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| Killing in the Name Of | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 4 2012, 02:01 AM (290 Views) | |
| Karas | Apr 4 2012, 02:01 AM Post #1 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Malcolm munched on his bag of chips as the bus rolled down the pavement. Eyes roamed over the paper in his lap, load music blaring in his ears to block out the droning of the other people on the bus. The young man popped another chip into his mouth as he read through everything for the sixth time, committing everything to memory. Zachariah Norman Alvarez. His dossier was rather thick, with a lot of information about him. Somewhere between twenty-five to thirty, on the skinny side of things, black hair. Nothing on his abilities, but his job as a file clerk didn't lend much credence to him being a threat. Which brought to mind why he had been paid as much as he had to kill him. No one paid his prices to kill a file clerk. He shrugged and kept reading. Chances are he was blackmailing an executive or something, it wouldn't honestly be the first time he killed someone for something so petty. Still, the fact that it wasn't in the dossier troubled him some. The bus was coming to a stop, he felt the shifting of gears. The dossier got stuffed into his backpack, hiding a grin at the glimpse of dull grey metal the act gave him. "Not just yet," he whispered as he hopped off the bus. Malcolm swept his eyes around the area, he had gotten off at the wrong stop, it seemed. He was on the outskirts of the Highlands when he'd met to get off closer to the target. The young assassin shrugged his shoulders and started walking. |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 4 2012, 03:08 AM Post #2 |
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Fluff Ball
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Zachariah Norman Alvarez stares blankly at the corporate logo on his computer monitor as he slides the corner of a thick sheaf of papers into the mouth of the electric stapler on his desk. With a loud ka-thump the stapler punches the inch long staple through the papers with enough power that the droplet of cold stale coffee goes air born briefly before falling back into old stained white mug. Without even looking he sets it into the half open draw of a dark brown file cabinet. With the same robotic efficiency he takes a sip of the coffee before collecting another thick sheaf of papers off the light gray laminate desk and getting up out of his semi-new uncomfortable ergonomic productivity increasing baby-blue on tan office chair. He exits his cubic to follow the narrow strip of gray-blue multicolor speckled industrial carpet through maze of pale green cubical wall panels decorated only with little fake wood number plates and a occasional brass name plate. He roams the maze until he able to see the glowing red lettering of an exit sign. He heads toward that before turning again to reach the copy machines. He drops the stack of papers into the feed tray of the copier and slips a low profile thumbnail drive into a port on the machine. He checks the copier status and settings then presses the big green button. He sips his coffee while listening to the hums clicks and chirps of the copy machine. |
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| Karas | Apr 4 2012, 03:51 AM Post #3 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Malcolm blew a lock of hair out of his eyes and settled into a firing crouch. He stared dully at the wall in front of him, bored, as the quite rasping of metal threading onto metal filled his ears. The silent click made him stop his motions, and he held the gun up before him for final inspection. The matte black finish didn't reflect any of the light, making it dull and boring. The suppressor made it appear ungainly. His thumb clicked the fire-selector up to semi-automatic. Single shots for more precision. But in his hands, it was death. The slide slid back smoothly, and he spied the round waiting to be loaded into the chamber. He released the slide, a small smile at the clack of it rebounding forward and chambering the bullet. The gun was raised then, his stance one that bespoke of years of practice. He had picked the dullest part of the day to reduce the number of people in the building. He had covered all the angles. His mole-like familiars had crawled through the ducts and planted his claymores atop the elevators, on the service doors. They were set to go off whenever they sensed motion, a small delay to allow the targets to come into the elevator fully before the mines blew. His dibats were flying around the building, covering as many windows as they could and watching the roof. One was silently flapping outside a window now, watching his target. His vision shifted to that one, suddenly seeing through its eyes as well as his own. The gun was adjusted, aiming squarely for his head. Malcolm exhaled smoothly, timing for the space between his heart beats. The trigger was pulled smoothly. And a gust of wind hit the dibat, knocking its vision askew, and his aim with it. The gun fired with a muffled click and the round tore through the trio of walls between them, ripping through the space just next to his head. "Fuck," Malcolm swore. |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 4 2012, 12:56 PM Post #4 |
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Fluff Ball
