The O.W.L.s: The World Is Yours

[Mahareshi]

Thomas's battered figure was now against a halved lamppost. He opted against chasing down Roulin who had the upper hand as of right now in order to gain his breath and some understanding of his powers. Thanks to having one power for so long, activating this new one was a task the man had expected to face. The Life Owl was taking full advantage of the situation. Thomas knew that as long as he was ignorant to his new abilities, the closer he'd come to death. Spitting to his side, Thomas clutched his fists tight. Sabrina had been killed by him had she not? Why was her power not within him as they should be? Diana didn't kill her...she lacked the means to as she was but a healer. A subtle rage filled the man's being...he should have two sets of abilities and not just one as he currently did. Out of anger, Thomas whipped his hand towards the ground. The area that his fingers pointed to now held a crater the size of a dinner plate. Of course, it drew his attention. Upon noticing and hearing the crack, he jumped, fearing that he was under attack once again.

His rage...his anger was what was needed for this. To a degree, a bit of confidence would as well. Picking up on this, Thomas knew now what to do to activate at least a small portion of his Herald power. He stood firm thanks to Diana's intervention and awaited Roulin's arrival. He was now ready to test this out.

Silence blanketed the area once again. Roulin was away watching Thomas get what weak little grasp he could on a weak aspect of a weak power. The roach turned Herald was still nothing in Roulin's eyes. It was probably this confidence that allowed him to face Thomas head on without any thoughts of losing. The young man couldn't lose. Everything was riding on this now. His love for his friends and family and his promise to Cecilia to keep her away from harm was now being tested. The youngest Presidiomni wasn't about to throw this way. He got into a stance that was unlike any of the few that he'd used before. Che, who was steady on the rooftops, recognized the ancient stance. Roulin's legs were bent, keeping low to the ground and his hands were close to his body. Each one saw their middle and index fingers extended and pointed outward as if to literally poke something. This wasn't the intention though for it's not what Roulin started with after teleporting.

Once the man appeared before the elder, two more beams of light were sent through the man's upper chest and lower abdomen. Neither beams struck anything vital as they were meant only to burn and bring immeasurable pain. They did and Thomas was sent reeling back once more. Quickly, Thomas countered with a punch that loosed a compressed ball. It was short of a shockwave, so it was nothing to the younger Owl. He evaded with a spin and swung his fist using his left over momentum. Thomas blocked with his right arm, but the force of Roulin's attack was aided by a shockwave. It shattered the man's wrist. In addition to the hammer arm, Roulin threw a straight jab and a backhand with the same arm. The first landed in the center of Thomas's torso while the other struck him in the nose. Following that was a sweep that Thomas evaded, and backflipped back kick that held a shockwave. The second maneuver struck and even managed to dislocate Thomas's left shoulder and spin him around. In his twirl, he attempted to create a bubble of wind around him in hopes of blowing Roulin away again. Ultimately, it failed.

Roulin, foreseeing this from the predictable Wind noobie, simply performed the same kick again only this time, his leg lowered rather than shooting outward. As it lowered, it brought down a crushing shockwave that pressed Thomas into the ground leaving him on his back. The surface of the road was imprinted with his figure now thanks to the steamroller-esque attack. To finish off the combination of attacks, the young and angered Owl backflipped once more, to gain momentum for his reversed kick. He kept his foot pointed outward so that when it met with the tender and bruised skin just above Thomas's dislocated shoulder, it would hurt. The Texan's muffled cry was enough to let Roulin know that it brought him pain in copious amounts, but it wasn't enough to satisfy him. No, Thomas needed to suffer. For everything that he'd done. The Life Owl meant that his death would be slow and painful...letting him learn a bit of his powers was just another way of taunting the man. Roulin pulled himself to his feet and kept his back turned to Thomas who was now embedded in the cobblestone path while studying the man's pained features. He now wanted Thomas to stand up on his own and fight him. This fight would not be dragged out any longer after that point...  

[Falconblade7591]

The commander hid his anxiety, not about to fall victum to the scatterd chuckled he was hearing in the microphone, finnaly though his senses picked up on a light thud on the floor, just by those few motions she made he was analyzing her and what that damn friend of his saw in her,"...Determined but reckless...." he thought, feeling a bit weak for seeing something in her as well. The Commander pretended to not to see her smile, however he did not hide what little shock to hear something other than an insult, "...My name is Lev Voronova...but since you are a leader of sorts...perhaps it should be more professional...I am Colonel Voronova....Commander off the 11th Division Special Task Force...the Scarlet Wolves...but I assure you..." he removed his frail glasses and held him in his fingers,"....I am not much a professional...just call me Lev...." he said with a small smile. He looked at her for a second and then looked outside as well.

