Another Horizon IC

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Araki (4, 8)

"Oh…" Dread colored Araki's voice as the sound slipped free as the Rift Beast's projectile transformed and finalized. He could feel the thrum in the air, the pulse of the massive creature's heart that lit the red veins aglow. Just as it lowered its body to aim towards Cykes behind them, Araki also crouched to prepare for the destruction that would accompany the projectile's launch. His hands moved quicker than ever, the streams of water whipping around him with enough force to shatter stone. Eyes glanced aside for a moment to take in the two at his side and with a grimace he figured they needed his protection more than himself.

And then the world shattered with the loudest noise Araki had ever had the displeasure to hear. The sound smashed into him, but even as his world blurred he refused to stumble even a step backwards. With a deep breath, he spun and threw the two streams out to his sides. Expanding as they were set loose, the streams formed into walls of water that carved their path through the cracked ground in front of the two beside him. As he himself came to a halt, Araki dropped to a knee and slammed his hands into the ground beside him; just in time to brace for the projectile passing over head.

The water walls did almost nothing, shattering into mist the moment the compressed air hit it. Araki on the other hand managed to hold his position even if it was far from pleasant. As low as he was the force had simply tried to smash him into the ground rather than lift, and the fact he'd sunk a few inches into the dead ground was rather telling. Rising from the imprint, his first instinct was to glance backwards to see the devastation, but something else required his attention and focus. Throwing his arms up, his eyes narrowed as strands of invisible energy shot out to catch the individual that'd arrived into the clearing with him. The strands quickly wove themselves into an invisible blanket behind the man; one that was strained the moment Raiga crashed into it. With a wince the construct stretched before it snapped apart, and Araki growled in annoyance as he set to weaving it together once more. At the very least he'd managed to bleed a good chunk of the momentum away, but there was still more he could do.

Despite his attention being mostly focused on making sure Raiga didn't eat a few meters of dirt on landing at the moment, Araki nonetheless yelled out, "If anyone needs protection, I'll stick close!"
 
(5, 6)

As everyone prepared to leave the city Verek reached out his arms as if to carry someone, "We'll need to move fast sis, hop on." he said to Ashe. Once she was securely in his grip he took off at a talentium enhanced run, though was noticeably slower than the unimpeded runners. Only Raela, with her scythe, was close to them, evidently encumbered by the weapon. A few hundred metres from the monster's location he came to a stop and allowed Ashe to climb down and set up her equipment. He drew his knife and prepared their defense, a sword's length of ice growing from the weapon's tip as he gently spun it at his side. "We should be fine here to observe." he said, peering over the trees at their foe. He didn't expect any trouble given the city's defenders and the rest of the party distracting it.

It was quickly apparent that he had spoken too soon and had made a very wrong assumption, as the beast began its next attack. No longer firing into the sky it opted for a more horizontal shot at the city, with the siblings right in between. "We've got too move!" he called out to Ashe. Before he could the two attacks were launched and he was throw into the air, rapidly flying towards the beast's battlefield, even higher than it was. "Bastards." he cursed as the city briefly spun into view. He then spun around and received a good view of the monster's back with its odd sphere and liquid muscles. Another spin and he could see his sister nearby also in the air. He was sure there was a way he could get out of the situation easily with the talentium alone. Angling his 'jetpack' he pushed some mana into the runes and a quick burst sent him towards her. "Catch my hand Ashe!" he yelled as he passed by close, stretching out an arm. Raela would have to save herself.

Whether he caught her or not his next action was the same. With the ice gone from his dagger he pointed it at one of the beasts protruding horns, "Jörmungandr!" The dagger unraveled into a thread and shot out to the spike, wrapping around it tightly. The tip stabbed into what looked like a crack between two stone like bits of skin and hopefulyl secured itself. If all went well the dagger would hold his and his sister's weight as they spun around with the dagger acting as a rope, squeezing the spike but likely doing not damage. With another burst from his 'jetpack' he launched himself onto the beast's foreleg landing on the hard skin. 'Safely' on a surface of sorts the dagger returned to its original form. If Ashe was with him he'd force a smile through the fear and comment, "This close enough to observe?"
 
