Comic for Monday, December 25th
Did IDS C.A. just try to have a drone shoot a missile at Kally? It’s a question worth pondering. Someone tried to shoot a missile at her, that’s for sure. I’m speculating here, but I’m speculating that it didn’t end well for the drone or the missile.
The magic in the last series of panels is actually of the same nature as Mion’s back here in delivery mechanism. It is a blast of information and mana rather than truly “real”. Most mages would call in a very powerful form of Incinerate – magic that raises that modifies the temperature an Eidos Form drastically. It is a good bit messier to destroy things that way, unfortunately. Kally, of course, calls it Dragonfire, but she is sort of a nerd if you haven’t noticed. For some reason people don’t really argue the point with her very often though.
Only one of the IDS S.C. people here is actually aware of/has seen this ability, as it is classified. I believe he’s the one that keeps trying to insist this is a really dumb idea. That may be coincidence, idk.
The null caster isn’t necessarily empty bravado about being bad news for someone that primarily fights with an Eidos Construct – they are extremely effective against them. While it can get him as we saw last time, they are relatively easy to break if he sees it coming. A major difference in a red one is that breaking a part of it has fairly little effect, as we see here and have seen before, it rapidly reforms as long as Kally is still in the picture and it isn’t destroyed completely.
Of course, the dragon’s uses we’ve seen up until this point is really sort of a secondary effects. It was asked previously if an Ethereal Form shares senses with it’s caster, and the answer is no, not if it has those built in. In the case of the dragon, it’s effective sight range is far greater Kally’s; it’s more of a targeting system for this rather more destructive magic than built to engage in brawls, though it is fairly versatile. It can detect large moving objects incredibly well, as that is sort of what it’s specialized for.
Kally is at a fairly large disadvantage (relatively speaking) in confrontations where she does not want to leave swaths of scorched earth. A tactical weapon is not always of great effectiveness at short range, though she has some experience overcoming these shortfalls. Why someone with her skill set works in what is effectively law enforcement, well, that’s a story for another time.
Hope you all had a good Christmas or what not and don’t have too much of a cookie-and-eggnog hangover.
If you aren’t the voting sort, you can see the Christmas Incentive here 😉
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Typo in the 5th panel:
“You’re dragon can’t touch me without getting nullfied.”
The correct spelling is “nullified”, with two “i”s.
Fixed, thanks 😉
Umm… No, it’s not fixed. The 6’th panel still says “nullfied” with only one “i”.
Perhaps I confused you when I said “5th panel” when I actually meant the 6’th? Or, perhaps you forgot to click the “upload” or “submit” button when you thought you had?
Hmmm… fixed-er hopefully? 😐 I don’t know, I blame internet fairies or something. Also these “i” things. Small and easy to misplace. 😀
I’m not sure where you or your comic are, but in the US Army, the word “repeat” has exactly one (1) meaning: “Yo, Artillery, Put another salvo exactly where the last one went.” This was HEAVILY stressed in training. The proper phrase should have been, “You do not, I Say Again NOT, …”
That’s fair enough; I don’t know military linguistics, but in this case I think it works the way it is, if only because these people are not professional military either.
Now, they are technically part of the Central Military and have many trappings of it, but they aren’t proper military, so it’s plausible they’d use the wrong linguistic expressions anyway.
The fact that they look and superficially act like military is not an oversight, but something of a plot point. Some people, like Arron another character introduce later, are from the Central Military proper, but while Situation Containment was filed under the Military umbrella for technical reasons, they are not really trained soldiers, which I think we’ve seen from their general behavior more than a few times, really.
That aside, I appreciate the note and frankly its good to know. Being able to write more proper use other places would be a good way to disguinsh different groups, and knowing more things is always a good tool for writing better; while none of the groups represent the US Military per se, frequently it makes more sense to translate conventions like this to group the fictionalization of other elements.
I guess what I’m saying is if that I’m not going to change the wording here, but I’m happy to see the comment as it informs me for the future when I might want to use it more properly, and feel free to let me know other times when something seems off about dialogue, as it’s useful to know what ignorance is mine and what is the character’s. 😀
Kallisto is single handedly bringing up the number of badass one liners in the comic. That is two in one fight scene now.
Good thing they sent a drone in, or I think a pilot might have just gotten Incinerated.
Peter is incapable of bad ass one liners. Both because he lacks the brevity, and is not badass. Naomi doesn’t usually talk a lot during fights. So that leaves Tyler and Kally, both have brevity and badass in sufficient quantities for it to be the natural habitat of badass oneliners.
It looks like some overpromoted types have confused perceived power with real power, and are about to experience the fruits of their mistake.
While I would find it amusing if Mium commandeered the drone and sent it back where it came from, I’m pretty sure that Kally and Fluffy can handle it. 🙂
As has been noted before, Kally’s “Dammit, Peter!” scowl is nowhere near as intimidating as her “You’ve messed with the wrong mage!” glare. ^^
Or someone sent some expendable but capable people in to make a point.
Also I suspect that Mium is still busy with the whole Miko mess.
Our first real taste of magic vs. conventional weaponry. Magic: 1, Modern Conventional Weaponry: 0.
I am suspicious that this is a false flag attack. We know Mium can take over their drones, and this is a convenient way of Kally showing off “I could wipe you out at any time” without having to actually kill anyone. Also, a show of force for Malsa. In all ways this plays into Peter’s hands is what I am saying.
It’s a storied struggle, but magic usually comes out on top. The more interesting struggle is magic vs magitech I think… 😛
That said, technology can win in some cases…
The reason she and the director are in law enforcement and shuffled off to a perceived not dangerous side area, is because they are so effective. That is where Rank goes to retire. They are still in the fold and could be activated easier because of that – just the way the directory did for Major Kali. You get transferred to another group, but not released from duty. As such you still have the rank but not the function to go with that rank. Should orders come down the pike you can be reactivated. In the US military even if you get your DD214 and leave service, you get pooled into Inactive Ready Reserve which technically has the capability to reactivate you. For most people the likely hood of it happening is low. The military is also very efficient at keeping skilled people available though training
Definitely makes sense they would be reserve, but while Arron is clearly retired, Kallisto is too young to have retired in a traditional sense.
I suspect she had a reason to leave the Monster Hunters, but don’t have a guess to hazard there yet.
Yeah, guys? She’s good at what she does. Really good. (I really like the little arrows between panels, they’re not intrusive but make it clear what order the panels are read in.)
Read order is something I’ve struggled with before. This page – without the arrows – was particularly problematic. Glad to hear the solution worked out. Feedback is always valuable because now I know that if I’m in the same spot future (inevitably…), trying the same thing might be a good idea 😛
Do not mess in the affairs of dragons,
because you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup.
And they *breathe* fire!
Fixed. I think. 😉