Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Character Creation and Discussion

[Tk3997]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

That's true....

Argh, stupid IRC. I can't connect to #outercadia. Anybody know what happened to it?

Err it says you're connected right now... well on my IRC anyway.

[Wild Goose]

The window's not showing -_-

Zetsuboushita....

[USB500]

Originally Posted by Aaron008R

Will tackle the backlog later. But for now, it's time to introduce the 'Prince'.

~Rebuilt of~
~Grandis Lacetti~

Basic Stats:

Spoiler for Basic Stats:

Name: Grandis Lacetti
Nickname: Masoukishi (Elemental Knight), Youhei no Ohji (Mercenary Prince)
Aliases: Strega Belgrande, Lastoll la Wenter, Jeifar Solgady, Rujanol Altis, Jaohm Ganador, Camaro Rafalle
Callsign: None
Gender: Male
Age: 26 (2 years after StrikerS. He's 5 years older than Hayate)
Birthday: 13th November in the Earth Calendar
Occupation/s: Used to be a Knight in training in Saint Church; now a Mercenary mage.
Rankings: N/A, Estimated to be around an AAA+ Air-Knight
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 164 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black, shoulder-length
Magic style: Neo Belka
Magic Color: Dark Violet
Magic Capacity in Units: 897,000
Usual wear: Dirty white jacket over a violet shirt, blue pants and worn boots
Specialization: Melee
Devices: Gottes Rächer (Divine Avenger)
Seiyuu: Hikaru Midorikawa (Using Li Xingke voice from Code Geass R2)

Profile:

Spoiler for Profile:

A survivor of a Lost Logia incident seventeen years prior to StrikerS. Being orphaned at the age of 7, he was adopted in one of the orphanages in the Belkan self-administered region, Saint Church. Later on, he was given the choice to become a Knight in service of the Saint Church. He accepted and went into training there. He showed tremendous potential with his rare skill and high magic capacity. However, he abandoned his path to Knighthood for some unknown reason around eight years before StrikerS. He is now currently working as a mercenary in the less-influential worlds administered by TSAB.

He was born to the relatively new Administered Planet called Duraxyll, sired by Granveil Lacetti, a then very powerful Knight Enforcer under the service of TSAB and Eulidia Lacetti, a third-generation resident of the said planet. He also had a 2-year old sister of the name Zenidia Lacetti. As a child, he was extremely precocious and talented kid with an active drive to be like his father, whom he idolized to a great degree. His father, Granveil Lacetti, was the member of the now-defunct Spectral Enforcers, serving as an S-ranked magic-user of the Belka style (just like Zest Grangeitz) and leader of the group. His early childhood was one what you’d call typical, as he was just a very normal despite being talented young boy. He was supposed to join the TSAB’s Magic Academy when he finally reached ten years of age. He also had two significantly older friends who were the youngest members of the Spectral Enforcers, a boy namd Aurion Dauer and a girl named Almaria Corvette; two people whom he shared an atypical closeness with. All seemed fine, as he and the rest of Granveil’s family would soon move to Mid-Childa since Duraxyll was too far away for Grandis’ education. However, that fateful day came…

The Perfect Void Incident, one of the biggest blunders of the TSAB that caused the destruction of more than 3/10 the entire mass of Duraxyll to a large dimensional dislocation, immediately ending the lives of billions of the population and the subsequent ‘death’ of the planet itself; the incident that would be forever masked under the category of ‘Accidents Regarding Lost Logia’, never to be remembered aside from the shard of terror that would be forever embedded in the hearts of the survivors…

It may have been dumb luck, but Grandis was one of the very few survivors of the Perfect Void Incident on the side of the planet where the Dimensional Dislocation occurred. He was saved somehow and brought to wherever he can be adopted, in this case, Saint Church. He was treated extensively for the severe psychological and emotional trauma that he sustained. When he recovered, he has become a silent and reclusive person who had obtained a terrible curse… being an unwilling spring of the Elements of Nature…

He was an outcast, both by his peers and by his elders due to his ‘monstrous’ abilities. And it didn’t help that his powers were out of his control… he would cause several unnatural elemental phenomena unintentionally whenever he became emotionally unstable, causing collateral damage a fair number of times. His first friend in his new domicile would be the future leader of the Self-Administered Region of Belka: Carym Cracia, whom befriended him regardless of his and other people’s reservations. Another one would be the person whom he would later regard as his mentor and surrogate father, Zamzeed Tacuma, a Belka Schwert Meister whom was also Granveil Lacetti’s mentor before. He would also later find friends in Sister Schach, Verossa Acous and Kha Alexie Testarossa.

Going by a few more years, he is now a Knight in Training and is able to control his powers, with much help on Zamzeed’s part. He was also one of the few exceptions to receive his own device even before being sired as a Knight, a specialized Armed Device augmented by Mid-Childan technology, a pure white sword which helped him control the elements better, which he named Gottes Rächer (Divine Avenger). He proved to have tremendous potential and was to take the examination to become an official Knight under the service of the Saint Church. However, he was apparently unable to let go of the fragments of his past and the entire world he lost, making him decline from taking the test and instead requested his Meister, Zamzeed if he could first travel the dimensional world and find his calling, and the fact that he felt he needed to do something first before pledging an oath of untainted loyalty to the Saint Church. His mentor was troubled, but was later persuaded by an insistent Grandis and surprisingly, Carym herself, who trusted that Grandis wouldn’t stray from his path. He set off with blessings from both, also with the promise to his master that he wouldn’t use his sword in betrayal against the Knight’s doctrine.

He travelled several planets, later on becoming a mercenary under several aliases; the most prominent one being Strega Belgrande. Thru all these, he always felt a feeling of regret and unexplainable discontent inside the deep recesses of his mind and heart… though part of the reason is that his personal record is not as clean as desired; owing to the fact that it is rather inevitable that being a mercenary for a certain period of time entails involvement in some unsavory dealings. He rose thru the ranks and became a rather popular (in both positive and negative ways) mercenary, being known for two predominant monikers. First was ‘Masoukishi’ (Elemental Knight) despite his insistence against the claim that he never deserved the title of Knight. The second is ‘Youhei no Ohji’ (Mercenary Prince); a title that is either used in respect or in derision, depending no the person referring to him as such. He wanted to keep using his real name of Grandis Lacetti, but opted to switch aliases a fair number of times in his years as a mercenary. Some of these aliases are Lastoll la Wenter, Jeifar Solgady, Rujanol Altis, Jaohm Ganador and Camaro Rafalle. Partly due to this, the titles of Elemental Knight and Mercenary Prince stuck out the most.

Years later, he would learn of the survival of a certain person in his past… triggering an explosion of incredible hatred to flair up in his heart. This person is the reason behind his destroyed world, his lost family, his entire life before the ruin of Duraxyll. In his mind, he has decided that he has found his calling before he can settle down as a servant of Belka. And this goal is… Vengeance… Against the person called Aurion Dauer…

The wheels of lost time have started moving… And thus, GenerationS, begins…

Personality:

Spoiler for Personality:

Once upon a time a very precocious child with a sharp wit and tongue, Grandis is now a usually serious and silent person with an aura of dignity. Despite being in the more often than not violent world of mercenaries, he is known for being a very formal person. He speaks formally in a way akin to how nobles would talk, at first earning him the scorn of the unpolished mercenaries and other people in the less-savory districts of ordered space. Many of them took his mannerisms as an intentional high-and-mighty act. (Yes. He’s a ‘watashi’ kind of person. As in, he refers to himself using ‘Watashi’ instead of the more usual ‘Ore’ or ‘Boku’ for characters like him. And of course, his speech is formal. Using ‘desu’, ‘arimasu’, the works.) However, when he soon proved his prowess, this fact helped his reputation grow in an unexpected way, earning him the nickname ‘Ohji’ (Prince) due to his manner of speaking and acting that showed a high upbringing. This can be attributed to Zamzeed’s (who was somewhat of a noble himself) way of raising him.

Though he may now appear tough and aloof, he has a surprisingly gentle personality and manner of acting. He also seems to have a high level of honor that you would most likely never find in any other mercenary in ordered space. Grandis is a very serious and no-nonsense person who would appear aloof at first glance, but he is very loyal and dependable. Up to now, he clandestinely harbors utmost loyalty to the Saint Church he abandoned in his quest for answers, which tends to have an effect to the kinds of contracts he takes. This attitude is a big folly for being a mercenary, but his power, skills and reputation allows him to have a degree of freedom in associating with the kinds of contractors that he wishes. Once again, another character trait that lends credibility to his nickname as the ‘Prince’ of mercenaries.

He does have a fair number of non-mercenary acquaintances that he met along his journeys. Though calling them friends is a bit of a stretch because Grandis has purposely avoided being too involved with other people so as not to involve them with his activities. But some of them were lucky enough to see Grandis’ lighter side, which is quite amusingly earnest and engaging; as well as being slightly lazy on some occasions to the point of sleeping three times a day. He is also quite surprisingly stubborn, as well as having a forceful personality if he ha a goal in mind.

During battles, he usually goes straight into the fray and finishes the battle as quickly as possible. Of course, he plans out his actions before doing them. He’s usually a soloist, but can handle team-play if need be. He is never been seen for too long with a certain group of fellow mercenaries, though he seems to appear alongside the veteran mercenary named Versa Rheinland the most.

Relationships:

Spoiler for Relationships:

He had a relatively normal life as a kid. His father named Granveil Lacetti was a Knight working for TSAB (and also the leader of the Spectral Enforcers), his mother called Eulidia was an owner of a market in their planet, and a younger sister named Zenidia. It just happened that their home-planet, Duraxyll, which was just a rather new Administered Region of TSAB, became the base of operations of the ‘Messengers of the Void’ after they desolated a planet. This turn of events would start the countdown to the subsequent destruction and rebirth of Grandis’ world…

Spoiler for Before and During Nanoha Series:

Before and During the Nanoha Series:

The Lacetti Family: He was very close with his family during his early childhood. His father, despite being away usually for his job as an Elite Enforcer was very close with his family and served as Grandis’ role model. He idolized his father a lot and dreamt of becoming like him someday. His mother, Eulidia, was a very gentle but strong woman who cared deeply about her family. She was Grandis’ primary teacher and source of parental affection. As such, Grandis had a very deep attachment to her. His sister, Zenidia, was at first slightly unlikeable for him. But something happened that made Grandis fiercely protective of her. Needless to say, Grandis’ family almost meant everything for him then, only to be torn apart by the workings of fate and left behind as the only survivor of the Lacetti bloodline…

Aurion Dauer: Aurion was one of Grandis close friends during his childhood. More details to come as GenerationS progresses.

Almaria Corvette: Almaria was one of Grandis close friends during his childhood. More details to come as GenerationS progresses.

Zamzeed Tacuma: During his term in Saint Church, he was cast out by most of his peers because of his barely under control elemental powers. Only the more rational and older people there gave him consideration. One Knight in particular, Zamzeed Tacuma, who was the mentor of Granveil (Grandis’ father), took him under his wing as a Knight-in-training when he was 9. The process was tough, since they had to take into consideration Grandis’ elemental affinities. They took a whole year just to get over the problems. He was presented Gottes Racher, a sword meant to help him with his elemental control when he was 13. He was supposed to take his test to become a full-fledged Knight at 16 years of age, but he was a very honest person and could not take the oath of a clear mind with only the values of the Knight’s code. He didn’t go through the examination and later requested his mentor to allow him to find his own calling outside of the Church. Zamzeed was reluctant, but he later allowed Grandis to do it at the promise that he would not be a criminal nor use what he has learned in his years in the Saint Church in a wanton way.

