Character Name, Rank, and a link to their journalMabella super senshi of Ermines Location: E1 Action: Eating berry offered +15 Total: 7 + 5 HP: 10
Mabella ate the berry quickly and then she used her last super senshi attack she knew the knight and senshi were doing everything they could to protect her but she would only be able to stay up a little bit longer. She knew she was going to get knocked out she felt the damage from the chaos energy hitting her body each time the lightening hit.
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Chilling bite
The ermines are a bit brighter and glow with cold fire. A spectral ermine appears and bites her enemy causing a small amount of numbing effect that lasts about 20 secs. The effect numbs the area making it feel as if the area has fallen asleep, which may make the area hard to use. Range 7 feet. 3 uses
Character Name, Rank, and a link to their journalCoco Location: C3 Action: Attacking
Total: 2 + 5 HP: 27
Coco was a little disappointed that he hadn't come but she wasn't really surprised since they were in the middle of a major battle. And he had already helped them by giving them the bag, she wished she knew what the baclet did. Coco smiled and shrugged at Tea and her sister. She knew the look on her friends face had doubted that it would work and it seemed she was right. "Oh well." She said cheerfully.
The shield went down. Fang's heart stopped. Earth was--Earth was--
It was okay. The shields they'd built, he'd built with Daedalus and others who'd built them, they'd worked.
Earth was safe, for now. Now they just had to finish killing this snake. Fang viciously looked forward to it dying and cooking up its meat. Of course, assuming it didn't completely vanish in death. It kept growing smaller the more hurt they all caused it. Would it wither away into nothing, and leave Fang with no delicious treat to enjoy? That would be a... what was the phrase he'd heard.... "total bummer"? Sounded right to him. Having a feast after such a big battle, destroying the very thing that had come to kill them all by eating it in a return of the favor it had tried to pay them, would be wonderful.
He bit his tongue and tensed up, ready for another attack. Encke's lightning rod saved many of them from getting struck, and for that, he was grateful. Roaring again, he jumped and cast another spell, getting dangerously close to drained. He wasn't quite sure how much "juice" he had left, but he could feel the battle wearing away at him.
He just prayed they were close. He prayed to the great Chrysocyon sun god, whose name he couldn't quite remember, but whose rituals he did remember. Not that he could do much now, in the middle of a fight, but he'd do something about it when they all got home.
Character:Corporal Fangnyl of the Vanguard Location: F3 Action: attacking snakey Total: 6 + 5 = 11 HP: 70 - 26 = 44 (no lightning DMG, thanks Encke!)
No, no, no! The shield had finally broken! Fangnyl allowed himself to fret for only a moment, let the panic settle in, deep in his chest. Then he inhaled very slowly and pushed it all back out with his exhale. They could do this. It was going to be okay. The Hollow was so much smaller now. They could destroy it. It got smaller the more they battered it, and he would lay down his life to finish killing it.
He screamed as he hurled his shortsword at it again. "Die, you stupid little rat snake!"
Perhaps it would understand the insult. Perhaps not.
Character:Sailor Monoceros, Super Senshi of Porcupines Location: f3 Action: attacking CH Total: 7 + 5 + 1 (article of strength) = 13 HP: 71 - 26 = 45 (no lightning DMG, thanks Encke!)
Well.
That was. Super not good. Earth had used probably its only defense the one time it would work. He doubted it would work again; not even he was that optimistic.
He cracked his knuckles, narrowed his, and leapt up, sending quills scattering from his body like a very, very angry porcupine.
Earth. Would. Not. Fall.
Character:Knight Amsvartnir of Cosmos Location: F3 Action: attacking CH Total: 7 + 10 + 1(Article of Strength) = 18 HP: 86 - 26 = 60 (no lightning DMG, thanks Encke!)
s**t. s**t, s**t, s**t. Okay. Breathe. He could tell he only had a little magical power left, and he sent it arcing up at the monster with as much rage and power as he could muster into it.
This thing would not destroy his home. The shield was gone, the Earth shields had worked, at least once, and he prayed they'd work again if needed.
"Come on, everyone! It's gotta be close to dead now; look how small it got! Don't give up!" he rallied.
