Dry Heat p3 [Job/Tenma]

The Job:

Tenma and Zadi had just defeated the group of hostile scorpion using more time to get back and forth from the Black Pyramid. However, even in the small amount of time it took to take care of the scorpions, Tenma and Zadi came to a pyramid under attack by around four large, winged serpents. Rather odd how quickly things developed so things were stating to look a little different for Zadi. The Black Pyramid must be a pretext for the attacks taking place, either to stop the construction of the pyramid or to take it over. Maybe some other reason, too, but Zadi couldn't make them out with how little focus he had on the matter. Instead, Zadi focused on the attacking and where the serpents were moving and striking. Didn't take long to figure out they the serpents were targeting and subsequently attacking people, not the construction equipment. Zadi also figured out that the serpents were just harming the people rather than eating them for sustenance. If the serpents were hungry, then they would be picking off people and dragging them back to their nest, wherever that may be.

"Someone must be behind these attacks. No creature is naturally this hostile and wasteful for that matter. I don't see anything odd physically about the creatures, just like the scorpions. I also don't see anyone strange within sight. Ah! Whatever. Might as well just help out these poor people."

Zadi made his way towards the two most severely injured and healed them using Nature's Focused Healing. At the same time, Zadi used Summoned Butler in order to fight a serpent that was about to attack Zadi. The butler just blocked the serpent's advances without hurting it, for the time being. Zadi wanted to know more about these deranged creatures before putting them out of their misery. While the butler held off the attacking serpent, Zadi continued to try and heal the two most likely to die from their injuries if left untreated. Things weren't looking too good for the Black Pyramid's reputation, just as the priest must have worried. The more that die, the less that come. Obvious logic, for nobody would want to come to such a dangerous place if creatures always attacked.

After successfully healing the two that needed Zadi's help the most, Zadi turned towards the ever frustrated serpent that was being blocked by the Summoned Butler. Zadi finally decided to use his Wildman Charm in order to communicate with the creature, unlike with the scorpions. Zadi didn't think much of the scorpions for he only thought they were being territorial or were having their mating season, something along those lines. However, this time, things were different; Zadi could now tell that the creatures this time around weren't in their right mind. Anyway, Zadi didn't think he'd get much from trying to communicate but trying never hurt, so far, "Calm down! Nobody will hurt you if you stop attacking and leave! Please come to your senses!"

The serpent's eyes seemed ever full of rage and frustration as it yelled, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" over and over again without reason. After responding to Zadi, it attempted to do a Vicious Strike towards Zadi, but the Summoned Butler also attacked, clashing and overpowering the serpent with a strong punch, killing the creature. Zadi didn't feel very good about this, much like in Buer with the mantis-people. However, Zadi didn't know how to heal minds. All he could do was fight off the rest of the creatures with Tenma and get whatever information from their bodies as possible.

280 magoi/stamina

Tech(s):

Item(s):

WC 597/1,500

This was clearly frustrating for the swordsman and his companion as they found another creature in the area, now were attacking the pyramid. The look of Tenma’s eyes was definitely different as it became colder and looked annoyed, his usual mysterious smile was not there and instead, he was just frowned upon seeing the chaos. People tried to run away only to be attacked by the creature which looked like a serpent. Luckily for them, his companion, Zadi Medmar had ability to heal, and the moment he cast his healing spell, Tenma couldn’t help but feel a little bit relieved. Nothing was more frustrating than having an injured ‘hostages’ around them which could make it hard for them to attack the creature. Tenma only watched Zadi, waiting for the right moment for him to strike. He was pretty amused by the ability of the blonde man, apparently, a magician could summon a human looking butler that would protect the master from any danger.

Judging from the situation, clearly the one eyed man couldn’t afford to use the Lava shield’s ability anymore if he didn’t want to make the other people to be caught in the lava wave. He closed his eye for a second and took a deep breath before opened his eye again only to see his companion attempted to do something towards the creatures. It looked like his companion choosing the peaceful way first rather than to start attacking them, and it looked like that he was having some kind of conversation with them. It seemed futile because after that, the serpent attempted to attack him. Tenma’s hands were on his Katana, one was holding the sheathe while another was holding the handle of the Katana itself. He was ready to defend his companion by slashing the serpent but it seemed the butler was quick enough to protect his master.

By seeing that, Tenma was sure that he could just go by himself without worrying about his comrade. “Zadi. Do what is necessary.” He said it, but his tone was not commanding, it was more into a worry since when he saw the blonde man might be attempting to converse with the creature, Tenma could feel some kind of uneasiness even though it was not his right to judge like that. However, this had turned into a battlefield, where doubt could be the thing that would kill you. He just hoped that this would end soon or there would be no peace for the pyramid and the pilgrims, at least he knew that the pyramid was some kind of sacred symbol for them and if it got fully destroyed alongside with the beliefs of its follower, then Heliohapt would probably in chaos. He began to wonder if this was the cultist doing, they were pretty sly and didn’t care about another people who was not following their God, but he had no prove so he would just mentally noting it if in case it had some kind of relation.

