Oh, I know that, but that doesn't explain why she didn't just sidestep such a slow attack. I'd like to think that the attack was faster then what we saw on screen, especially with speed listed as one of its features.
Dwah? Noble famillies are ruling Belka now? Last I checked the church was pretty much in controlm of Belka.
Don't know anything about that. The noble families in question are the Clearwater/Isard/Bachinka lines, not anything mentioned in canon.
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Geh... this is why I don't like me being the one discussing this, as it may come over rather selfish, but did you check Keroko's profile lately?
Nope. Only checked out a few profiles since I got here, there's just too many to read through all of 'em. Vivio and Keroko weren't the inspiration here so much as Syn was, but I can't seem to find her profile and so used what is probably a severely warped mental image of her.
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I know that, but drones were an unknown quantity then, not something mass-produced for attacks that have nothing to do with Jail's goals.
The first few chapters of the StrikerS manga have the Aces fighting off hoards of them. When in the official timeline does that take place, exactly?
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(heck, I'll even edit the image for you).
I would have done this myself, but my Photoshop abilities are zero.
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Yeah, that was the explanation behind Keroko at one point. Trust me when I say it was nuked back then.
I can't imagine why. Heck, I gave consideration to loli-fied clones of the Aces produced by Jail as side projects. I take it such an awesome idea will immediately be shot down now that I've mentioned it (I want my loli Aces back!!!!).
__________________
Kill the Darkfic.
Burn the Angst.
Purge the Bad End.
Unlike some, I am not afraid to admit someone has a damn good point.
I admit when people have a good point; if they have one frankly you haven't impressed me with one quite yet during this round.
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AMF was a nice handicap, too bad we hardly noticed any of it when we got past episode 5 -_-;
Limiters... Dunno, they could make for an interesting handicap if used right, but the way they were written out definetely wasn't one of them.
Well my point was that even in Canon they had handicaps even if they did basiclly just start ignoring them as fast as they intro'ed them. -_-;
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You're right. Screw it, I'm going to see this through!
Yes give into your angry! Embrace the darkside!
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Whining bores me. I rather find a solution.
Would that everyone was so inclined.
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Hey, I never said range wasn't an advantage, I merely said that unlike the real world, just having range does not give you an advantage. In Nanohaverse, you need a bit more then just range.
Perhaps, but range is still part of it and while range alone can't make you superiors it's one of the things you need to have to compete seriously.
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You didn't think I'd give up so easilly, did you? :3
Given how you rolled over before and wouldn't bite at my carefully prepared backlog debate breaker... I thought maybe the fight was going out of you.
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... It's kinda hard to find propper arguments for that and not sound like an idiot. I'll get back on that one if I find one that doesn't. If I do.
I'll take that a concession on this point.
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Ahh, but didn't you describe Fate's magic style as bastardized Mid earlier?
IIRC all I said I found it kind of sad that one the Mid styes strongest mages often acted more like a Belka user making the style seem even lamer. Still her style is still classified as Mid and she's been about speed basiclly since the beginning so although she uses her speed rather differently then I would it still proves that Mid has acesses to high speeds if it needs it.
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Yeah, but like I said, it proves nothing. I could just as well say that it proves the value of knowing melee combat despite being a ranged expert just as easillya s you can use it to proof how idiotic it is to expect a ranged expert to fight propperly in melee. Like I said, it doesn't really prove anything, regardless of whether it a brawl or not.
Meh agreed in this case it's too vague and open to interpretation, but given that I'd advocate a careful approach based on evasion and we see a picture of viscous close combat described as a brawl it just seems rather off from the way I'd envision handling such a thing...
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Rather able to do something that having a Linker Core crippled to the point where she can't do anything at all.
Like I said it would depend on the risk reward ratio, but still you'd think there might be SOMETHING that could be done about the problem. They can clearly mess with a user magic somewhat given that they can manage limiters. Given how complacent Hayate was about the problem her just opting not to go to the trouble to try and reduce the issue and then have to retrain extensively toward a new type of combat might not be impossible. Was just a random off hand thought though not meant to be that serious.
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Not to mention Hayate propably has seen enough hospitals that she'd probably try to avoid them unless there really was no other way for her to survive or something.
Another point that could well influence her even if it was possible. Anyway to me the way she described it in the manga really almost made it sound like a diseases or something you'd want to try and fix.
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Yes, but if you're in a constant retreat loop, you're not exactly gaining ground either.
Yeah but if that retreat loop is slowly sucking the enemies strength and wearing him down by breaking up his formation and exposing him to constant long range sniping and harassing attacks...
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Also, the manga chapter doesn't exactly contradict that. It merely blabs about how a one-on-one fight is dependant on multiple factors, nothing about the differences between Mid or Belka is ever mentioned.
It's implied to me at least after all if Belka was so clearly a superior one on one style why would they even mention such stuff. They'd have gone "I'd win because Belka is a superior one on one style." or something. Instead they start talking about circumstances and such which to me implies it isn't inherently better.
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Well, think about it. EW mages severely disrupt squad based combat, so whenfacing EW mages, having units in which individuals can act on their own rather then be dependant on rear support or communication, you would cut of a few of the main advantages of EW mages. This explains why Belkan mages are excellent solo fighters. Add to that that EW mages can disrupt ranged combat, and you also have a reason why Belka mages at the very least use melee.
Well the first thing to know is that while ECM can degrade scans and communications unless one side has a pretty hideous advantage it can rarely acutally defeat it totally. So while counter measures could make the advantages less pronounced they’d still remain to some extent assuming neither side is grossly superior in this area. Also while a Belkans attacks would be less affected then a Mid types the problem has never really been the power or accuracy it’s been getting into place to attack to start with. Also recall that I noted that IMO Mid type magic is just better for most forms of scanning and such (do a focus on remote effects) so in order for the Belks to have comparable EW capabilities they’d have to be using Mid like mages in support most likely.
That said indeed in a very heavy ECM environment a Belkan user would be somewhat less affected. Of course ECM only really began to come about at least to my thinking as beyond visual range and ambush style combat did and that’s only possible with a ranged warfare style. So EW grew up after Mid began to become dominant as a means to try and counter some of it’s lethality and advantages, but it was probably cooked up by other Mid mages. It also hardly means that one should go back to swords or something just like the invention of ECM in real life didn’t bring back fighters armed with a half dozen cannons or the like.
ECM can reduce the effectiveness of enemy ESM, but not make it like it doesn’t exist.
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In MMO's they're pretty damn essential. Hell, you even have 'off-tanks' (Wing Guard) and 'support-classes' (full-back).
MMOs are also played in many cases by tactical morons that if not corralled into set roles and given only the most basic and repetitive of tasks can be counted on to quickly do something extremely stupid; basiclly an MMO team is at best the equivalent of a barely trained militia unit. We also must consider that ultimately an MMO is a GAME and has rules AI is often extremely predictable and indeed many of those positions you note rely almost entirely on abusing the enemy AI in set specific ways. Indeed the entire concept of “aggro” and tanks for instance is an insane contrivance that started out largely as a result of bad monster AI and is now basiclly continued mostly out of tradition.
PvP my experience tends to be much less neat and allot more of a free for all much like a real battle. While you have somewhat define roles yes that sort of fight isn’t like a football team or a dungeon crawl where one guy can always do X and another always does Y. Real combat just is not that neat you need flexibility and to be adaptable attempting to adhere to a rigid formation or roles will make you predictable and easily exploited.