Golden lashes fell and rose again in a sluggish blink, gaze unfocused but almost trained on Seraphinite’s hand presenting him with another berry. Aquamarine’s vision had gone fuzzy, a little dark around the edges, but he could still distinguish colors and shapes from one another. He considered the offering. He’d already eaten his own and it hadn’t been enough. If he took Seraphinite’s it probably still wouldn’t be enough, and Seraphinite would be left with nothing.
“Keep it,” Aquamarine said. He made a weak effort to shove it back at him.
Aquamarine swayed on his feet. Seraphinite’s voice mingled with Jet’s, which mingled with all the other sounds over the battlefield into a single muffled drone. There was a dreamlike quality to all the commotion, as his senses failed one by one. He tightened his grip around the hilt of his rapier to ensure he hadn’t dropped it but barely felt it against his palm.
Gathering the last of his waning strength, Aquamarine teleported to deliver a final blow, gritting his teeth against pain and exhaustion. He had just enough stamina left to get himself safely back to the ground. Then his legs gave out beneath him.
His gaze found Jet—a blur of black and teal, and the purple that once belonged to Jet’s brother. Aquamarine would never forget the image of those bloodsoaked curls against the pavement. Jet was older than Sorin had ever been. Stronger, too—worthy of the distinction granted to him by the Queen. Whatever their enemies liked to think of him, Jet was a good man. He would defend the Earth.
He would have to do it without Aquamarine.
Purple eyes turned dark and glassy, glimmering with starlight. Aquamarine fell against Jet, but he didn’t feel the arms that caught him, or hear the voice that called his name.
All he saw was the Dark Star.
Guine
Jet, Reidite
Kaefaux
Seraphinite
Lena Roze
Ako
a-disgruntled-dragon
Leifite
LP
Victoria
Noir Songbird
Ashanite, Akaganeite
Amor Remanet
Andesine
Quote:
Aquamarine is out! Godspeed to whoever remains standing in A7! crying
Captain Carnallite Page 7, Page 18Page 30Page 49Page 61 Location: A9 Action: Attacking the CH, then evaporating into black lightning. Rip Carnallite, you got that req tho. Total: 5 + 5 (Rank modifier) = 10 HP: 6 (32 - 26) I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE SECOND DICE ROLL. CARNALLITE IS KOed. 0
Carnallite swore under her breath and pushed sweat-dampened hair out of her face. The Calamitous Hollow was shrinking, but their efforts may not be enough. Their numbers wouldn’t last. Carnallite herself, though capable and proud, knew she was reaching her limit.
She pushed forward anyway, landing a final strike before she was overcome by black lightning. She fell, then was nowhere to be seen.
Quote:
Ignore the second dice. Carnallite is out. lol rip.
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2025 8:39 am
[well, this was supposed to have dice rolls on it, SORRY KYU]
Location: I7. Action:throwing her driftwood heart at the Calamitous Hollow. Total: 1. HP: 73 / 100
Round 1: 100 – 35 from Calamitous Hollow general attack = 65 +13 from Ekstrom’s shielding = 78 +15 (Almadel’s berry) = 93. Round 2: 93 – 38 from Calamitous Hollow general attack = 55 + 28 from Ekstrom’s shielding, no damage taken from shield failure = 83. Round 3: 83 – 26 from CH’s general attack – 14 from lightning strike +30 from Ekstrom’s shielding = 73.
Watching the great beast above them, Dunwich felt as though something had fixed her in place. Even as she tried to dance around the lightning, her long skirt swishing against her legs as she dodged, her arms felt heavy. Her chest felt heavy. Some unspeakable chill had settled in the pit of her stomach, and now roiled through her, twisting and writhing and making each movement feel as though it took superhuman effort.
Terror, she knew that without needing to think too much about it. Something like the Calamitous Hollow should not have existed in this universe. Its presence here signaled nothing good about the future, and the strobe light effect of all the lightning flashing around the battlefield felt like a very direct warning of their imminent failure. Each strike that fell near her made Dunwich gasp. Soon enough, that caught up with her: the lack of proper breathing, the racing panic in her brain, the stray thought that how she moved might have been fun if only there had been a lively tune to go along with it and make a proper dance out of everything.
