The Beginning of Nightmares

[The Merry Lambfish]

Crydmarr

vs

Auroros

and

Crigan

Ref: Omegarex24



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For the briefest of moments, the UCA operator thought he was hallucinating when he spotted the signals of an unknown monster in the forest region. No teleportation pads had been used... and they were of course the only way in and out of the hub. He quickly proceeded to upload the camera feed to his screen. The process was completed in a short time, and he soon found himself looking into the depths of the tall trees.

The man leaned closer to the screen. Yes... he could see something in there, but no monster like this was listed in the UCA's records. The thing... whatever it was... stared back at him, as though it knew he was watching. Empty, soulless eyes gazed back at the man's own. He felt himself shaking... sweating even. His vision began to blur, his breath uneven. Panicking, the staff member let out a loud yelp and switched off the screen, the abomination's form fading away.

"Do not terminate it."

The harsh voice of the commanding officer rang out behind his back. "Two monsters are heading for the area to intercept it. This could be... interesting."

A smile crept across the officer's face.

[Tenshi the Sunkern]

A first light shown down in the forest, and from it emerged the Lord of Distortion. The Death God closed his eyes, and sensed around himself... yes, his foe was near... and Auroros would be here soon enough. it would not matter if his for was Fear incarnate or the very being to destroy the cosmos. He would fight it, for that's what his orders were, and to do anything less, was insubordination against the Judge of the Dead...

[Omegarex24]

I got this.

[GI Jho]

A sole ray of sunlight slcied through the thicket of branches and leaves, the beam soon becoming blindingly powerful. From the ray emerged a white shape, his frame nearly invisible to the eye before the light of the heavens. A grim cry hung in the air, as Auroros' platinum white feathers shone in the sunlight, and his blank eyes glanced forward with no particular target in range. But Auroros could sense him... yes, he could feel the presence of the horror. It was somewhere in the forest, waiting for a moment to strike...

With a cry, Auroros spread his pinions wide, as if tryign to taunt Crydmarr. This abomination would not live to see the next morning's sunrise.... Auroros would make sure of that.

[The Merry Lambfish]

(OCC: I'm not sure if OR is counting that first post as my into or not, so...)
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There was a feeling in the air. Something that caused the feathers upon Auroros to stand up on end. Something that caused shivers to run up Crigan's spine. Fear was here. But neither hero could see it. Invisible, undetectable, Crydmarr was perched atop the canopy of the 300 meter trees, watching those below him. It did not yet attack, but nor did it leave...

[Omegarex24]

I guess I just didn't notice...

Monsters...FIGHT!

[Omegarex24]

Will someone please post the first hit.

[GI Jho]

OOC: Seeing no one else is going to take the initiative....

The battle for the fate of everyone's sanity had begun. With a cry, Auroros soared overhead, his ESP focusing on Crydmarr. He could feel the creature's aura pressing against his mind.... he could feel his heart racing, and he could feel himself becoming uncomfortable with this horrific.... THING before him. He wouldn't have any of it! With another eldritch cry, Auroros made a mass by overhead, sendign down a beam of fiery light in the process. Trees and earth were lit aflame by the scorching heat ray, roasting everything into oblivion.... then it caught the vicious Crydmarr in its path. The nightmarish soonm burst into flame, the intense ray of light severely burning the monster with its immense heat.

With an angry snarl, Crydmarr suddenly danced to life, the beast beginning to move unnaturally quick and agile. Auroros attempted to strike the beast with his light talons, sending off a flurry of boomerang-esque projectiles at the creature, but he couldn't hit it! Annoyed, Auroros soon perched himself on a tree branch, waiting and hoping for Crydmarr to come within striking distance. Suddenly, Auroros felt a powerful force, come up behidn him, and soon, he was sent tackling into the floor.... with the vicious form of the Nightmare incarnate standing over him.