The swordsman would focusing his gaze to the farthest serpent and then ran to it, he planned to give the blonde man a wide area which was enough for him if in case he wanted to cast his magic. Then when he was on the way, one of the serpents which was second farthest attempted to sent Vicious Strike but it was quickly parried by Tenma. However, as if the swordsman ignoring the serpent who was attacking him, he reached for his throwing knife and threw a knife towards the farthest serpent which would made it collapsed after the knife hit its head directly. His gaze would be back towards the serpent in front of him and he stayed still, listening to those eerie hisses while waiting if the serpent would want to attack him.

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WC: 636/1500
Magoi : 250/300

Ability Used:

Tenma must have understood what Zadi was trying to do with the serpent, because he told Zadi to get a move on knowing that it wouldn't make a difference to try and communicate with the ravage serpents. However, Zadi wasn't satisfied with just communicating with them. Zadi had to look into their past and try to figure out exactly what had happened to them. This time he knew that he would get something, even if he got seemingly nothing. If Zadi's Clairvoyance magic was blocked, then he knew that there was a conspiracy going on. Unfortunately, looking into the past and actually finding something would be better than being blocked off from it. Anyway, Zadi knelt down, got some blood from the dead serpent in front of him, the one he tried to speak to earlier, and placed the drop of blood on his reflective shield, specifically the inside of the shield. What Zadi saw turned out to be less helpful than he had originally thought possible.

Zadi used Decipher and looked into when the creatures turned into crazy kills and found something very strange; from one moment, they all seemed to be relaxed and acting naturally. Suddenly, a split second later, they all felt an urgent need to "reclaim the land that is rightfully ours". Having looked into the past as if he was the creature, he too suddenly felt a need to "reclaim the land that is rightfully ours". until he stopped looking into the past knowing that nothing would come of it. The instance felt like it took a while to recover from, though the Clairvoyance spell only lasts for a moment or two. The information wasn't all that helpful. Zadi couldn't tell why the creatures felt so sudden about wanting to reclaim their land. There was no fear surrounding their desire. Just an urgent need, sort like a lust. A hunger that couldn't be satiated by conventional means. All very strange, and rather useless for the time being. Perhaps life magic was used to alter their wants, but Zadi didn't see anyone or anything nearby within the serpent's past to indicate foul play.

Zadi shook off the experience and looked around to look for other severely injured pedestrians. Zadi sustained Nature's Focused Healing and healed two more severally injured folks, again having his Summoned Butler, also sustained, keep blocking the attacks of the serpents. The second serpent to try and disturb Zadi tried to Rapidly Slither past the wooden butler, but because the butler was just too quick, the serpent was blocked as usual. The summoned butler was just too strong to ignore, so the serpent attempted to Viciously Strike the annoyance. As per usual, the wooden butler created from Zadi's ring, Spriggan's Call, simply clashed with as little power as necessary, perfectly parrying the serpent. Zadi wished he could legitimately communicate with the creatures, but knowing that even the creatures didn't know why they wanted to "reclaim the land that is rightfully theirs," he would just stop trying. That is, after he healed more people in need of attention. Zadi just hoped that Tenma wouldn't try and rush Zadi and kill the serpent before Zadi had a chance to personally deal with it *cough cough* *wink wink* *hint hint*.

210 magoi/stamina

Tech(s):

WC 1,135/1,500

The man with his glowing golden orb couldn’t stop staring at the sapphire orbs which were stacked neatly at the serpent’s face, it was as if they were having a staring contest. No one moved, no one could gaze off from each other. They were waiting for each other to move first while the serpent livened up the silence in the desert with its hiss. It then lost its own patient and then leaped from its spot towards Tenma, attempting to deal some damage with its tail. But Tenma was much faster as he already prepared himself in an offensive stance, before its tail could touch the one eyed man, he pulled his hand back to engage the base of his palm and sent four upward thrusts . That should be enough to take the creature down, but before it lost its ability to fly due to the lack of its own energy and lay helplessly on the hot sands, Tenma grabbed the serpent.

A light sigh escaped his lips as he stared at the serpent, observing it. He could notice the wing on its back which he thought as an interesting body part of the snake itself. Winged snake was not an everyday thing to see for Tenma so he was pretty lucky to be able to see it this close. Now that he was done with his fair share of the enemies, the swordsman found his gaze back to his blonde companion. It seemed that he still holding himself back as if he was still trying to find out what was the reason behind their sudden hostility by attempting to start a conversation with the creature. All he did was just parrying and blocking their attack, which he found as an amusing act. Well, he wouldn’t interfere as he was interested to know more too. Plus, who knew what interesting things that Zadi might do if Tenma stop him from being creative, so the swordsman just let out a chuckle before tying the snake’s body into a pole near the pyramid before approaching the injured people to take care of them.

