If there is a higher power in this universe, Drenar realizes someone must be looking out for him. His telekinetics are the perfect counter to this manic dragoness in one profound way: they're keeping Valosterla from fracturing his arms when those blades connect, and he dodges out of the way of many more swings while bullets sail, autobow bolts zip by, and various deadly spells dart through the air. He's lucky that no one dares to aim in his direction, and invoke the wrath of Val.
The reactor overcharging and sending arcing plasma into the now-sabotaged conduits by where they anticipated their foes is just icing on the cake, and they fry under the burden of an overwhelming amount of magical energy. Kyle might be cackling, or screaming--he really can't tell which, because he's dodging swings that could cut a steel girder in half.
This is a deadly duel that he can't afford to lose, and he's buying time for the Valkyries to show up. The bulkhead door slams down by the entryway, and a bright orange bolt melts the metal at the seams. Val's reinforcements are cut off, temporarily, but that doesn't do much good when he's fighting her. She snarls with all the rage of her form and cleaves down.
He swerves to the side and that crimson blade still shears through the platform. He tries to get in an attack with Luminari, but she pulls the weapon through the plating and blocks. He's not going to win this fight straight up, he needs to get distance and time. Val lashes out with her free hand a whip of violet, crackling energy.
Great. Julia's going to be pissed that she doesn't have the monopoly on a magical grappling beam.
He rolls to the side to avoid that deadly lasso, and grabs the autobow taped to the underside of the console, a concussive tipped bolt already loaded. He fires out of reflex. It sends her flying backward when it connects, and she bowls into one soldier, who is sent flying down the catwalk in a scream.
He supposes accidental environmental hazards really shouldn't count for a body count, in a moment of grim recognition.
He's going to have to thank Kyle for those powered-up shots. Val doesn't like this slight and charges a globule of crackling violet energy in her hand and blasts it in his direction. He dives for the next bit of cover while bolts and bullets ping nearby, and one hit flares his barrier–damn it, bolts still hurt so much, even when they don't pierce through flesh. The blast took out a console and errant sparks sting his skin.
Meanwhile, he takes a frantic assessment of the situation. Joey is with Angela, holding the stairwell to the second-floor accessway and launching deadly grenade canisters with impunity from her compact launcher. The results leave a few Talons soldiers wishing for death, based on how it sets them on fire. Julia has been roaring like a fierce dragoness and suppressing movement from the second floor with a barrage of autobow fire, ducking intermittently to cover. More than a few Talons soldiers have tightly grouped bolts through the chest and torso after their barriers failed. Levine and Nick are picking off soldiers who are down for the count, and they are merciless–this is kill or be killed. Kyle covers them from afar, and Claire uses Kyle for protection, because his armor keeps a formidable arcane barrier up and running.
He needs to keep the murderous diva away from the team. She launches another volley of shimmering violet energy, aimed at Angela and Joey's position, even as she charges at him. “Joey incoming!” He screams out. She manages to dive out of the way and Angela rolls to the side, but the blast impacts the steel girding and brings several support pillars down. He sees one land dangerously close to Joey, and she screams. Debris is piled around her, and he feels a spike of pain in his own body.
But she's still alive. He can still feel that connection between them, but she's clinging to consciousness. Val screams as she cleaves down and he flicks out that new shield bracer at the right moment, knocking that deadly sword aside and causing her whole body to swerve from the massive deflection, putting her body out of alignment. He doesn't wait and slices laterally while her guard is down, and Luminari doesn't disappoint when the blade flares green and the runes light up. The blow shears through the armor plating, slicing into her torso, just barely. She screams in rage, and he watches her footing for that split second and prepares to deflect again while having his backup plan in mind.
The blow still leaves agonizing pain in his arm, but allows him to slash again in that opening, cutting a narrow path on her arm, but it's superficial damage. The armor plating just barely gives, it's tougher than the Talon's standard armor. She summons a spark of violet and black energy and tries to connect with a grapple, and even a glancing hit shatters his barrier when he's a split second too slow. The sear of heat on his torso burns, but he keeps free of her deadly grasp. He lunges while she's off balance. This hit scores across armor and slashes through the weaker plating on her flank, and he swerves to the right to dodge the riposte.
