Anarchy Rising IC

Ember

Dashing and breathing heavily, that could be said about everyone, as they ran down the halls with Ember stricken with grief. The idea of leaving Stein was really painful even if she only knew him for not that long, and her mind was too busy in that that she failed to notice the people in front of her, almost running into them before she suddenly stopped.

"Oh uh, I don't have any pure explosives but my fire enchantment does the exact same job as it." Ember replied to Jasmine in an awkward tone, as she could easily tell this woman was a vampire espically after the other vampire started chatting each other up.

"Where do you need them?" Ember stated quickly and rather off, as she began reloading her gun by pulling out a cartridge and putting a new one in with her placing her hand over the weapon to enchant it quickly.

It was hard to sound like the head of the group again when there's a floating freak that looks like someone on drugs would see.

Sain

Sain was trying to keep up with everyone else, but his magic was rather drained after all the stunts he had performed a bit ago with him also not being in a coffin for how long... it was really starting to take a toll. But all the same, he tried to keep an eye out for other with him rounding the bend, noticing a floating green figure.

"Who are! Oh, wait... do I know you?" Sain stated rather off-putting, as he gazed amongst his members who seemed to be starting a casual conversation with everyone. Though the strange green man was still a strange sight all the same.

"Why do you need explosives?" Sain replied in a confused manner, as he didn't exactly trust random person a. b. and floating man c. Everything that was abnormal on this boat always ended up blasting something in the end, so Sain was certainly on guard even if everyone else wasn't.

Vela

"Zhi?" Vela replied in an voice of astonishment, as she walked out from the back of the crowd with a confused stare. It was nice to see an old friendly face that wasn't Faust, but she probably didn't look that great with all that has happened.

In all honesty, she didn't really give a care about the other conversations, everyone else would handle them. Aurora and Stein weren't here anymore so it's not like she had an urgency to impress anyone.

"What happened to you? I see you have some interesting company too..." She stated in a more noble voice now, as she began to regain her composure with her adjusting her hair quickly.

Hallways
(Jasmine, Zhi , Vela, Sain, Ember, Faust, Katarina, Ren)
The Leprechaun floated around to look at the voices and cocked a red bushy eyebrow “what the bloody hell is all this then? When I gave you the assignment girly I didn’t mean to broadcast the whole thing to the whole bloody city.” But the leprechaun didn’t stay to chat, he floated through the door sized hole in the wall to take a gander at the grandiose circle inscribed into the deck of the ship. “Crap” His deep voice could be heard yelling, sans his Scottish accent, and suddenly where he had been floating was a very large Coyote, the tip of its fur seeming to shimmer with tiny waves of power. “Crap” repeated the coyote. “Blasted, dammit, you didn’t mention it was sucking out enchantments “ the coyote yelled back at Jasmine, before a flash of golden light left a an 8 foot, incredibly handsome and glowing giant standing next to the coyote. The Coyote sighed “Hello Asher”

Hallway
(Chrys, Fenix, Zarok, Maria, Arkhan, Carlos, Selena, Fenix, Ray)
“Perhaps you should be more worthy of a serious endeavor” the giant replied to Carlos absent any sarcasm or much feeling at all. As he hardly seemed to notice Chrys snatching ray away and certainly seemed to be displaying no ill effects from any of the assaults so far, ‘You were given every opportunity to leave this place, yet you remained and assaulted me in my own home and now you ask for parley?” The golden giant replied to Selena calmly.
Fenix tried to make himself scarce by pressing himself to the wall and ducking low where it finally dawned on him where he had seen such indifference to an attack, the nephalim was a full grown man fighting a group of toddlers, they were more likely to hurt themselves than him, and he full well new it. “Ok so door number two” Fenix muttered to himself while trying to find a way past the nephalim.
The nephalim suddenly spun around to peer through the door, as if a sudden noise had caught his attention, and thin in a flash of golden light he was gone.

The hall went quiet as the nephalim's hand swung down, only the sizzling of holy and dark energies from the sword wound making any noise. And then that stopped, an increasingly present chill filled the room. A dark gloved hand calmly reached up and grabbed the nephalim's wrist, clamping down simply but like an iron vice. Holy energy flared for a moment but died down like a snuffed candle.
"Cambion? Close.. but no, not a cambion, so much more." A chuckle emanated from underneath Strauss's white strands of hair as he rose from his slouched position off the wall, gripping the rapier with his other hand, having a similar effect as before, and slowly pulled it out, then set dark grey eyes burning like coals upon the Nephalim. "Of course, I was mistaken about you originally as well, but that was one mistake, one misinformed action, while those you took have been far greater in number." He sneered and threw the old man back against the wall, bracing his right foot as the nephalim rebounded and lunged back at him, only to be grabbed by the throat this time by Strauss's hand, his other deflecting the rapier with a blade.
"I have a little more to buy before I'm fully ready to take on the real thing, so I might as well point out the fake's mistakes." He chuckled and slammed the old man to the floor as he drew back with lightning speed for another thrust. "Lets start from the beginning shall we? A few years ago you and I met, though you seem to have forgotten, and you left far too much evidence behind. So much, that I was able to predict your return, almost to the day." Dark energy crackled and gathered more and more as Strauss spoke, and he stepped forward almost nonchalantly to sweep the legs out from under his opponent just as he bolted to his feet, kicking at him as the old man rolled away. "And then there were your lackeys, or so you thought. A collection of necromancers is rare, and for them to join your ranks? The promise of a world to their own through death may be enough to get a few, but they are hardly all imaginative enough to find that solution, so I made sure Ludwig got the idea last year as I.. "helped" with the twins." Strauss paused for a moment and barked a laugh. "Ah! you didn't know did you! Of course not, Harlan, Rane abominations created for your uses, why would you ever care about where they came from. They were brothers you know, fresh recruits to the 31'st brigade, though I never did put their names down on paper. They were a piece pivotal to my work, the first experiment in extracting free will from a creature, though I had to turn them quite a bit for a result. Still, it gave me the information I needed, and allowed me to stow a timer, and a command. Harlan and Rane would eventually turn on Ludwig, and start removing them from the board once their use was over. The vampires were set on their path with a simple switch of orders, and that agent took care of himself by recklessly jumping into the mist plane."
A growl, followed by a series of furious blazing thrusts from the old man assaulted Strauss during his pause, Strauss himself ducking and weaving, a dark blur in the air, a shadow dancing around the light. And then he delivered a brutal kick to the old man's throat, sending him stumbling back, his wounds crackling with purple energy as holy power attempted to fix them.
"Ah more confusion I see, or perhaps you're simply keeling over. Either way, when it came to their uses yours and mine were the same. An undead horde, large enough to reduce the Citadel's garrison to a handful of men, and sweep the warlocks out on the way. With Crusic where I set him, I guarantee a civil war between the remnants, and end to the church. As for the Serpents, all I had to do was attend a meeting, and carry a hypersonic sound emitter to attract a legion of underworld arachnids to drive them from their home in the subways.
This time, the fight paused for a moment, Strauss content to smirk, allowing the old man the extra time he now needed to regenerate further. "It may seem contradictory to attempt to take over the world using forces bent on ending it, but you're missing the point here. I don't need them to stop your master's petty 'end'. The peons I brought with me are capable enough to do that, provided I am here.."
The look on Strauss's face darkened as the old man rushed him again, this time having his sword arm severed with an incredibly quick dark slash from Strauss, his other hand grabbing the old man by the throat once more and forcing him to the floor. "And finally we come to the main part. You see old man, it was you and your master that gave me he piece I needed to not only cast away these factions as tools, but remove them as barriers. All the hatred of God in humanity and every other creature on this earth is gathering today, as he commands the ultimate in arbitrary and unreasonable. Over the years I made myself the perfect conduit for these infernal energies, and now you've brought them to me." Dark flames of a black-purple hue flowed from the aura around Strauss, spreading slowly off his arm and over the old man as he spoke. "Don't worry old man, as thanks, I'll have your end be quick, as I have taken all the time I need, and can spend, with you already."
Strauss burst into a flurry of slices, his movements making it seem as if there were three of him tearing into the old man all at once, blades discarded, hands like claws tearing through both physical and holy matter with overwhelming infernal powers. In seconds, it was over, and Strauss stood straight, the dark energy dripping off his hands, malice overflowing in his presence as it reflected his very own black soul. The old man had been reduced to a few chunks of lightly glowing meat that were being rapidly swallowed up by shadowy flames, though Strauss did not stop to watch. He simply turned back to the stairs and started up after everyone else to the roof. "Ah I never did pose my final question in our little debate. If a world based in free will isn't worth keeping after all, what's wrong with me creating a world where free will is earned?" A cold feeling, dread incarnate, a mantle of darkness flowed off of his back as he spoke his last words to whatever of the old man had been left behind him. "I give my people the lives they need... the righteous will succeed."