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Zachariah would have spilled most his coffee all over himself, if the mug wasn't nearly empty, from having a bullet suddenly whistle by his ear. He does drop the coffee mug though out of surprise. What happens next though is an extremely atypical reaction from an skinny owlish middle age file clerk. He did not panic. He did not freeze up. He did not mindlessly run off. Knowing that who ever was shooting at him was likely using a window or camera, he heads deeper into the seemingly endless maze of pale green office cubicles where he would be hard to spot. His cover blown he sees no reason not to use his magic. He yanks off the silver cross he wears and throws it to the ground ahead of him. Zachariah continues toward the center of the cubicle maze. The silver cross begins to liquify when removed from around Zachariah's neck. The silver liquid splashes on impact then seems to be absorbed into the carpet leaving only faint thread like lines of silver that race out along the carpet from the impact point in all directions. The silver lines scout ahead of Zachariah as well as covering his flanks and rear. When the lines encounter a wall or pillar they branch and flow over that as well. When ever one of the silver lines finds a familiar in its search of the building a silver sphere buds off the line. The sphere projects thin spikes to kill or drive the familiar away before merging back with the silver line. The line then continues on. |
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| Karas | Apr 4 2012, 03:47 PM Post #5 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Malcolm cursed as the clerk disappeared into the cubicles. His dibats came up to that floor quickly and his vision was suddenly overlaid with a dozen viewpoints. The guns was raised again and he began firing into the cubicles, looking for any glimpse at his target. The disappearance of one of his moles shocked him briefly and knocked his aim askew, the bullet going lower than the rest. He growled and banished them quickly before anymore were lost, he'd clearly underestimated this mark. The magazine emptied and dropped to the floor, no fingerprints or distinguishing markings to identify it to police. Another slammed home and he made his way to the door of the office, still firing on his target. The door was opened as quietly as he could, slinking out into the hall. He banished one of the dibats outside and set the rest to circle, searching for a good view to allow him to aim better. A new dibat popped into existence above his head and flew quickly into the cubicles, silent wings flapping just above them, searching for him. "Gotcha," he growled. |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 4 2012, 07:00 PM Post #6 |
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Fluff Ball
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Zachariah easily avoids the blindly fired bullets punching though the the thin foam and fabric walls of the cubicles. He even causally dodges a bullet that should have punch through is heart if he hand not turn a moment before it would struck him. He keeps moving though the maze of cubicles to make himself harder to track down. A dozen of the silver threads encounter the air vents in the ceiling and begins expanding though the air ducks. Others finds a missing tile in the dropped ceiling and begins expanding though the craw space. A few particularly aggressive threads invade power sockets and begin expanding through the buildings wiring. The unlucky bat familiar meets the same unfortunate end before it gets much beyond the expanding outer edge of the the silver web. A dozen silver needles skewer the bat and vanish again in a blink of a eye. |
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| Karas | Apr 4 2012, 08:02 PM Post #7 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Malcolm swore as his bat disappeared and flicked his thumb over the fire selector switch. No more games, he was going in. He moved in towards the cubicles, holding his fire for now. A trio of moles popped into existence at his feet, quickly burrowing through the floor and dropping to the floor from the ceiling below. They scurried into the maze of cubicles and made little portals, crawling through them and returning with more claymores. They set them up throughout the cubicles, covering every which way in there field. And all of them linked to the trigger in their master's pocket. The building shook suddenly, just a tiny tremor in the greater scheme of things, but through his link to the bats he heard the explosion. And the screams. One of his claymores in the elevators must have gone off. His face split into a sick smile as he imagined the effect the flying ball bearings would have on flesh from that distance, even as he moved into the maze of cubicles. Searching for a glimpse of his target. There! He saw him round a corner. Malcolm's left eye burned as it activated, and he saw the Truth of him. He wasn't completely human, not that it mattered. Mal brought the gun up and it coughed thrice, a trio of rounds headed for the small of his back. Another burst spat from the pistol and Mal quickly ducked into a cubicle, using one of the bats to keep track of him and fire a final burst through the cubicle before reloading. A voice echoed in his mind, "Master, why are you not using me?" "Not yet," he muttered, "Not yet." |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 4 2012, 10:15 PM Post #8 |
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Fluff Ball
