Edit History

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was hurtling northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd initially been hovering, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. At the same time as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creation to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Anima continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving slowly and deliberately, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facinged the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his left shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed that the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Anima had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.
 

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was hurtling northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd initially been hovering, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. At the same time as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creation to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Anima continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving closer, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facing the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed at the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Animal had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably on his shoulder, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.
 

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was hurtling northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd initially been hovering, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. At the same time as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creation to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Animal continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving closer, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facing the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed at the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Animal had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably on his shoulder, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.
 

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was hurtling northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd initially been hovering, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. At the same time as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creating to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Animal continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving closer, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facing the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed at the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Animal had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably on his shoulder, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.
 

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was hurtling northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd initially been hovering, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. Even as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creating to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Animal continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving closer, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facing the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed at the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Animal had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably on his shoulder, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.
 

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was hurtling northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd been standing, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. Even as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creating to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Animal continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving closer, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facing the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed at the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Animal had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably on his shoulder, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.
 

The chaos that surrounded the Hunters continued, even as the six did their best to organize themselves and beat it back.

The portal continued to thrum and hiss, and the traces of lightning that demarked it's event horizon grew with each passing second. A great tearing sound ripped through the air, and the portal, with it's accompanying inner sphere of absolute, matte blackness, grew by another huge margin, at least doubling in size. Such was the speed of the portal's spread, Yukito, who was closest, was nearly caught by it's unexpected speed. To the point where one of the many arcs of lightning brushed, barely against the sole of his boot as he rocketed away. And though he didn't suffer any direct, physical harm from the contact, his entire foot, halfway up his calf, went almost completely numb, and was filled with a horrible pins & needles feeling that traveled up and down the affected limb.

Fortunately, his ability to fly made the functionality of said foot, for the moment, moot. Which was a good thing, as he briefly stopped and, with an exercise of his nature control powers, the swordsman encased the giant floating spherical monster, itself encased in a spherical shell of ice, in yet another layer, this one of dark, sandy stone. After that brief exercise, Yukito bolted away to the north, rapidly moving towards the edge of the small settlement.

Even as the swordsman was rocketing northward, a burst of icy blue light flashed out, right where he'd been standing, and struck the bevy of Zyclops that were, even now, attempting to follow and attack the fleeing, flying Hunter. Even as the ray struck, locking the group of undead in place, the leading edge of the Portal flashed forward, slamming into the entire group of former residents, and dropping them where they stood...marionettes with their strings thoroughly cut. Simultaneously, several bolts of black lightning swirled up and around the perimeter of the Portal, then lashed out, into, and through the doubly encased undead Beholder. More screaming ensued from within the coffin of icy stone, but it was more muffled. As before, several beams of black light blasted outward, some striking the ground nearby the Hunters, the various roaming Zyclops, and the occasional building. The majority, however, simply flashed harmlessly into the air.

One unfortunate side effect of this, however, was that the edge of the Portal also encountered the icy results of Cal's spell. Another bolt of black lightning, fortunately, much smaller than the ones that had been impacting the Death Orb, arced across the empty space, and slammed directly into the racing beholder-mage. In a strangely lucid moment, even as the pain was arcing through his body, he realized that the 'damage' from the black lightning blast had a nearly identical feel to the pain that his casting normally caused. Not that that stopped the pain from nearly debilitating him...but at least it was a familiar agony.

The 'hiccup' that had taken hold of the Zyclops but a moment before was repeated, but this time it lasted nearly a full second, and presented the perfect opportunity to the Hunters...an opportunity which they capitalized on.

Monique, calling on the spirits who aided her, let loose a massive burst of positive, life giving energy. Several of the Zyclops simply dropped in their tracks, their bodies breaking out in a coruscating aura of black fire that seemingly tried to fight the positive energy flooding them, but, ultimately, failing, as the necromantic energy keeping them moving failed in the favor of the healing power that the scholar sent forth.

Unfortunately for her, however, just like Cal, and Nivel before her, the energy matrix of Monique's spellcasting interacted a tad too closely with the unstable, whorling energy of the Portal, and sent a blast of power back into her core. And while it didn't stop her from moving, the pain was utterly horrendous, leaving her gasping for breath far more seriously than her simple run did. Of equal pain was the fact that the bolt, after ravaging her core, snapped a smaller, but no less potent, arc of energy into her elemental creation, causing the creating to crumble into it's constituent parts, leaving a large pile of rubble in the center of the town.

Devlin, meanwhile, had spun around and was attempting to deal with the two...now one...Zyclops bearing down on Cal. He sent illusory decoys to cover most of his compatriots, even as he attempted to deal with his foes. His initial burst of action, about to be aimed at the former shepherd, was interrupted by Monique's blast of light power, which sent the Zyclops crashing to the ground. Reacting with supernatural quickness...and aided by a little tickle in his hindbrain...a warning by an alternate timeline 'him', perhaps...Devlin was able to quickly reorient on the still moving guard. A quick bit of legerdemain, followed up by a one-two punch of alchemical explosives, and the top half of the armoured guardsman was rapidly separated from the bottom half, both parts spiraling away, sending a wash of gore into the air...and only narrowly missing the time traveler.

Blaidd, faced with a growing crowd of onrushing Zyclops, took rapidly to the air. He deftly avoided the grasping hands and pummeling weapons of the undead, and, when he had gained enough altitude to (barely) clear the nearby rooftop, he turned and blasted the former shepherd, sending the creature stumbling back against the building wall. Satisfied with his work, the tattooed Hunter then turned and began moving rapidly north, following his comrades.

Back in the middle of the street, the tiny Beholder partially rotated it's entire body, orienting it's main eye, as well as several smaller eyes, on Nivel. Though at least half the little creatures eyes were still scanning the surroundings...most locked on the earth and ice encased Death Tyrant, the rest solemnly regarded the assassin. "Anima dont meanses no harms to youse. Anima promises. Anima sent. Sent to helpses you, yes." The little creature darted a look (several, really) at the rapidly growing Portal, and it seemed that Anima's entire body shuddered. Returning it's full attention to Nivel, Animal continued. "Youses is right though, MistHuman. Gotta go, and go's fast. BadScaryBuzzyPortal eating Magic, eating Time, eating Fate itself. Will unravel youses, unmake youses. Must go!" It stopped, and now all the creature's eyes focused on Nivel, locking gazes with him. There was an earnest look in the little beholder's many eyes, an appeal plain to see.

"Anima comeses with you? Oh, thanks youse, thanks youse, thanks youse!!  Anima strong! Anima smart! Anima helpses youse!"

Nivel's words in response seemed to overjoy the beholder, and it shivered all over, exactly like a puppy given a scratch behind it's ears. Moving closer, Anima floated closer, turning in midair, and facing the same direction as Nivel. Touching down on his shoulder, the Beholder did...something with one of it's eyes that caused a small ripple in the air, and then it seemed at the little creature was now firmly anchored to the assassin's shoulder, and would move when he did. At this distance, Nivel noticed that Animal had a dry, clean, mildly pleasant smell, not unlike the smell of a snake or lizard, with just a hint of some elusive metallic scent that he couldn't quite identify. Regardless, the little creature didn't seem to impede his movement in any way, and merely rested comfortably on his shoulder, for all the world like a many-eyed spherical parrot.

As he was reconciling himself to the situation...or not, depending, Nivel noticed one other detail. A soft, almost sub-harmonic, sound seemed to be emanating from Anima. It sounded...and felt, as he registered the sensation in his shoulder and collar bone...exactly like a cat's deep, happy purr.