Artus had been in a martial arts pose that draws out his inner passion and manifests it into powerful energy for thirty minutes. He had his right leg in the air but at an angle while he remained standing lower on the other, his right arm extended with an open palm and his left at his side with a closed palm.
"You're seriously trying to learn a difficult Martial art technique without enough respect for martial arts to become one yourself?" Lyle questioned as he sat by watching Artus stay in position.
"Nathaniel saw how much I loved exciting tricks so I'm going to make him proud." Artist replied as he continued struggling with the pose. Lyle gave a small shrug, "It'll make it easier to learn though." Lyle argued.
"I was... Blessed with control over guns anyway, Bro. The ultimate counter and weapon since nukes against hand to hand combat, there's only a few exceptions that are my counters." Artus replied with his usual confidence that faded toward the end.
"For example, Spatial manipulators, force field summoners, vision manipulators, Blade manipulators as good as Marcel, Stasis wielders, Master level Pyromancers, Cryomancers and Electrokinesis wielders. I would say better Marksmen but I doubt there are any." Lyle responded.
"Don't remind me of that jerk, dude." Artus replied with utter abhorrence in his tone. Artus began having flashbacks to sparring with the peer Lyle made him think about, everyone did with his powers.
"Yeah, my fault. Anyway, are we still on for that morale boosting party that you, Nathaniel and Kiyo was in charge of setting up a week ago?" Lyle asked with genuine curiosity and a bit of genuine hesitation to attend on his mind.
"We are but it's now looking to be hanging out with the boys since Ember and Livia said nope."
"What on earth could make Livia decline this?!" Lyle asked with a shocked tone.
"Hopefully, a therapy session. I told her I'd pay for it myself if she actually went and participated. She's not a terrible person underneath her being stuck with--." Artus informed his brother. He finally gave in and couldn't keep up the zenith.
"Obsession-- Ember, Iona, Avery, Pacifica and every other girl who attended with me S.I.O.M would disagree with you there, bro, but I trust what you have to say. Hopefully, we see change in her for Ember's sake." Lyle replied to his brother.
A few hours pass by and all of the guys, based on Kiyo and Codagan's suggestion, decide to meet up in the great modern neon city of Alyi to have their gathering and night in.
"Roll call, gents." Kiyo called out with excitement accompanied by eagerness. Kiyo asked for everyone's name from a piece of paper he was holding with a clipboard, Codagan rolled his eyes when he saw the paper had nothing written and realized Kiyo simply wanted to feel important.
The members who attended were Kiyo, Codagan and Anastasius from the Seyort Squad. Bliant and Blair from the Alyi Squad then finally Lyle, Artus and reluctantly their newest squadmate, Marcel Lakin: Crescent heart from Generil and feeling uncomfortable.
"It's a shame that not everyone showed up. We all haven't gathered together to party, have we?" Blair Tavin pointed out as he squatted down, "Is there ever a reason for us to?" Lyle asked with genuine curiosity. Blair shrugged but gave him no answers.
"Where are we goin' tonight boys?" Codagan asked with an electrified tone of voice. Lyle and Anastasius went farther away from the boys to speak.
"I'm glad we've decided to meet up in the big, bright city that embodies the after-party. It has hotter chicks than the others and... Actual fun clubs." Bliant added in as he shook his head.
"Dude. I saw more women think they can rock a unibrow here than in either other city." Kiyo replied with a shocked tone. Codagan thought that very same rebuttal before he giggled.
"Yeah-- Well, who asked?" Bliant questioned as he had no choice but to realize he was right. Blair shook his head.
"Seyort is way more beautiful, fellas, have you seen its fantastic libraries? They're always kept up inside and the architecture of something you'd find in the ancient world is straight out of a fantasy novel unlike the modern architecture in Generil or the bright lights Alyi has..." Blair opined while he still was in a squat position. Bliant and Kiyo heard his tone and saw the look in his eyes, the two turned and looked at each other.
"This dork." Kiyo chuckled, "He even traded in his stealthy hood and high tech goggles for his prescription spectacles tonight." Bliant replied with his best Blair impression before laughing. The two laughed at Blair in unison.
