His face had been burned almost to the point of unrecognition, that mixed with the numerous wounds on his body told a story of a harsh and long battle concluded by the burns on his face. Krey nodded no other burns around his body it seems the opponent decided to only use it at the end, which seemed rather odd considering they had a time limit, maybe they were doing it with him. That really boiled her blood, it also made her think back to her fight, Welsh had been toying with her practically the entire time and she only barely managed to survive the ordeal and even now she’s not entirely sure how. Her comrades caught up to her and grabbed onto her as she fell unconscious herself.
A while earlier, Aton, still in slight confusion of the disappearing people, continued to survey the area. Welsh and his entire faction is gone, a couple of the Van Dresels are gone, and random others are gone insignificant, probably a diversion. He had a lot of knowledge on anyone in the Abyss faction he studied them purposely actually and he had never heard of Glomar being able to separate people by wish, so maybe it had been somebody else, or maybe he improved his skill since last time he got information, or even possibly he had been hiding that part of his skill this whole time? He couldn’t really say, though no matter what the option if Glomar had done this he would be paying a hefty price, much more than he realistically should be able to bear, unless there's some kind of limitation or trick he’s using. He tapped Joshens.
“I am going to check something out, watch Jasper, got it/” He asked him sternly.
“You're the boss, I got it, I got it.” He responded much more cheerfully, as Aton swam off towards the Restoration faction, they were obviously somehow working with whoever attacked him earlier, and his highest suspect now would be Welsh and considering how Glomar the guy who controls this domain works under Welsh his best bet to learn something would be the Restoration faction. The reason he told off his group even though they could warrant his some authority, he knew Kell would probably be doing the same thing.
As he made his way up to the group they were watching him cautiously but only a few while most were looking in the other direction and right on cue Kell had been coming from that direction. He could also see Harper and her faction behind him a little distance away. The Law and Van Dresels kept their distance but watched closely. Aton made it close enough to the group to speak but they started before he could.
“What do you want with us, Aton?” They knew his name which could insinuate something but in reality they most knew from his popularity, he could hear the same question being asked to Kell and his squad and Harper behind him. A lot of eyes started to draw onto them, they were becoming quite popular center stage. Many of the lower ranked squads were even starting to come over, some definitely interested in joining the action, but others also hired by the factions already present only following their orders or beliefs.
“Hmm, funny isn’t how you can question me like that when you helped attack me just so recently even resulting in the death of one of my comrades.” He said he had no intention of hiding Lewis’s death now as most already knew of his absence. “Did Welsh hire you, and speaking of him what did he do here and why are they doing with the missing Van Dresels and the randoms?” The man he was talking to had a full smile on his face, it almost looked to Aton like he could laugh at what Aton had said.
“We were there, you're right about that.” He leaned his face into Atons ear to prevent others from hearing, as many of the other groups have gotten into earshot range now. “And well Welsh wanted to tell you this himself but you both want the same thing. He is your ally.” He leaned back out and put his arms up to gather everyone's attention, the Restoration factor all faced him as if he had commanded them to in that moment. “As for us we are nobody's ally but at the same time we are everyone's ally! We, no I will follow the money and monetary gain! Offer me a price that I cannot refuse and I will do whatever you want! Murder its done, genoside its done, thievery its done! And you see Welsh has offered me a very generous offer so of course, I would follow his every beck and call, for I have been contracted to do so.”
“The hell gives you the authority to do that.” Aton interrupted.
“The authority? The authority! Haaaaahaaa. Why would the leader of his own faction need authority to do anything?” He asked the entire crowd now gathered around them. Aton, about to make another remark, opened his mouth, but then saw out of the corner of his eye a portal opening near the Van Dresels; they must be going after their leader, to protect her Krey.
“Damn, we will continue this later.” He frantically looked around; he didn't know if he would make it in time with his speed. He looked at Kell. He would be able to give him a big enough push but that would give away their relationship away to not only his squad but the entire expedition. He could see Harper looking at him. His face turned into a question of request, she nodded so he made his way over rapidly. She also rapidly made her way over and grabbed onto his arm as they nearly collided. She pulled him back and launched him with all of her strength.
With this, he would be able to reach the portal in time and without too much bizzarity everyone knew Harper and him had a decent enough relationship, plus Harper would help anyone who requested it as long as she liked them. He kicked his legs up and down as fast as he could, he could see the last few members entering the portal. They were in a hurry but so was he. The last person made their way through the portal and it started to close, but Aton would make it he used his power to accelerate any of the objects on his body making them pull him to go even faster. On his person he had a couple of items, but more importantly Aton had prepared a light chainmail net that would go over his entire person. Normally in the sea that would be a bad idea, as chainmail that was strong enough to block anything would cause too much sinking in the sea, and chainmail light enough to stop that kind of sinking wouldn’t be enough to protect anything, that’s what Aton donned but instead of using it to block he used it in a situation like this to allow the possibility of accelerating himself to an extent.
He whizzed through the portal right as it closed making his way to the other side with the Van Dresels. He stopped his skill and even used the opposite part of his skill to slow down the chainmail to reduce his speed nearly instantly allowing him to blend in with the crowd. Of course, if anybody here looked at him closely they would recognize him immediately, but they were currently in an intense stare off they wouldn’t have the luxury of confirming their members right now, they were probably not even considering the possibility of some random person in their ranks. But he didn’t have any intention of harming them in any way so it shouldn’t matter. His current goal had only been to figure out what Welsh was doing and why. In an attempt to figure out if he hired the guys who attacked him, he still holds anger for the loss of Lewis.
