you lost interest in anything but the Deva approaching you, step by step.

Her raw presence hit you like a hammer. There had been nothing like this in your world, probably never would be, not even in the most primitive of settings. This was, after all, not the presence of a human. This was raw, primal, utterly savage, the perfect combination of the predatory instinct of a beast with rational intellect, all seasoned with a bloodlust that shook even you.

Yeah. This, right here, was what a true battle maniac had to feel like. And the sheer aura of power she was releasing unconsciously, without even noticing, spoke volumes of what she was. Not human, but something that had stepped beyond.

A Deva.

“Yo, kiddo!” She grinned at you as she stopped two or three meters away, sheathing her sword behind her back. With her dull red hair, feral yellow eyes, and her height that easily towered above you, approaching the two meters and half mark, she had the physical presence to call all the attention to herself even discounting the sheer aura of power that surrounded her. That she was wearing almost nothing, and that now that she was covered in blood, she left little to the imagination, probably helped there.

You had the impression she didn’t care. This wasn’t human anywhere you could slice it. She probably gave the same attention to human constraints that you gave to a pebble in the road.

“Gotta say, for all yet talk, you’re kinda scrawny.” She commented, sizing you up. You hadn’t been called scrawny, ever, mostly by the fact that even as a teen you towered over everyone else in the streets. And out of the streets.

Then, she let out a guffaw, laughing quite loudly. “Yeah, I like it! That’s how a true man should be, boy! Gutsy! Strong! Nothing like the scheming cowards of my generation!” She grinned. “Heh, throwing a fuckin’ explosive in middle of these idiots, gotta admit, I wouldn’t have come up with that one either. Good way to screw with them.”

“Yep, you may be weak now, but you’ve got the right attitude. Moving upwards, and forwards, getting stronger day by day, that’s how it ought to be! Fighting you when you’re stronger… yeah, I can’t wait for that but I gotta. Not joinin’ up right now, nope. That’d be boring. But ring me call when you’ve gotten some muscle into you! I’d gladly punch the fuck out of you then!” She extended one of her hands towards your glowing one without any fear, a wild glint in her eyes, in a classical handshake gesture. Trading grips.

A challenge, apparently.

“Name’s Blott. Mid-rank Asura Deva, Blott The Destroyer! Trade me yer name, kiddo?”

Rosary:

Having used your power and saved Joaquin’s ass, allowing the spell targeted at him to pass through harmlessly, you did what you did best, and escaped.

However, acting more through predatorial instinct, and guided by your shout, the angel between Jayden and you turned around and pursued you as you ran away. You barely noticed an explosion in the distance and the dying screech of the Devil Witch. You were busy escaping away from your pursuer.

Physically, it may have been superior to you, but when it came to the simple fact of running away, the angel couldn’t keep you, wings and all. A blast of light hit near you, missing by a hair, and then you were home free.

Or you were supposed to.

It was instinctive, more than anything else. As an Enhanced Human, your senses, both natural and supernatural, had been increased. That was why you sensed something in front of you.

Something that was dangerous beyond dangerous. The most dangerous thing you had ever felt, only second to UNKNOWN herself when she had battled you in a place that now seemed far away.

Stopping in mid-run-float-ghostlywhatever, you immediately scrambled backwards, falling and nearly sending your immaterial self through the floor. Blind instinctive panic warning you that the world’s biggest predator was just in front of you.

You ignored the angel. In the immediate scheme of thing, it didn’t matter at all. Instead, you raised your eyes and looked at the figure that was suddenly there, as if it had been standing in your escape route all along.

It was a man, of normal, medium height. Black hair, pale skin, wearing a drab dark-gray coat that covered his body whole. And he was very obviously not human, at all. No, for what you could feel, this was the same kind of being as the two that had fought off the horde of devils that had beset Johnny.


A Deva. Except an order of magnitude or two stronger.

But you didn’t need your supernatural senses to tell you that this living geyser of spiritual energy wasn’t human. You merely had to look at his eyes. Eyes that were two twin pools of pure scarlet, featureless except from a single yellow dot in the center of each one, looking straight at you.