“No plan survives contact with the enemy” and neither do fancy formations or carefully defined roles in most cases. In fact overly minute planning and specialization tends to cause more problems then it solves as when things inevitably go off the rails and you need to adapt. Those that train to be flexible will adapt those locked into rigid doctrines or positions won’t and they’ll die. As with many things in strategy it’s a balancing act no planning or roles won’t work, but overly elaborate plans and rigidly set roles can be nearly as bad.
So while you can have specialization I’d have focus less on trying to shoe horn people into various positions and more on training them together to think on there feet and utilize there strengths to best advantage on the fly and as the situation demanded. Be flexible and adaptable as the worse thing any fighting force can be is rigid and predictable. Also while favor ranged battle as I've said over and over I favor a well balanced ranged style with a mix of skills so I'd want my guys to be reasonably well rounded on the whole.
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Right, so we put aside the nice little episode 6 bit?
I'd just prefer the entire scene never happened...
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Originally Posted by Keroko
Its about as much evidence as 90% of the stuff we have, really.
Dialogue can be useful when we have nothing else (though it's always somewhat weak as it's basiclly the characters opinion or beliefs and these could simply be wrong). That’s not the case here though acutally in this case with have a mountain of evidence that says the Dialogue was bullcrap.
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I'd like to know where you get the 'brutal ass kickings' part. So far the only thing I recall is Vita almost getting her ass shot to pieces (which is either a case of sheer stupidity or proof that magic in Nanoha is not as slow as it apears. I'd prefer to believe the later).
Signum hardly got her ass kicked by Fate, nor did Zafira get his ass kicked by Arf.
Fine ass kicking was perhaps too strong, but they where hardly winning decisively either and in a number of cases the Mid users seemed to have a clear upper hand.
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Oh, I know that, but that doesn't explain why she didn't just sidestep such a slow attack. I'd like to think that the attack was faster then what we saw on screen, especially with speed listed as one of its features.
Do explain how shooting spells down could possibly work then given that I’ve already proven that simply trying to hit a baseball going 95 MPH is straining humans to the limits. Also once you start crap like this the sky’s the limit basiclly if you decided that one thing we SEE on screen isn’t true then how can ANY of it be true? How about the next time you try and use something shown in the show as proof I just say “well I prefer to ignore what we see and just assume that what REALLY happened fits my view of things.”
Basically if you’re going to toss out the shit we SEE ON SCREEN (barring blatant effects goofs) then what the fuck can we accept as “true”? This slope isn't just slippery it's made of bloody Teflon and I think we best stay off it.
Anyway I've been awake entirely too long now so I think it's time go to sleep in order to maintain my insanely screwed up hours.
Don't know anything about that. The noble families in question are the Clearwater/Isard/Bachinka lines, not anything mentioned in canon.
And that's where the problem is. The noble families aren't in charge of Belka.
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Originally Posted by Comartemis
Nope. Only checked out a few profiles since I got here, there's just too many to read through all of 'em. Vivio and Keroko weren't the inspiration here so much as Syn was, but I can't seem to find her profile and so used what is probably a severely warped mental image of her.
Mostly because Syn is still largely an unfinished project, so she doesn't have a solid profile yet.
As for Keroko... follow the link in my signature, and I think you'll understand what I'm talking about.
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Originally Posted by Comartemis
The first few chapters of the StrikerS manga have the Aces fighting off hoards of them. When in the official timeline does that take place, exactly?
The fight from the manga? MC 71
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Originally Posted by Comartemis
I can't imagine why.
Clicheness, and the sheer Mary Sueness of it all.
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Originally Posted by Tk3997
Dialogue can be useful when we have nothing else (though it's always somewhat weak as it's basiclly the characters opinion or beliefs and these could simply be wrong). That’s not the case here though acutally in this case with have a mountain of evidence that says the Dialogue was bullcrap.
Show me a single page from the manga that contradicts the dialogue. So far all I'm reading is 'many circumstances are involved in the outcome of a battle' which does not contradict Belka being a superior magic style on 1-on-1 combat.
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Originally Posted by Tk3997
Fine ass kicking was perhaps too strong, but they where hardly winning decisively either and in a number of cases the Mid users seemed to have a clear upper hand.
Again, I'd like to know where you get these 'in a number of cases.' Even with her boosted Raising Heart, Nanoha didn't exactly shoot Vita out of the sky immediately. Vita got out of the Axel Shooter deathtrap and back into melee without any damage, leaving you with only the long-range shot. That's one case.
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Originally Posted by Tk3997
Do explain how shooting spells down could possibly work then given that I’ve already proven that simply trying to hit a baseball going 95 MPH is straining humans to the limits. Also once you start crap like this the sky’s the limit basiclly if you decided that one thing we SEE on screen isn’t true then how can ANY of it be true? How about the next time you try and use something shown in the show as proof I just say “well I prefer to ignore what we see and just assume that what REALLY happened fits my view of things.”
Basically if you’re going to toss out the shit we SEE ON SCREEN (barring blatant effects goofs) then what the fuck can we accept as “true”? This slope isn't just slippery it's made of bloody Teflon and I think we best stay off it.
You mean just like how you ignored the Barrier Jackets shielding the fall of the mages and instead went with Ark's unproven shield? Or how you rejected the visual evidence of Nanoha controlling the rounds and went with your 'its the device' theory, despite all the evidence pointing against you? Putting that aside, what about Vita's Schwable Fliegen? Those things go at least as fast as a baseball being hit, and its still viable to shoot them down. Or when mages move faster then normal humans and are still able to accurately hit eachother and block their oponents attacks. Movement, reaction and accuracy already go beyond the scope of what normal humans can do, Tk. Like you yourself said: This is magic, it doesn't work like anything we know by science.
And besides, Nanoha's beam was clearly a blatant effect goof. Slow crawling beam, even a perspective change? Yup, effect.
Oh come on! You call this evidence?! That’s just a fucking boost before combat!
Even if it wasn't a boast, such as when the lone ranged opponent stupidly tries to close the range instead of keeping it open, it shows the best way to tackle them: pincering them while keeping the range open, just like you said!
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Originally Posted by comartemis
The first few chapters of the StrikerS manga have the Aces fighting off hoards of them. When in the official timeline does that take place, exactly?
MC0071, four years before Strikers. Four years after nanoha got poked by a Type-4. That and ep 6 suggests that that's their "history" with Jail prior to StrikerS.
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I can't imagine why. Heck, I gave consideration to loli-fied clones of the Aces produced by Jail as side projects.
If you had thought about the implications of ep5 first, you wouldn't even have gotten started. If he can do something like that, why is he still interested in data on the Aces? He'd already have all the data he wants about them if he could clone them.
Not taking part in any of the current discussion mini-arcs right now, I said my pieces on the IRC, and then there's some more that I don't have the liberty to plow through right now.
So anyway, my long delayed...preview is here. It's split into 3 parts, and involves some OCs I haven't posted yet (it's still on paper manuscript) so it could get confusing.
First person view. Third person can wait for the real stuff.
First try writing a Nanoha fic, so...oh well, nevermind.
Spoiler for Title:
Zenith of Eternity Part I: The Wings of the Storm
Spoiler for The Forgotten Wanderer:
The feeling came upon me once more, stronger than ever, an asphyxiating smog that settled ominously, reminding me of my impending fate. Choking on my thoughts and the air within me, I struggled once more to keep going. To live, for just a while more.
Just a while more.