He roars in triumph, it feels good to give this trained killer a dose of justice for everything she’s done so far. Given how much of a beating he's been taking all night, the fact that he can finally put himself on equal footing with her is enough to build confidence. He almost doesn't get the arcane bracer up in time and blocks the majority of the blow of violet energy that detonates on it, and sends him skidding backward, banging into a railing. Pain is his existence, and he hears Julia shout out as Val advances, grinning with pointy teeth. He's struggling to rise as she utters her twisted lyrics.
“Little dragon, you think you're strong? A piece of advice, for the doomed. I've slain champions and heroes, and you as well shall be entombed!” He manages to roll to the side and avoid that deadly blade, and it bites deep into the metal of the platform. She kicks and catches him in the torso, and it's only his kinetic barrier that softens the blow and sends him spinning backward, denting a console filled with buzzing equipment. That hurt, and he groans in pain.
“Shit, the Valkyries are here! Valosterla, we can’t hold this position, they’re cutting through us and we can’t slow them down!” Val is distracted by a radio chatter that sounds urgent, and gives him hope–back-up is on the way, finally! He just needs to survive long enough and distract the deadliest dragoness in the room. He has to survive. He’s less worried about his friends, and the radio reports are still sounding encouraging.
“Stand and fight until they’re dead! I want that damn journal, throw bodies at the problem until I tell you to!” she roars into the radio. It’s enough of a pause for him to get his bearings, and Luminari trickles with power in his palm. Surviving this long was already a long shot, but now there’s a chance that they could end her, if they can keep picking off her soldiers. It’s not looking great for them, though he saw in the corner of his eyes the defenders had taken a few losses
Look Drenar, don’t take this the wrong way, but she’s above your level, and you know it! You aren’t going to solo her! Alex’s less-than-flattering assessment is met with trying to create more space, trying to figure an angle that–
He sees his opportunity when she slices open an arcane conduit and bubbling fluid sprays out, and she has to avoid it and temporarily gets him a second of space. He reaches out to the fluid and feels a charge of energy run through his body–anyone else would have been fried by it, anyone but Angela, himself and Julia, and when Val commits to the attack after dodging around the bubbling conduit gel, he times his teleport so that the blow just misses him. He grabs her armor and lets loose every bit of stored energy he’s got, roaring in fury.
She feels it that time as her barrier shatters in an instant and she screams in pain. He uses a full-blast kinetic strike when she manages to deflect his sword strike, despite the pain, and flings her back through the arcing fluid. Unfortunately, it’s a trickle now, having either sealed off or run out of the reservoir, and it doesn’t hurt her as badly.
“Hits different, huh bitch?!” This feels like a small victory, and she grins.
“Gonna have to try a lot harder than that, Rashalda.” She launches a dark energy lasso that burns around his armband, burning even with the protection, and yanks him forward, to the waiting sweep of that deathly crimson sword–
“Tsunderebolt!”
There’s a sonic boom and a blast of white-blue light that splits the distance and there’s a crack as Julia soars through the air while Val is winding up and hits her full in the torso, sending her staggering backward a few meters. Julia lands from the impact in a crouch, heaving heavily and a bolt had traced a rough cut across her cheek–barely a miss, and she’s got her autobow pointed and she pins Val with several rounds–they all bounce off the armor and her barriers in the follow-up barrage. “Welcome to a night of unforced errors, Val!”
“Hey, Julia. Get tired of shooting stormtroopers?” he comments while readying his weapon, and she glances at him with her charismatic grin. She gives him a charge of plasma with a quick grip on his arm
“Plugged a lot of them full of bolts. There’s a lot less, but they're burning through that door. So expect more cannon fodder soon,” she points out to the blast door that is turning bright red–dragons or alchemical torches burning through it. Val leers at her, and snarls in that primal voice of hers–like her dragon form is bleeding through, in small increments.
“Oh, you’re the other brash little bitch who shot me with that infernally overpowered magical weapon,” Val sneers, having already picked herself up and advances. Energy dances off her arms as she sweeps forward, cutting through support girding that causes the platform above to list dangerously. “Let’s see how you handle up close!”