And your every instinct screamed danger, going completely insane, to the point that your mind was just briefly beset with confusion, unable to act. This was simply beyond anything you had felt before. It was as if you had spent your whole life running away from rabid mice and had suddenly ran into a tyrannosaurus rex.

The Deva coolly regarded you for a moment. Then, those yellow dots went up, and stared at the angel, which had frozen in the air, mouth widened in a rictus of horror and recognition.

He had three hilts peeking from each of his sides, a total of six swords hanging from his back. However, he didn’t reach towards them, nor did he need to. An obsidian dagger slid from coat’s sleeve down to his right hand, he grasped it, and before anyone could react, swung it in the angel’s general direction.

Your eyes simply couldn’t track what happened next. One moment the angel had been gliding in the air, the next, it was completely gone, and a shower of gore and innards splashed over Jayden, who had been chasing from behind.

The girl just blinked, staring wide-eyed at the stranger for a few brief moments, a piece of intestine hanging from her glasses. Then, she looked at herself, now covered in blood and pieces of angel, white feathers stuck to her figure, and blinked again.

Then her eyes rolled backwards and she just fainted on the spot.

Typical. At least you’d have ran to safety first and then fainted.

Your most immediate threat was now gone.

But you were left alone with this predator in a humanoid shape, whose scarlet eyes were now staring at you again. He nodded to himself, then spoke.

“Not bad.” He said, now looking almost appreciatively at the blasted wasteland around you, and the chaos you had unleashed, turning an already chaotic battle into an exercise on insanity. For something so utterly beyond humankind, his voice sounded normal, commonplace, just… dully impressed.

Wise up!

Name: ???
Race: Deva (???)
Rank: ???
Attributes: Chaotic, Deva

Perks:

Primal Apex
Currently making Rosary go apeshit with fear. How the hell did he sneak around when he’s so… noticeable?
Further details unknown.

[Vritra]

Michael Adhikari
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Broken Earth (Ruinous Jungle)
Time: Day 4 – Night

My leg’s pumped, left, right, left, right, as I settled into a marathon pace. Different situation same motions. Breath in, breath out, maintain the rhythm, maintain focus, maintain awareness and do what I can to keep everyone alive. Every death was a failure that couldn’t be fixed, every death worsened the groups odds of survival.

Alexandra, Gwen, Zhenya, Sherry, me, capabilities, sub optimal but acceptable (?) Hiyori… Clicking my tongue I accept the increased my risk and slow slightly until I’m side by side with her. “If you need help let me know otherwise just focus on keep moving and maintained regular breathing I’ll look after the rest.” Giving her a quick pat on the back to reassure I turn my attention to the next problem, Big Red. No good way to deal direct damage, ways to obstruct? Siphon his agility, creation of obstacles? Hmmm, flipping through option after option I realize none of them are partially great but not doing anything was worse.

Guess I’ll try obstructions first.

Adjusting the position of my hungry shadow so that it hugs Big Red’s body I wait for the best opportunity. One step, two step, thre- NOW! Glimpsing Big Red readying itself to smash through a partially big tree and Alexandra's counter attack I direct my hungry shadow to plunge its hand into the ground where Big Red’s foot is about to land and activate my power. Like miscounting the number of stairs as one descends it is a universal reflex. Instability of form, loss of footing, panic as the brain tries to assess the situation, a simple but effective pot hole trap. Here’s to hoping something deals with him as we gain distance.

Tossing away the stolen dirt I shift my focus back to our multitude of other problems.

[Snax]

Sarah Vale
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Field of Ruins (Rest Spot)
Time: Day 5 – Noon


"Well, we kind of ran into her back at the school. We don't really know that much about her, but she's friendly, and that's what matters."

Sarah shrugged, not really caring much about Infis's past. After all, if Infis didn't want to share details, it would be a waste of time trying to dig it out of her.

However...

"But then again, who knows - what you know may help us in the future, after all.
So if you can remember anything fun or interesting, it might be a good time for a story, no?
I mean, it's better than waiting for that little broth to boil without having anything better to do."

Turning and facing Infis, Sarah grinned, egging her on.

"And if you do manage to tell a good story, I might as well give you a present later in return.
Eh, what do you say?"

