Warlords (hiatus)

Swamp Water Tree 2

Dirk waited for his gauge to fill. His Accumulated Milestone ability, God's Descent, gave him a random status boost for each segment filled. Whenever he decided to attack, he would instantly move in front of his target to strike. With the attack, the gauge would be consumed and all the status boost would become permanent, and the cycle would begin again.

He gritted his teeth. His body was prepared to strike, one hand on the sheathe and the other hovering over the handle. A gust of wind blew by. The belts on his black harem pants swung, and their clips clattered. His eyes watched Ian with care, looking at him from head to toe. Nothing looked out of the ordinary... The paper fan had to be empowered by an ability. Was it an Accumulated gauge? Was it Segmented?

His thoughts dispersed as he heard Clary scream. He looked at what was happening. The enemy was down. He could give the finishing blow. He took a step. Then, he stopped as he saw Ian move. His heart skipped a beat with fear. What was it? Blossom gave all the information about the Sakuras. He was sure of it, but why couldn't he remember...?

A hand gripped his shoulder.

"Calm down, Dirk," a male Siren with long black hair spoke. "You are killing yourself from overthinking."

"But, Isaac-"

Isaac patted Dirk's shoulder. "We can figure it out together." He lifted his glasses with his middle finger. "Or take him down before further damage."

He dug his hands into the pockets of his lab coat as he charged at Ian. Pulling out two syringes, one on each hand, his gauge depleted and the syringes were filled with a liquid.

Ian readies himself, carefully eyeing Isaac's movement.

Then, Isaac struck. First, the right syringe, jabbing the needle forward. Ian sidestepped and sliced the syringe in half. Liquid splattered everywhere. Isaac stumbled past Ian, and turned around. Ian pivoted halfway, making sure both enemies were in his line of sight. The second attempt was made. Ian was about to break the syringe, but Dirk appeared right at the corner of his vision. Instinctively, he switched targets and broke Dirk's blade again. And he took the needle in the arm. Isaac pressed the plungers.

Ian groaned, growled, and chopped down at the syringe. Isaac yanked out the needle.

A Focus Debuff icon appeared. This debuff slowed Ian's gauge accumulation.

"What is this?" He breathed with disgust.

"Do you like it?" Isaac giggled. "I made it myself, though I don't know exactly what I made."

Cerulean Concoction, an Accumulative Singular ability, when used, a liquid that could cause a random status ailment would be formed in whatever medium the user desired. The user could then inject it into a target via an open wound at close combat such as injections by syringes or saliva from biting and breaking the skin.

Ian's body shook with a silent laugh. "I suppose I do." He opened his fan and slid his thumb over the edges." I can see how it can be annoying, but I won't be bothered until then."

Right after Dirk had sheathed his katana. Ian rushed to Dirk. With a closed fan, he whacked Dirk in the neck. Dirk's head cocked to the hit and was stunned for a quick second due to the odd sensation. Dirk drew his blade, slicing at Ian's head. Ian lightly hopped back. Luckily, the blade was broken, or else the reach would've gotten him.

"As I thought," Ian spoke. "That katana of yours recovers when your gauge recovers."

Isaac interrupted the speech as he tried to attack from behind. Ian spun and kicked him in the stomach. Isaac dropped, face planting into the dirt.

"Wait for your turn old man... As I was saying... Given I do not know how much of your gauge is needed for a full blade, but knowing that I can cut it up to nothing but a hilt is more than enough."

Rain dropped.

Toto clapped her hands, grabbing everyone's attention. She took a few steps towards the middle of her allies and announced, "Listen up please! We are now heading into overtime! We need to wrap this up, now!"

As the Sakuras got soaked, a Wet status icon appeared that simply read, 'You are wet'. Clary's eyes furrowed at such a weird and new status. Ian felt something was off about a neutral status. Even Mike's ability didn't show a "Dry" icon when his ability was active.

Isaac and Kyle laughed, their body shook upon the ground. Creeped out, Clary tried to punch Kyle back down. Lex intervened. Their fists clashed, and Clary staggered back. Lex helped Kyle up. Ian did the same, trying to kick Isaac, and Dirk stopped him. Ian voluntarily stepped back. He noticed the blade was already full. Something odd was at play.

"Finally!" Kyle coughed. "The rain has come and I'm ready to go all out!"

Clary huffed, "Boy, the only thing you are going all out is air. You can't even breathe right yet."

Kyle nodded at Lex before lunging at Clary. When his trident hit her brass knuckles, lightning shot out. As Clary screamed in pain, Lex popped above her, dropping a heel kick. She twisted her body and smashed his ankle. He flew from the impact. Kyle's eyes popped open from surprise.

"God damnit!" Lex roared at Kyle. "I thought you had a full gauge!" He hugged his leg to his body, resisting the urge cry as much as possible.

"I-I did! I know I did..." He stuttered. His head turned to Clary. "How? You should've been stunned?" He spat.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Don't ask me... But thank you for telling me how your ability works, even if it didn't work... If that makes sense." She stuck out her tongue.

Meanwhile, Isaac and Dirk were having trouble landing a scratch on Ian. Ian focused on deflecting Dirk's attack while taking on the syringes. Isaac fought for his breath. He couldn't understand what was happening. The paper fan was always sharp. It sliced up a few of the syringes, and was always ready to break the katana.

"What is up with that fan?" Isaac directed the question at Dirk.

"I am positive it is his ability," Dirk replied. "But it seems like he is always ready to use it. Does it use a Segmented gauge? If it did, then it should be used up already." Then, it hit him. "Dual gauge."

"What? Does that mean his full gauge allows his fan to be sharper than a blade?"

"Let's not worry about that. How about your debuffs? Are they strong enough to weaken him?"

"Speaking of which, I was able to concoct four debuffs, and they all landed at least once, but I don't see any changes."

Suddenly, the ground shook. The Sirens became wary, whereas the Sakuras stood their grounds, waiting for what they knew to happen.

"All eyes on me now!" Winston said from the back. And so the Sirens did. A huge tree erected from the ground. It grew and continued to grow, shaking the earth as it did. Roots propped up from underneath, scattering the dirt, flicking it into the air. When it was as tall as a building, the growth slowed. It was still growing, but it seemed like it was alive, twitching from its continuous miniscule growth. Pink flowers bloomed upon its branches. Petals began to fall. The wind carried them throughout the area. Near the top, Winston hollered to the ground, "Too bad you couldn't finish us earlier! Our trump card literally just emerged!"