Kojiro looked at her noticing that she was moving, his hands quickly jumped off of her, he had no clue what time it was, but it did not stop him from looking like a fool,"...I-I-I-I-ts..." he began until she finally sat up, he shook his head and placed his hands on his lap, "No....Its fine!...you weren't any trouble!" he muttered, when she patted him on the head, it felt kind of nice to him, but at this point it only made his blushing worse,"....She is doing this on purpose!" he thought instantly. Then she struck the final blow,"Its alright...I'm not e-even tired!" he spat quickly, lying through his teeth. He was unable to tell what she was trying to pull at this point. But he simply kept his hands to himself as he shivered lightly, desperately keeping his mind occupied to keep his cool.

Tai heard Will's voice,"...ITS DRIVING A POINT HOME!" he thought to himself. Tai knew it didn't ever work, however he looked back at the butler, or more he was about to, and then he grabbed his arm,"What the-" he was cut off as Sebastian began acting...off, his eyes locked with the butler, a bead of sweat dropped down, but it was not enough to cool off the firey rage coming from the blood manipulator's eyes,"...Never....you lying ba-" he could no longer concentrate due to Sebastian's behavior, he simply looked into the Butler's eyes, hiding his mix of aggtrssion and confusion,"Damn....Fine!...I'll finish these...glass puppets...." he muttered...almost irritated by their weak forces. But then somehthing struck him,"...I can't teleport....and I'm not asking for that jerk's help!....DAMMIT!!!!" he roared as he sped off to rip apart any force that stood in his way, hopefully when he let out his frustration....he would come up with a plan.  

[Mahareshi]

"Hmph. You're much easier to fight when you're not covered in that dark, stinking sludge Thomas." It was the beginning of the end for the Texan now and Roulin was prepping him for his slow, agonizing departure into hell. What better way to let the man know he was going to die than to speak to him? Letting someone know their weakness was something Roulin was above, but now, the situation seemed different. He himself seemed different and he noted it. Too bad it felt good to him though. The air of confidence and the sensation of knowing that he was far stronger than most of the world's strongest Owls. This fight was just him making that statement a loud and clear one.

"I don't have to worry about my skin being eaten away by that s**t. Your other opponents though...eh. It must've felt good knowing that no one could lay a hand on you thanks to it." The man's back was turned to the fallen Owl the entire time he spoke. Thomas was worthless and didn't even deserve to be in the sights of any high ranking Owl or a fledgling. From this encounter alone, it was obvious the previous Death Owl was a weak man that just got too comfortable with his position. If Roulin's words didn't dig the idea into his mind and his corrupted, then his ongoing beat down would. "Tell me, how was it? How was it killing all those people so long ago knowing they didn't have a chance to fight back? How was it that day when you killed Che and Dante and had Lucien kill my mother? How was it when you tortured Raven in that small little room? How was it when you shot Cecilia? Did it feel good?"

"You stupid....lil' son of b***h...obviously, you've forgotten...just who the hell...you're talking to...." Thomas finally managed to cough up in the rain of criticisms that poured profusely from Roulin's mouth. Thomas knew that he was known across the world as the Harbinger of Death....The Grim Reaper....just an Owl that one would regret crossing. To have this child....a boy that was less than a fraction of his age talking to him as if he were just another Owl made his blood boil. Obviously though, this couldn't have been what was bringing Thomas so much anger. It was the fact that he was, like Roulin so aptly put it, being touched. By no means was Thomas weak, but the actions Roulin was certainly putting the idea into his head. Still, the new Wind Herald wasn't going to let this get to him. He finally started to stand...

"You think that because you have a few couple of good powers that you're all of a sudden hot s**t? Son, you're still just another Owl...just like every other I've killed on my way here! They were just as weak as you are boy! I've even managed to kill a few of them that had a power just like yours and Lucien's!" Thomas replied angrily, his voice saturated and deepened with blood and sweat. Much like Timothy, Thomas didn't expect for Roulin, a kid far younger than him to be talking to him in such a way even if what he did was considered by most to be bad. Most of it stemmed from frustration though. It was what Roulin wanted anyway. "I've been killing Death Owls all my life to get to where I am today. Some of them were stronger than you and yer pathetic a** father. As for your mother, she was just along for the ride. No more and no less. Your brother was the same...caught in the whirlwind that was Che's excuse of a life. Raven....Roulin, please. If you could, you'd ring her little french neck until all the life was squeezed out of her." Thomas hadn't noticed that that phrase alone had elicited a reaction from the stoic Owl. Roulin's fist tightly curled, but the motion was swift. "And Cecilia? Please....at this rate, she's going to end up Paine. Another poor casualty brought on by someone else negligence. That someone else is you. Heh, from how you are now, it might even be you that kills both that stupid blue girl and everyone else you think you love. I bet right now, they're all just powers for you to have. You really wouldn't mind splitting their heads op--"

Roulin was already tired of the lecture coming from the one man that no longer had room to speak. Roulin knew from the first day that this man's life was a long, long fight filled to the brim with lies, deceit, and treachery. And for what? To escape his own element? That which he embodied? Thomas's fear of Death was the driving force behind all his actions since gaining his title. Thomas was a coward and now, he'd continue to be beaten as one.