[Spinach]

Cyrus Ferdinand
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN - Field of Ruins (Skeletal Skyscrapers)
Time: Day 4 – Afternoon

The routine squabble. Everyone knew it, everyone lived by it. It didn’t matter who it was or where they were, if you ran into the other guys you had to throw down. That was life, that was what was good. A criminal freedom where violence wasn’t just a way of life, it was an obligation.

Already the small fry had begun to return to their packs. Leaving the corpses in the dust, ground painted an ugly reddish brown. A coppery scent wafting over the air of the world ruled by true freedom. The freedom to live as you please, and die as another might please.

“A shy Reaper?”

Cyrus looked the new arrival over.

Definitely his type.

“I was already thinking I found the needle in the haystack when I ran into someone actually willing to negotiate in this place, now I think I found two.”

Cyrus took a glance upward. The big shots were still going at it, likely having more fun than they’d admit. He knew the type. His best friend was one, after all. Which meant that even if things were done down here, they wouldn’t be done up there until something else happened.

“So,” Cyrus adjusted the rim of his cap, “seems we’re waiting for the bosses to finish.”

He took a moment to check out his crew, not spotting any familiar corpses in the dirt, and seeing a handful of the new gang finally getting a chance to breathe.

“Shall we chat?”

[Frantic Author]

Johnny Justice
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN - Field of Ruins (Skeletal Skyscrapers)
Time: Day 4 – Afternoon

Johnny took her hand with a shark smile on his face, all teeth and fiery eyes. A gauntlet-covered fist moved forward, and he clenched his fist, the power in his bizarre arm pouring out.

"The name's Johnny Justice. You can call me your highness if you like, 'cause one day I'm gonna rule this entire goddamn world!"

The warped world was a twisted place, that most would look at and feel nothing but despair. But the streets were like that too; empty of anything but blood and guts to crawl your way upward. If you wanted something, take it. If you couldn't take it, then you didn't earn it. Loyalty was like that as well, to expect it for nothing was absurd.

"How do ya go about gettin' one of those fancy titles? Think I'd like to pick up a few myself. Nothing as fancy as the destroyer, and I'm certainly no diva, though - I'm thinking something with a little bit of class, yanno? Right Hand of God, maybe? Nah, I'm not at that level yet. But don't you worry, once I claw my way to the top, I'll be more then happy to pound you into the dirt!"

Fighting was where Johnny had left his mark on Brooklyn. A gang that ran the streets so thoroughly that he'd had to be taken from them. Ace. Alice. Lee. Vinnie, Knifehand Joe, the Twisted Sisters, Red and Blue - Johnny was used to walking the streets like he owned them, because he had.

"But right now it's all posturin' to you, right? You've got more power in one arm then I've got in my entire body. So, how's about somethin' a little different - a little I scratch your back, you scratch mine? It's more of Cy's thing then mine, but a little wager's worth anything in the world! I sure as hell can't take you right now, but let's see that difference!"

His eyes burned and his grin grew wider as he held up his other hand, a single finger extending.

"One hit. Each. I wanna see where I stand, cause right now I'm feelin' like a big fish in a really small pond! Ya might have to hold back a bit, but that's just the fun of it, right? I nearly managed to draw one of those higher-ups already and it's only been four days! So what do you think Blott? Wanna square up for a freebie? One time only offer!"

He paused for a moment.

"Oh, and not the face. I might have a date lined up with Fussyfangs over there, and I don't think she'd enjoy it if my oh-so-wonderful complexion got a bit too fucked up by your fist gouging out my eye."

[Katie]

Rosary Flowers
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN - Field of Ruins (Skeletal Skyscrapers)
Time: Day 4 – Afternoon

Deer in the headlights. That’s me, frozen in place, unable to move. What am I supposed to do, run? Fainting on the spot like her might actually be a good decision. When you can’t run, you hide, but…

There’s no hiding here.

I can’t bring myself to look him in the eye, so it’s back to old habits, shrinking without really shrinking, offering no resistance.

“T-thanks,” I barely muster out, but we all know who is predator and who is prey here. And unlike the other two, I can’t bluff.