You know, in retrospect, Cerys can clearly tell when an ability she does uses magic or not (after all thermal control not running off of magical energy was something she first noticed, and she can definitely feel drained from using magic).
We probably should have just asked Rukia if Cerys has noticed if Plasma Sphere or Thermal Spear consumed magic or not, since it is something she should know in character, and has happened while we were playing as her (unlike say, how events of the past being unknown is fair game, or something that happened while she was not the viewpoint character).
Seems like that probably would be something answered if asked directly to QM instead of… just speculating like we did XD
You know, in retrospect, Cerys can clearly tell when an ability she does uses magic or not (after all thermal control not running off of magical energy was something she first noticed, and she can definitely feel drained from using magic).
We probably should have just asked Rukia if Cerys has noticed if Plasma Sphere or Thermal Spear consumed magic or not, since it is something she should know in character, and has happened while we were playing as her (unlike say, how events of the past being unknown is fair game, or something that happened while she was not the viewpoint character).
Seems like that probably would be something answered if asked directly to QM instead of… just speculating like we did XD
I am kind of tired at six in the morning, but yes. Maybe should have thought about that before...
Edit: Besides, while I was not entirely sure, I do remember that Thermal Sense runs without magic... or at least so little that no one notices when we use it. Which is why I did not dismiss the spears outright in my plans. We still have to test if they work.
So much so that I get caught up in thinking about possibilities that I don't actually think about simply asking for clarification until after the fact .
It's my Achilles' heel, apparently XD.
Oh well, trying out new things in a fight if we don't die might mean that we have been innovative enough to actually level up the skills unlike how the fight with the scamps went where we didn't take long fighting and we didn't do anything new and so nothing leveled up at all. Might be worth it.
Might not if we do succeed in summoning a plasma sphere close to the trees then they just eat all the magic
One could probably logically say that since they are spells they probably are magic, and the fact that they qualify for being effected by spell boost, which " represents a weapon that someone can use as a magical channelling instrument, like a staff or wand/sword-thing like Fairy Battle Mages use." Might very well mean that even if they don't normally use magic, the very fact that we got spell-boost on our sword now might add magic to it when we use them (well if Cerys actually uses the spell-boost).
You sigh as you tap a finger on the table next to you, you lean on it a little harder before you nod and stand up straight. "Considering my abilities, it would make the most sense if I went after the Willows first. They are the most vulnerable to me."
Morgan nods and hands you an earpiece and a little box on a clip. "Right then, you already have a ride waiting for you at the carpool, it's the same one as last time." You nod as you awkwardly put the ear-piece in and clip the little box onto your joggers. You turn to make your way out, but Morgan catches you hand before you leave and gives you a warm smile. "Good luck, I'll be here the entire time ok?" You nod and she lets your hand go, the last few steps between you and the door are difficult. Una is looking at you from her seat with wide eyes, you gently pat her on the heat as you leave, closing the door behind you with a quiet click.
You lean against it and take a long breath, steadying yourself, before you push off it and start towards your ride. When you pass people in the halls, they still veer out of your way slightly, though this time there is a distinct lack of caution to their moments. You make it to your car without incident and are greeted by the same man as last time. He nods to you and gets in, sliding into the back yourself you set off. You drive for what must have been an hour. You were constantly playing with the Radio, but you didn't turn it on, there was probably a rule about that or something?
Regardless, when you arrive, you step out of the car and take a long stretch. The bones all along your back cracked and you see your driver give a sympathetic wince. He motions you to follow as he leads you around the side of the building you parked next to, walking a short way around the back and into a back-door. The room inside is perfectly normal, really nothing worth mentioning, beyond the enormous amount of Pasta practically overflowing from the cupboards.
You are greeted by a teenager, who was waiting for the two of you at the table. "Hey, you the one they sent over then?" You nod as he shifts something onto the table, a map. "Right then, we'll do this right. Support is on standby as of twenty minutes ago. None of the Willows have made any moves recently, they've gone into hibernation since we've been keeping people away from them, 'nothin to eat." You follow his finger as he slides it across the map. "We're here and they are here." He taps the map. "I'll lead you as close as is safe, but beyond that you're on your own."
You lean over to look at the map a bit closer, but it doesn't really help, so you just shrug. "Any reason not to go now?" He shakes his head and makes his way to his feet, slipping a pair of boots and a jacket on.
"It's just down this way, ten minute walk before you get into the dangerous area." You follow him as he moves through the tree line, following a well-worn path. Your driver stayed behind, you guess that he's going to be waiting for you to finish this time? Instead of returning immediately. Regardless, when you see your guide start to grow tenser and tenser as you go on, you feel that you are getting close. Eventually he reaches a specific tree, it has scratches all up the side, a marker?
