#the powder drawing on the wall I'm going to fucking die

[monsterhighlover333333]

Never thought I'd ship them but here we are

twink silco ate btw 🔥🔥🔥

ZAUNDADS IN THE ARCANE ART BOOK OMFGGG

[helenestonefist]

Risk

Up came her shield right before the fire hit...but then it skipped off her. Turning, she watched the wall melt and her heart skipped a small beat. No fear in her gaze, no look on her features, she turned back to Ikara and noted the way the world bent to her calling. If she did turn on Chance, that wouldn't end well. So she started to walk to the side and put a closer distance to him; counting that he could hold off.

"Beta might come looking for ya, Ikara. Can you imagine if he did? What they'd do to him? " Her glove flexed around the handle of her sword. "He has a gift with tech. They'd break him. Just like they broke me, yeah? Remember that? Still got that carved on me."

Closer still and keeping a steady distance to not draw attention; her hand poised near the trigger behind the shield. "I know you don't want to do this, yeah? Come home."

The Vanguards certainly kept Chance busy, but the first one fell to a crumpled heap, leaving him to deal with the other. It drew Ikara's attention enough that she pulled at all the lightning aether in the destroyed mech before it powdered down. Each time Helene spoke about Beta her aether flickered just for a moment. It was enough to disrupt any longer and more complex spells, but didn't stop her from lashing out, "SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH!" A bolt of lightning shot straight for Helene.

There was something cracking in the veneer of calm and nearly sociopathic behavior of the auri girl.

With the first machine destroyed, Chance took the fight to the remaining Vanguard. He didn't know the girl, he didn't know this Phoenix, and saying anything at all would likely undo what efforts Helene was taking. A soldier through and through, he focused on the tasks he had and let her focus on hers. As he fought he sought the remaining Garlean, trying to make sure he kept an eye on him so he did not slip away. No one was going to report back if he could help it, assuming they somehow won. Whoever this Phoenix was, Chance owed him a drink. Helene's use of the name might well be the difference between life and death for them.

Again, she lifted the shield to absorb the arch and the bolts ripped through the metal that wrapped her. Sparks danced off pauldrons, gloves and boots as the insulation below kept it off her form; though her hair lifted a little for it.

She shook it off and eased off the trigger. "They came for you, yeah? Everyone. All of 'em. And they wont stay down, Ikara. They are comin' for you again. He will be there with them. Yuti, Soren, Lloire, everyone." She took a few steps towards her and flicked her gaze to Chance. Then tossed her sword to the dirt. It fell with a thud and she kept her shield; choosing to hold her hand out. "Come on. Come back home with me. It's Starlight, yeah? Don't ya want to curl up with Beta and enjoy it for once?"

Chance continued to fight with the Vanguard, and it eventually fell, but where it fell, the Garlean realized he wasn't getting out alive and came to attack him. He would rather die by a sword than by that weapon's magic.

A viscious sneer crossed her face, "Yea, they came and they failed and ran away. Too late now. I'm where I belonged from the start." The mention of startlight had her aether sputtering and she shook her head, grabbing the side of it then her eyes lit up and she ripped the mask off, pure disdain in her eyes, "I don't need Starlight. Fuck Starlight. Fuck you!" Now the aether really started to gather. She was cracking, but it was making her start to overload instead of stop. A huge arcane symbol spread over the circle of earth and whatever it was that was about to fall on their heads was going to be nasty.

The mercenary was simply glad to be done with the mechas and was glad to oblige the remaining Garlean. He wanted to shout at Helene, having seen that look before on other's faces. He'd give her until his last foes was dead before he tried things his way. As much as he wanted to shout at her to remember what she'd promised, drawing attention to himself was a tactical error he just couldn't justify.

During this exhange she had made a key motion. Stepping closer to where Chance was and then stepping closer to Ikara. All of her anger and focus was drawing into that attack and unless she wanted to stop and try again, she was going to keep it.

Down Helene went into a crouch before her feet dug to sand and she pushed herself into a sprint -at- Ikara. The sword was added weight. She had to drop it. The ground she had been on was too soft, she had to move. And now her finger was on the trigger of the magitch device tucked away behind the shield and if Ikara stayed her ground to burn her down, as she guessed? Then the barrier was going to launch up like a wide disc while she sought to either knock the girl straight off her feet in a solid hit or hope the magic would echo off it and do the same.

The Garlean went down without much of a fight at all. If anything he had been seeking his death. Chance had plenty of time to see Helene launch herself at Ikara.

For her part Ikara was absorbed in the spell. It was huge and took a lot of focus. The air wavered and shook and even those without aether senses could feel how wrong the air was. Chance could see the aether spiking off of the small auri, but not just that... it was leaking off of her in waves. She could have been a star unto herself with how much she was drawing in her anger. The shield came straight into contact with her horns and the backlash of aether from the spell going awry sent ripples through the air collapsing the earthen walls and knocking them all to thier backsides. They would recover much quicker than Ikara though as her small size and slight frame lent to her physical frailty.

Chance ended up on his ass but after half a heartbeat and realizing he was neither ash nor missing any limbs he jumped back to his feet and rushed over to where the Auri girl and Helene were. He twisted the blade in his hands, ready to bring the flat of it down on her skull if she so much as moved towards either of them. He had to fight off the urge to vomit from the amount of aether in the air but forced himself to keep his lunch. However it had worked, somehow, their plan seemed to have succeeded.

[ @peacekeeper-xiv // Chance 》 @wicked-virtue // Ikara ]

[putadapower]

ZAUNDADS IN THE ARCANE ART BOOK OMFGGG