Hmm... Soul damage. Right. The merge might possibly fix non-lethal soul damage but that's a hard maybe. And the best soul wizard is the Laughing Magician and you don't want to deal with him if you care about one or more of the people present dying horrible deaths.
(Fingers crossed if we get to page 64 in our comments. I doubt it, but in the unlikely event that we do I'll show my appreciation by going on a writing rush and not having an inter-season hiatus while I write ahead.)
As much as I would love to see more updates come out sooner, please don't do this. I'd just hate for you to get into a situation where you feel obligated and pressured to write, only to get burned out when you get done. For all that it's an overused saying, slow and steady really does usually win the race.
16 is also an arc number in Young Justice. Among other things, their dimension is called Earth-16, but there's a lot more references to it scattered around too.
Huh. I had no idea it was also a YJ thing. Glancing over a few recent updates, it is popping up everywhere now that I know to look for it. Well done. That's neat that it was part of the inspiration to start with.
As much as I would love to see more updates come out sooner, please don't do this. I'd just hate for you to get into a situation where you feel obligated and pressured to write, only to get burned out when you get done. For all that it's an overused saying, slow and steady really does usually win the race.
Seconded, especially since it was only a couple weeks ago that you were talking about how much stress you are under with two jobs and other life obligations.
How long of a hiatus were you planning for? If you did want to avoid one and jump right in with more updates, it might be easier on you to do a few weeks of omake. Those should be less demanding since you don't have to worry as much about continuity with the primary storyline, and they can be as long or short as your schedule allows.
From the torrent, or the fountain—
From the red cliff of the mountain— From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold—
* November 5 FATE {That Which Should Be}
When the Witch Boy {Wicked} had held his spell for one minute short of an hour and a half, his enemies appeared.
On Roanoke Island at 21:16, the Lord of Order launched his opening attack.
Hung high in the sky, an Ankh 50-feet tall manifested, and a blast of force fell down upon the Chaos Lord's head.
"Is that all uvula got?" the Witch Boy {Wicked} mocked from behind the red shimmer of his protective dome. "Wimpy weak."
"Wicked," FATE snarled, manifesting more Ankhs as cover while the Team spread out. Smugly, Klarion snapped his fingers once.
An agonized voice keened from the edge of the clearing, and pink lightning shot- pink lightning was pulled out of the figure pinned against an old tree, nailed there almost crucifixion-style by her wrists.
The energy writhed, and coiled jaggedly into places where things waited in the air.
The things unfolded, a mishmash of flat and three-dimensional origami, all stark lines, sharp points, and cartoonish colors.
"Well looky what I made," Klarion called. "Aren't they pretty? So much better than a cold-toed kid sidekick."
"The edges are almost two dimensional, and appropriately sharp. Expect them to avoid by folding-," Ferris provided an appropriate explanation for Fate's words to carry Nabu's knowledge to the Team. "-similar to the Paper Mario game, and hide likewise. They can cut you, Superboy."
"Right," he grunted. Artemis shot an arrow. Her target turned sideways such that it disappeared, only for the explosion to catch it instead.
"At least they're fragile," she commented, stringing another shot. Pink lightning crackled between the shattered piles of fractured shapes. Each of the pieces grew little legs and began to scurry across the ground, back together. "Dammit!" She fired again.
Miss Martian rose into the air and put up their telepathic link. Superboy dropped to his knees, scooped up two handfuls of earth, and began hurling the little rocks like bullets. Kid Flash ran off to circle around and uncover any other surprises.
Zatanna and Aqualad both shifted slightly as FATE provided a telepathic message about tactics they might attempt.
While violence broke out among the small fry, the opposing Lords of Order and Chaos remained apart, and inactive. For the moment.
"I see you've got a new host, Nabu. Pity, I liked that girl," Klarion cackled.
"And I will like ending you, Klarion," was the reply. A thrust of FATE's left hand sent a spray of ankhs flying stem-first, followed by a slightly larger one dispatched by the right. Klarion snorted and fluttered his fingers.
