Skies of Arcadia, the wings that killed adolescence

[GamerKale]

Mimiru returned to find that the green haired man had somehow acquired a harem, complete with a eunuch it seemed. Not that this mattered in the least to her goals, but the delay was unnecessary as he could just as easily continue doing this later, assuming he survived and if he did not then it made no difference, and the battle should not take more than a minute of his time regardless. She stood behind him, sipping her coffee a moment as she let him reach the end of a topic of conversation with his associates before she spoke up. "My patience is finite, Templar. Have you yet to complete your business with this caravan?"

[Zorolo]

Zorlo chuckled to himself as Kamille started talking to Ken. The knight slinked back to speak with Nephilim. He was returning home for the first time in a while, but he probably wouldn't have time to stop in and see his parents. Part of that made him feel slightly dismayed, but he was on a mission, and collecting Nephilim was important to his mission. He returned the pink-haired woman's side and smiled.

"Sounds like you really like the college of Winterhold. I've been there... once or twice... mostly when I was younger. My mom and dad brought me there to see it in hopes I'd go there one day. Things did not work out so well... but so far, things haven't been too awful either," the green-haired man said with a chuckle as he cracked his neck. "Anyway, my dear, would you allow me to walk you there? Preferably before the crazy woman with swords decides she wants to duel now," he told her, scratching his cheek. Zorlo did NOT want to have to fight against that woman with so many people around... or period, but mostly with other people around.

It was at that point he heard what he didn't wish to... the female samurai had already snuck up on him. Dammit! he thought as he turned towards her and sighed. "... you know, you could always duel with that guy," he said, pointing at Kenneth. "He said something about being a really good fighter. Plus, I'm here on Templar business, like I said. Why are you so intent on fighting with me?" he asked, being mildly frustrated with her constant attempts to fight him.

"But if we really must fight, let's got some place where there are less people so that no one will get harmed. How about that?"

[GamerKale]

Mimiru nodded her assent. Personally she didn't care, the only way civilians would get hurt by her is if the Zorlo attempted to use them as a shield. "I am on a journey to perfect my art. You completely avoided harm from my first attack, that makes you a challenge. And if I do not challenge myself constantly then I will never perfect my art. Had you not defended yourself earlier, we would be done already." She said matter of factly and sipped her coffee as she followed the templar. "So, first blood then or do you wish to go to the death?"

[Zorolo]

Zorlo sighed. "There's no way I can be found in a duel to the death, so first blood. Do you want me to remove my armor while we're at it so that we can REALLY speed this up?" he asked her, chuckling as he moved away from the crowds. "Or would your rather I keep it on so you'll have to find a weak point in my defense?" the fencer asked as he rested his left hand on the hilt of his sword and drew it. "Anyway, let's get this over with, ya?" he asked, preparing to duel with this woman.

[GamerKale]

"As you said, let's get this over with." Mimiru placed her coffee down and drew her blades which gleamed green in the sunlight, something they had not done earlier and after a moment Mimiru's skin gained a similar sheen. Apparently this is where the rumors of she and her weapons being made of jade came from. As for precisely what was causing it and how it affected her, that was unclear. What was clear was while she had agreed to first blood that didn't mean she was going to stop aiming for Zorlo's vitals as her initial strike was practically identical to her first attack on the templar, although how she used her wakizashi was different. She slashed at his abdomen with it, too low for him to simultaneously parry the katana aimed at his throat, it drew a long furrow into the armor revealing that she might not need to aim for his weak points to draw blood. And there was no delay as she struck for his vitals again. This time Bear came down for his right arm and she jabbed for his liver with her wakizashi, apparently intent on punching through his armor with the tip of the shorter blade.

[Zorolo]

"Interesting," Zorlo said as he snapped his fingers with his free hand. A blue light outlined him slightly as he shifted and blocked her longer sword with his rapier. He shifted slightly and used his bracer to parry her other sword with his free hand. The fencer shifted under the samurai's blade and stepped back to put some distance between the two of them as he began to lash out. His blade moved quick like the wind in a number of brief lunges. If nothing else, they'd effectively unbalance her.