All of that caught up with Dunwich. Zigging instead of zagging, she dodged one lightning strike by leaping right across the path of another.
Yet, that shock awoke something within her. Even though her resolve and body shook—the latter going far too stiff as shockwaves of electricity rushed through her nerves and muscles, all up and down every part of her—Dunwich raised her arm. Once more, she lobbed her driftwood heart up at the beast, hoping that it struck true enough to hurt. She didn’t know how many times it would return to hand when she called on it to help her.
Quote:
Items Remaining:Almadel’s Pin (+10 to one roll), Almadel’s Berry (+15 HP)
Commander Vyn Page 2, Page 21Page 32Page 45Page 58Page 73 Location: F5, but heading for F3. Action: Shooting at the CH. Ushering Lysanna, Cypher, and Hugbell to the rest of the Vanguard in F3. Total: 6 + 10 (rank) = 16 HP: 61
Vyn kept his rifle raised but shifted so he wasn’t aiming directly at Lysanna when she put herself in harm’s way. His own suspicions remained, but Lysanna had vouched for the Senshi and the Senshi, in turn, produced a shield (a strange one, to be sure, but a shield nonetheless). Frayed as his nerves might be, dark as his thoughts might threaten to become, Vyn could still acknowledge that certain Senshi and Knights were not as bad as others. Perhaps Hugbell was one such Senshi. If she had been with Lysanna until now, then she had kept Lysanna safe (not perfectly, perhaps, but enough to get her back to the Vanguard in one piece).
“We have to hurry,” Vyn said.
The situation was deteriorating, so much so that he had little time to truly process what was happening. Black lightning, and an explosion. A dark cloud. The Calamitous Hollow fell into the shield, which finally gave way. That it had lasted so long was a testament to the Vanguard’s capabilities, and the Commodore’s brilliance (and, maybe, the generosity of those around them). Vyn winced and hissed quietly but ignored his own discomfort.
“Cypher, help Lysanna. Carry her if you have to. I’ll cover you. Lysanna, conserve your strength. The others are just up ahead. Aliez can help with your injuries. You,” he paused to frown at Hugbell, but his eyes were not as cold as before, “thank you for your assistance. We would appreciate any you might still be willing to offer. Go,” he directed them all back the way he’d come. “I’ll bring up the rear.”
He sent another shot up at the Calamitous Hollow while he was at it.
Shanyume
Cypher
tefla
Lysanna
LP
Hugbell
Quote:
Please feel free to have them reach F3 in your posts!
Location: D6. Action:attacking the Calamitous Hollow (2x damage, DSS wild magic), then going down. also, beholding the Dark Star. Total: 14 (roll x2) HP: –49 / 100 (2 – 26 from Calamitous Hollow’s general attack – 7 DSS magic backlash – 18 from lightning strike)
Thalassa did not consider himself terribly rash or possessed of some great disregard for his own wellbeing. His brother would have disagreed, had his brother not been dead about a thousand years. But Yuanhan had originally brought the Chaos that would ultimately devastate their world—the Chaos that would claim their parents and colleagues in intertribal affairs, would kill their childhood playmates (save only Meiren, Heibing’s once-fiancée, and the woman she’d eloped with to avoid that marriage), would slaughter Yuanhan’s idiotic wife and the ******** children she’d given him—so frankly, Yuanhan’s opinions on anybody else’s behavior could safely be disregarded until Thalassa decided to give up that grudge.
Unsteady on his feet, struggling to brace himself, Thalassa glared up at the Calamitous Hollow, this beast that should have only been a story. This nightmare that had invited itself into a reality where that had no place for it and thought to storm around as though it owned the ******** place and nobody could tell it what to do. Thalassa’s breaths came in heavy and ragged as he forced his arm up, made himself call forth his magic once again. His arm trembled. His whole body shuddered from the effort. Yet, he made the heave demanded of him as a senshi anyway, even knowing that he’d never been the senshi that his people had deserved, that their world had deserved.……
If he never so much as suspected his own brother of creating their collective undoing—not until it was too late and he’d found himself staring down Yuanhan’s tearful confession—then did he really deserve to call himself a proper senshi? Supposedly, his starseed made him one regardless of his choices, but as shockwaves from the beast’s attacks slammed into him—as a lightning strike crashed his way and he couldn’t summon up the will to ******** move—Thalassa felt like anything but a senshi.