"Oh peas." Except for the last one, those ankhs not extinguished by a crackling red cloud instead bounced off the shield and shattered. The last one struck and stuck in the dome, glued still and rigid. "Hmm?" Klarion peered at it. The right hand of FATE twisted.
The ankh turned slowly, like a key in a lock. "There," FATE declared, and fired a new burst of power as the torque tore open a hole.
"Ah figsticks!" Klarion complained, and ducked. The gold lightning passed above his head, and the fight was suddenly kicked up a notch as he sprang back to counter with beams of angry fire. FATE conjured a conical shield and sent it spinning point first at the enemy.
It shed the fire off its angles as it flew, only for Klarion to snatch it from the air, snap his wrist, and snarl it into a knot of cloth that he lit on fire and threw back. FATE flew upward rather than defend, offering angled beams of Orderly gold in exchange. Klarion raised a new defensive dome.
The Team is out of our immediate range, Renka observed, and led the attack. FATE's right hand conjured and threw ankhs like spears while the left fired off faster, burping bullet bursts of golden light. Cracks in Klarion's red shield leaked green fire, and he fired back.
"Ooooh! Someone's getting angry," the Chaos Lord crowed, and conjured six flaming serpents to strike. "Has Fatty-Fatey finally lost his temper-wemper?" The snakes slid around the circular shield FATE conjured, only for it to expand in a sharp ripple and sever their necks.
"Never has Order's error permitted such an atrocity as this," FATE responded, both components aligned in anger. "There will be a reckoning Witch Boy, {Wicked} and the world shall witness your end!" Spell-craft struck like thunder, but Klarion's shield bent like rubber.
"Nuh-uh-uhh! Naughty, naughty," the enemy taunted, waving one finger. Flame wafted out of that finger in a ropelike wave.
Raw power is unproductive, Renka observed internally. Perhaps with my ability added, we can do something more intricate?
FATE retaliated with a shimmering golden rope from one finger, while the other was raised as though to sketch.
Steel-mind speed flowed into FATE, and the golden arm began to move.
Runic magic was one of the most Orderly disciplines, though diverse enough to be turned even to Chaotic causes; it was a skill cornerstone and a basic style FATE had long taught to all acolytes, ever since Nabu's own earliest days studying sorcery.
Often, it was slow, and easy to disrupt. Often. Not always.
Rather than construct the whole spell internally, the increase in speed allowed FATE to sketch a complex pattern of 16 runes faster than Klarion could counter. The Witch Boy {Wicked} went from watching the coils' magical interplay to staring down a full runic array.
Gold fire poured out like through floodgates. FATE idly annihilated two cartoon constructs jumping to attack FATE's exposed back.
"KR'hakspeLLingr'a!" Klarion snarled, and the flame-forged head of a lion opened its jaws in an attempt to drink down the gold tide.
Gold fire flowed in, and filled up the body behind it like water into a bottle or balloon. FATE conjured more ankhs but sketched only one rune.
The stream of energy seethed, sharpened into a thousand hooks, and then the flow suddenly reversed, dragging the half-filled lion back with it, tearing at its connection to the second shield until it uprooted and drained that as well, in time for FATE's ankh volley to arrive.
"Bully! Mean-ling! Two-bit snook!" Klarion caterwauled. He only barely deflected an ankh from ending Teekl then and there, after which his body collapsed in a shower of soot and sparks; Miss Martian had hammered his unprotected head and back with three boulders.
Klarion is contrary, yes? Renka commented to Nabu before a thought occurred. If they and we are on this side of the divide-
The familiar yowled and ran, scampering frantically into the fray. It took three more cartoons' sacrifices to protect it long enough for its master to reform, at which point Klarion found twin ankhs literally nailing his feet to the ground inside the circle.