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Zachariah wonders just who is trying to kill him. So far he knows the assassin main weapon seems to some kind of gun and has enough power and training to summon at least two kinds of familiars. The familiars seem rather weak so the main threat seems to be the gun. The silver threads continue to spread and multiply though the building. Some of those threads have found ways to descend down to the next floor where a trio of mole like familiars are going about there tasks. The familiars are fatally interrupted from their tasks as they meet the same fate as the previous unlucky familiars. A small explosion echo's through the building and Zachariah looks around trying to guess the where the explosion originated. The clerk adds explosive traps to the list of things he knows about the assassin. Strangely though the location of the assassin was not on the list of things he knew about the assassin. The web had detected the familiars and even the enchanted bullets but not the assassin. Zachariah felt a tingle at the the small of his back and the sudden presence of enchanted bullets behind him and deep inside the web. He dives to the side as a trio of bullets stitch wear he was not a moment before. He rolls to the left into a cubicle as three more bullets punch neat little holes through the floor next to him. A third trio of bullets punch through a dozen cubicle walls at waist level before he even gets up. He certainly had a good idea where the assassin is now. Staying low, he reaches up to fish in the keyboard try of the desk. He finds a couple potentially useful items: a pair a scissors, a metal letter opener, two worn screw drivers, a cheap corporate labeled ball point, and a stable remover. He pockets the scissors, pen, and stable remover. He readies the other three items for use on the assassin. |
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| Karas | Apr 4 2012, 10:42 PM Post #9 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Malcolm growled as the moles disappeared from his senses, though they'd at least set a trio of traps up. His eye still burned, though he pondered the reason. He wasn't looking at the target anymore, so why would it still be trying to show him the Truth... "Master!" the voice again pounded between his ears, "You need to end this before the authorities arrive!" Malcolm growled, it was right. He had to end this, and now. "As your master, I command you," he spat, "Come to me, Siegfried." He felt the air be displaced as the knight appeared by his side. Immediately, a score of silver lines shot from the surrounding area and struck his armor, stopped short by his magical influence. Malcolm started and traced one of the lines, noticing for the first time the faint lines tracing all over the area. "Well, that explains that," he muttered, "Annoying bastard. Kill him." Siegfried needed no further prodding and he darted forward, simply smashing through the cubicles. The needles spat at him, but he ignored them and spun, bringing his blade around to slice through the target's hiding place. At the same time, Mal gave the mental order for his bats to back off until he could discern more of his target. They flitting away from the building, coming to rest on the roofs of neighboring buildings to await instruction. When Siegfried made his move and cut the cover away, he popped up and opened fire with to bursts into the space, aiming low for the target's legs. He ducked down again as soon as the he finished firing and fished out a claymore from his pack. He looked around quickly and slapped it down face down on the desk, setting for the second channel on his detonator. Then he rolled out of the cubicle into the one across the way. As he was doing this, Siegfried was following through with his spin and bringing the blade overhead to slam down on him. The noble knight immediately shifted to bring his shoulder in low and slammed into him bodily and extended his gauntleted fist into a wicked backhand. "Well, spellslinger," he said with disdain, "Prepared to fight? Prepared to die?" |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 5 2012, 12:38 AM Post #10 |
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Fluff Ball
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"As your master, I command you. Come to me, Siegfried." Siegfried? Zachariah wonders as the assassin seems to preform a particularly strong summon. The power of the familiar makes the silver web react particularly violently then metaphysically recoil as the fine needles break against the new familiar's armor. It redoubles its effort. Then redoubles it effort again before launching an all out assault on the seeming invulnerable familiar trying to drive one of its needles through some kink in the armor that so far has repelled its attacks. Zachariah hears something crashing through the cubicles that separate him from the assassin. The reaction from the silver web tells Zachariah that it was the Siegfried familiar that was barreling toward him. He web didn't seem to have the power to stop the familiar and the assassin was some how invisible to the web. The silver web should have been enough to eliminate the assassin, should have skewered the assassin like his familiars the moment he revealed himself to be a threat within the web. The front cubicle suddenly becomes only four feet high as a sword slices through the walls of the cubicle. Zachariah gets a glimpse of both the assassin and the familiar. As soon as the sword clears him he pops up