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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 28, 2012 13:33:51 GMT -5
*Just after Falcon Reach left Vuoto*
"Well, well, well... Isn't this something..." a shadowy figure said with a frown as it stared at the pillar of light before them. Reaching out a hand, he held it some distance from the pillar of mana and could feel the essence of it in turn reach out to him and mingle with his own power, he could feel his inner demons scrabbling to get a hold of it, but he swiftly locked that away and prevented it from gaining strength. The figure was garbed in a black overcoat that covered him from neck to ankles, a pair of black boots, black gloves and the hood of the coat pulled over his head, shading his face. The light from the pillar showed the bottom of his face and that was all.
"It is a pillar of pure mana..." A voice whispered inside of his head, almost in awe. "I have not seen so much raw energy concentrated in such a small place since the old times. Truly, a marvel. If you would only reach out and touch it..." The figure snorted aloud before thinking, speaking in a voice that only the inner beasts of his heart would here. "What? And grant you the power you need to restore yourself? No... I think I shall keep my hands firmly where they are." As if to reinforce this point, he dropped his hands to his sides. He had grown much stronger since the last time he had been in combat, he had learned to better control his inner feelings and demons, forcing it to work for him rather than against him.
"I guess I'll need to make preparations in advance, then..." He muttered with the slightest of nods as he already thought through his plans, thinking back, he remembered conducting a test, this was a hotspot of mana, one of many, the nearest from here would be... Alberisato, if his memory served him right, his home. From there on, whoever did this would probably travel the next nearest mana site, which was...
He felt something move nearby, he pulled on the reigns of his spirit and forced his demons to lend him the energy he needed. His hand pulsated in dark magic as he spun around and pointed his hand out, ready to blast whoever dare sneak up on him into oblivion, if they didn't have good reason.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 28, 2012 13:41:24 GMT -5
He'd forgotten how quietly he could move; he must've startled the cloaked figure when he'd gotten close enough for the other to finally notice his presence.
He held up his hands. "Whoah, whoa, I'm not an enemy!" he said, ears going back in surprise as he held still. "Not... not yet, anyway," he admitted.
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 28, 2012 14:05:06 GMT -5
"Kouichi?!" the figure thought, almost letting his guard down for the briefest of moments, then he remembered it had been a fair while since they had last seen one another, and even then, it had only been brief. He'd spent years pulling all of the strings and their respective puppets into place, using anonymous alias' to prevent anyone realizing that it was the former Saint who was secretly moving all of their pawns into their respective places. He couldn't just suddenly drop that facade now.
Instead, he kept the dark magic hovering dangerously close to Kouichi's face, making sure to pulsate out extra mana, more as a display of force rather than anything else.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 28, 2012 14:11:30 GMT -5
"That darkness is... wrong, somehow," he said unable to keep himself from blurting it out as he took a small step backwards. His posture became defensive, but he really, really didn't want to fight. Something was telling him, somehow, that this was not his enemy...
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 28, 2012 14:23:50 GMT -5
"Am I really so terrifying these days?" The figure said with a smile as the darkness at his hand faded away, before he reached up to his hood and pulled it down, revealing the trademark spiky blonde hair of Roxa Hiaten. "And the reason that the darkness feels wrong..." He said as he raised his hand to look at it. "Is because it was forced into doing my bidding, complete and ultimate control..." He turned to face the pillar of mana that stood behind them as well. "Of course there's this which was giving it an extra kick!" He motioned to the bright light.
Ave once again reached out in extremity, yearning to dive into the energy and become what he once was, but Roxa reigned him in once again and brought him to heel.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 28, 2012 15:34:12 GMT -5
Kouichi shok his head, smiling softly himself. "I'm sorry, Roxa," he said. "I didn't mean to be scared. And the reason it was wrong..." He tilted his head, his ears tilting as well to right angles from each other.
"The source itself is tainted," he said quietly. "Corrupted..."
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 28, 2012 17:04:17 GMT -5
"Corrupted, eh?" Roxa said with a small nod, as he turned away from the pillar to face the boy before him. "That's a new one..." He frowned in thought before posing a question to Kouichi "What do you make of all this? This pillar seems to be sucking the mana from the very air itself and gathering it all together into one condense, thick mass..." He crossed his arms against his chest, the swords and dagger beneath his overcoat clanking slightly as he did so. "In such concentrations, the mana could become unstable, it may even start to take physical shape and develop almost... Animalistic tendencies..."