"This is as far as I can take you, you go another twenty metres and they'll notice you." You nod as you peer around, quickly summoning your armour and sword as you focus through the shrubbery as best you can. You hear him walking away behind you and think to call back.
"You should probably tell someone to keep the fire crews away until I'm done, this could get hot." Warning delivered, you move a hand down to the radio, which was hanging from the strings in your ears. There wasn't anywhere for you to clip it to at your waist, so you awkwardly clip it to the side of your torso, out of the way. You flick the button a few times before you hear a crack of static, then it's clear. "Hey, ug, Morgan. You hear me?"
She speaks back almost instantly. "I hear you. Be aware, your support is also listening in on this channel, you can call for them from here."
"Right, anything else I need to know?" You push your sense around, but can't feel anything, you can practically see one of the trees. But it just feels like a normal tree to you. You sigh at the uselessness of trying to sense trees as Morgan speaks back.
"No, we've gone over everything. Good luck." The line crackles before going silent, and you are alone again. You take a long breath as you stretch, quickly stoking your power as you think of what you want. Trees that are capable of absorbing magic and are semi-fire retardant. That's fine, just gotta get them hot enough to melt, fireproof bark or not. You feel around and see that the area is empty, then, you take a deep breath as you spread your control out over as large an area as possible in front of you.
You let it build, the air quickly turning to simmer and the leaves withering before you. Then you make it BURN.
The world ignites into flame, everything within four hundred metres in front of you instantly flaring into a solid wall of fire that rushes forwards at your urging. You advance, constantly pressing your flames higher and higher as you go. You manifest your Ignition Aura, just enough for it to reach out of your body, the flames licking your form as you walk. As you advance, you feel the ash gently brushing your face before cracking as it is turned into glass by the sheer heat that was radiating from you, the very air melted as it touched your skin.
In the distance, you feel a small area of not-control that must be a Willow. You focus on it, roughly seventy metres that way. You reach for the flames there, pushing them hotter and hotter as every moment passes. You feel them on the verge of something, the air around them wavering and a near silent high pitched screeching builds up in the background.
Before it had the chance to grow any further, you feel the flames in your control shattered, the heat in the area being physically pushed away by a massive wave of magic. When you look, you see the Willow, leaves completely gone and bark scarred by fire, still glowing a bright white as you see its molten insides slowly leak through the wood where it cracked. You feel it looking at you somehow, a force of magic suddenly aware of you. You grin, letting out a slight laugh and flare your magic in return, careful not to let any get too close.
Before it can do anything, you summon a spear of fire, quickly ramping it up as hot as it can go before launching it. The Willow doesn't even bother to react as the projectile slams straight into it, the fire washing over it.
(Thermal Spear: +75 Base Damage, +42 Dice, x2 Immense Heat = 234 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +40 Dice, - 100 Plasma Burns = 80 Total Reduction
154 Total End Damage
Consume Magic: 80% Reduction
31 Final End Damage
Blood Willow: 348 - 31 = 317
Consume Magic: 80% Addition
Blood Willow: 317 + 116 = 433)
You see your spear punch right through the thick trunk and spray molten wood everywhere, but it fades unnaturally quickly and you see the hole close on its own, several of the gaping cracks shrinking slightly.
Just as you kick off of the ground towards it, you feel a pull. You let it pull you closer, seeing the roots in the ground creeping upwards, ready to stab forwards. At the last moment, you Halt your movement. The sudden stop makes it feel like your ribs are going to crack from trying to keep your organs from leaving you, but you stop just in time for the roots to dart past you. They move faster than you can see, a whip-crack following them as they break the sound barrier, right where your chest would have been.
You don't miss the chance that has been offered to you though, you slam your foot against the ground, a quick rush of reinforcement shattering it into pieces as you shoot forwards. Your eyes blur as your magic deflects floating ash from your vision, your body steaming as you land heavily with one foot, sinking it into the ground as you swing your sword as hard as you can.
(Infinity Edge: +48 Base Damage, +39 Dice, +20 RUSH +5 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 336 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +40 Dice, - 100 Plasma Burns, -80 Shattered Armour = 0 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 433 - 336 = 99)
Your blade leaves a glowing trail in it's path as you move, pivoting around your leg and throwing all of your weight into your throw. When it contacts, something shatters, the air cracking in ways that overlap. Your blade hits the cracked bark and digs deep, it plows through the main trunk, carving a path all the way from one side to the other. When your swing is finished, it slides free from the other end with a quiet snick, flecks of molten wood flying from the end of your blade.
