Complete Private High March Dark Heart in the Gray Lands

[Magi Heart]

High March: Isolated Village

High March.

The barren land of gray was the favored feeding ground of the nigh unkillable Titanius. Now free of the constant sapping of life and mana. The land may someday look much different, but that day was unlikely to come in this generation.

Magi Heart walked slowly, a lack of expression as she just turned her head from left to right and back again. Taking in the sights. This was an abandoned village or more like a town as it was fairly large. It was unclear if its destruction was wrought by the Yladian invasion or Titanius, regardless, it was not going to be restored anytime soon, if ever. The fall winds gusted at times, carrying the sound of creaking wood and the meatless bones of the unknown past the Starfallen Savior's jet-black shoes.

Wendel wasn't completely sure why she came here. Having already had to cross the Silvergate Bridge to get back to Astorea, she had no intention of going west again. Not after all the trouble she already had there. The massive crevice that began at High March and went on as far as the eye could see beyond was intoxicating though, and every now and then she wondered what was down there...

Her eyes looked at the thread that vanished. It was weird, she never used to have those weird things appear. It was partly how she got by while alone. Supposedly this happened to other Starcalleds as well. For her often the illusory threads would just blink out of existence or come to abrupt stops before ending up tied like they were snipped and redirected somehow. Other times, they were like this. Leading long distances all the way to places that felt pointless to go to. If nothing else, at least this place was devoid of any life. It was peaceful.

Magi slowed her pace even more as the thread faded away and now just stood alone here. A small twirl with her arms outstretched and she took in the silence. Only the whistling of the wind responded. That was until a bug landed on her nose with colorful wings and she stopped to stare at it. There was still life here...

How many bugs hunted this little guy?
How many did he hunt?
How will he feel when his wings can't flap anymore?

*Cough*

Wendel's head quickly turns towards the sound as the bug made off with its short bug life intact. The sound came from a building that must have once been a tavern. Its signs were all faded and difficult to read. Still fully Magical Girl mode, Magi peered into the building and made out a hunched-over figure sitting at a table.

The large dirty looking hobo caught the pinkette staring at him. He raised a shaking mug to his lips. He blinked a few times and shook his head before choosing to talk rather than drink.

"What the hell is a girl like you doing out here? I haven't even gotten drunk yet and am seeing things now ha!"

"I'm Magi Heart (magical girl salute). You look hurt."

The distorted teen immediately picked up the man's pain as she stepped into the long-abandoned tavern. She had been practicing using the astral sense more ever since Camp Hope and it has made finding people who she could easily save much easier. Perhaps that was the meaning behind the thread bringing her here.

"Hurt? Pah! Intuitive kid, but I'm not the hurt one. I'm just the one left behind. I made my mistakes and am paying for them."

The man spoke clearly for a hobo, he made a thoughtful look and put his hand on his dirty pant knee as it trembled.

"Seriously though kid, how old are you? Head back to your parents. Don't make her mistakes"

How old? Wendel's age wasn't exactly the same as Wendy's or was it? Magi didn't even remember when her birthday was so she just made a rough estimate. Things like that had become irrelevant to her. It didn't have any impact on her daily existence.

"Umm....seventeen.. I think... I haven't really thought about it... Sometimes I feel like I'm around four *giggle*. I guess it depends on what sort of birth you mean."

"Ha baby face at seventeen? Nothing like how my big-boned daughter looked at that age. Fuckin' Aristocrat bastards. *cough*"

Wendel's eyes set upon a large growth on the man's back, that was making him looked hunched. It throbbed and as it pushed against his ragged coverings. Dissonance? Or some other ailment had taken this man Magi could tell but there was no way to be sure what was under his shirt unless she used magic. She started to...

"Don't bother. Knowing won't help kid. It was my mistake. I tried to get her back."

He shook his head.

"They took my family from me, took her away with that silver-tongued son of a bitch Everyones all worried about the demons of the north when we have demons right here with us."

That was something she agreed with. Everyone could be a demon as long as they were allowed to live and do the evil things they wanted. She was a monster perhaps but not a demon, The urge to end his trembling debilitated figure grew by the second. She took a step towards him as her face made the gentlest expression it could to ease him. Insider a dark excitement grew.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. Your hero is here. My job is to save you, I'll make you stop hurting..."