Is there no more time? Is it over for me? ...Ah, the wait agonizes…
My whole body felt light, almost non-existent…my limbs were slowly fading before my eyes. Just three hours ago, I had ceased to be able to touch anything material, and now, I constantly stared into a body seemingly made of a translucent ether, the sight of my eyes piercing through to that tiny device, that organ within me that was keeping me going.
And that was now slowly failing on me. Soon, there would be nothing left of the person called…
…What was my name again?
Of all things, to forget that. But that was ages ago, and there was no point in thinking about that now.
But the issue remained. I was about to die. I could feel it in my bones, and the cold that seeped through them, cutting through me like blades, blades through an empty heart and a lost mind. My only hope lay before me, lying amid those rags, the sole survivor of a deadly exchange of fire amid the urban ruins which I had wandered in for ages unknown.
The odds were stacked against survival…she herself was on the edge of life. But yet I had to hold out some hope. There was no choice left in the matter.
It was now, or never.
“Unh…”
She was alive after all. One doubt down…many more to go. In a process of such sensitivity, there still remained many links of doubt. They, I had to ignore. If I was ever to live, there would be no more space for doubt.
There is a way out…if only…
The girl in front of me finally stirred, her eyelids riveting in a mix of pain and fatigue, doing their utmost to open. Stirring up a minor storm in the makeshift blanket, nothing but a pile of rags which were thankfully cleaner than the rest, she balanced barely on an undamaged elbow.
She was young, and a lustrous head of blonde hair, matted though it was, fell with a strange sort of grace about her shoulders. And that look in those eyes, they haunted me strangely, reminded me of something.
A thought flashed through my mind. The same one as when we first met…
…If only you would agree…Alic- wait, who was that?
I could no longer remember a lot of things…and I kept forgetting a lot of things that I remembered. There was a pocket watch lying around somewhere, but it was missing two hands, so it was pretty much useless. Apart from that there was little to give me any sense of anything.
“Gahg…” She attempted, unsuccessfully to get up. Foolishly, I forgot myself and attempted to touch her, and promptly stuck my ethereal limb through her arm. An awkward silence ensued, as both of us started at the sight of the other’s face.
Don’t move. You’re already pretty badly off as it stands.
“Whu…what…does that mean…” She got her reply almost immediately, as she started to cough, barely having time to cover her mouth. Pulling away, she stared mutely into her outstretched palm, as though comprehending the level of trouble she was in. Her hand had came away red.
Since she’d found out, there was no point hiding it anymore. I’ll just be blunt. You’re very near death.
“How much time…have I got?...”
I shook my head. I had already looked it over countless times, but there seemed no way out for her, either. All the more important her consent became.
Not long. We will not live to see tomorrow.
She looked a little surprised. “We?”
I removed my cloak, showing her my see-through arms, uncovered by the clothes, and the bitter smile that I wore. They looked even worse for the wear then five minutes earlier, a clear indication of the increasing rate of the already rapid corruption that had plagued me for unknown lengths of time.
Merely a shadow of my old self…whatever it was.
This is not a person who is healthy and well, is it?
The girl looked away.
“I guess…not-UGHN!” Her pale face suddenly contorted in nightmarish pain, as a red stain grew under the bandages that swathed her stomach area. The wounds were re-opening, despite my efforts.
She rasped the words out, painfully. “Will I die here? I don’t wanna-die!”
Don’t want to die…
That sentiment resonated within me. Would I, too, die here, lost and forgotten to all who ever knew me? That was the last thing I wanted.
But I was helpless. My life as I knew it was in the fragile hands of another dying person.
There is something we can do…If we both want to live.
“We can live through this?”
If you would agree, then take my hand, and be one with me. Then, we can both live. I can save you, if only you would save me…But beware, there is a price to pay for life. We will not remember everything of our past lives once we are one, and I do not know if we will ever regain them. Are you willing to pay this price for an escape from death?
The blonde lifted her eyes to meet my gaze, a growing determination within them.
“To live…”
Yes, to live. To regain all that which we have lost, and gain more besides by living on…that is what both of us wish for, no?
“…Yes, I wish to live. I will live.”
I was stunned.
But why would you give your memories away so cheaply? Would you not prefer to die remembering everything, than live with nothing?
The young lady smiled, filling my eyes with a strangely peaceful, serene presence. She had obviously already made her choice, even though she knew that there was no more turning back, and she knew the cost. “That is alright…for if I die, then I would have lost everything. It is perhaps better this way, instead.”
With those words…with only those words from her mouth, she had lightened my heart’s burden infinitely. More than she, or I could ever comprehend.
Then…take my hand. This hand that will save both of us. Take it.
And thus we reached out, both of us, to the one who could save us. The world seemed to be a whirling vortex, as a strange sensation washed over me, filling me with its presence, and its confusion.
[TEPES SYSTEM BOOTUP.] The synchronization system flipped on with a low whine in my head. The product of circumstances which I was unclear of, it would allow me to completely meld soul and body with another. Not in the form of parasitism, but symbiosis, even perhaps mutualism, I knew it not.
I felt myself being pulled into something at a speed I could not comprehend, like being sucked into unknown deep depths: I was free-falling through her mind, a plain of blackness unending…with an ever-nearing light at the end of the tunnel. Rushing through into the warming glow of a false sun, images, suspended in artificial stasis like bubbles, passed me by, flashed through my mind as I feel through her, through everything that was her. Some seemed more coherent than others, while there were some that were completely disjointed, scattered puzzle pieces in a broken picture.
A picture that I had come into inheritance of.
That we would both have to endure for a time.
[TEPES SYSTEM – LOADED WITH 13% PERSONA ALPHA ERROR.]
This is…the synchronization system’s name? Funny thing, I never checked to see what it was.
Two voices spoke in that, no longer separated. It wasn’t me thinking anymore. I could feel her confusion, and my own shreds of memories filling up some of those gaps. I was no longer alone in this void that was a person’s mind and soul.
It was US now.
[SYNCHRONIZATION CAP AT 40%.]
Soul Synchronisation Cap of 40%. A very high number, for a first try, almost impossibly high. I have never in my life seen a higher count than this…how am I related to this girl? Is there some fate between us?...No matter, that can wait till later. For now, I must repair her confused psyche.
[ADMIN FIRST TO PERSONA BETA, PERSONA ALPHA SWITCH TO ‘REPAIR’ COMMAND…COMPLETED.]
My vision refocused slowly, now painfully aware of the stinging sunlight, which an unfamiliar hand shielded on reflex. Where before was ethereal imperviousness to the weather, now was a frozen heat amid the dusty sands of an unknown planet. A vast plain sprawled itself before bleary eyes as I took in my first sense of the environment in a long time.
A body at last.
[UPLOADING SPELL MEMORY…SPELL MEMORY IS 20% CORRUPT. REQUESTING ADMIN TEST FIRE.]
As if on cue, my left hand crackled to life with energy. Duly following the voice’s request, I threw my hand out lazily, sending the bolt of energy lancing outward towards a nearby rock, shattering it into tiny pieces. Her magic potential was obviously very high, only that much of her battle memory seemed to have been lost.
[TESTING AUTOGUARD.]
A transparent shield opened up around me as the stray pieces broke against it like water on rock. Nonetheless, they failed to make an opening in the barrier.
[PRELIMINARY TEST SEQUENCE COMPLETED. TEPES SYSTEM…SHUTDOWN IN 10. SETTING BODY FUNCTION TO REPAIR.]
