That time of year

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
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It had been six years since he and Alistair had fought the zombies that arose from the lake the first time. Three years later he had taken out another group by himself. What had happened in prior and later years he was uncertain, but Nakata surveyed the lake. It was the anniversary of the time he had fought them before and he had brought back up this time. His cousin's protege now lived on the island as well and he had met an interesting teacher as well that might be part of the little hunting party he had assembled. He was ready and willing to do whatever was necessary to take out whatever was here this year.

——————————

Zachary left his apartment and walked to the lake. It was close enough to justify walking instead of driving. He slid his hand into his coat pocket and sniffed the air briskly, getting a feel for the area around him. It wasn't as good as it would have been as a wolf, but it was still good enough to sense that something was amiss. It wasn't just the cold, there was something unnatural in the air itself... No, in the lake. He had been training in the umbra inside the lake for the last month and hadn't felt anything so he found it odd that something would start in the lake now of all times. Nothing had appeared to have been wrong when he was inside which meant that it had to be a new development... Or at least dormant enough to evade his senses which was easy if it was deep enough at some part of the lake.

He continued his trek to the lake, feeling uneasy about what was going on. Nakata Ishikawa had asked him to come help with an "annual task" of some sort, but he hadn't been given any other details as of yet that would help explain this feeling.

When he got to the lake, he stepped up to Nakata, exhaling and looking out over the area, though he was still unable to see anything dangerous.

——————————-

"What's going on here? This place has never smelled like this before." Zachary stated flatly, animal instinct guiding him to be wary and suspicious.
"Once a year, some form of undead rise from this lake. Six years ago it was a small army of zombies. Three years later it was a group of larger, faster, more ferocious zombies. I don't know what happened the other years, or what's causing it, but Alistair and went through hell trying to track down the source. We thought we succeeded at one point, but obviously we were wrong. This year I've decided to track down the true source of the infestation, but I don't know what we'll be looking at." Nakata responded, taking his hands out of his pockets and raising his head to look at Zachary during the last sentence.

After the explanation they both stood there, staring at the lake in a quiet stance before Zachary turned to him.
"The other person that's coming. If I'm going to have to shift in front of them, the veil doesn't apply to me. They will just know what I am and go from there." He said, factoring in the possibilities.
"She would know anyway even if the veil applied to you. She is what my cousin called a nameless one. I've never seen her fight though and I don't know what experience she has with your kind so it could be interesting to say the least. Besides with any luck I'll learn something about my abilities by watching you two." Nakata responded.
"You know my master has never told me what powers you have." He responded.
"I know, you'll see."
————————————-


It was the sixth year. Wilhelm fumed as he walked around his domicile beneath the lake. He had been manufacturing undead creatures for the last six years and they had been struck down by one or two individuals every single year. Some stupid kids the first year, some demon and a ferret the next year, the headmistress the next year, some random demon hunter the following year, One of the stupid kids the year after that and so on until finally he had arrived at what he thought might be his proudest creations. He would attack, he would use the blessings of the destroyer wyrm to infect, control, and decimate the entire island population. Anger overcame him for a moment, and he looked at his watch. This year he would intervene himself as was necessary with his army which he would send in waves this time, getting them progressively more and more tired until at last they fell. It would be glorious. He looked over the enormous tank in the middle of the room, the inside of which contained a monster easily the size of four elephants or more. A sadistic laugh escaped his throat as he prepared to launch the first wave.
 

Thirteen

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Nov 15, 2013
466
Although Nakata and Thirteen had not gotten together after their meeting due to scheduling conflicts, there was a time apparently at this school that no schedule stopped for. All she knew without pulling some temporal tricks was to bring a weapon. Maybe two. She had for the most part gone all out, making sure of course to clear what she was doing with the administration.

It hadn't really been necessary.

Although normally she would be in normal wear, the situation called for something a little less well...normal. Aurora arrived next to the pair standing by the lake in a black military coat adorned with golden buckles. A set of rectangular-rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, while her left hand held the handle of an as of yet unbrandished longsword of sorts. Close inspection would reveal a multitude of other devices on her person...the preparedness of a Chakravanti assassin. The point being, if she didn't have to use her abilities, she would not.