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Though she was eager to charge ahead, Raela took it upon herself to stick with the individuals who had lagged behind, keeping pace with them despite their slowness. That was a really lie though; she hadn't eaten soon enough, and was actually just a bit tired. Still, she maintained a cheerful disposition, practically marching to the rift-beast's location, a spring in her high step.

Raela was about to speak to her comrades when the words were literally blown away. Mere seconds later, Raela too was uplifted and launched an untold distance backwards. Ears ringing and body spinning through the air, she had a hard time collecting her thoughts to coherently gauge the situation. Only a single word ran through her mind as she was blown about.

Shit.

Before she could even touch ground, a second hurricane-like gust pushed her, once more, in the opposite direction, this one being a great deal more powerful than before. As she soared through the sky, Raela managed to right herself enough to witness the ground speeding towards her, along with her target rift-beast. Just seconds before she reached the dirt, Raela activated her sword art. instantly freezing time itself. The world became a dull grey, and the sun was awash with blackness. Twisting herself in position, she pointed her feet to the ground and deactivated the effect, eliminating her momentum and allowing her to touch ground with a dull thud.

With a flick, she tried righting her hair after the ordeal and exhaled harshly. "Phew!" she exclaimed, seemingly unperturbed by the catapulting she'd just suffered.

"Situation report?" she said to no one in particular.
 
Elthrad Raske
Current Position: (5,6)

The monster would not be easy to fell, Elthrad could see that. At least nobody had done anything stupid. As he prepared to respond to the others, ready to state the need to find a vital point quickly, the rift beast crouched forward, its attention seemed to shift to them and the half-elf suddenly realized how exposed his central position was. Before he could do anything to rectify the error, the creature… smiled and Elthrad bent his knees and leaned forward, raising his sword in a useless defensive position.

The heat of the attack passing so close overhead seared his skin, and the force threatened to knock him aside like a toy, but he dug in his heels, refusing to yield as the pressure pushed him further into the dead earth. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed that the attack had been turned aside by the Dansilans, but how long could they maintain such an absolute defense? The path of destruction the burning sphere had left in its wake made his elven blood boil with rage. When combined with his logical human blood, he was forced into action.

Not pausing to talk tactics, he sprung forward, kicking up dead soil as his feet tore from the ground. It had been less than a few seconds since the shot passed over him, and the beast was still crouched forward, its head held lower to the ground. He was not the fastest, but he quickly closed the distance. Once he was within range for his attack, he hefted his falchion over one shoulder.

"Falling Oak!" With his sword skill thoroughly shouted, he lunged over ten meters into the air with augmented strength, rising above the creature, then fell towards it with the weight of an object ten times his mass. His sword readied for a punishing downward chop across its head.
 
Ashe was out of the city along with the others, but this was not a case where it would stay so. Verek had offered to carry her, and, figuring she was tired enough as it was without her own abilities of flight wearing her down, plopped down in his arms, feeling like a princess. While she was a tad fidgety from the closeness, Ashe also wore the dopey expression of an overly pleased child; her brother always knew how to treat her right, that was for certain The rest of the group rushed ahead at varying speeds; the ones to be left behind being herself, Verek, and Raela.

Verek let her down as Raela raced past them. Ashe did as she was instructed by her brother, and began to undo the straps to her bag. She wouldn't get far, however, as the attacks from both sides rushed them. Ashe rolled out to the side, clutching her bag to her chest, yet never touched the ground as she and the other two were launched from the gust of the defending attack. Panic overtaking as the oozing monster's back came closer and closer. She briefly forgot the functioning runetech she had embedded on her person, and again did as she was told, latching onto her brother's hand. Seeing as Verek latched a literal chain to the beast and was pulling them even closer to the monster, she thought better of his command and let go.