Sharp, needle like claws stabbed into Auroros' hide, leaving behind bloody stains. Opening his mouth, Crydmarr leaned in to Auroros' mouth, as a horrific, tongue liek appendage ripppled forth from his maw. The monster intended to give Auroros the most unpleasant kiss of his life! As the 'kiss' came in to do... whatever it would to Auroros, the sky king suddenly unleashed a light ray right into Crydmarr's face, scorching the tongue horrifically and burning the monster's face nearly clean off with its sheer heat. Crydmarr did not back off from the pain, forcing Auroros to deliver a powerful kick to the nightmare's chest, knocking the beast away and allowing Auroros to get airborne.

Crydmarr's maw opened once more, as a cloud of strange breath leeched out from its gaping maw, and chased after Auroros. The Bringer of Dawn flew about, avoiding the dangerous mist, as Crydmarr sent a massive bolt of strange energy at Auroros, which the bird gracefully dodged. Crydmarr seemed to be getting frustrated, and soon began to run about, and began to climb a nearby tree. Smirkingh, Auroros sent another light beam down towards the tree, hoping to roast the nightmare alive in the process....

[The Merry Lambfish]

Before the heated weapon could strike its intended target, the horrific monstrosity leaped to a second tree, dodging the weapon with frantic speed. Yet no one saw the creature land. In an instant, Crydmarr had disappeared to all senses. Sight, sound, ESP, even the most advanced of the UCA’s computers would not have been able to detect it. Auroros kept on guard, every muscle ready to react to whatever came next. A hissing cry was heard near the undergrowth, causing both the avian and Crigan to wheel about to face their foe.

There was nothing there.

It was almost as if the thing was toying with them, causing them to hear things that were not really there. The forest was deathly silent now, save for a second cry that sounded right behind Auroros, causing the bird to nearly fall off its branch. But again, it was nothing but a false illusion. For what seemed like hours, the two watched every corner of the battlefield, waiting for blows that would never come, though in reality it must have been only a little over a minute. The lack of Crydmarr was somehow making things even worse. The two heroes could only wonder where it had gone, what it was planning… when it would attack. The fearful uncertainty of the situation was of course helped along by Crydmarr’s influence, keeping the two monsters on edge. Their hearts were racing. A twisted knot formed in their stomachs. It was even worse for Auroros, a creature who had never known fear up until this day. A hero built to take down terrible demons would be immune to this sort of thing under most circumstances… but against fear itself… fear in physical form… things were quite different.

Crigan drew a sharp gasp! Crydmarr had reappeared, watching the two heroes at ground level, unmoving. Its haunted eyes stared back at Crigan’s. It was as if the worm was transfixed by its gaze, but even that was beginning to have its side effects. His heartbeat further quickened, as if threatening to jump right out of his chest. Shortness of breath was beginning to overtake him. His vision began to blur, further warping the already terrifying Crydmarr, as well as the environment around him. Every tree… every stone became twisted things that drilled holes into his very mental state. Fear had fresh prey within its grasp. Fresh sanity to devour. A fresh mind to rend and tear apart.

But Auroros would have none of that.

A brilliant beam of heat sliced across the base of Crydmarr’s neck, but the monster did not back away or show any sign of pain from the attack. Breaking eye contact with the Ruler of the Distortion World, Fear cast its pale eyes down towards its most recent wound, though it was hard to tell exactly what it was thinking about. Whether it was angry or merely curious was anyone’s guess.

Crigan had used the valuable time to recover from Crydmarr’s powerful influence. Now he knew better than to stare at the thing for any longer than he had to; it was quite a blessing that he didn’t have multiple heads. The worm wasn’t hurt in anyway… merely shaken. It was no attack in any case. That was yet to occur.

Raising its head back towards its opponents, Crydmarr’s slick neck slithered further from its mouth-like socket. Its hidden jaws parted, revealing a thick layer of saliva and freakishly long fangs that curled forward from its gullet, giving the thing a far more fearsome appearance than before. As Fear’s jaws extended at near one-hundred degree angle, a high pitched sound escaped its blood red throat, one that pierced the eardrums of the two heroes before him.