Carym Gracia: The then future leader of the Self-Administered Region of Belka, Carym was the very first person near Grandis’ age that befriended him during his later childhood in Saint Church. Though even Grandis was afraid of becoming her friend due to the chance that he might hurt her unintentionally with his the out of control elemental powers, the kind-hearted girl persevered and managed to become his very first childhood friend in his new life as a resident of the Belka Region. Thanks to her, he was able to calm down and have less of the painful elemental bursts that came from his body. Subsequently, she also helped him open up to the world again; eventually being able to obtain new friends such as Schach, Verossa and Kha, except that Grandis wasn’t really that close with the others. Up to this day, he is extremely thankful for Carym saving him fro his downward spiral into emotional and mental oblivion. She was also the one who helped him convince Zamzeed to let him go on his own way in search for his answers and his calling (though she was worried herself). He left with blessings from Knight Carym. From what little is shown, he seems to hold her in reverence.

Sister Schach and Verossa Acous: <To be filled in later>

Kha Alexie Testarossa: (BLEARGH!!! NEED TO COMPUTE TEH KHRACK FIRST!!!)

Spoiler for GenerationS:

GenerationS Timeline:

Yagami Hayate: He first met Hayate by passing each other by the door. Unbeknownst to both of them, they would both later play very important roles in each other’s lives. They would cross paths again only ten years later… at opposing sides of a battlefield. Only time will tell what destiny has in store for the two of them.

The Other Three Aces: <Not yet available>

The Wolkenritter: <Not yet available>

Luozorl von Mazda: <Not yet available>

Lyriel el Mazda: <Not yet available>

The Crimson Wings: <Not yet available>

Versa Rheinland: <Not yet available>

Knight Armor:

Spoiler for Knight Armor:

<Being revised>

Device:

Spoiler for Device:

Gottes Rächer (Divine Avenger): An armed device taking the form of a double-edged two-handed longsword. It houses up to five cartridges at a time using a revolver loader above the hilt. The entire sword is almost entirely white, with the exceptions of a light blue cross-guard and pommel. Belka Runes are inscribed at the side of the blades (all of which are just for decorations and serves no other purpose). (Gottes Rächer’s appearance is based on the weapon called Divine Avenger from Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time)

It has a Full Drive mode, taking the appearance of a larger sword with a wider blade. The colors are inverted to primarily black and crimson. Though it can be only maintained at three minutes max since it strains his Linker Core. It allows him much better control in his elemental-combinations and shifting. (The Full Drive on the weapon called Levantine from Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time)

Fighting Style:

Spoiler for Fighting Style:

His fighting style is high-power, full-frontal melee. In short, he uses his sword in striking with extremely powerful spells while at close range. He has a number of ranged attacks, but he has a lot more for close-range. Additionally, the spheres scattered throughout the several parts of his armor are actually energy conduits, allowing him to cast spells thru his armor as easily as he can with his device. This makes him a most frightening adversary in close combat, as his entire body can be considered a weapon. Prior to becoming a mercenary, he was mostly a pure sword-fighter, but as time went on, in need to adapt to the harsh world of mercenaries, he developed his hand-to-hand fighting skills further with elements from several fighting styles he would see over the course of the years. However, he has some issues about fighting at long range since he only has few mid/long range normal attacks (with their respective variations), which aren’t very powerful in themselves. His other long range attack requires his Full Drive, which makes it unadvisable to use frequently.

Rare Skill:

Spoiler for Rare Skill:

Grandis’ rare traits are that: 1) He has multiple affinities to elements even though only one is possible with a single individual; 2) He is also able to influence his surroundings to a limited extent without spells. However, he cannot control all these elements simultaneously. Thru experience, it was learned that he needs to ‘switch’ between his affinities. For every affinity set he has, there is a primary and a complementary element present. His dominant elemental affinities are Fire, Ice and Lightning. The sub-elements to these are Earth to Fire, Water to Ice and Wind to Lightning. Many of his spells are variations of the same attack; with just a couple of unique ones that depends on the alignment. The primary elements fall under the category of “Elemental Affinity” while the complementary ones fall under “Elemental Manipulation”. To put it simply, he can naturally produce Fire, Ice and Lightning, but not Earth, Water and Wind. For the complementary ones, he must directly manipulate his surroundings in order to use such, but only to a limited extent.

Aside from this, his affinities could be best classified as ‘fake’ or ‘synthetic’. This is due to the unnatural coloration of his elemental affinities that are normally impossible. His fire is of deep red like blood. His ice is extremely dark blue. And his lightning is colored emerald green. Also, these elemental affinities are inherently harmful if used beyond a certain point. While normal people with elemental affinities can usually manifest such power without fear of damage to their own bodies, Grandis’ body suffers from the backlash of all three with extended use. For example, he can be burned by his own flames if used for too much. (Just how much is too much is to be shown later as the story arcs of GenerationS progresses.) Oddly, extensive manipulation of the complementary elements also tends to damage him by the same type of damage inflicted on him by the corresponding primary element partnered with the manipulated one. (Example: He eventually gets electric shocks from extensive manipulation of wind.) Owing to this, he is never able to reach the proficiency and extensive competency over any single element when compared to natural single-element users even if he trained extensively and mastered each one; for they will always be double-edged swords that can eventually harm him just as they harm the enemy.

As it turns out, the destruction of the Perfect Void altered him somehow to be capable of these. It did not come at a price, however. He was known for unintentionally causing small to large temperature shifts and occasional electrical grounds when he was still in Saint Church. These all reacted from his emotions, which were rather imbalanced because of the trauma of the incident. The several shifts caused him intense pain since he had little to no control of these. And to make things worse, it alienated him from the other children due to fear of him. He was branded a monster by the more cruel children there. As a result, he grew up rather antisocial. But he was still lucky enough to have several more understanding people to interact with during his time. He started his Knight training at nine years of age. Though troublesome at first, he was able to eventually able to control his multiple affinities to the level he can use them now.

Many alternatives and speculations were created, and Grandis eventually settled for the system that worked best. By theory, he can only use one affinity (with both the dominant and recessive elements) at a time. If he pushes himself in using more than one or using incompatible elements in his affinities simultaneously (such as using both Fire and Lightning at the same time), it has a negative effect on his physiology. For example, if he is currently using his Lightning/Wind affinity and tries to use the Fire element, he’d most likely to immediately burn himself from trying. He needs a full minute to shift his affinity type from one to another, and an additional minute cooldown before attempting so again. His shifts are only limited to three times a day or the strain will likely harm his body or the shift would simply fail if he tried.

The complementary element of another Elemental ‘Set’ is also generally unavailable. If he tries to do so, he would also damage himself by the corresponding primary damage of that other set. (Example: He’s currently using Lightning/Wind. If he tries to manipulate water, he’ll immediately experience damage related to freezing, actually risking the chance of becoming frostbitten.)

It is later revealed that prior to being altered by the Perfect Void; he had no elemental affinity in the first place; explaining his limitations on all the types of elements he can control.

Depending on the elemental affinities used, his melee specialization is altered accordingly. And even though his magic color is dark violet, the colors of some of his elemental attacks are variations of the normal coloration.

SPELL LIST:
Grandis spell list is classified under three categories. They usually depend on the type of Magic Color he is projecting at any given time.

Spoiler for All categories:

All categories: The following are his spells that are available regardless of his projected element.

Defensive Spells:

Panzerhindernis: A Belkan Barrier spell.
Defense: AAA+ geared for impact damage
Area: Two and a half meters

Panzergeist: A Belkan auto-guard spell. It forms around the user.
Defense: AA+

Panzerschild: A Belkan unidirectional defensive spell. Similar to Round Shield. Can be stacked.
Defense: AAA+ geared for magical damage
Area: Two and a half meters

Panzer Verschanzung: A combination-defense spell that Grandis created himself.
Defense: S+
Area: Three meters


Capture Spells:

Prison Bind: This is a simple but very sturdy bind. It’s very similar to physical ropes in nature and doesn’t need much maintenance once it is cast.
Binding power: AA
Binding speed: A
Range: AA

Struggle Bind: A strange addition to his spell arsenal as this is a Mid-childa spell. He was able to pick this up during his time as a mercenary. A very powerful bind that serves as a magical ‘ground‘. It can restrict a target from using their magical capabilities. It can also dispel magical effects like Transformation Magic. Grandis is capable of sealing other’s magic capability.
Binding power: AAA+
Binding speed: B
Range: C

Flame/Earth Set:

Spoiler for Flame/Earth Set:

When using the Fire/Earth affinity, his attack power is high with the sustained flames in his attacks. His defense is also at its peak since he can use Gaia Wall, which is his strongest elemental-class defense. His speed is the only one that suffers here because of his relatively slower invocation time for his spells here compared to the other affinities. Also, this affinity class is best suited for low altitude combat, preferably on ground level for maximum utility.


Offensive Spells:

Spoiler for Offensive Spells:

Flammenschneide (Flame Edge): Gottes Rächer is imbued with intense flames. This is similar to Signum’s Shiden Issen spell but lasts longer and is slightly less powerful. Using cartridges at this state boosts the flame’s power and mass significantly.
Attack Boost: A+ ~ AA+
Casting Speed: Three seconds
Duration: 5 minutes max

Flammenpfeil (Flame Arrow): Grandis’ basic shooting spells. Elementally-charged energy arrows surround him and are shot at the opponent/s at high speed. Up to six can be launched at once. This is a simple linear-trajectory spell that is not controlled once released.
Attack: B+
Speed: AA
Range: A-

Flammenhieb (Flame Slash): Usable when Grandis’ sword is charged with an element. He can now shoot the elemental force on his sword as energy-waves when he slashes. Up to four energy waves can be used in quick succession before having to cool down.
Attack: A
Speed: AA-
Range: B

Flame Shockwave: Pretty much self-explanatory. Columns of flames can be shot from his sword in a manner very similar to shockwaves.
Attack: AA+
Speed: AA
Range: A+

Avalanche Glaive: Gottes Rächer is thrust into the earth and rock spikes can propel out of the ground in Grandis’ given direction.
Attack: A+
Speed: AA
Range: B

Volcanic Buster: One of his more difficult but powerful spells. This involves thrusting Gottes Rächer into the ground and using both his fire and earth-elemental affinity to create magma to be sent spiraling against an opponent. The casting time is slow and the targets need to be relatively close to the ground for this to hit. But it is very powerful.
Attack: S
Speed: B+
Range: B+

Flammend Aura (Blazing Aura): His entire body is temporarily covered with flames.

Defensive Spells:

Spoiler for Defensive Spells:

Gaia Wall: His sword is plunged onto the ground, making columns of earth rise as a physical defense.
Defense: AAA+
Area: Twelve meters
Speed: AA-

Fire Wall: A barrier of flames is raised. It has a double-function of also damaging opponents.
Attack: AA
Defense: AA+
Area: Six meters
Speed: AAA

Flammenterrirotium: <Details later>

Water/Ice Set:

Spoiler for Ice/Water Set:

When using the Ice/Water affinity, his offense takes a steep drop in favor of more tactical applications for his ice-based moves. Instead of trying to damage the opponent/s straight out, their mobility is hindered by the ice, opening them for better attacks. His water control functions best when there’s a body of water nearby, allowing him to use it in confusing his opponents. Like the Fire/Ground affinity, this affinity is better suited for low altitude combat. High-speed underwater combat is possible in this form for a limited time.