Reason and logic only now setting in for the girl, she activated her limited powers of flight, and gave chase after her accelerated brother. She grabbed him, narrowly missing the blonde man unleashing his sword skill, with the intention of carrying him back across the barrier of trees. Yet, as fate and her levels of exhaustion would have it, her flight powers deactivated on their own accord and they took a tumble to the ground. Recovering to her feet from the fall, she looked over at her brother, worry apparent from the face she was giving him. "Not funny, Verek." she said in response to his bravado. "Now, the top of this thing looks liquid..." she continued to say, ignoring all pretense of their previous assignment, and not feeling any fear despite their proximity to the unorthodox rift-beast. "You think you could manage to freeze it if I got you to the top?" Ashe figured that, with her combined powers of flight and super strength -- and the last burst of stamina she would get from the adrenaline coursing through her veins -- the least she could do was fling her brother up there if her wind manipulation powers didn't hold off again til then. But, she would also not do this if her brother didn't agree, and would turn tail at the drop of a hat if that's what Verek wanted to do.

(6,6)
 
Alexa gnashed her teeth in worried frustration as the behemoth of a Rift Beast sent Verek, Ashe, and Raela flying with the aftershock of its attack. Bloody hell, if just the shockwave from the blast could do that, actually being hit by the meteor would be catastrophic. Whatever their plan, they would have to strike fast. She didn't know if the Rift Beast could keep its assault on the city up, but Courtright and Seyour certainly couldn't defend it forever. Eventually, they would tire, and one projectile would find its way past their defences. Glancing next to her, she took Charlotte's words into consideration for a moment, glaring intently at the beast.

"If we can open up a deep enough wound, probably. The main issue is going to be getting through that thing's hide." Alexa tightened her grip on her sword, frowning as she saw the three students that were sent flying come back down to the ground, with Verek and Ashe being above the beast itself. Wait...that was it! Aerial attacks! The lumbering behemoth was practically a stationary target at this point. With its size and lack of movement, they couldn't possibly miss from the air.

"Get up high and come down on the beast!" Alexa yelled across the battlefield, crouching down. "We'll strike with greater impact the faster we fall!" She followed up on Elthrad's blow, leaping up into the air herself and imbuing her blade with lightning as she came down on the titan, striking at the Rift Beast like a thunderbolt.

(5,6)
 
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Raiga --> left edge of 6,5
​
The shockwave came from nowhere, and before Raiga couldn't even think of anything to counter the move, a blast of air effortlessly thrown him up a few metres into the air. How... how was it possible for it to do that? He'd expected this thing to be powerful, but this was ridiculous! Desperately trying to manoeuvre his boots to the ground so he wouldn't land painfully and break any bones, but it was no use. He was going to land against the hard, dried floor on his back... and it was going to hurt like hell.

Suddenly, he felt a soothing force against his back as he was about to hit the ground... almost like a blanket. However, Raiga could abruptly feel it break as his body pushed against this... invisible blanket. Nonetheless, his momentum had been slowed enough for him to land back onto his feet (at square 8,5); his ears were still ringing like mad from the loud blast, and he couldn't hear a thing. Rubbing his head, he looked to the young boy, who'd presumably saved him using magic. He would have called 'Thank you!', but he was still somewhat deafened by the shockwave blast. Raiga gave a thankful grin and a thumbs up to Araki, before instantly snapping his attention back to the Rift Beast.

By the looks of things, Elthrad had made the first blow. Raiga gave a quick smile to himself; it seemed he'd met quite a brave companion. This was the opportunity Raiga was waiting for - a Rift Beast wasn't smart enough to deflect blows from all directions. He dashed across the floor, heading towards the Rift Beast with a determined flash in his eye. Araki's save had given Raiga the time to get back onto his feet and fight; this Rift Beast was going to say hello to one of Raiga's most powerful techniques.

"Mask'aia Dren-Sengai..." Raiga mumbled as he ran towards the Rift Beast's stone-coated body, clenching his fist tightly and readying his body position. Wait for the right moment... for the right moment... for the right moment... NOW!

"Flying Drill Fist!" Raiga yelled, his body launching from the scorched earth with incredible speed as he threw all of his strength into his left arm, spinning in the air, aiming straight for the lower body of the Rift Beast. This uppercut was so powerful Raiga could feel energy heating his left arm, making his gauntlet glow slightly golden. Ideally, this huge thing would be launched into the air, making it vulnerable to other attacks. Perhaps it'd even land back on its side. In the likely event it would remain grounded, however, Raiga was sure his most powerful technique would damage it somewhat.