Chrys/Carlos/Selena

Everyone decided to cautiously keep a distance from the golden giant after he effortlessly dealt with all their attacks. He did keep talking, but it was obvious a fight was inevitable at this point in time. Chrys was baffled; there clearly was nothing she could do against him, and she didn’t see it too brightly for the others either. On top of that, Ray was unconscious. Then it seemed something invisible caught the giant’s attention and he suddenly disappeared. Chrys picked up Ray and hurried over to the others. Carlos straightened up and immediately said: „Now that the freak’s gone, we should quickly find the place of the fog’s summoning.“ Selena silently agreed with this, ready to walk forward once it was clear which way they should go. Chrys had to agree with this too, but there was another thing to do first. „Hey, shadow lady. Your spell hit my friend, can you wake him up?“ she asked Marianna. Whether or not the vampiress could fix Ray, Chrys would then reaffirm that the summoning place was somewhere in the front of the ship and hurried along the hallway towards it, Ray sitting/strapped on her back.

Jasmine/Zhi/Katarina

Jasmine first commented on the matter of the explosives: „Well I was thinking we should just sink the whole ship, that should put a stop to the summoning of the fog.“ She also caught the leprechaun going through the hole to check the coffin, so she was anxious to follow him, resulting in mostly brushing off Katarina. Jasmine only recalled the vampiress vaguely, either way. „I got here with the rest of the people, obviously... though i didn’t see your group there...“ she first pointed out the strange presence of Katarina, Sain and Vela here. „As for those two, it’s a long story, I got stuck with them... excuse me for a second,“ she then added, hurrying after the leprechaun. The creature swore and transformed, now looking like a dog-like person. He complained about the coffin draining enchantements and Jasmine sneered a bit, despite the circumstances: „So that’s how you really look... no wonder you mask it.“

In the meantime, Vela addressed Zhi, surprised to see him there. Zhi merely shrugged; after all it seemed the girl went through a lot herself. „Stuff happened, but I‘m fine... what about you, honestly didn’t expect to see you ‚alive‘ again,“ he asked in turn. Then they could hear the swearing of the ‚leprechaun‘ from the neigbouring room, so Zhi prepared a few talismans and quickly followed. In the room with the coffin, he saw an unfamiliar creature, though he quickly figured out it must be the ‚fae‘. Before he could comment though, an 8 feet tall golden giant materialized in the room. „Great, another one,“ Zhi muttered, but decided against any rash actions just yet. Considering how tough the previous one was, this one would most likely be even more troublesome.

As for Jasmine, when she saw the giant, and more importantly heard the coyote greet him by name, she erupted: „You mean you knew exactly who was behind this the whole time and you didn’t say anything? You better start explaining right now.“ Despite her apparent anger, she did not drop her guard for a second. Even though she knew she would not be able to use her invisibility in this room properly, she still had a few tricks in her sleeve. She frowned at both Asher and the fake leprechaun, trying to gauge their intentions before deciding on the best course of action.

Katarina listened in on the conversations going around, jabbing at both Sain and Vela as she did. First, she sneered at the girl: "You'll have time to seduce every man you meet later." Not waiting for Vela's reaction, she continued on to Sain: "As for you, can't you put two and two together? We're on a boat." As for her conversation with Jasmine, she gave her a short version of the happenings earlier that night. Since the other vampiress ran off to the other room, Kat had to follow her. Once the giant showed up, she kept her guard up and cautioned the rest of the company to do the same too.

Spoiler:

Cheon, Cuore

"Cardinal," Cheon greeted with great respect as the man sat, "The report of the front line is disturbing. The fallen brothers and sisters are walking once again, it appears to be work of necromancers, but what I saw from there suggested something more dangerous than Necromancer began to make its move." Cheon paused for a moment, "What I can report is what I saw and what I heard. Cardinal, the necromancers are not the only one who is attacking us. Something is leading them to their dark crusade. Something that is not a human being... Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, I was not able to get much about what was leading them. But, my lord, I have a feeling its not ordinary beings." Then Cheon sighed, "Well that is all I have to report to you, Cardinal. It is not much, but to me, it looked like we have to prepare for another round of waves of undead hordes." Cheon carefully sealed his lips as he finished his last sentence.

