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

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[Akko waits for her cue, Shiny Rod clutched against her chest, and then plunges out into the open sky. She's ready. She's never been more ready. Her form shimmers, glows, and morphs into that of a large falcon halfway down. It's the only form she can think of that might be able to see through the smoke.

And boy does she wish she couldn't. It's carnage. It's pure carnage, unlike anything she's ever seen. What is he hoping to accomplish?!

But she's getting valuable info, even once she has to start dodging bullets as the soldiers below turn their guns on her. They aren't very accurate, but the fact that they have enough sense to do it is concerning in and of itself.]

[Weiss descends gracefully, jumping from glyph to glyph until she meets the ground. The first thing she does is send a Haste glyph Akko's way, before freezing a number of soldiers with Myrtenaster. Any that get too close are sent airborne by a black glyph, making them easy prey for the main fighters.]

[ once ruby's given the okay, she descends downwards. she's a lot less afraid than she should be about jumping out of a plane, but it's fine. she's fine and equipped with the gear rex prepared for her. she lands and with one large swoop, she takes out a number of soldiers in her immediate area before she starts to activate her flame.

she starts shooting fireballs at the rest of the undead before the parasites start converging towards her. ]

[Grimm watches his team descend before simply walking off the plane. As he falls, the Troupe Master's body is consumed by flame like a dying phoenix before he vanishes completely.

He reappears on the ground, cloak billowing behind him, and raises a hand. Snapping his fingers, a wall of flame bursts from the ground and scorches the earth and consumes the undead soldiers attempting to sneak up behind the group. Some particularly stubborn ones attempt to force their way through, only for Grimm to turn up the heat and soon the air is also filled with the smell of burning corpses.

The Troupe Master meant what he said when he would protect everyone here. The nightmares will be collected later by the Nightmare King. For now, it is time for battle.]

[ Aiko's not hesitant at all about jumping from the plane--it's exciting, easily one of the most exciting things she's done, even though what's waiting for them is very not fun or exciting. As she gets closer to the ground, she cushions her fall with a gust of air before sending it outward to knock over some of the soldiers. ]

[There is definitely a lot going on. Luckily Bowser is at least used to invasions like these, but it doesn't change the fact that this is less throwing an army at a target and punching through its defenses and more being part of an organized squad and trying to get to an objective without having anyone get hurt or wind up dead. That last part is going to be a little tough all things considered, but he's not all that worried. As everyone starts to make it to the battle field one by one, he makes a mental note of everyone who's here and where they are.

In general things were going just as planned, but once everyone is here, it's time to get into position. They were all relatively close, sure, but still too scattered to move as a unit.]

We're all here! Get into position and let's move!

[Overall, the team seems to be making good progress. With the tank gone, and several hordes of soldiers being brought down by fire, ice, radiance, and wind, the zombie army has taken a considerable hit. Of course, Xelvak looks unconcerned. A group of children and a faux dragon are not nearly enough to put a dent in his machinations, much less stop them entirely.]

Assembling your force into a single, organized unit, Shelled One? Such strategy is nothing more than a fool's errand. All you are doing is setting your allies up for a quicker death.

[Bowser's eyes narrow and his face contorts into a snarl.]

LET'S SEE HOW SMUG YOU SOUND AFTER WE PUNCH THAT DUMB POWER BUTTON YOU CALL A FACE!

[Oh god he actually said it and from the looks of things, the Herald doesn't seem too pleased about being insulted. Another wave of undead soldiers begins to approach the team, as the lich readies his magic. Droves of necrotic energy swirl into an orb-like shape as the very air itself around him becomes stagnant and cold. However, he makes no move to throw it, curious to see how the group will handle his minions and awaiting a more opportune time to strike.]

[Kohaku climbed back out of the tank, lamenting that she didn't know how to drive, and grappled over closer to the rest of the team, her eyes darting all around as she marked targets and shouted out their locations. Three behind that crashed helicopter. Machine gun emplacement by the crater. Sniper up in that rapidly withering tree. She spared a split second to look at Xelvak.]

Oh god it DOES look like a power button...

[No time for that. She wasn't that good at range, but the grappling hook did wonders for that, allowing her to pull herself into close range fast enough that they weren't able to bring their guns to bear on her. Each time, there was another flurry of white as her daemon tusk sword precisely lopped off arms, legs, and heads.]

