08-15-2014, 08:08 AM
Cherise could scarcely see this situation getting any worse. Their job was all but null and void now, Gwen and the other musclebound schmuck had gone and bolted, and the future was starting to look a lot more full of explosions. She took one look at the impending mystical doom that was about to smite their ruin on the mountainside, and made a split-second tactical decision.
"Oh, fuck this."
The mercenary scrambled to her feet and went tearing off back toward the mountain path they'd come from, shoving her sword back into its sheath. Burning hail and beams of scorching light started to rain down, and she dodged as best she could, but the worst was yet to come, and she sure as hell didn't want to be around when it did. She cupped her mouth with one hand and yelled:
"Barry! I think in this delicate situation, we'd be best served by gettin' the hell away from here!"
She didn't wait to see if he followed. All that mattered was getting far, far, far away from the three mages behind her.
=====================================================================
Brigitte, longtime Inquisitor, slayer of many a heretic hedge wizard, dangerous alchemist, or budding necromancer, was at this point well and truly beyond reason. Her eyes rolled back into her head, her mouth foamed, and her hands seemed glued to the partly charred magical tome she held in her hands. Power that had once before nearly brought about the end of the world now coursed through her veins; power that, truly, she was far from being competent to control, even had it been in proper condition.
A high keening sound slowly grew louder and louder, and the corona of light that surrounded Brigitte roiled and sparked. One of the intense beams from Panika's spell lanced down and struck squarely on the book, and what had previously been ominous became outright terrifying. The beam stayed locked in place, then pulsed once. Twice. The luminescence around the Inquisitor began to echo the pulsations, adding and amplifying the feedback loop. Two magics that had never been intended to mix now mated, and grew. The other lasers and stardust from Lemegeton warped and bent, pointing inward in a perverse array of stage lights until they all shared the same focal point as the first. Brigitte's feet left the ground, and she hovered in the grip of the mingled magic, which was now flashing and flickering once per second. Everything seemed to hold its breath.
A crackle of Anima. A blast of lightning screamed through the air from Ray's fingertips, and the circuit broke.
There was a shockwave, thunder without sound, so strong that it resounded in Cherise's chest, even from as far away as she was, like the heartbeat of a dragon. Brigitte made no noise as she vanished in a pillar of white-hot plasma. The mountainside lit up with cold, stark white brilliance, each shadow sharp and defined like the sun had descended from the heavens. The pillar extended steadily outward, burning into the rock wall behind the path and out toward the two mages, before faltering a scarce six feet from either of them, and retreating. In a matter of seconds, what had been a white-hot trunk of the largest tree became little more than a spear of light, and then it was gone.
In its wake, nothing remained of the agents of the Church of Sanctity, save a pit in the solid rock easily thirty feet deep and glowing a cherry red.
"Oh, fuck this."
The mercenary scrambled to her feet and went tearing off back toward the mountain path they'd come from, shoving her sword back into its sheath. Burning hail and beams of scorching light started to rain down, and she dodged as best she could, but the worst was yet to come, and she sure as hell didn't want to be around when it did. She cupped her mouth with one hand and yelled:
"Barry! I think in this delicate situation, we'd be best served by gettin' the hell away from here!"
She didn't wait to see if he followed. All that mattered was getting far, far, far away from the three mages behind her.
=====================================================================
Brigitte, longtime Inquisitor, slayer of many a heretic hedge wizard, dangerous alchemist, or budding necromancer, was at this point well and truly beyond reason. Her eyes rolled back into her head, her mouth foamed, and her hands seemed glued to the partly charred magical tome she held in her hands. Power that had once before nearly brought about the end of the world now coursed through her veins; power that, truly, she was far from being competent to control, even had it been in proper condition.
A high keening sound slowly grew louder and louder, and the corona of light that surrounded Brigitte roiled and sparked. One of the intense beams from Panika's spell lanced down and struck squarely on the book, and what had previously been ominous became outright terrifying. The beam stayed locked in place, then pulsed once. Twice. The luminescence around the Inquisitor began to echo the pulsations, adding and amplifying the feedback loop. Two magics that had never been intended to mix now mated, and grew. The other lasers and stardust from Lemegeton warped and bent, pointing inward in a perverse array of stage lights until they all shared the same focal point as the first. Brigitte's feet left the ground, and she hovered in the grip of the mingled magic, which was now flashing and flickering once per second. Everything seemed to hold its breath.
A crackle of Anima. A blast of lightning screamed through the air from Ray's fingertips, and the circuit broke.
There was a shockwave, thunder without sound, so strong that it resounded in Cherise's chest, even from as far away as she was, like the heartbeat of a dragon. Brigitte made no noise as she vanished in a pillar of white-hot plasma. The mountainside lit up with cold, stark white brilliance, each shadow sharp and defined like the sun had descended from the heavens. The pillar extended steadily outward, burning into the rock wall behind the path and out toward the two mages, before faltering a scarce six feet from either of them, and retreating. In a matter of seconds, what had been a white-hot trunk of the largest tree became little more than a spear of light, and then it was gone.
In its wake, nothing remained of the agents of the Church of Sanctity, save a pit in the solid rock easily thirty feet deep and glowing a cherry red.