"I heard there was going to be a party this morning."

Not literally, but given by the tension in the air, and the strange magical forms that had taken hold around the lake, a little music probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

"But I take it by both of your expressions that coming armed was probably an idea for the better, right?"
 

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
620
Zachary looked at the new girl that had.. appeared? It wasn't impossible or anything, but it was normally his shtick. He automatically felt uneasy around her, as was his experience when first meeting nameless ones, though he had worse concerns at the moment. The coffin shaped weapon container he had on his back was connected to the front with several sets of buckles, all connected with a rip cord that would cause it to drop off of his body. Inside were several weapons of many kinds, though he had limited it to ones that wouldn't cause wide damage which meant no fragmentory explosives. His chest was covered by a Corinthian leather vest made in Italy. It was bullet proof, at least until it got shredded. He wore his trademark leather trench coat, his pants were silk hakama. All of his clothes were black and it stood out against the icy ground.

Nakata wore the same black Hakama though not silk, a black shirt, sleeveless and with a high collar, and a black leather jacket. At his side he wore his father's katana. A long black scarf adorned his neck and hung down to his waist. It was laced with carbene fibers and was meant to keep his head from getting cut off.

Both were taking this situation very seriously and when Aurora spoke Zachary kept his focus straight ahead.
"I don't know where you stand with destruction spells and area of effect magic, but you may be under equipped. I have no idea how many we're going to be looking at here, but three years ago there was about fifty. I wasn't here for subsequent years, but it was much worse than the first year I fought along with another student here when I was sixteen." He explained.

This was the first Zachary was hearing of this. If there was a necromancer of some kind involved it could be assumed most likely that it was Giovanni... at least he would have thought that before being on this island.
"Get ready." Zack warned.

———————————————————————-

Wilhelm couldn't wait any longer. There were three now, of unknown power that would be killing his creations. He couldn't wait for the situation to get any worse. He pushed the button and slid his foot over the plate on the floor indicating which group of his creations he wanted to release.

Machines hissed and whirred and steam bubbled up into the lake above from subterranean vents. A chamber opened to the right of his facility and filled with water from the lake as tubes opened up, releasing the zombies he had created when he first started this facility beneath the lake. The zombies left, floating up to the ice above as the wing closed and water was pumped out by hydrolic pumps.The zombies rumbled, walking up from the bottom of the lake and headed for the shore, the nearest source of food having already gathered. 150 sets of feet pounded the lake floor as they moved.

———————————————————

Ice cracked slowly as fists beat on the ice until it broke. Rotting, decomposed corpses crawled up from the depths of the lake as they walked onto the shore. When all was said and done the group of 150 faced the three overlooking it.

Nakata didn't move to draw his sword but Zachary was already reaching for the slot on the side of the coffin to pull down a handle that would drop the gun from the second side as well as the side he pulled. Two identical fifty calliber desert eagles slid down out of the sides with a click and he leveled them at the hoard in front of them.
"I'll handle the center, you two coral them into the area as best you can." Zack said, unaware as to whether his typical lead role was going to be a hindrance or a help.

Naka didn't care that his cousin's protege was giving orders. Someone needed to and he was typically a singular fighter so group work wasn't his forte. Besides he figured Kuromaku had raised him to take an alpha role with his own pack which meant that was accustomed to being in charge, though he didn't know how Aurora would react. She, as he understood it, was also accustomed to being in charge.
"Hai!" He shouted, disappearing and reappearing eight feet ahead and then taking off running.
 

Thirteen

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Nov 15, 2013
466
Aurora's resonance could be considered by some mages as something rather dark. Not malicious, but dark, quiet and fleeting. It was disturbing to most to say the least, but the undead, vampire, zombie...they all had something similiar, excepting the fact that you absolutely knew something was wrong. Theirs didn't just give the perception of a dark room. Their resonances were downright scary and malicious most of the time. If one of those resonances was to be considered a dark room, what was coming up from the lake felt more like a desecrated cathedral. Not a nice thing for sure.