After retracting his fist from the center of the man's torso once more, he punched Thomas in his already broken nose. He brought his left arm over to hook the Herald across the face, but he blocked and countered with a punch that actually struck Roulin in the chin. It sent him into a slight bout with confusion, but it didn't last. The window of time was long enough for Thomas to kick Roulin in the top of his chest. It sent the young man back, but it didn't knock him down as Thomas had hoped. Still on the offensive, the silver haired man went for another jab, although this one had a dense ball of air circulating around his fist. Roulin diverted the attack by bringing his arm across his body, then continued to spin for momentum. This follow up attack was something that made Che flinch in expectation as it was the beginning of a rather devastating combination.

Roulin's extended index and middle fingers on both his hands struck two points on Thomas's chest. The points were pressure points, but they correlated to how an Owl's aura moved about it's body. If he could hit each point in a quick succession, he could either temporarily disable and Owl's powers, or kill them outright by hitting them all hard. Roulin had already hit two of them and now there were at least sixty-two of them left. Spinning again, Roulin took out two more. This resulted in Thomas's hands to go numb and cold. Still, it wouldn't stop him from trying to defend himself. The Herald swiped his left hand across his body forming a windblade at the tip of his fingers which expanded when the arcing motion was complete. It slashed Roulin's throat, but not even that stopped him. He spun again taking out eight points and spun once more taking out sixteen more spots. That combination rendered Thomas's lower body useless. Instead of falling to his knees though, they buckled as if stricken with rigor mortis. This only allowed the onslaught to continue. After another fast rotation, Roulin placed eight more strikes on various points on Thomas's upper body. Rather than just striking them though, he sent beams of light passing through them leaving small, burning holes on the man's chest. At this rate, Roulin was going to kill Thomas and his Herald power would flow into him...Che finally decided to move.

Before the last set of deadly strikes could be placed, Che shot from Kate's side down to the fight between Roulin and Thomas. Once on his feet, he grabbed his son's fingers and lifted them high. Roulin had no choice but to concede unless he wanted his fingers broken then and there. The elder Presidiomni couldn't allow this. His eyes met Roulin's and through sight alone, he could feel the urgency in his child's gaze. This moment needed to finish thought Roulin. Thomas needed to die by his hands right now. Che couldn't allow his son to go down the path he'd set him on this day. If he did, he'd end up just like him and that was something Che knew he wouldn't be able to bare. Looking away to Thomas now who stood perfectly still, his breathing labored thanks to a few closed arteries, the raven haired man lowered his son's hand, then tipped Thomas over with a simple nudge. He was paralyzed, but it was only temporary. Now, there was only his son and him, staring at each other, the both of them deeply immersed in contemplation.  

[Luna Kosane]

The taste of bile rose up in Cecilia's throat. How many more would she kill before the day was over? Was she truly becoming a monster like she had always feared? Or was it merely her survival instincts that caused the death of those who had fallen victim to her. Forcing herself into a standing position, she made her way over to the bed where Aiden was. He began to stir, his wimperings then turning to screaming. Even though he had been born only a short while ago, Cecilia would not have been surprised if he was aware of what was happening around him and was frightened. Cecilia glanced at Aeon before picking the infant up and cradling him speaking soothing words of comfort until the child's screams died down to wimpers and stopped altogether. Cecilia rocked the child in her arms lulling him back into a gentle sleep.

"I guess there's a first time for everything," A familiar voice spoke. Cecilia looked towards the other end of the room to find the child-like Cecilia smiling at her like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. The miniature Cecilia knelt down on her haunches before head of the fallen soldier and peered through the neck. The sight of it sent chills down the elder Cecilia's spine. She watched as the small version of herself peered at it with great curiosity. "Interesting," she said. Those were the only words she spoke before standing up again and looking towards the rest of the dead soldier's body. "What will you do now?" she asked.

Aiden had fallen asleep so Cecilia laid him back down upon the bed and covered him lightly before she turned back towards the child-like version of herself. It still unnerved her that this miniature version of herself was part of her conscience. Ignoring the fact that Aeon was in the same room, Cecilia spoke not caring at this point if the girl thought she was insane. "I don't know what I'll do," she said honestly. "I know I have certain responsibilities now that I'm a Herald. The chance at having a normal life is growing more and more slim as time passes by. Perhaps this is the road fate has paved for me. But sometimes that road can make a complete U-turn and things change again. The future is forever changing...I've learned not to expect much anymore."

The small Cecilia's lips curled into a rather creepy grin. She approached the bed, gazing at the infant who was fast asleep. She went to brush her hand against Aiden's forehead, but because she was not real and did not have a real physical body, her hand merely passed through the child's forehead. The child Cecilia looked at the palm of her hand before shrugging and allowing her arm to drop back down to her side. "You're learning, but your road will soon become more trecherous. Soon your own will...shall be tested, you shall suffer many losses. Be prepared for that. The road paved for you is not a happy one." With those cryptic words, the child-like Cecilia sank back into the wall disappearing for now, but not forever. She would return again.