[The haste rune from Weiss means that Akko's circuit is complete in record time. She circles back around at Bowser's call, looking for a safe place to land. There is, decidedly, no such thing - especially when the Herald calls forth another wave of undead. But Akko has a trick up her sleeve. Radiance.

Positioning herself over the group, she morphs again, Radiance encircling her form and burning away any darkness in her immediate vicinity. When she lands, she makes a point to let the Radiant magic flare up and illuminate a wide circle around them, which obliterates the closest undead and drives back the rest.]

They're swarming on the drop points, but no team looks overwhelmed. He can't focus on all of us at once!

[Now that Kohaku's out of the tank, Weiss can fit one of her Haste glyphs under her. A ball of yellow light flies from her hand to Kohaku, and expands into a clockwork design that rapidly accelerates beneath her. That done, she uses a black glyph to pull a zombie's head right into Myrtenaster's tip.]

"A quicker death?" Please...

[Weiss looks straight at Xelvak, a smirk spread across her face]

You aren't worthy of destroying us.

[ radiance engulfs ruby, as she continues to whack away at the undead. her radiance burns away the undead, and to those who still remain, they have to answer to her scythe.

so far, it's looking good. though when she hears weiss, ruby smirks, too. she's silent, though, as she keeps pushing forward, past waves of undead. closer to the herald. ]

[As the undead soldiers begin to close in yet again Grimm weaves flames through the air like a conductor directing an orchestra. Bats made of white-hot fire burn through the shuffling corpses with little mercy, the only hope that their souls are able to rest remaining.

Normally he would give openings to hit him in battle, moments that someone could take to try and strike Grimm down. To the Troupe Master, there was little difference between a battlefield and a stage. But with so many lives lost and still on the line right now, there was to be none of that.

The "audience" has rushed the stage. And so they needed to be punished for it.]

It is not humanity's time, Xelvak!

[One day. One day all of this will come crashing down. But not today.]

We won't give up, not ever--!

[ She refuses to die here, or any time soon. She won't, not when she and everyone else has so much to do and live for. Aiko isn't experienced in combat, and her power isn't really suited for it... but what she can do is support.

She looks to Ruby--and the others, for that matter--after spinning in place to send a few advancing troops flying. ]

Hey! Need a boost, just give me a shout!

[All four of Xelvak's eyes narrow in disgust at the sight of the radiance burning across the battlefield. The undead keep coming, now more than a literal wave than a figurative one, but he knows it won't be enough on its own. Still, he could hardly be called a herald if he wasn't prepared for a few candles.]

Delusional, the whole lot of you. It is pointless to cling to such lies. Whether or not you give up is irrelevant. Your beliefs that I am unworthy to purge this world, as well as your beliefs that it is not yet humanity's time to end, are irrelevant. You've been fed lies and now perceive them as truth. Allow me to correct this mistake.

There is but one truth left to you fools: you will all die here. Now...

[More and more energy begins pouring into the green orb in Xelvak's hand. Upon completion, the lich rears his hand back and prepares to throw it.]

Watch as even your final breaths grow stagnant!

[And with some considerable force, Xelvak tosses the orb. However, it doesn't seem like it will reach the group directly. Rather, it looks like it'll hit the ground a few meters in front of their position. It's high likely this thing will explode once it hits the ground.]

DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?! Seriously! I appreciate the theatrics, really makes for a great battle, but all this smack talk is getting on my nerves! Any chump can get their minions to do their work for them! How about you come over here and we feed you a Hurtz Doughnut on the house!

[As the orb approaches, Bowser gets the faintest idea that letting that thing hit the ground is a mistake. He spits several fire balls at the orb, hoping to get it to explode prematurely, but it doesn't seem like there's enough power to. At best, his fireballs are slowing it down, enough for the rest of the team to help out.]

[Weiss knows what she has to do. She stabs Myrtenaster into the ground, bringing up a huge wall of ice between them and the blast. Then, several white glyphs form in front of the orb, repelling it back the way it came. Weiss is sweating with the effort of maintaining so many glyphs at once, but she's not faltering in the least.]

I have to agree... so stop talking... and have a taste of your own medicine!

Edited 2019-07-05 19:59 (UTC)

[Grimm smirks at Weiss's comment and, if this was a normal situation, he'd praise her for the clear skill she has with her weapon and magic.

