daybreakacademy | XELVAK THE FIRST HERALD OF NIGHT

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XELVAK THE FIRST HERALD OF NIGHT

XELVAK, THE FIRST HERALD OF NIGHT

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The Herald’s coming was marked by the solar eclipse. Tensions rose noticeably in the sweltering heat as the moon slowly but surely moved to block the sun from sight. And at its apex, the world went dark. But light never returned. And in the center opened a multitude of eyes. The Herald had come.

Claxons blared in the control room as the call for attack was made. Off-shore, a barrage of missiles erupted from the waiting fleet - cruise missiles hurtling toward their target with grim, unerring accuracy. Explosions lit the darkened sky, one after another completely covering the lone figure in a blast of shrapnel and heat.

Those with eyes that see magic, however, saw differently. Undetected by the earthly computers, barriers of green energy arose around the lich, with each missile exploding harmlessly upon it. With nary a crack, the Herald tilted his head in faint amusement.

“Target is still standing!”

“Launch the second wave!”

The sound of engines blasted as aircraft scrambled from the airstrip and the waiting carrier. Streaking through the sky, their jets leaving faint trails of fire amidst the darkness, they flew in tight formation before breaking apart and encircling the target, launching a salvo of missiles from all directions before moving to reform and break away. On the ground, a battery of tanks poured forth from the base, launching heavy rounds at the lich while artillery sang a deadly song, the crackle of explosions obliterating all sound as they overtook the lich.

“Damn thing’s gonna waste a lot of ammunition,” one of the generals muttered. “But looks like you boys and girls can just go back to your school and leave the fighting to the big kids.”

Almost before he could finish his sentence, however, a voice echoed through the minds of every person assembled.

How quaint.

It was an overpowering sound that cut through even the sound of explosions. And in their wake, the lich was still untouched.

And then came the screaming.

Screams of horror, screams of agony, screams of death, before, finally, guttural screams of undeath. Rage. Bloodlust. To those with magical sight, the world seemed to come alive with a fetid green mist. All around them, tanks and planes began to stop, some crashing. But in another instant, those that remained moved again, firing on each other with reckless abandon. And over all of the comms, the sound of cackling, maddened laughter wrenched from a throat that was once human but now was not echoed throughout.

The generals grew pale, silent. Some sunk to their knees in horror. But, like points in the darkness, a few voices remained.

“This is Echo-5! All units seem hostile! Requesting extraction!”

“This is Bravo-7! It’s a madhouse down here! Disengaging!”

Daybreak’s presence did not necessarily change what was to come. But it did, to an extent, mitigate it. For in having brought their runecraft to the base, they caught the eye of several soldiers. Some curious, some thinking it couldn’t hurt, and some, perhaps, even true believers. Whatever the reason, they accepted Daybreak’s support. And for that reason, they seemed spared from the mists of undeath conjured forth by the lich. And as they fled, some, at least, whispered a faint prayer of thanks to the students and faculty who had given them the most precious gift of all - the gift of life, and of living.

As the generals conversed in horror, another voice cut through the screams.

“This is Jules Flammel, Flame Commander. Daybreak forces, deploy at once and complete your mission.”

The sound of jets blasted through the air as Runewings took flight. Aboard them, the forces of Daybreak, students, faculty, alumni, and affiliates, all with one mission - to stop the lich where he stood.

“Your radiance shall protect you. Go forth, brave Candles, and become the raging inferno to purify this land! Cut through his defenses and rend his body apart!”

Foolishness.

The Lich raised his arms. The shattered, twisted scrap and mangled corpses of the combined military forces began to shudder, and tremble, before rushing forward to meet the Runewings - a mass of twisted flesh, bone and metal like a wave of death crashing upon the shore. The Runewings broke apart as the wave spread to chase them.

“You are free to deploy!”

And with that, the bays opened and the forces of Daybreak emerged in freefall, descending upon the lich and his twisted wave with naught but their weapons, their powers, and, perhaps a featherfall necklace for those students that needed it. The battle against the first Herald had begun.

And, from within the Outland, a calm voice spoke to those assembled.

“It is time.”

The forces of Daybreak who had been held in reserve turned as one to face the castle. Their mission: destroy the lich’s phylactery so that he would rise no more.

