Jet was down. He was vulnerable. She could bash his head in, or hold him there for Sessrumnir to snap his neck. They could avenge Empyrean, and Sheikh. They could put an end to Jet here, now, before Jet had the chance to hurt anyone else.
Ganymede staggered when the loss of her second wing finally hit her. With pain like this… Surely she’d lost more than a wing. Surely her back had been ripped open and set on fire. She drew air into her lungs, sharply, then heaved. The wooden rung had not felt so heavy when she scooped it off the stairs, but now she could barely hold it. Her arms shook. She lurched forward and almost fell over Jet.
Aquamarine was still behind her. Jet was vulnerable, but while he was down, Aquamarine was the bigger threat.
Right. Aquamarine first, she told herself. She was going to make Jet watch, wasn’t she? Watch Aquamarine hurt. Watch him bleed. Watch him cry and beg. Watch Ganymede cave his pretty face in.
She turned and swung as hard as she could, legs gone wobbly beneath her.
It’s just magic, Aquamarine agreed. Jet’s thoughts were frantic, but Aquamarine forced himself to remain calm. It’ll end soon. You’ve felt this before. It hurts, and then it ends. She’s running out of power.
Twice. According to their information, that was her limit on this magic. Twice she’d used it on Jet, years ago when he was a young Lieutenant. Twice she’d used it when she and her people invaded the Dark Kingdom. If they kept her from using her crystal, she had nothing left but weak distractions.
Not much longer, Aquamarine thought.
He blocked Ganymede’s swing, then the next, let her waste energy as she hissed and cried and heaved. Her aim was worsening, her strength waning, but still she kept coming, shouting wordlessly, shrieking her anger and pain into the frigid air.
Slowly, Jet’s thoughts began to calm.
Aquamarine caught Ganymede’s glorified stick with Jet’s staff, shoved her back, and thought, Switch!
I know, I know, Jet hissed through the earrings they shared. He felt weak and his whole body shook. Ganymede’s magic seemed stronger somehow, or maybe it was just because he was so exhausted. He might have been given decent food while he was there, but it didn’t fix the lack of heat or plumbing or medical care that he needed to get well.
Shakily, Jet pushed himself to his feet as Aqua called for them to switch. He summoned the staff to his hand and glared darkly at Ganymede as she swung at Aquamarine.
Teleport, he growled through his thoughts, already preparing a swing as he used his waning energy to switch positions with Aquamarine. He swung the bladed staff down hard at Ganymede’s makeshift weapon, making contact with it and shattering it to pieces.
Sunshine Alouette
Guine
Crew
Lonely Explorer
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Kyuseisha no Hikari
Crew
Dragonslaying Dragon
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 7:06 am
Quote:
Mont Saint Michel, Knight of Saturn - Slashed by Cymophane's magic and bleeding more/knocked to the ground by Bloodstone's weapon. Landed on his weapon so got up and his swinging it at them while trying to keep a bit of distance
Michel couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake, not inasmuch as what damage he had taken. His vision had returned but his eyes still felt dry and sensitive. His back hurt, where he’d had some sort of blunt impact. His neck hurt, there had been blood. The claws weren’t real. He’d seen enough magic to know that. He just didn’t know how much damage they were leaving, and the adrenaline coursing through him made it impossible to tell what had stopped hurting because the magic was gone and what had stopped hurting because his body decided he didn’t need to know.
Which was fine. It’s not like he was going to die here or anything.
Kamacite was in the room. And Faustite.
Somewhere.
There was blood on his chest, and a splitting pain from this ******** youma. Did it belong to the General he was fighting? Did he care about it?
How strong did it have to be not to be dust right now?
What did–
Bloodstone’s weapon collided into his side, and Michel had been fixated on the other target. His footing was bad and he’d been caught off guard–stupid–and was knocked to the ground a few feet away.
The palms of his hands burned from where he tried to catch himself, and the breath had been knocked from him–either from the weapon or the ground, he couldn’t remember. It had all been so fast. He was seeing stars–or was that Kamacite’s magic still?
He was disoriented, but if there was a silver lining to any of this, it’s that the sharp piece of metal poking into his leg was his clock hand. His big, stupid, not-sharp-enough excuse for a weapon.