"If I've gathered correctly, we're not going to need anything of the sort. I assure you I am more equipped than necessary even for a large incursion."

Despite what many said about war and combat, many of the actions taken during an engagement could be boiled down to a few factors that if controlled, threw the battle into ones favor without having to exert much effort at all. That wasn't to say that Aurora couldn't exert effort, but being flashy with explosive spells was the last thing she wanted to do. Her abilities were already having an influence, despite being nearly imperceptible.

The zombies of such broke the ice, and the group broke standing formation, with Zack taking lead and Nakata bolting away like a bat out of hell.

"If you want them corralled, we should probably stay a bit back and get them to come to us. One moment. Also, I would appreciate that nobody hears about this, I try to keep it under wraps for a good reason."

Aurora drew one of her Sig Sauer P220s, whistled once quite loudly, and took two shots in rapid succession at the nearest two belligerents with the intention of attracting the attention of those on the fringes as well. Both shots were critical, completely destroying the heads of the beings from the lake.

"That should do it."
 

Kuromaku

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Naka stood among a group of enemies and summoned scythes of cutting wind to fire slash through the skulls of two zombies. This would be an excellent opportunity to develop some new rotes. The sword he carried remained in its sheath, and he kept an eye on what the others were doing. Aurora had said something, but he hadn't caught what it was. Nevertheless he started testing some things. He reached inward, using the spheres of entropy,force, matter, and the ten spirits he reduced a third to a pile of dust. As it turned out it was much easier to do that to an undead creature than a living thing. Still, it was slow going and it wasn't wide spread. He still hadn't fully understood exactly what had just happened.

Zachary looked at Aurora and her weapon as she spoke.
"Don't worry, no one needs to know about this. Nakata has done this twice and it's not exactly public knowledge." He said as he lined up his weapons. He fired four shots, one hit a target in the head, the others hit chest, one of them hit a zombie in the neck.
"I think you might be a better shot than me." He said as he slid a foot back to put his body into a more forward leaning position to further stabilize his shots.
"This may be a problem. We'll have to kill them faster than this." The evaluation came as a sudden realization. This was time consuming, but it was the safest if this was all they had to deal with.

———————————————-

Wilhelm watched in wonderment... wonderment of what the fuck these people were doing. In times past Nakata had been a furious combatant and had taken down multiple opponents in single swings three years ago. Now, he was accompanied by two others and he still couldn't match what he had done back then. It was almost disappointing. He slid his hand down to another level and prepared to pull it. The creatures he was about to release had taken months to develop and he had learned much from it. They walked on all fours, were about the size of a motorcycle, and had gigantic long tongues and no eyes. On a few of them, portions of their head were missing, leaving their brain in plain view but that was only on about three of them. In total there were twelve and he waited, preparing to release them if they started thinning out the regular zombies to a number that was too low.
 

Thirteen

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Nov 15, 2013
466
Nakata was ruthless. Aurora and Zack however were playing their strategies in being methodical, a tactic that tended to be much safer and conservative, and a tactic that kept her alive without using much magic at all. Obviously in the more outside world, paradox was a major force that kept her at bay, here at Starlight however, that limitation was much less reduced, although for her sake, she remained highly hesitant to use vulgar magic. That said, there was in fact a few ways of using her magic that still appeared to be simple skill to most.

Her gun was one. Getting up close was another.

Aurora smiled at the comment about being a good shot.

"I'm not a great shot, just lucky."

Unnaturally lucky. Part of dealing with entropy was dealing with fate, and in dealing with fate, a good mage could 'fate' a bullet to hit a certain target. Better mages could direct them with pinpoint accuracy, although of course, it was always prudent to take at least a general aim to make it look like you were skilled...otherwise the effect simply shrugged itself off. Getting up close however allowed her to use some extra tricks during the chaos of combat. 'Luck' was much more a deciding factor in such a scenario, giving her entropy magic that much more leeway.

"Faster it is. Come on, I'll race you!"

If these were humans, she'd have more an issue, but running at zombies and diving in face first was in a way, some kind of game. Aurora drew her pocket watch and pulled the top slightly, slowing down the clock from normal time. The action also displaced Thirteen somewhat, and although she appeared to be moving naturally from an outsider's perspective, to herself, everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion. She drew her second P220, and start hurling bullets in close-quarters.