Killing the familiar must wait, it is agreed. Nabu responded as such, and they reoriented to prioritize ending the ritual. Even if Klarion was defeated on one end, with the ritual already running, his assistants could keep it in place for some span of time, and the Witch Boy {Wicked} would only return with his powers when it ended. That would benefit no good end.
Klarion blew a billowing cloud of crimson fire at FATE, who generated an updraft that dispersed it into the sky.
In return, a spray of golden rays strafed the area, only to rebound off a new shield.
FATE sent a mental messageout to the Team, measuring angles. Artemis immediately sprung away from her opponent to fire two arrows, with Kid Flash swooping in to sweep her away from the next attack. Miss Martian similarly tore off a tree branch and threw it into position.
The rays rebound off of Klarion's shield, and continued bouncing, much to his confusion. They angled out and around, the lines of light redirecting with each target they struck but doing no damage. Then three bounced off of Artemis's two arrows, and one off the branch.
"Wholly carp," Klarion spat as the sharp angles converged in a pattern. He thrust out his arms and extended the spell like a shockwave, shattering the cage before it could complete and activate. FATE had expected as much, and his next attack blasted Klarion's right arm to ash.
"Mreow!" Teekl howled, channeling more power to renew its master's body, but the effort only alerted everyone to where it was.
"No, no, no!" Klarion snarled, transforming two more arrows into cattail reeds and barely deflecting FATE's blast. "Stop that!"
His next flood of raw, wild energy was immediate, and an attack far more powerful than FATE could entirely block with ease.
Endure, Nabu advised as FATE {That Which Should Be} was conjuring a long shield. We shall attack in the time he recovers.
Wasteful, Renka assessed of the mental construct that was the in-progress shield. Rearrange it. Like so.
The original shape had been taller than it was wide, like a closed door with FATE placed behind it. Two mental touches from Ferris kept the overall amount, but cut it into three smaller squares, one in front of the other, in front of the third.
FATE physically tilted in the air as well, floating stomach-down rather than feet-down as though standing, in order to fit. All that took only a moment to occur.
The rampaging flood of chaos magic struck the stacked three shields, and shattered two of them. The trees behind FATE caught fire, but FATE rearranged the heat, freezing them instead, and sent it, mixed with Order magic, back at the Witch Boy {Wicked}.
His shield flared up again – which FATE {That Which Should Be} found really frustrating – and only the ground around him was slagged.
I thought chaos magic was supposed to be bad at shielding, Renka complained as FATE parried and redirected another shower of fireballs. The Witch Boy {Wicked} had finally found enough time to enhance Teekl, and the Team found themselves fighting another foe in the fray.
It is, Nabu answered as pure light and putrid flame fought a brief battle of push and pull. The eyes of FATE fell upon the dome in question, and the spell circle under it. The sigils are not merely intended to promote the separation, but there is a shield woven in as well.
Can we use that? Turn it against him, Renka suggested, and drain the divide of power by exhausting it through the shield?
An ankh formed in time to yank Miss Martian away from Teekl's tackle, and the familiar slammed skull-first into a thick tree trunk, which splintered.
Prohibitively expensive, Nabu dismissed. You would be dead before we had exhausted even half of its power reserves. As it is….
So stop being so expensive, Renka scolded as FATE analyzed the circle's sigils. Alloy your power with other sources and use indirect effects. I told you, we only have one life to spend on this: spend it well. FATE conjured a cloud of shimmering gold to eat the defense like acid.
Formula flickered through and across their ephemeral connection as FATE battle with blasts and beams and bolts. You are correct, Nabu admitted. I have been acting intemperately in your body, but FATE {That Which Should Be} has realized a new plan.
I have ideas included as well, Renka agreed. Have you noticed Klarion's fondness for fire? Flames spread, and are easy energy.
"Indeed," FATE {That Which Should Be} announced, flying in a circle to evade a spray of fire. It caught the trees instead, the smell of smoke filling the air along with burning crackles, and FATE threw out a sloppy spray of Ankhs, only half of which hit anywhere near Klarion.