He’d been happy to work with his fists, but maybe it was a good idea to have something to keep a bit of distance between them, especially if his summon was out of the picture. He pushed himself back up, a little sloppy. He was a bit disoriented, but Michel wasn’t going to stay on the ground and make himself an easy target.
It must have only been a few seconds between when he landed and when he was up again; he swung his weapon–would have thrown it like a harpoon if he could have summoned it back to him–but if all he could do was keep them away while he recalibrated, it would be enough.
Fine in that she wasn’t dying. Fine in that she wasn’t injured beyond repair. Fine in that she could still move, still fight, still try to figure out something. That didn’t mean she wasn’t in pain, or bleeding. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a little more cautious the next time she came at the dog youma.
Only, the dog youma slipped into the deeper shadows at the edges of the room. With his form, he could blend in almost seamlessly. Perdita searched for him, peering here and there, looking for the tiny speckles that seemed like starlight.
The Void was broken; there would be no immediate repairs. If they were lucky, they could find some way to piece it together, to replace the damaged parts once they had time to reassess.
-
Quote:
Guardian Cat Lucasta - Directing Perdita and Oberon away from the Void, which is about to explode.
They would not be so lucky.
The dog ruined what little Lucasta and Oberon had been able to accomplish. The bugs took care of what was left. The machine sputtered again. Gears ground to a halt. Stones split and shattered. Sparks shot out in multiple directions, striking the floor, the walls, the Senshi and the Mauvian.
At this point, all they could hope for was that the resulting blast took out both youma.
“Out!” Lucasta said. “Out, now!”
Another vicious spark sent her scampering. She darted out of the room and into the hall just as the Void began to crackle and pop its way into an explosion.
Cymophane jumped back and dodged a swing from the Knight’s weapon. He was fine with the distance. It meant he had a few seconds to catch his breath. The Knight wouldn’t be going anywhere anyway, not with Cymophane and Bloodstone blocking his escape.
If this guy hadn’t been such an a*****e to Kamacite, Cymophane might have felt bad for him. He could even excuse all the blood and bruising he was going to have to take care of once they got back to Negaspace, but he drew a line at hurting his friend.
“She is happy with us, you know,” Cymophane said. The guttural grumble of his voice through the youma illusion took some getting used to. He might have seemed like his usual chipper self, otherwise. “You could be happy, too.”
Cymophane didn’t care one way or the other. He hadn’t met her yet, the girl this Knight was looking for. He didn’t know if she was happy or not, but he knew what Kamacite said, what lies he told the Knight.
Lies were easy to build upon.
“Did you think the Princess could help you?” Cymophane wondered, attempting to keep the Knight’s attention on him so Bloodstone could get on with the bloody business of murder. “Too bad for you. You should pick your allies better next time.”
Guine
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:04 am
Youma Albite: Be a Dear and Die Already! heart Kthxbye!
It was almost bittersweet to see Cybele grounded. On her knees and caught between a rock and a hard place.
Almost.
Any morsel of sympathy was drowned out by his pride, the passion he had for fighting her down. All that joy was then supplemented by his anger, as she lashed out at the only other enemy close enough to reach, because of course she'd lunge for Kama. He was the easier target by far. N' oh, that did make him snarl anew; rough reverberation of distaste for how she turned her back to him. His magic followed suite, guised, illusory gone wrong. Coiled in ways almost beyond his will, and struck out for revenge.
Lashed wild once, twice, retribution for Kamas high noise of pain as he twisted oddly and then blipped away to do damage elsewhere.
It was fine if he was left with her on his own. Kama had things to do. Him n' Cybele? They could play.
A little longer, maybe. But for minutes, hours, days?
Albite wasn't sure, felt his stamina sway as he bled his magic out 'crackslash' loudass tentawhip through the air that sought to teach lessons. To let him keep his distance a moment more, cause he knew better. Had tangoed with her enough times now that he knew how Cybele could be, wounded animals were the worst after all. N that thought alone, that little pinpoint of realization? Had him suddenly hesitant to get close in and tangle himself back up with her again.