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Arkhan, Zarok and Mariana

Mariana brushed her long hair as she came to the unconscious young boy, "Sorry, big kitty. I didn't know that shiny uncle was that fast." She said gently and carefully she sat near the boy. "Nerasium, can you undo your spells?" Mariana looked at her two handed sword in her hand; as if the sword had listened to her it gave out gentle humming sound. Mariana smiled, "Okay, I can do that." Mariana looked at Chrys, "Well he needs to drink little bit of my blood if you want to wake him fast, but he will wake up eventually without it."

Zarok gave out rough cough and stood up straight. Arkhan appeared from the shadow giving him weak smile. "Well, shall we go and stop the fog?" Zarok grinned, "It would be my pleasure." However, Zarok frowned again, "But we probably have to do it quick. We don't know when he will be back and we got no idea how it can be stopped..."

TheDarkestAnimeFan wrote:

Ghosty, Nex

Spoiler:

 

Nexius wrote:

Cheon, Cuore

Spoiler:

 
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Surge Maxwell


Maxwell, led by Cheon, entered the vast chamber that was being used as the current command post. It was buzzing with activity, and everyone seemed somewhat stressed out. Suddenly someone snuck up on the equally surprised exorcist positioned next to Maxwell.

Maxwell silently followed the two men into the back office. After the passing of some painfully silent minutes; the man who had come out of somewhere behind them turned out to be the Cardinal and soon after he asked the men to state their cases; Cheon took the charge while Maxwell politely let the real exorcist state his business.

While the exorcist spoke, Maxwell studied the old man with the tired eyes, seated at the wooden desk which too displayed its elderly age.

It didn't take long before Cheon was done and so Maxwell added in what he knew.


“Pardon me from interrupting but to shed some light on the matter…” Maxwell stepped forward from beside Cheon when the exorcist ended his report. “Back at the Island Church, from whence we rescued Saint Sara, we encountered a demonic entity who led an army of vile creatures. This entity was after some kind of artifact shielded within the walls of the Church, which appeared to us in the shape of a book. Though with the combined effort of the exorcists led by the charge of Father Aaron, the humanoid Demon, capable of human speech was apparently defeated. Unfortunately we all took heavy damage and the artifact may have been lost though nothing can be said for sure when it comes to entities which have the strength to command vast amounts of Unholy creatures. And now with refugees exploding due to some kind of enigmatic phenomenon, followed by the rising dead; I believe that this sanctuary has already been compromised. If we can’t have our last stand here then we must quickly regroup with the other branches to increase our military power. We have been given some breathing space but I agree with Father Cheon here in fearing it may not last for too long.”

Maxwell stepped back with a solemn face after he was done sharing his side of the facts. Suddenly he realized that he was standing in front of The Cardinal. Meaning this person should be in the knowhow of everything happening but what Maxwell was most interested were the core of the current affairs. So before anyone could speak, Maxwell once again spoke his mind.

"Ah!" he exclaimed as though he just remembered something important.

"Speaking of unexplainable phenomenon's; one such with devastating results, hit the Island during our hold up there. This peculiar mass of ethereal energy that seems to consume any organic matter it gets in contact with..." Maxwell paused for a few seconds in which he contemplated as to how exactly choose his words before continuing. "it gives me an ominous feeling. Something, just doesn't sit right by me and I can only fear for the worst." Maxwell once again stepped forward and walked a bit closer to the old oak desk. "Even still, I would like to know more about this particular matter or others like it and help in putting a stop to all things linking to..." Maxwell paused for a second time, "linking to this evil that I sense emitting from them..." Maxwell peered at the Cardinal with stern eyes.

He meant every word he said but he just couldn't shake the fact that he might have gone a bit too far... "Ah!! Maybe I shouldn't have said that last part about me sensing the negative energies. Tch!! I cannot help it now. I'll deal with it if it leads to anything." he thought in his mind.

Maxwell nodded his head before reclaiming his posture. Straightening up he walked backwards to stand next to Cheon.

Sain

"I'd rather not blow the boat to hell, it's way too risky..." Sain replied in a frightened tone, but he stared confidently back at Katrina, unflinching for a few seconds until he adverted his gaze away towards the screeching hot metal behind him that Ember had set ablaze before.

They want to fill the boat with that? What the hell is wrong with these people, and considering the power of the folks in this yacht. They obviously would have a backup plan in case there were explosives among the exorcists.

In the end, he didn't really have a choice but to follow the others into a room. The exhausted look on Sain's face only showed his concern, but this expression soon warped to a expression of pure terror the moment he saw the giant in front of him.

Such an unstoppable force... how the hell are they going to kill this thing! And that weird thing that was with the group is talking to it now! Agh, screw it! It's better just to blow this place up and book it instead of fighting that.

For now, Sain cautiously pulled out his dagger, as he held it in front of him in a defensive formation. And deeply took in a solid breath of air in, to only see this his body was still wobbly from the fatigue and fear.

Ember

"I guess.... but I would rather stick to our leader's plan and not someone like... you." Ember stated with a solid and determined expression.

Their goal was to invade the summoning circle, and without Stein's command she wasn't about to take drastic action with this strange vampire. The trio she met were only helping because the situation demanded it, and from the look of it. All of them agreed with sinking besides the one that looked like Sain.

"Thanks, glad to know that you have at least some of Sain's wits." Ember replied with an annoyed answer with her face being equally as annoyed when Jasmine began to walk away from her with Ember quickly following suite.

Though the moment the a golden flash came in all bets and conversation were off, as Ember's hairs began to stand on end with her flipping out both of her pistols with a brutal expression of malice and fear that made the expression from before look really carefree.

"I demand an answer right now before I fire on you!" Ember quickly and decisively yelled alongside Jasmine as she held both guns arms length in front of her.

Though, she knew better from last time after the fight with the old decrypted man. Appearances are very deceptive, so Ember made sure she stayed on her toes so if they giant decided to teleport or dash at her 100 miles per hour... she would at least have a fighting chance.

Vela

"Well, alive isn't the best choice of words...." Vela muttered, as she stood there awkwardly with her scratching her cheek to help divert her stress to some other task.

