Noticing Xyri walk into the room, Kirisvala waved enthusiastically in her general direction, though she did not cease to hide her face under her wizard hat, the red tint on her cheeks slowly subsiding but not yet gone. Her attention, however, was fully devoted to ADAM when he started talking, telling the Young Bloods of the missions available, not that they were all gathered together at last (or at least, more or less together; there were plenty of faces still absent, Elena's among them, the Hadrian realized, but she simply reasoned that they must have had other things to do, and in any case if ADAM only waited for them to be present then surely the AI was confident that they could handle this by themselves, and she had no reason to doubt ADAM when he had been so wise and helpful so far). The last remnants of her flush faded away as she listened to ADAM's debriefing, not wanting to miss any important details. Not counting the Rantu invasion, which had occured before they had become an official team, these would be their first few missions, and she didn't want to screw up or otherwise slow down someone else because of her clumsiness. She suddenly grew quite self-conscious; she was unexpectedly nervous about the missions, that was for sure.
Hearing that she would be going on her mission with Mars, though, she relaxed, and even cheered up a bit, smiling softly. She quite liked his company, even if he didn't really seem to like anyone's company very much, and besides, she knew that if Mars went, then Rocket would be going too. Even if they weren't great conversing, she at least knew that she could put her trust in them completely, and so, her concerns were put to rest, at least momentarily. Turning her thoughts back to the mission itself, she frowned ever so slightly. She didn't know who Roman Sionis or Bain were, and she had no idea what Venom was, so she felt a little bit disarmed here, but she nonetheless renewed her confidence in herself and the team, telling herself that she would be able to resolve the situation or, at least, help Mars resolve it without getting in his way too much, something he seemed to dislike.
Hearing the young man's comment, Kirisvala stood up and turned towards him, nodding and walking after him. "Call me Dragon Mage out there, though; I read that heroes should be very strict about their secret identities." She said. She was well aware that she was probably the only Hadrian around, but even then, the magic of superheroism was the secret identity; to put aside that aspect of the job would be to throw away the game instead of playing it.
"Um... say... Sionis and Bain and Venom... What are all those things? You know, right?" She asked a bit sheepishly.
The Silhouette of Adventure wrote:---
Eternal Night smirked as she heard the Empty Phoenix's musings, sorely tempted to chuckle and shake her head. Cosmic fire? Few things were farther from the truth. Then again, these two creatures seemed to be quite fond of drawing their own conclusions and trying to deduce things on their own, and in the end, who was she to take that pleasure away from them? No, she would respect them and let them have their amusement. She was having some of her own, after all. However, hearing the Herald speak once again, she began paying attention once more, her face becoming serious once more, though outwardly no change would be perceived, as the only part of her face that was visible were her glowing azure eyes. Native to no universe? Now that was a statement that the Nameless One found odd, quite odd indeed. She knew for a fact that there were things that could exist disconnected from any given universe: the creature of corrupted light that she had fought to the bittersweet end had been one, she had learned after its defeat, and the one who had given the power to win that arduous battle, the one who determines everything, the Autarch of Names, was another such thing. But even so, that type of creature usually stayed outside of said universes, she had learned, and if they were inside of one, their presence was usually a source of havoc. It was, in her opinion, quite an intriguing matter, though the sad chuckle of the Herald of Naught made her intuit the true reason for their presence.
Continuing to listen, she noticed how once again the topic of the conversation had shifted towards her, though she did not particularly mind. She, after all, had nothing to hide. Those to whom she had held any allegiance had long since died, the world that had seen her birth had long since rotten away, and there was little left for her in her universe or in any other. It had, indeed, been quite uplifting to see the young, healthy Earth that Horizon had brought her to, but though there was some sentimental attachment to this mirror of what had once been her home, she could not sincerely say that she felt any obligation towards it. Naturally, she would be inclined to intervene if something were to happen, but that was only natural; she had once been a human being after all, even if she was turned into a Nameless One through her pact with the Autarch. She had no secrets that she was scared to reveal, either, and if she wore a mask, it was to remind herself of the identity that she had lost as a price to give her world another measly century.
Her amusement returned when she noticed the many guesses that the duo was attempting to make at her nature. All sorts of names passed through their tongues as they tried to discern what had been of her name and how she had become powerful, and the reaction they had when they seemed to finally discern the truth about her was so entertaining that the one titled Eternal Night began chuckling as she heard their comments.
