Cross Effects 3.0 - The Third Time's the Charm? Colosseum

[Umbra of Chaos]

PARIAH

The virus stared at the face of the smiling man who was patting his head. PARIAH's tiny hand reached up and grabbed onto the man's nose. His grip tightened with supernatural strength before the child pulled the vampire's head down until they were level, and in an instant his other hand formed a fist and slammed into the Dead Apostle's face.

The sheer force of the blow utterly destroyed the top half of the head. Near instantly, a tendril surged out of PARIAH's chest to consume the corpse, but it only took an instant for the virus to understand he couldn't use this one. Whatever the body was made of it wasn't living tissue, so with a frown he withdrew the tendril and simply threw the body.  It sailed through the air at a ridiculous speed before crashing into the lake.

Then the child focused on the other two and began to walk towards them.

[Panda]

Adjutor couldn't help but feel a bit wary about the whole situation, but more about the blood mage than the strange kid.

Honestly, this is turning out to be an alright day.

Then the kid slaps the blood mage's head off.

Let us make a resolution to never utter those words again.

Suddenly, Adjutor finds himself quite thankful that his mana reserve is still fairly close to full.

Adjutor quickly surges mana into one of the Shield Concepts before applying it to the girl with a Focus word. Meanwhile, Xarrest summons Tyrfing to their hands as Armogarian tendrils reach out behind him and snag Laivatain and Valmanway, leaving Rahab to slip into the lake, dissolving into it as what's left of the blood mage hits the water, the Monster before him seeming to have found the mage inedible for some reason.

[SINIB]

Noel watched in horror as the man's face was crushed and thrown into the lake.

"Summoning Lux Sanctus."

A large ornate sword descended from the sky and embedded itself in the ground.

"Activating Murakumo Unit!"
With a flash of light, she transformed into battle mode, eight swords floating behind her.

She jumped backwards, floating in the air.

"Go."

Noel quickly sent out four steins, each releasing a volly of small blasts, peppering the area around the child. A few hit the trees, setting them on fire.

[Kotomine_Rin]

"Fucking hell, I knew!", the heretic thought as the child grabbed his nose. But before he could even react, his head was blown off by a monstrous blow, and before he knew it he was flung with full force into the lake.

"...Kuh!", his ribs were pulverized, and even worse: the vampire had now crashed into the lake's water. Sinking further and further, he felt his strength leaving an inert body. He wouldn't die from a blow from that. No, even under the cold water, his flesh simply reformed itself, wounds undone as if time itself had rewinded.

But now Costin faced a new problem: he was unable to move! Yes, for since he was a dead apostle, the curse that befell him rendered him unable to cross or move in bodies of water. Thus, the vampire was completely trapped.

That was when he felt a presence in the lake...

[Umbra of Chaos]

PARIAH

The child gave an annoyed look at the female. None of the blasts had managed to hit him and merely set a few trees near him on fire. It would be a trifling thing to rush up towards them but the girl may be a mage. PARIAH's face twisted into a childish pout. He hated mages.

So instead he simply moved over to one of the burning trees with inhumane speed. A single strike was all that was necessary to break the towering plant off of its stump, and once he had properly grasped it with both hands and raised it above his head and tossed it with force that far exceeded that of the throw he had displayed earlier.

The mighty oak screamed through the air towards the girl with the sword in front of her. Force alone broke off branches from the tree and extinguished the fire.

[Panda]

Target is capable of forming what looks like biomass freely. Doesn't seem to be using magic.

Fire, then.

Reinforcing himself with another Focus word as he switches Tyrfing out for Laivatain, Adjutor is about to start the invocation when, suddenly, the Monster has a tree in its hands. Before Adjutor can even try to move past the shock of the Monster's inhuman speed, it slings the tree at the girl he'd Shielded earlier. All it takes is the sight of the branches breaking off midflight for Adjutor to decide that the Shield might not be able to tank that hit.

Fortunately, Xarrest wasn't going to waste time wondering if it would. Hefting the blade, he poured mana into it as it blazed to life.

"Fire Brand, Laivatain. Blaze!" he shouted, swinging the blade forward as world in front of him was set ablaze, the trees igniting like so much dry wood.

Meanwhile, Rahab decides to start from just a bit from the bottom of the lake, quickly freezing the water in all directions from a central point. Noting the presence of another being sinking into the water, Rahab simply makes a platform of ice under the being and lifts it up, depositing it on solid ground once more as the elemental continues to go about its work free of distractions.

[SINIB]

Noel reacted on instinct when the child threw the tree at her, her blades arranging themselves above and below her at normal angles, materializing a blue octohedral shield around her. The tree slammed into it with tremendous force; the impact caused a tremendous crash to resound throught the forst. However, it was useless: her shield remained strong, not even scratched by the blow.

As the man sent a cone of fire roaring towards the child, Noel materialized several steins around the child.

"Divine wrath!" She yelled, her voice slightly distorted. The units instantly detonated at point blank range.

[Umbra of Chaos]

PARIAH

PARIAH gave a stoic look at the wave of fire but an tiny small crossed his features as the small objects the woman used appeared around him and exploded. He twisted and changed his body as the wave of fire and explosions struck him. Drawing upon the knowledge of  coroners and soldiers his body was reshaped into one that would be expected from such a bettering. Limbs twisted or broken off from the force, burnt skin, and a few other injuries.

At this point faking vital functions would be unnecessary as he simply had the faux organs come apart and other signs of life fade from him. Then as his broken body laid on the ground the virus began to funnel biomass into the earth. Pushing into it and digging through as it moved through the ground and settled into an enormous circle underneath his body that was slowly expanding.