She made her way over and placed a hand on his bare arm. It felt like leather as he looked at her curiously.

"Yeah? She wanted to do that too. Couldn't decide who to follow outta all these groups out there to get her dream. Ended up falling for a viper. Ha... you're killing me, aren't you kid?"

His body grew colder as Wendel worked her magic. She was on autopilot now, barely understanding his words but listening to those she killed was important to her. If they cried and screamed she needed the energy, if they just accepted it, she would be happy for them.

"Looks like you might have been taken by a viper as well.... *cough*... look... I don't know your story... not my business but... *cough*... I'm not resisting as you can see... I... don't have anything left anyway... but you do... only 18 and going... around... killing...random... losers... like me..."

He slumped over.

"I...came back here, because this was where I was born... where my daughter was born... where I married... my wife..."

A struggled breath.

"...Someday you'll be... targeted by someone...who thinks... killing you.. is right... go back... where you were born...it... makes ...it..it..."

His body fell off the chair, but Magi was still unfinished, she had to ensure his soul was taken care of as well. So she stayed with him. Pulling his shirt up she saw the fleshy mass still pulsing. He was dead though...

As for people wanting to kill her.
That was already a thing.
Wendel had long lost the fear of being hated as long as it didn't interfere with her duties

 

[Erick Stryker]

Mood.
​

He could feel the world struggling in this place, left barren after some catastrophic event that devoured even residual mana. It was like watching blood flowing backward into a broken and battered body, slowly, without any of the decay or rot healing in the process. The patches of grass that grew were yellow green, hinting that it struggled to maintain healthy water levels or absorb nutrients from the ashen soil.

It would take some effort if he wanted to see what happened here for himself, but the idea of using his power for something he could learn through other means had lost its appeal.

Then the wind carried several voices toward him, and Erick glanced up. He was too far to make out the conversation at first, but he maintained a slow and steady approach. There was no reason to alarm them, and with their surroundings being little more than death and decay he hardly wanted to risk it.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Your hero is here. My job is to save you, I'll make you stop hurting...

Those were the first words he heard her say, and he could feel ice crystallizing in his blood as she spoke them. For all of their kindness, her method was anything but heroic. He noticed before the victim did, the way that her parasitic magic sapped the life from him.

Reminiscent of the lifelessness all around them.

But, Erick did not rush to stop her. He didn't argue or fight, because the man could have chosen to resist that fate. He could have chosen not to die, and in that twisted moment of revelation, he'd made his choice.

Erick knew, because he knew what it meant to make that choice.

There was divergence there, where he could have saved the man. The man could have saved himself. Yet the course of history flowed on, relentless.

Erick knew in the seconds that followed, he had the power to change that fate. He could have turned back the second hand, been there to tell the woman to stop, given the man however many days, months, or years he had left.

In the end, she had made her choice.

Erick walked up next to her and squatted alongside the withered corpse. He didn't look at Magi for a long time, silent as he considered the path that led a man to die like this, with his will to live shattered. How many others would suffer an end like this one?

When she lifted his shirt, the strange pulsating sac became visible. He had the power to change things in the short term, but something like this that festered for an indeterminate length of time was far beyond his reach. Still, Erick couldn't agree with the woman's use of the idea of 'salvation.'

She'd given him catharsis, and not much else.

"It hurts," he said quietly, "making that choice."

Not a question, oddly.

He knew the answer.

"When you hold all the power, and you get to make the decision, it's easy for others to cast the blame and hate you." He sighed and glanced out at the blackened soil. It was conceivable that he might dig a grave, even if it were a shallow one. The man deserved some shred of dignity.

It was the same, yet entirely different. He'd held many lives in his hands, but only he had died. This girl had chosen to end the life of another.

None of these things were ideal.

"But in the end, you only have to live with yourself," he looked up at Magi, then stood upright next to her. "Do you regret it?" he asked.

@Magi Heart

 

[Magi Heart]

High March: Isolated Village

"It hurts, making that choice."