You take a step forwards, dropping your sword and pulsing your magic as your fist crashes into the falling pieces.
When your fist touches the wood, there is a brief moment of resistance, you feel it's magic trying to reach for something and finding nothing. Then, then entire front caves before your fist, your hand passing through the molten insides and reaching the other side, where your brace your feet and push.
The top half of the enormous tree, it was at least seven metres tall, very slowly topples backwards. When it reaches the tipping point, you see it falling on its own, before it's entire length blazes into flames. What is left of its body serves as a funeral pyre for all of three seconds before it is nothing more than ash on the wind.
You stand there, hand outstretched for a moment before you clench your hand and bring it back to you. You stand, carefully lifting your feet from the furrows they had been pushed into as you retrieved your sword. When you are standing, you hear your Radio crackling and Morgan's slightly frantic voice comes through "Cerys, CERYS! ARE YOU OK?"
You quickly move your hand over to the send button and press it down, interrupting her voice with your own. "Yes, yes. I'm fine." You take a long breath, the ash crackling away to glass before it even touches your lips. "I killed the first Willow, I'm moving on to the next."
You hear her let out a sigh of relief and hear her chair squeak slightly as she leans back in it harshly. "Ok...Ok. Right. We lost your signal for a moment, we thought something had gone wrong." You hear her take a shaky breath." There should only be another two or three at most, are you good to keep going?"
You nod before realising that she can't see you. "Yes, I'm fine, not even a scratch on me." You tap your armour, the dull thunk of your metal gauntlets on your chestpiece echoes out over the sound of crackling flames.
She sighs and you hear her chair squeak again slightly. "Alright. Ok, your sister is ok."
You hear the radio stop transmitting and take a sharp breath, looking over to where you feel two other beacons of magic repelling your flames. When you close, they have both managed to keep themselves clear of the fire and are very slowly shifting towards you on their roots. The floor resembles a living carpet of snakes more than roots. You grab your sword properly and set yourself, ready for whatever as you start turning the heat up. Even if they are protecting themselves, it's magic they have to waste and magic you don't.
You cut the fire at the edges of your range, smothering it before it can go too far as you drag the heat inwards towards you. The air around you turns sticky and the ground starts dripping as the Willows halt their movement, focusing more on keeping the heat away. You don't really want to fight the two of them at the same time, but it's not like you could move them and you decide against trying to Halt them, it probably wouldn't work. Instead, you put one of them between the other and focus on them like that.
You rush forwards, flecks of lava dripping off of you as dust and dirt touches your skin and you rush through the Willows barrier. It doesn't stop you even slightly and you are already in the middle of a swing before it can react.
(Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage,, +25 Dice, +20 RUSH, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 342 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +79 Dice = 219 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 1200 - 123 = 1077)
Your blade hits it's armour directly, sending a line of cracks up it's side as it bends with the hit. The fire started is immediately quenched with a crush of magic and you feel the heat that had been held off now leaking in. The previously cool air around you wavers and you see the leaves on its branches wilt. You jump backwards as it's roots lash out towards you, throwing your sword in their path.
(Roots: +60 Base Damages, +27 Dice = 87 Total Damage
Ignition Knight: +37 Base Resilience, +7 Dice = 44 Total Reduction
43 Total End Damage
Ignition Aura: 10% Reduction
39 Final End Damage
Ignition Knight: 300 - 39 = 261)
The thick wood slams into your blade, sending shocks all the through your arms, before suddenly it's gone. You are left with your arms out-stretched, holding nothing, as the roots crash into your chestpiece. The impact is enough to knock you into the air slightly, your armour denting heavily, but still protecting you from a lethal blow. You quickly summon another sword as you are landing and jump to the right, keeping the Willow between you as you throw a heavy slash.
(Ignition Knight: +50 Infinity Edge, +19 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 249 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +80 Dice = 220 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 1077 - 29 = 1048)
Your target unleashes a quick pulse of magic that throws you off balance, leaving your sword to leave slight scratches in the wood as you regain your footing, moving in for another swing.
(Ignition Knight: +50 Infinity Edge, +1 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 195 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +28 Dice = 168 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 1048 - 27 = 1021)
Once again, it pulses at you just as you were getting your footing, leaving your sword to ding off of the side harmlessly. You frown harshly as you step closer, bracing your feet against one of it's roots as you focus the temperature at it as hard as you can. You see tiny cracks forming along the bark, signs of the water evaporating inside of it and tearing the wood open.