It was such a pain to be seen in such an uncouth appearance, but it wasn't something that Vela could help at all. Still, blowing up this boat sounded like a fine idea, as she was pretty much done with this chaos.

The group began to walk into another ominous room, but contrary to the darkness that should be up ahead a radiant light instead blinded Vela, as she let out an annoyed grunt and held her hand in front of her eyes that were now tearing up. When her vision finally cleared, she saw a giant in front of her that she didn't know what the strange being was doing at all.

"Another one? Does that mean you know how to handle it?" Vela replied a little frightened with her gaze turning to meet Zhi's line of sight. She worriedly pulled out her shotgun out of her bag in response to the response events. The gun being slung over her shoulder before she got it in the right position, as she aimed the gun down at the ground.

The situation was truly maddening, but for the time being she had to play it calm. The two only seemed to be socializing making this a much better greeting then getting blasted into the wall from before.

Hallway (Fenix, Chrys, Ray, Carlos, Selena, Arkhan, Zarok, Mariana)
Fenix gaped for what seemed like the gazilianth time that day. This morning he had been camping under his camo-tent trying to get by without becoming something’s lunch. Now a nephalim had just whipped them all like a rented mule with apparently little effort, then…disappeared, err teleported err, vanished? “Soooooooooooo, is anyone else scared out of their fucking minds” Fenix asked quizzically. “And what do we do now, cause there is no way I am running off on my own with that guy teleporting around here?”

Deck
(Jasmine, Zhi, Faust, Katarina, ember, Sain, vela, Ren)
“Hello Coyote” Asher said, his voice disconcerting as it spilled lyrically yet unemotionally from his lips. The hairs on the Coyote’s back seemed to stand on end as Asher addressed him with that emotionless lyrical voice.
“Ya Ya Ya, im a bad ancient spirit, don’t you think we have bigger problems right now.” The coyote said nodding he head up towards Asher who towered over him. Asher raised a log elegant eyebrow at the Coyote’s words. “Oh suck it angel boy, you were a **** a millennia ago and you’re a **** now.” Coyote however stood pat unwilling or unable to move.
Asher’s face was impassive I his calm reply. “How did you get on this ship.” He said with a slight **** of his head in wonderment while staring those beautiful golden eyes deep into Jasmine’s. “and Miss Exorcist you’re a servant of my grandfather are you not, I beg you all to put your weapons down and leave this land.”

TheDarkestAnimeFan wrote:

Ghosty, Nex

Spoiler:

 
 
“This is madness!!” Maxwell shouted as the guards left shutting the door behind them.
 
Turning back to face the cardinal, “You were right, it is not the dead but the living that threatens humanity itself.”
 
Maxwell let out a sigh and lowered his head. Stepping to the right corner of the thick desk which appeared as if it could take quite the beating, Maxwell once again faced the large door. With one hand ready to unsheathe his blade if the time arose and the right, ready to shield the cardinal; “This place is protected for the time being but it won’t stand strong for long if a huge battalion rushes in.”
 
Without taking his gaze away from the doors and concentrating on any irregularities in the ambient sound around them, “Cardinal Belmont, Saint Sara offered me Sanctuary at the Island Church and here till I healed from my Battle wounds… It is time I offer the same.” Clenching the rune blade tighter, “I, Surge Maxwell, offer you my protection for as long as it is required.”
 
“This time for sure, I’ll keep the civilians safe.” Maxwell thought to himself as he recalled the refugees exploding in front of him while he couldn’t do anything to save them.
 
“Secure as it may be, we cannot stay here longer than necessary; our brothers are fighting outside, we must put a stop to this conflict before it escalates to a point of no return.”
 
Battle ready, the demon hunter was prepared to take down any opposition heading their way.

Cheon, Cuore

Cheon stared at the Oak door, the maniac mind he had been hiding from the moment he woke up as Cuore screamed its release. 'Finally! I can have my blood bath!' thought Cheon, however, his face lied to everyone that he was deeply disturbed. "This is sad..." said Cheon, "I agree Surge. We must put to it end." Cheon, quickly faced the Cardinal, "Cardinal, do I have your permission to use weapons to our brothers and sisters?" He asked carefully. Cheon slowly ready his Revelations, ready to fire at any opposition coming through the door.

Jerrod

"Get back here woman." Jerrod mumbled inside his head, as he used all his strength to catch up to that woman holding that mysterious book.  His rage and passion increasing for every moment he got closer until that woman turned her head to give Jerrod a mocking smirk, as Jerrod returned it with a fierce snarl until he was interrupted by being grabbed suddenly.

Jerrod was about to immediately bolt away from the lycan, as he didn't want anything to do with the packs ever since he left years ago, but the vision in front of him was what made him stay.  The exorcists, their emotionless gazes and brutality, it reminded him of that one time with the girl he once met when he was a child and what killed her in the end.

"What's... going on." Jerrod mumbled silently until the sound of ear pirecing bullets shocked his mouth shut with him only awed, as the bloody mess of a corpse fell to the ground with Jerrod staring in disbelief.  

"I see." Jerrod simply responded to them, as he was memorized in this situation before him, his mind was closed to the lycan around him, he was only captivated by what strange procedure was going on in front of him with him finally altering his gaze when a group started walking in his direction.

"Agreed..." Jerrod solemnly replied, as he grudgingly followed the lycan down into the dark and rotten alleys with an annoyed expression on his face.

He didn't want to leave at all, he wanted to get that book out of those exorcists hands.  It was too much of an interesting relic to leave with those simpletons, but if he stayed here he would surely die...  He could only hope that Jack was okay for the time being, as he lost him during the chase from earlier.

Ember

"We have a mission to do, what makes you think we'll just drop it now?" Ember stated in a more agitated tone, as she didn't lighten up with her aggressive stance in the slightest.  In  fact, her body tensed further, as the giant mentioned the fact that she was a servant of his grandfather... what could he be talking about...?

"Are you talking about that creature I met a few hours ago?" Ember replied with an annoyed tone, as last time she remembered that thing wanted her to stop the fog not help it.  This thing is just trying to stall for time or something, because what he is saying just makes no sense and he'll probably back stab them all the moment they drop their guard.

"That creature wanted me to get rid of the fog!  Right now you haven't given me a reason to not open fire, you're only avoiding the question and telling us to leave." Ember growled, as she began to clutch the trigger to begin combat at any moment if this thing said one more word that she wasn't satisfied  with.  She gestured the rest of the group to back her up, but she wouldn't fire until they gave her a strong response in agreement.