Still kneeling beside the body of the nameless man, Wendel released her hand from his body. She was not sure if she had successfully finished feeding off his spirit but continuing when someone else was here distracting her never went well. Without spirit magic herself, Magi only could go by her own inner feeling to know. If she didn't complete it, the man's ghost would be free to haunt and decay like the one in the wurm tunnels had.

Heterochromatic eyes, one her natural pink hue but dulled and glazed over, while the other a crimson with a pupil that writhed as if alive in the depths. These looked at the sudden arrival in the middle of nowhere. Why was he here? Then again, she wasn't sure why she was here either so...

"When you hold all the power, and you get to make the decision, it's easy for others to cast the blame and hate you."

He had seen her performing her job. Wendel wondered if he needed to add to her quota of salvation today. He acted as if he knew. He was just another person that would abuse power. What Wendel did was not abuse, it was necessary. Besides...

"I don't have all the power. I do what I can as Magi Heart, the Starcalled Savior. Bringer of peace and ender of suffering ♥."

She automatically made a gesture of greeting with her hand as the Starfallen Savior often did. Acting out an all but dead girl's fantasy was part of her instincts and although it came off odd and out of place to do certain motions, phrases, and the like, she did them anyway. Calling Seigi Raina-chan was just one of those idiosyncrasies.

"Hate is normal. Everyone hates all the time for the smallest things. *Giggle* I guess you could say I've learned to feed off it.."

The pinkette attempted to astral sense the man as she stared at him. He didn't seem ready for her to care for him properly yet. A shame too, since she was not exactly satisfied by one kill today. If he didn't cause her any trouble, then she was probably done here.

"Do you regret it?"

Regret it?

Yes.

Standing to her feet she only somewhat towered over the squatting blue hair. With her discolored hair, eyes and short stature. It was obvious why some thought she was just a tall faerin until they see her ears The petite reaper's shorter attention span no longer paying the mass of pulsating flesh any mind.

"Gee whiz, if there was anything I regret. It'd be not doing this sooner. Instead of looking for temporary answers to people person's problems, just end them. What about you Mr.Blue?"

The words she spoke came from a frozen unchanging smile. She realized this and with some effort softened her inhuman expression. Unfortunately, the occasional distortion of her voice was unavoidable. It would not be a surprise for some to think her possessed.

"Why did you come here? Did a thread bring you? *Giggle* those weird things sure have been increasing lately."

@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

Erick stroked his chin thoughtfully as she spoke. She claimed that she did all she could, curiously, as a bringer of peace and ender of suffering. Those words certainly did fit with what he'd witnessed.

Silently, he lowered himself to one knee and took the body in his hands, offering his support to a fellow man for the last time. She said that she did not regret it. He had no visible reaction as he carried the body some twenty feet and set it aside.

Then, he began to dig at the dirt with his hands. He could have used magic. He could have made the process fast, forgettable. Instead, he chose to take the time, and to remember.

What about you, Mr. Blue?

It struck as an interesting question, at first. His initial response was the slighest twitch. Visceral discomfort. Given the opportunity to end a man's suffering, what choice would he have made?

He'd made the same choice as her the moment he elected to do nothing while she took the life.

Why did you come here? Did a thread bring you? Those weird things sure have been increasing lately.

"Nothing so profound," he shook his head. Each handful of dirt left more black and brown stains on his flesh, but he didn't seem to notice. He continued for what seemed like forever, answering her as he worked. "I heard about the affliction of the land here and I wanted to see it for myself. Power in this world is something that comes easily, and the cost is something that Starcalled like us seem to ignore."

He had ignored it. Perhaps at some point, this girl had, too. "I wanted to remind myself of the consequences, before my head got too big." After some time had passed, the hole was decidedly large enough to fit a human body. It was nowhere near six feet, nor did he have a coffin. An undignified burial, perhaps, but the man deserved more than to rot and stink in the unforgiving sun.

He took up the corpse again and steadily began to lower it into the shallow grave, then started to cover it with dirt.

"You know something about that, though," he said solemnly, not turning to look at her. "A man sat defenseless while you ended his life. No struggle. You had the ability to spare him, and you made the decision not to. I'm not judging you for that," he said, and as he rose to his feet again, he wiped his dirty hands on the seat of his pants.