"Hah! Looks like you're losing your touch, tooty-fruity-Nabooty," Klarion laughed. The Witch Boy {Wicked} exhaled across his open palm, producing another mass of flowing maroon flames, fronted by an orange-eyed dragon's head. FATE only flew to the side, assessing it.
"There," FATE intoned after another second, reading through the weaves of power as it flew. The burning, corrosive magic was not a mass of one single spell; there were adhesive elements to the many fireballs that made up the 'main body,' gluing them together to ensure they would cling like napalm on whatever they impacted. The dragon's head acted as aiming and propulsion.
It had already passed by after a second more, but FATE {That Which Should Be} spun like a matador as it did, slender lines of glowing gold piercing through the flames like needles and thread, weaving a net. FATE kept spinning, and pulled with physical and mystic might.
It was an act like filling a water balloon from the avoided spray of a fire hose, and throwing that back at the hose-holder.
It was finicky if not insane to attempt… but it cost FATE almost no energy to attempt, only effort.
Klarion had made his magic permeable to his own shield to let it pass through, which he now had no time to reverse.
The Witch Boy's eyes widened.
"Hey, help me out here!" he screeched in an echoing shriek. FATE was only peripherally aware, but on the other side of the divide, in the circle, four sorcerers staggered to their knees under the sudden drain of energy.
Wotan's acrid yellow interwove with the murky, polluted green of Blackbriar Thorn, born up by the smoky tendrils of Felix Faust and covered over with the warped translucence of Wizard. It was an epic shield, far beyond what was necessary, but because of that it held for only a moment.
Klarion extinguished his own clinging spell craft with a slash of his clawed fingers; the unstable shield collapsed with it.
[I have instructions,] FATE sent to the Team across the link. Images and ideas followed a moment later, and in return-
FATE dropped down to the ground, smashing an Ankh into the chaos elemental attacking a temporarily incapacitated Miss Martian, who had been dazed by the telepathic interactions. Aqualad abandoned the three elementals he had held off up to then, as requested.
Three arrow strikes forced them to reform, and Superboy spun around to his new target, ending his charge to help Miss Martian.
Teekl arched its back and yowled, pulling out a new surge of chaos magic to recharge its master. Immobile in doing so, the cat was a sitting duck for Superboy's fist, and Klarion was denied his second wind as the familiar flew thirty feet and struck a tree trunk spine first.
The Witch Boy {Wicked} was reduced to throwing explosive cantrips as the circle whined, needing time to reset before it could pull another flow of power from the sorcerers on the other side. FATE parried easily, until Klarion lost patience and snapped his fingers.
Pink lightning was pulled from the prone figure still nailed against the tree, arcing again at unnatural angles into odd patterns in the air.
It cut out unexpectedly in the middle of the conjuration, leaving only half as many new summons as it should've.
"Huh?" Klarion asked, wide-eyed. He snapped his fingers again exploratively. And again. "Hey, why isn't this working?" He turned around to find Kid Flash applying frantic first aid, after he'd pulled the ex-apprentice of the Witch Boy {Wicked} off of her post. "Hey, stop that!"
Klarion raised his hands, conjuring crackles of red lightning, even ignoring Teekl's howls as it battled the others on the Team.
Having been given more than enough prep time, FATE dropped four enormous ankhs like pillars at the four cardinal directions of the circles. Klarion staggered as the circle's symbols flared up again. A fifth ankh, aligned diagonally, fell stem-first on the center of the dome.
Slowly, ponderously, it began to turn, like a 14-foot key in its lock.
The circle almost screamed as its base concepts fell under attack, and Klarion screamed as well, shaking his fist in a frothing rage. He stomped one should-be-a-foot, his human form coming more undone as Teekl hacked admist Zatanna's cloud of conjured tear gas, and Aqualad cleared away every construct in whip-range of his appointed position.