Sain

"That fog is killing so many people.. us leaving is like being an accomplice to murdering our allies..." Sain replied in a weak but confident tone, as his legs began to stablize a bit with the loud and confident voice of Ember's calling out at the giant. He certainly couldn't do anything like that, in fact he would probably only attack him and not say a word.

Then Ember gave a weak gesture to begin the attack, and Sain was more then happy to oblige with a nod. This conversation went on long enough, and there obviously wouldn't be anything done unless this thing was out of their way, as it didn't seem fond of the idea of them being here.

At that note, Sain began to create vines in the steel under the ship that he would use. The giant seemed to be a heavy enemy, and after he showed up out of the blue... binding him wouldn't work out well.

"Ember uses fire if I remember correctly, if I can combine my vines with her flames then maybe I'll be able to do some direct damage." Sain thought, as he continued to pour magic into the vines below him.

Vela

"I don't like being ignored..." Vela mumbled, as she stared at the giant with malice. She had been ignored all this time as just a simple worthless piece of trash, because she's a new blood. Well, this is really starting to get on her nerves a lot, and this giant was openly mocking her at this point with his arrogant attitude.

"Katrina, if you got an idea how to use my powers, now would be a good time to tell me." Vela mumbled to the female vampire, as she braced herself further for the giant.

Chrys

Chrys breathed out and relaxed slightly when it was indeed clear the giant was not coming back for now. She looked at the shadow lady, a doubtful look at her face. It seemed her counterpart was a vampire, and she knew enough to not just let her human friend carelessly drink a vampire’s blood; certainly not when she didn’t even know the vampire for 5 minutes. „Thanks, I think I’ll wait until he wakes up by himself,“ she said. Ray was slumped on her back and Chrys transformed into the full tiger form in order to carry him more easily, preparing straps that would hold him in position beforehand. When Fenix asked what they were to do next, she telepathically spoke out to everyone: „As we said, we need to hurry and find the place where they make the fog appear while we can. It’s just up ahead there, on the front of the ship.“

Jasmine

The vampire girl watched the two mythical beings with a frown, waiting for an answer to her question. The exorcist girl seemed rather high-strung and joined her questioning, almost shouting and making threatening gestures with her weapons. Jasmine would have normally spared no time to put the human in her place, but the situation was too serious for such distractions. „Keep it down, will you?“ she hissed at the girl quietly out of the corner of her mouth. „We don’t want to make them edgy, do we?“ Coyote seemed completely unphased by her requests, merely brushing them off as unimportant. However he was cautious of the nephilim.

Jasmine gritted her teeth. She would have none of this anymore. „That is no explanation,“ she objected, keeping her voice calm and cold. When the golden giant caught her eyes, she did her best not to flinch. However she was not as new as to not know that eye contact was not always a good idea. Instead, she stared just a bit above the man’s right shoulder, making sure she’d catch any unexpected movements of the enemy by peripherical vision. „We are not going anywhere until someone tells me what exactly is going on here,“ she then claimed firmly. It seemed that the exorcist girl had questions of her own too. Since there was some new information in it, Jasmine decided to not try to silence her again and instead made sure to listen well for any useful information. It seemed the exorcists were manipulated into coming here as well. The situation seemed more and more fishy and the vampire was regretting getting convinced into coming here even more now.

Arkhan, Mariana and Zarok


Arkhan nodded as he heard the tigress voice, Zarok, on the other hand, frowned. "Well we shouldn't be too hasty. That man must have disappeared because he had a confidence that we won't make it through where the ritual is happening. Besides, they are others like him in this ship. We met one of them and have no idea where she is now... In any case, I agree we should move quickly before he comes back." Zarok said it carefully. Arkhan with his side, they close in towards the door where giant came from and take a quick peek since the door was still open. As they see nothing life threatening inside, they will tell others, "Clear" and move in.

Mariana stood up, "Your Welcome" and disappeared to the shadow once again and this time she went to Chrys shadow.

Zhi

Turning towards Vela, Zhi shook his head no before actually speaking "Nope, the only way we could deal with them is if we had a large enough demonic energy to counter their holy... or death, the only thing that all living creatures are equally weak to is death, which is why you vampires are so peculiar". If Vela would ask again for what he ment, he would mention the difference between vampires,necromancers and other undead. While necromancers are living creatures that use death energy, most undead are simply reanimated corpses by said energy's, but vampires are something completely different a perfect mix between life and death.

While he listened to the others demand answers he tried hard not to tell off the others for having no brain, if they wanted answers they should of tried to get him to gloat about it rather then provoke him and if they wanted to attack they should of kept him talking peacefully.

Katarina

Kat had a similar thought to Zhi, these people really lacked tact but no point crying over spilled milk.

Normally, Vela asking for help would of ended up with some sort of mocking but that was a luxury they couldn't afford right now so she just gave a straight answer. "Well besides the most simple of healing the injured you could support sain, your powers complement each other, which is normal considering he's the one who turned you. There's an offensive application to but it would be harder to do, are you familiar with tumors? simply pour so much healing energy into him that his cells regeneration would go wild and start creating tumors, the hard part of course being able to get the energy into him."

After giving vela some insight on her ability Katarina would return her focus on the others waiting for the fight to start, since the others all seemed to want to rush in head first she decided to wait around and grab a support role.

Faust

"What a messed up family" Faust thought when he learned about the giant's "grandfather". Mostly, he would just keep to the sidelines for now, his ability's weren't really suited for this kind of task though hearing about zhi's speech started turning a few wheels in his head and cursed at baal for not being here.

"Are you ok? Careful, that thing might of tricked you back there" Faust whispered to ember as he got close to her wanting to make certain that wasn't the case, since he was a gambler noticing strange odds was second nature to him.

Carlos and Selena

"You know what, i'm done, this is to troublesome" Carlos sighed before leaning against a wall and sitting down.

"What are you talking about?" Sel asked not really sure what to make of this new behaviour from the male lycan.

"Like i said, i'm done running trough hallways fighting shiny douchebags, i'm going to blow this boat and everything on it to hell and back. Yacht this big has to have a powerful engine which in turn equals a large fuel tank, a fuel tank can be used to make some nice fireworks" Carlos spoke again telling his idea to the rest.