Offensive Spells:

Spoiler for Offensive Spells:

Frost Klinge (Frost Blade): An extremely sharp crescent of ice covers Gottes Rächer’s blade. The things he cut also get a tough coating of frost. Loading cartridges at this state releases freezing mist around the blade.
Attack Boost: A- ~ AA-
Casting Speed: Four seconds
Duration: 8 minutes max

Eis Pfeil (Ice Arrow): Grandis’ basic shooting spells. Elementally-charged energy arrows surround him and are shot at the opponent/s at high speed. The shots can freeze targets. This is a simple linear-trajectory spell that is not controlled once released.
Attack: B-
Speed: AA+
Range: A

Eis Hieb (Ice Slash): Usable when Grandis’ sword is charged with an element. He can now shoot the elemental force on his sword as energy-waves when he slashes. The slash can freeze targets. Up to five energy waves can be used in quick succession before having to cool down.
Attack: A-
Speed: AA
Range: A-

Eis Windstoß (Ice Squall): Extremely cold gales coupled with sharp icicles are sent against an opponent. It can freeze opponents when subjected to it given enough time.
Attack: AAA-
Speed: AA
Range: B+

Eis Aura (Ice Aura): The temperature around Grandis drops dramatically, usually hindering opponents from moving and raising air humid for easier casting of water/ice attacks.

Defensive Spell:

Spoiler for Defensive Spells:

Water Wall: A barrier of water is raised. This usually needs a body of water nearby and can be used offensively
Attack: B+
Defense: AA
Area: Twelve meters
Speed: AA

Ice Wall: A barrier of thick ice is raised.
Defense: AAA-
Area: Six meters
Speed: AA

Eis Terrirotium: <Details Later>

Wind/Lightning Set:

Spoiler for Lightning/Wind Set:

When he uses his Lightning/Wind affinity, his attack power takes its standard peak. Also with a substantial boost in his speed due to wind manipulation; his capabilities for taking down adversaries quickly are at their highest here. However, he has the least powerful defenses in this state, hampering his ability to take hits. His ranged moves also reach farthest at this mode, but he still cannot use his ranged capabilities effectively at his current skill level. Thus, he usually uses his ranged attacks while rushing at the opponent.


Offensive Spells:

Spoiler for Offensive Spells:

Blitz Säbel (Lightning Saber): Several bolts of emerald lightning dances along Gottes Rächer’s blade. Out of all the elemental-powered sword modes Grandis has, this is the most fatal affect when the target is hit due to the electric shock it can give. Loading cartridges while in this state causes massive lightning surges along the blade. However, extended use of this is not advisable since it later causes electrically-induced numbness in Grandis’ hands.
Attack Boost: AA ~ AAA+
Casting Speed: Five seconds
Duration: 3 minutes max

Blitz Pfeil (Lightning Arrow): Grandis’ basic shooting spells. Elementally-charged energy arrows surround him and are shot at the opponent/s at high speed. This is a simple linear-trajectory spell that is not controlled once released.
Attack: A-
Speed: AAA-
Range: AA+

Blitz Hieb (Lightning Slash): Usable when Grandis’ sword is charged with an element. He can now shoot the elemental force on his sword as energy-waves when he slashes. Up to three energy waves can be used in quick succession before having to cool down.
Attack: AA-
Speed: AA+
Range: AA

Doppelsturm-Angriff (Dual Storm Assault): Grandis slashes upward, sending several extremely powerful blasts of damaging wind coupled with wreckage from the ground. He also levitates a bit at the same time of the first slash before slashing downwards, once again sending windblasts coupled with green lightning bolts this time. He usually needs to charge before using this, but can use two cartridges instead. The speed of this spell is very good but also drains a lot out of his energy
Elemental type: Wind/Lightning
Attack: S+
Speed: AAA
Range: C

Blitz Aura (Lightning Aura): Electricity dances around Grandis’ armor at random intervals. This is much harder to maintain but is also much more damaging compared to his other Aura spells.

Defensive Spells:

Spoiler for Defensive Spells:

Cyclone Barrier: He gathers gusts of wind around him for defense. This can be used offensively.
Attack: A
Defense: AA-
Area: Seven meters
Speed: AAA

Lightning Wall: A barrier of emerald lightning is raised. It has a double-function of also damaging opponents even better than fire wall can. But this is much harder to maintain.
Attack: AA+
Defense: AA+
Area: Five meters
Speed: AAA

Lightning Territorium: <Details later>

Full Drive Exclusive Spells:

Spoiler for Full Drive Spells:

Hell Screamer: <Details later>

???:

???:

I know, I know. He's seemingly way different from the cocky and confident Grandis that we all knew from the past. But I just had to do this. I felt something missing every time I reread Grandis' old profile. And I found out that 'I wanted to do something very different'. The old Grandis was likeable, sure. But there was a degenerancy with him that bugged me. Like with Aurion, I intend to completely break apart the common character mold and even some of the tropes in order to get a result as uniquely my own as possible! And so, Ohji Grandis came to be. How often does the non-hotblooded cool guy get the main girl? Don't worry, he's just more (MUCH more) refined now. The interactions with Hayate later on will still entail the same roguish flair. And I'd have to apologize in advance if anybody is planning or my have already written anything that involves an "Ore" Grandis. This is how he is now. And I intend to make him as likeable a character as possible! Oh. And making HayateXGrandis a success is a must too. ><

Comments? He's much, MUCH less HAXX now compared to the old version. Though I'm open to some more suggestions. Thanks in advance.


EDIT: Added pic.:3

This! IS! GRANDIS!!!!

Sorry, but I had to do this the moment I saw this rebuilt. quite good, especially the multiple element affinities and the future rivalry with Aurion, which somehow rings the bell for Masaki/Shuu scenario

Oh? HayateXGrandis DO WANT NAO
.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

*Edit: The list of people who will die in Macross OC grows and grows.... even I am not spared...or the wommens....*

What happened here?

.

Spoiler for teaser for future story:

There is a place in the universe where magic is defined not by one's affinities but by the attributes of the boundary of light and darkness. It is the place where balance in the order is determined by the guardians of the scarlet illusion. One can never enter such exotic place without first recognizing his or her role in maintaining the balance.

And sadly the balance is now threatened by outside force eager to claim what it takes to become one of the kind.

And so our guardian girls gather and join force in maintaining the balance and protecting their garden of secret.

Armstrong stared at his old friend. "I know you came all the way here to have me invited into the expedition, but why the long introduction?"

The goggled man chuckled. "My friend, perhaps you have heard of the village named Scarlet Illusion, yes?"

Armstrong shrugged. Teacup put on the table, he looked outside the window and closed his eyes. "Never before in my life have I heard of such a name. Explain, please."

The goggled man merely grinned. "I would, my friend, but then a picture speaks better than a thousand words." He paused, as to correct his goggles. "Or should I say, proof or it never happens?"

Okay, I should be able to lay out this story after next week. So yeah, it will involve lots of bullet dodging and fourth wall breaking, not considering the meal that overrides all. *cue Trombe!*

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game and one of the original 3 "Nerd Sinks" of money. You either were a hardcore spender on Dungeons and Dragons (i.e. me), Magic, or Warhammer 40k, or casually did two or all 3.

Hmm, I never was much of a Magic player, I'm more of a Yu-Gi-Oh person myself. I loved to make decks that were generally claimed to be 'incompatible' though, like red/blue decks. :3

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Of the originals, I was always, always, always the Rogue :3

And also, random thing: The following song will be set to the final Episode of Alpha's first half, during the credits...

Spoiler for Meadows of Heaven:

I close my eyes
The lantern dies
The scent of awakening
Wildhoney and dew

Childhood games
Woods and lakes
Streams of silver
Toys of olden days

Meadows of heaven

The flowers of wonder
And the hidden treasures
In the meadow of life
My acre of heaven
A 5-year-old winterheart
In a place called home
Sailing the waves of past

Meadows of heaven

Rocking chair without a dreamer
A wooden swing without laughter
Sandbox without toy soldiers
Yuletide without the Flight

Dreambound for life

Flowers wither, treasures stay hidden
Until I see the 1st star of fall

I fall asleep
And see it all:
Mother's care
And color of the kites

Meadows of heaven

Ooooh, very nice song.

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

I found a AMV of Char and his character song

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Spoiler for MSLN Alpha, Episode 4, Scene 1:

-snip-

This isn't the entire scene; the second half of scene 1 focuses on Hayate and Co.

And the cast gathers, now I'm really getting anxious to see where this leads. Teana had a rough time >_<. The Fate/Erio/Caro moment made me smile.

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

Quick question, Keroko:

Are you still using Noland as the third Primarch?

With your permission, yes.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

A sword without a guard isn't a very good idea to start with so it's not really and "if" IMO.

-_-; Tk, I am well aware that melee combat in Nanoha falls just as hard as all other ellements of the show if we start ripping it apart with realism, but lets not shall we? I'd like to believe that there is at least one part of the show where fantasy reigns, not reallity.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Acutally if you think about most of the Nanoha females having significant chest is a tad odd as intense physical activity tends to result in small breast since in the end they’re basiclly fat sacks. Look at the women in the Olympics for instance most of them are like a C-Cup at most.

One should also note that the chest size of the cast is not nearly as large in the series and manga as it is in the megami art. When on posters, their cup size seems to grow rather dramatically.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Speak for yourself I like to win at everything!

Losing opens vaults of dorama. :3

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Meh if it’s a solid blade and you wear armored gloves you could easily grab the blade and wield it like a staff. Acutally this was extremely common with longsword once armor came about and was the major offensive tactic in fact when fighting in armor it was the primary means of attack. They’d also sometimes flip the sword over and smash the other guy with the pummel like a hammer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halbschwert

Then again sword fighting in many animes tends to be a very silly and unrealistic affair anyway for instance you almost never see the fighters grapple or strike with anything besides there sword in reality basiclly every real sword fighting school in history taught both extensively. It became even more important when fighting in armor since you needed to get a weak points which was rather easier to do against a ground enemy then a standing and moving one.

Of course a sword was never an overly effective weapon anyway the true weapons of war where nearly always polearms of various sorts. Even knights who tend to be iconicly associated the weapon acutally relayed more on lances and the shock of a cavalry charge in battles, and after they used there lance (it often broke on impact) many of them also switched up to polearms as they fought from horse back in the enemies midsts since they needed to be able to strike at opponents that were below them so reach was important. Contrary to what we see in fiction the sword was for the most part a back up and dueling weapon it was never really the main weapon of war.

You have to realize that most of the times people wear swords these days is at LARP's or Fantasy Fairs. Usually people wear less plate-like armor there, its more leather, which -while usable if you have the right type of gloves- is a tad more risky then mail or plate. Most people use either light leather or no gloves at all though, and you'd still have to as the GM's if its all right.

I love having little fights among friends myself, LARP's generally forbid stabbing out of safety, thereby ruining a Lances greatest advantage (you have no idea how hard it is to fight a decent lance fighter >_<) I love lances myself, usually I try to go for a lance-like weapon if only for the range alone.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

that they do, that they do... Though blue ones look cooler.

Are we still talking about Gundam here?

Originally Posted by Tk3997

It's hard to write characters that aren't like you, no?

You say that as if all my characters are carbon copies of me.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I don't think he's just gonna drop dead from you saying it you're gonna have to make it happen.

Syn: I'd love to, but.... *the camera moves lower to see Syn's arms pinned to her sides by Vivio* It's kinda hard if you can't move.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Indeed the most important rule in battle is to always be awesome even when you're getting your ass kicked. Since if you're awesome the ass kicking is less likely to be fatal becasue they'll want to see you again.