Especially not when there was so much else going on. The peripheral knowledge of that a low gnawing termite on his conscience, full of ideas outside of the order's he'd been given to make Cybele exist as a past tense.
It would've been a lovely funeral though. With a pretty eulogy, maybe a white headstone?
The flashbang and fireworks turned his head though - made him think all sorts of 'ohshit isn't that pretty' - With how apocalyptic it all appeared from the floor below the mezzanine.
stari_maga
Super Sailor Scout Attack B:Lash of Retribution! Albite’s tattoos appear to tear from his form, lightning quick, and lash out at his nearest opponent like mindless rabid animals. The magical bindings crack loudly through the air, creating a startling warning noise, just before they coil and yank across the opponent like an angry living whip. The player feels as though they've received a mild rope burn (pick body part) for up to thirty seconds, though no physical or lasting damage is done; only the very uncomfortable mental sensation of such, unless the target’s player wants to sustain any lasting damage. The whipcrack loud noise prior to the attack striking serves as warning so the attack can be dodged. Effect: Instantaneous Range: 6ft Duration: 30 Seconds Usage: 3x Times2x Times - 1x Time Remaining! Targets: 1
Passive Enhancement:Radons Echo When Albite wills it, he is accompanied by the distant and unnerving sounds of a metal tipped skitter-screech. It sounds like an army of rusty blades being improperly unsheathed. It can sound like a buildup of icepick insect tipped feet careening along a cliff-side. It can be unnerving and unfamiliar, and create a sense of uncertainty and dread. This effect is particularly prominent when Albite is using the Rugose Pendant.
Rugose Pendant: A blackened, wrinkled rock set into a silver pendant with an indigo glow trapped inside. It can be found discarded in Negaspace or the Rift. To use the item, an agent or Negaverse senshi must energy drain the rock. Once drained, the rock will crack and disintegrate. The rock's violet light will then envelop the user, cloaking them in the appearance of a youma. A youma aura will overwhelm the user's natural aura, though it will not disguise their aura. Their youma appearance must adhere to youma guidelines for personal or player youma. The user does not gain any special abilities while under the effects of the item, and their current abilities are not typically hampered by the item. The Rugose Pendant's effects last until the character powers down or until 3 hours have passed, whichever is sooner. The Pendant may be used once a day.
Shiningamisgirl
Ruthless Consumer
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Shiningamisgirl
Ruthless Consumer
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:36 am
General Prehnite - Valhalla, send your thunderbird home if you'd please.
Fire, Youma, Fire. Lightning and SUN.
F u c k.
Prehnite wished, never again, to know how a dogs most favorite tug rope must've felt. The purple prose General was nearly on the verge of laying Sess out, not with his weapons - ohno - but with his words. Choice cuts of phrasing he would've loved to serve rare.
Would've liked to bludgeon the b*****d with them as badly as he would've liked to see the Jupiter knight take on the role of 'Piñata' at a 'Child aged fives Birthday Bash!' A bonanza full of screaming crowds, and baseball bats. All with Sessrumnirs name on it.
Prehnite wondered if they beat him hard enough, would candy fall out? More wolves? A whole goddamned wonder! Or maybe His shitty Jupiter knight aligned starseed. Would it be a quality thing, or something to be fed too --
The utter bevy of beasts Faustite had summoned.
Well. That would certainly do. Smelt better than burning hair and old singed fur.
Prehnite would've complimented the flameborn General even, if not for the sear that continued bear down, wear down, all the ways he couldn't have possibly fled Kamacites eternal solarfire. To abandon them there. No more than he could've fled the gravity and strength of Sess's pull --- or Faustites heat. So he suffered it instead, hit the ground on his knees and heaved for it. Waited for enough of the pain to clear that he could pinpoint --- blurrily ---- a feather bodied being.
Sessrumnir was before him - but there was also that screeching thunderbird raining lightning down all around. There was Carnallite, trying so damn hard to hold Valhalla back.
Made all the harder by that demonic, ********, bird.
The second Prehnite thought he could see? He chucked his remaining weapon - throwing knife haphazardly aimed for Valhalla's Summon.