The last time he’d almost died had been nothing like this.
As his body crashed into the ground without him, turning black with lightning then evaporating as it hit the ground, Thalassa looked around. On consideration, he supposed that it wasn’t fair to compare the two situations. Last time, he’d only drunk himself unconscious like a normal person and left Rylafein, Imnolu, and Bernard—the last Tyndareus, the Tyndareus whom Thalassa had actually known and not the obviously inferior, Chaos-infected reincarnation who wore his clothes and threw around his magic and probably even sounded a bit like him without meaning to or recognizing that he did—fighting to bring him back around. Plus, they’d only been on someone else’s planet after a heist, not in some between-space like this.
He wasn’t alone, at least. Elsewhere on the battlefield, over by New Murikabushi (same bleeding heart bullshit as the Old Murikabushi but, as far as Thalassa could tell, with none of Airan’s canniness and proficiency with social manipulation!), the most recent Tempesti glared tearfully up at the Calamitous Hollow. Another senshi who clearly hadn’t come from Earth had fallen to her knees, weeping (Terebellum). Thalassa probably could’ve reached out to either of them, had he wanted to, but what was the point of taking either young woman for a ride when all three of them had taken too much damage and gotten thrown from their bodies for it? What was Thalassa supposed to do, reassure them that everything would be fine because of some story about a dragon he’d never really fought, on a planet that he’d never visited (maybe some place like Surtur or Farbauti, some of Helene’s neighboring Saturnian moons had allegedly had some top-notch dragons back in the day)?
No. No. Messing with either of them didn’t sound like fun right now.
Deciding to let Tempesti and the other one have their feelings (or whatever the correct human expression was right now), Thalassa looked around.…… He looked up, expecting to see more of the atrocious beast that had killed them. Instead, peering through the rifts in reality’s fabric that the beast had torn, Thalassa stared into an unfathomable darkness like nothing he had ever seen before. Immense, endless black sometimes punctuated by purple, vast and dark and ravenous.
Thalassa stared into the Dark Star, and even as he was, he knew true fear.
Quote:
Sailor Scout Attack: “Weary Flop.” Thalassa selects one target within a ten-foot radius and points at them, glaring intently. The target is immediately hit with a feeling of mild exhaustion, as if they have spent several hours working hard without a break. Physically, targets feel tired and drained but not completely empty; they may feel slightly dizzy or develop a mild headache. Emotionally, targets may feel any combination of worn down, irritable, detached, or confused. They may experience an increased sense of self-doubt or more difficulty making decisions. While not completely overwhelming, these feelings may make targets struggle to keep fighting. This magic lasts thirty seconds, with any lingering effects at player discretion. Thalassa may use this attack three times per battle.
Items Remaining:Almadel’s Pin (+10 to one roll), Almadel’s Berry (+15 HP)
Noir xSongbird
Pyrrhus!
genovianprincex
Troilus!
xHonkzilla
Tempesti ref (welcome to notice him or interrupt if that's IC for her)!
a-disgruntled-dragonx
Terebellum ref (also welcome to notice him back or interrupt him pondering the deadly space orb)!
Quote:
Open to interaction from anybody else who’s at 0 or negative HP!
Things were going… not well. Maybe also not as poorly as Jasper had expected. Then again, he hadn’t really known what to expect, except that the idea of a monster capable of eating planets seemed so fearsome he wouldn’t have thought they could put up a fight at all. But said monster was shrinking, bit by bit, with each burst of magic and each fearsome strike of a blade.
Jasper doubted his straw did much, but he used it anyway. At least Kamacite and Lopezite would put in a good word for him. He managed a small, appreciative smile for both of them. Maybe next time he would have power enough to—well, maybe not match them, but at least keep up better.
He made one last effort, unwilling to be caught standing there as useless as he felt while Kamacite and Lopezite showed such resilience and skill. When his straw got stuck between scales again, Jasper left it there. He didn’t have the strength to pull it free.
The lightning wasn’t a surprise, but he still gasped in shock and pain.