Not to mention it makes the battle memoriable, which means you'll be remembered even if its fatal.

... Oh wait.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Again not really

Generally speaking, the first rule is 'use the blade' yes, when fighting guys in armor you requires different tactics, but sword fighting is uncomon these days anyway, fighting against guys in armor even more so.

Wielding a sword like a staff is possible, but incredibly clumsy (generally you tend to use the sword's weight as an advantage, grabbing it like a staff ruins this, as well as completely changing your grip). This varies per sword-type too.

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

And apparently I have amused people with my "Keroko Breaker"

That you did.

Originally Posted by Kha

But another thing is that Alistina and her 21 brothers and sisters only resemble the Primarchs in NAME and FUNCTION; they aren't the walking Termies of h4xx that we know from the 40K universe. They may be S+ mages up to SS-, but 22 such generals in a massive transdimensional army is very reasonable IMO.

Not to mention Belka was know for its 'artificial enhancing' its mages (Relics were openly used to boost mages back then, for example) I'm not placing the creation of Artificial Mages beyond them at all.

Originally Posted by Comartemis

*Does a spit-take*

Funny, as I recall being a main character wasn't anything like an excuse to be "somewhat" haxxed. I'm not certain who this was exactly, but I know one of my character concepts got shot down when Goose replied to my "He's the main character" with "blah blah Chief is only an A-rank, blah blah". Double standard, much?

That's because its only a minor H4XX, with a lot of balancing. He can use only one at the time with a cooldown.

The only thing that concerns me is the fire/earth link. Wind and Lighting are easy links, as is water/ice (which is cannonically supported by Rein's capturing of Lutecia) but earth and fire are so vastly different its like using two ellements at the same time.

Edit: Removed something that was a tad rude. Looks like early mornings got to me too....

[Tk3997]

Originally Posted by Keroko

-_-; Tk, I am well aware that melee combat in Nanoha falls just as hard as all other ellements of the show if we start ripping it apart with realism, but lets not shall we? I'd like to believe that there is at least one part of the show where fantasy reigns, not reallity.

I don't see many swords without guards... Well anywhere really even most militray morons seem to know that not having something that keeps your hands from slipping up onto the razor sharp blade or enemy swords skidding into them after a parry tends to be a rather important thing to have. I can't really think of a Nanoha sword that lacked one either. Though admittedly we only see like two of them though that itself is something of a nice change the numbers of effective melee weapons other then swords is something I rather like.

One should also note that the chest size of the cast is not nearly as large in the series and manga as it is in the megami art. When on posters, their cup size seems to grow rather dramatically.

Well given that it seems to vary inside the damn show from scene to scene at times... expecting consistently across media isn't a very good bet.

Losing opens vaults of dorama. :3

Bleh I've had enough of the E variety of that nonsense lately.

You have to realize that most of the times people wear swords these days is at LARP's or Fantasy Fairs. Usually people wear less plate-like armor there, its more leather, which -while usable if you have the right type of gloves- is a tad more risky then mail or plate. Most people use either light leather or no gloves at all though, and you'd still have to as the GM's if its all right.

I love having little fights among friends myself, LARP's generally forbid stabbing out of safety, thereby ruining a Lances greatest advantage (you have no idea how hard it is to fight a decent lance fighter >_<) I love lances myself, usually I try to go for a lance-like weapon if only for the range alone.

Indeed; since range is a huge advantage...

*TK RUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

Are we still talking about Gundam here?

Not really I just like blue stuff anything I get to chose colors on tends to end up with a black and blue paint scheme.

You say that as if all my characters are carbon copies of me.

Not really just a comment that it tends to be harder to try and write for characters with mind sets that are significantly different then your own. Like I can do sarcasm fine but I find writing other character types hard at times as I find myself tending to slip back toward sarcasm/cynicism as it’s sort of my default mindset. I’m pretty sure I’ve said before I find Felix rather easy to write for since allot of the time I can just sort of go “What sort of sarcastic and maybe slightly mean thing would I say here…”

Also note the "" wasn't really meant to be taken that seriously.

Syn: I'd love to, but.... *the camera moves lower to see Syn's arms pinned to her sides by Vivio* It's kinda hard if you can't move.

I think you could get away if you really tried but you're enjoying the close contact too much to bother.

Not to mention it makes the battle memoriable, which means you'll be remembered even if its fatal.

... Oh wait.

I'd rather be alive and forgotten then dead and remembered.

Tk, I know you can lecture me on a lot of things, but sword fighting is hardly one of them. Generally speaking, the first rule is 'use the blade' yes, when fighting guys in armor you requires different tactics, but sword fighting is uncomon these days anyway, fighting against guys in armor even more so.

Wielding a sword like a staff is possible, but incredibly clumsy (generally you tend to use the sword's weight as an advantage, grabbing it like a staff ruins this, as well as completely changing your grip). This varies per sword-type too.

Was acutally talking more about the whole “double bladed sword/staff combo” thing in which case it would seem to me that wielding it like a staff would be probably the best way to use such a thing. (though it’s a pretty balls weapon to start with)

That's because its only a minor H4XX, with a lot of balancing. He can use only one at the time with a cooldown.

The only thing that concerns me is the fire/earth link. Wind and Lighting are easy links, as is water/ice (which is cannonically supported by Rein's capturing of Lutecia) but earth and fire are so vastly different its like using two ellements at the same time.

I'd agree it seems rather tenuous and would also seem to open up way too much versatility in one "mode" since earth is normally a strong defensive element and fire a strong attacking type.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I don't see many swords without guards... Well anywhere really even most militray morons seem to know that not having something that keeps your hands from slipping up onto the razor sharp blade or enemy swords skidding into them after a parry tends to be a rather important thing to have.

Actually, handguards serve more to keep your openents blade from sliding past your blade and taking of your hand then to protect you from your own stupidity.

Lost count how many wounds I prevented thanks to the buggers.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I can't really think of a Nanoha sword that lacked one either. Though admittedly we only see like two of them though that itself is something of a nice change the numbers of effective melee weapons other then swords is something I rather like.

True.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Well given that it seems to vary inside the damn show from scene to scene at times... expecting consistently across media isn't a very good bet.

Nope, not at all.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Indeed; since range is a huge advantage...

*TK RUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

Its either range, defence or speed in LARP fights. Going with a one-handed sword, some armor and nothing else may look cool, but it'll get you killed pretty fast. Grabbing a shield is a huge advantage, but most people are dual wielding in LARP's, mostly because its easier to get hits if you have two swords instead of one. A long weapon has more reach, but also a longer arc, so you have to fight clever against dual-wielders though if I was allowed to stab those dual wimps I'd make mincemeat out of them.

But in the end, there is nothing more awesome then seeing a Barbarian player with his giant hammer (damn sucker was 2 meters long) waving the thing around. Nobody was crazy enough to get close to that.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Not really I just like blue stuff anything I get to chose colors on tends to end up with a black and blue paint scheme.

I have the same thing with red and black.

*glances at Keroko-chan*

But I think that was obvious.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Not really just a comment that it tends to be harder to try and write for characters with mind sets that are significantly different then your own. Like I can do sarcasm fine but I find writing other character types hard at times as I find myself tending to slip back toward sarcasm/cynicism as it’s sort of my default mindset. I’m pretty sure I’ve said before I find Felix rather easy to write for since allot of the time I can just sort of go “What sort of sarcastic and maybe slightly mean thing would I say here…”

Hmm, I'm not too troubled by that, but maybe thats because I have years of experience doing that.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Also note the "" wasn't really meant to be taken that seriously.

Neither was my ""

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I think you could get away if you really tried but you're enjoying the close contact too much to bother.

Syn: *bluntly* Yes, yes and yes.
Vivio: Syn!

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I'd rather be alive and forgotten then dead and remembered.

Touché.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Was acutally talking more about the whole “double bladed sword/staff combo” thing in which case it would seem to me that wielding it like a staff would be probably the best way to use such a thing. (though it’s a pretty balls weapon to start with)

It's mostly a flashy show weapon. It does have its advantages, but they're outweighted by its disadvantages to the point where its really just an 'average' weapon at best, and against someone who knows what he's doing it downgrades to 'baaad choice of weaponry'

[Tormenk]

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Spoiler for MSLN Alpha, Episode 4, Scene 1:

The only sound in the room was the sound of an EKG machine's beeping, and the slow, rhythmic breathing of the room's lone occupant.

She was covered up in blankets and wearing an oxygen mask. Her eyes were closed and her eyebrow's furrowed, like she was having a bad dream. An IV pumped fluids into her, keeping her alive as she slept, and life support systems monitored her condition.

Within the room, a whisper could be heard. This whisper spoke in a language unknown to anyone, save the room's lone occupant, and it was a language she had only heard in her nightmares. "Return..." it whispered. "Come back to me..."

The woman in the room lay unmoving, seemingly unfazed by the voices. In her comatose state, not even the shouts of the damned would be able to wake her up.

But in her mind, Takamachi Nanoha screamed. Her nightmares came back to her, led by that one sole being, known as the Gravemind.

Magical Girl
- Lyrical Nanoha
----- Alpha -----

Episode 04: Oni (Demon)

The White Tempest, in orbit around Erusia with The Prowler Ship Onyxia and the Support Ship Aus'ruf

"I think it's funny, though," Hayate was saying. Leaning back comfortably in her captain's chair, she stared up at the image of Fate that looked back at her. "It's only for a moment before we split up again, but it looks like you and I are working on the same thing again." she smiled. "Although it appears that mine is much more... violent..."

"So I see," Fate replied, chuckling. "Anyway, we won't be here for too long; just until we finish this branch of the investigation... and," Fate gave a small smile. "To allow me some time to visit Erio and Caro. "

"Of course," Hayate nodded. "But it's nice to see you again, Fate-chan! Say hello to the others for me!"

-0-

"I will, Hayate-chan. Ja ne!" Fate grinned at she shut off communications with the Tempest.
"It's nice to see that she's exactly the same," A voice behind her mused. "However, I would like to see this investigation through instead of standing around and chatting. What you and Acous mentioned certainly piqued my interest... but we can visit later, right?"

"Of course we can," Fate answered, leaning back in her seat. Behind her, a petite figure wearing a black Enforcer uniform and a glove on one hand folded her arms under her breasts. "I wanted to visit them now, but Acous wants us to stay and watch the ship. He thinks that he'll be able to pry more information out of the Order than me or you."

"That's silly of him," the girl behind Fate said, shaking her head; her long pigtails bounced around lively. "Considering how well we know some of the higher-ups there, it would be no problem for us to go and ask questions. That's half of our job as Enforcers, after all."

"I agree," Fate laughed. "But what can you do? Men..." she drummed her fingers against the armrest of the chair. "I guess we can spend the time... catching up?"

The girl smirked. "I guess so," she replied. "At least, I wouldn't have any problems talking to you, Fate-san..." The girl's blue eyes lit up, one of them almost literally; her left eye briefly appeared to be a slight bit lighter blue than her right eye.

"I don't have any problems talking to you either... Teana-chan." Fate grinned as the girl behind her sighed.
"I give up, I swear..." Teana Lanster said with a defeated smile. "Between you and Subaru, I'm never gonna be rid of that, am I?" Fate stood up from her chair, and together the two began to walk out of the cockpit and toward another part of the Prowler.

"Not as long as we're around," Fate said. "So, I haven't heard from you in four years. What have you been up to?" Teana looked almost exactly the same as when Fate had last seen her, though the return to her twin pigtails was amusing, to say the least. However, she had noticed Tea's left eye, and wanted to ask, but didn't want to be rude.