"
Indebted?" She asked with false indignation, pointing towards herself with a very feminine hand gesture. "No, no, no, you misunderstand. There are no debts with the autarch; he takes what he wants and he gives you what you sought in exchange, and that is all there is to it. If there is a reason I bear the name I was born with no longer, 'Herald', it is precisely because I have no debts with him. The price for this power, I have long since paid." She said, and then simply shook her head. She had become somewhat wary of these two creatures, as they spoke of a master who was to challenge the Autarch, though she put no faith in their words. The Autarch could not be touched by anything that was or was not, she knew that well, but in any case, she refrained from mentioning it, to avoid alarming the Herald of Naught and the Empty Phoenix any further.
"In any case, I have no reason to serve him, friends. No debt, no allegiance, so, there is no need to be wary of me. If I approached you, it was out of simple curiosity. It is not often one sees a Phoenix and a Watcher casually walking together through the void." She stated, barely refraining from commenting how it almost even sounded like a terrible bar joke.
"VERY..." Was the swift, yet monotonous reply of the adimensional giant of dark light and swirling cosmic destruction, his two hypernova eyes never ever changing, though his crowned head seemed to shift ever so slowly in the Xyrixxma's field of vision, going up and down, imitating the gesture of a nod for the sake of being comprehensible to the more concrete creature that was Queen Xyrix. The hand that had been set out to touch the creature's slimy head was taken back after an atemporal moment, and the massive walking paradox seemed to back away without actually moving at all.
"IT IS WHY WE MARCH..." He stated, two galaxies bursting in the midst of the area that could most accurately be considered his chest. Suddenly, what few shreds of emotion were left in the creature's voice vanished suddenly and completely, leaving no trace. Though the change should have, by all means, been nigh imperceptible, there was a clear edge to the voice now. It was no longer mechanical; it was now more akin to the grinding of the stones in the abysss, or the rumbling of a rent earth. The voice was dull before, but now it was disaster, pure disaster in the form of speech.
"WE MARCH TO DESTROY... WE DESTROY TO EAT..." He spoke.
"WE MUST KEEP ON MARCHING..."And with that, the Nilkin backed away, to continue his crusade, to destroy all of existence so that all those who would never be would not be starved to their demise, a crusade that had caused countless cosmic configurations to weep blood and rain fire, though such things were entirely trivial when compared to the grand scope of the creature's mission. He carried out his task dutifully, unmaking, destroying, undoing, but always devoid of malice.
"WE MARCH." Came a distorted, unknowable voice.
"WE MARCH." Came another.
"WE MARCH." Came a dozen, and then a hundred, and then several thousand more, and the army of non-beings trailed behind the everdistant crowned one.
"WE MARCH UNDER THE NEVER KING."
Akihiko looked to the side as he noticed that Akari was doing well, but this almost cost him a very nasty concussion at the very least, as he was soon forced to block a blow from the lumbering blue Oni, Thunder, whose massive fist had nearly collided with his head, which had barely been protected by Kusanagi's edge. The Oni's fist was like the strongest steel, and the young Japanese warrior grunted as he felt the impact: the blue Oni's attack was charged with an unbelievable ammount of strength which was astounding even to him, rattling him to his very bones and causing him to stagger back for a moment, clearly shocked by the blue monster's might. Even with his own corrupted blood, he could not compare to that, not directly, and he knew it. This, however, only made him feel angrier. Half-tainted blood, and for what? Just so that he would be unable to live as a human and too weak to protect them? This thought increased his anger even more, raising his strength, though it still simply could not be compared to Thunder, whose attacks seemed to carry the explosive power of a lightning bolt behind them.
The half-Yokai frowned, his own power increasing another bit, as he saw the wound that he had managed to inflict on Thunder earlier begin to regenerate. After he had lunged forward with Kusanagi's tip coated in concentrated green flames, the Oni had been too slow to move out of the way and so, he was slashed across the chest, not a vital wound by any means, but certainly one that Akihiko had been hoping to exploit during the fight. Alas, that was not possible, and when he realized why, he berated himself for not realizing it earlier. Of course he could regenerate, Akihiko could do it too! It only made sense, though he still wasn't fond of the idea. He'd have to find a way to one-shot him or otherwise nullify his abilities, but how?
Then it hit him. The medallion. The medallion he wore around his neck, the object that helped him keep his true nature under wraps. She knew how it worked, having heard about it once before from his mother, and he knew that it could help him in this battle. He had been a fool not to realize earlier.
Carefully, Akihiko removed his medallion, brandishing it with the hand that did not hold Kusanagi, and then the next time that Thunder tried to attack, the young man swung the medallion at him. Though the logical outcome would have been for the mechanical medallion to burst into a thousand pieces, no such thing happened. Instead, the blue Oni let out an inhuman howl, feeling his hand burned with an intensity that burned far worse than anything it had touch in his life. The Oni immediately reeled back, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Akihiko pressed on with a myriad of attacks that sliced through the Oni's flesh with ease. These did not regenerate, and Akihiko smiled, knowing that he couldd win after all.