Dimension C-137 spreads it's seeds

To be honest, Shen didn't even know what he was supposed to be doing here. Now he was surrounded by nightmarish beasts that seemed malformed, abhorrent, and, in a sense, otherworldly. Some were humanoid in shape, while others seemed so appallingly disfigured that they only vaguely resembled what might once have been a human. Others were molded and twisted into forms that were nothing short of bestial, bearing no semblance with anything that could be considered human ... apart from the clearly human appendages and organs that had fuzed with or protruded from their misshapen bodies.

His day had started out relatively well, the Rune Knight Staff Seargant waking up and getting ready for his day at the job. Nothing out of the ordinary. He'd put on his uniform, the ebony hue of the clothing paired with the argent shine of the bits of armor instilling a small bit of confidence in the young man. Confidence that his day would play out liek it would always. Without major incidents, quietly, and relaxed. Just a simple day at work, filing reports or investigating vehicles parked in the wrong spot. The usual small-fry business that he would deal with on a day to day basis. He knew that ultimately it was meaningless, though that didn't bother the young Rune Knight Staff Seargant in the least. That was his expectation, at least. A call had come in about strange sightings in the fields just outside the city, and, of course, with his luck, Shen had been the one sent to investigate.

Arriving at the location of the suspicious sighting, he had already been able to spot the anomaly from far away, a massive, abstract circle, containing distinct, irregular shapes within its confines. That was not all, though. The nightmarish monstrosities lurked within there, though, they didn't seem to wander too far away from the strange shape in the field before him. Perhaps he should leave? Surely, he couldn't take on all of these beasts by himself, right? He would need back-up before engaging these things, but ... if these monsters escaped and attacked any of the locals, that would be bad. Not only would that be on him and his conscience for failing to do his duties, but if he lost these things then there was a chance that they'd never be found again. On the other hand, though ... these creatures seemed like murderous demons, designed only to kill and rip apart those unfortunate enough to cross them. Shen was scared, the coward in him telling him to run with every fiber of his being while his conscience and sense of duty actively pushed against this impulse. It seemed, though, that fate would make his decision for him, the sound of gunshots rattling him from his thoughts.

His gaze instinctively focussed on the direction the sounds had come from, his eyes widening in shock. "What the fuck?!", the young Rune Knight exclaimed to himself when he spotted the woman in the middle of the group of monsters, firing and killing two of them, though she seemed to only attract the attention of more. The Staff Seargant grit his teeth, pulling a gold coin from his pocket before flipping it, the piece of currency, with a golden glow, turning into a bow mid air, Shen catching it with one hand. With a subtle flicker around his form, the hum of magical energy would fill the air as he felt the cosmic power around him flow through his body, his irises beginning to glow with a bright golden hue. Instinctually, he would draw back the string of the weapon, his eyes focussing on a particular group of targets near the woman. "The gaze of the stars, forever set upon this world.-", he would begin his spell chant, an orange magic circle manifesting behind the bow as an arrow of burning plasma materialized inside the weapon as he'd drawn back the string fully. "-Manifest the wrath of the cosmos!". With those words, he would send the glowing projectile flying at the cluster of beasts, the arrow impacting just a moment later. As it slammed into the ground, it would erupt with roaring flame, exploding outwards in a wave of heat and light that resembled a miniature sun, scorching the monsters caught in it to ash in a single, fleeting moment.

With this, the gloves had come off. Shen, empowered by overwhelming amounts of cosmic energy that were integrated into his system, burst forward in a dash of extreme speed, reaching the woman in a matter of seconds before coming to an abrupt halt next to her side. "Are you alright?", he would ask swiftly, though not without keeping his eyes locked on the monsters around them, tracing every movement they made. It seemed that the temporary manifestation of blinding light had obscured what appeared to have been already bad vision, and so most of them stumbled around aimlessly for the moment, but that wasn't the Rune Knight's first priority. "I'm Staff Seargant Kadokawa, Rune Knights. I've come to help you, Ma'am. Can you walk?", he would ask her, though raising his bow once more and pointing it at the creatures in case they tried anything.