Fortunately, Tea made that issue disappear quickly.

"Well, the first thing I did was go and get my left eye blown out," said the younger girl with a somewhat embarrassed look. "I could've completely avoided it too, but I was reckless; I was chasing someone down an alleyway when he blew apart the wall right next to me with a spell - he was attempting to shoot me, but I dodged; I saw it coming a mile away, but I thought I would be fast enough to catch him. The debris from the wall tore out my left eye and part of my face. They saved my face..." she shrugged.

"They couldn't save your eye?" Fate had to ask. Tea shook her head.
"Unfortunately, no," she said. "They got me a cybernetic one; it kinda operates like Subaru's, really, which is funny. Anyway, that event quickly calmed me down, and now I think more rationally."

As if you weren't a genius before... Fate thought. To Tea, she said, "I'm sorry about that, but at least things turned out for the better."

"Very true," Tea said with a nod. "Besides, it's just one eye. Evolution has been so kind as two give humans two."
"That's a morbid way of looking at it."
"Really? I don't think so," Teana smiled. "But other than that, it's been one mission after another. It's like I'm constantly on the move from one system to the next, doing the Bureau's dirty work. In the past four years I've captured criminals, helped quell rebellions, fought interdimensional monsters-"

"Monsters?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm so interested in this investigation," Teana answered. "I've fought the Spawn before. It's the reason for this," Tea pulled the glove off of her right hand to reveal a blue-and-black cybernetic one, missing its outer "skin" casing. Fate stared at the machinations of the hand as Teana moved it. "One of those damn things bit my hand off and took one half of Cross Mirage with it. I keep my hand like this as a reminder that I want to end the Spawn, with my own... two... hands." she grinned at Fate as she slipped the glove back on. "I know it looks bad, but I don't think it's as terrible as you think."

"You've... been through a lot," Fate said with a whisper. Another victim of those vile things... "I'm sorry, Teana..."

"Don't worry about it," Tea replied with a grin. "Hey, at least I got a new eye, hand, and Device out of it." She reached for her hip and unbuckled a card with a bulge in the middle. "This is Cross Mirage Havok, my newest model. He's been working with me for well over a year now. Although he's a bit more... agressive... he's almost entirely the same as he used to be."

"The color scheme is different..." Fate noted, staring at the now blue and silver card.
"Yeah, well, I thought it was time for a palette swap," Teana joked, reattaching the card to her side. "My Barrier Jacket's also gone under something of an overhaul." Fate couldn't help but start chuckling. "Eh, what?"

"You!" Fate exclaimed. "You're so... I don't know. It's like, some bad things have happened to you, but you've come out better and stronger, brighter and happier than ever!"

"Shouldn't I be?" Teana asked. "Yeah, life has thrown me a few hard knocks, but you have to keep going forward, ya know? Besides..." she blushed slightly. "Subaru helps me out too..."

Fate couldn't resist. "Oh so having someone to sleep with helps out the stress levels, huh?"
Teana gasped. "I-It's not like that!" she said, a massive blush blooming on her cheeks. "W-we do not sleep together!"

"Your words say no, but your body says yes," Fate teased. All those years teasing Vivio certainly helped practice her tormenting abilities.

"Fate-san!"

As if coming to save her further embarrassment, Acous suddenly appeared through one of the small vessel's doors; the one leading to it's small teleportation chamber. He appeared slightly disheartened. Fate and Teana saw him simultaneously and approached the disheartened-looking man.

"No luck?" Tea asked. Verossa shook his head.
"Like talking to a brick wall," he answered. "I suppose this is where you say that you told me so and go take over for me?" Fate and Teana grinned at him. "I thought so."

"Just let the women handle this, big man," Fate joked, patting Acous on the shoulder as the two women walked by. Acous smiled at them as they walked into the teleportation chamber, the door closing behind them. Women... he mused, walking toward his room in the Prowler. What am I gonna do with them? his mind imagined briefly Teana in a rather suggestive position in front of him, on her knees. Nah... now, Fate on the other hand... gotta work hard on her...

-0-

Two minutes later, the two women materialized in the spartan teleportation room of the Aus'ruf. They were immediately greeted by a familiar face.

"Hey girls," Franz said, nodding to both of them. "So are you here to ask us the same questions that the spook asked us?"

"Spook?" Teana echoed.
"He means Acous," Fate answered. "People like TSA Intelligence and the internal Office of Naval Intelligence are known as 'Spooks' by most enlisted and some officers. Even some Enforcers call them that."

"How come?"
"Long story, Enforcer Lanster," Franz said, smirking. "Come on, you two, I'll take you to Erick. He might actually talk to you girls. He thought that Acous was a bit of a... well, he didn't like him, to say the least." Franz opened the door to the main corridor on this level. "I don't think you've been in this ship before, Lanster... and I think Fate was very young the last time she was here."

"I was sixteen," Fate remembered. "It was one of my missions when I was Second Class, I think. Wow, that was so long ago..." she chuckled at the thought. "I remember how exciting that mission was."

"Yeah, if only a bit dangerous," Franz laughed. "Anyway, I just recalled; we have to visit someone-"

"Fate-san!"
Fate turned around and immediately brightened as Erio and Caro came walking up to them. Her excited smile turned immediately into a strained look at the two. The three of them gathered, and the two former Lightnings gave their adopted mother an embrace. Tears formed in Fate's eyes as she hugged her children.

"I've been so worried about you two..." she said to them, her voice choking slightly. "Ever since I heard about what happened..."

"We're fine, Fate, I promise," Erio whispered to her; his hold on her was tighter and slightly more intimate than Caro's was. "I won't let anything bad happen to us."

"You better not," Fate said with a quiet sigh, wiping her eyes as the two let go of her. Caro smiled at her mother and offered a hankerchief. "Thank you... Caro, you look paler than normal..."

"Eh? That's weird," Caro laughed nervously. "I'm fine, okaasan."
"Erio, is she lying?"
"What? No!"

Fate looked between her two children, slightly confused, but shook it off. She felt a swell of emotion at seeing the two again, and so hugged them again.

From a distance, Franz and Teana watched.
"She's been worried about them..." Teana whispered to him.
"I figured as much," Franz nodded. "If I were her, I probably would have too."
"Ah, but there's nothing to worry about," A voice said behind them. Two hands landed on Teana's shoulders. "They're both just as strong as their mother."

"Keroko?" Teana twisted her head to see both Keroko and Yuuno, smiling at her. It was Keroko's hands on Tea's shoulders, but she didn't mind one bit. "Yeah, you're right about that."

The group turned and looked at the family reunion, smiles on their faces as they watched a worried mother thank the heavens that her kids were still alright, and those kids beaming at her with the barest of tears in their eyes.

This isn't the entire scene; the second half of scene 1 focuses on Hayate and Co.

Quite somethings Teana went through after the last 4 years. Fate Erio and Caro was done right there.

And at Acous.

Originally Posted by SpaceBrotha

Well, in celebration to OCT's birthday:
Another chapter! sorry it took a while.
Again, thanks to PhoenixG and Aaron008R for beta-reading!

To everyone who read, thanks alot, couldn't be doing this without you guys and gals. I read everyone's comments even though i might not have responded to them, i also tried to make it a bit more clear to avoid needless confusion. But if i didn't succeed in that, then i suppose that confusion is just a part of my personality.

links to chapters 1 and 2.

About formatting: Davrams lines are always preluded by an empty line, and i usually don't have another empty line afterwards. But when i have two people talking and neither TALKS LIKE THIS, i use empty lines to indicate that the person who's talking has changed.

anyway, around 5500 words like the last chapter as well, here it is:

Spoiler:

Time in the World

The eons started to get angry for not being able to pass...
Circa 2700 years ago:

...And this man could feel it. He was called the First druid, though it was only a title for the leader of the brotherhood. He and his council of Second druids were currently trying to appease the gods of nature, and ask what was bothering them so much. The ceremony was going well, the sacrificial lamb had been sacrificed, as was proper, and their chant was reaching it's finale. The gods should answer any time now, if they would at all. And the answer came, though not quite as they expected. The sky seemed to ripple a bit and suddenly there were huge stone monoliths falling from the sky.

”Oh crap...” might not be the most appropriate last words, but that's all he managed to say, in the moment of understanding that perhaps one should leave the gods alone when they're irritated...

The surrounding druids that had not been a part of the ritual watched as the huge monoliths fell on the First druid and his fellows with a loud crash. After a moment of silence, they decided that this was a sign from the gods that the druids should build a monument to appease the deities as the monoliths themselves looked like they had been broken from some vaguely circular structure that had been a single piece of solid stone. No one could even venture a guess as to how or why something like that had been broken, and dropped on them, but no one dared to ask the gods anything right now. And so the druids began their task with a fervor only religious fanatics can muster and they spent the next several centuries hauling additional stones to the place, that would puzzle archeologists in the millenias to come.

Meanwhile, in the now familiar tower that was located in a remote part of the multiverse, a bear woke up. It was an ordinary bear with dark brown fur coating, claws to dig up food or to maul prey, the usual works. It had also lived an ordinary life, or as ordinary as you can live in a tower dungeon like this, but it's family line had existed here for centuries, and the life here was ordinary to it. But this morning it woke up in an extraordinary way, for something was actually grabbing it and shaking it. As the bear opened it's eyes drowsily and looked down, it saw a rather minute blue and white figure. The bear gave it a testing swat of it's paw and got a giggle in response. Not quite sure as to what it was, the bear still decided that it was hungry, and this little thing was probably edible. It took a bite...

Iris stood up and stared at the bear, now ungracefully on it back with it's paws in the air, and very much knocked out cold. She hadn't meant to hurt the bear, but she'd been taken by surprise when it suddenly tried to bite her and had punched it back as a reflex. She quickly checked that the bear wasn't seriously hurt, and went on her way again, humming slightly to herself while going. She cuddled with the bears every now and then because their fur felt rather nice and they usually took it rather calmly unlike some of the other animals that would just try to escape furiously, or to bite and claw at her.

The last century had passed surprisingly quickly while taking care of the ecosystem in the dungeons. It's amazing how quickly time passes when you have something else to do than standing around and staring at a wall. Most of the work had been routine, but she didn't mind, just being able to do something was all she needed to stay happy. She had poked her head to the study where Master was sleeping every now and then. After all, she needed to stay up to date on the circles and how they were changing. Well she could have just sensed them as easily, they were imprinted on HER after all, but nothing quite matched the sensation of seeing them through your own eyes. She skipped a bit, and began running, wanting to make haste to the top of the tower where Master should be awakening soon.

A while later, in the workroom at the top of the tower, two blue dots slowly lighted up in Davrams eyes. The first thought that Davram had was that he was lucky he was undead, anyone living who spent a century with their head turned to the side would most likely hurt quite a bit. He turned his head straight and stared at Iris, who was standing infront of his workdesk.

”Good morning, Master!” She exclaimed happily.

GOOD... MORNING. He said as he got up and lifted his staff from the table..

HAS ANYTHING MEANINGFUL HAPPENED? He inquired while walking towards the door.
”Nope!” She answered while following Davram.

AND I TRUST THAT YOU DID NOT FIND YOURSELF BORED? He asked as they descended the stairs.
”Taking care of everything down there is enough work to keep anyone occupied a century or two!” Davram looked over his shoulder to Iris, who waved at him happily.

