Essentia Animus

58-Defensive Maneuver

Sryine stepped free from the coalescing sandstorm in time for her to join Vwyx, just as the gigantic armored vehicle came to a stop a distance away. A gate phased open nearby at the same time, with Ieqyisa stepping forward to greet them in her typical power armor.

"What is with these sudden interruptions, we're rather busy at this time girls. We know you're busy with funding your own research in your own goals for reaching to the stars, which is perfectly good in all honesty, but do not get in our way in the process." "Says the woman who simply had to throw some rather offensive complaints at our own presentation.. you're like the pillar of minding your own business yourself. In fact, on the same subject, what is with that piece of junk behind you? It moves like a sliding brick." "Did you hear that Fhyernx? She called your creation a sliding brick." Ieqyisa started laughing at the sudden jest, Sryine still glaring at her. Hearing a reply to her remark, her expression turned a touch more serious. "No you moron, that would be a very stupid thing to do. Liyuzhe is currently working on the filter, distracting her at all could be incredibly dangerous. If you want to drive away our sudden intruders, the two of us would have to do it without her." Ieqyisa seemed generally irritated, though her comments were fairly interesting. A filter? Just what exactly was Liyuzhe getting herself into now?

"Weird, the Successor doesn't seem to be with you. I guess she's away doing something else, actually being the smart one. You two should really take from her example and get lost, bring your friends with you." "Oh, really now? What if we don't want to leave?" "Well, in that case, I would have to insist." Ieqyisa opened a gate below Sryine suddenly, a move that was avoided without much difficulty. Sryine and Vwyx were already augmented, but Ieqyisa's barrier rippled visibly around her. Regardless, Sryine called up an illusionary sword, ready to stand her ground. To win, she didn't need to defeat her enemy, she just needed to hold the line so that Riyxia could complete her own task. There were any number of ways that would be possible, too. Sryine rushed Ieqyisa, slamming her sword upon the barrier from above harmlessly. Ieqyisa took a moment to wonder at the futility until she noticed the ground below her had disappeared, and that she was falling. She teleported a distance away, stumbling in her effort, only for Sryine to dismiss the illusionary hole right after and press the opening, dashing towards Ieqyisa again before Ieqyisa could stand. Illusions might not pass through the barrier, but their effects were still visible to those inside. Ieqyisa rushed to teleport again, moving to another opportune spot nearby to give herself an opening.. only to fall through that illusion as a result, crashing into the sand a distance below. She turned to her instruments to survey her surroundings in her stead, realizing she could no longer trust her own senses, a liability which would dramatically reduce her reaction time.

A massive explosion detonated in the area beside Vwyx, an all too obvious warning shot from the armored vehicle in the distance. A particle cannon, that could actually do some serious damage if it was instead used against her mirror maze. Shifting the sand to glass in her wake to slide along faster than her feet would have been naturally capable of, she moved the ground itself to speed her along, moving the line of fire away from the camp. The cannon fired again, slamming hard in mid air into a metallic lattice forcefield of Vwyx's own design, both effectively negating the other. As she made her way around the armored vehicle, she realized that Sryine's judgement was proving all too correct, this thing really did move like a brick. If that was the case, it might be better for her to press an advantage, as she turned to rush the armored vehicle. Propelling a metal lance towards the armored vehicle, she found that even if it was bad at moving, it was just as defensive as it was offensive, the massive barrier around the thing rippling as the lance fragmented upon impact. Awesome, that stupid barrier was always everywhere. Still, a brick was a brick, she could still work with this.

Vwyx formed a solid rock mound under the armored vehicle, the mound growing taller in moments until it was a pillar in the horizon. Then, in an absolute reversal, the entire pillar coiled in on itself and returned the armor vehicle to the ground upside down. The vehicle sustained the impact without any damage, but was unfortunately stuck upside down, with even it's cannon stuck in the ground. The whole thing fidgeted, trying to figure out how to right itself again, but to no avail. Left without recourse, Fhyernx abandoned his creation and took to the field in power armor of his own, weapons materializing on his own armor in the process. It was his specialty, after all, the creation of versatile instruments.. including instruments with practical use as weaponry. Vwyx realized that she might have one day before been jealous about such an ability.. if not for having found a respectable niche of her own. Even so, she was still outraged that the jerk hadn't deigned to even once impress her with such a thing anytime in the past, in all of his visits to the village. Even having left her with a simple trinket or two of her own might have been enough to have raised her hopes back then, leaving her feeling at least a bit less alone.