It was time to see how tough this thing really was. ​
 
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And there it came, his attack, something the maid butler had expected, yet, there was nothing she could have prepared herself for. Maybe it was something to be expected, after using actually ranged attacks, was it so bizarre that it could mix up its attack pattern? No, not at all, yet the black hair was not fully prepared what was about to come. An attack that carried the force to split a mountain, an attack that every single one of them could feel lucky about that they weren't the main target, no, they only had to deal with the feedback, feedback comparable to a storm.

"Urgh..." Her vision became blurry for a good amount of time, her ears felt like being shattered into a thousand pieces, yet, the maid butler refused to move. She stood her ground firmly, it was hard, and it honestly felt like her lack of power was compensated with sheer will... . After what felt like a minute of only hearing her own heart bumping, it seemed over, the beast completed its attack, for now. That was a chance. A chance some of the other combatans already seized, they shouted, moved, attacked. And just like them, Aresia had to do the very same. Though doubting she would get past its defenses without using full power, the young woman decided for a more supportive role.

Locking her view onto the beast like a bird of prey onto mouse, Aresia started to move sideways, out of its face, mumbling, yet clearly understandable. "Ice Banisher..." She would make sure to not let it execute such a powerful, or anything else of similar power, again.

Coordinates: 3,3
 
Charlotte grimaced as the beast smiled. Unfortunately, the beast's facial expressions did more harm than Charlotte's, as she watched in horror as a shockwave sent her friends tumbling through the air like leaves. She had her utmost faith that Verek and Raela could shake it off, but she never had the best impressions of Ashe's combat ability. Hopefully she wouldn't get wrecked. Regardless, things weren't looking good if that rift beast could do such damage by just contorting its face. It was time for a solution, and fast, but Charlotte didn't have one.

Alexa's idea wasn't all much better either; the beast was fairly tall, and the required height, even with some manipulation of weight was a fairly daunting task. But there wasn't much of an option; a simple glance at its hide told her that simply whacking it would take far too long to produce very much damage. She sighed, but followed up with her own intentions.

"Right. I'll take its flank, maybe it's weaker there." Making good on that intention, she swung her polearm once, letting the talentium blade hit the ground just as she jumped and shifted the weight of the lance away. The maneuver brought her airborne (much to her dislike), and spinning twice, put all her weight on the lance as she came down on the behind of the beast like a pile driver.

Hopefully nobody stepped backwards into her attack.

(4,4)
 
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The impact that Elthrad braced for, as he fell through the skies cleaving downwards, was almost non-existent. In a single strike, his Talentium sword sliced cleanly through the head of the beast, slicing it into two halves almost perfectly. An instant later, with a thunderous roar, Alexa's lightning-enhanced blade struck downwards, intersecting with Elthrad's own slash to divide the head of the rift-beast into four relatively equal quarters.

At almost the same time, a great force shook the entirety of the beast, its head falling off from the impact of Raiga's powerful punch. The entirety of its massive body flew up into the air, a dozen or so meters as its body did an almost lazy somersault, the contents of its back now clear to the rest of warriors of that particular expedition. It was red flesh, burning so hot that it could have been melted, soaked with energy. Its six legs, uprooted by Raiga's Flying Drill Fist, had countless appendages, fanning out like the roots of a tree. And its massive, glistening horn was now flipped around, pointed directly towards Aresia.

In that moment, it felt as if gravity had increased tenfold, everyone's limbs feeling weighed down by an inexplicable exhaustion, all of them incapable of moving or attacking as they were before…except for Charlotte who had already become airborne to strike down the launched beast. With a mighty strike, her polearm pierced into the body of the massive monster, driving it downwards at a speed much faster than what gravity would have naturally done.

And, just like that, Charlotte created another 'meteor', much, much, much bigger than before.

It was an impact powerful enough that the ground itself bent inwards, and that the reverse effect of hitting the ground translated into an opposing force that sent Charlotte flying dozens of meters into the air. A shower of dust created a hazy smokescreen, making it almost impossible to tell what had happened.

But, the more pressing concern was this.

Who was still standing after such a powerful impact?
 