I SEE... They arrived to the dungeons and Davram sensed the area a bit in order to bring himself up to date with everything. He could have probably asked Iris, but this method took less time, and he didn't want to waste any now that he had just awoken. Then he noticed something.

IRIS. He turned to the small figure next to him.
”Yes Master?” She asked innocently.

WHY IS AN UNCONCIOUS BEAR LYING ON ITS BACK IN THERE? Iris looked surprised for a second before turning her gaze to the floor.
”Eheh, well...” She fidgeted a bit.

YES? He cocked his head to the side a bit, questioningly.
”It kinda surprised me and I sort of punched it in the face... hard.” Iris looked at him apologetically.

I RECALL TELLING YOU THAT YOU SHOULD TAKE CARE WITH THAT STRENGTH OF YOURS. IT DOES INCLUDE PUNCHING BEARS IN THE FACE AS WELL.
”Sorry...”

NOW, THERE IS A PACK OF RATHER HUNGRY WOLVES APPROACHING THE PLACE, GO AND MOVE THE BEAR TO A SAFETY, IT WOULD NOT BE PROPER FOR IT TO DIE BECAUSE OF THIS.
”Ah, yes Master!” Iris quickly ran off while Davram began inspecting all the equipment present in the laboratory. It's not that he didn't trust Iris, but equipment left in place for a century degraded by itself, meaning that he had to inspect what required repairs or replacing. A short while later Iris returned with a satisfied smile on her face.

THE BEAR IS OUT OF DANGER, I PRESUME? He said without turning to Iris.
”Yes, I moved it to a better place.” She said, stopping next to him.

GOOD, NOW I AM IN NEED OF SOME INGREDIENTS...

In a rather remote area of the dungeons, the bear woke up. It wasn't quite sure what had happened to it, it's jaw ached and it was very hungry. It was also hanging from a rather large tree. It looked around for a bit, rather disgruntled to find itself in a place like this, and carefully came down and began to search for food, and swearing to itself not to go near that little thing it had seen earlier...

And the uneventful eons could finally pass...

Circa 1800 years ago:

Davram awoke, and instantly felt that there was something amiss. His musing was interrupted as Iris scrambled into the study.

”Ah! Master, you're awake!” She exclaimed.

SHOULD I NOT BE? He questioned, while rising from his metallic chair.
”No no... Err, Yes! But you were asleep for 200 years this time.”

I SEE. He walked towards the door in silence.
”Master, why were you asleep for so long?” She asked while they were descending the long stairway.

SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT CAUSED A BOOST OF SOME KIND ON LIFE MAGIC AND IT CAUSED A MOMENTARY CHANGE IN THE SEAL. I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THE SEALING HAS RETURNED TO NORMAL. He explained.
”What was it, then?” Iris questioned.

I DO NOT KNOW, BUT IT WOULD SEEM THAT I MUST RESEARCH THE OUTSIDE WORLD AGAIN, BUT FIRST I NEED TO CHECK ON THE DUNGEONS...

Although Davram found a village reasonably nearby to scry at, he discovered that the language had changed dramatically over the time he had been 'away'. It took him quite some time to learn the the new language, mostly thanks to the fact that the village he found was a rural place, with very little literature for him to 'loan' for study. Eventually he did learn the language and could learn about the happenings of the outside world. But nothing on Zhed nor this weirdness in magic that had happened, so he continued to research, both the life inside his tower, and that in the human village.

But the restless eons still wish to move on, and another 450 years pass...

Circa 1350 years ago:
Davram was scrying the village again, and he felt the pang of extreme surprise for the first time in nearly two millenias... For he saw someone familiar to him from the time when he had been alive. This man seemed to look only somewhat older than what he had been back in the university. He had a long grey beard, red and purple robes with a matching cape, and he was holding a staff with a small dragon statue curled around the top. He was also very much aware that someone was scrying him. Davram sent his thoughts forth.

YOU LOOK WELL, ISHAR MORRAD. The man flinched in response, and a reply came through the spell.
”No one has called me that for two thousand years, who is this!?”

DAVRAM HAZRED. Ishars expression changed to one of surprise.
”Davram! How'd you end up on this backwater planet? I thought you were on Zhed when the cataclysm took place.”

IT IS... A LONG STORY, PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN ME IN MY TOWER TO DISCUSS?
”Most certainly, but where is your tower? I couldn't see it in my earlier scry of the area.”

GO WEST OF THE VILLAGE YOU ARE IN. SEARCH FOR AN AREA WHERE THE GROUND IS SATURATED IN MAGIC, MY TOWER IS SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET UNDER THAT PLACE, INSIDE SOLID ROCK. Ishar looked a bit confused.
”That's a cave, not a tower.”

IT IS A CAVERN, WHERE MY TOWER RESIDES. Davram was greeted with a rather perplexed look now.
”...Very well, I shall arrive shortly. Now could you stop scrying me? It's rather unsettling.” Ishar said as he started walking. There was a moment of silence.

...SORRY.
As Davram pulled the scry back, he had Iris haul a pair of stone thrones from his study while reminiscing a bit on the rather faded memories he had of his time in the university, where he had began his road of wizardry. Ishar had been a fellow student and later a fellow wizard who had been interested in the same area as he had been, though from another perspective. Where Davram sought to advance life, and to study it's possibilities, Ishar had sought ways to prevent it from ending and later had turned to study ways to work around death. It was through Ishars research that Davram had learned the methods and spells to transform into his current undead form. He walked down the stairs to the ground floor, and waited. Soon enough the sigils of teleportation manifested themselves, quickly revealing the elderly looking, and rather disgruntled, wizard standing outside the door.

”You could have said that you have a teleportation prevention in effect inside your tower, my first attempt to teleport in here dropped me several hundred feet in the air.” He said as he stomped in through the doorless frame.

MY APOLOGIES, I DID NOT THINK IT NECESSARY TO MENTION IT... FOR IS IT NOT COMMON SENSE NOT TO ATTEMPT DIRECT TELEPORTATION INSIDE ANOTHERS TOWER? Davram answered. Ishar stopped to look around after coming in.
”True enough, I had forgotten such things. Two thousand years without passing a single wizards tower has made my manners somewhat rusty.” He said while shrugging, clearly not fazed by Davrams appearance. A white globe of energy came through the floor and continued up to the study, Ishar followed it with his gaze but said nothing. You don't start poking your nose around inside a place where you're severely outpowered.

TELL ME, WHAT NAME DO YOU GO THESE DAYS? Davram inquired while waving at one of the thrones. They were large, but very plain and bulky things. But Davram had made them out of necessity, since they were very sturdy, and could withstand the centuries better than a normal chair.
”Corlan Chuain, and can you tell me how your tower ended up, not only on a remote planet like this, but also deep underground?” Ishar answered, while sitting on the large seat, about three feet opposite from the other throne.

DO YOU RECALL THE ORDER OF LIGHT? Davram asked while he sat down as well.
”Bloody fanatics...” Ishar said while grimacing.

QUITE SO. THEIR ARMED FORCES ATTACKED MY TOWER, AND USED A RATHER POWERFUL SEALING LOGIA. MY COUNTERSPELL CONFRONTED IT AND CAUSED THIS TOWER TO BE RIPPED FROM ZHED TO THE CHAOTIC PLANES BETWEEN DIMENSIONS, AND FINALLY BEING THROWN HERE.
”Wait, so that was the reason for the dimensional rip that ravaged Zhed?” Ishar asked, clearly shocked by this bit of information.

FROM THE LITTLE THAT I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND OUT, THAT WOULD SEEM TO BE CORRECT. AND HOW HAS THE WORLD FARED AFTERWARDS? Ishar quickly recovered from his shock and took on a reminiscing look.

”Well you managed to drop the civilization back to a very primal era, the dimensional rip itself wasn't the main reason, although it did destroy Al Hazred and several of the largest cities on Zhed and even on some of the other planets. Rest of the damage was done by an angry mob, looking for someone to accuse. The wizards were quickly pulled down from their seats of power, much thanks to the order of light that was accusing the wizards for just about everything, as well as providing makeshift mages to help. The university was also razed, first by the dimensional rip, and after relocating, by the order of lights mob. Then they banned the practice of wizardry as 'dangerous'. Effectively, I'm the last living wizard, and you're the last undead one... Then again, you were the first one as well.” Davram contemplated on this for a moment.

...I SEE. WHAT ABOUT THE ORDER OF LIGHT?
”The order was rather crippled from the initial cataclysm and the following riots, or the great purge as they call it. The only reason I'm still here is because I managed to escape the university, or what was left of it, when they attacked. I also managed to destroy their entire leading council, which itself was newly formed after the previous one had been decimated along their main temple complex in Al Hazred. The order has been just travelling monks and mages ever since, without any real leading body. There have been a few kingdoms, though they can hardly be called such, but usually those have collapsed to either neighbours, or to civil wars. I've been travelling myself, while slowly gathering power.”

WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT QUESTION, HOW HAVE YOU MANAGED TO LIVE THIS LONG WHILE REMAINING HUMAN?
"Well, almost human anyway....” Ishars right hand rippled for a bit and faded away to reveal a skeletal arm, he pulled back the robe sleeve to show where the skeletal arm ended and a stump of a regular arm continued, right after the elbow. He turned the hand around a few times, like admiring it.

”An alternate method of transforming into a lich that I invented over time, this allows me to turn my own skeleton into the phylactery, allowing me full freedom of movement unlike the rather cumbersome phylactery you have. I've also found a way to continue living on 'borrowed time' by draining life from others. A temporary measure while I finish this transformation.” His hand slowly rippled back to the illusion of a human arm.

I WOULD NOT CALL TWO MILLENIAS 'TEMPORARY', AND I WOULD VENTURE A GUESS THAT USING YOUR OWN SKELETON HAS ITS OWN DRAWBACKS, CORRECT?
”None at all, except that the process itself takes a hideous amount of time. I'm estimating another few centuries before I'm fully transformed...” Ishar stops to think for a while.
”After I turn, I intend to show wizardry to the world again, how about you? Would you help me in this?”

I WILL NOT, MY INTERESTS LIE ONLY IN MY RESEARCH. YOU SHOULD STAY OUT OF HUMAN MATTERS AS WELL, AFTER YOU TURN, IT IS AN INVITATION TO TROUBLE. Ishar waved his hand rejectingly.
”Meh, I'll see if my opinion changes to that after I turn, and I was fairly certain that you'd decline my offer, but I thought to ask never the less. Will you atleast give your word not to interfere?”

THAT MUCH I CAN DO. AS LONG AS YOUR ACTIONS DO NOT INTERFERE WITH MY RESEARCH, I WILL NOT OPPOSE YOUR 'SHOW' OF WIZARDRY.
”I can live with that.” Ishar chuckled while getting up from the throne. Davram followed suit.
”I'll visit you again, after my... show... is over. Perhaps in a couple of centuries.” Ishar said with a slight smile on his face, while walking through the door. He stopped and looked up for a bit, the sigils quickly started to form around him. Davram stopped at the doorway.

FAREWELL... AND STAY HEALTHY. Ishar vanished with a laugh, which seemed to echo for a few seconds afterwards. Davram watched the place the sigils had already disappeared from, pondering about the various things he had just heard. Iris came up from the dungeons where she had been hiding and stood next to him.
”Who was that, Master? And why did I have to hide?” Davram turned to her.

THAT WAS AN OLD... ACQUAINTANCE FROM THE TIMES I WAS STILL HUMAN, AND I DO NOT QUITE TRUST HIM. YOUR EXISTANCE IS THE ONE SURPRISE THAT I HAVE AGAINST ANY INTRUDER SO I NEEDED YOU TO STAY HIDDEN. He began walking down the stairs to the dungeons, Iris quick on his heels.
"Shouldn't we help the humans?"