(Ignition Knight: +50 Infinite Edge, +25 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 267 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +80 Dice, -20 Cracked Armour = 200 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 1021 - 67 = 954)
Your sword digs into one of the cracks, dragging it open as you heave as the opening. While doing this, apparently the other Willow had gotten sick of trying to reach around to you. The beams of solid magic that blow through the sides of the tree in front of you attest to that as it hits you right in the face.
(Pierce: +20 Base Damage, +5 Dice = 25 Total Damage
Pierce: +20 Base Damage, +5 Dice = 25 Total Damage
Pierce: +20 Base Damage, +3 Dice = 23 Total Damage
Pierce: +20 Base Damage, +7 Dice = 27 Total Damage
Pierce: +20 Base Damage, +10 Dice = 30 Total Damage
130 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +80 Dice, -20 Cracked Armour = 200 Total Reduction
70 Total End Damage
Blood Willow: 954 - 70 = 884
70 Total Damage
Ignition Knight: +37 Base Resilience, +17 Dice = 54 Total Reduction
32 Total End Damage
Ignition Aura: 10% Reduction
29 Final End Damage
Ignition Knight: 264 - 29 = 235)
The beam scores your face slightly, knocking your backwards until you jam your sword into the ground. But when it passes you just shake your head and the brief pain fades. It didn't really seem to do much to either of you, but it had at least distracted the Willow you had been fighting enough for you to have an idea. You quickly gather all of the heat you can, creating new heat and turning it up as much as you can as fast as you can. You compress it down into a tiny little ball, which flickers from red to orange and finally maintains a steady blue-purple glow.
You look up at the Willow, who was just turning back towards you and you spare a brief thought about your poor radio. Then you send a pulse of magic through your sword and let the tightly contained ball of plasma in your hands explode.
(Plasma Sphere: +637 Base Damage, +38 Dice = 675 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +41 Dice, -40 Damaged Armour = 141 Total Reduction
Blood Willow 2: +140 Base Resilience, +30 Dice, -20 Cracked Armour = 150 Total Reduction
You feel a very brief, intense heat as you are completely engulfed in liquid plasma, the majority of it bounces off of your front, spraying over the two Willows and devastating them. You see enormous chunks of wood being reduced to ash or simply being blown off of them. You push forwards, the molten dirt and stone behind you blasting out in a wave as you brandish your sword, aiming to drive your weapon all the way through the first Willow.
(Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage, +6 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 210 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +46 Dice, -100 Plasma Burns, -20 Surprise = 66 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 350 - 144 = 206)
Your sword slides straight through the main trunk, not all the way through, but leaving it hanging by just a thread. You stomp the ground, cratering the soft liquid as you make a quick turn to swing again.
(Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage +8 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 216 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +38 Dice, -100 Plasma Burns, -40 By a Thread = 38 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 206 - 178 = 28)
Your sword swings through cleanly, a wave of ash trailing in its wake as you spin to swing again.
Your blade glows as you channel magic through it. When it touches the Willow, it simply shatters through it and keeps going. A quick push has you going straight towards the last Willow left, just as it sends forwards a wave of roots at you.
(Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage +37 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 303 Total Damage
Intercept!
Roots: +60 Base Damages, +56 Dice = 114 Total Damage
189 Damage Difference, Blood Willow Looses
Blood Willow 2: 675 - 189 = 486)
Your sword plows through the wood as if it wasn't even there. It barely even slows your blade at it demolishes the willow, the impact sending cracks running through it's entire body and leaving gaping holes for you to aim for.
You take a step back, brace and STRIKE
(Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage +9 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 219 Total Damage
Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage +6 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 210 Total Damage
Infinity Edge: +50 Base Damage, +29 Dice, +14 Armour Pierce, x3 Crush = 279 Total Damage
708 Total Damage
Blood Willow: +140 Base Resilience, +73 Dice, -100 Plasma Burns, -50 Shattered = 63 Total Reduction
Blood Willow: 486 - 645 = -159)
The first strike cuts it clean in two, the second shatters it into a dozen pieces and the third incinerates the last tiny pieces.
When you are finished, you are breathing heavily, but you can't feel any sort of threat. You let out a long breath, slumping back against the molten slag that was a tree as you absent-mindedly remove all of the heat you had created earlier.
You only look up when you hear someone walking, the guide, looking around in awe. He has a t-shirt over his face to breath through the sheer amount of ash in the area, but when he makes his way over to you, he holds a hand down for you to stand up. You pull yourself up with a rough grunt and the two of you walk back to the house, only just now noticing the molten slag that was the radio you had been wearing. Uhh, fuck. I'm gonna pay for that one later aren't I?