Then, he finally looked back at her.

"But I do want to tell you, that's what power is. When you can make a decision, and that decision goes unquestioned, you have power. You're much more powerful than you give yourself credit for, Magi," he cautioned her.

He was never religious, yet as he stood over the grave, he found himself uttering a small sentiment. Nothing more than leftover superstition from a childhood spent in church on Sundays, yet he felt compelled that the man deserved a few words. After he finished, he turned to face her properly.

"And you can call me Erick. Erick Stryker."

@Magi Heart

 

[Magi Heart]

High March: Isolated Village

Cost of power?

The man dug in the dirt with his bare hands. For someone who had died, hopefully, both in body and spirit. Wendel cared more for this man's dumb actions than the rotting carcass. She chalked it up as just another normie thing. While Wendy in the past always was confused by people's dark natures the opposite proved true for Wendel. Although the reasons each had difficulty grasping may have been different.

She followed him and said nothing as she watched him dig away in the lifeless dirt.

He continued to talk, he sure was friendly to someone he just caught committing murder. Wendel wondered if he had been here for a long time considering his mannerisms. Most who had only just arrived would give off a much different presence and less thoughtful mindset.

Or maybe he was just a weirdo.
That wouldn't be that new either.

He was in a grave he dug with own hands. The distorted teen could have so easily shot him in the back and left him to rot here with the lifeless husk he thought mattered. He was obviously a person from the real world or whatever so it would have only made her life harder if he just respawned.

Wendy never had to die more than once to lose access to that place, that life. It all came to end the day Eldhi stabbed her with the rose of Vermillion. Whether it was a unique situation or something else, Wendel never had the chance to see the world that Wendy's memories gave her.

So to her, the Starcalled were only slightly less alien than how Landers saw them.

Finally, he had finished his literal dirty work and introduced himself, but after what looked to be a short prayer. Though there would be no way for the man to know, Wendy had a similar history as a child, being baptized in Boston at her grandparent's insistence.

"And you can call me Erick. Erick Stryker."

A snicker came from Magi's mouth at the reveal of the man's name. It sounded like a generic protag name if she ever heard one. Nothing could match Raina's choice though. Magi Heart walked up to stand beside the makeshift grave having not said anything till now.

"I'm not into thinking too hard about things. I did when I started and it didn't get me anywhere. Besides a thorn in my heart *giggle*. Magi Heart is just my alias. My name is Wendel... I don't have a need for whatever the other parts of my name were... umm... Anne something or other."

She tilted her head slightly as she glanced at him. Despite her looks from afar, one would see the scars both inside and out in the form of complexion and how the only light that shined from her eyes was that of sadness and madness. Of course, the Starcalled came in many flavors so it could easily be played off as just "a look" and he saw it as a player which wasn't untrue. Just that now while he played through Terrasphere, she lived through Terrasphere.

"This place got affected by some dissonance thing. It's not so bad to just leave everything like this... anyways. You say you don't judge the power I use but you look like you did to me Strikey. Judgy judgy Mr.Strikey."

Her black staff generated in her hand and she gave it a swift swing at nothing as she gave him a nickname he didn't ask for. She turned on her heel and looked like she was ready to leave. He wasn't in the right state to save, and she had no particular interest in hanging around here.

"I spare people of their pain. Everyone feels pain eventually... right now you felt pain as you buried that man. I'm here whenever you want me to help you with that. You can't change things when stuff goes bad, but I can end them for you. Just call Magi Heart when you need me!♥"

As she made a step away from Erick, the earth vibrated slightly...


@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

He watched carefully, the mannerisms she displayed as she spoke and the words she chose. It would have been easy to construe them as mocking, but there was more in them. Her gaze was one that existed in paradox, as though her soul were at odds with itself. The word she chose when describing what had transpired in this place seemed oddly apt for what he saw in those eyes.

Dissonance.

Perhaps there was a portion of her that did not want this, but the voice he heard and the actions she took said otherwise. This world had shown Erick things unlike anything he had ever imagined. The prospect of a person who was broken into two like that, at war with themselves- it was not so fantastic when he thought about it. After all, schizophrenia was a very real affliction.