“Your funeral!” Julia tosses her weapon aside and blocks the diagonal strike with her newfound gauntlets, and there’s a deafening ringing sound as the metal contacts, and the bracers glow bright green at the moment of impact. Val is staggered from the recoil force and Drenar lunges in, landing a superficial hit, but not penetrating through the armor. Her armor is looking more and more compromised, even as tough as it is, it is taking damage. And more than a few wounds are bleeding on her, but she’s not even phased by it. She clicks a button on her wrist and a blue mist emanates on a few ports across her armor–regen potion, widely distributed? He’s going to have to take that as a grim note that she’s got backup heals, unless he can land a deadly blow.
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Which means compromising the armor is now his priority. “Oh, you thought it would be that easy?” she says with oozing glee.
“Well, I could just keep poking you with holes until you finally overdose on regen potion. Or I go the highlander route and take your damn head off Val, and keep it as a trophy.” Julia cackles even as Valosterla swings mightily, she’s moving faster, but then again, so is he.
It isn’t his imagination, his reaction time is down to next to nothing, and he is moving faster. A pulse of energy is coming from Luminari and into him, allowing him to move with grace and dodge those deadly swings, and evade that violet energy that Val keeps emanating outwards to try to harm him. The sword blocks her strikes effectively enough, and even negates the sheer momentum, but now she’s putting up a well-thought-out defense, in between her barrage of attacks.
But she’s now fighting two on one. Julia ducks and dodges between her swings, and when Val gets a lucky grab on her armor vest, Julia zaps her with a blast of elemental plasma that fries something on her armor. She screams and bashes Valosterla in the face hard enough that she’s sent reeling, nearly dropping her blade and crashing into a railing. Drenar sees the opening and swipes carefully at the armor ports. It’s tougher in the back, but there’s a spray of that glowing red fluid that seems to be powering her armor. The fluid starts leaking profusely before another port sprays a foam that rapidly hardens and cordons off the damage.
They’re getting there, and she swings laterally, trying to cut him in half. Julia is there to grab her from behind, and he tries to plunge Luminari through her chest, the blade awash in light. Val manages to break her grip and sidesteps the blow, and Drenar almost overcommits and meets a face full of crimson blade. It nicks past his face and it sears with pain, but it’s not painful enough that he can’t ignore it. Julia is sent tumbling with a heavy blow that connects against her bracers and she hits the ground, shouting in pain but is still otherwise alert.
He finally sees his opportunity, blinks to point-blank range, and lances into her thigh. She screams in pain, and swerves her body to try and cleave him in half. He powers up his telekinetics and draws power from Luminari and blasts her backward, heaving at the exertion, and she stumbles over the debris of a fallen console, and damage from the structure up above.
“Hey, stop softening her up for me Drenar! You think I can’t beat this woman into a pudding on my own?” Julia protests, and dodges when return fire finally finds its way in their direction–though muted. The number of offenders seems to be way less than it was before, much to his relief. The center area and that crystal spire are all heavily shielded and covered by heavy consoles and other equipment.
“Julia, only you could say that, when we’re seconds from possible death.” Valosterla recovers, and he looks behind her at an imminent problem. The access bulkhead is almost melted through–they’re going to have trouble on their doorstep very soon.
“Leave the upstart youths to me! Anyone who kills them, who isn’t me, will die screaming!” Valosterla roars. She’s instantly rebuked by the crack of autobow bolts and gunfire from up above and to the left–and several of her remaining soldiers are now down for the count, or seriously wounded. Drenar advances with Luminari in hand.
This might be his only chance to end it. Levine gives a grim ultimatum to Val, even as the door stops glowing, and cools–why had the Talons stopped trying to cut through it? Did something happen outside? All he does know is that he dares a glance at his gathering friends, and the irregulars are still screaming at the Talons to drop their weapons and surrender. Kyle screams about needing medical help–possibly for others, he sounds tense, but not in pain.
But the moment that brings him immense relief is when Angela and Joey hop over some of the debris, past twisted supports, broken mana crystals, and now discharged elemental gel. Angela is in decent shape and holding her longsword that has assuredly seen use, Joey looks bloodied but alert, and he feels an immense relief to see her in one piece.
“Wanna see if she's gonna surrender?” He'd prefer to stake this woman through the heart with the sword, but it's not just his call. Joey is the first to stand alongside him besides Julia and Angela, and she answers the question by leveling her autobow at Valosterla. This would-be goddess looks thoroughly beaten up, and leers at all of them.