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Thread Word Count Total: 1,418

Well, Shen was no medic, but the woman certainly seemed more than alive enough. If she was capable of barking like this then she was clearly in good enough condition to survive her apparent injuries. Still, the accent she spoke with was strange, to say the least. Was she from Pergrande or something like that? She sounded the part. Her accent made it hard to distinguish whether she'd said "beaten" or "bitten", the Rune Knight, in both cases, blaming the monsters for her current state. The situation was easily understood, or, well, so Shen thought, at least. He could deduce that her vision was impaired, at the least. The next parts, though, were more confusing than anything. This situation in itself was unusual, but the fact that she was spewing all this stuff, about her being a Major in a unit he had never even heard of, about the military being disbanded, about the Rune Knights trying to "resurrect" it.

Briefly, the young man would throw a confused look over his shoulder at her, golden, glowing eyes trying to gauge whether she had been hit in the head or not. Perhaps she was suffering from some kind of trauma-induced confusion? Or ... perhaps she was part of Pergrande's military and had somehow ended up here? He would help clear things up, then. "The military has not been disbanded, Miss Morozov. The Rune Knights of Fiore are around as ever. In fact, they sent me here to investigate this - ... this mess". He decided to ignore the derogatory comments about his weapon and his apparent uselessness, even though they didn't exactly affirm his confidence in himself. Still, he would push that aside for the time being. He could deal with a negative self image when he and this woman were out of harms way. "I can fight, don't worry about my capabilities. Stay back and I will deal with this situation swif- Hey!".

The woman hadn't listened to him. In fact, she had done the exact opposite, Shen instinctually gritting his teeth as he cursed under his breath. "God fucking damnit". Why did she have to storm off, into one of the creatures no less. Shen swung his bow around at the beast, though the close quarters scuffle between the woman and the creature meant that he would run the risk of hitting her if he fired now. His brows inched closer together. Perhaps she had really hit her head. Rushing into one of these things seemed crazy, even for him, though, much to his surprise, he watched as she pulled out her gun and dispatched the thing with seeming ease and skill before switching to a different kind of weapon, the loud explosions and flashes that echoed from the muzzle of her rifle ringing out almost as if forming a deadly melody, again and again releasing projectile after projectile. Maybe what she had said wasn't so wrong, after all. She certainly seemed skilled enough. Well, if she insisted on helping to stop these beasts then who was he to stop her ... though he would certainly prove that he was anything but useless.

Drawing back the string of the bow once more, an arrow in a needle-like shape would manifest within the weapon, seemingly made entirely of light. In quick succession, the young Rune Knight Staff Seargant would release a volley of 3 arrows that would replenish within the bow automatically as soon as he had fired the previous one, slamming into one of the beasts that was rushing for the woman and tearing into its flesh, setting it alight with raging fire where they had struck and knocking it over. With horrible, guttural roars and screams the creature would swiftly die, its flesh seared by burning plasma. If only she hadn't been so damn loud. These things maybe couldn't see, but they seemed to be able to hear just fine ... and there were many of them. "Fuck!". He had no choice but to step up his game, more and more Mana flowing through his body. Almost back to back, Shen would begin chanting once more, casting two intertwining spells at the same time.

"Vast emptiness of space-"
"-untold relativity-"
"-perpetual motion!"

With this last word, the young man's body would vanish in a blur of extremely fast motion, reappearing in a similar blur right before one of the mutated monstrosities, his arm stretched out, palm facing the beast, and indeed, the beasts around it. With determined voice, Shen would finish his incantation, releasing his spell with a massive surge of magical and cosmic energies.


Solar wind would erupt from his hand and spread out over the area before him, within a moment, setting ablaze everything that was caught in the sudden, infernal blast. The grass would turn black before burning away into ash. The ground below would begin to liquify and melt. First the skin, then the flesh, and at last, the bones of the monsters would evaporate and leave nothing behind when the blast of a sunstorm stopped after a passing second, leaving behind smoldering fires and red-hot glowing ash on the blackened ground where a group of them had stood just moments before. He had to admit to himself, the young Rune Knight though, he had gotten quite good at this kind of thing.