and throws the two screw drivers at the assassin. The spin on the screwdrivers bringing the tips forward as it passes the volume there the assassin should be. He dives over the now waist high wall as bullets rake the destroyed cubicle. Zachariah still recovering from his dive over the wall senses the knight preparing another strike. He was not going to be able to move out of the way of the downward swing of the great sword in time. A silver streak flashes into existence between Zachariah and the descending sword. A closer look at the streak would reveal it to be a drawn out mass of silver material shape roughly like a blade of a saber. Another streak of silver smashes hard into Siegfried. A third hovers near it's master waiting for orders. The silver saber flips around and takes the backhand on the flat of the blade. The thin silver bending under the force of the blow. The clerk gets back to his feet, and faces Siegfried and the assassin. "Well, spellslinger. Prepared to fight? Prepared to die?" "I think, Mr Assassin, the question is are you?" Zachariah replies calmly as the the two silver spheres and silver saber hovers nearby. He passives the silver web against the invulnerable Siegfried to keep it from wasting any more power on the Knight familiar. |
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| Karas | Apr 5 2012, 01:39 AM Post #11 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Malcolm cursed and glanced at the hole in his hoodie. The baggy material had saved him from taking a screwdriver in the gut as he dropped back into cover. Now he was asking for his name? Fuck that. The mental command was received and Siegfried moved quickly, bringing his sword down in a brutal two handed chop straight for the strange saber. His aim was to drive it straight into the ground, and as he did he released the sword's hilt from his left hand and stepped forward. That fist came forward quickly, but as he did so the fingers opened to grab the orb that would inevitably rush to his defense. The knight threw it with a flick of his rest into the other one. His right foot slid forward now and he brought the sword with it, smoothly reversing his grip with his right hand to bring it up in an uppercut swipe in this reversed grip. His left hand came up almost lazily to take its place as his grip returned to normal and the knight spun to left, bringing the sword around with such speed and force that the wind from it tore the flimsy walls around him apart. At the same time, Malcolm's mind was racing. Quickly as he could, he began firing at the lights, popping the bulbs one at a time with single shots before flicking his weapon back to burst fire. The magic pulsed around him as he summoned the shadows to surround him... then he clenched his teeth and hissed in pain as a needle pierced through the bottom of his foot. The magic unraveled and the needle withdrew, but Malcolm cursed himself for his stupidity. "Alright Mal," he mumbled, "Plan B." He triggered the claymore in the cubicle across the way and covered his face as it blew a hole in the floor, quickly diving across and falling through, landing hard on a desk and rolling with the momentum out into the alley between the cubicles. He could hear Siegfried's heavy footfalls and feel his thoughts, quickly opening fire with bursts just in front of his familiar's path to try to catch the target unawares. |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 5 2012, 08:35 PM Post #12 |
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Fluff Ball
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The silver saber flips around to parry Siegfried's two handed swing then flows out from under the blade once the sword cease to be an immediate threat to its master. Zachariah retreats into the narrow aisle serving his current cubicle to get more distance from the advancing Knight. The muted sounds of a silenced pistol reminds Zachariah that he had to do something about the assassin as well. He orders the first sphere to go after the assassin. The second sphere flattens out into a plate ready to stop the punch only to be grabbed and flung into the third sphere. The two spheres collide and merge together into a rippling mass of silver. The double sphere stretches out and wraps around Zachariah as a gust of wind collapse the cubicles around him before separating back into two spheres. The first sphere drops down through the hole in the floor. It spins itself out into a flat disk with many blades on its outside. The flying saw blade homes in on the Assassin chasing after him while avoiding or going through things in its way. |
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| Karas | Apr 6 2012, 12:52 AM Post #13 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Mal cursed and ducked the spinning saw blade, watching it tear through the cubicles around him. "Great," he muttered, "Just fucking wonderful." He raised his weapon and fired a burst into it, quickly racing through the cubicles. He hadn't planned for that, but he was willing to improvise. One hand held his weapon, switched to single-shots and firing behind him as his other hand reached back into his pack, pulling out a claymore. Siegfried, meanwhile, advanced quickly, stabbing at his adversary's shoulder, ripping the blade down quickly in an attempt to take the shoulder off. He quickly brought the blade back up, holding it ready in front of him. "You're an impressive mage," he said with a small degree of grudging respect, "But I go tired of your