NO, I DO NOT HAVE ANY REASON TO HELP THEM. MEDDLING WITH HUMAN AFFAIRS IS NOT FOR NON-HUMANS, INCLUDING THE DEAD. ISHAR WILL LEARN THIS SOONER OR LATER. NOW COME, WE STILL HAVE MUCH RESEARCH TO DO...
"Yes, Master"

Time passed, as was its habit. It jumped and kipped along the line in a manner that would make the finest tightrope artist feel like an amateur. Then again, it had more training than anyone else as well.

Circa 1110 years ago:

Farmer Jael Condor was napping outside his house, lying on the grass and basking in the sun. He had been a farmer for all his life, as had been his father before him, and his grandfather before him and the line probably went right back to the time when farming had been invented. A farmers life is that of steady passing of time with never any real hurries or exitement. Only the occasional wildlife attack, and even those were usually just a stirge killing animals or a fox stealing hens. So Jael had a calm, steady attitude and enough patience to make mountains seem hasty. That attitude had been a defining feature in his father and his grandfather as well. But even he had to admit a certain nervousness and anxiousness when a ten foot grizzly suddenly blocked his view of the sky.

While Jaels brain was still trying to process this very sudden change of situation, the bear asked him about directions to any place that was 'haunted' around here. The only place he knew of was the small clearing in the forest where one would always feel like someone was watching you and he shakily gave directions to the bear. After it had thanked him, the enormous dark furred bear quickly disappeared into the forest bordering Jaels farm. He looked at the forest for a while, and decided that it had been a ghost bear, how else could it speak? He quickly recovered form his shock and shaking as he realized that telling this to the other guys at the bar tonight would probably net him quite a few drinks. As a matter of fact, he should be getting going already as the sun was slowly setting.

As Jael was being laughed out of the bar, the bear finally reached the clearing it had been told about. It sniffed the ground a bit and walked into the middle of the clearing. Upon reaching the center, it stopped and closed it's eyes and the ground started to glow a bit in a light brown color that quickly enveloped the bear as well. A little later there was no bear, but a veritable giant of a man standing in the middle of the clearing. He was just as dark as he had been in bear form and sported a rather brown hair maching his brown eyes. He wore simple, but loose, black trousers and a black shirt that was also somewhat loose. For just a moment, there were furry bear ears on the top of his head, but they quickly disappeared. His impressive array of muscles rippled slightly as he sat down on the grass and continued to pull the mana out of the ground to renew his own reserves. While he did this, he reminisced a bit.

He had been named Ursus twenty years ago. His master, a stern but also a rather kind lady, had created him as a guardian beast as a part of an experiment to create ones that could act more independently from their masters, and for a limited duration it would also allow.them to act without a master at all should theirs perish. She had been a very talented master, quick of wit and sharp of tongue when teaching or researching, but caring and humorous when off duty. He could say he had loved her, but every guardian beast loved their master to a degree, so it would have been a moot point.

She had died a year ago, from cancer, and had ordered him to live and find a master that would not leave him like she had. The request made little sense to Ursus, as he could practically live as long as there was someone to supply him with mana, while humans tended to die from even the slightest provocation. He had never the less spent the last year scrounging the various kingdoms and empires for a master that would not be dying on him, but the effort had been wasted so far, and greatly hampered by this need to search the rural villages for unclaimed mana saturated areas that he could drain for replenishment as he no longer had a master to draw from.

Ursus snapped back into the present when he felt a tingle of magic. He knew that magic sometimes did spark a reaction or two in an area saturated in it like this clearing, causing ghost stories to spark up in rural places where magic had been all but forgotten in the aftermath of the great disaster sometime two thousand years ago. But there was something different about this tingle, though he couldn't say what. He suspected that this was the 'being watched' feeling that the farmer had been blabbering about. The big man rose to his feet.

"Would you kindly show yourself?" He asked the empty air. A few moments of silence ensued and then he felt another tingle of magic and a portal opened infront of him. Through this portal he could see a doorway, leading to a stone building of some sorts. But more importantly, inside stood a tall skeleton in a black hood and robe, and a rather curious staff with a inwards bent blade. The skeleton also had very shiny blue dots inside his eyesockets, and they were looking at him.

GREETINGS, MISTER BEAR. Ursus could not but stare at him for a moment, surprised not only from the sudden appearance of a robed skeleton, but also the way it spoke. The words were clearly there in his head, but at the same time seemed to echo from somewhere afar.
"...Evening. I'm Ursus. Who, and if you don't mind, what are you?" He saw a white flash move upwards behind the skeleton and disappeared somewhere above. So a research lab of some sort, he thought to himself.

DAVRAM, AND I AM A LICH, AN UNDEAD WIZARD... BUT WHAT MIGHT YOU BE? YOU HAVE A MOSTLY HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY NOW, BUT ONLY A FEW MINUTES AGO YOU WERE A LARGE GRIZZLY BEAR. YET YOU DO NOT SEEM TO BE NEITHER COMPLETELY.
"You could find out all that, yet don't know what I am?" He looked at this... lich... rather incredulously while a purple flash of light came from above the lich and disappeared somewhere behind him, probably through the floor.

INDEED, MY ONLY SOURCE OF INFORMATION OF THE WORLD COMES FROM THE RURAL VILLAGE YOU PASSED WHEN COMING HERE, AND THEY DO NOT POSSESS MUCH KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MATTERS ARCANE.
"I see..." So his vision was rather limited then, although you couldn't find magic users anywhere in an area like this, you could find atleast one in any major city, courtecy to the Order.

"I'm a guardian beast, a magically created concious being. I was made using a living bear as a base." He looked at the grinning lich while it seemed to digest this bit for a second.

...INTERESTING, AND WHAT DO YOU GUARDIAN BEASTS GUARD THEN?
"Our masters... We are linked to our masters and gain some of our magical strength from them." He knew what the next question would be.

YET YOU WERE DRAWING MAGIC UP FROM THE GROUND, DOES THIS LINK NOT SUSTAIN YOU? Ursus sighed.
"My master is... gone. I'm a special case that can exist without a master."

MOST PECULIAR... TELL ME, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN A CONTRACT? Ursus cocked an eyebrow at this.
"What kind of a contract are we talking here?"

A SIMPLE ONE. YOU GET A MASTER, AND I GET SOMEONE WHO CAN RESEARCH THE WORLD FOR ME, AND POSSIBLY CAPTURE A RARE SPECIMEN OR TWO WHILE DOING THAT.
"...and that master would be you then?"

CORRECT. The lich said while nodding.
"Why can't you just go capture them yourself, you seem powerful enough to snach an animal or two."

I DO NOT EXIT MY TOWER. As if on cue, a white flash erupted from the floor and headed up. It seemed that the lich would not tell more about this, and Ursus decided not to press the matter.
"... I'd need to know more about you and yours, in detail, before making any decisions. Sorry if i'm being rude, but your appearance does not really make one trust you." His personality seemed somewhat trustworthy, mostly thanks to the (mostly) friendly manner the lich was talking to him and that it had not once done a single threatening gesture. But still, when a walking and talking skeleton takes an interest in you, it's better to be safe than sorry.

IS THAT SO? The robed figure spread it's arms a bit and quickly looked through himself before looking at Ursus again.

WHAT PART IN PARTICULAR IS IN SUCH APPEARANCE? Ursus blinked at the question.
"Well... Everything?"

REALLY? CURIOUS HOW NO ONE HAS MENTIONED IT BEFORE... It raised it's free hand and thoughtfully scrached it's chin, a coarse sound like what you hear when you grind two rocks together. Ursus resisted a chuckle, it was interesting to know that apparently even skeletons can be somewhat senile, or ignorant. He decided that this lich would be an interesting master, should he agree to this contract.

NO MATTER, YOU WANTED INFORMATION AND ATLEAST SOME I CAN GIVE YOU BEFORE THE CONTRACT IS MADE. ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW?
"Several, first of all, what's your research about?" He sat back down on the ground as the lich began what seemed to be a rather long lecture about it's research.

He got much of his answers, regarding Davrams research, his location, and a bit sketchy an answer to why he had a tower nearly seven hundred feet underground, inside solid rock no less (IT ARRIVED HERE). He had asked for couple of days to think it through, which Davram seemed glad to grant him. Ursus had already come to a decision by the time the conversation had ended, but he had wanted to see how eager the lich really was. After a week had passed, he returned to the clearing to find an already open portal waiting there, with Davram standing in it again.. He raised his hooded face a bit and peered at the sky from the portal, before fixing it's glowing stare at Ursus.

GOOD EVENING. Apparently he was plenty eager if he had been waiting with a portal open until Ursus arrived..
"And to you, mr. Davram." Ursus walked to the portal.

HAVE YOU COME TO A DECISION? He nodded to Davram.
"You seem a fine person for someone as dead as you, and I think I'll find this contract an interesting one." He straightened himself. "Hence I, Ursus, will become your guardian beast, and serve you until I die protecting you, you dismiss me when I fail you, or you find peace in death." He bowed to his new master and was offered a skeletal hand in return, he straightened and shook the hand, and noted that it was just as cold as you'd imagine it being, but the grip was also very strong.

EXCELLENT, NOW COME INSIDE, YOU NEED TO HEAR THE REST AND MEET SOMEONE. Dav... Master turned around and backed into the room. Ursus followed him through, and strangely enough, the room was rather warm, it also wasn't a room as much as a circular tower.

FIRST OF ALL, MEET IRIS. Master pointed to a young looking human girl who jumped down from the stairs right above the doorway, where she had apparently been listening. She had waist length light orange hair and equally orange eyes. She was dressed in a light blue skirt with white decorations, a white shirt with ripped sleeves, and two large red bows, one on her collar, other holding her hair in a loose ponytail. She was also smiling smugly
.
"You can call me Iris-senpai." She said in a clear, and somewhat pompous, tone. Oh, no way he was going to let that slide so easily. He resisted the grin that was trying to invade his face now.

"And you can call me Onii-chan." The smile vanished instantly, replaced by a glare. Ursus grinned in return.

"Why'd I have to call you that?! I'm the older one here. You should call me onee-sama instead!" Ursus could not but chuckle at that one, this would be interesting indeed.

"Alright alright, Iris-senpai it is." He turned from 'senpai' before she could retort, and whom he could tease further later on, and turned to his master, who had been following the conversation with his best look of confusion plastered to his skull: A wide grin.
"And what's she then?"

THE TOWER. Ursus glanced at the tiny figure now standing next to master.
"I... don't think I quite follow you here."

SHE IS THE TOWER WE'RE INSIDE AS WE SPEAK, A PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION OF ITS WILL.
"So this tower is alive and she's some sort of an avatar... yet we're inside it?" He asked, now more lost than the legendary Al Hazred.

CORRECT, IT IS A RATHER COMPLEX MATTER, BUT TECHNICALLY WE ARE INDEED INSIDE HER, AND SHE HERSELF IS INSIDE HERSELF AS WELL. Ursus shook his head to disperse the mental image that choise of words caused, but it only made the now emerging headache worse.
"I-I see..." He coughed slightly and changed the subject.
"Anyway, the contract?"

INDEED, AND THE REST OF THE STORY YOU HAVE NOT HEARD. COME, LET US MOVE TO MY STUDY, IT IS EASIER TO EXPLAIN THERE. As master turned to the spiral stairs going up, Iris in tow, a white globe emerged from the center of the floor and flew up. Ursus chuckled to himself a bit, following the globe with his gaze. Well, it certainly won't be boring, he looked at his new master and 'senpai'... No, not boring at all.