Even if aimed at Nakata or Zack, these shots were missed, as each was destined now for one of the zombies. Eventually she'd run out of ammunition of course...but that was to be expected. There were other contingencies in place for that little issue.
 

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
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Nakata continued on his path of carnage and destruction, wrapping his mind around new ways to combine his spheres to create new effects. At one point he even got the idea to impale them with ice spikes if he could manage it, but decided against it because it would be impossible to hit them all in the head at this level. He did finally come up with an idea. He was meant to figure out the secrets of the power of the Amatsu kami. Part of that once involved creating something from almost nothing. Closing his eyes, he tapped into the power of the spheres of matter, Prime, and Jushin to finally wield them together. He created chains with spiked loops on the ends that whirred and buzzed, but the spell quickly fell apart. He hadn't put enough of himself into it and had almost cast it questioningly. There was no focus behind it to strengthen it and it ended up being a waste of time. On his second attempt at a spell he steeled himself, drawing his sword and swinging it in a wide arc. It cut through one zombie's skull and then continued in a short range shock wave, cutting through the skulls and necks of about six others.

Paradox almost became palpable in the air around Nakata as it tried to retaliate for what he had done, but it failed and started to die off. Whatever force was behind paradox had no domain over him. For a second it turned it's attention to the zombies, but it was gone before it could do anything.


Zachary looked at Aurora as she began her assault. Deciding it would be fun to engage her in the challenge he started to take her up on it, but stopped. He could start using rage, but that could end up badly and he was missing a number of gifts he had before he came to this island, the celestines had decided he was to test himself to be more than adren, the third rank of garou prestige, here. Regardless he had decisions to make.
His eyes focused, and glowed a brilliant red as he fired his desert eagles at the targets below. Three more shots from each gun rang out at he tapped into his primal anger (rage 8/10) Six shots, five heads exploded and a sixth zombie's head remained connected to his body only by a thin flap of skin. It was exhilarating and he felt the urge to shift to crinos and just go to town, but decided against it. He had to remain in control here. Then again, with no explosives the 150 had only been reduced to about 140 by his count. They needed something broad scale and Zachary simply didn't have the power to pull that off since coming to the island.

He considered calling for backup as he slid his desert eagles into compartments in his trench coat. He didn't have room for every gun in his coffin but there was room for two more hand guns, an assault rifle or shotgun, and a shorter weapon like his FN .57, and he withdrew a small black implement with a red button before stopping. No, not yet, there might be more.
"Nakata, we have to hit more enemies at once if we're going to contain this! He shouted. He only had one other solution to the problem and he was trying not to use it. He didn't know what Nakata or Aurora's limits were, but he was going to have to do something.

Nakata heard Zachary's call and shrugged, there was nothing to be done about it, he would have used his rotes, but they mostly pertained to electricity which was not so useful here and that meant he was going to have to develop something on the fly.
"Can you guys buy me some time?!" He shouted back as a zombie lunged for him. He quickly disappeared, reappearing above it and cutting through its skull with a slash. He then disappeared again and reappeared about eight feet away, standing ready to try to harmonize with his avatar when he got a better idea. He would still need them to buy him some time, but if it worked it was a little more sure and immediate.

———————————

Wilhelm hit the button, no longer content to wait to see how they did against what he had. It would be a while before the creatures got to the surface with the whirring of the machinery and lakewater. Still, he was excited to see what they would do to the would be heroes.
"Not as easy anymore is it little boy." He said, watching Nakata from his view lens.
The creature awoke as one, heading for the nearest source of food as soon as the doors opened above them, but were unable to just yet. So they crawled, along the way and up toward the surface, making slow, but steady progress.