Some were not in serious injuries, so Tenma guided them to the safe spot and asked them to help the heavily injured one, while he asked some other to go to the city so they can ask for help from the city guard. Meanwhile, the one eyed man also observing the fight between Zadi and the snake, waiting until something happened and wondered for how long the thing would keep up. After that he went back to observe the injured one which has not been healed yet by the magician’s healing spell by doing some first aid things for them. He was grateful to learn such things from his study before as he could easily implement it in his journey if he need to, even though he might not having some appropriate things to perform the first aid but at least what he did would help a little bit until they could be brought to the city’s clinic or hospital.

The one eyed man decided to not staying away from the injured worshippers, but he stood there firmly to guard them just in case some more creature appeared. His theory about the worshipper of Apep was the mastermind behind this occurrence was still not faded away. He knew there was no clue or hint or even proves for him to think or accusing the organization like that, but after several things happened in Heliohapt which was caused by them, who wouldn’t think that they were the one behind this? But perhaps the creature was upset by the things that the cultist might had done in the snake’s area, which possibly related to the attempt to revive Apep. Maybe they were trying to ‘clean’ the area and it triggered the snake’s revenge which resulted them to attack anyone who approached the temple.

However the deep thought made his mind wandered again to the thoughts of his past, where he and his sister used to play in the sandbox. He remembered their father used to brought back a lot of sand from this desert after he travelled for some time at Heliohapt. Sand castle, animal shapes, stars and many other things that could be made by the sand were already neatly lined. All of it was the work of the two siblings, where there was a lot of laugh and innocent smile between them. Such a happy time… such a happy laugh… He wondered why he couldn’t even experience it anymore. He longed for such time, where his family members were still alive and together. How he want to meet them again and apologize for his tardiness to not save them quicker by coming home sooner. Why did fate need to be that cruel towards him? He sighed once again, knowing that there was no point to being angry of fate. Perhaps it would lead him into something better? He hoped so, it would be the ultimate gift for him to be able to find, reunite and paying all the time of his absence for his sister. That… if she still alive… and he had no clue about it. He just needed to be patient…

Like being snapped by the hot wind breeze in the desert, Tenma regained his focus and shook his head. To think his mind could wander around in such situation, his longing feeling might be getting stronger. But for now, he would just see on what Zadi wanted to do while guarding the injured people.

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WC: 1566/1500
Magoi : 220/300

Ability:

After Tenma defeated his share of the winged serpents, he helped the less injured get inside the relative safety of the temple and away from anymore serpents or creatures in general that may show up. Zadi knew that the serpents wouldn't be the last set of confused creatures to show up for reason of how strange this event and its past turned out to be, thus far. Zadi couldn't quite understand what was going on, what with all the vagueness and lost information. The serpents wanted to regain their lost land, if it was even theirs to begin with. Before Zadi destroyed the Black Pyramid, it looked as if it had been in that same spot for ages, long enough for any older creatures that used to occupy this area to have died off either from old age or whatever else. Therefore, the creatures that suddenly became hostile shouldn't have a legitimate want for returning to this area unless they were influenced otherwise. All very strange and hard to piece together without a solid focus for "blame".

Zadi found two more people to heal, thankfully the last ones to heal, too. He sustained Nature's Focused Healing and Summoned Butler in order to both heal and protect the final injured. This was starting to become taxing on Zadi's magoi reserves so Zadi felt it was time to stop prolonging such a poor life that wanted for no real reason. The serpent stopped trying to attack Zadi and instead just stood its ground, not looking anywhere else. The wooden butler must have finally worn out the deranged beast. However, it also wouldn't leave, still hissing like it was hungry for prey. Zadi healed the last two and looked towards the serpent with a blank stare. Zadi didn't wish to show emotion as he order the Summoned Butler to finally go in for the kill. However, the serpent was smart and used the butler's speed against him by Rapidly Slithering past its oppressor. The Serpent was ready to go in for the kill with a basic strike, but Zadi gripped his sword without unsheathing it, used the power of the Savage Ruby to increase his power to A-tier, and punched the serpent square between the eyes. The serpent fell to the ground, lifeless yet at peace.

Zadi helped get the stragglers into the temple while also getting rewarded, like Tenma, for all the work thus far. However, there was more to be done!

170 magoi/stamina

Tech(s):

Ruby of Ether:

Name: Ruby of Ether the Savage King
Tier: N/A
Type: Ruler Gem
Magic Type: Fire
Appearance: A blood red ruby that was once owned by a king who carved his legacy by slaughtering anybody and anything that stood in his path of destruction. The ruby is the size of a large marble. The ruby constantly pulsates with a dim red light and feels warm even in the coldest environments.
Function:

• The user can place this in any object making it a fire elemental object. Can register 3 Fire abilities that do not take up any of their slots. These abilities can be as strong as 1 tier lower than the owner.
  
• The gem will allow its owner to be able to deal natural physical damage up to their tier, caps at Alpha tier. They will though in return take 1 tier higher in damage when hurt so if struck by an C tier attack it will now deal B tier damage. This caps at Alpha Tier. So when struck by Alpha or Omega attacks it does that attacks normal damage.
  

*This does not take up any of your item/weapon slots; only one of the Ruler Gems can be owned per person.