“Don’t worry about me,” he wheezed.
Jasper fell to his knees first, then slumped to the ground, eyes going distant, dark, and glassy.
Guinex
Kamacite
Kyuseisha no Hikarix
Lopezite
Quote:
Ignore the fact that he got a good second roll. Jasper is out.
Edit: OH WAIT I GOT IT MIXED UP IN MY HEAD HE DIDN'T GET A GOOD ROLL HAHA RIP JASPER HE'S KOed NO MATTER WHAT heart
Abzu, Squire Knight of Neptune Location: F3 Action: Going to Pendour, leveling up HP: 37 + 25 (level bump) = 62 Roll: 7 + 10 = 17
Had he been arguing with his parental figure? Sure, absolutely. But there had been a part of Abzu that still couldn't quite tear his eyes away from the reason why he was where he was in the first place, keeping an eye on the Velencians and specifically Pendour from a small spot away.
He met eyes with Pendour. What was she doing? He knew why she looked so sad, perhaps even in a way imperceptible--
staripop
Looking over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Abzu looking at her, concerned.
I'm sorry, she thought, vaguely, in his direction.
Abzu sucked in a breath.
No. No. Not here, not now, not with the shield shattering around them--
Abzu abandoned his argument with Eridu to bolt toward Pendour. <********>. Was there something he could do? Was there at least some way to bring her back from the brink? Did she burn herself out? Did he have anything on him? Did he have anything more that he could offer her, to offer all of them--how was Stromboli doing, how was Eridu doing, how were the Velencians doing after the shield finally gave--
No.
Panic wasn't like him. They would get through the end of the Earth. The Earth wouldn't end, in the first place.
Abzu took a deep breath to center himself.
Ignoring everything else around him momentarily, he bent down next to Pendour and tried to protect her from anything else. To the Hollow, he willed it to stop, to take back what it was doing, channeling a renewed magic from his fingertips.
Demeter shook themself. Okay. Okay, Earth was doing great. They.... They were all doing pretty good right? The snake was slowly shrinking; that had to mean they were winning, right? Lightning struck in the area and Demeter threw themself to the ground, hoping to avoid being struck. Thankfully, they weren't.
After a few moments, they stood up, digging their nails into their palms as they glared up at the snake thing. Okay. Fine. They did have a nice, metallic water bottle in their subspace... They grabbed it and launched themself upward, whanging the snake with it as hard as they could, before dropping back down, panting.
Belenos grimaced. Okay, things had been going pretty good so far. Earth's defenses had kicked in. What little they had. But... That whole thing didn't look very good. Like, it totally wouldn't work more than once, sort of very not good.
Time to stop playing around, then. She gathered her courage and launched herself up at the snake, punching the hell out of it before the gravity sent her back down to the cloudy-thingy they were all stood on.
The lightning struck her and she hollered in pain as it coursed through her, but she gritted her teeth and held her ground. She was fine. She could get through this. The world would not end today. Suck it, World Eater.
Ah. Perhaps he should have been thinking about the fact that the monster could summon lightning. The strike knocked him on his a** briefly and he yelled hoarsely in pain, small aftershocks sending him trembling. Well, that sucked. Shakily, he stood.
He wouldn't let Earth fall. Not here, not now, not ever. He cast his magic once more, feeling more and more drained, sure he was close to depleted at this point, but still hanging on. He dug the berry out of his subspace and ate it.
Volterra jolted when the lightning struck and barely managed to stay on nis feet.
Okay. That had hurt. But now more than ever was Volterra determined to win against this ******** that had decided nis home planet looked like good snackies.
Ne cast nis magic once more, unsure how much they had left, but feeling the exhaustion creep in. Ne surely had to be close to dropping from lack of a magic pool. It would probably help if... Ne pulled the berry from nis subspace and ate it, feeling at least somewhat better.
Bifrost, Transcendent Knight of Chronos Location: E1 Action: Sacrificing her remaining HP to x2 Shield roll (approved by Kyu) because Bifrost is nothing if not self sacrificing in the best (worst?) way <3 Total: 10 * 2 + 10 = 30 shielding for E1~ HP: 75 0 / 150 KO'd!