Wait, why-
I suddenly dropped onto one knee, and my vision swam, my body attempting to comprehend the sudden seeming betrayal. And then I knew my folly, in doing exactly what had advised another against.
Shit. I forgot this person was injured…I overstrained her body with that spell.
[ADMIN SECOND SWITCHED TO PERSONA BETA.]
Isn’t there something I need to know?
I struggled to find the question in the chaos of dots that surrounded my darkening eyes. The thought had hit me out of the blue, like a bombshell. In the amount of time I had left before everything went black, there was something I had to ask.
Pray…tell me…who am I?
[PROCESSING REQUEST TO DATABANK…ONE MATCH FOUND.]
The answer stared me down face to face, proclaiming its truth to the audience of one. And what a pleased audience it was.
Ahh…is that so…That’s one question down, and now to the many more that await…they can themselves wait for another time, hmm?
[COMMENCING SHUTDOWN…10…]
[9…8…7…]
I could no longer see anything, and all thought seemed so distant, so wistful. Just like dreaming, save that these were the first good dreams for a time lost to my memory.
For I know who I am, and nothing else matters for now.
[4…3…2…]
I chuckled inwardly, for the first time looking forward to a tomorrow. If I would get one in the first place. There was still that measure of uncertainty: Was I certain I would survive this?
This shutdown – makes a person real sleepy, now doesn’t it.
[1…0…]
[SHUTDOWN COMPLETE.]
---------------------------------------------
A strange feeling crawls through me. I wake to the low mechanized rhythm of beeps, stemming from some unknown source.
[TEPES SYSTEM…REBOOT…COMPLETED WITH MARGINAL ERROR.]
Where is this?
“…picked up…thought…check this out…”
“What…say?”
Two voices conversing in the background. I am not alone, apparently.
“She…the hell she is-”
I appear to have survived the initial ordeal, somehow. My hearing seems to be warped in some strange way, filtering out parts of other’s sentences when I don’t need them to. Is this a side effect of the synchronization? Everything seems garbled in some strange way, blocked by some unknown…
[WARNING…PERIPHERAL SENSORY SYSTEMS ARE DAMAGED.]
I can tell already…What happened to me?
Hey. A thought pervades my mind, soothing and gentle in tone…and yet there is something harder, colder under it. You’re fine now, although your five senses seem a little messed up right now, so I’ll communicate like this. For your first question…
A sound like laughter breaks out on the other end. Please enlighten me.
…How would you like to know that you’re in a helo, and somewhere in the air?
A strange answer. Yet I have remembered feeling stranger, and so this is perhaps not so foreign. Some other thoughts start popping in. I cannot really comprehend them all, my mind seems to have slowed down a little.
Yeah, and well, we’re the lads from the TSAB. We just picked you off this place…we’ve got no idea what you’re doing here. Seriously, it’s such a hell of a mess it’s a miracle we actually found someone in there, you know?
The mention of the name seems to strike a chord within me, strangely. I must have known it in another time, before I began to forget. Like many other things.
Well, neither did I.
Your body has taken some severe levels of damage, quite critical as a matter of fact, so I’d advise that you not put too much physical or mental stress on yourself as yet. It would be better for you to simply stay put and have yourself a nice good break. We tried our worst to patch you up, but well, that’s the best we can do for now. You’ve been through a lot, as far as we can see…
Glad you-
[EMERGENCY SWITCH TO SAFE MODE.]
My vision darkens again, worse than when it started off. My head swims, and mustering thought seems to prove a grave challenge all of a sudden. Apparently, I reckon bitterly, just that puny amount of thought proved enough to knock my reserves to a flatline. I feel sick inside. A really strange, queasy sort of feeling.
The voice comes again, never really finishing what it meant to say. Hey wait, you there-?
[WARNING: SAFE MODE IS CORRUPT. SAFE MODE I-]
I fade out.
---------------------------------------------
And…um, you seem to be awake again. Hello.
[TEPES SYSTEM…RESTORE.]
Midchilda to you, Midchilda to you, do you read me?
[RECOVERY SUCESSFUL.]
The voice. Talking to me again, except this time coupled with an image. Though blurred, I can make out that he’s wearing black, and his hair white as the snow, with clear blue eyes…Looked awfully familiar somehow.
He decided to speak, instead of “think” into my head, this time. “You’re up. That’s good.”
My hearing…Where-
He stopped me with an outstretched palm. Had I asked this question before? “We’re still in the air in a helo, but we’ll be touching down shortly, young lady. It appears you knocked out at a timely moment, we were enduring some levels of turbulence.”
Turbu-what?
“Turbulence. It means we ran through some wind that shook us up rather badly. Nothing hurt withal though, so it’s all good for now. Anyway.” He leaned in closer. “What’s your name? Mine’s ‘Snake’, yeah, just ‘Snake’…and I just saved your ass.”
That was rather surprising, not to mention an awkward moment for him to introduce himself. All the same, a return of courtesy was in order for one’s rescuer.
Mine’s Al-
“Sir, we are landing.”
He winced a little sheepishly. “Oops. No time now. Hold on to your hat now, vertical landing is quite a ride.”
I don’t think I have one.
“That’s pretty sad, I reckon. It’s fun to have something to hold onto. For me, it’s my coat.” He said, as he wrapped said item around himself. The vertical landing seemed to be shifting my stomach a lot. There’s…a sick feeling in there.
“Hang on, though, we’re almost at the ground.” A large yellow ‘H’ on the ground.
That’s ‘H’ for ‘helicopter’, I’m hoping.
He laughs, amused. “No, no…it’s ‘H’ for ‘helicopter…pad.’” The helicopter landed amid huge wisps of wind, and another jump in my insides.
Then the feeling came upon me once more, stronger than ever, an asphyxiating smog that settled ominously, reminding me of my impending fate. Choking on my thoughts and the air within me, I had a feeling of déjà vu like never before…
“Mother?”
A familiar voice. Definitely female. Who?
“Mother?”
She was young, and a lustrous head of blonde hair, matted though it was, fell with a strange sort of grace about her shoulders. And that look in those eyes, they haunted me strangely, reminded me of something.
Red eyes, like the color of blood.
And she was calling…me. Calling me mother.
Who are you? I’m your mother? What the hell- Too many questions. Too little time. I can not process all these thoughts, emotions at once. Still not used to it at all-
[WARNING. TEPES SYSTEM SAFE MODE…MEMORY OVERLOAD.]
She moved towards me. No, she ran, another familiar sight.
“Mother? Is that you? I’m-”
Snake’s voice again. “Hey, one woman down here, could you-”
My eyes bugged. My brain raced to find matches. Links. Anything.
[TEPES SYSTEM CRITICAL. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM OVERPROCESSING DURING RECOVERY.]
Nothing.You are-
The answer stared me down face to face, proclaiming its truth to the audience of one.
[EMERGENCY-]
-No! Impossible!
I fade out.
---------------------------------------------
“You really have to stop blacking out on us, you know?”
Again, waking to that strange skin-crawling silence, punctuated by again those beeping sounds from bizarre contraptions. They probably seemed normal to everyone else, though at least I know where I am: This is a hospital ward. Blank, white walls, long halls, rows of beds, and-
“You still there?”
I turn to the left. The same fellow from the helo…his name…Snake. I surprise myself by actually remembering something after a prolonged period of time. There was another one of those silences, those strange awkward periods where neither of us spoke.
He broke the silence first with a drawn sigh.