You say you don't judge the power I use but you look like you did to me Strikey. Judgy judgy Mr.Strikey.

Is that what she saw, or what she chose to believe she had seen? Did it matter? Perspective dictated reality. If he tried to correct her, she would still only believe what she wanted. He was, in that way, completely powerless.

The irony was not lost on him.

The truth of the matter was that everyone had their choices to make. He had made choices too, ones that others vocally disagreed with. Magi had chosen to take the life of another person, and Erick had chosen to give up one of his own. The freedom to make those choices was what made them human.

And if no one allowed her that freedom? If no one offered her the kindness of simply allowing her to be human, or the mercy of compassion, how would she ever find her way back through the darkness?

I spare people of their pain. Everyone feels pain eventually... right now you felt pain as you buried that man. I'm here whenever you want me to help you with that. You can't change things when stuff goes bad, but I can end them for you. Just call Magi Heart when you need me!

Her concept of kindness, somewhere, had been warped. But while twisted, she retained some semblance of compassion. She was not completely gone.

Erick had faith that one day she might see light again.

"Wendel," he repeated her name finally. She gave it freely, despite there being no need. In the midst of the chaos she espoused, she found the clarity to give him something real. He internalized it. "I won't forget it."

She stepped backward and he felt the earth shivering, so he made no move to stop her.

"I'll offer the same thing to you, then," he told the woman. "If you need help, I'll find you," he told her.

"Just call for me."

@Magi Heart

 

[Magi Heart]

220 / 220

High March: Isolated Village

"Wendel, I won't forget it."

Erick had learned not the name of the girl that was but the girl that is. Still he even if out of ignorance gave the Dark Heart a small validation of her own existence. Something that ironically the ones she wished would did not. Those who knew what she had been refused to accept it. Even Raina only spoke her name while under the influence of another.

He then offered to help her as well. What sort of help did he truly mean? Magi didn't have the incentive to find out. Only having the drive to do very few and very specific things. She spun around and offered a quick jerky wave at him in farewell. It was only proper to do so for her role.

*Rumble*

Magi stopped in mid-wave. Her senses stirred. What was this? Wendel felt...

Danger

*BRRRRRRRRR*

The earth beyond @Erick Stryker burst upwards at the grave he had made. A mass of decaying flesh rose, quivering as it warped and writhed further upwards. A tower of meat that split into parts. Each split widened until was a groaning maw of gnashing teeth and tongue.

Again and again, the mouths took shape until it towered like an obelisk of discord.
From them came a slime of nauseating odor. It rained down as the maws slurped and tasted the autumn air, and upon their sensitive tongues, they also tasted on that breeze...

The smell of fresh meat.
The undecayed.
Prey.

Spoiler: Battle Theme

ABYSSAL PARASITE
[ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ]

7 LP 100 DC 10 RETAL

❰ 200 / 200 ❱

❰ 7 / 7 ❱

Uncontrollable Regeneration

Every other cycle LP increases by 1.
Any time DC is failed LP increases by 1.
If no damage is dealt to Abyssal Parasite for a cycle, LP increases by 1.

The bolded part of this ability is canceled whenever SP is at 0.​

Multi Maw Madness

Once per cycle make a reflex or fortitude save of 60. Once at 3 or less LP, increase save DC to 100. If failed take 20 HP damage plus modifiers.

Vile Ejection

For every instance of damage (including retal), take 1 stack of Poison. Poison damage is Flat and does not start until your next turn.

This ability is canceled whenever SP is at 0.​

.

Play Sheet
Starting with Erick's Post: 1407C1​

 

[Erick Stryker]

180 / 200

Vulnerable
-20 HP from Retal

The shaking was disturbing enough, but the sensation that erupted all around the hypersensitive Chronopath caused his body to convulse. He still hadn't gotten used to the changes that his senses had undergone when the tampered with the timelines. Aware of everything and nothing, aware of space, of time, of existence, of-

It's coming.