Sadly he cannot in this moment. Instead, after cutting down more undead he turns and quickly fires off a number of fire bats that surround the orb in wide circle, screeching as they head towards the Herald.

So what choice is he going to take? Tank his own spell or dodge and hopefully does not take a few fire bats to the face?

It's going to burn either way.]

[Kohaku wasn't a caster, and she sure as hell wasn't getting anywhere near that glob of green shit. No, it looked like right now Xelvak was focusing his attention on his spell, so she decided she was going to take a more direct approach.

A steel spike jammed into a hunk of burning F-16 right by Xelvak, and pulled Kohaku over almost faster than he could react.

Almost.

She watched it all happen in slow motion. Her jump had been timed as best she could manage, the angle was just about perfect, but...he was slightly faster than she had counted on, and those extra bladed limbs were a bit more dextrous than she had hoped. As Kohaku descended into melee range, she felt a chitinous spear pierce her gut. The impact of it knocked the wind out of her. But pain was optional. She watched with some satisfaction as Xelvak's eyes changed from relief at catching this unexpectedly close foe to surprise as she didn't let being basically impaled slow her down at all and brought her sword down in a shining arc aimed at his head...]

GET FUCKED!

[Well this wasn't going exactly as he planned. Perhaps he'd underestimated them? No matter. Although this situation wasn't ideal, he was far from out. As his orb of necrotic energy heads back towards him, Xelvak simply erects a barrier to block it. Unfortunately, the blast was able to shatter the barrier soon after making contact and exploding, sending some of the concentrated energy his way. His body suffers notable burns and scars, but they seem to be healing quickly. As long as his phylacteries are still up, he will not die.

Although that doesn't mean he can't take damage. The fire bats strike his body hard, exploding upon impact as the flames burn at body, striking the injuries he was still healing from. As if that wasn't enough, Kohaku catches him almost completely off guard. His mist of parasites don't seem to have any effect on her, and her blade slices through his skull down towards his chest, finally catching about half way through.]

An impressive display of teamwork. However...

[His head turns completely around to face Kohaku as all four of his eyes focus their attention on her.]

This battle is far from over.

[A large, skeletal arm shoots out from his cloak and seizes her legs. It grips the limb hard, as necrotic energy begins leeching the flesh right off. He tosses her back towards her allies with a powerful throw, his irritation clearly showing through his now cracked facade of confidence. The undead around him start to slow their onslaught. Instead of focusing on them, his body crackles with necrotic energy as he sends sends out several beams of it towards the group.

As he's charging, Bowser sends out several fireballs to strike the lich before turning his body around so his shell can absorb the beams for his teammates.]

[She'd done it! She'd killed the Herald! This would secure bragging rights for-

Kohaku's celebration ended abruptly when Xelvak started talking despite his head being cut in half, which was DAMN creepy. She screamed as skeletal hands grabbed her legs, but only for a moment as neuroreceptors shut down, reflexively blocking out the pain so she could think.

Unfortunately there wasn't much to think about. Even with her brain working in overdrive and time seeming to slow to a crawl, all she could do was tumble through the air after Xelvak threw her and watch the ground come flying at her face and swear a blue streak. Oooooh this was going to hurt.]

MOTHERFUCKING BULLSHIT UNDEAD LIMP DICKED-

[Was about all she had time to get out before she hit something.]

[Grimm feels a deep sense of pride that Kohaku nearly cleaved the Herald in half that swiftly disappears when he continues speaking. Beams of necrotic energy fire from the lich, only to be intercepted by Bowser's own fire and then covered the party. And throughout the chaos, Grimm sees Kohaku go flying.

He shouts into the communicator since Grimm knows there is no way he will be heard over the din.]

I am going after Kohaku!

[Even as loud as Grimm's teleportation is, it is barely heard over the chaos as he vanishes on the spot. Kohaku will indeed slam into something but rather then the ground, it is the Troupe Master's arms.

The momentum pushes Grimm back as well but he digs his feet into the ground and forces himself forward to try and counter it. Unfortunately he does fall over, but it is a better landing then on stone.]

Are you alright?

[That was some...colorful language, but he was more concerned with the fact Xelvak grabbed her legs. Were they...?]

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XELVAK THE FIRST HERALD OF NIGHT

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