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Post by Tenshi the Sunkern on Mar 10, 2014 23:05:58 GMT -5
Crigan growled as he faced both monsters. How? How had they known his son was here? This was bad... he had lost the element of surprise.
"That is what you think, fiends. In the name of the High Council, you are both condemned for the manipulation and tainting of souls!" Crigan shouted, his helmet glowing brightly. In that instant, fireballs ruptured from his maw, streaking right for Ommadon and Zekshi. he knew he was outnumbered... but maybe... At the same time, his mind went into overdrive, shouting down to Diamen and Auroros to watch out... though it was already too late for that...
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Diamen held his hands out, and a long, sinister scythe, platinum in color, formed in his hands. UCA rules be damned, this was a dire circumstance! He swung the reaping weapon into the army of spirits, one slash after the next, their souls sliced apart and destroyed with each swing. But for every 5 that were downed, 15 more rose. It was a power his kind had, to permanently destroy souls... but against this army...
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Post by The Merry Lambfish on Mar 18, 2014 5:02:23 GMT -5
Zekshi raised a pale hand. The fireball shot through him without harm, as though he were made of smoke. It hit the wall behind him and erupted into a blast of flame, banished from the astral plane.
His response was immediate.
The inky mist of the astral plane seemed to come alive before Crigan's eyes. All around him nether was solidifying into wispy tendrils. They struck like vipers, lashing tight around his body in the hundreds. He felt the icy embrace of nether seep through his very skin, and he shuddered in its tight coils. Only when Crigan was safely bound and unable to resist did Zekshi speak.
"You're far too peremptory, Crigan," he sighed. "This is the astral plane you have injudiciously wandered into. The only authority here is that of the nethereal and the aethereal - and your kind are neither. You should be thankful that I am perfectly willing to listen to reason. As it stands, your son is fighting for his life. You never answered my earlier question, so I suppose a more direct experiment is in order. Give up this struggle. Walk away from these living quarters, and your son will be spared in exchange for the life of the soul you intended to rescue."
His eyes flickered briefly to Ommadon. "Although the fate of Auroros may be out of my hands."
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Post by GI Jho on Mar 18, 2014 9:29:26 GMT -5
Auroros unleashed powerful beams of light, causing several of the souls to dissipate upon contact with them. Though he could wipe out large swathes of enemies with each attack, there were simply too many for them; the specters began to dogpile Diamen, and Auroros was quickly beginning to lose ground, and unable to help his friend in the process... ____________________________________________________________________________ Ommadon simply stayed quiet as he watched his thralls tear into the heroes below.
"I would suggest speaking quickly, Death God," Ommadon jeered, "or else you'll be saving 2 blood smears."
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Post by Tenshi the Sunkern on Mar 18, 2014 23:58:39 GMT -5
Crigan glares at both the evil beings before him. Damn it... Damn it all! His own training as a Death God... no, as a Legend had come back and bitten him in the ass. Now he was at the mercy of these merciless tyrants. WHat was he supposed to do? ... violence had netted him bound by the very element he was opposed to... And with his son and friend in danger... He had no choice but to accept their terms.... or atleast play by them. He still had a trick up his sleeve.
"Very well... I see that I have no choice in the matter. We will leave now. But be warned... the soul that you torture won't be in your hands forever. It is your kind of evil that will not prevail, neither by Maluvor or by-" And here, Crigan stopped. There was an odd scent on Ommadon, similar to that of the Emissaries, similar to that of Auroros, but different. It was the scent of a god, completely opposite of Ommadon's own scent. This... this evil thing... had been spending much of its company around a very high tier god until recently. "You..." He looked at Ommadon. "You carry the scent of a very high class god on you, one higher than myself, or that of Auroros or any of those here, and it is clearly not your own." Perhaps, he could buy some time, as he prepared himself...
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Unholy energy ruptured from the dogpile, and the evil spirits were blasted away as Diamen let loose with his full Death God power. The incoming waves of souls were sliced apart as Diamen's scythe swung fast and furiously, downing the enemies as they came. Energy built up within the head of the scythe, and he sent it flying as blades of reaping energy, the evil souls destroyed as the destructive wave billowed out, washing harmlessly over Auroros. As the wave cleared the area of whatever spirits were currently there, Crigan's voice entered into his and Auroros's heads. "You two, retreat for now. I have this covered by myself. I need you especially, Diamen, out of danger. Get Auroros to safety... This is my task to handle."
"Of course... father." Diamen held his scythe firmly in his hands... what did his father have in plan? He rushed toward Auroros, knowing he had also heard the voice of Crigan... and more spirits were rising up even then....