Erick still lacked a concept of what 'it' was, but his body reacted to it like the crack of a whip, peeling away from the grave he'd dug only moments before. The blasphemy that rose from the depths was beyond comprehension, a creature doubtless born of the strange corruption that Magi referred to as 'dissonance.'

When his vision registered it, the parallax slowly converged. The creature that came into view drew a stern expression from him. Before the events at Camp Hope, he might have been terrified beyond belief; but after watching as a machine ripped the head off of another human being and literally assumed his identity through some insane type of assimilation, this?

This was marginally less surprising. That wasn't to say that he wasn't surprised at all. Maybe he had just become numb to reacting outwardly after all of the jump scares up to this point.

His response time was clearly jarred as a result of his heightened senses and lack of control thereof. As he moved to counterattack, the creature belted out a discordant chorus of bellows that skewed his concentration and aim, effectively mitigating any attempt he might make to attack, at least, in any effective capacity.

With one hand on his temple nursing the throbbing pain, he worked to steady himself in light of the sensory overload he was suddenly experiencing. Hopefully, the girl would be okay- he'd do his best to cover her retreat. Yeah. That was the plan.

...maybe?

Critical Attack
2d100 (Advantage) (4, 49) + 15 + 15 + 15 = 94 < 100 MISS
Gain the Vulnerable state
Hyper Sense | Erick Stryker | 1407C1

1d100 (58) + 20 = 78 > 60 PASS
Reflex | Erick Stryker | 1407C1

Play Sheet

 

[Magi Heart]

Starfallen Savior | Rogue Traveler | UI Locked

200 / 220

Starfallen Magic | Dissonant Arts | Dissonant Hope | Dark Grace | Awakening
| Status | Location

From above Eric came a wave of energy that crashed into the rapidly generating flesh of the monster. Why was it growing like that? For that matter what was it? Magi stepped beside the man as some of the monsters spewing venom hit her raised arm. It burned but was nothing in comparison to having her flesh charred to the bone. The Dark Heart found that sort of thing to be just something to push through. Eventually, she would just recover and regenerate herself.

"This thing... is what's left of that man's body. I... can't tell if it's dissonance or not. It feels empty to me. ...Eyah... damn it I'll just finish this pitiful husk off like I was going to before! There won't be any disgusting meat left!"

A tad of drool came down her lip as her madness built. Perhaps she would get a real meat bowl this time! She now stood in front of the man who looks like he was experiencing a headache at a bad time. People that talked about morals, choices and regrets... they always ended up being weak. She couldn't have him suffer meaninglessly though.

"Unless you're in a hurry to be saved from this screwy world. Go. I won't let you live in pain. Mr.Fleshbag here has more than enough to share."

Erick suddenly felt his feet grow light as her power over space and gravity gave him a nudge to leave. She didn't look back. Magi Heart wanted to fight monsters in the past, the Starfallen Savior simply had to fight them. It would take great force of will for her to even consider retreating.

The desire was too strong to end whatever this thing felt for good.

<OOC: If you want out, it's no problem! Just let me know and this is a fade to black!>

❰ Magi Heart's Stats ❱

❰ Saves ❱

REFLEX SAVE
vs
Multi Maw Madness
Reflex | Magi Heart | 1407C1
​

❰ Main Action ❱

BURST ATTACK
vs
Abyssal Parasite
Dark Magic | Magi Heart | 1407C1
​

❰ Bonus Action ❱


N/A

------
​

ABYSSAL PARASITE
[ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ]

8 LP 100 DC 10 RETAL

❰ 160 / 200 ❱

❰ 6 / 8 ❱

Uncontrollable Regeneration

Every other cycle LP increases by 1.
Any time DC is failed LP increases by 1.
If no damage is dealt to Abyssal Parasite for a cycle, LP increases by 1.

The bolded part of this ability is canceled whenever SP is at 0.​

Multi Maw Madness

Once per cycle make a reflex or fortitude save of 60. Once at 3 or less LP, increase save DC to 100. If failed take 20 HP damage plus modifiers.

Vile Ejection

For every instance of damage (including retal), take 1 stack of Poison. Poison damage is Flat and does not start until your next turn.

This ability is canceled whenever SP is at 0.​

.