antics." The great knight suddenly plunged his sword up into the ceiling, the flat of the blade facing his foe, and stepped forward, pulling the blade down hard. And brought a massive chunk of the ceiling with it. He rotated the blade quickly and let it cut through the floor, spinning round and bringing the blade above his head to deliver a fearsome downward chop to cleave clear through the falling rubble. He moved forward and pressed his opponent back with a sudden stab, ripping the blade upwards quickly. The blade's momentum continued and slapped against his pauldon as the knight went into another spin, bringing the blade 'round sharply. He twisted it as it passed him and brought it back up before bringing it across sharply in a diagonal slash from his shoulder to his hip. Down below, Malcolm waited for the blade to come by again and dove quickly, rolling back to his feet and cursing at his desperation. He mapped the blade's path with his eyes and slid the claymore across the floor into its path, the dangerous side pointed straight up. Malcolm waited with bated breath for the blade to intersect the claymore and hit the trigger, setting it off. Conveniently underneath where Siegfried was driving the target. |
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| EightTailFox | Apr 6 2012, 10:24 PM Post #14 |
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Fluff Ball
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Zachariah circles over the flattened cubicles. The uneven and unstable rubble seeming as easy for the clerk to walk over as a newly paved sidewalk. Siegfried thrusts at Zachariah shoulder and flows out of the path of the sword while a sphere in saber form parries. Down below the bullets have little effect on the spinning saw blade. They either bounced off or missed as it evades. All the while the lethal disk continues to chase after the assassin. "You're an impressive mage, but I grow tired of your antics." "You're quite the knight yourself," Zachariah replies. "Though I think its time to stop playing around." He continues pulling out the letter opener and drawing the blade hard across his left palm. The polished blade comes out stained in red blood. Zachariah does not have time to go on the offensive as the Knight brings the ceiling down on him. The silver spheres expand and englobe Zachariah to shield him from the falling debris. The powerful swings from Siegfried dents the silver globe but not a single one pierces the silver membrane. Meanwhile down below the silver saw blade over flies the claymore. The blast rips through the disk and sends it up into the ceiling. The rest of the blast tears into the ceiling as well. Combined with the damage already inflicted by Siegfried the floor under Zachariah collapse down onto the next floor. The silver globe rolls off the pile of rubble and crashes through the flimsy cubicle walls as it distances itself from the hole it fell through. A diagonal gash forms in the globe facing the Assassin and three angry red daggers of aura fly out. The three red daggers are targeted at the Assassin's location and explode when caught by something, be it a floor, a body, or someone's hand. The silver globe separates back into two individual spheres. Visible in Zachariah's bleeding left hand are three more of the red daggers. The third sphere oozes out from the rubble and reforms itself into a sphere. It flattens itself back out into a spinning disk. Though it looks more like the business end of a weed eater than a saw blade, having sprouted a five long whip thin blades. |
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| Karas | Apr 7 2012, 12:41 AM Post #15 |
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Level 5 Commoner
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Mal picked himself up off the floor, coughing up the dust from the blast and ensuing rubble. He glanced over at the dust cloud, grinning like a loon. Finally, he'd finally taken the bastard do- His victorious thoughts were cut off as a trio of angry red daggers flew from the smoke. Mal pushed himself off in a desperate leap out of the way, even as Siegfried hurled his sword down through the floor of the landing above and knocked one away, setting it off in a blast of energy like a grenade. A second was caught in the blast, but the last one slammed into the ground right where Mal had been and exploded, catching Mal in the blast. The assassin cried out in pain as his pants leg was torn apart and blood blossomed from his leg. The blast through him through a set of cubicles to land hard on his shoulder, popping it out of socket. Malcolm hissed in pain and glared at the target. "Siegfried," he snarled, "Kill him. Now." Siegfried's gaze hardened and brought his sword up, hands beside his head and the blade pointed straight at the target. The brilliant silver blade began to glow brightly and Siegfried's eyes blazed with blue light. "Sing a song of victory," he proclaimed loudly, "Balmung!" His form blurred as the magic took hold, bringing the blade around in a spinning slash beyond the speed of sound. A scream like a falcon in a death defying dive pierced through the air, shattering all of the windows. But the wave of distortion that cut through the air at impossible speed towards the target did much more. It cleaved through all in its path, finally dissipating just behind the next building. And then the building began to fall, cut cleanly in half. |
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7:58 PM Jul 10