The reason why he stopped moving was so that he could think where the engine room would be located, but the only thing he could think of was somewhere bellow. "Hey, you seem to be good with mechanical things, any idea where the engine room would be located?" Carlos asked fenix staring right at him, though this time lacking the demonic aura from baal.

-Hallway-
The small dreadful feeling grew slowly at first, yet it increased exponentially as the knowledge that something approached nagged in the back of everyone's minds.
And then it was gone. It was replaced by an even, far more conscious emotion, as its source had simply silently showed up while no one was looking.
Strauss loomed just behind the group, the shadows wrapped around his visage flowing lightly like flags in the breeze, eyes calmly burning coals with white hair of medium length spilling around his shoulders. Solomon's charm of knowledge hung around his neck, all other symbols having been removed from his now pitch black wardrobe. He stood perfectly still, never blinking, and then suddenly he was in front of them, walking silently towards the exit and the shining giant. He paid no mind to those around him, only seeming to notice the nephalim who blocked his way now just a few yards ahead, and he stopped.
"Good day Enoch. I would find it most entertaining to chat with you for a bit, but time is short. The world is ending you know."
Any light in the hallway was dimmed near Strauss, and all sound from the energetic talks before seemed to cease for the moment, silence covering the group like a thick blanket before he spoke again.
"However, I don't think I'll let this world end. Not after everything I've put into it. If a world of free will is the only one you think is worth having, then why make an imperfect one? Why bother destroying this one then? Surely you have the power of doing so." An ironic tone crept into his icy voice at the last part. "How about this, I will make this world one of the utmost standards, though free will shall have to be mitigated. So why not spare us all some time, and your grandfather some shame?"
Infernal energy bubbled, practically tangible in the air, growing with each word Strauss spoke, as he took step after step towards the giant.
"Ember, take the other peons and stop the ritual would you? The adults need to talk."

Ember

"Really?  I don't think he would of gone out of his way to make a pact with me if that was the case." Ember replied to Faust with confused tone, as she didn't move her body away from the giant in the slightest, her cold eyes dead focused on the rude being.

But what Faust said didn't make much sense, creature seemed strong enough to just take them all out there.  If it really wanted to just kill Ember and her crew, it would of just done so.

"Sir?" ember mumbled with a mixture of relief and confusion, as the expression on her face showed exactly what her force sounded like.  Her guns were still pointed at the creature, almost like it was a natural instinct to keep her guard up, but her mind was completely focused on the rather cold superior.

Soon he began talking to the giant in front of her, and Ember quickly readjusted her combat stance with her brushing her short blonde hair back to make sure none of it was in the way.  After all, she needed to add an edge to Stein's side of the table.

Though, in all honesty this conversation was beyond her, she knew nothing of what these too were talking about.  It was probably about something with the fog destroying life here.... but it was really hard to tell.

"Other Peons...." Ember replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice, but she knew this wasn't the time to argue.  She turned to everyone behind her, making sure her expressions and gestures were visible to Jasmine as well who was next to her that resembled what she looked like back when she was leading Ren, Faust, and Cloud.

"You heard him.... He bought us time, so let's go to the ritual now." Ember called out with a confident and commanding tone to everyone, as she quickly gestured everyone to follow her  as she began to run off to the ritual site.

Vela

"I see, I remember doing the link with Sain, but that second part is very... ingenious." Vela genuinely complemented Katrina, as she pondered how she was going to get up towards the enemy in the first place or if this giant could even get cancer.

Though, the silent sounds of footsteps in the distance caused Vela to turn her eyes slightly to her left, as she noticed a familiar figure walking past her.

"Ah, Stein is here.." Vela thought to herself in relief, as she let out a slight sigh with her right hand on her chest.  Out of all the exorcists the one she actually thought was decent was the man before her, after all he took out that old man practically by himself .

The conversation was nothing that Vela knew about personally, but it put her mind at ease when she heard Stein talking and putting pressure on the giant... until.... He made that insolent comment!

"Peon?  You have no right to call me a peon!" Vela stated in an annoyed and noble tone, as her upper class blood began to kick in when this exorcist insulted her.  Her hand was balled into a fist, and it she was shaking almost like all her rage that she kept pent inside her was coming out to hit Stein.

However, the sound of Ember's voice seemed to resonate in the distance, as it put Vela's mind back on the task at hand.  Making her follow the exorcist girl in short order, as she did have lives to save.  Though, from her now emotionless gaze and stiff movements, it was obvious she was suppressing something.

"Just you wait you god forsaken exorcist, I'll make you regret that." Vela thought maliciously, as it almost seemed like she was setting an omen or a curse on Stein for later.

Deck (strauss, vela, sain, ember, Katarina, faust, zhi, jasmine)
“My grandfather is the creatore of all things, lord of heaven and earth child, not whatever repugnant corruption you seemed to have allied yourself with.” Asher snapped at Ember while his eyes bore into hers, flaming spheres of molten gold so intense she had to look away. “And I can hear you…all of you” Asher said in his deep melodic voice. “You beg parlay yet plot behind the shield of your fellows, and you dare accuse me of bad faith.” Suddenly Asher was beside Sain and with a casual twist of his wrist snapped the smaller vampires arm in half, the bone ripping through the skin as blood splattered the deck.
Asher’s head cocked to the side, his massive hand still firmly gripping Sain’s ruined arm as Strauss approached. “I can smell the morning stars corruption dripping from your pores abomination. And are you really so arrogant as to believe you have much of a say in anything. All I see is Lucifer sending a blighted child to the proverbial slaughter house.”
Asher’s eyes snapped over to Ember and in a perfectly casual voice said “take one more step and I will cleanse the flesh from your bones” and in warning searing light began to pour from his eyes.
The coyote gave Jasmine a deadpanned look as if to say ya now is totally the logical time to make demands of the psychotic demi god. And then gave a slight nod towards the bridge and disappeared as Asher’s attention diverted towards Strauss

Hallway (Fenix, Ray, chryse, Marinna, Zarok, Arkhan, Carlos, Selina)
“You know what that’s actually a pretty good plan” Fenix quipped in having eavesdropped on Carlos and Selena.
“Definitely” replied a mirthful and slightly guttural voice from right next to Fenix, causing the youth to jump back as he was now looking at a massive Coyote which had somehow just appeared in the hallway.
“Ok I’m not the only one seeing the talking dog am I?”
“Coyote”
“What?”
“You said dog, I’m a Coyote, big difference.”
“You look like a dog whats the difference.”
“One you call spot, the other eats spot when he wanders out of the yard.”
“Point taken”
“Thought so. Anyway all those nice folks down confronting Asher on the deck seemed doomed, so you all got an idea on how to blow the ship up, or is dog boy here just blowing hot air.” The coyote said while picking at his teeth with one paw in an oddly human gesture of indifference.”Cause if you just break that circle your all going down titanic style, except no door to cling to, man that was a crappy movie, why didn’t she just share the door with Leo?”