 

[dragon-talk]

Now that Kate was at least mostly conscious at this point, she began the long and arduous wait to be able to walk on her own again. So far, Che had carried her to the roof of a building where they both were now, watching Roulin all but killing Thomas. It was clear that the young Owl of Life intended to take the Death Owl's life this day. But it appeared to Kate that Roulin wanted Thomas to suffer first of course, and Kate could understand why only to a certain extent. Even though she only knew probably part of what Roulin knew about Thomas, she could still understand why Roulin was torturing the new Wind Herald.

However, just before Roulin was about to strike one of the final blows, Che moved. The Mastering Owl had set Kate on her feet and all but flew down to where Roulin was to stop his son before the death blow could be completed. Kate stumbled slightly because she had not expected to be set down so suddenly. The Eternity Owl forced herself to remain on her feet though so she could see what was going to happen next and to avoid falling over and hurting herself more than she already had been hurt. So far though, Che and Roulin were just staring at each other. But then everything changed as Kate froze, holding her breath in. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the surrounding area. "Someone else... is here..." Kate whispered to herself slowly. Unfortunately, since Che was down on the ground, staring down Roulin, neither the Life Owl nor Che would be able to hear her warning. Earlier, because she had been so weak from loss of blood, Kate's ability to sense spirits in the vicinity had been dulled to the point where it had felt like she didn't have her powers at all. But now... There was more than just her, Erin, and Khalifa watching what was going on with Thomas, Che, and Roulin.

Before either Roulin or Che could say anything to each other, two blasting columns of compressed air were sent in their direction. One was aimed towards Che and the other at Roulin. The blasts were strong enough to knock both of the Presidiomini's of their feet and push them back with above gale force winds away from the paralyzed Thomas. It wasn't really air that was hitting them, more like a wall of pressure rushing at them like a speeding train.  

[Mahareshi]

Che held Roulin's fingers tight in his hands. From the stare given to him by his son, he knew that letting him go would only result in Roulin attacking him to get back to Thomas. Of course, the kid didn't understand that choice he was making. His mind was far too clouded with finishing off who he thought was responsible for everything that had transpired these past two years. Che couldn't let him go through with it for it would only set him down a long path of destruction. Forcing his son's hands down, he stood over him, sighing tiredly. The force it took to control the angered young Owl was draining him abnormally quickly...Roulin had to have been absorbing his aura out of him. Even if Roulin wasn't trying to listen to him, he had to speak to him. Before he could though, the both of them were struck by an unseen force that sent them both into a building across from them.

Timothy's trail wasn't an invisible or silent one. Building after building was destroyed when his electrified figure smashed through them. The screams of those trapped inside didn't faze him at all. If he was willing to take his time, he may have killed them just for sport. This was far too urgent for him to donate time though. As their bodies were crushed beneath the tons of metal and stone, Timothy didn't look back. As of right now, Owls and Humans alike could burn in hell for eternity. When entering the scene, his body smashed into the ground creating a rather deep crater to the left of Johan. He could see Thomas's body nor could he feel his aura in the area. What he did see was Noah's body burned and steaming as if a snake had just vomited him onto the ground...

Miles down the road, an incision formed against a building. It traced it's way down and down as if an unseen blade was tearing away at it. The force was Roulin slicing at the air with his index and middle fingers. The invisible cutting force was at the average height of a man, so anything caught in it's path would be sliced open. Timothy, due to his height, wouldn't even be touched, but Johan would be scalped where he stood.  

[dragon-talk]

Johan had known that if he had let the fight continue without intervening, Thomas would get killed. Thankfully though, Che had also noticed that as well and had stopped Roulin in time. However, since Che was no longer a part of the UNS, or Johan's superior, Johan didn't really care. He knew that Roulin was one of the few Owls that Thomas specifically wanted dead and so Johan was simply following orders by attacking both the boy and his father.

When his pressure waves had pushed Roulin and Che away and back into the building across from them, Johan finally stepped out of hiding. He had been standing on some rubble from which he could see what was going on, but apparently Roulin and Che hadn't noticed his presence until being attacked. Johan was just that good at masking his presence. The UNS officer stood there for a moment or two before stepping down from the rubble and starting to head for the very injured Thomas.

However, a rumbling of buildings collapsing alerted him to something going on. The mirroring owl tensed and looked in the direction from which the noise was coming. Johan raised up one arm with the palm extended towards where the cutting force was approaching. Fortunately for Johan, his ability managed to draw in the sheer force of the blow, so he came out pretty much unscathed. At the same time, Johan drew one of his katanas to prepare for the onslaught from the young Life Owl that he knew would be coming next.  