"Keep those jokes coming but first, Baozhai, your queen called me-- She doesn't feel like paying for a medi pedi. You can give her one while you think of funnier jokes and kiss her feet, Bli." Blair fired back without hesitation on his little brother. Kiyo started cracking up while Bliant shushed up. "Quit laughing "sir I make clowns and emo kids jealous at the age of twenty."" Blair shot off for a second time towards Kiyo. He stopped laughing and they both looked at each other. Artus looked at his brother but decided to leave them alone and join the others.
"A kid bullied him senior year but later taught him the fun of roasting before we graduated. Never saw him again and he never roasts anymore 'cause it feels childish to him but he's willing to go off over disrespecting a library." Bliant explained over whispering the context of why he sounds more professional than them at it. Kiyo broke out with more laughter and even harder than before after hearing it.
"Kiyo, guy, let's get you some more practice on manipulating the gravitational sense of sentient beings. I'm 220 and he's 230." Artus suggested with different intentions.
"You could easily just ask me if you want to leap up to building tops." Kiyo replied confidently, "Hey, that's only 30% of it." Artus replied. The three found their way to the largest building on the street they walked and talked on.
Kiyo concentrated, placed his thumb on his pinky and put up three fingers which gave the others a glow only he could see around them. Lyle and Anastasius came back from their private conversation and joined the others. Kiyo flicked up two more fingers.
"Guys, for me to be able to hold all of you, I need you guys to ease up. Especially you two." Said Kiyo with the two referring to Lyle and Anastasius. They tried their best to do what they thought he meant, relax.
Everyone jumped to the top of the gigantic building with ease and speed. "Big boy, there's nobody down there right now who could see us, wanna have a flipping contest downward?" Bliant asked Artus, he looked down and thought there were way too many people down there and disagreed.
"Nah, let's compete in a flipping contest to the neighboring rooftop behind us, Buddy." Artus replied with a smug smile as he pointed it out, Bliant recognized the distance then showed off his own competitive grin.
"Put some money on it?" Alyi's powerhouse responded with a smile of his own, "Money's boring, overrated and silly for a bet." The Sanguine sharpshooter argued.
"Whoever does more gets to pick what we're going to be doing tonight." Lyle proposed, "Do we not know what we're doing tonight??" Blair asked with concern.
"I figured Kiyo could come up with something." Said Artus, "I know what we can do?" Said Kiyo with a beaming smile.
The boys found a costume shop among many different sorts and purchased a couple teddy bear suits then went to Bliant and Blair's home to grab a few bo-staffs that wasn't far. Kiyo began filming on his backup portable communication device, which had a camera and could connect to the internet.
"It doesn't get any goofier, morale boosting and resting than this, gentlemen." Kiyo announced while Artus and Bliant were dressed up in their bear costumes.
"This has nothing to do with morale boosting or rest but laughing at Bliant getting a spanking with a bo-staff is going to make my night." Blair replied.
"It doesn't matter which of us get whooped tonight. We'll make one hilarious memory of this. This is probably our last for the next few years?" Artus asked at the end rhetorically with an uncertain tone.
"FYI, I've never lost a fight, laddie." Bliant declared with an arrogant grin as the two stood face to face. "Don't be arrogant about this, Bli. He's still military trained." Blair demanded.
"I've never won a fight against anybody that was also trained. Let that give you comfort.." Artus replied with a disheartened tone as they glared. Bliant and Blair looked at one another, Bliant wanted to laugh, Blair didn't believe him.
"Don't worry, Lad, I'm very comfortable, but it sounds like you could handle another loss. Let's not dare hold back though." Said Bliant in response with his arrogant tone.
"Alright boys, I'll be the director of our first video." Kiyo announced as he just arrived with a fairly high quality camera. "We'll start with hand to hand then Coda's gonna toss you guys a bo-staff." Kiyo finished before pointing at Coda and Seyort's inescapable ideal showed off his twirling talent.