Klarion shrieked a word that echoed like a stab wound in everyone's ears, save for FATE {That Which Should Be}. A set of sigils in the circle flared up like burning magnesium, brighter than the desert sun. Reality rippled, and for a moment the forms of the four adult sorcerers were visible.
The split snapped back into place again, shattering several of the ankhs as they were caught across the divide, and FATE staggered.
Christ, I don't know if I can take two more bursts of such action. I tried to go back to what I was doing before and it feels like I should be sprinting somewhere.
Bravo Obloquy.
You forget. Ferris's true name has changed since Klarion got that autograph. She only recently revealed her last name. Klarion's ace in the hole is imperfect.
Wow, I'd forgotten how good you are at writing fight scenes. This is shaping up to be one of your best, I don't think I could tell you what makes it work but it's on par with your Black Adam fight scene.
You forget. Ferris's true name has changed since Klarion got that autograph. She only recently revealed her last name. Klarion's ace in the hole is imperfect.
So... Is this going to end with Ferris using Hemalurgy on Klarion to save her own life and steal his power of chaos? The helmet of Fate might be able to provide a bit of material to make a golden (or close enough) spike.
So...
You mentioned that being a Silver made Renka able to cooperate with Fate. We know that Renka is academically one of the most knowledgeable magicians in the world. And as this update shows, she has a totally different way of approaching problems and strategy than Fate.
So I was wondering this even before this update, but does that make Renka the most powerful host Fate's had or is the fact her ability in Earth-16 magic purely theoretical holding her back?
So... Is this going to end with Ferris using Hemalurgy on Klarion to save her own life and steal his power of chaos? The helmet of Fate might be able to provide a bit of material to make a golden (or close enough) spike.
So stop being so expensive, Renka scolded as FATE analyzed the circle's sigils. Alloy your power with other sources and use indirect effects. I told you, we only have one life to spend on this: spend it well. FATE conjured a cloud of shimmering gold to eat the defense like acid.
I liked how you're having Renka actually apply some tactics to the fight, as well as her own experience in creatively using her powers. That being said, I am surprised that a being as old and experienced as Fate wouldn't know such basic tricks like minimizing his profile to waste less energy when shielding himself.
I'm also looking forward to how you're going to resolve Renka's spending all her life energy. As this is only the first season, she can't die yet.
Also please no killing Renka later, DC is supposed to be the happy ending comic universe.
Not necessary to destroy him. Even if a spike made from the helmet would be best suited (from the wiki gold seems to do with health in feruchemy, but I didn't understand how it worked in hemalurgy) to be used on Klarion, it's not the whole helmet that would need to be used - a shaving from it could probably suffice. Or, really, a spike could be made without harming the helmet. In any case, hemalurgy seems like it might be the answer here. Using a destructive power on a destructive being to save her life.
I liked how you're having Renka actually apply some tactics to the fight, as well as her own experience in creatively using her powers. That being said, I am surprised that a being as old and experienced as Fate wouldn't know such basic tricks like minimizing his profile to waste less energy when shielding himself.
He specifically stated that each spell he used cuts her time shorter. Theoretically then, using more power per spell then strictly needed makes it even worse.
So now he has to be way more frugal/efficient with his power than he's ever had to before since a compatible host wouldn't have that limiting factor.
Or to put it another way, Fate is normally a JRPG style caster with a pool of MP that can recharge whereas in Renka's body he is a D&D Style caster with a limited number of spell slots with the added effect of dying if all are used up before the end of the fight.
On another note, I loved the Speed Mind / Rune magic combo!
Not necessary to destroy him. Even if a spike made from the helmet would be best suited (from the wiki gold seems to do with health in feruchemy, but I didn't understand how it worked in hemalurgy) to be used on Klarion, it's not the whole helmet that would need to be used - a shaving from it could probably suffice.
The helmet is golden, not made of gold, generally.