If the burning, blinding light attack wasn’t enough, a sudden shooting pain went through Valhalla’s arm. He screamed out from the pain, and kicked as hard as he could at the Lieutenant who kept coming at him. Maybe he would have tried to be gentler with her because she was just a Lieutenant, but now it was pretty clear that they were doing whatever they could to keep him from helping Ganymede.
“Ganymede! Use your crystal!” he shouted, hissing and spitting through the pain, before turning to expel the contents of his stomach after both the Senshi’s magic and whatever the blade was poisoned with did its job. He needed to get up.
He could sense the youma being called and joining them there to attack himself and Sessrumnir, and then they would turn their attention to Michel and Cybele, surely. And what of Ganymede? Would she have the strength left to handle more youma?
His staff was in his good hand. Thankfully his dominant arm had not suffered damage like his left had. He swung it wide, trying to hit the youma or Lieutenant or Eternal or Generals-- anyone! He couldn’t see, but he still had a general idea of where they were.
Above, Kyrie let out a screech as the thrown knife clipped one of her wings-- Valhalla was quick to summon her back and return her to her home at his side to recover.
Sunshine Alouette
Shiningamisgirl
Guine
Crew
Lonely Explorer
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Guine
Crew
Lonely Explorer
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:05 am
Quote:
Eternal Oberon - Getting out of the way of the explosion with Perdita and Lucasta
Oberon sputtered with curses as the machine was bitten into and the little bug youma swarmed into whatever they could. He tried swatting them away again, but he could see that they were likely out of options to save it, with how it was sparking and shattering.
Up on his feet, Oberon grabbed hold of Perdita’s hand and pulled her away from the Void as it crackled more, and followed Lucasta’s lead in getting away as quickly as they could.
Oberon pushed Perdita in front of him and out of the door so they could make their way down the hall as the machine fizzled and popped and finally exploded into a hundred pieces beyond repair.
-
Quote:
Jet's Personal Youma, Arles - Reporting the explosion of the Void to Jet
While Headache might have been able to split its existence into many parts, Arles wasn’t as lucky. He slinked through the shadows as far away from the explosion as he could, hiding behind some other debris already in the room.
Normally he wouldn’t mind a quick trip to the Rift to recover, but he was still on a mission.
It’s been destroyed completely, Arles thought, sending the message to his bonded agent. At least that was one less thing the Negaverse had to worry about for now, until the White Moon decided to get clever again and come up with something else.
Sunshine Alouette
Strickenized
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:16 am
Quote:
General Bloodstone - Offering Michel a place in the Negaverse? Sure why not.
Bloodstone’s only regret was using the mallet side of his weapon instead of the pick. Starseed or not, he could have easily ended the Saturn Knight with a decisive blow with his pick.
Next time. Now that he was getting used to using the weapon with his left arm.
Cymophane was also doing damage to the Knight, although it looked like the Senshi-Youma took a good bit of damage himself. He snorted a little at Cymophane’s offer to the Saturn Knight.
“You’re outnumbered,” he said, his voice low with a growl. His shoulder was still aching from pain that radiated through his arm and torso, but it could have been worse. At least he had his arm.
“Decide now if you die for their cause, or join us and have another chance,” Bloodstone offered as he kept out of range of the Saturn Knight’s swing. Bloodstone already assumed what the answer was going to be, but this gave him and Cymophane a moment to breathe.
Thank ******** the ******** bird was gone. Unfortunately, Carnallite didn’t have the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, because 1) breathing hurt, and 2) Valhalla had to go and open his ******** mouth.
Nope nope nope. The Princess using her crystal was the absolute last thing they wanted. As Carnallite understood it, they’d all be laid out. It would be the perfect opportunity for the Princess and her allies to turn the tide and ******** them over.
Aquamarine and Jet were supposed to stop that from happening with their bloody little teleportation game, that coordinated dance of rapier-swallow-severed wing, but they didn’t need Valhalla inserting himself into the issue and giving the distraught Princess any ideas. All it would take was one distraction.
So Carnallite heaved herself up and tackled Valhalla before he could recover, taking a blow from his staff as she did so. (What were a few more bruises?)
“I told you,” she snarled, pinning him to the floor. “You’re with me.”