Artus and Bliant met in the middle of the rooftop with their costumes on, they squared up, Bliant positioned into a basic Karate stance but Artus simply rested his hands behind him.
"Cameras are rolling, my boys!" Kiyo yelled out, "Action!" Codagan yelled a second after him. Kiyo looked his way for afterwards with a frown but he stood silent like the spectators of the video. Codagan could only reply with a shrug.
Bliant charged toward him, struck the Sanguine sharpshooter with a left hook, a right hook, an uppercut to his gut then a knee as fell and Alyi's sun dealer grabbed him and delivered a knee to his jaw which knocked him on his back. Alyi's sun healer walked forward with his palm glowing like he held a miniature sun on it but quickly stopped when he heard Artus chuckling on the ground that made his eyes get wider from surprise.
Artus rolled back to get up and continue the entertainment. Bliant could only smile that someone finally got up after he knocked them off their feet, someone he could see what he's seriously made of but presented this to Artus with a cocky grin.
"I'm guessing this is where the viewers'll start thinking about liking the video." Said Anastasius with he leaned over with a whisper to Marcel and Codagan that spectated besides him, "My money's on the irish." Marcel replied as he stood with his arms crossed.
Artus allowed Bliant the first shot again, this time gracefully dodging and weaving his different perfectly formed boxing strikes. Bliant felt nothing but air as he threw Jabs, crosses, an overhand that would have taken one landing to send a man even his notable size to the concrete.
Alyi's sun dealer swung thirteen times before Artus dodged and countered his final blow at the same time he launched the thirteenth. It was the hardest Bliant has ever been punched by another human being. He fell to his knees gasping for air.
"This kid needed to be humbled." Blair thought to himself as the others were flabbergasted and looking puzzled, gaping in astonishment, all except Lyle who stood silently with a slight grin on his face.
Bliant was down for one minute, Blair felt bad and stepped forward like before readying his healing but Bliant grabbed his brother's wrist begging for more strength with his eyes to his older brother "Mindless monsters are one thing, this guy's a--- was a trained soldier. Give up. This isn't highschool wrestling or one of your old street fights." Blair replied before pulling away his wrist.
Bliant stared at the floor after being healed by his older brother, Blair knew this loss wouldn't hurt his little brother's confidence in himself for very long but the swift thought that came as Blair squatted next to him on the ground, that this would make him less reckless in future battles made him want to give Artus a handshake. Bliant punched the concrete hard enough that he created a fracture, as he looked discouraged.
"It was a good match, Arty." Said Bliant as Artus offered to help him for a gesture of good sport, "Yeah, you're too sore to continue the video right now." Blair averred to the group and he could tell by his little brother's tone.
"Anybody down to go to the best spot in the city actually?" Blair asked with the slightest grin. Bliant turned his eyes.
"Are you sure this is really necessary for the party, man?" Marcel asked Blair as the others were waiting for their turn to change into their costumes, "Yep. You're looking quite dashing first mate. Arrrgh." Blair answered and joked. All the boys dressed up and met up outside, some civilians gave them looks filled with curiosity and confusion, others knew where they were heading. Marcel looked unamused by Blair's idea for the night and by his joke.
"This town deserves its reputation for partying and business, famous for opposing ideas." Said Anastasius as they all arrived at the event Blair knew of and suggested earlier. A shady figure cloaked in a hood and robe that was city shadow gray on a vantage point far enough from the Oath members to leave them all clueless.
"You've never been here, huh?" Blair asked him as he turned around,"If you don't mind me asking, what's your backstory?" He finished. "Yeah, since he asked, I gotta admit I've been wondering but I always stopped myself after getting the idea that you'd rather not talk about it." Artus added with curiosity.
"It's boring, I grew up Seyort, received some strange powers, before joining I and some others at the time, fellow civilians were attacked by some otherworldly Minotaur beasts out of the blue, we barely made it out of that situation afterwards I saw a hiring post then that's when I realized that it was my calling to protect and defend. What better than here? I asked myself." Anastasius answered with a tone that sounded truthful, Lyle looked at Anastasius as he stared back. "No way!" Artus said in his head when he realized the impossible was done.