“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

There was no time to counter. No time to dodge. Before its terrible cry had reached its end, Crydmarr pounced across the field of gigantic trees, tackling Crigan from the skies. Why it had chosen to relent against him when Auroros had been to one to attack was unclear, though at this point it hardly mattered. With the worm trapped beneath him, Crydmarr’s many razor-like legs instantly began to lay siege to Crigan’s body, stabbing and slicing through armor and flesh at lighting fast speeds, maiming the unfortunate worm before his very eyes. Blood sprayed in every direction, coating Fear’s own bladed limbs in a dripping coat of scarlet. Crigan’s own screams became mixed with Crydmarr’s own cry of bloodlust. Even as rich, red liquid sprayed into its open jaws, Fear wasn’t satisfied with its assault, but it would be forced to end. A powerful fireball escaped the strong willed Crigan’s maw. The horrid beast narrowly avoided the worm’s retaliation, and sprang to the nearest of the gargantuan trees. Each of its blood soaked legs burrowed deep into the tough bark, giving it a firm grip as its head twisted nearly all the way around to face Auroros, who had been approaching from behind. This move caught the bird by surprise, and was unable to react when a blast of what looked like a concentrated cloud of ash exploded against his breast. The fragmentation bolt had enough physical power to thrust him to the ground, slamming him into the mossy forest floor as the weapon did its work, disintegrating the impact area into a twisted hole of blood.

Crigan had risen to the air, and immediately rushed to his ally’s side as Fear sprang to the forest floor. A second cloud escaped its fearsome maw, this one far less concentrated, built more like a thick cloud than an concentrated bolt of ash. The black and grey fog of death enveloped the two heroes, and instantly began to lacerate their hides with unseen blades, while the terrifying visions of agonized, traumatized faces of tortured souls formed in the very clouds that tore into them, as if Crydmarr was trying to assault their minds and souls as well as their bodies. As the cloud dispersed, Crigan and Auroros gasped in pain. The last attack had left behind many small but painful gashes in its wake, leaving several puddles of blood to seep into the soil.

The unrelenting, feral nature of Crydmarr had been released, merciless in its actions. The horrific monsters let loose a second, ear piercing “SCREEEEEEEEEE”, before firing off a second fragmentation bolt at Crigan’s head…

[Omegarex24]

Gira, you have until midnight Central time to post.

[Tenshi the Sunkern]

The bolt nailed Crigan right in the center of the head, sending blood and skin flying all over. The Distortion Lord collapsed on the ground, eyes rotating madly, as if already out of the fight. As if thinking his foe was dead, Crydmarr screeched into the air, and then lunged upon Auroros, but the bird was fast enough to fly out of the way, thus leading to a cat amd mouse chase between the embodiement of Fear and the Guardian of Light...

But as he lay there, Crigan was not dead, not by a long shot... This... this thing, it was unlike anything else he had ever fought. It was unpredictable, it was hellish, and it hit way too hard for this place. No, he wouldn't back down... He would stop this nightma-

I do suppose this is where I step in to help, a voice echoed in his mind. Crigan stopped. "Whose there? Speak out!" He blasted in his mind. The voice chuckled. You do not remember me? I am that you left behind long ago. I am the old you... The trickster you... the renegade you, your conscious, here to help you in your darkest hour. I must say, this Crydmarr certainly is a work of art. The voice said, more cultured than his own, but with a more sinister tone as well. That caught Crigan off-guard. This was the old him, the personality he had stripped away eons ago to become the more easy-going, good-natured being he was? "Why do I doubt that? How do i know your not Yukari wanting revenge?" He mentally asked, to which the response was a tsk, tsk, tsk. Yukari's alittle old to be messing around with people mentally. Let us be honest here, you can't take on that thing the way you are now. Your gonna need the old you to kill Crydmarr. "Listen, even if you actually are old me, I think I can handle Crydmarr myself." Crigan mentally groaned as he rose up off the ground and flew off after Crydmarr, who was still in pursuit of Auroros. The eldrict abomination was gaining on the bird, when Crigan flew in from the side and head-butted the beast. The edges of the mask dug into Crydmarr's odd flesh as he was sent toppling down tot he ground, crushing smaller trees and foliage, the beast writhing as he got back up. Oh yes, go ahead and give the enemy of all that is sane and courage a mere headbutt... that'll do alot of damage. Crigan's conscience said in false assurance, and as if it had heard it, Crydmarr "SCREEEEEEE"d in response as it lunged upward.

