Colin's posts

"....yuh-huh." Ryker muttered in disbelief.

"Sure." he said.

"Look, you made it halfway up. That's impressive." he told him.

"But you don't have to do this all on your own." he said further.

"Seriously. Let me help. Grab onto my back and rest for a bit. Or... well, as much as you can while clinging onto me." he clarified.

"Mmhmm." he responded.

"You're the perfect combination to deal with this sort of thing." he told her.

"But still. Sit for a minute." he said further.

"Wait until the world stops spinning." he suggested.

"Regardless, are you all right?" he asked.

"Seems like I intervened just in time."

"Indeed." he replied.

He then looked around, before sheathing his sword again, and causing his wings to disappear.

"Mortals usually can't handle that." he said.

"You're taking it far better than most would." he then commented.

"Probably because of what you are, and what your mana is." he went on.

Once she had all her things, he waited until she was close to him. Once she was almost touching him, he took his blade out and jammed it down into the ground beneath then. They then both disappeared in a bolt of lightning, appearing in her den.

In the blink of an eye, essentially.

"We're here." he said.

"You might want to sit for a minute." he told her.

He then removed his blade from... what was now their floor.

The man was silent, before looking around.

"Quite frankly, I'm amazed nobody came to investigate after this long." he muttered.

"Your mana seems out of whack." he told her.

"..." he was then silent as he saw the feather in her hair, before shaking his head.

"I know where you live." he said.

"Want me to bring you home?" he asked.

What happened in that time, not even Aimee was sure of. When the man had slashed through her attackers, it looked like she saw their souls, screaming in agony, forcibly ejected from their bodies, and rocketed skyward. After that, the circle seemed to engulf their bodies and reduce them to nothing.

Literally nothing. Not even ashes or cinders remained.

The man then sheathed his sword, and walked over towards Aimee.

"...well then." he said.

"They certainly did not hold their grudge back." he commented, holding up an orb of mana in his hand.

"This will hurt." he told her.

"But endure it and you'll be healed. Mostly."

"...right then." Ryker said.

"Y'still got spunk, I'll give you that." he said further.

He then proceeded to follow Eke up the cliff, as he looked around, and saw that the storm was just as bad as it seemed.

"Geez." he muttered.

"This is insane." he said.

"If this keeps up, that pond's gonna flood."

The other were following her cue, and summoning their own mana as well, and Aimee could see that it was a frightening amount of potent mana. They all then launched a barrage of their mana towards the man, and it all hit him square in his chest...

...where they all promptly either dissipated or fizzled into nothing.

"And thus, you have chosen how you wish to be judged." the man said.

He then let the tip of his blade fall to the ground, and a line of pure mana sped out from it, encircling the group that had attacked Aimee. By all rights, it appeared to be nothing more than a chalk outline of a circle, but with mana.

"Listen here, you-" the leader started to say, walking towards the man, only to become frozen in place when he tried to step over the line. The others noticed that they couldn't use their mana to teleport either, as they were trying.

The man then glowed for a moment, as gorgeous white feathered wings erupted from his back. He brought up his sword and held horizontally in front of him, the flat of the blade facing outwards (and inwards). He pressed his palm against the base of the flat of the blade, and ran it up to the tip, causing what looked to be floating runes of raw pure mana to swirl around it, before they 'attached' to the weapon.

"Make your peace now." he said.

"What...!? What is happening!?" one of the group exclaimed.

Ryker kept up, and stayed where he was, looking at Eke.

"You good?" he asked.

"I can see you're tired." he went on.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked further.

He looked further up the cliff, before sighing.

"Just lemme know if you want a boost." he added, gesturing to his back.

The orb never reached Aimee. In fact, what it struck was the blade of the sword that the man had unsheathed... far quicker than anyone would have thought. Nobody even saw him take it out and stab at the orb as it flew.

"..." he was silent as the electricity seemed to spark around the blade, but dissipated soon after.

"Who the hell ARE you!?' the leader demanded of him.

"...oh, sinners." the man began. "...you who test the infinite known as the almighty's patience. You who foster hatred and strife amongst living things. You who show the barbaric and ignorant side of your species..." he went on. "...you have little time to repent for your sins, and pray that your souls will be granted far more forgiveness than I will show." he told them further, bringing his blade forth and pointing the tip at them.

"...the fu-...?" the leader muttered in sheer irritated bewilderment, before the man continued.

"Feel the vengeance of one whose patience is infinite." he said, as the blade started to glow.

Just as they group was about to close in and finish her, the rune started to glow brightly and vividly.

"What the!?" one asked.

"Stop her!" the leader yelled, as the light of the summoning rune started to rise up. However, before anyone could say or do anything more, the rune started to glow blindly bright, and a massive bolt of white-hot lightning came crashing down from the seemingly clear sky. It illuminated the entire area for a few seconds, and when everyone got a chance to see once more, they saw a towering man with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail standing between them and Aimee.

He looked imposing and muscularly impressive, and was wearing little more than casual pants, a casual shirt, and common shoes. The two things that stood out about him were his piercing blue eyes, and the sheathed sword that went horizontally across the small of his back.

In Aimee's eyes, he was almost the spitting image of the one that had saved her from the fire.

"..." he was silent, as he looked upon the group, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Eesh, brutal." the leader muttered.

"You disagree with her method?" another asked.

"No, was just commenting." the leader shrugged.

The one with the daggers then stepped forward.

"I was told these can cause the maximum amount of pain... but won't kill. Not until I want them, to." he said.

"...I just need to be careful." he went on, approaching Aimee.

The one she had referred to stepped forward and brandished a pair of daggers, one glowing blue, the other glowing red. And they had serrated edges on them.

"Oh, yeah." he said.

"Been meaning to REALLY test out what these puppies can do." he told them, which caused the group to laugh for a few seconds.

"All right, all right." the leader said.

"We can have SOME fun." he relented.

"We should probably ensure her silence, though."

"Ah-ah-AH." one of them said.

"Noooo teleporting away." they told her as the group started to advance.

"We're all of various different elements... so the barrage we sent to you should screw with your nerves." they went on.

"Especially HER electric mana." they added, gesturing to the female in the group.

"She's got potent mana. I'm sure your nerves aren't doing a thing you tell them to." they added with a laugh.