“To be honest, we’re not sure what we’re going to do with you either. We don’t have the foggiest idea who you are, and you don’t remember anything apart from your name, which you were about to tell me before the turbulence, and then that little scene stopped me. Ah yes, and speaking of which, what was your name again?”
“Alemantas. Alemantas Zanber…What was that girl’s name again? The one I met when we landed.”
The man called snake tapped his chin lightly. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you her name, Miss Zanber. You can’t know that yet. Or should I say you simply shouldn’t know, either?”
“Why can’t you tell me?”
“That is…another thing that I can’t tell you.”
Roadblocks to my questions. Just when I didn’t need them again, too. “So what am I going to do now?”
He shrugged, but without any air of nonchalance. It was purely a sign of self-admitted ignorance.
“You’re recovering surprisingly quickly, though we don’t have the equipment to check why, yet. So,” He did the sums briefly in his head. “You’ll be stuck here for another week or so, and then you can choose what you want to do. We’ve got nothing on or against you anyway, so you can go your own way. Or whatever…anyway,” He looked more awkward than I felt at this point, and checked his chronometer with a sidelong glance. “I need to take my leave, though I must say it’s good to see that the person I picked up personally didn’t kick the bucket.”
Now that’s very kind of you…
He turned to leave.
“Hold on a minute.”
“Yes?”
“…Snake…that isn’t your real name, is it?”
He waved dismissively. “And if it isn’t?” And laughing (while provoking some irate responses for his outburst from the other occupants of the ward), he walked off, leaving me alone to my thoughts, and the stares of said other occupants. Not that I cared about them at all.
But now, what am I going to do? He’s right, in spite of how much I am cheesed off by his nonchalance in stating it. I don’t have anywhere left to go…but forwards, and even if I were to move forward, I need some sort of base. And all the questions that I still have, all the things that I still need to know…They still require some answering.
And perhaps…just perhaps, this organization of theirs holds the key. It sounds familiar to me. More familiar than anything else seems to, lately. And since I have no other leads to what has happened to me in the past, among other things…
…Why not?
Raising my hand, I clenched it, and spoke words I never knew I did.
“Ignite. Anathema,”
My palm itself turned black, and a ruby lightning crackled from it, dancing gracefully, a being with a vibrant life of its own, arcing around my outstretched arm.
…After all…this shall forge my way.
The question was, just how far would I go?
Spoiler for INTERLUDE: The Hound and the Snake:
To the untrained eye, this would have been the greatest bravura epitome of poseur-ism that the world had ever seen.
Nice, well maintained bikes? Check. Immaculately dressed guys in nice clean dressing, looking to snatch themselves some women? Check that two. Qualified, well-spoken guys who are good at small, smart talk and looking good for a swing? Check that. Out in public, and on a roll? Check. Revving down roads, winding around like the pros? Definitely.
No, this wasn’t a pimping field trip, or a crash course on joining the echelons of elite cadres in said occupation.
It was something that bore far more weight than the number of crushed hearts in Cranagan City, and something more difficult than going off for a spin with a lady in tow.
“It’s the Bloodhound and Boa show.”
I said it with a bit of gusto too, quite rare for me in times like this. Especially times like these, when people like us had to take the brunt of assignments from superiors who were, to say the least, occupied with other things.
“Fancy you saying that when we got that nickname at the worst ever of times…I hope you were joking.” My partner’s head, encased and hidden within a helmet though it was, failed to prevent me from feeling his frustration. And his brief touch of real anger.
A rare thing for either of us.
“It was just a joke, don’t mind me. I just need something to cheer us up as we go along.”
We continued to race down the highway, communicating remotely via the glowing touchpad in front of us. His avatar, a pair of hunting dogs crisscrossed on the Saint Church’s coat of arms, stared out at me as the voice carried through into my helmet, with subtitles on the HMD. Not that I needed it, but it was useful, especially when I got distracted.
“It had better be. Now, we have five minutes before I reach my destination, and so we’ve got to finish up the serious business fast.”
“Yes, sir.”
He shook his head. “Just start calling me Acous already, Ravenholm, damn it.”
“Sorry. Anyway, I’ll start first. Brigadier General Yagami’s assignment for us. It’s still on, isn’t it? In spite of my…our failure so far, I mean.”
“What failure? You two barely had time to get anything started, not to hardly measure talk about failure. Don’t worry about it…too much, Ash. It’s still on, and note that the deadline presses you from the shadows. The brass hates to wait.”
“Yeah, yeah, especially that good friend of yours for all his smile says about him. That cleverly deceiving smile runs in the family.”
Verossa sounded very amused on the other end. “Watch your words, you’d get court marshaled if I ever leaked what you say about people in our private chats. And anyway, you needn’t let it stress you too much.
I wasn’t so sure about that.
Honestly, I still feel bad about it, in spite of my usual self. I’m not stressed or anything as that’s not my style, but I can’t help but shake the feeling that I could have done something more, something more than giving the warning just on time…the feeling that if we could have turned the tide.
“Colossus, Autopilot. Plot route to Location TERRE.”
[Gotcha. Going on Handsfree.]
Now that left me some space to gesticulate, with my twin Device handling the gyroscope function for me.
“Acous, it’s not really me, or Tesla I’m worrying that much about. It’s you. You know what happened back there at the helipad landing area, and I’m sure you know about how it is now between them?”
I seemed to have hit home, although that wasn’t always a good thing between us. It was, luckily, not about to degenerate, not with us riding on those accident-prone (but cool) speeding coffins, even if either of us was angry.
“Never you mind, Ash, that’s my business…and theirs. I appreciate your concern, but I’m afraid that this is not something you should get your hands on too hastily for your own good. You could get burned.”
“Burned…hmmm?”
“Yes.”
I threw a hand up in the air, shifting my weight to prevent any unwanted swerving. “I’m too much of a cold fish for that. You of all people should know that I am.” Suddenly hearing his mild snicker on the other end, I almost regretted having shot my mouth off too early.
“Yeah, yeah, wait till I tell the old dude that, and let’s see you become the joke of the whole SI for a week.”
I rolled my eyes in disgust. “Fine. Next topic?”
“Right.” He would have clapped his hands like a happy child if not for the fact that he couldn’t ride a motorbike hands-free. And sounded it too over the line, except even more artificially than the clapping…there was no way he could hide this form of anxiety from me, though I wouldn’t have any proof of it.
“Next up, and last up, actually, is something slightly less casual. I have some instructions for you that I left with the Blue Rose.”
“That again, huh.”
There went the rest of my week, if it wasn’t gone already.
“And unlike the last time, they’re not going to come cheap for you to follow them. I’m not sure how tough you’ll find it, but trust me in that this will be no walk in the park, even for you. And I have great faith in your abilities, as you might already know.”
“Thanks.” We pulled up just outside the headquarters, with Acous turning in, while I stayed out. Not my final destination of the day. After all, the night was still young. “No clues at all to what it might be?”
“Just one, if you beg.”
I put on my best, wheeler-dealer voice. “Oh yes, I’m begging you for just one tiny pathetic excuse for a clue…pretty please?”
“Ha. Very phony. Didn’t believe it for a moment, but I’ll just tell you it’s code name, although it’s not going to help you much: Scanner Sweep.”
I laughed, and stamped the acceleration pedal. “That’s a hell lot already.”
“As expected from you.”
“Thanks. Boa, out.” I flipped my HMD off, and unslung my helmet, strapping it onto the back of my left shoulder in the chaos of flying white hair, freed from the stuffy black prison.