[Mahareshi]

Che patted his hair free of the dust and dirt that had fallen on him when he pressed through the building. Johan, his old subordinate...of course he too would betray him for Thomas and The UNS. That b*****d...Che made his way to his feet and stumbled weakly. He fell onto the outside of the broken wall and remained still for a moment to catch his breath. Roulin had drawn some of his aura out of him at a rate that made the elder Presidiomni's head spin. His bout of dizziness didn't last. When Johan unsheathed his swords and Timothy arrived, Che was ready to do battle with only half his potential. Unless Roulin was going to run, Che knew that he wouldn't last long in this fight.

Roulin on the other hand was burning with rage once again. The ground trembled as he gathered himself and returned to his height. Ferociously, Roulin eyed Johan and Timothy. He wanted them out of the way and out of existence. To an extent, he wanted the same for Che, but only because he stopped him from finishing off Thomas. "You idiot Che! Why'd you stop me!?" screamed Roulin at fatigued father. "He killed Paine! Do you not want him dead for that? Goddamn it, if you stop me again, I'm going to hurt you! Now get out of my way!" With that, the hotheaded Owl shot from the hole at Johan. Before he could prepare an attack, he was sidetracked by a focused stream of electricity shot from Timothy who was equally enraged. Sabrina, the woman he promised to protect, was dead now and so was his friend and brother Noah. The Herald, much like Roulin, wasn't thinking clearly and so fighting was the only thing he knew at the moment.

Roulin was knocked away by Timothy's blast, but he wasn't put down. The upper right area of his chest was shocked numb. It didn't stop him from raising his right hand and telekinetically drawing Timothy out of his elemental form. The last time he attempted it, it brought on a major headache, but this time, it sparked and activated like second nature. Now in his grasp, Roulin once again readied his powers to cleave Timothy's scalp off as he did in their last meeting...

Che, still against the wall panting, managed to send off two razor sharp pieces of paper at Roulin and Johan before taking off into a run. The paper broke Roulin's attention causing him to drop Timothy onto the ground. Seizing the moment, Timothy went back into his electric form and fired off another densely packed beam of electricity at Roulin. This one, if not blocked, would easily eat through Roulin's body thanks to it's heat and incredible force. The younger combatant blocked by placing a powerful shockwave before his body. The impact caused him to slide back a few feet, but it didn't topple him at all. Instead, Roulin stood his ground and directed the attack towards Johan. Because of this, Che's advance was stopped short. The man slid to avoid being fried by the Herald's attack and breathed out weakly once more. He knew this wasn't his fight, but he had to keep Roulin from destroying his spirit by killing everyone here. There auras were calling to the young man to steal them, but Che could not allow it to pass. Until Roulin was incapacitated or stopped somehow, he'd remain here helping both them and his son.  

[dragon-talk]

Just as he expected, Roulin soon shot towards him. Johan remained standing squarely, arm raised and ready to send off another pressure wave towards the young and hotheaded Life Owl. However, he didn't have to. A bolt of electricity came out of seemingly nowhere and struck Roulin in the chest. Johan stodd stock still waiting for another move from Roulin. At the moment, Timothy wasn't a priority to the Mirroring Owl, only Roulin was now. But it wasn't as if that Johan didn't know that the Electricity Herald wasn't there. As such, Johan placed a note of it in the back of his mind for now to take care of Tim later.

While he was doing that, Johan noticed movement from Che. His gaze flickered over there to take stock of what his former leader was doing. There was a piece of razor-like paper headed in his direction. Without much movement, Johan swung his katana up to slice the piece of paper in half before it could do any harm to him. Before he could address Che, Johan saw what was coming from Roulin when he blocked the next bolt of electricity from Timothy. Johan frowned ever so slightly and extended the aura from his arm to envelope his entire figure. That absorption aura basically acted like a vacuum to draw in the bolt of electricity so it did not hit Johan at all. One moment the blueish bolt was emitting light, and the next it was gone.

Just as soon as Johan had absorbed the lightning, he shot it off in Che's direction to keep the Mastering Owl busy for a few moments before Johan shot off a bolt of energy comprised of pure yellow energy laced with some electricity from his hand left over from Timothy's bolt towards Roulin.  

[Mahareshi]

As if things couldn't get more complicated. Johan's ability was one that Roulin had yet to experience. He knew of the ability to absorb energy from moves and attacks, but never before was it displayed before his eyes. Now that he'd seen it, he wanted it just a precaution for those who relied a bit too heavily on their powers. When Johan absorbed what Timothy had dish out, he watched him move towards his father. The old man could handle himself Roulin thought. Like Erin and Khalifa who were tagging along, they were not his responsibility. Looking from where Johan was standing to Timothy, Roulin caught sight of him preparing another attack. Before the Herald could send out another strike of lightning, Roulin formed a box around Tim's entire left arm. To do the damage he intended, he brought just his arm out of his electrical form, then cause the box to implode into nothingness. With it went Timothy's left arm. The dark haired Owl grinned when Timothy stumbled back in blinding pain.