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Post by GI Jho on Mar 19, 2014 21:46:51 GMT -5
Ommadon simply laughed at Crigan. What a fool he was, trying to distract him. "Are you trying to distract me, Death God? Hahahaha.... resorting to childish tricks to best us, it seems. I shouldn't have expected any better from a disgrace such as you...." Ommadon paused, and smiled beneath his mask, placing a hand to his chin. "But since you ask so kindly, I will tell you that what you smell is the scent of the millions of souls I have collected. You see, those souls you see down there aren't serving my bidding out of CHOICE... hehehe... rather, they have become one of my many thralls, slaves to my will."
Ommadon looked down at Diamen and Auroros fighting them and chuckled. "I would say that your friends down there are doing them a service, but I'd be lying. You see, destruction of their beings is simply not enough.... they are eternally bound to me, doomed to die again.... and again..... and again until I decide to release them. Which is never, of course."
Ommadon simply chuckled. "It's funny, really. To see former heroes and freedom fighters, forced to fight for my will... to hear their screams of pain as they are cut down, wishing that they could be released from their fate.... to listen to them cry and beg as I send them out to fight again...." ________________________________________________________________________________
Auroros snarled, as he pushed Diamen aside and began to fly back towards the door, despite Crigan's words of warning, blasting ghosts aside with his breath.
"No retreat! No surrender!" Auroros snarled. "That's my Emissary in there, and you want me to retreat?!"
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Post by The Merry Lambfish on Mar 25, 2014 15:33:05 GMT -5
Zekshi eyed Auroros’s shining soul hurtling towards the door. “It seems your friend isn’t one to follow orders, is he? Neither of us wants his actions to result in any more harm. Your son is still surrounded after all. Convince him that his Emissary isn’t here. Tell him that this is a trap.”
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Post by Tenshi the Sunkern on Mar 27, 2014 20:48:09 GMT -5
It was at that moment, that a bright light erupted from Crigan's mask. Ommadon and Zekshi had to shield their eyes as the light blinded them, their control over the very nether in the air disrupted for the time being. That was all Crigan needed. Energy discharged from his mask, and blasted apart the netheral tendrils around him, as he flew up, and dived down toward where the room was. It was just the distraction he needed... and now, to use a technique he had at his disposal to hide himself while they were blinded. A telekinetic shield covered over him, and he vanished, his own soul and body shielded away, as if in a miniature pocket dimension. Just as the light faded, Crigan slipped down, away from the Astral realm, and down into the very room where the emissary's soul was. If there was a trap in there, then he'd be able to sail right through it. it was a technique he had kept secret from all those who knew him, the very one he had used to keep Persephone off his tail for 50 years. The pleasures of being a god... this was just one of those things that he was glad to actual keep around.
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Post by The Merry Lambfish on Mar 28, 2014 14:21:44 GMT -5
Zekshi shook his head in disappointment as Crigan disappeared. “Dedication to your superiors over loyalty to your family, and yet you pretend to be among the ranks of Quetzar and Auroros.” He shrugged his shoulders and glanced towards the turmoil of battle below. Daimen had not escaped yet, having been pushed aside by the enraged Auroros.
“Very well, Crigan. You have made your choice.”
His eyes went black. The nether coiled and hissed around him as he beckoned. His message raced through the astral plane, reaching across the hub to whisper into the mind of his target. It was not words that were interpreted, but an image. An image of Daimen.
Zekshi turned back towards the soul of the Emissary shining through the upper floor. Perhaps there was something he could do to further his goal?
Invisible to all but those on the astral plane came a new form, shrouded in an inky cloak of black and green. It raced towards Daimen, and a cloud of nether began to appear as it prepared to enter the mortal plane…
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Post by GI Jho on Mar 29, 2014 13:27:53 GMT -5
Ommadon simply smirked as the death god had disappeared from the astral plane. Powers or not, his own hubris would be his downfall... he had planned for the event that Crigan believed that he could free the Emissary. His mightiest thralls stood guard over the weakened Emissary, ready to strike her down at the moment's notice... and kill the intruder if he gets any ideas. Ommadon made a quick gesture with his hand, a grim smile visibly stretching across his face even from beneath his mask, as within the dark room that the Emissary was kept, the young woman was suddenly pinned to the floor by a great blue beast, as an armored being raised a grim blade, placed it to her neck, before lifting it overhead. A third, thin, fragile-looking hominid stood in the back, watching for intruders.... ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auroros fought ferociously, unleashing a shockingly powerful roar before a blast of light exploded forth form his body, destroying several spirits as he blasted a beam of light towards the doors to Ommadon's chambers. He would have his revenge!....