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He could hear Krey and Welsh talking, before one of Welsh’s men Oscar charged at their group and Orson intercepted him. Looks like the two groups were about to split and he would now have to choose between following Oscar and Orson or Krey and Welsh. He followed the group with Orson and Oscar, an easy decision. Welsh would probably recognize him nearly immediately if he even got a glimpse of him while he wanted to get more information. Maybe he could get that information from Oscar he should know a lot too considering his closeness with Welsh.
He made sure to stay at the back of the group, if they had a specific formation he would probably get caught, that's another reason he picked this group they looked less organized so he would have a better chance here than over there. Oscar's men also were following him, looks like this will be a pretty large-scale battle, but he should be safe in this position considering his power he should be a tough opponent for either of the main players here. He also grabbed an artifact from his collection to be safe.
Looking at the situation he could see that Orson and Oscar would most likely duel without much interference while the squad members dualed it would in the meantime, neither had commanded their squad either telling him they liked to go solo. Perhaps for his safety that would be good, but for getting information he wanted them to be talkers rather than the silent type. Aton could use his invisible attack to stay under the radar, but these people even if he didn’t consider them on par with him were still experts and would probably figure him out somehow, so he decided it would be best for him to slip away from the crowd while they were fighting. it won’t be easy though. They may not have really recognized his presence yet, but if he left they would almost definitely realize unless he did it very well. Plus they probably already knew somebody had infiltrated their ranks by number alone, if they had figured him out still remained a mystery. The best option would probably be to fake death earlier on but that would depend on the enemy.
The two groups intercepted each other launching Ash skills, clashing swords, and blocking or dodging Ash skills. Aton stayed near the back and started to break off metal from his chainmail, another technique he could use with this set of armor, since it was thin he could break it off. He would then throw the piece of metal as hard as he could, enhancing his throw with Ash making for a relatively deadly throw but still nothing someone with some skill couldn’t handle. However, he would boost the speed once more with his skill. For the purpose of hiding his identity, he wouldn’t use it at random intervals to confuse the opponent as he would in normal battle, but instead applied his Ash skill right away to make it look like he had only thrown the metal with great force. Of course, he could still be figured out by doing this, however, it did remove the element of him heating up the water not only hiding one of his skills but also removing one variable people could notice. They could easily find him out if nobody in their squad used a skill related to heat, but throwing something hard, anyone could do that.
His attack charged forward into the enemies in front of them, but they evaded it with expert skill. Though Aton expected that, he didn’t really care if he did injure or kill one of them but he had no real desire to either.
The clash continued and Aton continued to launch pieces of his metal toward them only enough to draw suspicion away from him. No real opportunity had appeared for him to fake death or slip away though, not from this distance but if he took vanguard the risk of him getting found out would grow exponentially, this put him in the right spot should he stay back here and hope for a chance or go further up risking the chance of getting caught. He could even see this battle to its endpoint, but if the Van Dresels began to lose horribly then he would be caught in the crossfire and might get killed, or if the fight lasted too long he might not get any information. But before he could make up his mind everyone suddenly froze, including him. What the hell, it must be some kind of skill but to freeze us all in pla-his train of thought was broken as he regained his ability to move. Three seconds, the ability to freeze this many people for that long that's pretty dangerous. Aton decided to stay at the back while observing Orson and Oscar fight a little better, he honestly thought he would be able to beat either of them but now he wasn’t too sure so if nothing else he would get information on their powers in case he had to fight either of them in the future.
Orson used shields to block and attack while he could keep a distance from his opponent, but also wield a trident in case an opponent got too close or he needed to shift strategy. Oscar, on the other hand, had a large spear much larger than Orson's weapon, he probably likes to fight at close range but has a long reach for tricky opponents who like to fight him from a distance. Orson did some fancy trick with his shields to land a blow on Oscar. So he could also use the destruction of his shield to benefit him, he was talented alright. Aton dodged an incoming arrow and launched a piece of chainmail in return. Typical Ash battles between really large groups were like this, poking and prodding each other for a slight crack or weakness, and once they found it exploit it for all its worth. That's why even now Aton had only seen one person die in the Van Dresel faction. The fight had been relatively even but it looks like Oscar's squad are slowly gaining a foothold.
“You wish to fight me head-on, Haha your much braver than I thought, let our battle go down in history!” Aton could hear Oscar say, Orson had decided to fight Oscar head-on after losing a shield, not a terrible move, but still a desperate one showing Orson was running out of options. Looks like the victory had been decided, but now he really didn’t have much time left, he might be stuck here for a while but the domain skill should only last so long anyway, and considering how he might be maintaining multiple domains at once, at least three he shouldn’t last for more than 10 minutes from the start leaving only a few minutes at most left.
Orson lost his last shield in a blow of weapons, not much time for their fight now. If Oscar decides to come up here, he might have to fight him depending on circumstances but he would only have to last a few minutes to an already injured Oscar he should be safe. Though maybe not considering how it appears that Oscar gets stronger with each successful block or parry. Damn it should just help Orson now and make it a two versus one or should I just hope Orson lasts long enough for me to not be put in danger. Once again before Aton could make up his mind he could see Orson point a harpoon gun at him and the rest of the Van Dresels with a weird look in his eye.
Wait a damn minute where did he get that! And why is he pointing it at me of all people!