"Will you just SHUT UP FOR ONE MINUTE?!" Crigan shouted, more to his conscious than to the unholy embodiment of fear as he dived down, claws turning red as he flew right past Crydmarr. The beast howled out as it's right side was sliced open from the base of the neck down to the second to last pair of legs, spilling alien ooze and blood-like substance onto the floor as it collapsed momentarily. Whirling around, bluish fmales gathered in Crigan's maw as he fired off a fireball at Eurynome's pet...

[GI Jho]

The eldritch form of Crydmarr twitched and spazzed, before the hellish creature seemingly jittered to the side, avoiding the fiery projectile with surprising speed. However, as Crydmarr attempted to counter, his vicious maw filling with his lacerating breath, he was suddenly sideswiped by a dive bombing Auroros. Sharp claws sank into Crydmarr's sides, before the sky king flew upwards, dragging the abomination upwards with him. Before the monster could lash out at Auroros, the bird relinquished his grip on the eldritch monstrosity's hide, sending Crydmarr plummeting to the ground below. The beast soon slammed full force into the ground, sending stones and earth flying from the rattling impact, and a massive dust cloud rose from the impact zone.

But as the dust cleared, Crydmarr was gone. He had just.... disappeared. Neither Crigan or Auroros could find him. The creature of death lurked along the ground, searching for the abomination, as the Holy protector soared overhead reaching out with his perceptive mind in an attempt to find him.The feathered guardian soon perched on a nearby tree branch, scanning the arena for signs of the monster. But there was nothing- all was still. Eerily still. It was as if the world had gone dead. A dead wind swirled about the land, like an omen of evil approaching. The trees swayed about, seemingly paranoid, like the heroes were. Fear gripped Auroros, like a coat clinging to his hide, but the guardian pressed through the feeling. This creature was truly terrifying, but he pressed on. This horror would be destroyed, on matter the cost.

And suddenly, a screech from behind.

Auroros suddenly caught wind of the beast, and he attempted to turn around, but it was too late. Crydmarr's hideous form was upon him, the nightmare's hellish jaws soon biting onto his body, Auroros cried out in pain, as he soon began to fly up, blood dripping form his neck. The nightmare clung on, like a dead weight hanging on his body, unwilling to surrender. Auroros' wings struggled to keep auroros aloft, and suddenly, the sky king plummeted downwards with Crydmarr in tow. The speed of their descent forced Crydmarr's jaws from Auroros' neck with a splurt of blood, as the beast fell as well, though he landed unharmed on a nearby tree branch. The sky king spiraled out of control, but managed to regain control right before he was about to slam full force into a twisted gnarl of vines and thorns.

As Auroros recovered, he sensed Crydmarr leaping down from the tree branch. The beast's sword-like legs were aimed to maim the Dawn bringer, but Auroros gracefully dodged to the side, some of his feathers being sliced clean off by the blades as they passed. As Crydmarr landed, he was greeted with a fiery blast of light from Auroros' maw, the sheer heat scalding Crydmarr's exposed flesh with horrific efficiency. The horror's body was charred an ugly black, but the monster kept fighting! Crydmarr began to levitate in an attempt to reach Auroros!

Flying higher and higher Auroros closed his eyes as he called out to his master.

"Please, Emmanuel..." Auroros called to his master, "Give me the strength to combat this horror. Show him the power of truth! Bring to him justice!"

A voice replied.

"And upon thee I bestow my greatest gift," a tranquil, yet powerful voice replied. "Behold- may all tremble before the guardian's ultimate weapon. No being of evil or malice can withstand the power of justice.... Now go. Use this power as much a you need. Evil shall tremble before the Devil Breaker."