[Mooncake]

Wanderer


The horseman very calmly looked across the still waters of the lake. His enemy mirrored his position, the old man standing in the opposite of where the eternal wanderer was sitting. Wanderer didn't call out to the old man. He didn't say a word to the magi, gave no sign of life, nothing.

The only thing that the horseman did do to disturb the evening's peace was to carefully take aim at Wiseman with his shotgun, casually slinging it off of his back. The sun was touching the horizon, and as it sunk down against the line that divided heaven and earth –

The shotgun roared unlike any before it, the power that warped the minds of man spewing flame and death from the barrel, powerful enough to clear the small lake without spreading apart; and it was aimed straight at his opponent.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Once back to the surface, the vampire felt there was a grand battle taking place. Yes, shortly witnessing the display of strength given by the two, Costin couldn't help but be impressed.
Whistling in surprise, his grin was feral as he madly glared the child's charred corpse, not unlike an animal piercing prey with his gaze.

"No, there's no way this monster died from a blow like that... one who could kill me in an instant like that won't croak for good without extra help.", he spoke,  an eager tone not unlike a child preparing to unwrap a new present.

"I can feel the thrill of the battle already!", roared the mad heretic, his fury and bloodlust unveiled, he bared murderous sharp fangs.

In an instant, blood like mist oozed from his body as a foul stench emanated. Toucing the ground with the palm of his hands, blood red patterns began to form as they travelled at a swift pace towards the cadaver.

Soon, circle-like shapes surrounded the body completely, patterns covering the body itself before glowing in a sickly crimson colour...

"KiKiKiKiKiKiKi!!.... take this and send the devil my regards, you shit!"

[Umbra of Chaos]

PARIAH

Whatever the somehow still alive man had done was of no concern of PARIAH. The circle had achieved a sufficient radius to rest approximately under the woman as well.

Once it had enormous spikes that were easily ten meters tall burst all around the area, but at least twelve were aimed specifically at the area where the girl was floating. But adding to that were the numerous tendrils accompanying the spikes. They writhed and wrapped themselves around anything they hit. A supplement to grab anything attempting to enter and also to bind and pull anyone attempting to leave.

[Panda]

Not dead. Not certain. Not yet.

More fire, then?

No need. We have all the fire we need.

The massive spikes shot out of the ground haphazardly. As if this wasn't bad enough, there were tendrils attached to the spikes.

On second thought. Ice will suffice.

With that, a massive hand bursts from the shores of the considerably shallower lake far too fast for something of its size. It maneuvers past the spikes with ease, stabbing straight into the ground before spreading icy spines of its own throughout the ground with the speed of the thoughts that guided it. Not Adjutor's will, not Xarrest's, but Rahab's own that drove the icy spines through the ground and up into the spikes, before surging its own power through the ground, freezing the ground and any living thing above it that was in direct contact with the ground solid, though it hadn't accumulated enough to affect anything below ground, every living being above ground that was in direct contact with it would be naught but ice sculptures, with Rahab itself preventing the effect from spreading to anything in contact with the new ice sculptures.

And still, the lake continued shrinking.

[SINIB]

Noel wasn't able to react before the tentacles and spikes burst forth from the ground, dragging her towards them. A magical shield blocked them from killing her for a second, however the tentacles continued pulling her forward, and she was eviscerated by the twelve spikes shortly thereafter.

[Panda]

Adjutor wasn't entirely sure when he'd found his way into a massive hall lit by numerous torches affixed to just as many pillars, but he figured this would be as good a place to read as any. Checking himself to make sure the pouches he was carrying, containing about seventy 9mm rounds in total, wouldn't end up in uncomfortable positions, he then checks on the five road flares he'd packed for reasons he didn't particularly remember at this point.

Satisfied that his equipment is all secure, Adjutor removes the Elementals from their sheathes, leaning them against the pillar before sitting down himself. Removing the journal from a pocket, Adjutor cracks the book open and starts reading, trying to see if any new pages had been revealed since the last time he'd read it.

[Milbunk]

Kayneth's journey here was a simple one, research the ruins here. They were from some long lost civilization that time had forgotten but perhaps they still held clues into the nature of the dark magecraft he was researching. Clues he himself had come to uncover at any cost.

"Markings appear stable, most have faded off with age. Attempts at recovering are mostly unsuccessful most likely due to the sheer aging this hallway has been through. More research necessary."

Speaking into the small audio recorder he held in his hand Kayneth muttered various things into it as he touched the various indents in the wall.

He was about to continue when he felt a new presence far down the length of the hallway. Someone else had decided to pay these ancient halls a visit. But something was off, the only ones who should of known anything about them were magi. The entrances were all sealed with magic preventing any non-magi from entry, and Kayneth couldn't remember any other requests for entry back when he was originally researching the area.

That could mean only one thing. 'Grave robbers...'

There existed pathetic magi that hounded ancient ruins for rare artifacts and other similar items to be used for things such as catalysts. But such magi were nothing but empty shells, casting away their heritages and research for something so foolish. He needed to teach them a lesson.

He could feel the blood run through his veins as the magical crest honed through nine generations of research burned to life. Pouring a miniscule amount of magical energy into his throat he shouted throughout the hallways in the hopes that whoever was there would hear him.

"Uninvited Magi! You are in a restricted research area without permission from the higher authority. According to article thirty four, section eighty nine, by the authority of the ninth head of the Archibald family Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, reveal yourselves immediately and explain why you are hear. Any attempts to flee or fight will be met with due force. You have three seconds to respond and comply. One!"

Making sure his voice was loud enough so that anyone nearby could hear he felt the thin silver coat that covered his body wriggle to life as it began to serve it's own function.