The spike was in place, the shields were holding for now. No one had fallen yet, no one had started backstabbing each other. The Hallow was still the largest threat on the field, even as it kept shrinking, even as... Green eyes went wide as the Hallow surged through the clouds, sucking all the energy into it. The energy was heavy and thick and so solid around her. She couldn't breathe, didn't dare breathe as---
The clouds exploded and the Hallow fired a blast of electricity at
Earth.
Bifrost might have screamed. She couldn't tell over the static silence in her head. She watched in horror as something exploded out Earth, and the universe shifted around them. Not the same stars, not the same galaxies. New worlds, new realities, other places.
How utterly insignificant their universe and all it's troubles suddenly seemed.
The clouds that had erupted from the blast slammed into the Hallow, and the serpent fell.
It fell and crashed into the Vanguard's shield.
Bifrost didn't feel the agony as the lightning slammed into her. She didn't feel her body burn with the pain as the energy crashed around her. Her body moved without her command, without her control, without her thought.
I pledge myself to Chronos and Bifrost, and as your knight I demand your aid.
Fingers wrapped around the chain connecting her to her shield. There was a cry of defiance as she wrenched it out of the sky, forcing it move and go where she wished it. It slammed down in front of the group, a barrier of rippling rainbow between them and the Hallow.
I am the Gatekeeper of the Bifrost.
Power surged within her skin, along all the whorls of gold along her chest and her back and her arms and neck. The mark of Chronos on her forehead practically glowed.
And you...
Every ounce of magic and energy in her body swelled and she commanded it to her shield. The magic she channeled surged, the barrier strengthening with a rush of light. Her vision narrowed, the edges going black.
... shall not...
A scream left her lips as her magic reached a crescendo of energy and she burned with it.
PASS!
Her shield covered the whole of the group with far more strength than before. It held even as her hand went slack on the chain. As her knees cracked against the ground beneath her. As her eyes glazed over and she slumped over. As though all her focus was on keeping the shield up.
Even though Bifrost could not see anything except it now.
The huge black star loomed above her and she stared into the hungering depths of it's cracked surface. It wanted her soul, it wanted her heart. Here, at end, it would not be happy just with her death. No, it would consume her and everything in its path.
How fitting that as her death had once brought her into knighthood, that her death should then end it, she thought off offhandedly with a wry sort of irony.
Bifrost raised her chin a little and set her shoulders.
She was alone. She was trapped here, at the end.
She did not know if Earth survived yet.
But she persisted nonetheless.
As long as she persisted, she would keep fighting.
Bifrost, Transcendant Knight of Chronos, planted her feet and held her shield in front of her.
"I am Bifrost Knight of Chronos, and I will hold the line until I am turned into stardust. For I am hope incarnate and as long as there is hope, no matter how small, I will carry on. This I pledge to myself, to the Bifrost, to Chronos, and to the Cauldron."
For Magion. For Midgard and Celsus and Chronos and all of the Zodiacs. For those we can yet save. I will hold the line.
The ground trembled beneath Howick’s boots, the sky alive with black lightning and fury. She was still reeling from the last blast — everything hurt, her limbs heavy, her chest tight — but she forced herself upright. She had to move. She had to fight.
Ahead, she caught a flash of movement — Encke, Thats was his name she heard someone say, He was stepping forward, voice steady even in the chaos. She saw him throw something metallic into the storm, arm raised like a challenge to the heavens. For a terrible moment, Howick could only watch as the black lightning swerved toward him, drawn in by whatever he had done.
The air crackled. A stray bolt seared past her, close enough that her hair lifted and her skin prickled with heat — but it missed. Barely.
Heart hammering, Howick staggered back a step, then caught herself. She clenched her fists, steadying her breathing as she took in the battlefield. Encke was drawing the worst of it onto himself. Everyone else was trying to regroup, to survive. And she was still standing. They were all still standing.
She would not let this be where they fell. Not here. Not now.
Gritting her teeth, Howick surged forward again, chasing the courage she had seen a moment ago. Even if her magic sputtered. Even if she missed her strike. She would not back down. She couldn't. Not while there was still hope.
Amarynthos wanted to slow down. Ephesus was encouraging him to take it a little easier, but maybe Amarynthos was panicking a little bit. He didn’t see how he could do anything except push himself as hard as possible. Maybe they’d only be okay if he pushed too hard.