In Fate, Stevens' buddy examined the metal and decided to call it "nabunium" because it's not made out of terrestrial elements.
Post flashpoint, it would seem to be one of the 9 derivatives of Element X, like Nth (or Ninth) metal or the 8th metal, the metal of the gods. Considering that DC has blurred the line between lord and deity, the helmet might very well be of the 8th metal like Wonder Woman's bracelets and plane (so apparently the invisible plane is a divine artifact now).
He specifically stated that each spell he used cuts her time shorter. Theoretically then, using more power per spell then strictly needed makes it even worse.
So now he has to be way more frugal/efficient with his power than he's ever had to before since a compatible host wouldn't have that limiting factor.
Or to put it another way, Fate is normally a JRPG style caster with a pool of MP that can recharge whereas in Renka's body he is a D&D Style caster with a limited number of spell slots with the added effect of dying if all are used up before the end of the fight.
On another note, I loved the Speed Mind / Rune magic combo!
They then come up with a technique that draws upon Fates millennia of experience spellcasting to use Klarions power against himself to exploit a gap in his shield.
Even if they could have brute forced it, Renkas way was arguably more successful.
They're having to work in a slightly out of the box way but Ferris's knowledge of magic, her metaphysical potency, and her ability to continue using Feruchemy means that I'd argue that Fate is probably doing better than if he was possessing Zatana.
This is off topic, but could someone with more DC knowledge clue me in? I was looking back at the Chilling Interrogations chapters when Renka and Robin go to Germany. While there, they meet Jakita Wagner and ask her about Snow. I've read (and very much enjoyed) the Planetary graphic novels, but I was under the impression that they existed in an entirely different continuity from the rest of the DC heroes. Was i wrong about that? Is this an Earth-16 thing? Or is this a case of author prerogative to pull in characters who might not be present in YJ canon?
The surname changes things a little, but it also hasn't invalidated the signature he has, and she hasn't been using it long enough to build up a connection with the new surname. This is more for later with the name than for right now.
And while Nabu is in the driving seat, Renka's status as a Sliver and not being totally under his control means she could mess if she wanted. Rather than being chauffeured, she's riding shotgun, and she could reach over to grab the wheel if she didn't mind the risk of a crash.
I feel a need to clarify that Klarion is not limited to just a geas in terms of what he can do with it. The signature is basically a targeting system meaning he can hit her just about anywhere, even on other planets or planes of existence, as well as a key that gets him under or around most of the protections she could put up against that type of thing.
A geas is a mental/behavioral curse that presses her to behave in a certain way, committing or refraining from specified activities. It is far from the only thing Klarion could throw at her, but he still usually needs some time to set-up and access it.
Time and focus, which a fight with Fate is not conducive to allowing him.
So... Is this going to end with Ferris using Hemalurgy on Klarion to save her own life and steal his power of chaos? The helmet of Fate might be able to provide a bit of material to make a golden (or close enough) spike.
A lot of readers don't appear to get the way that Renka is at peace with her own mortality and others'. She knows about her own afterlife and what to expect from it, so death is not some horrifying mystery or a final goodbye to her, it's just a change that she feels she's already gone through once (if not twice). She considers the cause and manner of her death more important than the time or place.
If you'd asked about using Hemalurgy to save a friend's life, that's another matter entirely, but as is the answer is no.
So...
You mentioned that being a Silver made Renka able to cooperate with Fate. We know that Renka is academically one of the most knowledgeable magicians in the world. And as this update shows, she has a totally different way of approaching problems and strategy than Fate.
So I was wondering this even before this update, but does that make Renka the most powerful host Fate's had or is the fact her ability in Earth-16 magic purely theoretical holding her back?
Well, Nabu has had a lot of hosts over 20,000 years of activity, so it's difficult to say. If she's not the most powerful, then she's still in the top 3 or top 5, but the limit on her life is an inconvenience as well, to say the least.