Timothy nearly lost his footing when Roulin removed his arm with almost little to no effort. No blood was loss in the process thanks to Timothy's body being in it's other form. The pain though was not mitigated by that. Like a human, he felt it and it brought a scream from him. As a reaction, he called from the sky a massive bolt of lightning that was on the scale of the ones he used to obliterate skyscrapers. When it crashed down on Roulin, the young Owl was sent to into a kneeling position instantly. He wasn't harmed. Above him was a layer of compressed air, telekinetic force and a Life Owl Box. Once again, Roulin redirected the attack to Johan who was now on his way to attack Che directly.

Che inhaled, then exhaled a heavy breath when Johan turned his full attention to him. He hadn't fought someone with swords in a while nor had he fought with just half his energy drained either. This day needed to end soon. If it didn't, Che knew he'd be finding himself dead very, very soon. The former UNS leader's first move was an evasive maneuver. He simply moved to the right of Johan's attack, keeping his palm extended at the man. His intention at that point was to shoot needled of coiled paper through the man's face to kill him. His attention was broken when Timothy let out a blood curdling scream...one of his arms were missing thanks to Roulin. Surely, the Herald would be able to heal from it right? If a Death Owl's Negation could prevent healing, then what could a Life Owl Box do? Timothy attacked as quickly as his frail body would allow. Roulin of course blocked rather than just teleporting or moving out of it's way....just a brash and hazardous way to show off his growing power. When the giant bolt of lightning was directed towards Johan's turned back, Che's palm became a pointed finger to alert the man. "Johan! Turn around!"  

[XxHakaxX]

((TFP---Raven))

“Then I shall call you Lev. There is really no need for professionalism for the time being. You already know my name but I will introduce myself out of respect. My name is Raven. Leader of the Fallen Phoenix’s” Raven replied with a curt smile. “How much longer will we be flying for?” The French woman asked while running a hand through her matted blonde hair which she quickly tied back with the use of an elastic band. Once back in New Exire she was going to head off for a shower first. Any healing can wait until later. Raven let out a soft sigh and leaned completely back in her seat allowing herself to relax that little bit more. Her attention was back on other things as suppose to the commander before her. She had some serious work and planning to do once she got back to New Exire, so by using this time to gather her thoughts together she would be ready to deal with the work that lay in wait back home.

((TFP---Serena))

“Geez…you really are a terrible liar and you blush at the simplest of things…” Serena frowned lightly as she rubbed the back of her aching neck. “If you are tired just---“ She began as she reached out with one hand and pulled Kojiro downwards until his head was resting on her lap “---Say so, okay?” Laughing silently, Serena patted the still sleeping Rikki who lay on her lap besides Kojiro, apparently unaffected or disturbed by what had just transpired. “It feels like we have been flying for a while…” the white haired woman muttered to herself. Her silver eyes flickered down towards Koji. He really looked quite young…too young to be involved in this god forsaken war. She knew what he was capable of, and knew what he could achieve should he follow her own bloody ways. “Tsch…He shouldn’t be here….” Serena knew her job better than anyone and she knew what it was she had to do…but now….now she was having second thoughts. The Vanishing Owl was aware that she was in no position to simply quit her current task. She needed to keep her feelins, thoughts and opinions to herself and ignore the emotion that screamed to her to protect the boy that now rested on her lap. “Get some sleep Koji.” She murmured while closing her eyes as her hand stroked rhythmically through the Frozen Owl’s hair…"If I can stay with him I will protect him....but that is not something I can do...I cannot protect him from myself and that man...  

[Scythe de Zaran]

((UNS - Will))

!@#$ @#$! That f@#king punk lousy buffoon piece of s#$%! Idiot. Baka. Oobaka yarou! Of COURSE! Noah just had to get his a** handed to him by Thomas, who was now evidently the Wind Herald. The Satan Owl shouldn't have been surprised by the sheer stupidity of the former Wind Owl. Noah, unfortunately, had just gotten the position by sheer luck. At times, Will had wondered if Noah's predecessor had chosen Noah for laughs and to test Will's patience. The former now deceased Wind Herald claimed to have taken over all of California and considered that to be South America. Will had simply laughed when Noah, who sometimes referred to himself as Marcel, had claimed that he led the underworld in California. He could think that all he wanted, but it wasn't true. It was only that way because someone had allowed him to do so for entertainment. The Naruto wannabe man was confused and was now dead because of it. The good news was that there wasn't a baby Noah to babysit now. The bad news was that Thomas was now the new Herald of Wind, and Will had failed to prevent Thomas from taking a Herald out.

As for Roulin, as please as Will was with Roulin's now dark aura, he knew that Che was correct in stopping his son. Roulin could not kill the Heralds. There was still a balance to maintain, even if stinky Thomas (who maybe thought he now had fresher breath because he had a windy breath now) was now a Herald. That would change, but not now. The devil sorely wanted Thomas's death. He wanted Thomas in his realm, his territory, for eternity but he wanted Thomas to first suffer immensely before dying. Roulin wasn't doing a good enough job.