Suddenly, Auroros' form became one of a blazing phoenix. His feathers morphed into a cloak of heavenly fire; his eyes became empty sockets, filled with a fiery passion. His maw became aglow with Emmanuel's strength, as a godly cry escaped the Dawn Bringer's maw. Surprised by this show of power, Crydmarr suddenly stopped, not out of fear, but out of curiosity, almost as if in awe by the energy before him. Just as suddenly, Auroros dove down towards him, flames licking his entire body. As Crydmarr began to move, it was too late. Auroros slammed full force into Crydmarr, a blinding eruption of fiery light engulfing both Crydmarr. As the blast cleared, Auroros was seen hovering over the ground, and much of the area around him had been scorched by the impact. On the ground, Crydmarr's form lay motionless for a brief moment, smoke rising from the horror's body, but soon, Crydmarr came back to life, shaking his form before screaming with eldritch hunger.

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" Auroros snarled in an almost furious fashion, before he spat a beam of light down towards his foe....

[The Merry Lambfish]

With a sharp screech, Crydmarr leaped to the cover of a nearby tree, dodging the beam. The abomination’s soulless eyes swiveled in their sockets, before focusing on Auroros soaring high above the canopy. Crydmarr’s needle-like legs left the earth as it began to float, seemingly defying gravity itself. The insane creature quickly ascended towards the demon hunter, but Auroros was too quick, diving into the trees to avoid Crydmarr. Fear’s long fangs parted as it unleashed another screech. A long tongue darted between its teeth and snaked about its lower jaw, leaving a sickly trail of saliva in its wake. A louder screech followed, the sound sending shivers down both heroes’ spines.

Auroros’s heart skipped a beat as a fragmentation bolt drove into his back, ripping open a hole into his flesh and showering his pure white feathers in his own blood. The sheer force of the attack dropped him from the air like a rock. The avian panicked, flapping his wings wildly as the ground rushed up to meet him. Crigan’s tail wrapped about his torso before he impacted, carrying him safely to the earth. The worm released Auroros as he landed, glancing left and right for a sign of his enemy. Crydmarr had disappeared once more. Rising to the air to look for their unseen enemy, Crigan momentarily left the injured Auroros unattended.

It struck!

Crydmarr leapt from the shadows at the injured avian, its front legs raised high above its body. Like Jesus nailed to the cross, the needle-like weapons swung down, piercing through the narrow wing membranes of Auroros and driving him to the ground. The abomination continued to drag its bladed limbs down, shredding a long line of red into both of the demon hunter’s wings.

A brilliant fireball slammed into Crydmarr’s back, causing the monster’s head to squeeze back within its body. Crigan swooped from the sky, his claws glowing red as he prepared to attack. As the pokemon drew closer, fear’s fanged maw snapped out from its shell without warning, extending to its full reach. Taken by surprise, Crigan had no time to react as long fangs slipped though his neck with ease. With a surprisingly mighty heave, Crydmarr tossed the worm to the ground beside his ally, tearing out a long ribbon of flesh from his neck while doing so. The abomination leaped again, every one of his blade-like legs primed to tear into Crigan’s body…

[Tenshi the Sunkern]

Crydmarr's spear-like legs pierced the hide of the deity, spilling his hot blood all over the ground. Crigan howled in pain. It hurt... it hurt so much... What the heck are you crying around for? He's right in your face! Carve his eyes out and blind him! His conscious shouted at him. Flames gathered up in the worm's maw as he discharged a single fireball at point-blank range. The fireball hit Crydmarr's underside, propelling the horror off of him and onto it's back, a small dent signaling where the fireball had connected. As Crigan struggled up, he could hear the voice of his conscious groan. ... The hell was that? That's a far, far cry from gouging his eyes out. No wonder Mara thinks you as worthless garbade. You're a bloody pacif-