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Word Count: 903
Personal Word Count Total: 1,773
Thread Word Count Total: 2,965

"That was my magic, Ma'am. I control cosmic energy and manifest it to embody different stellar phenomena", he would answer her question objectively and with a neutral tone, taking a deep breath as he lowered his arm, the smell of scorched flesh and ash permeating through the air. Of course, the Rune Knight Staff Seargant, at this point, still assumed that the woman next to him knew what magic was and how prevalent it was within this world. Really, using and expelling magic in such a casual manner was taxing, like an intense workout, but Shen enjoyed the feeling. His breath steadied when the cosmic energies flowed through his form and filled it with power. His hands would stop shaking, and it felt like his vision became clearer, not to mention his other senses, as well. It was like some kind of nebulous force that prevented him from being himself was lifted from him. He felt like he could be himself, a liberating feeling.

The woman would address him again, asking more questions. Had she lost her memory? Surely, she had to know about the different nations of the world, right? "I don't think we're a conspiracy. Miss Morozov, Fiore is the country you are located in right now. The Rune Knights make up the police and armed forces of Fiore, controlled by the Magic Council. Do you know where in Earthland Fiore is located?", he would ask a counter-question. Perhaps, he thought, she wasn't exactly ... alright, mentally, that was. If she was in a state of such confusion that she couldn't even recall where she was, perhaps, he thought, it would be best to detain her for questioning. He'd never done such a thing before, but there would be a first for everything, right? Well, if she was a danger to herself and others, he would certainly be obligated to. Still, she would ask where she was, Shen sighing as he brought up the bow once more, reading himself for more beasts as he dashed over and closer to her position to get ready to eliminate the rest of this threat. "Ma'am, you are just outside of Era, the seat of the Magic Council and Headquarters of the Rune Knights. Are you ... are you sure you that your head's not injured?". These questions started to become weird. Anyone from around here, or well, from around the same continent probably knew about Fiore, at the least, even if they were from Pergrande, right? Shen didn't know for sure, he'd never been there before for obvious reasons, but he figured that they would at least learn about Geography. Then again, based on her weaponry, she might as well be from Bosco or somewhere close. He didn't doubt that any kind of magical phenomenon might've transported her here, but she had to be from Earthland ... right? Well, she mentioned a place called, uhm, "Velikiygrad", which did sound Pergrandian, but that might as well have been misleading.

While confused, the woman seemed firmly planted in the moment, informing him that the creatures seemed to slowly regain their vision as time passed. Shen grit his teeth. They had to be dealt with before they could escape out of sight and harm any of the innocent people around. In preparation for combat, the woman seemed to cast a spell, as well, Shen now registering the faint flicker in space caused by the use of magic power as he looked over to the woman that seemed to summon more weapons. "So you're a Requip mage, huh? Seems useful. Would you mind helping me take out the rest of them so we can prevent any more harm?". Well, she was a civilian, but the fact that she was a mage changed a lot. She could hold herself well in combat, meaning that she was a welcome addition to his efforts. Luckily, she didn't seem to be against his proposal in the slightest. "Yeah, let's go. I'll pin them down, you'll take them out".

Aiming the bow carefully in the midst of the large group, the young man would take a deep breath once more, cosmic energy flowing through his body and into the weapon, his eyes beginning to glow with a golden color again. Shen's voice regained a certain steadiness as he would begin to chant once more. "Cold expanse-", a deeply blue magic circle would appear just in front of the bow as he aimed, "-devoid of breath-", he would draw back the bowstring, an arrow of ice-blue energy manifesting within the weapon, radiating cold and frost. With the last part of the incantation, "-Hell of ice!", he would send the arrow flying towards the beasts, the projectile slamming into the ground in the center of the group with a sound like splintering ice. With a burst of magical power, the area around the impact would be flash-frozen in an instant, the movement of all remaining creatures ceasing at once as their limbs and bodies stiffened through the excessive cold. Shen didn't know how much time this would give her, but he hoped that it would be enough to eliminate them all. And who knew, once that had been dealt with, maybe she could answer a few of his questions for a change, the first of which being what the fuck these nightmarish creatures actually were ... and where they had come from.

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Word Count: 900
Personal Word Count Total: 2,675
Thread Word Count Total: 4,633