Starting with Erick's Post: 1407C2​

 

[Erick Stryker]

110 / 200

Vulnerable
-70 from Retal

The fractal world in his field of vision cracked. The perfect symmetry shattered as he struggled to find balance in a sea of infinite chaos. He could hear her words from a thousand different directions, and as he looked around at broken fragments, reflections of the woman who called herself "Wendel" wore a score of different expressions. Vexation, excitement, disappointment, grief, terror, indulgence- what face was the real one, out of all of them?

Or were they all real?

"I know I didn't drop acid before I came out here," he muttered to himself, one eye screwing shut as he attempted to reign in his sixth sense. In the last seconds before some of the spewed poison from the beast came close to his body, his senses flared. He became hyper aware, not of everything, but of himself.

The switch was flipped, and his expedient reaction showed for it.

He concentrated on drawing the convalescent energies around himself, and he brought them to bear around the Parasite.

Erick could see perfectly in that moment. The energies were converged around a single point, a fault line in the fabric of reality that- if he managed to skewer it- the creature would suffer greatly.

"Take this," he splayed his fingers, and a guilded light appeared in his palm. Molding it and stretching it into a new form, Erick opted for something familiar. He pulled his arm back as though he were nocking an arrow, and when he released the intangible string the pillar of radiant energy surged toward its target.

When it struck, light exploded outward like a pulsar.

"Pain is temporary," he called out, feeling the rush as the brilliance he'd created illuminated the wasteland around them, "glory's forever! Let's kick this thing's ass!"

1d100 (13) + 20 = 33 + 60 = 93 > 60 SUCCESS
Reflex | Erick Stryker | 1407C2

2d100 (Advantage) (96, 19) + 15 + 15 + 15 = 423 (Crit!) 423 damage
Gain the Vulnerable state
Hyper Sense | Erick Stryker | 1407C2

Surge Activated (+60 to a roll/+3 to Haste/+15 to Inspire/+3 revive targets) | Erick Stryker | 1407C2

Abyssal Parasite
2/8 LP
160/200 SP

Play Sheet

 

[Magi Heart]

Dark Heart in the Gray Lands

Wendel was a very pessimistic savior. Only confident in her own desire and had long stopped expecting others to succeed. Failure was the norm, hence suffering and thus the need to bring peace. So when Erick entered a moment of doubt, the Dark Heart focused on it and told him in so many words o leave or accept his own ending.

When he did not. Her darkly influenced astral senses were denied their preferred outcome. As he did neither of those things...

The man's attack was very reminiscent of her own. Gathering magic to use as an arrow without the need for a string. The energy that surrounded the area as she prepared to fight the monster alone with surreal. Now she recognized it. It was also at the camp. Was he there? She couldn't be sure as she only noticed randoms here and there with it all accumulating with the Kiss of Moonsongreaching her mind's eye while Wendy had given hope to Haito in the razing field.. With the way he acted, it didn't look like he fully understood what this kind of magic could do either but damn it he was trying...

Magi went to work herself. Aggressively unleashing her magic to keep up with the regeneration of the spitting tower of flesh. At the rate of her output vs the monster. It would eventually be destroyed regardless.

If Erick had decided at the time to focus on Magi even with his preferable vision during his search for the enemy's weaknesses. Perhaps he would see the distortion within her much more clearly ala's he seemed quite focused.

"Pain is temporary,"

Wendel did not offer a retort the man she just met was not so important.

"glory's forever! Let's kick this thing's ass!"

She could agree with that...

---

All that remained was dust and even that was being crushed further via Wendel's astramancy in the aftermath. Finally finished, the Dark Heart turned her attention to the blue haired traveler again.

"...Strikey, you're weird. *Giggle* thank you for helping me save him completely."

Although partly a monster herself, she was genuinely happy in her own twisted way that someone assisted her in her goal. Her magically created clothing faded away leaving an even simpler-looking pinkette behind. She said nothing more and left the area.

Although this meeting concluded, there were several things left unanswered. The dissonant Magi Heart, however, was not interested in answering them. One must ask, does every mystery need an answer?

@Erick Stryker

<Thanks for the thread!>