Aquamarine disappeared and Jet took his place, bringing his bladed staff down.
The wooden rung split in her hands; Jet’s blade connected with enough force to loosen both halves from her grip. Ganymede dropped them, heard them clatter to the ground. Instinctively, she lifted her arm to block the neck blow with her vambrace, but the armor disappeared with another flicker of golden light.
She was caught between Jet and Aquamarine, with no weapon, no defense, and limited magic.
Curiously, neither of them moved in to make the killing blow. Ganymede swayed on her feet, staring into Jet’s face, at the sweat dripping from his temple, at the utter exhaustion in his eyes. She stood there, open to attack, but no sword pierced her side again. Jet made no move to take her head.
Why? Why? What were they doing there? Why didn’t they leave? What did they want?
Then, Valhalla’s voice calling to her.
Ganymede turned to find him. She seemed to move so slowly, eyes raking over the lobby. She saw Cybele struggling with a youma. She saw Michel cornered between a youma and a Knight. She saw the grand staircase, following it up until she found Valhalla, and Sessrumnir with him, swarmed by three Generals, and Lieutenant, and several more youma.
Oh...
She was alone in the middle of it all.
Her next inhale came loud and ragged in her ears. Ganymede swayed again, blinked through the confusion and the growing fatigue, and cupped her hands to summon her crystal.
Valhalla’s voice rent through the lobby — loud, desperate, the only warning they needed.
Aquamarine reacted as soon as the Princess’s hands twitched with movement. He gripped his rapier and sliced at her arm, then reared back and flung a fireball at her, watching the flames devour her pretty white dress.
Quote:
Forgotten Spell - A burst of fire that causes the sensation of burning, and occasionally (upon a player’s choice) physical burns (severity up to the player’s discretion). Otherwise it leaves no wounds behind, just patchy layers of ash. The spell can only affect a single target within a radius of 20 feet, and can be used 3 times.
-
Quote:
Princess Ganymede - Falling, putting out the flames, using a shoe as a last resort.
Ganymede gasped and stumbled as blood poured from her torn flesh. The flames hit and spread along ruffles and tulle, licking at her exposed skin. She dropped down, rushed to put them out, to save herself further pain and horror, but Aquamarine kept coming, kept weidling his rapier like he meant to poke her full of holes, stick her through and pin her like a bug in a collection, only she had no wings left to display.
Furious and distraught, almost delirious from pain, Ganymede pulled off one of her glass shoes and broke it against the floor. When that one shattered beyond repair, she rolled away from another encounter with Aquamarine’s blade and tried the second. This one offered a good grip and a sharp edge — her last means of defense. If she could take out one of them, maybe she could buy herself the seconds she needed…
Jet. Jet was weakest. Jet was close to collapse.
Ganymede turned again and stumbled up onto her bare feet. With a feral snarl, she kicked Jet’s injured leg, and, when he staggered, aimed the sharp end of her broken shoe at his face.
Sessrumnir could feel the heat through his clothes, could smell how it burned, how it made him sweat and the metal uncomfortably hot. He wouldn't be surprised if he had marks from the overheated metal against his back, or singed hair, or burnt skin that he was trying to ignore.
He talked to this General once before. Thought him sad and pitiful after dousing him with the liquid from his stormglass. Now he was just a threat that needed to be put down like the rabid dog he was.
The Eternal Senshi he'd fought before as well, and the moment Kamacite lifted his hand high above him, Sessrumnir squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. It didn't stop all of the magic. Maybe it didn't stop any of the magic from affecting him, but Sessrumnir wanted to at least minimize the chance of his vision becoming impaired. He could feel the burns and nausea from that magic as well.
Fist balled, he punched at the General's hands snaking over his shoulder as he tried to touch his face again. Used his elbow to maybe bend the metal grates out of place, curl it in on itself. Cause as much damage to the little b*****d as he could before he quickly moved away from the wall and General. He yanked what was left of the outermost layer of his tunic off, tearing the fabric as necessary, hoping to take whatever was left of the flames on him with it.
To be on the safe side, he beat the fabric at his own back, and then kicked the snarling maw of an attacking youma out of his way.
