the air quivers as she is breathing hard amidst the torn corpses of lesser Scytherits her combat fatigues hang torn from her thin frame, her hands shaking and her throat raw.
The talon beast before her is category 2, its chitin exoskeleton and fur covered flesh gleam in the strange twilight of the evening sun, its long sickle like talons are covered in blood... her blood. It lets out a chittering, challenging roar
“im... not done” she whispers ragged
The creature charges, slashes, she steps to the side, her knee giving, the high pitched shriek of her shrieking lance ends in a wet bloody cough as the spell punches a finger thick hole in its leg.
Ability: Shrieking Lance (Sound)
(sonic, focus, trauma)
Base cost: low to moderate
Current rank: Category 1
Cooldown: short.
Cat 1, Focused Wail: I can carve a scream into a spear, a single lance of sound that strikes out. On impact, the target shudders from shock, internal rupture, and temporary deafness. One path, one projectile. Not just sound, a scream sharp like a blade
Her head feels like a nail is punched through her eyeball as her mana nearly bottoms out again.
The Talon beast stumbles back but then comes for her again a its talons cut her shoulder, nearly severing her arm. Why is she still fighting? The question grabs her heart. She isn't supposed to fight... not supposed to survive. Even her own mother wants her dead. So why cant she die like her family wants her to?
Another strike and a claw, cutting her armoured west like paper, nearly guts her. She hears the school behind her collapse, her enhanced perception picking up the crying prayer of the children.
Melissas scream is not pain... its refusal, its sorrow, hate and so much more. Pain nearly knocks her out as she feeds her life-force in to the Banshees Wail and the backlash rakes her very soul.
Ability: Banshee’s Wail (banshee)
(Soul attack, Necrotic, Sound)
Base cost: high mana
Current rank: Category 1
Cooldown: medium
Cat 1, Dirge Unleashed: The Wail ripped through flesh, bone, and soul alike. Dealing massive damage in a cone. Survivors stumbled, deaf and panicked, they did not hear it, they broke against it. The first time I screamed, the air itself tore.
Suffering the echo: I can pour more of myself in to the wail, parts, that will miss me. It amplify my wail, heightens the effect exponential. But I also suffer its echo, my own soul raked by its note. I feel the weight, what sound can do when it forgets to stop.
The Beast shudders, groans in pain, shaking in agonies as the force of the wail hits not only its body but also its fake soul construct. Even as it falls dead to the ground she hears the next wave approach. She laughs. A raspy sound. three more...
“come on then... I have more” she forces out, spitting blood.
She gets up, no stance, no posture... only will
the monsters get ready. Sensing an easy kill. They shrieks, one charges. Melissas scream is defiant. Her combat knife in hand she stands between the monsters... and those without the power to fight back.
Before it can reach her something meets it mid charge. The impacts makes the air shudder. The Talon beast is not only stopped but knocked over like a bowling pin.
Between her and the monsters stands a mountain of a man. His bulking physique shows massive arms, a thick neck and a barrel like chest she has so never seen on an essence magician. The sword over his shoulder has a equally ridiculous size and looks more like a oversized cleaver than a weapon made for fighting
“Who the hell” she starts but he interrupts “you're loud” “yeah? And you're late!” she snaps back, feeling more confident now that she feels his category 2 aura strengthening her.
Ability: Berserker’s Might (Might)
(Aura, strength buff, combat recovery)
Base cost: none
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Current rank: Bronze
Cooldown: none
Iron, Inspiring Presence: Aura provides minor bonus melee damage and slight health/stamina regeneration for self and nearby allies.
Bronze, Crimson Resolve: Bonuses increase, melee damage stronger, health/stamina recovery higher. Allies gain minor knockback and stagger resistance.
He snorts before giving her a charming smile that feels lost in his gruff blond beard. His blue eyes scan her but then fix the monster again. He throws something her way and she catches the category 2 mana potion. “drink, Virelle will take care of your wounds” “who?” she asks as she sees the thorned, crimson vine move from under his shirt, stretching, seeking corpses that have still life force left while reaching for her “my familiar”
Ability: Bloodseeker Vine (Blood)
(Blood, summon, sustain & support)
Base cost: extreme stamina/mana
Current rank: Bronze
Cooldown: extreme
Iron, Crimson Sprout: Summons a small bloodseeker Vine as a familiar to the Berserker, providing minor bonus to all healing effects. Can attack one nearby enemy for light necrotic damage and a life drain effect.