"Kiyo, you got something more fascinating for us?" Blair asked with a genuine tone, "hmmm, saving my sugar mama from her abusive family inspired me to join the Oath, I've never felt so alive or actually worth something before it that I figured saving lives and stopping against mugging or supernatural threats would distract me from… some darker times when I was a child." Kiyo told everyone with a serious tone.
"What's a sugar mama?" Anastasius asked, truly unaware, he beat Artus to the punch while Lyle was left wondering and wandering alongside them, "What was it like?" Artus asked Kiyo, the words captivated him.
"How much was she funding you, what were you making?" Marcel pumped , "Why couldn't I have met one instead of— Yeevsh." Marcel thought to himself feeling slight animosity for what he did for the funding of his gadgets.
"It's… like, something fun for a while but it was a waste of time for me and, in my opinion, only for those of us who really need a distraction from life should ever have to have one in theirs." Kiyo opined for his innocent Gen-Oath mates after pausing and believed, "I was making five-K a month from her, she was a smoking dark chocolate but unfairly lonely older woman." Kiyo answered Marcel with a strange smirk. Marcel walked behind him and was open-mouthed.
"…Well, How about you, Coda?" Blair asked with intrigue, Codagan was sweating and nervous but was relieved made it to their destination. The team arrived where Blair was leading them, the spot was grand and bright. "Ira society" from a gigantic neon sign outside.
"This tells you what's up with Alyi and what we get hired to fight for every day." Said Bliant as he always wanted to party at this hang out, "Not being alone, never hanging in the dark, meeting others that share your passion or business. Our city is the home of rewarding connections!" Blair finished for him as he opened the door for his little brother and their work friends.
"This freakin' place is way too awesome!" Kiyo screamed out with avidity, "Oh, Brother, you guys are about to catch him visiting more often." Codagan replied after he immediately ran inside, Codagan suspects it was to flirt.
Everyone but Lyle entered with zest and marveled at the social club's aesthetic, the atmosphere was thrilling, dancers with no fame who were average folks were performing one after another this night as it was famously known as the spot for opportunities in all three cities, there was pool and a bar except with no alcohol which was surprising for a pirate themed night Codagan thought, it also explained the costumes to everyone and it allowed the guests to make friends and have fun. Alyi attracts tourists and young party goers.
After forty minutes of Kiyo trying to flirt with beautiful women above his league, Codagan checking out the society's spectacular food, Lyle keeping to himself and silent in a corner catching the eyes of women, Anastasius watching a performance, Marcel stumbling into and conversing about tech with a genius attending the party, Bliant and Blair arguing with others about various topics, Artus catching up with a exceptionally shy friend of his from Seyort after grooving in a dance circle, everyone was done and decided to regroup with each other have to use two tables. Silence as everyone was recollecting their thoughts.
"You guys aren't ready to call it a night, yet, right?" Blair asked everyone as they all were seated but looked confused about what to do next.
"I can party 'till seven in the morning, Baby yeah!" Kiyo screamed, "It did feel that good being so young." Blair replied with a hint of jealousy, "Big bro, you're only twenty-six— you're not that old!" Bliant reminded his older brother.
"Anyways, random question, who here is most likely snitching if ever we turned into criminals?" Kiyo asked to break up the silence, "Kacey." Codagan and Artus agreed on in unison.
"Codagan, there's been reports of a monstrous roar and a creature windborne in Viggo avenue, take care of it pronto." Codagan read from a text sent to him by Seyort's police commissioner, he left to somewhere quiet to call Ember about it.
Lyle outside for some air, the place becoming more and more packed with guests as the night grew later into the night and the moon shone but covered by Neon, the Sangfroid paragon saw Kacey tossed from a rooftop down the street. Panic and pandemonium ensued from the civilians his crash interrupted. Lyle ran to the door until he could teleport back to the boys and notify them of the situation. Everybody hared to Kacey's side without any sense of hesitation.