It doesn’t look like anything’s going to end very soon. The situation in Seretoia will not be the end point in this little arc in history. It can only be a beginning, I can feel it. No prophecies have been made, no portents on the horizon. There was nothing that could prepare us for what has already happened.
And what will happen, the inevitable chaos that starts with such a flashpoint.
But whatever that is, I am not in any way personally hampered by this, although nonetheless the big picture will affect my role in it very severely. My job is my job, and no one screws with me on it. If they do, they can go to hell, known being or unknown being alike.
And on this particular job, I feel that it will certainly be a very invigorating experience indeed. I am looking forward to the challenge…
…Of rooting some moles out from their holes.
And of course, I would have some backup. Backup that I just made for myself a while back out of nothing.
But…good backup, nonetheless.
“Enigma, bring up the co-ordinates for location FABLE. I’m going to clean off my artillery pieces. Can’t sleep if I know they ain’t fixed good.”
[Affirmative, Sir. Any…secondary reasons?]
“Ah yes, of course. It’ll save me some time too.”
Looking for my Blue Rose.
Spoiler for Blade of Omen:
“As of now, the situation appears to have subsided, with the TSAB obtaining victory as predicted initially. However, due to the nature of the victory, we were able to complete Phase 1 of our plan, which means that we will be able to fight away the next time, and complete our little experiment, just to be sure, not to mention to rub salt into some wounds. How are things on your end? You remember that we expressly stated that nothing but top level efficiency was expected.”
“I understand that. However, it remains incomplete. My schedule is rather tight even without the inclusion of these…matters, which are-”
“So, to cut the line short, it isn’t done yet?”
“No, it isn’t. We’ll remain stuck at Phase 1 for a while yet, I’m afraid, no thanks to rather bad cleanup work on one end of the assignment, that resulted in the need for a recoup of logistic material, which will invariable take time.” I replied with a vague sense of irritation in my voice. It was the umpteenth time they had come to me with their requests of status reports, as well as those useless exhortations and even more laughable moral support.
“Are you suggesting that we are low on efficiency.”
“If yes, then what? I don’t see when asserting one’s innocence became a crime, lordling.”
“Fine, Successor, you win this round, but I warn you,” The commanding voice on the other end of the line stated flatly, “there will be consequences for you if you fail to meet the deadline of two weeks.”
Successor indeed. Without any proof of your age given, you act as though you could be my great-great-grand-something.
“Yes, I understand.”
“That had better be so.” The feed cut there, leaving me alone in my mild exasperation. Not that I really minded this unwarranted outbursts. It was, after all, a part of everyday life. Either put up, or shut up.
Not that any of it would change either. And not that I cared about it, too. Still, I had my own plans to turn to, plans that no one knew of.
Plans that, once set in motion, would set everything that I knew on the road to their doom.
They really have to be more patient with me, honestly. I mean, even I need a break sometime, though I don’t look like I ever get tired of doing this. Especially when I was working on something that they need that much. I literally have them hanging as rag-tag on my command tassel, for goodness sake, so I wonder why they act as though I am their rag-tag. Impertinence.
No less frustrating is their constant insistence on keeping tight deadlines on me, what with getting that program up and running in as inanely a short time as two weeks, as though they were commanding the genius of the century around. Not that I’m not a genius though, but there’s only so much one person can do behind enemy lines…
All the same, patience seems to be a virtue lost upon most of the people I seem to know. After all, they do not understand the complexity of these things that they order others to do, for all the wisdom and civilization that they profess to have in whatever matters their fickle minds deem fit. And what fools they are, thinking that they could subject me to their will, thinking that they’ve played the winning hand. Too bad there IS no winning hand at this card table…the winning hand belongs to the best man, and him only.
Even bigger fools are those buffoons who employ me, happily sitting on their precious contemplative behinds, twiddling their contemplative thumbs, thinking that I’m actually an honest member of their organization! What brilliance. Ignoramuses all, sitting higher than their real sense warrants. I snicker to think of the fact that even up till two weeks ago, they had the gall and the sheer lack of foresight to think that their situation on some godforsaken planet and it’s puny rebellion was under control. Well, they’ll be submitting a damage report some time soon, and I’ll get a heck of a laugh out of it.
Oh well, the entertainment of being of being the puppet master is to watch others attempt to play my role, is it not? Nothing befits the role of a mastermind more. They will soon see who is pulling the strings, though, and see the royal flush that I’d been hiding in my velvet gloves for all these ages. Not just the Bureau, and not just those idiots I’m working for, but all will see that in the end it is pointless to fight against a plan that could best the gods.
The gears have already begun turning…though admittedly this is the re-fueling point. Therefore, I shall, for now at least, bide my time in silence and have me some little games with those people while watching them act out the script I wrote, entertaining me suitably at least for a little as they play, rather literally, out my plotlines to the very last letter. Even though they may resist, and attempt to throw monkey wrenches into my plans, it is all pointless: Everything that they have attempted cannot shatter this construct that I have forged with my hands.
Patience, of course is key, though my body itches for the sound of the battlefield’s carnage once more. Thus were all the great kings made, but only at the appointed times, and so shall I wait. But the signs are clear…a new age must begin, a new order will replace the old.
And I shall–
“General.” The chirpy voice of my secretary broke in over the communication system, breaking my train of thoughts. At the worst of times too, as the good part was just coming along. All the same, however, official duties would be official duties.
Resigning myself to a temporary truce with my thoughts, I acknowledged the request.
“Yes?”
“Inspector Acous Verossa requests to see you, he says that it’s important, but it will be brief.”
And not a moment too soon, either, when I was just hoping to return to the normalcy of daydreaming over paperwork. Having that green-haired pretty boy around was a nice change, although that amount of variety came at the expense of my free time, which was little. “Yes, show him in.”
Ever I wonder what he has to say this time, the unpredictable piece of work that he is. Sometimes I cannot help but be fascinated these other people that I see around me… I swiveled in my rather opulent chair to face the visitor, the only articulate piece of furniture in my otherwise austere office, remnants of a former whimsical desire to create a healthy juxtaposition in my otherwise boring room, until I decided it was no longer necessary.
“Welcome, Inspector. I see that you are well. What news?” As if on cue, the inspector, effective head of the SI department as it stood, strode in, an immaculate white suit wrapped around his lithe, lanky figure, wearing his usual broad grin and aura of impeccability. As per normal, he was completely at ease with his surroundings, save for an unusual shadow in his eyes.
No doubt due to the same events that befell many other mages just a ways back. He must be looking one of the best among those that returned. Must be his job.
“Firstly, I’m not entirely well. I did, after all, sustain some extensive degree of injury in combat in an SnR mission. I believe you are aware of it.”
“Yes, it was rather high-profile, they seem to have had some stranded crack troops down there before you lot showed up and towed them off.”
Pretty risky it was too, if not for the heroics of those OFM snipers and that guy they called the Snake, it looked as though it would have been over in a heartbeat. But that doesn’t really matter…after all, it does provide more avenues for conflict between the two belligerents under my thumb, so why not?
“And…yes, you guessed true: I do have some things I want to show you, which I have to hand you personally, due to security reasons naturally. I’ll be brief about it, since I was given a tip-off on your schedule by your secretary just before she shoveled me into your office.”
Shoveled. An apt word, as always. I’ll be doing some shoveling of my own too. The shoveling of this era’s grave, that is.