There would be time to recover later, if the world was okay. After whatever the Calamitous Hollow just fired, he couldn’t tell. He knew that it had gotten hurt but he couldn’t see anything beyond that black cloud.
Of course he was afraid that something bad just happened.
There was just so much going on. He didn’t want to admit that he was having a hard time keeping up. Did they still need to fight the Calamitous Hollow if it just destroyed the world? Did it just—
Amarynthos had to shut his thoughts out. He was vaguely familiar with Reims’ and Dering’s other circle, but he offered only a quick wave.
“Well, you look good, Evie. And I’m glad you’re here.” Amarynthos smiled at Yvoire, so fast that it didn’t reach his eyes, and he placed his hand over Ephesus’ so he could squeeze it reassuringly.
‘I’m okay,’ he promised. Ephesus’ voice was louder in his mind than it was in front of him, and there was something peacefully private about the connection they shared through the earrings. His heart didn’t feel calm, maybe Ephesus could feel it with his hand pressed to his chest.
His mind was racing, maybe Effie could feel that a bit, too.
He didn’t know how Devyn managed to keep that necklace of his so calm. Maybe a thousand years of practice. It felt like a whirlwind in his head but his connection with Ephesus was the only thing that kept him grounded.
‘You’re doing a great job, Effie. Don’t worry about me. Between you and Dering, I’m doing pretty good. It probably looks a lot worse than it is.’
The Calamitous Hollow was close but he didn’t move to meet it. He wanted to stay there with Ephesus. So, while he had a chance, he used his magic to attack again.
-
Dering appreciated Yvoire’s assistance in helping him, and maybe it was a bit obvious that he was doing his best not to completely dissociate while he rapidly played his lute. He’d made a few mistakes, but there were more people here and it was more important now than ever to make sure the shield held.
He was afraid.
He didn’t want them to get hurt. He didn’t want to lose them.
“It’ll be enough,” he promised Yvoire, because he’d been repeating it in his head.
It had to be enough. It was all they could give.
He saw the way Yvoire glanced at the newcomers, and maybe, in the face of all the things that seemed so impossible, he thought he might be able to tackle one small thing in the meantime.
“It’s–they’re my family,” he said, nodding to the cluster of newcomers. “They’re good people.”
Not that Dering talked much about his private life, or much at all, and now definitely wasn’t the best time to get into specifics.
He was glad they were here. All of them.
-
As Reims fussed over Malus, Malus immediately did the same. It was easier to look at Reims than whatever destruction was happening above them. He wasn't even sure if his heart could take it. He had to keep attacking, he knew they had to keep fighting. He just needed a second to recalibrate.
He’d followed closer, so Michel and the others did, too.
“I’m okay,” Malus insisted, and looked at Dering. “Really?”
Michel was quick to add, “Okay, well good job, kid. Glad you’re keeping each other alive. Adria, you should have stuck with them to start with.”
Adria held onto Varuna’s hand tightly, occasionally squeezing to reassure her.
“Maybe we all should have,” Soleiyu said, massaging a shoulder.
“Well, next time we will,” Malus decided. Maybe the next time something like this happened, the boys wouldn’t be teenagers and he wouldn’t have to worry about intruding or making things awkward. “Do you need anything? –Are any of you hurt?”
“They’re all still standing, it’s fine. You need to focus on taking that thing down,” Michel said sternly. “Don’t get distracted, it can still kill us. I know you’ve got magic left, use it. You can worry about each other later.”
He was insistent, more because he felt the gravity of what they were dealing with than because he wanted to break up their moment. With Adria delivered to a safer space, Michel drew away. Everyone had plenty else to look at but he didn't want the wrong person to see who he was close to.
He could see Laurelite, with a cluster of others. There were more General Kings, more Negaverse agents, nearby. He didn't want to make a bad choice now that could cost someone later.
Michel didn't leave the perimeter; he wanted all of them to be close enough to benefit from Dering's shield.
He stayed nearby, just not that close, and he attacked again. Malus and Adria used their magic, and Soleiyu mustered up enough strength to attack again with his claws.