Araki (4, 8)


For all the talk of strategy, apparently it boiled down to simply hitting the Rift Beast with all manners of Sword Skills after its attack had passed. To his surprise, the manifested feats proved to be enough to devastate the creature and he watched in surprise as its head was cleaved apart before its body ripped from the ground and thrown to the air. Whatever triumph he might have felt was quickly wiped away by the immense pressure he felt from above, his feet sinking further into the dead ground as gravity's effects intensified many folds on him. A glance upwards revealed the person he assumed to be responsible for the change, her lance striking downwards, and Araki snarled, "Are you s-" Whatever else he had to say was drowned out in the catastrophic crash as the Rift Beast's body was slammed back into the ground like one of its own projectiles.

Coughing, Araki clawed his way out of the wave of dirt the impact had driven out of the crater. Surfacing, he quickly discovered that visibility had basically dropped to zero with the dust that had been raised from the impact. Stepping forward quickly revealed that while his body wasn't mangled, he also hadn't escaped unscathed; nearly collapsing to his knees from the loss of balance. The fact that effect that intensified gravity hadn't disappeared only made it much closer to a fall than a stumble. With a scowl, he slowly lowered himself to the ground and took a seat as he waited for his head to clear and the effects to dissipate.

In the mean time he began to move his hands in circular motions, stirring the air around him and clearing what he could of the dust cloud that'd been thrown up. While he wanted to search for the others, he'd be stumbling around blind assuming he didn't eat dirt after the first few steps. It was irritating, but he could already feel his head clearing somewhat; the headache dulling, his hearing returning, and such. The pressure noentheless refused to abate in the slightest and Araki could feel his body groan in protest to the increased strain.
 
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Of course, things had to go a little worse than that. For, in the few seconds she took to launch and execute her attack, the massive beast had become airborne. Now, this was no problem in itself; she didn't think her attack had enough blunt force to strike the beast down to the ground. So when her hit landed with a resounding blow, she hardly expected the very force of her blow to drive the beast downwards almost tenfold, such that it seemed the body of the rift beast itself would become a weapon if it hit the ground.

Maybe I overdid it a little.

Having apparently set forth the impossible into motion, Charlotte could only watch in horror as the beast connected with the ground, its impact powerful enough to send shockwaves through the ground and throwing up a daunting cloud of dust. And a second later, that shockwave hit Charlotte, sending her airborne a tad bit higher than it was for comfort.

Clutching onto her lance for dear life, she somersaulted through the air with a panicked scream. Too busy fearing for own safety to care about the others for the moment, she tried to look for some bushes or some hay to land softly on, but it was wooded forest all over.

"What kind of luck is this!?" cursing the heavens, she tried to make herself as light as possible as she reached the zenith of her flight, towards some trees that looked mighty prickly. Despite all her panic and yelling, she was able to stop flailing about as she continued to sail over the treetops. Charlotte managed to point her weapon in front of her, so maybe she would break her arms instead of her neck, and a moment later, she came down on a tall oak tree with a loud crack.

A flock of birds flew out of the oak.

Somehow, the branches had cushioned the fall without spearing Charlotte completely. Instead, she became entangled in the tree with her clothes scratched and torn, and her lance just out of reach on a few branches below. Overall, she was in a bit of a sorry state. All was not lost of course. She was alive, but she still couldn't say the same for the others yet, nor could she confirm such a thing from the confines of a thicket of leaves.

"Hello, is anybody still alive? Uh, help."
 
For a moment, everything was going well. Alexa and Elthrad's combined attack had cut the monster's head up into ribbons, and that foreign brawler had punched the beast so hard it was toppling over. Just a little more. Once the thing was down on its side, everyone could move in and finish it off. Alexa started to charge up a bolt of lightning in her free hand, but as she raised her arm to fire, she suddenly felt that she could barely lift the limb. Her entire body started to have a familiarly heavy feeling...oh no.

"Charlotte, you blasted idiot..." Alexa gasped as she looked up, watching Charlotte come pirouetting down upon the beast from above, using her gravity Sword Arts to increase the velocity at which she fell. Just before the beast hit the ground from the force of Charlotte's attack, Alexa could only ironically reflect on the fact that this was probably her fault; she'd been the one who'd had the idea to attack from above in the first place.

And a crater was made.