“Your humor is as strangely good as always, Verossa. Not so your luck with women though.”
“Unfortunately so. However, I do have one in hand, and someone in mind.”
My eyebrows went up. “Two now, Verossa? I never knew you were into such things.”
“No, no…One, ‘Eclaire, one.” Acous winced somewhat while dismissing my suggestion with a rather sheepish wave of his hand.
“And who might that be, then?”
Acous grinned disarmingly like the eponymous Cheshire cat he was rumored to be, and fished in his coat for the appropriate item to pass to me. Like any good angler, he got a bite rather quickly, and handed it to me. “Well, I’ll be sure to send you a letter of notification when the church bells start ringing, just so that you stop worrying about dinner for once.”
“True, you speak to my heart. The nature of meals have always been a grave issue to me, and as you know, in all things grave style and not substance is the most important. Luckily, with your tastes you’ll spare me the trouble…” Removing the file at him, I noted the label of confidentiality on it. A sure sign of an interesting item. “…And this is?”
“This,” Acous stated with an air of pride that any father would have been shamed by, “is the result of a collaborative work between myself and Brigadier General Yagami. In short, for the top brass, this is just what the doctor ordered. We completed it slightly ahead of schedule, and on her suggestion we’re passing a short preview of sorts to certain members of the brass for their perusal, as well to make it open to comments before the actual presentation takes place next week.”
Oh, that? I’m surprised they actually finished it on time. It was supposed to be, according to a certain Admiral, a difficult job! ...Then again, considering the level at which those two have contacts, it shouldn’t be too shocking that they came through rather miraculously. I guess I shouldn’t even lift an eyebrow, then, if there are no shortage of big names in it, too.
“Excellent job. Maybe the next time we have a recruitment drive, you two could be our frontmen.” I paused. “And women.”
The Inspector laughed a little too casually for comfort. “Nah. I prefer to stick to my old job, but thanks for the offer.”
“Pertinent point.”
Acous laced his fingers together. “Also, I’ve thought of a…rather interesting name for this group.”
You never fail to surprise me, Acous Verossa, thinking up all the most unnecessary things at the strangest of times. Still, I don’t mind hearing it, so long as the name is good.
“Alright then, let’s here it.”
“I looked at the tentative member roster, and there is only one thing, in my opinion, that it could possibly be called: Task Force Serpent.”
A rather cheesy name, but it had a fine ring to it that no one could possibly ignore.
Acous cleared his throat, signaling the end of the small talk. “And that is more or less all I have to say. The rest of the details concerning said group is documented within the report itself, and can be read at your leisure, at least until next week. After all, I should not be detaining you any longer.”
“That means you’re requesting permission to leave the scene, yes?”
“Something like that, yes.”
“At your leisure then, Inspector.”
Acous nodded briefly. “Thank you, sir.” The sliding doors closed my office off to the world once more with their gentle hissing sound. Slowly, I peeled the seals of the file, noting from the amount that went into the nearby waste bin that there were a few barriers to many on it. Leafing through the appropriate documents swiftly, I pondered some of the more interesting morsels of information.
The Serpent. The ancient symbol of intelligence, corrupt and arcane wisdom…and deceptions. What an apt name for this small little group, which will answer to almost no one in the TSAB once it is fully grown, even if those that conceived the idea and created it have no idea what this particular brood of vipers can accomplish.
They are bound to make a big splash though. Exactly why I have chosen them. Chosen them to be my unwittingly clever automatons, who will benefit this cause of mine most suitably, as much as I predict that they will attempt to oppose the work of my hands.
As the classic saying goes, “they shall serve me well.”
Lifting my hand to the ceiling, I imagined the multitudes of the celestial bodies hanging in the void of space, thousands upon thousands of them, through the keyhole of my outstretched palm, the slender gaps between those fingers of mine.
Just two weeks ago, the first step towards this destruction was taken: An armed uprising that cost the TSAB their security, some of their power, and many lives. They will soon find that much of what they once knew to be true were all a pack of lies, but it will be too late: Their purpose, and their role in this scheme can only be realized fully in their wrack and utter ruination, much like many others that have preceded them, and the many that will soon follow.
Though the campaign on Seretoia may have ended in victory, it is but still a baby step…perhaps, shall we say that it was an incomplete step due to their victory. I look forward to seeing the whole thing play out, with them cast in the role of the tragic hero, already doomed to defeat but still fighting on to the end of their road, in which nothing awaits them but destruction: The epitome of heroism, and the apex of folly all at the same time.
…Look out below, mortals, and behold the sight…the zenith of an era has come…
…And the dawn of a new one approaches.
Spoiler for Final Lines:
The slumbering have awoken.
The curtain has lifted, as the die is cast on all sides.
The flames of ambition, honor and revenge burn high...
Their pillars licking upon the spires of heaven.
This shall be a time for crimson scars.
A time for the end of many things.
A time for the age of violent gods...
And those who will to surpass them...
And those who will stand up and resist, to fight them.
Come now, the time has come for crimson scars, for flashing weapons; the time for cold steel to meet cold steel, as blazing hearts meet blazing hearts in embrace of battle.
Come now, for courage, for honor, for love, for happiness, for sorrow, for all that one desires to protect, possess, and destroy.
Come...for the gold crown of victory, or the iron crown of defeat.
For the beginning of a new era forged from the hellfire flames of war.
Spoiler for Author's notes::
Yeah, the Final Lines were much more serious than those three. I realized that in first person views I tend to lapse too much into leaning towards the stream of consciousness writing style, which isn't too good all the time, though it sort of worked here.
The third person actual thing is going to be a lot more formal, though there should be some funny in it. That is the advantage of third-person narrative, perhaps, the ease of bringing out dramatic tension. Oh well. Whatever it is, I hope to write faster in the future.
And...some sleep at last. AFTER this gets on the Fanfic thread. Oh well.
You know... with the bad translation of A's 3, it got me wondering just what Chrono was saying when he described the Belka style. The subs say 'A magic which focusses on confrontational combat over long distance and wide area attacks' but that would be a description of Mid style combat.
Due to the recent burst of commitments *ahemanitavisitingcough* I've been laid so low on time I can't break much of the backlog, and the more backlog grows the more unlikely I can fire my usuals off in one sitting w/o getting wtfpwnd. So just one lightning fast comment at this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
Also, on a different note, I've been rewatching Angelic Layer lately, and I'm hereby reserving Hikaru for future projects. I'm not sure what I'm ging to use her for yet, but I'll let the ideas simmer for a while before drawing conclusions.
0_0
Might be just me, but reserving Hikaru the Angel is practically reserving Hikaru the Magic Knight who in turn, based on Nighty's crack, is used as the image of Midget's young self.
Not to mention Hikaru the Articular Device herself appears in the perma-hiatus Furthera Magica, a middle-aged Nanoha series that I started out with and was in my First Post with the Nanoka & Teresa duo...
By the way, the pair that would've been the new centerpiece Forwards of the future if not for Vivio coming and derailing the entire run-up... >.>
Then again, we'd probably see Captain Subaru working with Lt. Vivio in charge of Teresa's and Nanoka's squad, and saves me from making more OCs... <.<
My Rebuilt timelines are AU to Kerokanon, so I guess we should ignore that.
But do Hikaru justice; she's one of the reasons why Cephirons turned into Alhazredians and then into the TSAB, as according the one of the most potent canon crack from 4chan since Signoha, so it definitely has lots of potential.