Furious that his summon was being manhandled, he grabbed the fang against his hip and called her back so she wouldn't have to suffer being dangled over the edge of the banister, but not before shooting a dark glare at the General who had been hoisting her up by her legs.
Sessrumnir was bleeding from… somewhere. His hand was warm and red. Maybe it was from the purple General's weapon? Maybe the fire General did something to him? He didn't care. All he wanted was to take out the youma before they were swarmed.
He brushed his thumb over the signet ring he wore and loud thunderclaps filled the mezzanine and echoed into the lobby as he stepped towards the next closest youma to kick it hard enough in the side to send it down the staircase and poof into dust. He hoped his aspect worked well enough to distract the rest of their enemies as well.
Quote:
ASPECT OF JUPITER: Jupiter Knights have the presence of a titan, trading subtlety for a capacity to overwhelm. While their booming voices and rumbling footsteps make it easy to tell when one is nearby, the miniature thunderclaps that follow every hit they land can be distracting and disorienting when they get up close and personal.
Strickenized
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:17 pm
Quote:
General Jet - Face injured by Ganymede. Too much pain to do anything at the moment.
Jet let out an enraged, pained snarl as Ganymede’s broken glass shoe made contact with his face, from just over his eyebrow and down. He jerked his head away as quickly as he could, but blood filled his eye and he crumpled to his knees as he held a hand over the jagged gash.
He thought they were in the clear, but the fever and pain was making him dizzy, and now with the added injury, he briefly wondered if maybe they’d overestimated trying to take on a Princess. Or maybe the fault was with himself. Maybe he hadn’t asked enough people to help. Maybe he should have asked Axinite for his help instead of trying to keep him from worrying and stressing over something that he had no control over.
Aqua-- was the only thought he could manage as he hissed and growled at the pain. He had no idea if Ganymede injured his eye in the process of gouging at it, but he certainly couldn’t open it long enough to tell.
Aquamarine watched him fall and experienced his pain as hectic thoughts. Blood seeped down Jet’s face, slicked his hand and dripped to the floor. Aquamarine’s heart lurched into his throat, but he couldn’t afford to stop, not when the Princess could still summon her crystal.
With a shriek of rage, Aquamarine shoved the point of his rapier into her side. Then, when she seemed close to faltering, he summoned his dagger into his free hand and plunged that blade deep into her shoulder.
“Try again and I’ll kill you myself,” he snarled.
Boot pressed to her back, Aquamarine pulled both blades loose as he kicked her to the ground. The Princess sprawled out in a pile of stained white dress and disheveled blonde curls.
He passed a thought on to Jet, Keep your eyes closed.
After Sessrumnir’s attack with the smoke bomb, Aquamarine spent his weeks of desk duty looking through old files, searching for any information that might not have been uploaded into the database, any shred of intel he could find on Ganymede that might help them take her down. He found very little, but one name in particular stood out: a European agent, called to Destiny City to assist his former commanding officer, General Queen Laurelite. The report detailed the first known attempted starseed removal on a Senshi that matched Ganymede’s description — before she glowed, before she gained her wings, not a Princess then, but a new Senshi with weak magic and limited fighting skills. Dated over a decade ago, the report had been so poorly written, Aquamarine would not soon forget that ******** Captain’s name.
He shouted it now, as loud as he could over the thunder reverberating through the lobby — his code word for Kamacite.
“ALUMO!”
-
Quote:
Princess Ganymede - Kinda just a bloody pile on the floor at this point.
Ganymede dropped her shoe when she fell. It shattered nearby, into pieces too small to be of much use, dozens of shards glittering in the moonlight.
Her pain seemed to grow and fade at once. Her vision darkened along the edges. Her hearing became muffled. There were voices shouting and snarling. She thought she heard the rumble of a distant storm, but perhaps that was only her memories, which always seemed to rise at inopportune moments. (It rained so much on Jupiter. She remembered how cool it felt against Liesel’s face just before he died.)
Prone on the ground, Ganymede peered through the strands of hair that fell over her face. If she focused hard enough, clung to consciousness and forced herself to breathe through the pain, she could almost see Valhalla — the green of his tunic, the glint of his armor, the silver sheen of Serge’s pocket watch.