I liked how you're having Renka actually apply some tactics to the fight, as well as her own experience in creatively using her powers. That being said, I am surprised that a being as old and experienced as Fate wouldn't know such basic tricks like minimizing his profile to waste less energy when shielding himself.
I'm also looking forward to how you're going to resolve Renka's spending all her life energy. As this is only the first season, she can't die yet.
Also please no killing Renka later, DC is supposed to be the happy ending comic universe.
Part of it is Nabu being out of practice: before now he had a bare handful of events breaking up 60+ years of inactivity, and before that Nabu had been stuck where he was since around the second century AD.
Another part of it is rarely needing those types of tactics, for similar reasons that Superman doesn't need melee combat lessons. Most of Fate's enemies are weaker than Klarion, and even then one thing Fate is trying to do is draw Klarion's attention so the Witch Boy is too occupied to take pot shots at the much squishier members of the Team.
(Yes, technically Klarion killing them would be undone if the split got fixed, but that doesn't mean Fate would sit back & let it happen easily.)
Not necessary to destroy him. Even if a spike made from the helmet would be best suited (from the wiki gold seems to do with health in feruchemy, but I didn't understand how it worked in hemalurgy) to be used on Klarion, it's not the whole helmet that would need to be used - a shaving from it could probably suffice. Or, really, a spike could be made without harming the helmet. In any case, hemalurgy seems like it might be the answer here. Using a destructive power on a destructive being to save her life.
The helmet is golden, not made of gold, generally.
In Fate, Stevens' buddy examined the metal and decided to call it "nabunium" because it's not made out of terrestrial elements.
Post flashpoint, it would seem to be one of the 9 derivatives of Element X, like Nth (or Ninth) metal or the 8th metal, the metal of the gods. Considering that DC has blurred the line between lord and deity, the helmet might very well be of the 8th metal like Wonder Woman's bracelets and plane (so apparently the invisible plane is a divine artifact now).
As has been mentioned before in-story, the Helmet of Fate is made out of orichalcum, which in this universe is a magically hard metal even before you add on the numerous protections Fate included in the spell work. They have nothing with which to shave off a piece of it, even if they did Renka doesn't know if orichalcum has any hemalurgic properties, and Klarion's current body is a magic construct which might not be able to be subject to Hemalurgy.
Theoretically, she could steal something from Teekl, since the familiar is flesh and blood, but with Klarion around that is a bad idea.
He specifically stated that each spell he used cuts her time shorter. Theoretically then, using more power per spell then strictly needed makes it even worse.
So now he has to be way more frugal/efficient with his power than he's ever had to before since a compatible host wouldn't have that limiting factor.
Or to put it another way, Fate is normally a JRPG style caster with a pool of MP that can recharge whereas in Renka's body he is a D&D Style caster with a limited number of spell slots with the added effect of dying if all are used up before the end of the fight.
On another note, I loved the Speed Mind / Rune magic combo!
This is off topic, but could someone with more DC knowledge clue me in? I was looking back at the Chilling Interrogations chapters when Renka and Robin go to Germany. While there, they meet Jakita Wagner and ask her about Snow. I've read (and very much enjoyed) the Planetary graphic novels, but I was under the impression that they existed in an entirely different continuity from the rest of the DC heroes. Was i wrong about that? Is this an Earth-16 thing? Or is this a case of author prerogative to pull in characters who might not be present in YJ canon?
Author's prerogative to include them. And they are getting included, it wasn't just a cameo. There will be explorations of what century children are, why they came to be, and whether it was signifcant the the JL and the Light showed up at the times when they did in Earth-16.
And they are getting included, it wasn't just a cameo. There will be explorations of what century children are, why they came to be, and whether it was signifcant the the JL and the Light showed up at the times when they did in Earth-16.
Sweet. I can see the potential there, and look forward to finding out what you do with those connections.
I definitely recommend Planetary to anyone who hasn't read those. To me they felt largely in the spirit of Atomic Robo, if you are familiar with that webcomic.