OOC:
 

Thirteen

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Nov 15, 2013
466
There was a thought in the back of Aurora's mind on why exactly Nakata would ask her help with something such as this. He frankly knew very little about her, despite being a rather open book. Yes, she was a mage, and yes she was good at what she did...extremely good. (She wasn't an oracle for nothing.) But the fact remained in that honestly, maybe she just wasn't cut out for front line combat. Not to say she wasn't good at it, but Thirteen's magic was as subtle as could be for the most part. Even her vulgar rotes and effects often went unnoticed to those unattuned to time and entropy at a high level.

She was also admittedly somewhat jealous at paradox's aversion to any of Nakata's spells. Granted they were in a pretty supernatural environment, but even then it generally slapped back. She could feel it herself, and in that moment, she hesitated to use any vulgar magic. Aurora had enough prime to stave off paradox...but not enough to outright nullify it like he could. Stranger yet, she didn't sense as much prime in him as was expected. Maybe it was a natural aversion? If so, there was almost no doubt the hermetics...or anyone else with 'good intentions' would be after him just to see what made that little bit about the guy tick. If she wasn't past the politics of the council...no doubt she would see herself doing that as well.

Finally running out of ammunition after hitting every shot, Aurora holstered her weapons and started noticing that the barrage, while effective, was not stemming the tide of undead flowing from the lake. On that thought, she made a mental note to research this phenomenon for future reference.

But until then, Aurora smiled slightly. Despite what they thought, time was something they had plenty of. There was plenty of snow on the ground, and her next effect would thus be coincidental. And amusing.

"Your time is coming right about...now."

It looked like she had done nothing, but the undead started falling in pretty hefty numbers. Not dead and gone mind you, that would be Nakata's job, but as they fell, it looked like they were kicking something up: branches. If anyone looked now, it would have appeared that the trees simply lost their limbs quicker than normal, and had fallen and been buried in the snow, an amusing sight to be sure.

'If you need more firepower, I'm willing to give it, but considering you appear to be immune to paradox, it would be best that you do the damage yourself."
 

Kuromaku

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Dec 6, 2010
620
Zachary saw the zombies start falling and he looked quizzically at the situation. The fact that it had happened after she responded to Nakata's request for back up. He'd have to ask about it later.
"Certainly could use some grenade right now!" He shouted, sarcastically questioning the request that he not bring explosives. He pulled the drop cord on his case and it fell off of his back with a thud, hitting the ground and leaning against him. It didn't look like it based on the way he was moving with it on, but it weighted almost 450lbs and it was actually harder for him to have it leaning against him. A quick side step and it fell, hitting the ground with a second thud and laying flat.

With that he popped it open and withdrew an AK-47 assault riffle. It was cliche, but dependable and it just so happened that he had six double extended clips with about 45 rounds in each one. With the weapon in hand he took a knee, operating in three round bursts so he didn't hit Aurora. He also aimed for legs so that the zombies wouldn't be able to get back up and move.
"You might want to hurry with whatever you're doing Naka!" He shouted.


Nakata had seen what was going on, heard the click of the empty gun that Aurora was holding. With that he teleported up into the sky high above them so that he would have the time for the chants and mudras for the spell he was about to use.
"Ye who stand above, speak lightly and cast not doubt, blaze all below us." He started as he started to form signs with his hands. Finally, he withdrew his katana, diving towards the enemies and slashing in a pattern, making sure the path of his sword hit every single one. Eight feet before he hit the ground he disappeared, reappearing next to Aurora as every zombie burst into flames. Something in him had cracked though. He had used way too much of himself in the last spell and had subsequently exhausted himself. His vision was blurry, the snow around them turned to steam, obscuring their view and creating a hanging fog, but every zombie had been burned.

He resheathed the katana as he turned to take a step and immediately fell to one knee.
[color= green]"Stupid boy. You've got nothing left to use your power. You could have taken your time and used skill to achieve the same result, but you had to hit all at once and didn't even consider easier ways to do it. Use chi, the prime sphere, to absorb your essence. Remember your focus here is the moon, draw your power from it, that is our domain and we cannot exist here without it."[/color] A voice said to him within his head. Was it his avatar?
"Who are you?" He asked out loud.
"I am you, and you are me. We are us, it is as simple as that. Until you can come to terms with that, this is your limit." The voice responded.