"I don't know if you've read the memo, but there are RULES here. If you want me to gouge out his eyes or eviscerate him, then feel free to enjoy whatever punishment the UCA has to offer alongside me. I can handle this myself." Crigan mentally said to his conscious as he flew right for Crydmarr. The horror had just gotten back up when Crigan twisted around and his tail slammed downward on Crydmarr's neck, bringing a howl of pain from the eldrict entity as it was pinned there. Bringing his body down upon Crydmarr, the shadowy tendrils around Crigan wrapped around the being as Crigan flew upward, carrying Crydmarr with him. Higher and higher he flew up, up to 3,000 meters infact, well above the forest floor. At the zenith of his ascencion, the Legendary turned back around and dived down toward the earth. "You want me to pick up the pace, then here you go!" Crigan shouted as he plummeted. Despite Crydmarr digging his maw and claws into Crigan's hide, spilling yet more blood and gouging terrible wounds, the being kept on his course until, at th elast possible moment, he let go and flew back upward, avoiding splattering himself agains tthe ground...

Crydmarr, on the other hand, had no time to react as he impacted the earth at rapid speeds, the resulting collision knocking down nearby trees, and creating a large crater over 500 meters in radius. With smoke and dust billowin gup from the impact, it was impossible to see how he was.

Alright, props given where props are deserved, that was a nice move... overdone by everyone and their grandmother, but nice. Now why don't you put him out of his fear-inducing misery? the voice in Crigan's head urged him. An orb of pure energy formed infront of Crigan, and he quickly fired it at the downed enemy...

[GI Jho]

But the eldritch horror, what with its seemingly impossible agility, managed to avoid the powerful blast of energy. The smoke cover gave him the advantage of stealth; like a specter, the fear incarnate once more faded from this mortal realm. Crigan and Auroros searched high and low for the abomination, but they found nothing; Crigan's sharp eyes scanned both tree and earth, but not a being was seen. Auroros' sharp hearing caught no motion, besides his own, the wind, and his Ally's. Not even his ESP could detect the frightful nightmare.

But like an annoying mosquito, Crydmarr once more managed to outmaneuver the two warriors.

With an eldritch cry, Crydmarr dove down from a location unknown, before he slammed his body recklessly into Auroros' form. Unable to save themselves, both went into a dangerous free fall from in excess of 3,000 meters up. The spider-legged abomination hissed, his hellish gaze locked onto the heroic Auroros. The sky king attempted to right himself, but the speed of their descent prevented him from doing so. Suddenly, Crydmarr's chest began to rippled and bulge, before one of the hideous sacks attached to his chest launched out, aiming to hit the falling Auroros. As the sack came in, Auroros blasted it with his light ray, vaporizing it completely. Soon, the two became very close to the ground. At the last moment, Auroros managed to right himself, narrowly avoiding a certainly fatal fall. Crydmarr managed to right himself too- however, lacking wings, the beast attempted to use its levitation to slow the fall, but to little avail. Though it indeed slowed the fall, it still impacted the ground with surprising force, the blow temporarily stunning it.

Auroros had little time to think of his next attack ,however, as the vicious monster was on him extremely quickly, already pressing it attack. Letting out a shrill cry into the heavens, Auroros soon dove down at his foe, talons outstretched. The vicious horror, fired and egg sack at the light wielding champion, but Auroros maneuvered out of the way. Using the momentum, plus his mass, Auroros slammed his talons into Crydmarr's hide, his sharp claws sinking deep into the horror's flesh, before he took off once more, holding Crydmarr tightly in his talons. Crydmarr thrashed about, his bladed legs slicing Auroros' hide, hot red blood staining his pristine feathers, but Auroros persevered. Funneling all his strength into his wings, Auroros flew up towards one of the truly gargantuan trees, before he flipped himself around, flinging Crydmarr full-force towards the massive trunk.

Crydmarr's impact was absolutely brutal, literally leaving a massive dent in the tree's trunk, sending splinters flying everywhere, and sending the horror falling down to the earth below, massive shards of wood impaled into its hideous, leathery hide. The monster slammed full-force into the ground, creating a plume of dust upon impact, obscuring it from sight. Not taking an chances, Auroros opened his maw, before sending a holy ray of light down towards the horror, intent on scorching him into oblivion...