Authors notes: Well, that's that, we're finally moving towards present at a rather high speeds too. It took a while, because even if we don't see it, the outside world moved along as well, so i needed to figure out what happened generally before i could continue.
Anyone who's concerned with the amount of OC's i'm introducing, fear not. There's only one more addition to the cast before we reach present... I think... ^^'

Comments?

Kind of a fresh feeling while reading this. Quite a nice transition chapter while introducing Mr.Bear for the ride. It'll be interesting where the trio finally end up in the present(?).

..And so this is going to be called The Bear, the Lich and the Tower?

@PF: Great work as always. Looking forward to the next chapter.

@Aaron: The original Grandis was fine by me but then I understand your need to fine-tune the character. Certainly got a better feel of Grandis here but of course it's best done in writing. No real problems on my end.

@Keroko: Just curious but am I mistaken to say you have experience in handling actual weapons like swords?

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Tormenk

@Keroko: Just curious but am I mistaken to say you have experience in handling actual weapons like swords?

Swords, bows, spears (school-level spears used during PE. Like those used in olympic games.), javelins, lances, and staffs.

Beyond those six (well, four, technically, since javelins and lances are spear types), of which I have wielded real versions (carefully and casually, we weren't exactly bashing eachothers skulls in with them, merely made some moves and slow motion fighting to get the feel of the weapons) the brunt of my weapon experience is limited to LARP weapons, which are made out of silicon. Of those I have wielded hammers, axes, spears, staffs swords, daggers, shields, bows, lances, spears, javelins and glaives. I've also wielded a scythe (playing a Grim Reaper).

Of course, silicon weapons are a lot lighter then their real variants, but it helps in learning what to do and what not to do with a weapon, especially if you practice on emphasizing realism (in other words, if you have a heavy hammer, pretend its heavy.)

[Tempy]

Originally Posted by Keroko

With your permission, yes.

Let it be known that Keroko has my permission! *cue fanfare*

Originally Posted by Keroko

Actually, handguards serve more to keep your openents blade from sliding past your blade and taking of your hand then to protect you from your own stupidity.

Lost count how many wounds I prevented thanks to the buggers.

I can agree with that statement. Thank God for gauntlets...

Originally Posted by Keroko

Its either range, defence or speed in LARP fights. Going with a one-handed sword, some armor and nothing else may look cool, but it'll get you killed pretty fast. Grabbing a shield is a huge advantage, but most people are dual wielding in LARP's, mostly because its easier to get hits if you have two swords instead of one. A long weapon has more reach, but also a longer arc, so you have to fight clever against dual-wielders though if I was allowed to stab those dual wimps I'd make mincemeat out of them.

But in the end, there is nothing more awesome then seeing a Barbarian player with his giant hammer (damn sucker was 2 meters tall) waving the thing around. Nobody was crazy enough to get close to that.

I can personally attest to the incredible difficulty it is to hit a guy wielding a kite shield against wielding a sword and a mace. I can brute force through a weapon guard -- I can't do the same with a shield. I wish I could use a shield -- that way I don't get my face stabbed in by a pikeman. At least, until I chop his feet off...

I don't have a 2 meter tall hammer, but I do have a 7 lbs (3.2 kg) live steel zweihander :3

A most curious sight to see an Asian man swing that thing around...

[Evangelion Xgouki]

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Spoiler for MSLN Alpha, Episode 4, Scene 1:

*snip*

This isn't the entire scene; the second half of scene 1 focuses on Hayate and Co.

Yay! More Alpha and even more reason to add to the list of why Gravemind should die the most painful way possible . Poor Tea...and she can't seem to get rid of the nicknames either

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Both in AND out of character!

So true

Originally Posted by TK3997

"It's LIGHTISH RED!"

"Yea, there's a name for that: PINK!"

Originally Posted by Keroko

Hmm, I never was much of a Magic player, I'm more of a Yu-Gi-Oh person myself. I loved to make decks that were generally claimed to be 'incompatible' though, like red/blue decks. :3

Someone say...YuGiOh?

*RUNS*

Originally Posted by Keroko

Thank you.

You are welcome

Originally Posted by Keroko

One should also note that the chest size of the cast is not nearly as large in the series and manga as it is in the megami art. When on posters, their cup size seems to grow rather dramatically.

Uh, creative camera angles and a bit of photoshop?

[Comartemis]

Got a new concept here that I'd like the resident Belkan nuts to look at, Kha in particular. This is my take on a light/darkness struggle inherent in the Saint Church's backstory.

Spoiler for "Light":

Light
"Light" is a simple term used to refer to the Ancient Belkan concept of Heiliges Licht ("Sacred Light"), a force which followers of the Saint Church believe is responsible for the creation and reincarnation of souls and spirits, and which was at one point embodied in the form of the Sankt Kaiser, Vivian, and her offspring.

Light is thought to be an omnipresent force which permeates the multiverse in various forms, most of them intangible even to those with extraordinarily high magical senses. As with most religious "forces", Light is very poorly understood (indeed, often scoffed at) from a scientific standpoint, and a concrete understanding of the nature of Light and its' connection to the soul continues to elude scientists and mages to this day.

According to Belkan scriptures, the source of Light is an indescribably huge mass of spiritual energy ((Author's Note: picture the end result of instrumentality in End of Evangelion, but on a much more massive scale)), which exists.... somewhere. The scripts are rather vague on this point, calling the source "the heart of all worlds", which most believe to be the heart of the multiverse, which being infinitely huge also makes the odds of finding the source infinitely unlikely.

One of the largest sources of faith in the existence of Light (and, hence, reincarnation) stems from records of the deeds of the Kaisers. During her lifetime, Vivian was known to regularly perform feats of magical strength that were, frankly, beyond the capabilities of the human body. Though this may be explained as some unique Rare Skill attributed to Vivian, Church historians believe that Vivian, the only SSS-rank mage in the history of the multiverse, was able to tap into the power of her own spirit, performing what is known as a Spirit Release, using her own soul as a form of magical power (and as the soul's power is infinite, so too was Vivian's so long as she used this power).

Theoretically, Spirit Releases may be possible for other mages to perform as well, though the prerequisites to learning this skill and the power any given mage may be able to harness is as yet unknown. At present time, only two mages besides Vivian have ever performed a Spirit Release, and neither were able to achieve the same level of power as the Sankt Kaiser. Those two mages are Arturia Pendragon, the last Kaiser of Belka, and Malcon Fiss, a traitorous priest whose actions led to the destruction of Belka and the Empire as a whole.

Got a Darkness entry coming up too, just not quite yet.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Just some random siliness tonight.

Something that's been in my head.

I have a sequence where Sektor 21 makes an attack on the Test Facility a few chapters from now... part blitz, part inside job, that essentially catches even this facility with its pants down. Meaning even its fighter squadrons are still on the ground and can't get in the air.

Personelle are cut off and trapped as S21 attackers are transported in and assisted by drones and AMF gens... Fox is trapped in the high security hanger with the MADCAP and her Arwing. (Which she hasn't gotten to fly yet. )

After a few hours stuck in there, she gets tired of doing nothing. EDI gives a full sitrep and they both decide that the best way to secure the facility is to launch a counter attack so the air wing can get off the ground.

But there's baddies still trying (unsucessfully) to get into the high security hanger in the hopes of stealing something.

Unfortunately they didn't count on the sudden blairing of "Institute - Bullet Proof Skin" to cover up the sound of a charging buster device....
http://www.sheezyart.com/view/1776546/

EDIT:

In case the above doesn't click in your head...

Spoiler for Another big explosion...:

Yes, EDI watched his own movie, and has a sense of the ironic...

[Evil Rick]

With no more to say:

Spoiler for City of Demons:

Download link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/11532993...emons.rar.html

Note: If it's to dificult to download by Rapidshare, tellme to upload it in other browser

And before you say, yes, this cover isn't exactly my best draw, but I supose it's Okay

Oh, one more thing, I think that if there is a Gramar mistake in this chapter, they will be minimum ... I hope

NOTE: In this number makes his debut the Holy Techno - Union Emperor

[Silvance]

I'm currently having problems in creating my fanfic. I was wondering if you guys could offer some help/advice.

Anyway, here's the thing...there are knights known as The Seven Arcs...that defected to TSAB...each of those knights have an elemental affinity they specialize into.

1. Arc of Ice
2. Arc of Water
3. Arc of Wind
4. Arc of Earth/Ground (which one sounds better?)
5. Arc of Fire
6. Arc of Lightning
7. Arc of....of....um....yeah, this is the part that i need help with T__T


I need another element...or something...

[LimitedEternal]

Originally Posted by -Fate-

I'm currently having problems in creating my fanfic. I was wondering if you guys could offer some help/advice.

Anyway, here's the thing...there are knights known as The Seven Arcs...that defected to TSAB...each of those knights have an elemental affinity they specialize into.

1. Arc of Ice
2. Arc of Water
3. Arc of Wind
4. Arc of Earth/Ground (which one sounds better?)
5. Arc of Fire
6. Arc of Lightning
7. Arc of....of....um....yeah, this is the part that i need help with T__T


I need another element...or something...

Time? Metal? Light? Shadow? There's no shortage of elements you could use. :3 If you put me on the spot, I'd probably pick Time or Sound, just because they're offbeat next to your list so far.

Earth I personally think sounds better, BTW

[Kagerou]

Originally Posted by LimitedEternal

Time? Metal? Light? Shadow? There's no shortage of elements you could use. :3 If you put me on the spot, I'd probably pick Time or Sound, just because they're offbeat next to your list so far.

Earth I personally think sounds better, BTW

...how about Void?

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by LimitedEternal

Time? Metal? Light? Shadow? There's no shortage of elements you could use. :3 If you put me on the spot, I'd probably pick Time or Sound, just because they're offbeat next to your list so far.

Earth I personally think sounds better, BTW

What about Life?

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

You're using classical elements... so you have the crossover elements for Air and Fire (lightning) and Earth and Water (ICE)

So you need at least an element covering one of the other crossovers.

Fire + Earth (described as Dry)

Water + Air ( described as Wet)

Or you can switch your classical element set and use VOID or AETHER or SPIRIT.

[Silvance]

Void?...yes...I like that...sounds lethal...thanks for the help guys! I really appreciate it >_<. Anyway, the reason why I'm using classical elements is because I intended to make the Seven Arcs as Knights that can manipulate the nature to their advantage.

I will use the remaining elements that you guys suggested to the former comrades of the Seven Arcs.



The problem with Life and Spirit is that its hard to think of the kind of spells he/she'll have...the ability to heal?...the ability to....cant think of anything. Anyway, at least now I have more elements to assign to other characters. Anyway, I will soon post the rough sketch of the Arc of Ice...its done but not her background. er...am I allowed to post the sketch and post a rebuild later to show more info?

[Comartemis]

Manipulate life energy. That means replenishing it, draining it, creating it, etc. etc. Plenty of lethal uses for that, i think. You could also have the Arc in question reinforce life energy and hence reinforce the body that energy is attached to, making herself stronger/faster/tougher, etc.

And yes Fate, you're allowed to revise your characters after you've made them.

And as you're a newcomer to the OC thread, I'd like to gently point out (because certain others won't do so quite so kindly) that the Void element is an extraordinarily powerful concept and isn't really allowed in the OC thread. Personally, I'd suggest you go with Chinese astrology and create an Arc of Steel.