He looked across at Kouichi "No offence."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 28, 2012 20:16:19 GMT -5
He chckled slightly as his tail twitched with amusement. "None taken," he said, coming a little closer. "I don't know... I was in the area and I heard what had happened, so I came here to look at it. I can't feel it, though; not like I can feel the darkness."
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 29, 2012 1:21:21 GMT -5
Roxa nodded, his eyes not moving from the pillar. "I'm not at all surprised." He said with a small smile "In this concentration? The mana would be... Well... A bit overwhelming. If you're surrounded by a really strong scent, it can become hard to pinpoint it's exact location, well, the ability to detect mana is sort of like a sixth sense to people like me and you. And mana as dense as this? I could sense it, but I couldn't pinpoint it here to Vuoto... Not without a little help."
"You're welcome, for that by the way." Ave rumbled, trying his best to sound menacing, despite how tightly Roxa had him chained down. Shut up." He thought in reply, before hearing the sound of Ave wincing in his head. "Oooh, I'm sorry, am I speaking to the cat-boy now? Me-owww..." Roxa couldn't help but smile. "That was possibly the campest thing you've ever said..."
"I try."
Roxa quickly shackled him away once more to let him know who was really in power before he looked across at Kouichi. "This doesn't bode well for the world... Either of them..." He motioned down to the base of the mana well where an odd looking device sat in the salt. "You get one guess as to where that's from."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 29, 2012 7:01:30 GMT -5
"I don't need to take it," he said, kneeling next to the source. "I know where this is from." He paused, poking hesitantly at it. "Looks Japanese," he mumbled.
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 30, 2012 9:41:35 GMT -5
"Well, it's definitely from Earth, we can both clarify that much... But whatever it is, it's highly advanced and it's highly dangerous." He frowned as he thought of all the possibilities that could become of mana in such a concentration. Any other small mission like this and he'd send notice to Gensayce or Riliath to send out a small squad of Kishu soldiers to check something out, but he was taking little to no chances underneath going himself. He had sent orders to both his 'generals' telling them to receive official permission from Ghiaccio and Ignis to go and check this out.
"I also have an assumption where the enemy will strike next." He said motioning to the landscape around him. "The fact that this spot here on this spit of salt is also a hotspot for mana, is far too convenient just to pass up. Others exist all over Allorum, the closest one in strength to here is more than likely in Alberisato, but the enemy will be well on the way there by now... I think it best if we try and track onwards, to try and direct our allies to the point just after Alberisato..."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 30, 2012 9:47:21 GMT -5
He thought for a moment, then pulled a map out of his pack. "Looks like... either Guasto, or Ketulunanox. From there... Roccia, Ignis, or again, Ketulunanox from Guasto, or Ignis from Ketulunanox... they could also hop across the sea to Chalybs or Santo-Luce, and from there to Unda...."
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 30, 2012 11:56:04 GMT -5
"Everyone will gather at Alberisato." Roxa said, without even thinking, he knew that Riliath and Gensayce would be there at his orders. But as soon as word got around that this was spreading, the heroes themselves would start to mobilize, and once that started, the royals would take notice and start sending either representatives or maybe even head off on their own accord.
"And I would bet you anything, a party forms there." He said with a firm nod.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on May 30, 2012 12:06:20 GMT -5
Kouichi nodded as well, tail swishing back and forth in thought, stirring up small clouds of dust. "But from there, it'll be follow-the-leader. Someone needs to pre-empt their movements, get ahead of them in order to cut them off... that's what Kouji would say, if he were here. It depends on how quickly they strike, too; we can't underestimate their mobility, especially if they're from Earth." He paused, then amended, "Especially if they're from Earth, and they can use magic. Who knows what else they've made with the technology behind this?" His tail swished to indicate the device.
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Post by King Roxa Hiaten on May 30, 2012 12:59:22 GMT -5
"If they're using magic, we can assume that they'll be able to move at intense speeds, all the more reason for us to move ahead of them." Roxa said with a nod before sighing "I wish that I could get involved properly, go ahead now and intervene when possible... But I have other duties to be attending to. Other situations that will need my assistance.
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