Jasmine

Situation quickly went from bad to worse, the Asher guy suddenly assaulting the silly Warlock. The man was apparently plotting something. Jasmine sighed and tried to shrug off the increasingly disconcerting feeling that was creeping upon her. It felt like something big was coming. She considered the options; they were horrible. And then the bad feeling turned into an apparition – it was a clearly demonic creature, though it seemed it was originally a human. He spouted lines equally haughty as the nephilim. When the exorcist girl referred to him as ‚sir‘, Jasmine shot a sharp look at her. So, it was na exorcist, was it? He didn’t seem as much of a good guy, but at least he looked powerful enough to take on Asher. Then she noticed Coyote giving her a sarcastic look and disappearing.

She weighted her options. It seemed that the exorcists were going to listen to their boss. Jasmine noted the remark about peons and was about to protest, but the newblood Warlock girl already exploded about it. Jasmine was not about to fall to the level of someone like that. Hm. This room drained enchantments, as Coyote said. But maybe the presence of the demonic exorcist (snort) would somewhat weaken this effect. In any case, she still had enough energy for a short burst. As soon as the thought formed, she acted on it. After all, it seemed likely that Asher could read minds, considering what he did to the vampire. She just hoped the others had enough presence of mind to figure out they should follow Coyote.

Jasmine took a deep breath and shot an invisible string of Dark matter to everyone in the room besides Asher and Strauss. Upon contact, the Dark Matter quickly spread on the beings it touched and they turned invisible. At that point, Jasmine was invisible as well, and already running after Coyote. Two of her butterflies fluttered towards Asher’s head and exploded into colourful smoke. She didn’t expect the effects of the gas to actually work, but at least they might cloud his vision for an instant and possibly distract him further. At the same time, she jerked the string that was connecting to Sain. Hopefully, the combination of Strauss talking to Asher, her distraction, and any possible actions that Sain himself or other people in the room might try to free him would be enough to get him out of the giant’s grasp. If it wasn’t, well, it was better to lose one arm than your unlife, she thought grimly. However if it seemed it won’t work, she’d let go of the string instantly in order to protect herself.

Chrys

Before the group could properly get a move on, Carlos snapped and decided to boycott the plan. He sat down and started talking about blowing up the ship instead. Fenix seemed to pick up the idea readily as well, which made Chrys stop and consider it seriously. There was no point dividing their forces after all, they’d just get in trouble that way. Sooner than she could think of something to say, however, a new voice , and a being, appeared in the hallway. It was a coyote. He had a quick exchange with Fenix that made Chrys chuckle a bit despite the situation. Well, whatever tigers did instead of chuckling. „Are you a lycan too?“ she asked curiously, using telepathy. Then she quickly shook her head and got back to the important things. „Well, if you all think it’s a good idea to sink the ship, I agree to it too,“ she continued, shifting her weight as she tried to get Ray to lie in a better position on her back. The boy was still out cold and that made it more difficult to carry him.

„Also, there’s a raft we arrived here on,“ she added when the coyote mentioned they’d all drown if the ship was sunk. She completely didn’t understand the bit with Titanic though. „I can call my family who’s guarding it to come here,“ the weretigress continued. „One of the vampires turned it invisible too,“ she finished on the topic of the raft. „And if you tell me where to go and what to break, I could go do it,“ she suggested, moving on to the matter of blowing up the ship. „If you can keep Ray and my body safe, maybe on the raft orso, I could go to this engine room in my spirit form. I’m a shaman,“ she explained with a hint of pride in her voice. „I... I’m pretty sure I can move real things a bit if I focus really hard when I’m a spirit,“ she finished, this time hesitating a tiny bit.

The idea to doubt the intentions of the coyote didn’t even cross Chrys’s mind, and should the group from the ritual site manage to fight their way out of there and reach the lycan group, she’d not be phased a bit either, simply including them in her telepathic speech from when they appeared.

Sain

Snap, Sain eyes widened with disbelief, as the crushing sound of his arm being snapped rung in his ears with the world seeming to slow around him when his knees smacked into the ground with the shock of the hitting the steel ground shaking his body up more then it should, as the blood began to flow out from his arm at an alarming rate that left Sain speechless beyond any sort of words.

His mind was hazy, and it was difficult to hold consciousnesses alone, let alone think and react to the situation. But all of his mind did tell him one thing, that he needed to get out of this giant's grasp now, otherwise he wasn't going to leave to see tomorrow.

"Let... go.." Sain mustered to say, as he attempted to swing his dagger at the ferocious giant that was holding his arm, but a lot of the strength had depleted and it was more like he was passing the knife to the giant rather then actually taking a slash at him.

Though, midway through the swing Sain's eyes widened with confusion, as his body began to fade and become harder to see by the second. But, it didn't stop his feeble attack, as his mind couldn't react to this unknown occurrence fast enough.

Vela

"Sain!" Vela uttered in complete shock, as her eyes filled with a mixture of malice for the giant and concern for Sain's life at the same time. Though, she wasn't able to move her shaking body at first, but someone hit her that began to leach onto her. Her first reaction was to quickly swipe it off, but her body began to fade into some of a translucent shade, as she felt the friendly magic brimming through her body.

"I can work with this..." Vela thought to herself, as she quickly scanned the surroundings in her sight to note anything that she could use for her powers and thankfully enough... Sain's roots seemed to of surfaced after the giant decided to strip his arm in half with the desperate vines reaching out towards Sain almost like a defensive mechanism the vampire had built up.

Vela took this chance, as she bolted towards the vines without a second though, as she ran her right hand across the vines causing the creation of nature to wither and die, but she didn't stop there, after that she hastily grabbed another one of the vines with her left hand with her snapping the vine at the giant's arm with her throwing all the healing magic she could into the vine at once.

The surge of healing should cause tumors just like Katrina said, so hopefully that would be enough to distract the giant for Sain to get away... and if she's lucky enough the healing might reach Sain's arm too and lessen the pain... a bit.