[GamerKale]

It seemed like the rapid series of attacks did throw Mimiru onto the defensive, however she had no problem doing defense and offense at the same time. Once, she didn't block and instead stepped into his attack and stopped with the very tip of Tsukasa resting against his chest piece and Bear having just clipped off part of one of his bracers. "Well done. When I've gotten better I'll come find you for a rematch." The jade sheen vanished from her skin as she stepped back and sheathed her blades. A glimmer of red could be seen on the templar's sword as it came out from the mass of robes. Mimiru picked up her coffee and wandered off to look for a new hat and a new challenge.

[Zorolo]

"She was strong. I need to be careful... if she'd been some kind of a skilled killer, I'd be really dead right now. Or if she sneaks up on me. No matter how I look at it, I've gotta not put myself in so much gods damn danger," Zorlo stated as he wiped the tip of his sword clean and walked off towards where Nephilim was. "I'm sorry about that wanton violence. She wanted me to duel, so I finally obliged her. At least now maybe she won't point that sword at me again."

[Konpeki Ken Kitsune]

"Don't get your hopes up Zorlo, "A wolf doesn't leave a sheep with just a scratch. He will come back until his belly is filled"" Kenneth said in a glum voice. He still wasn't too keen about going back to Glacia. "Believe me if she can't find a tastier sheep she will stick to what she's tasted so far, catch my drift? Just a fair warning." Kenneth patted Zorlo on the shoulder as he spoke.

[Kaori]

Kamille and Fina stood there silently as they watched the whole thing unfold, "what was that all about?" asked Kamille as Zorlo returned to the group, Fina however tried to ask Ken again, "so why are you so afraid of being here in Glacia?" Fina asked ken, "there you two are" said a familiar voice, it was Rami, he then noticed Zorlo, "hang on, you're that guy from the sierra madre affair" he exclaimed, "and who's your friend?" he added.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo face-palmed and sighed. "Okay, okay, one question at a time. First of all, that woman with the green, flowing robes just wanted to duel me once. Now that that's over, hopefully she'll leave me alone. That, or if she does continue following me, it's in the vain hope that other stronger people are trying to find me. As for who this is, her name is Nephilim," ZOrlo said as he held his hand out towards her. "That other guy right there is named Kenneth, I think. The woman that just attacked me was Mimiru. Now that that's over, what brings you two here?" Zorlo asked with a chuckle.

[nekoryuuha]

That was.... Kinda terrifying... Nephilim thought to herself as she watched The fight conclude and Mimiru walk off. Though it brought up bad memories, Nephilim quickly shoved them right back down, betraying no fear to the others. Something she'd gotten good at doing these past year. From there, she turned her attention back to Kamille, Fina, and now Rami as well, her usual smile in place. "My apologies, I never introduced myself to you. I'm Nephilim Grapha of House Grapha. It's nice to meet you all," she replied to them with a small bow before looking back to Zorlo. "And no, I wouldn't mind you escorting me to Winterhold, though I fear I won't be there very long for now."

[Kaori]

"Nice to meet you all" said Fina with a smile, "Investigating a case on behalf of the OZ, I'd love to explain it but I don't want to do it here" replied Rami, "we could talk at my ship, the Ptolemaios, I'll be heading there now" he added as he left the group, "you guys tagging along for this?" asked Kamille with a grin, "although I'm pretty sure there's no pay, unless you're busy then maybe later" she added.

as Rami entered the ship he was greeted by otto, "welcome back sir, how did the meeting go?" asked otto, "hm? Oh it went rather well" replied Rami, even though otto is his subordinate the two are good friends that he usually talks to Rami informally, "get the engines running, we're going to Yafutoma" added Rami, "now sir?" asked otto, "later, I just want the engine to be ready so we may depart with haste" replied Rami.