Bronze, Sanguine Tendril: Vine grows longer, striking multiple nearby enemies. Life drained is returned to the Berserker and can be shared with adjacent allies. Symbiosis healing bonus increases.
is all the explanation he can give as the monsters move again.
He moves to intercept as she downs the potion feeling mana flooding her body. Two lunge at him as the third goes for her. He doesn't dodge, doesn't parry, lets one hit him and uses the impact to move. The cleaver arcs up and around, cutting the other beast nearly in half.
“You're insane!” Melissa yells before jumping to the side and using her spectral body to doge the leap of her foe. Spectral Strike raking its back but the inherent resistance of a category 2 against category 1 attacks make her progress slow. “im efficient” he grins through blood as his melee intensifies.
She weaves, dances through swings and lunges of her beast, making it hard for the little plant familiar to latch on to her, but she feels its effect, the life force it pushes in to her, healing her wounds. His style is the complete opposite of her, where she avoids any physical contact with the creature, he seems to seek it, moving in to swings, letting them bite or hit him and with each hit he seems to get stronger, faster, more dangerous while each of his attacks fills him with life force, healing the wounds the beasts carve on him.
She lures her foe, brings it closer to the other two while the man holds their attention. She holds her hand out and make a downwards motion like pushing down. her voice takes on an eery whisper as she chants “Beneath the veil, all sorrows fall”
Gravitide Silence falls like a blanket over the area.
Ability: Gravitide Silence (Force)
(gravity manipulation, silence, battlefield control)
Base cost: Moderate mana
Current rank: Category 1
Cooldown: long.
Cat 1, Gravitide Silence: I call forth a silence, heavy enough to slow the world. Arrows falter, footsteps drag, whispers die on their lips. The air around me feels like underwater, disorienting and muted. I do not stop moving, but I remind the world to rest.
The spell has only a minor effect on the Category two monsters but it has an effect, as silence weighs down on the area they become a tiny bit slower, no more than a moment, but in battles like this one, moments add up.
He picks up on her efforts to cluster and slow them, lifting his leg he stomps down Rend the Earth explodes beneath his feet, cracking the ground, staggering two of the beasts and throwing one to the ground.
Ability: Rend the Earth (Might)
(Area control, crowd control, disruptive force)
Base cost: Moderate
Current rank: Bronze
Cooldown: Medium
Iron, Earthshatter Stomp: Stomps the ground, releasing a small shockwave that staggers or briefly knocks down enemies. Deals minor physical and disruptive-force damage and can interrupt enemy actions.
Bronze, Cracking Ruin: Shockwave radius increases, dealing more damage and stagger. Cracked terrain and slows movement, creating difficult terrain.
She takes a deep breath, and wails, even without the sacrifice, Banshees Wail produces a bone shattering scream that hits all three beasts in a cone in front of her. Its her strongest power and the only one that does reliable damage against a category 2. the Monsters whimper and whine as their ears and eyes bleed from the concussive force and bones crack from the vibrations.
In tandem to her wail he acts, bringing the giant cleaver around in wide arc, Haemorrhagic Wave produces a crescent red wave, like a blade of blood that slices through the beasts.
Ability: Hemorrhage Wave (Blood)
(Blood, area attack, sustain)
Base cost: Moderate stamina/mana
Current rank: Bronze
Cooldown: Medium
Iron, Crimson Sweep: Performs a single sweeping slash, sending a shortrange wave of blood. Deals moderate physical and necrotic damage. Each enemy struck restores a small portion of the Berserker’s health.
Bronze, Haemorrhagic Wave: Wave extends farther, affects multiple enemies in a wider arc. Damage and healing scale with enemies hit. Enemies suffer bleeding damage.
Two of them are bisected, the third suffering a deep gash over chest and shoulder. A loud shrieking lance hits its head, then a second hits the same point, before the third drills a hole in its skull.
Silence reigns as the last beast falls. The sound of combat in the distance fades in the background as Melissa drops to her knees, her breath going hard, she tastes blood and bile in the back of her throat. “I'm Alexander. Alexander J?ger. But most people just call me Alex.” the big man smiles as he offers her a hand. She looks up, finally recognizing him. Her voice a rasping whisper “your the Berserker? From the German network? I heard you went to Australia and learned from the outworlders just to be poached by the Roman branch?” “yes... and you are quite the Banshee.”
