[17:25:07] Thunderbolts travelled with velocity, trespassing opposing bodies with ease. His spear, calmly juxtaposed to fit perfectly into his hand, rotated with proficiency, as always, to maximize damage. Until, in the middle of the bloody battlefield, his yellow eyes focused upon someone.

Purple. A Kitsune? Undoubtedly, someone he recognized from his past time. A citizen of Aetherius, or whatever the white-haired one's psyche could grasp. His stern voice echoed through the ambit, directed to the shadowflame mage.

"Why are you fighting for demons? I don't want to fight you. You would be doing way better over our side. Not the Coalition-- over my side. A side who wishes to create something more, the one with ambition to subjugate it all."

From the depths of his irises, a golden flame corroded. Such... corrupting and despairing aura managed to appear, siphoninh the woman's resistance before growing stronger. It wobbled, yearned, and, of course... desired.

A desire to take it all. His sinful Avarice influence crepitated like the war bells, announcing everything one could interpret from the ominous luminescence.

Pointing the spear towards the enemy, the Elsyrean adjusted his stance.

"Forget about this putrid city, please."
(Caesar Valerius)
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{LOAD GAME}

[17:31:05] She was looking for somebody.

Through the bloody masses, she charged, spearing non-magi after non-magi with nothing but a look of pure and utter outrage. Where were they!? Why were they never present?

Her lips curled into a snarl. "Damn that wench of a-..." Woman? Something tugged at her very soul. She heard words spoken over the sound of blood curdling screams- enticing words, but words she would not listen to.

Not on some mere whim.

The Kitsune turned, shifting her staff. There was something off about her- something different in the way she carried herself. Had he seen her enough times, he'd have noticed it, too. There was an agitated look of desperation in those eyes of hers.

"Why do I fight?" She snarled, almost as if the question was an insult. "Because the coalition took away the one thing I loved. The one thing I cared about, and now-... now you..." There it was again. The gentle tug- the siphoning of her very life.

She hated it. Everyone tried to take things away from her. And now? So did he.

"I'm not going to let you take anything away from me either!" There were no words to be shared. With the slits in her eyes quick to contract, the Kitsune pounced in a bristling, maddened rage. Blinded. Furious.

She'd lost too much. She couldn't lose more- not again.
(Ru Xiang)
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[17:39:37] Caesar's illusory threats mingled with Ru's, and occultism ascended, dominating the scope. The grasses reeked from such morbid magic, the only divergence being the burning power of the Kitsune and the Elsyrean's heated shocks.

Despite that, his stance continued. Booming tones parted from his lips, aimed towards the purple-haired one.

"I'm not allied to the Coalition, either! Aetherius took everything from me. They took my wife, Mila. They tried to shame my reputation-- they betrayed me! But... now that I feel your sin, I can notice you are more special than you think."

A hand was extended, parallel to the combat, the only part of his structure not drenched with the imposing aura. His digits danced, until ceasing. Serene, yet serious.

"A human is all sins combined. Sin Magic is the epitome of a human emotion. Therefore, once they are all together-- it means humanity is understood. It means all control of humanity. Answer my call, and forget this putrid city of Gaiar!"
(Caesar Valerius)
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[17:45:36] It was almost ironic the way the two fought- illusion and darkness mingled with one another and sin face the very force that drove their beings. Only difference was? It controlled them much, much differently.

"You fight for them!" She snarled, rolling against the grass with an arm quickly braced to push herself back upright. "How is that any different!? What do you plan to do- kill them all yourself!?" Her teeth gnashed at the air with every shout. She didn't understand- she couldn't have possibly.

So long as she was in that frenzy of hers, no logic nor reason would get through that head of hers. Revenge- or justice, as she called it- was all she had on her mind.

Something the two sins sought, but from completely opposite sides.

"I refuse to stand alongside that traitorous scum! Not after what she's done! The people she's taken- not after she took him!" It was, in an odd sense, like looking into a mirror.

She'd heard enough, though. Shaking the lightning and darkness from her senses, Ru sought to pounce once more, eyes aglow and teeth bared. She didn't come this far to fall so damn easily.

Not when she had so much on the line- not when she had yet to hunt down those who refused to show their faces.
(Ru Xiang)
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[17:53:16] Let go.

Those words rose above his own- the very advice she'd be given by the very man who had given her that forsaken occultic mark. She felt it even now- the occult thriving, fueling her mana with every twist and turn and vibrant display of hellfire and illusion.

There would be no reluctance. If he burned, he burned.

She'd see the entire land reduced to ash if that needed to be the case- and it certainly felt like it. Even where the fire did not touch, the grass and the flora around them seemed to shrivel brown and lifeless.

"After- after we showed you such leniency... you- just like everyone else!" Every word she spoke stumbled upon one another, and in a swift blur, she struck. Her staff swiveled, railing into him just to knock him several feet back. For a mage? There was a surprising amount of strength in those brittle arms of hers.

