Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-25363089-20190131225052/@comment-25389303-20190221232046

Surprised by Koray's sudden resurgence, Rosa did not react in time to avoid the man's bolt of ice and cursed as her lower leg suddenly froze from foot to knee. Rio, on the other hand, expected the counterattack and parried Koray's punch with the length of his rifle. Spinning it, he forced his opponent's outstretched hand away and fell to one knee before firing his rifle at point-blank range at Koray's exposed chest.

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"You...you're not supposed to be here..." Orpheus growled - his calm, collected voice now completely replaced with a frustrated snarl. With his coffin in his left hand, Orpheus yanked on the end of his chain with his right and brought the dagger-tipped weapon back into his grasp. "No matter - knew this day would come eventually. In fact, I planned for it!"

With all thought of Nickelae now gone from his mind, the leader of the Gravediggers suddenly surged forwards, punching out with the bladed coffin like a massive battering ram. Despite it being bigger than both Nickelae and Zobet, and many times heavier, Orpheus wielded it like it was made of paper. In a heartbeat, he had crossed the length of the alleyway in his sudden assault on the newcomer - only to have his coffin meet an unyielding wall of stone that suddenly shot upwards from the ground between the two old enemies.

"You never were the brightest, were you, Orphy?" the skeleton man goaded, appearing atop the rocky outcrop above them. In a burst of hate-fueled power, Orpheus swung his coffin around in a horizontal strike, this time obliterating the Dust-summoned wall into a dozen chunks. Zobet was unfazed, however, and gracefully somersaulted through the air - landing behind Orpheus and in front of Nickelae. Before the big man could react, Zobet spun and pointed the screaming skull that adorned his staff at the man, after which three beams of explosive energy burst forth from its eyes and mouth, hitting Orpheus directly in the back and sending him sprawling forwards.

"To answer your question, young man," Zobet said in a cheerful voice as he clipped Widowgast's Tome securely inside his coat, "I'm afraid the tome will remain with me. After all, only I can fully understand the true potential of its contents. Besides, I believe you had better run along now - your master could use your help."

Waving Nickelae away with a gesture that made it clear the conversation was over, Zobet turned back to confront his rising foe, who had recovered from the blast with little signs of obvious damage and appeared more irritated than anything.

"Best be on your way, boy," Zobet told Nickelae in parting. "This is about to get messy."