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Post by Tenshi the Sunkern on Mar 31, 2014 0:27:59 GMT -5
The thrall about to kill the Emissary received a blast to the back, sending it sprawling into the one that was in back. The invisible Crigan quickly flew over to where the Emissary was, and pulled her into his shield. This was, she was also invisible, and undetectable alongside him. Even so, he knew that now the thralls would be on high alert, and ready to search the room for him. This rescue operation wasn't over yet... he moved off to a corner of the room, the unconscious girl in his hold as he looked for an opening to escape. This shield he had wouldn't last forever, and already, it was about to drop due to all the Nether interfering with it...
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As Diamen got up and was about to run after Auroros, he stopped. There was something... something coming. He had no idea what it was... but he sensed pure WRONGNESS from it. Was this... was this the deadly power of the Maluvor coming for him? He knew he stood no chance against it. He had no choice, but to flee if that were the case. Twisting around, he took off into the air, flying for his own safety. He didn't want to leave Crigan and Auroros alone... but they were far more experienced and skilled than he was, especially against whatever was coming.
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Post by The Merry Lambfish on Mar 31, 2014 11:18:22 GMT -5
Inside the astral plane, the barriers of the mortal realm were non-existent. Zekshi could clearly see the Emissary's soul disappear, and knew what Crigan was up to. He was going to try to sneak her out.
Neither he nor the Thralls could see the Death God. But then, nether didn't need to see its target in order to have an effect. It was a spiritual element rather than physical. It was naturally drawn to sources of destruction: be they disasters, decay, or the dying. So when he raised a hand, and a wave of invisible nether surged into the room like a roaring fire, it naturally spread towards the most damaged source in the room.
The Emissary was anything but in good health.
The attack was invisible to the naked eye. As the tidelwave of nether surrounded Crigan, the shield was pushed to its limits. It faltered for a moment. It was merely a waver to Crigan's eyes, a small, subtle tremble. Away from the astral plane an unable to see the onslaught of nether, had no idea what was happening. But this tiny weakness was enough. Pure nether poured inside and spilled into the young girl's soul as though it were water filling an empty glass.
After what she had gone through, the experience wasn't that painful. She felt only a small ache to her chest. Though from the eyes of the astral plane, the assault on the shield had been tremendous, to the mortal plane the entire thing had been so faint, so extraordinarily delicate, that only the most alert of creatures would have noticed something wrong.
The nethereal forces inside the Emissary's soul settled into her pure heart. She was not poisoned, or indeed damaged in any physical way. Zekshi had merely planted a seed. A small embryo that would eventually unlock the darkest depths of her mind. A curse that would, someday, trigger her most wicked desires...
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Elsewhere in the astral plane, a pair of wide eyes saw the young Death God flying for safety. Ranukada gave a huge grin. A chase!
Invisible the the mortal world, a cloud of inky nether trailed Daimen like a hungry predator....
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Post by GI Jho on Apr 5, 2014 10:59:26 GMT -5
An eldritch roar filled the air as Ommadon's thralls simultaneously unleashed a harrowing cry. It was a sound unlike any had ever heard; it was akin to the cries of a dying animal fused with the screech of nails on a chalkboard. The creatures of darkness began to go into a frenzy, tearing apart the whole room in an attempt to find Crigan, when suddenly, the large blue creature turned directly towards Crigan's location, nostrils flaring, his empty black eyes locking directly with his. The beast opened his jaws and unleashed a harrowing roar, before he rushed directly towards Crigan's location on all fours, prompting the others to stop their search and follow his lead.... __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auroros' beams sliced into the door, leaving a trail of red along it. Unfortunately, it was not enough to bring the door down as he had hoped. Auroros didn't have enough time to fire again as more spirits assaulted him, forcing him to defend himself. Auroros saw Diamen begin to retreat, and cursed to himself. It appeared he was once more forced to fight this on his own....
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Post by Tenshi the Sunkern on Apr 6, 2014 19:47:08 GMT -5
Crigan's eyes widened as he saw the blue Thrall charge him. Crap... how did he know he was there? Holding the Emissary tight, he flew off to the side, making a beeline for the door. The Thrall behind him smashed into the corner he had been moments before, with the others stopping behind him. As he barreled through the weakened door, blasting it off its hinges with the momentum he carried , he saw Auroros fighting off the spirits summoned by Ommadon... but Diamen was nowhere to be seen. If he wasn't here... Uh oh.