When they arrived, this living entity reminded Bliant and Blair of the skeletons from the dungeons they fought with Ember months ago. Except examining it further it had way more freedom and versatility.
Artus and Lyle grabbed the faceless and pale entity's attention by blasting at it while allowing for Codagan to trap it with one of his boundaries for the moment. The creature formed into a silverback and pounded the field without making a dent into it.
Blair immediately ran to aid and fully heal Kacey Sarpong, the most mysterious member and least sociable in his eyes, nonetheless he respected him. He tended to his wounds.
"What's going on here?!" Blair asked as he patched up his bleeding and broken bones. He succeeded and Kacey immediately got up like his leg and arm wasn't broken, Blair looked at him like he was strange.
"We've been battling up and down these rooftops for hours." Kacey replied as he got back up and stretched for another go once the barriers came down "This creature isn't that impressive physically or that intelligent but it's versatility and the fact it can become whatever makes it tough." Lacey finished briefing his mates.
"I think we can all take it!" Kiyo interrupts as he gets into a battle stance. "No. He's invulnerable, I tried to use some devastating environmental takedowns on it, no success." Kacey corrected Kiyo's ignorance. Alyi's sleuth looked toward Artus leaving him confused and pointing at himself. After blank staring, Artus realized what he thought.
"No, he has to rest right now, for the entire night or he'll die and even if he comes we'd have to get far leaving everyone here vulnerable!" Artus responded as a refusal with an urgent tone as the entity pounds harder and harder.
Lyle, Marcel, Kiyo, Codagan and Anastasius were left wondering who "he" they were speaking about were, Marcel grabbed his clan's retractable R-UY blade that he keeps on him concealed thanks to his utility belt and charged up his boosted boots for evasion.
"Then we fight until one of us uncovers some sort of weakness to exploit, if we die tonight, I've got zero regrets." Codagan started calmly then shouted at the end.
"Anastasius, could ya tune up my passion, I got something in mind." Artus asked politely while feeling a sense of urgency.
Artus positioned himself into the Ho'omake ruin rush Nathaniel Detayvern gifted to him and he's been practicing to perfection. Anastasius gave him a nod before he powered his sense of passion to its peak intensifying the charge.
"You've got this, Art." Said Lyle as he and everyone else stood behind the Sanguine Sharpshooter, cheering him on as well.
"On three, release your boundary, Bro!" Kiyo told Coda as he kept it stable until then, Codagan gave him a thumbs up as he held the boundary strong until then.
Suddenly Kacey roared and then sent a push kick to Lyle's ribs who stood beside him before grabbing his head and groaning trying to resist a strong sense of anger that suddenly showed up, head aching him. Lyle looked confused and was quiet as he prepared to defend himself with equanimity.
"Huh?" Artus asked after hearing the commotion behind him, he lost his focus and caused him to release it early and Codagan couldn't hold it off and keep up his barrier. The entity turned into a jaguar and swiftly targeted Kiyo but the Oath's pure gravity was able to catch it with enough strength to pin it to the floor with his pull, only enough to pin it for five seconds before he rolled out of the way.
The entity changed into a faceless cheetah and sprinted towards Blair, Bliant was side by side, it aimed for Blair but was grabbed by Bliant.
"Is this how strong regular cheetahs are?!" Bliant asked Blair but he had no clue, Bliant had it by both of its front legs. Blair transferred his flames and set fire to Bliant but the creature was flameproof like Alyssa sun dealer. It didn't harm it or slowed it down.
"What's happening to you, Kace?" Artus asked as he saw Kacey struggle and groan further, "Manipulating me, my mind, my anger." Kacey thought and noted in his mind as he resisted this impossibly strong outside influence and struggled to pull himself back together.
The entity changed shape into an eagle since it couldn't break free from Bliant's intensely formidable grip, it flew its way towards Blair again then swiftly changed back into a Gorilla and double legged drop kicked him with its full force, with the velocity it had built up as it soared around in the sky. Blair was launched into a wall, knocked near unconscious. Bliant ran to check on him.