"Krrgh... I don't give a damn about you. Where- where is Lotlhuitl!?" A one-sided vendetta needed to be settled, though it was more than obvious her mind was a little... scattered.

A young sin, without a doubt.
(Ru Xiang)
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[17:58:24] A blackened fire covered the entirety of his gauntlets-- which led to Caesar tossing them out. Instead, the crimson circlets of occultic polarized lightning orbited the arms, spreading up to the shoulders. The magical spear was also graced with his main magic, the apex sending thunderous blows. Readjusting his equilibrium, a single feet retreated.

"I don't fight for the Coalition! I just want enough power to take the throne and then end it all! Create a new state excluding colonies, controlled by other nations!"

The Elsyrean's reverberating words were expelled from his throat, never once hesitating when it came to his ambitions and dream. Trying one more time, the penetrating gaze was cemented, and the dancing labiums returned.

"Listen to me! You are fighting for the wrong side! Fuck the Coalition, fuck Aetherius! You are being used andwill be disregarded when not needed. That's what happens to all those in Aetherius-- that's what happened to me! I don't know what happened about you, but it wasn't me, and you shouldn't blame me. Because my heart and actions are utterly unclouded."

Spiralling darkness took control of his palms, adjusting the gravitational field to return with a fervent impetus.
(Caesar Valerius)
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** Caesar Valerius has inflicted an injury upon Ru Xiang. ("Temporary Injury", "Temporary Injury", "Temporary", "Duration: Medium (4 days)") **
[18:09:29] Blood descended from Caesar's mouth, oozing with velocity. The battle was far too close, every burning power being counterattacked by the crimson lightning. Every illusion consolidating another moment of confusion, reapplied by the enemy.

Despite that, it seems the Chosen's experience in combat was superior, able to identify an opening purely by skill, and not power. Abusing her own Sin of Wrath, the magi amplified the rapid strikes to grasp her hand, and...

BZZZT!

As his magical influence travelled Ru's body, the end was clearly decided. However, as he specified the whole combat-- the man wanted an ally, not another enemy. After all, the ambition could reach him, call for him-- a desire similar to what he always feels in a lesser degree.

Because, of course... his desire could never be satiated.

"Reconsider your path, please. My hand is once again extended. Feelfree to leave, if you want to." in unison to the sentence, the palm reached for the purple-haired woman. Crystalline-- the Elsyrean aimed to get her back up, if accepted.

Never forgetting the other issues, undoubtedly.
(Caesar Valerius)
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[18:18:01] She had gotten so close, yet she was still no match. Perhaps it had been because of her own hubris or her recklessness, but as down to the wire as it was? Just as she had gone in to strike again, claws extended and glowing a hellish purple, her hand was grabbed.

Almost instantly it began to heat up in self-defense, hoping to have warded the man off before he struck. Unfortunately? Lightning traveled that much faster.

Every vein in her body felt the recoil until every part of her grew numb- one side dreadfully more than the other. Her teeth practically chattered against each other as she sat there trying to recollect herself, but every attempt at standing sent her one way or the other.

She couldn't get up.

Her anger waned, but she still felt it. Only now? It was less at him and more at herself. His words fall upon deaf ears, and as his hand extends, she snaps her wild-eyed gaze upward. At this point? She was more animal-like than human.

Trapped. Cornered.

She scattered backwards, tripping over her own two feet as she did. "They'd- they'd kill someone like me..." That's what she had been told the day she'd been forced to walk the path of darkness. She'd been told many things and many lies.

Caesar was right- because in a sense? She was being used. She knew no better. She was just a byproduct of Gaiar with no way out, even if he tried his damned hardest to pull her from the mud. It'd take a lot, lot more than just words.

And until then? She regained her footing, as wobbly as it might've been, and with eyes aglow sped off, aiming to scamper... somewhere. Anywhere.

Because for once, even she felt fear in what might as well have been one the more harmless combatants.


(Ru Xiang)
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[18:20:35] Gladly, it was a victory for his rising civilization. A siege would be troublesome for Coalition now, but--

At what cost?

He didn't see the return of Anaxes or Olander, and Zaruma had grown all more weary; dragging the crimson-painted, bloodied scythe along, Zaruma made it towards the initial place where this battle started; their forces were pushing.

Should he not feel pleasure from victory? Should he not feel the thrill from killing his foe, from forcing a powerful one back?

No-- it was overshadowed by something else. Anger, grief for loss. Another Archon was deeply valued, and this... this could not be forgiven.

It was something new for Zaruma. Something weak, something humane, something he was afraid of - a feeling that was eating at him within and simply would not let go.

"..."

"Force the remaining Coalition combatants out of the area. Destroy whatever they built and salvage it for materials."

"Those that dare remain, kill on spot."

The Archon himself, however, did not seem... like himself, not anymore.

He merely paced the field, his stance carried no violence, and he sunk in thoughts as to why he was feeling such thing.

Every single combatant of Aetherius that moved past him was completely disregarded, much like Zaruma was in entirely another world for the time being.

At least they had their land back.
(Zaruma)