[Zorolo]

"Generally I'd go with you all... but for now, I'm on official Templar business. I can't linger too long. I'm sure we'll meet up again. Although, I do believe that you can use Kenneth and Mimiru, so feel free to conscript them," Zorlo stated with a chuckle. "After all, they're quite interesting. Nephilim and I shall meet up with you soon. That and getting Kenneth out of here is seems like a good idea."

Zorlo smiled at Nephilim and nodded. "Yes, I would love to visit Winterhold COllege with you. It'll be a good way for me to look through a handful of old manuals from the Original Templars. That'll be the easy way to go about learning a bit more about the previous orders."

[GamerKale]

"A templar, how unpredictable. Too many variables here. Still, he served his purpose regardless, I got to see her highness in action. I can't take any chances with her." A black robed figure slipped into the shadows and followed after Mimiru.

The swordswoman was looking in a mirror and trying on a variety of hats when she noticed a dozen people in oversized robes and moving jerkily towards her. She paid the owner for her new hat and stepped outside of the shop to face what were probably thugs working for a bounty. "You should all head home. If you try to kill me, you are all going to die." They each drew a bloodied rusty meat cleavers and that's when she heard the creaking, the skeletal hands helped identify them as inhuman too. They half charged half stumbled towards her, it was insulting really. She drew her blades as she stepped past their "weapons". Green vapors rose up from half the shrouds as the corpses fell to the ground behind her, her skin and swords had that jade sheen again made all the more apparent as a purple light shone like a second sun for several seconds behind her. There was a massive thud, followed by screaming as a colossal skeletal monster appeared, crushing several buildings.

Mimiru's brow furrowed as she turned, the remaining half of the human skeletons fell just as the first half did as she faced this new menace. "Anima, the ship crusher. Only one known user, it's creator, the mage Varicose. One of the highest bounties in this region of the sky. May you ever find what you're looking for..." Anima swung one of it's car sized fists at Mimiru, it was surprisingly fast for being so large, she barely got a yellow barrier up in time and she was pretty sure it didn't even slow the monster's attack down. The blow sent her rolling over the edge of the nearby bridge. She had one hand barely holding onto the edge, the other holding Tsukasa, and Bear was precariously balanced on her feet. She stuck the wakizashi in her mouth and pulled herself up, catching her katana before it fell into the sky. She readied herself and, now prepared for it's speed, jumped out of the next swing's path. The green magic permeating through Mimiru's body was furiously trying to knit her back together after the bone breaking blow and so she was on the defensive until she could locate Varicose or come up with some way of taking out the monolithic monstrosity menacing Mimiru and mashing the metropolis.
((I like alliteration.))

[nekoryuuha]

"Great!" Nephilim replied as they were walking off. They were just getting to the Winterhold University when Anima appeared before Mimiru. Nephilim stopped dead in her her tracts as she, for lack of a better term, 'felt' the wash of Silver from the creature. She spun to look at it, attracted by the Silver Magics, before walking toward it. She didn't understand it. Why did she feel such an attraction to this...?

"NEPHILIM!!" That snapped her out of it as her foot slipped forward off of an edge. Her arms windmilled a moment as she turned to the older man walking behind Zorlo. But by that that point, she was already too far off balance to stay on and soon found herself falling. The Man sighed as he handed Zorlo the crystalline sphere he was holding before walking to ledge to look down.


((I'll unveil what happened in my next post! Stay tuned! lol))

[Zorolo]

"Hmm... well, looks like I failed THAT mission," Zorlo stated as he looked at Anima and sighed. "Well, today's just full of problems. First that crazy woman decides she wants to fight me. Then I find my target and she falls off the edge of the city into the clouds. Now there's a giant skeleton thing rampaging about. I guess I'll have to at LEAST kill that thing. If I don't, then I won't have anything to explain to the order," Zorlo said as he sighed and began to glow blue again.