Hmph. "Cut the yapping," Will snapped at Timothy as the Herald let out a bloodcurdling scream. Clearly, the Lightning Herald had never felt that way before. "Thank me later." And with a snap of Will's fingers, Timothy disappeared from sight, teleported elsewhere, but mostly importantly, away from Roulin's range. Like hell Tim would thank him. The albino was too proud to thank him and hated his guts. But... even if Will disapproved of Tim's actions, the balance was still in his mind. So, he did Tim the favor of getting the Herald to safety.

"Hey, Rou! You still got a brain in there? You're starting to sound like the f**king zombie you were hanging in old Tom's office!" I can't believe I'm f**king saving these assholes again. The Satan Owl blatantly diverted slightly the lightning that was heading toward Johan so that Johan would have more time to react to the lightning. (The lightning will still head toward Johan, but be a little slower.) Will knew of Johan's abilities, and he honestly didn't find it surprising that Johan wasn't with Che. He stared down at Thomas and shook his head with a smirk that pretty much said 'How many times have I saved you already, you leech?" No need to teleport the loser when he had so many troops here already, even if those troops were useless against Roulin, Che, and Will. He then gave Johan a look that very plainly said Get the f**k out of here though honestly, he didn't care if Johan was killed. The problem was if Anya wanted Johan alive. Now that Will knew of their relation, he couldn't just kill Johan.

The devil nodded at Che. Of course, the mentor was there to support his student. Will would be blessed to the high heavens if he lost his student here. In the distance, he could hear Tai throwing a tantrum. Lovely. No teleporting skills, hmm? The butler and the other hellish servants had gone leaving Tai alone. Tai Tai Tai... when you're finished, you will be transported to Japan. I will make sure of it. And he did. Once Tai was done, something would zap Tai and send him over to Japan.  

[Falconblade7591]

The commander looked at her with some relief as she began to show some personality, however a little disappointment showed. She was right, he knew who she was, however when he received their profiles, he only viewed them as a threat, and studied their abilities and physical capabilities, and only a little of their habits. However at this point The commander was still at a loss, he simply leaned back,"..Lieutenant...current ETA....updated weather included..."

"ETA about Two hours!...Standing by for incoming transmissions...."

The commander nodded,"...Keep your ears open...I don't need somebody wondering what we are doing here..." he muttered. He turned to Raven and grinned,"...We are almost there...just a couple more hours and we will have ya home...just in time for dinner..." he joked. The Commander then returned to his train of thought,"...Raven....you know I know your real name...but...Raven....why did you chose that Alias?...more importantly...why did you choose a name to hide what was given to you?...hmmm...perhaps it is none of my business...I can only think of a few reasons why people abandon their identities...so...feel free to disregard my question...in any case...We will be arriving to New Exire soon, so please take advantage of what you can....If you need anything from me and my crew...Let me know before we land..." he explained finally. Suddenly, something caught his attention when he repeated the words in his head,"...Out of Respect?...how strange..." he thought to himself.

Kojiro sighed and looked down as she called his bluff. He looked at her and then was pulled down, his face became bright red, "B-but!.."he was about to protest, but something stopped him, "You don't have to..." he mumbled. He was still blushing, but not as badly, his eyes softened slightly, she was warm, and he felt secure, it was strange for him...he felt warm, "She is soft..." he thought quietly as his eyes became heavy,"...Serena..." he mumbled lightly, his blush did not show any signs of fading, but his exhaustion was beginning to show, he felt her hand running through his hair, he had no felt this way in a long time, "....Thank you....for..." Kojiro did not finish, his eyes slowly closed and he fell silent.

Tai slammed into a UNS soldier, moving at high speeds, grabbing his neck,"Its useless!" he reared back and punched across the soldier's face, using the blood that spilled to create gauntlets, slowly as the punches landed, the gauntlets grew more and more, until finally, he was ready for the killing blow, "...JUST DIE ALREADY!" he growled as he reared his hand back, making a large gauntlet, and then let loose his strength, smashing the soldier's head in and left a bloody crater on the wall, only to be quickly absorbed into his hand. He pulled his hand free and shook off the rubble caking his hand. He heard a light click of a weapon, he looked behind him in time to see the barrel of on of their weapons pointed at him, but only seconds before the gunfire, as he was about to be torn by the bullet storm, he snapped his fingers and a thin layer of blood covered his figure, the next second it was being ripped apart by the incoming rounds. Soon there was the figure still standing with holes from head to toe, with the blood user nowhere to be found. Tai was standing behind the group as they fired, arms crossed and eyes closed, almost with a look of disappointment. His eyes opened and his hand still with the fallen soldiers' blood violently surging in an orb, Tai lurched forward and shot towards them, allowing the tendrils to flail and slice the group to bits.He weaved in and out of the fray as he dodged rounds, lunging forward, stabbing some of the soldiers and decapitating others, ripping apart the group with the serrated whip like streams of blood. Tai's eyes were glowing dimly with a scarlet haze, he was losing interest in playing, which was a bad thing. Within moments of his initial onslaught, he slaughtered countless soldiers, A light smirk played on his lips,"....And then there were....hm?" There was another Soldier with his weapon pointed, standing alone. He turned and smiled,"...You are trying to be brave?...fight until you die?..show no fear?...well now..." he rushed like a blur and grabbed the last one,"...I'm not impressed...." and with that he allowed the blood to ensnare him and crush his body, leaving him paralyzed, he created a pike and pinned him down on his torso,"...Don't move.....relax...make amends with the few seconds of breath that you.." his voice trailed off as a tendril whipped by the soldier's neck, slicing just past his windpipe,"...Oops...seems as I messed that up for ya didn't I?....no matter...Time is up!" he laughed, and with a light growl, he jumped into the air and reared his hand back with a large gauntlet, "...The END" he landed on the man's arms, the bones breaking as they were crushed beneath his feet and was about to land his punch, when at the last moment he vanished in a bold of lightning, leaving the last soldier to bleed out slowly as he writhed in pain.