[OOC: The groups are as follows:

Combat
Group 1:
Faculty - Bai Lin
Students - Serena, Vivi, Seiji, Akechi
Group 2:
Faculty - Ky Kiske
Students - Kokoro, Yuya, Gunvolt, Nana
Group 3:
Faculty - Valvatorez
Students - Desco, James, Gon, Anastasia Rose
Group 4:
Faculty - Bowser
Students - Ruby, Grimm, Kohaku, Akko, Weiss, Aiko

Extras - Snow

Infiltration
Group 1:
Faculty - Ziggy
Students - Sarona, Keith, Doreen, Sherlock
Group 2:
Faculty - Jailbreak
Students - Puella, Minako, Ren, Ekkehardt, Reira
Group 3:
Faculty - Nekane
Students - Adelaide, Lie Ren, Xanatos, Héctor, Imelda

Mission Control
Hieke, Christo, Wen-li Yang, Count D, Android 18

Any characters who did not sign up may tag freely into the Control Room, or, if desired, they may contact a faculty member leading a group and request to join. Please prioritize joining groups with less characters. No group may exceed 6 characters.

There will be open group mingle posts up where characters can discuss the events leading up to the mission or the immediate aftermath. We will post the full log threads for each group in 24 hours, at which time we will PM the Faculty members with details on their mission]

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Being out of the action was... weird, to be fair, but there's something in the back of her mind that had at least assured her that this was the right way to go about things. And, given the wreckage of what had just been witnessed, from a semi-safe distance? Honestly, this was more over her head than she'd like to have admit.

"I have a distinct feeling that things are only going to get worse from here on out." It's stated with the most emotionless tone she can muster, pointedly done so. Getting emotional won't help anyone and the more matter-of-fact, the easier to let others handle the emotional work instead.

It'd be easier if she knew the full capabilities of everything, but they didn't really have that luxury at the end of the day. So by the seat of their pants it is.

"Any words of encouragement to go around or are we simply going to bunker down and get through this mess?"

Hieke's not surprised he's stuck in the control room for now. There's not really much for him to do, just yet, besides sit and wait and hope that he doesn't have to do too much.

If only he was that lucky.

He finds himself a corner of the room to hole up, and he sits himself down. He can't keep still, though he tries, legs bouncing and hands fidgeting, as he listens to the massacre going on outside. It's not...shocking. Liches, especially ones as powerful as Xelvak, aren't something to be taken lightly.

"Just a quick reminder," the message goes out to the teams out on the field, as Hieke fidgets with a communicator. "If anyone needs my assistance, summon me to the field immediately. The sooner injuries are handled the better."

Now, with that out of the way, he supposes he...waits.

"The target has arrived and Daybreak is set to begin its mission. I'll call later with the results."

Christo keeps his voice low as he finishes his conversation, pocketing the phone and returning to the task at hand. "Everyone, please make sure to keep your communication lines open. I'll keep you updated on the enemy's positions."

Though he looks as cool and collected as always, Christo's stomach is doing flips. He's never seen this sort of carnage before, not this close. He knows the situation is serious--he knew from the start--but this just serves to drive it home.

While everyone else might be nervous about the impending assault and potential end of the world, D looks completely unbothered. There's no shake to his hands, no fidgeting in his seat. One might even catch him smiling at times, as he listens to preparations over the comms. He's even brought a picnic basket along, in which he's stored some fruit and water. You know. Just to keep up morale.

Edited 2019-07-04 01:07 (UTC)

She'd watched it all unfold with a sick feeling in her stomach. Part of her had hoped that a zillion tons of explosives actually would have done the trick, but it hadn't. She'd fought necromancers before, but nothing like this. So she'd stood in the Runewing, watching hundreds of soldiers get cut down while accomplishing essentially nothing but giving Xelvak more raw materials to work with.

For parts of it, she'd kept her students away from the window. They didn't need to watch this.

Finally they began the final approach.

"This is it!" Lin shouted over the scream of the runewing's engines. "Remember: They will NOT hold back just because you're young! Also they're all already dead! You're NOT killing people, you're laying their bodies to rest! Stick close to me! I'll make sure you make it through alright!"

She glanced at the closed door at the back of the runewing. Any minute now, it would pop open and they'd be fighting for their lives. "Anyone want to say anything before we go down there? Scream with panic? Get a last minute hug? Just get it out of your system now."

Edited 2019-07-02 04:26 (UTC)

Open Mingle

Control Room

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Bai Lin's Team

no subject

Ky Kiske's Team

Re: Ky Kiske's Team

Valvatorez's Team

no subject

Bowser's Team

Ziggy's Team

Jailbreak's Team

Nekane's Team

Mission Threads

Control Room

Bai Lin's Team - Combat 1