The green haired man vanished and appeared standing on the hulking creatures shoulder as he looked at Mimiru. "You really are a troublesome woman, you know that," Zorlo stated as the creature attempted to swat him, only to hit thin air. The fencer now stood on Anima's head with his sword in hand and a his other over his face. "Still, I guess my Templar training will pay off today. Templar Silver weapons are designed to slay undead... even things like this... Well, maybe not in one strike, but," Zorlo said as he stabbed his sword into the creature's head before vanishing to evade its hands attempting to catch him.

A glow emanated from the rapier in the thing's head as it began to shake slightly. "Hmm... taking longer than usual. Then again, that thing is larger than most undead and demons I've killed. Still..." he said, noticing the sparks erupting from Anima's head. "His body is beginning to fall apart. I'll try to keep him busy and you deal with whatever is controlling him... if anything is," Zorlo stated with a sigh as he shifted a foot back and began to prepare for battle again.

[GamerKale]

It's strong, fast, and tough and apparently not vulnerable to whatever it was he was trying to do, and is almost entirely focused on crushing me. Not good, at this rate exhaustion will be the death of me if I don't come up with something quickly. Wait, this is a country fill of powerful magic users. All I have to do is keep running until they get here. I can last a few minutes. I have to wonder, why is it called the ship crusher? I mean, sure, if it gets it's hands on a ship I'm sure it would crush it, but how hard is it to stay out of that thing's reach in the sky? Anybody should be able to outmaneuver that thing and either run or hammer it until it falls.

The templar's trying to disrupt my Anima, you'd think that with the numbers of hunters who have come after me somebody would have learned. There's nothing a little speck like a human can do to stop my creation. Then again, that requires survivors. Oh well, he doesn't matter. Just the green woman. A voice echoes from every direction. "Anima, OBLITERATE!" It only took a second for the magic to coalesce into a cart sized orb in front of it's face, which was notably pointed directly at Mimiru who had been trying to keep her distance to avoid it's arms, and then it unleashed a cone of force that leveled buildings and carved a valley in the ground as it raced for Mimiru. She did the only thing she could run off the edge.

The speed, range, and massive area covered meant there was no way to dodge, even if she could fly, and the power made it impossible to block, hide from, or even try to weather, a perfect attack. The swordswoman had to admire it as she tried to catch herself on the side of the island with her swords, but the attack caused the stones to shake so much she couldn't get any traction especially since a beam of destruction seemed to chase her as she fell, and then the inverted tower was out of reach and Mimiru sheathed her weapons. They had served her well, this was simply an impossible enemy for the unfinished mastery of her art. "Next time, I will be perfect."

And that does it for the great princess of jade, she did survive Anima's ferocity for a full minute, that's almost a new record. Come my pet. Thought Varicose as the shadows enveloped him, the monstrosity erupted into violet flames and faded from existence, the only thing that remained to prove the thing had actually been there was the destruction the monster had wrought.

[Kaori]

((could you guys just go on without me for a bit? My great grandmother died and I'm gonna go mourn for a while, my characters will be in their ship in the meanwhile, sorry if this troubles you guys.))

[nekoryuuha]

((I know what that's like, Kaori. Please, take your time. I don't find this to be troublesome at all.))


As Mimiru fell, she managed to impact something soft in the air to was forced against her back, making them tumble. Several pinkish feathers blew past in the wind, making the first though that she'd hit a bird of some kind, but what ever was against her was too bid. The feminine gasp following confirmed that Mimiru had hit someone rather than something. Thin, light skinned arms hugged around the fighter's chest as they straightened out, a grunt of effort coming from the person on her back, before they seemed to start gliding rather then falling. "...Hggnnn.... Maybe... this wasn't a good idea...." came a strained, but familiar voice as pinkish wings flapped twice to keep them airborne and Junk fell around them, but at a safe distance. Though it sounded ...smaller... then earlier it wasn't hard to tell it was the Girl from earlier that the Templar, Zorlo had been looking for. It was Nephilim, though some rather drastic changes had happened at some point to her.