Ember

"What?" Ember mumbled, as she tilted her head to the right to emotionless stare at Sain who lied their near lifelessly on the ground, struggling to the last bit of life he had left. She eyes seemed to be lost another world, as the thoughts of losing Sain some time ago began to flow into her memories, filling her with a mixture of rage, depression, and the long forgotten zeal she had almost gave up.

Though, the giant's malicious voice soon echoed in Ember's ears, as she slowly rose her head to look at so called grandson of the creator. There's no way... This thing actually things he deserves the title of the creator when he did something like that? To Sain?

She quickly adjusted her posture, as her rapidly pulled out one handgun and an uzi, as she quickly enchanted the uzi with fire and aimed them right at the face of this demonic giant. Her eyes looking like they were on the verge of watering if it wasn't for the bit of pride Ember had that held those emotions back.

"You pathetic piece of trash... You're no better then the vampires who killed Sain in the first place, and you think you have the right to to look down on Strauss?!" Ember yelled at the giant, as she took careful aim and fired an non-enchanted bullets at the giant with her handgun. The hand that held her uzi trembled with rage, as she held it at the ready, waiting for the giant to make his move to fire the hellstorm at that thing.

Jerrod

Jerrod was sitting back and assessing the situation with a solemn stare. His gaze focused on the vampire that looked like he was about to fall over any second, as he assessed the situation with a glare growing more chilling by the second when the footsteps began to ring in the distance. Jerrod's guard now raised in case those exorcists came running around the corner with silver bullets at the ready.

It wasn't nearly as bad as that, it turned out to be.. what do you know... Jack! The man apparently found some sort of hilarious sunglasses that almost made Jerrod smirk if it wasn't for the other pair of footsteps encroaching on the group in the distance. Well, this situation could be handled certainly, but they would have to be quick.

"That man is fine, grab and shut-up that vampire before he gives our position away." Jerrod whispered, as he looked over at Jack to confirm that there was no one coming his way, but he was only met with that silly deadpan stare, "I want to hear what he says, so hurry up will ya."

At that moment, Jerrod quickly dashed over to Jack with him expecting the others to follow, but the feeling behind the event almost felt like they were having a long lost reunion or something... for some odd reason.

"Do you know a way out of here? Seems like some exorcists aren't very happy I'm here." Jerrod said to Jack, as he was careful whoever the footsteps were wouldn't end up hearing them with Jerrod covering his mouth on one side like he was telling some sort of secret.

Carlos and Selena

Carlos was pretty much unphased by coyote and didn't really care about their conversation , only listening in to know when they decide on something but then the dam mut said something that pissed off Carlos. Sel however had been one step ahead and was already trying to get carlos to prevent carlos from starting a bickering contest with the others since they had more important things to do. It would take about a minute and Carlos spouting obscenity's at coyote over Sel's shoulder but he would regain his composure and be ready to blast this thing apart if "more fuel wasn't added to the fire".

Katarina

Stein/Strauss's arrival caught her eye as he was practically oozing demonic energy but rather then trying to discern what or why she was more interested if he had enough to counter Asher's holy powers.

While she was busy thinking of how to use steins new condition to their advantage, the others seemed more interested in petty squabbles among themselfs, especially Vela who got totally pissed of. Really there's a time and place for everything and this was clearly not it, not to mention that letting yourself get provoked so easily is the sing of a clueless amateur.

Sain's arm snapping like a twig got her angry but part of it was aimed at her "team" for lowering their guard in the first place so they could argue like children. Ember loosing it wasn't helping either, though unexpectedly Vela seemed to act with some sort of strategy.

Katarina would give Vela an order of "escape while trying to rescue sain" though she never actually spoke a word, just though the order, the effect being the same as the orders were given trough will not words.

Moving swiftly behind Ember Kat would grab the back of her head and force her to the ground while using a bit of blood to tie up her hands. After capturing ember she would use her mist flash to move herself and ember away but due to carrying another person the range being cut short only going as far as the door where she would hand her over to faust(however if Asher interfered Kat would prioritise her own safety). Meanwhile the rest of the blood she gathered along with the one that dripped from sain flew onto Asher acting as a distraction mostly by trying to bind him or simply whip/stab at him with tendrils. If asher let go of Sain the blood would suddenly stop harassing him and instead envelop sain forming a ball around the male vampire and rolling him away, his wounded arm being completely immobilized by the blood as to not damage it further.

"Hope that new form of yours is not just for show" Kat would speak to Strauss before running away with the others if everything went according to plan.

Zhi and Faust.

The moment things went south Zhi immediately bolted for the door along with Jasmine.

Faust who was actually the closest to the door from the group was pretty much into a daze untill Zhi ran past him with a look that said "lets get the hell out of here". Seeing as how things were already horrible he decided it was as good a time as any. Taking out the mistery vial, he tossed into the air towards asher. The vial would fly past the giant if left alone but Faust aimed to shoot the Vial and spill its contents onto the giant the moment the vial was just a bit behind him. He wasn't really concerned about getting sain in the crossfire but he did aim the attack in such a way as to lower the chances of him getting caught in it.

After the vial attack, Faust would run out the door, grabbing Ember along if Katarina's plan succeeded.

Nexius wrote:

Cheon, Cuore
 

Spoiler:

 

TheDarkestAnimeFan wrote:

Ghosty, Nex

Spoiler:

 
Surge Maxwell
 
 
Bullets bouncing off in the hallways ahead, battle cries echoing in the rooms nearby and then an oddly familiar click, marking the silent exit of one of the visible occupants present in the room where Maxwell and Cheon were prepared to take a stand in.
 
“heheh” Maxwell lightly chuckled as he relaxed his posture and leaned back into the oak desk behind him.
 
With slightly lowering his chin, the hunter slowly brought down his eyelids to mask his patterned Amber eyes. The next second, a smirk crept onto Maxwell’s face as even with closed eyes, the being with the Dark Orange globes for his eyes could see everything in the chamber he was in and the world outside, like the men holding weapons standing behind the door in front of him and the staircase at the back that apparently appeared to be part of the wall yet it was not. His vision spanning all around him, somewhat akin to a thermal or infrared vision radar; albeit in somewhat of a monochrome color scheme with varied blobs of energy in the distance, lighting up here and there like lights on a poorly decked Christmas tree and solid humanoid shapes and structures the closer they are to him.