Where do you see a senshi in that pic, Sheba? That's just a young Modern Belka mage from Earth who happened to be inspired by her favorite comic books.
Trust me guys, I know what I'm doing here, and I'm not porting the Senshi into Nanoha... not directly, anyways. Several attacks and the barrier jacket are the same as Minako's fuku, but that's where the similarities end.
__________________
Kill the Darkfic.
Burn the Angst.
Purge the Bad End.
Bah, we already have a quasi senshi in Fate anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
Due to the recent burst of commitments *ahemanitavisitingcough* I've been laid so low on time I can't break much of the backlog, and the more backlog grows the more unlikely I can fire my usuals off in one sitting w/o getting wtfpwnd. So just one lightning fast comment at this:
I'm calling that a justified reason to be tied down. :3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
0_0
Might be just me, but reserving Hikaru the Angel is practically reserving Hikaru the Magic Knight who in turn, based on Nighty's crack, is used as the image of Midget's young self.
The former may be based of the later, but I still prefer Angel Hikaru. She has an amazing personallity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
Not to mention Hikaru the Articular Device herself appears in the perma-hiatus Furthera Magica, a middle-aged Nanoha series that I started out with and was in my First Post with the Nanoka & Teresa duo...
By the way, the pair that would've been the new centerpiece Forwards of the future if not for Vivio coming and derailing the entire run-up... >.>
Then again, we'd probably see Captain Subaru working with Lt. Vivio in charge of Teresa's and Nanoka's squad, and saves me from making more OCs... <.<
My Rebuilt timelines are AU to Kerokanon, so I guess we should ignore that.
.... Now I'm curious, what's an Articular Device?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
But do Hikaru justice; she's one of the reasons why Cephirons turned into Alhazredians and then into the TSAB, as according the one of the most potent canon crack from 4chan since Signoha, so it definitely has lots of potential.
I plan to, which is why I'm still thinking of what to do with her exactly instead of acting on half-assed thoughts that will be abandoned and scrapped quickly after posting. *cough*Mandy*cough*
I'm calling that a justified reason to be tied down. :3
>.>
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
The former may be based of the later, but I still prefer Angel Hikaru. She has an amazing personallity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
.... Now I'm curious, what's an Articular Device?
It's very new technology, osmething unheard of in StrikerS. The Articular Device is essentially Midchilda's take on the Unison Device, but emphasizing more towards being a magical assistant that is less reliant on the Mage and more autonomous as it has special capacitors implemented to its own mana processor (NOTE: this limited modification only allows it to function like a Linker Core, but it is still dependent somewhat on mage's mana pool). Basically, for when Reinforce II was acting as Hayate's No.2 instead of being unisoned.
This would allow mages to have robotic assistants while no flouting the rules, allowing mages to be less distracted by command, control and communication issues and stay focused on the field. The Articular Device also possessed some combat capacity, and thus functions as a secondary spell platform.
In the future, the TSAB will begin subtly converting Earth's population to become familiar to incarnations of magic, and thus preparing the ground for a possible transition to Administration. One of the approaches was the embedding of magical technologies in everyday life, and the Articular Device was developed based on the amazing technical genius of one Mihara Ichiro. Technology for the devices, codenamed "Angels", as well as the arcane field projectors, codenamed "Layers", were leaked to the 97th development team under close observation.
As the Device had become an toy, it was soon the preferred secondary device for the several counter-Logia First RespONse Teams (FRONTs) embedded in the population, Nanoka included. This was because the Device could be carried and operated in plain-sight and yet be dismissed as nothing out of the ordinary. The toy also allowed the TSAB to discover budding mages very quickly, and reel them in.
The year is MC 0093. With the Arrancar incident settled, the Wind Squad could refocus on the most unlikely champion that emerge from the device arenas: one unassuming Misaki, and her latent Articular Device Hikaru. It was to be a routine recognition and recruitment mission, but something intervenes. Fingers point to the Piffle Princess Group, the 97th conglomerate that introduced the Devices on the TSAB's behalf. While the TSAB is certain that they are in the dark of things, the girls of the Wind Squad think otherwise.
As they break down each obstacle with overwhelming friendship and firepower, there would be no clue as to what awaits them, on the truth of the 97th's magical dearth, on the origins of magic, on the ugly face of a long-chilled revenge, on the other side of the Looking Glass...
Wind 01 Captain Subaru Nakajima "There's a tale my grandfather told me..."
Wind 03 Lance Corporal Teresa Testarossa "I'm the daughter of a half-cyborg and a superclone. You're saying it's weirder than me?!"
Wind 04 Private Moriyama Nanoka "But this is...!"
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoka
~Kagami no Naka Ni~
The biggest conspiracy in human history will now be revealed...
???: ...keikakudoori...
...wtf did I just do?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
I plan to, which is why I'm still thinking of what to do with her exactly instead of acting on half-assed thoughts that will be abandoned and scrapped quickly after posting. *cough*Mandy*cough*
It's very new technology, osmething unheard of in StrikerS. The Articular Device is essentially Midchilda's take on the Unison Device, but emphasizing more towards being a magical assistant that is less reliant on the Mage and more autonomous as it has special capacitors implemented to its own mana processor (NOTE: this limited modification only allows it to function like a Linker Core, but it is still dependent somewhat on mage's mana pool). Basically, for when Reinforce II was acting as Hayate's No.2 instead of being unisoned.
This would allow mages to have robotic assistants while no flouting the rules, allowing mages to be less distracted by command, control and communication issues and stay focused on the field. The Articular Device also possessed some combat capacity, and thus functions as a secondary spell platform.
In the future, the TSAB will begin subtly converting Earth's population to become familiar to incarnations of magic, and thus preparing the ground for a possible transition to Administration. One of the approaches was the embedding of magical technologies in everyday life, and the Articular Device was developed based on the amazing technical genius of one Mihara Ichiro. Technology for the devices, codenamed "Angels", as well as the arcane field projectors, codenamed "Layers", were leaked to the 97th development team under close observation.
As the Device had become an toy, it was soon the preferred secondary device for the several counter-Logia First RespONse Teams (FRONTs) embedded in the population, Nanoka included. This was because the Device could be carried and operated in plain-sight and yet be dismissed as nothing out of the ordinary. The toy also allowed the TSAB to discover budding mages very quickly, and reel them in.
The year is MC 0093. With the Arrancar incident settled, the Wind Squad could refocus on the most unlikely champion that emerge from the device arenas: one unassuming Misaki, and her latent Articular Device Hikaru. It was to be a routine recognition and recruitment mission, but something intervenes. Fingers point to the Piffle Princess Group, the 97th conglomerate that introduced the Devices on the TSAB's behalf. While the TSAB is certain that they are in the dark of things, the girls of the Wind Squad think otherwise.
As they break down each obstacle with overwhelming friendship and firepower, there would be no clue as to what awaits them, on the truth of the 97th's magical dearth, on the origins of magic, on the ugly face of a long-chilled revenge, on the other side of the Looking Glass...
Wind 01 Captain Subaru Nakajima "There's a tale my grandfather told me..."
It's my naval guns, giving them to the TSAB... (Considering the only Naval Weapon I've seen are the Arcs, and that's 'point whole ship, wait five minutes, shoot', one yield level only, strategic weapon.)
<_<
>_>
I can do that because I own the Sunstars. ^_^;
Tactical Heavy Cannons FTW!
2008-05-04, 10:00
Author
The noble families aren't in charge of Belka.