We got her, Auroros... now let's fall back and get to a safe position, now! His voice entered the seer's mind as he finally lowered the shield around him. He couldn't afford to stop... not here, not now, especially with the Thralls on their tail. As he flew overhead, he discharged a single fireball into the mass of spirits swarming him, blasting them away and giving Auroros an opening to escape as well. He could only hope that Diamen would be alright....
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The young Death God swore as he flew, flying over the heads of those at the UCA as fast as he could. Whatever it was that was trailing him, was fast and precise. He had to give them credit... they were also persistent. But he had an idea on how to loose this predator. He dove down amongst the crowds below... and vanished. Hidden amongst a sea of faces and beasts... it would be like finding a needle in a haystack...
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Post by GI Jho on Apr 9, 2014 20:23:30 GMT -5
Auroros flexed his lip, and began to follow Crigan, before he suddenly remembered something. "What of your son?"
From behind the walls, the three specters burst forth, their hellish howls infiltrating the halls of the hub like that of a Banshee.
"Do not just stand there, fools!" The helmeted warrior shouted. "Pursue them!"
The spectres then kicked into action, and began to swarm outwards... before suddenly, rockets fired out from the hub, blasting both Auroros and the hordes of spectres. Auroros groaned in pain as he plummeted back to earth and became engulfed in smoke, as he saw the spirits begin to retreat. Took the UCA long enough to do something... ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ommadon's face contorted into an annoyed glare, but he digressed. Crigan was a fool if he expected him to leave such valuable cargo without a failsafe. Unbeknownst to Zekshi, he had also implanted something into the Emissary... albeit something far more fatal. A shard of necrosis, hardened into a glass-like chunk, had been fused into her chest. When Ommadon so desired, he could release small amounts from it to hurt the weakened woman... or if he felt the time had come, she would find herself consumed and destroyed.
All he had to do now was watch their world disintigrate. Crigan had won a false victory for now, but it was only a matter of time before his hubris would ruin him again.
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Post by The Merry Lambfish on Apr 10, 2014 13:08:12 GMT -5
Quite in contrast to Ommadon, Zekshi regarded the situation with a smile. Through his own eyes, Crigan had achieved only failure. Be it a steady, soul twisting corruption or an internal bomb of necrosis waiting for activation, the Emissary would never be the same again. Auroros would be distraught, and who to blame but the very one who pulled her so ignorantly from the dark living quarters and flat out told Auroros himself to retreat? Wether they knew it or not, their bond of companionship had been damaged today. He had cut into the line keeping them together, and slowly its structure would weaken. Divided and scattered throughout the UCA, his enemies would be no threat. Alone they were easy prey.
And the death god's family bond would soon be in no stable condition either. His earlier choice had been orchestrated as a win-win situation in Zekshi's favour, and by attempting to take a third option, he had inadvertently chosen both. Ranukada was on the hunt at this very moment. It was only a matter of time.
He turned to Ommadon, hands folded behind his back. "I regret that we were to meet under such turmoil. I need to check on my companion, but perhaps when I return we could have a drink?"
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Heads turned in surprise as a shadow of inky darkness spilled into the crowd, invading their nostrils with its noxious stench. The fog of nether dispersed to reveal the form of a wide eyed, haunting young girl. Ranukada peered around at the crowd, ignoring the many eyes upon here. She spoke, her soft voice barely a whisper, yet its silky sound swept over the eardrums of all nearby.
"Where is it?" she wondered aloud, speaking to no one in particular. Her predatory eyes scanned the many faces around her. She stepped forward with unnatural grace, her footfalls silent to mortal ears. "Come out, come out, death god!" she called.
With that last syllable, a cloud of inky nether spewed forth from her open mouth. Howling like an unnatural wind, the choking fog passed over the crowd. Hidden within, Daimen felt his eyes begin to sting. He would have gasped out in pain, but when he opened his mouth the blanket of nether slipped into his throat. He coughed, choking on the very air. It felt as though his lungs were on fire! Collapsing onto one knee, he grasped desperately at his throat. All around, people were collapsing. Had the mass nether not been choking out their very life-force, the sudden air of deathly, overbearing silence would have been filled with cries of pain.
Through watering eyes, Daimen could barely make out the white dress of Ranukada floating towards him, as though a spectre. "There it is." a silky voice whispered.
Daimen felt a new pain race up his body as she placed a delicate finger to his chest. Unable to defend himself in the heavy nethereal cloud, Daimen could only squirm in utter agony as he felt his very flesh rotting away. His wounds quickly became defiled and tainted by the black nether spread through her touch, intoxicating his skin and leaving being oozing piles of white pus among decayed skin and flesh. The black touch extended to his chin... then his cheeks...
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