___

Some moments later, Alexa opened her eyes, groaning as she struggled to rise to her feet. After a quick inspection of herself, it seemed that she'd been lucky enough to not have anything actually land on her. However, the sheer force of the Rift Beast's impact had floored her, and pain wracked her body as she made it halfway up to her feet before dropping down to a crouch, exhausted.

"Hello, is anybody still alive? Uh, help." Charlotte's voice cried out from somewhere, causing Alexa to narrow her eyes.

"Going to kill you, see if you get any pay from our next job..." Alexa grumbled as she used her sword as a crutch to force herself back onto her feet, putting her weight on it to avoid falling back down.

(5,6)
 
{6, 7}

"I can't freeze it myself." Verek began in reply to his sister's question, "But it's skin looks like stone. We could probably carve some runes into it if we got up there." He looked up to calculate whether they could make it that far, and saw the duo of intelligent attacks that seemingly ended the beast's life. Which were followed by a duo of less intelligent ones that gave it a new purpose as a meteor. The red flesh was clearly visible though thankfully appeared to be solid enough to fall down on them like rain. Verek's first instinct was to run but the sudden pressure that crushed him down killed that idea. Is this the heat of its back? Would we have flown miles high if we passed over it in the air?

Digging a hand into his pocket he tossed the scraps of paper onto the ground and poured mana into them. The first transformed the ground beneath the siblings into a bowl. The rest formed a pillar of stone that lifted the bowl like a hand on an arm and pushed the pair rapidly away, the bowl travelling just above the ground. It still wasn't fast enough to escape the beast's accelerated drop. As it slammed into the ground the stone arm was shattered by the force and Verek was thrown skywards by the collision. All he could see was smoke and rubble, not even which way he was facing. Sharp shards of rock cute his hands and face, exposed as they were, and a much sharper pain erupted in his leg. It wasn't until gravity took over that he knew which was was down, below his head.

A hand managed to hit the lever on his belt and shift the jetpack horizontally. A small burst spun him just before impact and he slammed into the ground back first. His head was only partly protected from the impact and his vision disappeared as his consciousness fled temporarily. Somehow he hadn't lost his knife in all that had happened, probably because the blade was firmly lodged in his own upper thigh.
 
"You have a sword art of ice, yet can't freeze things?" Ashe sighed at her brother's admission, yet began to formulate which runes would be most effective in this situation anyway with Verek's suggestion. She was starring at the ground, hands to both hips in thought. It was because of this, that she had missed the fact that the beast had been launched, and that it was being launched back toward the ground. It was only with the ensuing increase of force on her body that she looked up to see what had happened, but by then, Verek had already sent them launching in small bout of runetech.

Still, the proximity which they were to the beast, and the rate at which gravity took it back to the ground meant they were unable to outrun the creature's drop entirely, and the pair were launched into the air as their means of locomotion was destroyed on impact. Despite the rising dust and fear of death which surrounded the girl, Ashe still saw her brother floating in front of her. In that moment of preservation, she grabbed him by an extended leg, and with a single spin; and the last of her energy supplying her strength-enhancing runetech, she launched him to the side of the bowl that had been formed. Hoping it was enough, Ashe fell.

The witch wasn't sure of how far the ground was from her, or the length of time for which she was in free fall. Yet throughout the process of descent, she racked up innumerable bruises and cuts; and a minor concussion as well. With a sickening crunch, and a seemingly endless tumble down the side of the bowl did she finally arrive at her ill-fated destination. She screamed in pain the entire way down; ending with a jutting bone apparent from her left forearm, and a sinking of cloth into where the skin should have been on her right elbow. Through the still settling dust and ebbing flow of consciousness did she here a familiar voice in utterance to itself. "A-Alex-a..." she managed to weakly call out to the girl before collapsing under the unseen pressure.
 
Elthrad Raske
Current Position: (5,7)

Like a hot knife through butter, Elthrad's falchion met no resistance as it split the baleful creature's head in twain. In fact, he was so unprepared for the ease of his attack that it through him completely off balance. Instead of landing on his feet, he barely managed to move his sword out and away from his body before he flopped face-first into the dead earth… with the force of an object ten times his mass. The impact sent pain coursing throughout his body, and loose rocks had stabbed into his unarmored torso, but he didn't think anything was broken. With a muffled groan, he tried to push up from the ground, but he didn't get far before he felt a massive weight settle on his back, sapping his strength.