The entity changed back into its humanoid form and sprinted towards Kiyo, Oath's gravity tried to pin it down but it was much, much harder and took far more effort he couldn't hold. It fought Kiyo, hand to hand, but put him down with medium effort.
Anastasius was attempting to put the entity into a docile trance but he didn't succeed, he soon realized he would play a useless role in this fight. The faceless and living entity sprinted directly towards Anastasius and threw him around after putting up a fight no better than Kiyo.
"I got how it fights, I'll keep it occupied, you guys watch over Kace while he's you know-!!" Marcel planned and ordered Lyle and Artus as the three saw what it did to their team, Marcel felt confident "Going through this difficult time. Yeah." Artus finished for him as he boosted toward the Entity.
"Don't worry, I trained in Africa for this. We need to help him." Kacey insisted with a restraint tone, Alyi's sleuth performed a mental technique that suppressed all of his emotions greater than the influence possibly the Entity had over him.
The Entity didn't want to fall, it had beaten all the Gen-Oath heroes that opposed it with different tiers of ease, eventually it seemingly grew the ability to clone itself, each Gen-Oath member left standing against one clone of the Entity itself. Blair's alive thanks to Marcel having his defense while fighting his own clone as well.
"🎶The World's painted as anomalous and it's easier to be consumed by its gloaming and ruin…🎶" The Sanguine Sharpshooter sung as he held his back in clone in a wolf's form while it applied pressure and had him to the ground. The wolf began howling and whining, suffering intense pain while it's also losing its balance.
"BOYS, we need to sing our lungs out!" Codagan yelled after noticing the effects Artus' voice had against his monster "Play the instrumental of the song he was singing, hopefully the rest of you guys know this one too." Codagan commanded Kiyo as he knew he was pretending to be unconscious.
"🎶But if you take my hand, which I'm sure you'll do!🎶" Oath's gravity sung along after tuning his thin advanced tech bracelet he wore under his black coat's sleeve.
"🎶You'll see that we can reshape it, sweep up the left over pieces to reclaim it!🎶" Seyort's inescapable ideal joined in with his voice as he held his clown that was a snake by the throat. He dropped once it began freaking out and squirming.
"🎶What is gone, fighting until we can't move on for this worthwhile cause!🎶" Oath's Gravity sung while he began to have fun, dancing, performing the statue of liberty dance with his inside hand in front of the clone that was against him as it was squirming in pain like the others.
"🎶Don't give mind about the cost, what truly matters is if we're nearing the dawn of our lost!🎶" The Sanguine Sharpshooter continued with passion as he did his own dance while spinning his pistols.
"🎶This is your queue to give us a round of applause!" Oath's gravity sung at his loudest with a pose "🎶We'll have a drink to the power of hope even when we're to the brink of our deadliest slope!🎶" Seyort's inescapable Ideal sung out his lungs and passion.
"🎶The World's painted as anomalous and it's easier to be consumed by its gloaming and ruin…🎶" All three chorused together before mimicking the boy band pose that originally the sung the song.
Marcel, Lyle, Kacey, Anastasius, Bliant and Blair watched the Fanboy Trio perform the entire song with a surprising amount of heart. Lyle knew the lyrics himself thanks to Artus always playing it in the morning for he and Ember but didn't know where to join in. He was instead the first to applaud them which added to the damage they dealt to the shapeshifting and sound vulnerable Entity the others were unavailing against.
The entity took the form of the greatest performer of its enemies, Codagan Dugan, before rushing off into a portal that spawned from nothing. When it left, everyone celebrated but Kacey who seemingly vanished on them, left without a goodbye, Artus could only shake his head.
"Did... we kill it, at all?!" Kiyo asked, confused by what happened, "We got rid of it, most definitely." Codagan answered as he was exhausted from the boundaries he summoned through the battles "I doubt that thing listened to the band "At the wind's will" or it wouldn't have left so eagerly. We sang our hearts out, good work, gentlemen." Artus commented and congratulated everyone including the others who listened to them.
"Yes, yes, look forward to working with your talent in the future!" Codagan replied as he shook Artus' hands and then they bowed to one another before Kiyo butt in.