...very droll, Minister. 
**********
I turned my head- very carefully!- to see Cinque standing behind me. So that's where this knife came from. I'd wondered.
"Hey there, Cinque. I suppose you'd like me to power this thing down, eh?"
She nodded, the ghost of a smile on her face. "If you'd be so kind."
Think I could make her laugh if I hammed it up? Let's find out. Shift mental gears to 'stereotypical upper-class twit' impression, aaaaaaaand... "Milady, I'd be delighted to!" I looked down (as much as I could, with a knife at my throat), looking abashed. "There's only a slight problem with that- rather embarrassing, really- but I'm afraid I've quite neglected learning how." With a smile, I preempted her response.
"Would you mind terribly letting me point it someplace else? I'm rather attached to my throat, you see- been like that since I was born- and I'd hate to lose it over a little misunderstanding-" taking my left hand out of bracing position to gesture grandly at my charged spell "-like this."
I could see the corners of her mouth twitching, but Cinque managed to keep her aplomb. She raised her arm- the one not holding the knife- and pointed off to one side.
Good of her to shift the knife, too. That makes it easier. I turned in that direction, made a quick calculation, and took aim. "Awfully nice of you, dear lady. This might get rather rough... please step back a bit."
[Go.]
The ball floating in front of me began to pulse slowly. A brighter layer of power separated itself from the ball, even as the turbine-like sound of the attack picked up; every half a second, when the mana ball pulsed, it'd double in diameter, only to shrink back almost to where it began. On the seventh pulse, the sound and the brightness reached their peak, and the spell fired off.
Over the next two seconds, the ball spat out no less than eight Arcane Blasts, before exploding into motes of light. The eight Blasts, each given a slightly different path and speed, reached apopetros all at once, hanging in the air for a split-second... before barreling straight downward, at several times their original velocity.
[Break!]
At my command, all eight Blasts stopped short of hitting the ground. Instead of rolling into a ball, the tip of each Blast just turned into a sphere, growing to absorb all the mana stuffed into it, before exploding. My timing wasn't perfect- the spheres of annihilation just brushed the ground below, leaving five craters, two divots, and a bare spot in the eath below- but it was pretty darn close.
Looks like the spread compensation worked perfectly... and the beam-to-bomb conversion was definitely faster than before. Still not good enough, though. Maybe if I form the sphere before arming the blasts?
Timing was good, though. I'll keep that part of the math. That, and the explosions. And the spacing. If I'd let that hit ground, it would've been a perfect saturation-
"Imma, prepare a transfer chain. Seven links, one loopback, ending at our base. Debriefing will commence five minutes after final arrival."
Well, crap. Tre's not too pleased with me, and I can see why. That was embarrassing.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
**********
I turned my head- very carefully!- to see Cinque standing behind me. So that's where this knife came from. I'd wondered.
"Hey there, Cinque. I suppose you'd like me to power this thing down, eh?"
She nodded, the ghost of a smile on her face. "If you'd be so kind."
Think I could make her laugh if I hammed it up? Let's find out. Shift mental gears to 'stereotypical upper-class twit' impression, aaaaaaaand... "Milady, I'd be delighted to!" I looked down (as much as I could, with a knife at my throat), looking abashed. "There's only a slight problem with that- rather embarrassing, really- but I'm afraid I've quite neglected learning how." With a smile, I preempted her response.
"Would you mind terribly letting me point it someplace else? I'm rather attached to my throat, you see- been like that since I was born- and I'd hate to lose it over a little misunderstanding-" taking my left hand out of bracing position to gesture grandly at my charged spell "-like this."
I could see the corners of her mouth twitching, but Cinque managed to keep her aplomb. She raised her arm- the one not holding the knife- and pointed off to one side.
Good of her to shift the knife, too. That makes it easier. I turned in that direction, made a quick calculation, and took aim. "Awfully nice of you, dear lady. This might get rather rough... please step back a bit."
[Go.]
The ball floating in front of me began to pulse slowly. A brighter layer of power separated itself from the ball, even as the turbine-like sound of the attack picked up; every half a second, when the mana ball pulsed, it'd double in diameter, only to shrink back almost to where it began. On the seventh pulse, the sound and the brightness reached their peak, and the spell fired off.
Over the next two seconds, the ball spat out no less than eight Arcane Blasts, before exploding into motes of light. The eight Blasts, each given a slightly different path and speed, reached apopetros all at once, hanging in the air for a split-second... before barreling straight downward, at several times their original velocity.
[Break!]
At my command, all eight Blasts stopped short of hitting the ground. Instead of rolling into a ball, the tip of each Blast just turned into a sphere, growing to absorb all the mana stuffed into it, before exploding. My timing wasn't perfect- the spheres of annihilation just brushed the ground below, leaving five craters, two divots, and a bare spot in the eath below- but it was pretty darn close.
Looks like the spread compensation worked perfectly... and the beam-to-bomb conversion was definitely faster than before. Still not good enough, though. Maybe if I form the sphere before arming the blasts?
Timing was good, though. I'll keep that part of the math. That, and the explosions. And the spacing. If I'd let that hit ground, it would've been a perfect saturation-
"Imma, prepare a transfer chain. Seven links, one loopback, ending at our base. Debriefing will commence five minutes after final arrival."
Well, crap. Tre's not too pleased with me, and I can see why. That was embarrassing.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.