Lyra simply shrugged That’s how the character would have done it For several minutes the two just stared at each other the director struggling with how he should view this tiny actress Lyra profoundly sure she was right
Helpless the director showed the producers the first day’s footage They fell in love with Lyra’s Jen and needless to say even after she had recovered the original girl was told very politely that her services were no longer required
Because when you looked at Lyra it was very hard to look away
Later that year late at night when the resounding success of Lyra’s movie became public and her having no small role in that success Lyra found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror
She reached out and dragged her fingers across the smooth surface of the mirror not admiringly but wonderingly
Is this what it means to be beautiful The 7 year old asked the hard mirror with a soft voice
Donny looked on at the blood soaked ground shock clear on his face Even the Raid Boss lay dead and groaning on the ground Like hollow eyed ghosts Decklan’s squad walked among the bodies slicing larger gashes in some cyclopses removing projectile weapons from others
All the while the seemingly infinite vines of Thorn moved picking up and squeezing bodies dry
Uh Decklan Donny said unsure of how to proceed He had come to reinforce them but when he’d arrived the cyclopses had already been practically bled to death
Oh Decklan looked up blinking Then he raised a hand to his mouth and shouted No rest for the wicked boys looks like there are more monsters to kill
Donny took several steps backwards because not 3 seconds later he was surrounded by Decklan’s squad all of them covered in blood most cradling broken arms drinking health or stamina potions
Another day in the life Terra muttered producing an apple and biting into it
The the next order of business is moving to reinforce Dozer’s division against the Tier II Raid Boss Donny said recovering from the shock He grinned at the tired looking squad and turned and walked away We’ll head over now but just show up after you shower alright We have standards in Donnyton
Annie had worked frantically the past hour keeping Dozer and his little friends alive not even bothering to tease Dozer She just darted from rampart to rampart using her height and archery to control the number of beetle things that could come towards the squad at once Even so they seemed endless
But Dozer showed no signs of slowing even getting himself worked into a fever pitch green ichor covering his club and part of his body
Annie wrinkled her nose She would definitely make him shower before giving him his reward tonight
Well probably
Annie allowed herself to admire his shoulders and arms for a second Normally she would carefully control herself about such things It would do no good if he knew how strongly he could influence her But now was a safe time for two reasons One Dozer seemed quite distracted and two it appeared the cavalry had arrived
Aegis Donny’s familiar shout sounded out and a group began ripping into the back of the beetle formation cutting swiftly forward to alleviate some of the pressure from Dozer’s squad Decklan’s squad moved like hungry ghosts stabbing their sharp weapons around the hard shells aiming for the soft fleshy joints
A roar sounded out and a huge beetle with huge chittering legs reared up revealing itself in the middle of the horde Annie sighed watching Dozer’s eyes begin to glow as he cut his way forward Of course he would challenge it
Dozer added weight to his challenge by crushing several nearby beetles clearing out a small area Incensed the Beetle charged heading directly towards Dozer’s wild swing
Annie breathed in then breathed out her focus narrowing as she activated her snipe ability The two forms Dozer ? the size of the beetle rushed towards each other positively crackling with force Annie loosed her arrow
The arrow slid through the air whistling so fast at such a high frequency that it was practically silent You would only know it was coming from the prickling on the back of your neck
The arrow struck the Beetle in the eye but it didn’t even seem to care crashing into the full strength swing of Dozer Grunting Dozer was immediately forced backwards as his swing didn’t even slow the beetle It crashed forward lashing out with its legs
Dozer managed to get his club up in time to block the leg that swung towards him but his club splintered slightly a long crack appearing it in The other nearby Classers weren’t as lucky and their armor was simply smashed apart before the fearsome power of the Tier II Raid Boss
Bringing its body around the beetle prepared to strike but as it launched itself forward Donny was suddenly there his shield smashing it backwards Although he wasn’t nearly as strong as Dozer in terms of stats and especially in ability to deal damage at the 6 inch distance Donny was king His shield bash knocked it off balance stunning it for a short moment
The beetle hissed in annoyance but as it struggled to regroup the Heavy Mage Corps unleashed a barrage of fire and ice that smashed against the Raid Boss’s shell It screamed in pain as the shell shattered struck by spell after spell
Although they were strong against physical attacks magic ripped right through them The Magic Corps launched another barrage this one less focused ripping through all of the beetles in the surrounding area They died in a series of hisses and screams
Then the mages parted and to Annie’s surprise the gangly slightly creepy Glendel walked forward But unlike his normal bobbing self now his posture was very straight his eyes stern and serious With an imperious gesture Glendel raised his hand and in the sky above the Raid Boss a ghastly wooden door wrapped in chains appeared
Glowing eerily green the door ratted and then sprung open long green arms rushing down to grip the body of the beetle But instead of its physical form the arms simply seemed to sink into the beetle rummaging around
Then they began to retract dragging with them the strange ghostly soul of the beetle glowing that same strange green color The beetle ghost for its part began to panic gripping tightly onto its body but more and more hands rushed downward from the door grabbing and pulling away all of the legs of the beetle one by one
Finally completely bound by those spectral hands the beetle ghost was dragged upwards into the door which swung silently closed
As Annie watched Glendel he closed his eyes seemingly concentrating very hard on something And then behind him floating in the air the beetle condensed its eyes glowing white Smiling Glendel opened his eyes revealing eyes glowing with the same white color
So this was the Sovereign of Ghosts’ Annie thought wonderingly
But then she was distracted by Daniel’s arrival who hurried up to the panting Donny and Dozer a worried look on his face Annie just rolled her eyes
What now She muttered annoyed
Paolo and Kayle stood opposite each other a chalk board in between them Behind them were their individual squads and behind the squads were neat piles of bones If one were to look closely one would notice that these bones were neatly sorted and would probably would have formed the skeleton of a horse before they were smashed to pieces
Behind the piles of bones were the other squads which were shaking their heads at the actions of squads I and II
Kayle grinned pointing to the carefully made tally marks on the chalkboard The recount is in and the result is still the same Your squad killed 91 and mine killed 117 I think it is clear who is superior
But we killed the Raid Boss Paolo said crossing his arms
Kayle shrugged So what it had two heads and breathed fire Whoopyty doo Could it fly Use magic Do anything but charge in a straight line You can have 25 points for it but that still only puts you at 116