You put it out of your mind as you settle down on the sofa, letting out a long breath as the guide hands you a can of something. You open it and take a drink without thinking, it taking you several seconds to taste the alcohol. When you open your eyes, he is half way through a bottle of something and is wandering towards the kitchen. You don't comment, and instead you just... lay back for a while and rest.
The driver arrives a scant ten minutes later, back from wherever he went. Guess he didn't stay. The ride back is just as silent as the ride up and you stumble back into the base. You make it back to your room and are dragged off of your feet by your sister.
She sits on top of you, hugging you tightly, even though you were still wearing your ash covered armour, she hugs you for all she's worth. You gently pick her up as Morgan fusses in the background, making your way to the bedroom, you lay down with her, dismissing your armour slowly and just... being there.
You let the silence sit for a while, before you open your mouth. "It's ok." You run your fingers through her hair. "I'm here, I came back."
You hear her let out soft sobs as she clutches you closer, and you just let her.
+ 150xp Killed 3 Blood Willows
+ 25xp One hell of a debut
Guh, my heart. This is going to be happening every time.
But yeah, yay us. This went a lot smoother then I thought, we didn't even use any support we just cut, melted everything, and punched our way to victory. And we have the plasma sphere. Oh not sure if this is superfluous but just to be safe we should make sure to get a replacement radio.
That was awesome, though isn't armor pierce suppose to be on the resilience line not the damage line? Hence not included in the crushX3 meaning that every infinity edge hit was doing 28 damage more than it should.
That said it was an overwhelming victory here, not without damage, but Cerys definitely had it in the bag.
our sword picked up crush from somewhere, which gives it a x3 damage boost when we two hand it. Between that and us being able to fign in our natural element (a raging inferno) we were able to punch through their defenses, and they were too busy not burning to death to really fight back.
I think i'm starting to get a feel for how ignition knight fights, and it's scary as fuck. See I always knew she used auras but I was thinking too small, I was only thinking about ignition aura not about how Thermokinesis can turn an area into a raging firestorm. Ignition fights best when she's in the middle of a maelstrom of fire or ice. I'm a bit less scared of the other monsters now, they will be hard fights but we can get one hell of an advantage by making them fight us in a forest fire.
A question for @Rukia do we have cold immunity the way we have fire immunity? a field of a hundred below would be less harsh on the local area if we have to fight somewhere we won't want a firestorm.
Don't use fire against the Thunderbird, use ice. Rip the heat out of the air and drag the temperature down as close to absolute zero as it gets.
Then perform the most DICKISH of dick moves and crank the heat back up as fast as you can. Brittle substances like stone don't take being deep-frozen and then flash-heated well. It might just explode.
Also something something, can't start a storm if all the moisture is frozen, something something.
gotta say, I love how our big trump card seems to be an ability that doesn't even have listed damage or debuffs. It's entirely a fluff thing but it's still utterly terrifying.
We... uh... we just bought this from the Shop on the last vote.
Anyway, this went better than expected. Great even. And Plasma Sphere is finally stable to boot.
And yes, I think I understand how we are supposed to fight a little better now as well.
The best part is that with Plasma Sphere being operational, we can two-shot the birdie and might be able to one-shot the doggie.
I take from the lack of any commentary, EXP or votes that there is a second part of this coming up... or Rukia had to leave after finishing.
Aside from all that... @Rukia, do you remember when I said there were no actually awe-inspiring scenes so far? About a dozen pages ago?
Now there is one. Excellent work.
I must admit i was worried when you gave us the stat sheets and descriptions of the monsters. But that fight was badass as hell. Cerys went to town on those trees. It really gives a sense of how damn terrifying Cerys will be in the future if she can do this already. She was literally glassing the surroundings simply by being there. I wonder how it must feel to watch her do her work. I would love to see peoples reactions if someone managed to record her fight.
Don't use fire against the Thunderbird, use ice. Rip the heat out of the air and drag the temperature down as close to absolute zero as it gets.
Then perform the most DICKISH of dick moves and crank the heat back up as fast as you can. Brittle substances like stone don't take being deep-frozen and then flash-heated well. It might just explode.
Also something something, can't start a storm if all the moisture is frozen, something something.
While I like the SCIENCE going on...I've got a bad feeling it won't work. The primary way you see magical species X get buffed up from fairy tails to be a credible real-world threat? Magic no-selling the physical principles behind modern weaponry. It's even worse here given how everything we fought so far has a magic 'resistance' that has to be broken through before it can be directly affected. Indirect might work, except they all seem to have counters of one form or another there too. I'm not even sure we can screw with local electrical charge because it's probably all magic lightning in a magic storm, made by a magic stone bird.
.