A surprised grunt escaped the knight's mouth as he collapsed back against the ground, unable to see what was happening above him. At first he thought that the rift beast had stepped on him, but he realized that he was being pulled down not pushed down. Strange and violent sounds were coming from above. I have to get my bearings, if I could jus- his thought was interrupted by an explosion of force from very nearby. The very earth was peeled back by the power of the impact as whatever caused it sank deeper and deeper. Unable to catch a break, he was thrown through the air with the tons of detritus. He landed at the lip of the crater with a bone jarring impact, but it was not as powerful as his own critical failure earlier so there wasn't much added damage.

Half-buried and sore to no end, he tried to speak but ended up coughing instead as dust crowded his lungs, finally managing to clear his lungs he spoke. "Is it dead yet?"

Perhaps that was a little optimistic of him, but he wasn't ready to move let alone fight after that ordeal.
 
Raiga -- 6,5​

Raiga gave a groan, completely unsure what had just happened. He was half-buried in dust; one of his ears was bleeding, and his head was spinning like crazy. Blinking as the blurred world soon came back into focus, Raiga dragged himself back to his feet, standing with a hunched back, wiping a little blood away from his mouth. It had to be dead. It had been attacked from almost all sides at once... the last thing Raiga could remember was hitting it high into the air with his Flying Drill Fist, before suddenly the earth beneath him collapsed with incredible energy. He'd then passed out for a brief moment, and then woken up to this. Thanks to his manipulation of dust, he'd managed to stop himself from being completely buried... but... what had happened? His whole body was littered in a collage of small cuts, and it took some magic to stop dust from stuffing itself inside his open wounds.

Raiga then feel over as soon as he'd stood up; his left leg - he couldn't walk on it. Looking down, Raiga cursed under his breath as he crawled onto his back - his kneecap was right where it shouldn't be. Raiga squinted as he looked around... the crater - it was this big? He couldn't crawl his way back up on a dislocated or maybe even broken leg. Finally, Raiga heard the voices, but he'd be damned if he could make them out. The situation was terrible, but... judging by the still body of the Rift Beast, they'd done it. By no means was it an easy victory - but they'd done it. Surely.

Raiga took a deep breath. He'd try and do something useful to help, the situation, at least. People could be buried under the dust surrounding him; even though he was exhausted from using the Flying Drill Fist and, you know, being right near the centre of a gargantuan impact.
"Any... body - *Cough!* Anybody... around?" He croaked. Concentrating his energy and waving his right arm left and right, he waved away a top layer of the dust in the areas around him (squares 6.4, 6.6 and 7.5), hopefully uncovering anybody that couldn't breathe thanks to the dust.

Raiga was all dirt and blood, with a pair of white eyes sticking out. This thing better be dead. But he was never expecting this to be easy; what didn't kill you, made you stronger. Right?
 
Raela pumped a fist as she witnessed her team do all the work on their own. Still, she felt proud of having participated in even the slightest sense. Merely bearing witness to individuals around her age taking down an unprecedented Rift Beast was an honor, and though she had at least wished to get a few hits on the thing, she was satisfied.

"Yea! Take it dow-Uwaaaaa!" Before she could finish her cheer, realizing that the massive entity was bearing down upon the earth with tremendous speed, she immediately knew it was time to go. With wide eyes she turned and ran, rightfully unsure if anyone was going to take it up themselves to stop the Rift Beast's earth-shattering plummet. Sprinting back into the forest, she realized it wouldn't be enough; she only had a split second to even turn around before she realized the falling speed was far too fast to allow her cover in the woods.

She once again swiveled to face the future impact point and prepared, planting her feet and holding her scythe at the ready. Eyes keen on the very important moment of touchdown, she waited to activate her sword art. The moment the beast hit the dirt, she activated Timeless Waning, freezing the cloud of debris just before her. Little was visible through it all, so she hoped her next action was enough to disperse the majority of the beast's upheaval.