After that he could tell the conversation was over and he did as instructed. Using the sphere of prime he channeled power from the moon, but he felt nothing... Could it be the moon in the umbra? He tried that as well, drawing power from the moon before he finally started to feel himself becoming energized... but the process was slow. He wasn't getting much back very quickly, and he didn't understand any of it, he just didn't want to burden any friends with his unconscious body.


Zachary watched at the zombies all burned at once, he was amazed by what he saw, but that feeling, the feeling of something being wrong wasn't gone. He kept his hands on the gun, and stayed in the kneeling position, but after a while he couldn't see Aurora or Nakata. The steam from the heat of the flames and the burning snow had caused a blinding fog, behind which he couldn't even see shapes.
"Are you both still alive?" He shouted.

——————————-

Wilhelm's eyes opened wide as his zombie army burst into flames, even he couldn't see through the thick fog into what was going on. What he did know was that 130 or more zombies had just been reduced to ashes by the very same boy who had stopped his plans twice before.
"So you have gotten more powerful? More drastic measure will need to be taken then. He said, almost as if he was standing next to the person to which he was speaking. He sat down in his chair and kicked off one of the terminals, rolling over to another with a laser keyboard and typing in a set of commands. When he was done, the screen blinked twice before displaying a question. "Do you wish to access secondary or tertiary research pods?" A few keystrokes later and he was looking into a room with a man strapped to a table. He had a set fully extended fangs and lay motionless on it.
"Subject 25532B, how would you like to go for a little walk?" He asked as he began furiously typing on his keyboard.

In the room with the patient, apparently subject 25532B, a wheeled apparatus rolled up to him, extending an arm with five three-pronged needles.
"This will allow you to walk around in the sun for about an hour and still have your powers. If you do well here and return I'll help you get even stronger." Wilhelm promised as he released the restraints on the subject and opened the canopy into the lake above. Another room flooded with water and he waited with anticipation as his underwater cameras revealed his monsters making their way onto shore.

——————————————————————————————

Three of the twelve creatures got out of the water, simply cracking the ice with their tongues and tracking the scent of nearby prey. Their extremely long tongues extended, feeling the area around them as they took two leaving the foggy area and heading for Zachary's position, one of them heading into the fog for the prey it had smelled in there.
 

Thirteen

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Nov 15, 2013
466
When Aurora heard the call of some grenade, she knew that Zackary was thinking about getting some actual explosive damage, and no actual grenades were going to be used, but knowing the little she did about the two, they may as well have brought a five-hundred pound bomb with them and buried it as a landmine against the force they were using. Even worse, it appeared the two were escalating the situation. Zackary had an...AK-47, what in the world? Aurora knew about having abilities and magic and the like at this school...but firearms in the hands of students? Not that she could really say anything about it.

Frankly, it didn't matter, Nakata had a flaming sword that was probably much more powerful than any automatic rifle. Aurora would give him and his buddy one thing. They were effective without a doubt. But much, much too flashy, and if paradox didn't have a hold over him, the show would have put him out much longer than it appeared he would be out. One attack had practically crippled him and drew out every bit of quintessential energy he had. Aurora shook her head. Mages were not about their raw power. Sure, they could do it, but creativity and finesse often yielded the same results without having to resort to a scorched earth policy.

On a slightly more amusing note, it appeared he was either talking to something inside him...or had a case of amnesia. Considering what had just happened, the first was more likely.

Despite the flames, Aurora was completely unharmed...somehow, although it's unlikely she'd ever mention how that always seemed to happen. Zackary called out after the conflagration, keeping cover just as he had in the minutes before.

"Yes, quite alive, although I believe Nakata over-extended himself."

No kidding. He was physically fine, but would need plenty of rest in the meantime. Unfortunately, they would get none. The next wave of undead was not exactly the same as the last...strange creatures these were, and attempting to attack that which she was obligated and chose to protect. Granted she was open to communication and all...but it appeared that that option was not exactly going to happen. She could see through the fog...a very low level correspondence and forces spell, and doing so, started dragging Nakata back towards Zackary.

"I suggest we don't try that again unless necessary. Be methodical, we're reasonably far from the school."
 
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