((All clean...ish))  

[dragon-talk]

Johan again noted Che's movement out of the corner of his vision, but decided to do nothing about it until Che actually fired an attack at him. Instead, Johan kept his main focus on Roulin. He kept up the continuous energy/electric beam to keep Roulin pinned down in one spot. However, when Roulin basically amputated Timothy's arm causing the Herald to scream out in pain, Johan could not help the instinct to glance over at Tim to see what had happened. As such, he let Roulin out of his line of sight for a split second, leaving his back exposed to the Life Owl.

As he was turning back around to face Roulin though, Johan heard Che's voice shouting out his name. Even though he saw the massive bolt of lightning coming his way from the redirect Roulin had done, Johan didn't move one inch. Instead, the Mirroring Owl braced his footing as the bolt connected with his absorption aura and was instantly sucked into the abyss of Johan's ability. The force of the bolt pushed his body back about three inches from his previous position, and Johan could feel the pressure from the attack continuing to push back against him, even with Will dulling the power of it. This meant that he either had to move out of the line of the attack, or continue absorbing it. Frown deepening, Johan knew he couldn't continue to absorb this lightning. As it was, he had already absorbed a ton of energy from other Owls just to get to Thomas. It helped only a little bit that he was still firing the beam of energy at Roulin, but not by a significant amount. His reserve was building up slowly. As of right now, it was about a third of the way full and it was nearly half full.

Grimacing slightly in mild annoyance, Johan rolled back and to the side, while still standing to allow the rest of the bolt to bypass him and shoot straight back for Will where the Satan Owl was standing. Of course, Johan held no respect for Will because the Satan Owl was one of the other people that Thomas wanted dead as well, but also because Will was interfering in a battle that was not meant for him. Once he was back to facing Roulin, Johan raised his free arm once again and this time fired off an even more powerful energy beam, but aimed at the ground at Roulin's feet.  

[Mahareshi]

Che was rather relieved when Will arrived and he even sighed and fell back as if a heavy burden arose from his tired, aching and throbbing shoulders. It had, but now that his mentor was here trying to be crowd control, he was now in trouble. Johan was still in the area and Roulin, from the looks of it, seemed to be catching on to what Johan's weakness may be. The overzealous, overconfident Owl had the aura to try it thanks to him taking half of Che's full reserve. The wizened Owl who now stood weakly on the sideline looked on from an all but helpless position. He could foresee where the moment was going, but whether or not Johan did was another thing. It would only take one thing to pin him and Che now only hoped that Roulin didn't discover what had already been made known.

Roulin didn't care about Timothy now that he was gone from the area. The Herald and his arm were just casualties. Besides, the silver haired troll was God right? His arm would grow back or something to that effect. Smirking, he knew that Timothy himself hoped that. If given more time, Roulin would've disassembled him limb by limb. With his hopes crushed by Will, Roulin just sneered at the Satan Owl. His fight wasn't with him, so he didn't attack him. Furthermore, thanks to his efforts, Timothy, while reeling in pain from the Life Box swallowing up his arm, dropped his artifact.

The item was a small remnant of what used to be a golden staff. Now it was just a porous, hilt like object. Just before delivering a shockwave assisted uppercut to the beam to hold it and divert it just enough to dodge it, Roulin pulled the artifact over to him and hid it away in the left pocket of his dingy, dark gray slacks. Now that Johan's beam was ripping through the building behind him, the one next to the building on which Kate stood, Roulin took the opportunity to attack. To test what he believed was Johan's weakness, he fired off a beam of concussive force, the hue of which matched his dark purple eyes. If Johan began to absorb this, Roulin would just increase his output rendering the man immobile. The kid could see Che looking at him from the side of the broken wall. His emotions read out that he was impressed, but at the same time, disappointed and remorseful. Even Roulin knew why those emotions were written all over his psyche right now, but he didn't care. His father was now too weak to stop him and this was just what the young Owl wanted. All men had a violent breaking point. Roulin never would've met his hadn't it been for Che's tampering with his life.