Spinning the scythe around in great, powerful, fast arcs, she built up a burst of wind, slicing at the cloud in a split second. As she released the art, an airburst pushed away the immediate vicinity of debris, though the remaining shockwave carried with it an equal amount. Raela was swept off her feet and pelted with rocks and dirt, though fared much better than the others who were on the ground at the time.

Location (9,6)

As she came to from the ordeal, Raela found herself slumped against the trunk of a bent tree. Before she could rise, she found herself crying out in pain and rooted to the tree. Looking to her side, she found the issue; her scythe had been flung into her shoulder, penetrating it and sinking into the tree. With a wrench and a groan, she pried it from her body and rose on wobbling legs. Dispersing the scythe, she limped closer towards the crater, surveying what she could through the lingering cloud of dust.

A few figures could be made out under the rubble at the peak of the crater, and Raela took to quickly unearthing them. With an outstretched hand, she offered to lift Verek from his back before working towards rousing Ashe from unconsciousness. She did it in silence, her lungs choked by the clout, but gave it her all, despite the crippled limb and weakened energy.
 
And as the maid butler waited for a counter-move, the others executed their attack. As she saw how easily they dealt with it, slicing it head with ease followed by putting it airborne, Aresia gave off a small sigh, that is exactly what she had expected. Basically it only had size, and maybe a devastating long range attack, but just a few of them were more than capable of dealing with this threat. In the end she got a bit worked up for nothing. "What a bother..."

That said though, she also let her guard down, leading to an unnatural increase in gravity, no, it felt similar to another feeling she knew just too well...was that thing actually taking away her life force?! Maybe the horn pointing towards her? "IGNITION!" Aresia wasn't sure about her timing, the beast did literally nothing except getting pushed around. But now it already seemed to late? Her Ice Banisher hit nothing. The drain was still there. Fuck. To make matters even worse, as the beast was slowly falling, Charlotte decided to help. Increasing its speed tenfold. With no time to react, no time to defend and no time to dodge, the combat butler was blown away.

...

Aresia wasn't sure how many things she hit and when she came to a stop. But her entire body hurt, even so, no matter how much damage her body had gone through, it would have never been comparable to her suit, that was now ruined. "Charlotte..." The other reason she didn't bother fighting...but now, the maid butler would make sure her the pay of her partner would go towards compensating her suit...if she was even still alive. Looking around, Aresia wasn't sure how much she flew, but she could clearly see the end of the forest a few metres away. So...the thing was dead, or was it? Thinking about it now, the maid butler doubted it, as it was apparently still using some sort of trick after its head getting cut in two. But a rift beast using actual magic...? Well, everything was now possible with that thing. For now, Aresia decided to make her way back towards the crater.
 
The silence was broken, not by the unanswered cries of those within the dust-shrouded crater, nor by those on the outskirts of it, but by one very definitive, heavy thump. That thump, almost like a drumbeat, was quickly followed by another, another, another, another, until five more thumps were made, and a massive figure arose from the smokescreen. Like an airship cresting over a cloud, wisps of dusk streamed off the sides of the rift beast as it stood upwards, even though its rock-like limbs were bent backwards and its head was all but destroyed. Its horn scraped against the ground, and it looked as if, instead of righting itself after falling on its back, it had risen up the same way, towering over the individuals who were now crippled by its impact.

Slowly, its vibrant red flesh began to drip downwards, the liquid muscle falling off and creating a hot pool that had the viscousity of honey or glue. Unable to resist, those nearby were stuck where they were, pinned by the contents that spilled from its 'cauldron' and it was, from below the beast, that they could clearly see the red sphere within its body.

Now no longer covered by the liquid 'flesh', the red sphere looked almost like that of a fruit, suspended by countless gossamer threads that extended from its smooth surface to the black 'cup' that surrounded it. It glowed dimly, and, very faintly, a sound very much like a heartbeat could be heard.

As the sensation of 'gravity' increased, furthering making it diffcult for those within the fleshy trap to escape, more threads extended from the sphere and plastered itself against the sides of the black beast, and the heartbeat began to pound louder and louder, before finally, a pillar-like foot was raised, ready to stomp down on Alexa.

The beast was still alive, and, unlike those that had fought it, seemed unaffected by the fall.
 
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