“You know what? It’s better if we don’t take this genocidal dragoness alive. Just throwing that idea out there. She’s the kind that takes advantage of the mercy of the mighty.” Joey's on-point with her rationale, and she's dead-steady with her weapon now aimed.
He's inclined to agree. She's murdered family members. Innocent people. Her own men even, in fits of sheer psychosis. “Hear that, Val? I think one of our team’s got your plan figured out, and I’m inclined to agree. But we’re better than you. You need to answer for what you’ve done here tonight. For Reeves. Claire. Betty. Saul. And too many others. You have to answer to the call of justice.”
Her response is to laugh maniacally and–yep, he tunes out her insane rant while he figures how much time is left. The Valkyries must be on their way, they can deal with her.
Or maybe they can't? She's the last woman standing or not surrendered now. Luminari seems to have a particular hatred of this woman, based on the spike of energy that shoots through his arm. It feels almost pleasant, unlike when Julia zaps him on a routine basis.
“Oh, that’s easy! We’re the Radiant Delvers!” Julia quips and interrupts his thought, and Angela groans.
“That title was so five minutes ago. We have got to come up with a new one!” Angela looks like even she is ready to murder this wanna-be goddess. But her declaration also spurs his memory.
“We already have one.” Drenar smiles faintly when the idea pops up. “And I think it’s gonna stick, Val.”
The words come without resistance. He's known them for a long time. They've been with him since the beginning, six years ago. His mother knew about the heroes she descended from, and carried on their legacy...in her own way. Even though she never wanted this for him and Evan...she had the forethought to realize that he,too, could carry on the will of those that came before--the legend that was spun around them, and their daring victories in the face of impossible odds.
“We’re the Luminaires. The light to shine the way. A beacon to a better tomorrow.”
This doesn't get him the reaction he expects, and there's a darkness that seems to permeate the air. There's a trickle of dread, but not from him. It's distant, and, is that…Joey's emotions are coming through again? There is more to this psionic link than she either knows about or has training on, of that he's certain. Val’s expression turns malevolent, tinged with hatred. She gnashes her teeth and her piercing red eyes bear down on him, and his friends. She must have something left up her sleeve, or she's determined to fight this to the end.
“No, Rashalda. The Luminaires are gone. They’re dead and buried, and they’re never coming back! Crosomer never had the will or the strength to do what was necessary, just like you don’t have the strength to do what is necessary here! I just want you to know, it’s been fun tonight, truly. But now, it’s time for you and your upstart friends to die.” That malicious, inhuman grin fills her face, more dragon than human.
He can feel it, his danger sense going into overdrive. The threat is here somewhere, but where?
Detonator on the strut!
His eyes go wide as he realizes the threat, and sees it out of the corner of his eye. An innocent-looking white device stuck with adhesive on a strut, dangerously close to the core of the mana reactor. He doesn’t think, he reacts and swerves at a superhuman pace, a kinetic grapple latching onto the device. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Joey eyeing it–she knew, and had sent him a silent warning.
This psionic connection does go both ways. He has no idea what it means between the two of them, but her frantic warning buys him just the time he needs to grab the device, and pulls the book off his vest, and bind the residual adhesive to the tome. He narrows his eyes at Valosterla, already grabbing a detonator and hitting a button before anyone can react. She’s fast. But not as fast as him.
And he’s about to put this dragoness in the grave, or barring that, soften her up to finish the job. He blasts the amalgamated journal of deadly secrets, and that explosive that is now primed, back at the dragoness who had ruined their lives, sent them on a path of having to fight battles to protect others, and answer a call to things he couldn’t possibly comprehend right now.
Angela gets her barrier up out of instinct and shields the gathered team. Val is wide-eyed and realizes her fatal error. He swerves to protect Joey in a snap reaction and flares his arcane barrier with whatever strength he’s got left as the explosive sears light at its seams. All he knows is one thing:
He has to ensure they all survive tonight, because their meeting doesn’t feel like a chance anymore, even as the world becomes fire around him. He braces against the destruction wrought by the malevolent would-be goddess that’s hopefully triggered her own cremation. He hears one last thing from Joey before the world goes dark.
Don’t die on me now…