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Post by Neo on Apr 21, 2015 20:53:01 GMT -6
Michael grunted as the head of the flail slammed into his side. He tore the flail out and dissolved it into nothingness, but instead of moving back towards the wall like Elia had hoped, he melted into the shadows. Presumably, only Vincent saw where he went, and he knew it.
Between Elia's words, the realization that she knew who he was, and the fact she was in danger because of his mistake, as well as the fact he was partially responsible for what happened to her village and family, something snapped in Vincent. His screams distorted and his body began to change. The temperature in the room plummeted, the ground began to shake, and an overwhelming darkness began to flow outwards from him, seemingly distorting the very fabric of reality. The room itself began to twist and bend in odd, awkward angles, and the pressure in the room was suffocating. For a brief moment, Vincent's true powers were unbound.
Michael appeared from above, and he hovered there, looking down on the terrifying sight. "IT IS YOU!!!!! Master, you have returned!!! Do you see, girl?!!! Your words mean nothing!!! They are just hot air, lost in the winds of darkness! You cannot harm me-"
Everything suddenly condensed- the temperature, pressure, darkness, everything- and was drawn back into Vincent. Half a second passed, and a tremendous shockwave shot out in all directions. The shockwave passed through the cavern harmlessly, proving equally harmless to Elia and Irving, but it nullified the trap holding Vincent in place, and forcibly pinned Michael to the ceiling, silencing him. Vincent then disappeared, and so did Michael. They reappeared on the ground, but now Vincent no longer held the appearance of a human. He was something else entirely, something far different. Half of his face was skeletal, while the other half was that of a man. A long ragged black cloak billowed around him as he hovered over the ground. His eyes were a swirling vortex of fire, ice, and darkness, like miniature gateways to hell, and he radiated an aura of supreme power, destruction, and despair.
Vincent tightened his bony hand around Michael's throat, lifting him high off the ground. "Enough. You have committed countless crimes in my name, and I will allow it no longer. Be silent, and return to dust."
Vincent tightens his grip even further, and Michael's eyes bulge. Then, his eyes roll back in his head and his body goes limp, as his life force bleeds away. Vincent drops the lifeless body of his greatest mistake onto the ground below and then suddenly, he too falls. He reverts to human form, collapsing to the floor. His power fades away, returning the room to normal. All was silent... Even the chanting had stopped.
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 21, 2015 21:23:01 GMT -6
"I'm... I'm sorry."
As she began to feel weak from using up her natural mana pool, something she hadn't even noticed during those tense moments before, Elia looked at her hands. The knly blood on them was from where she helped treat Vincent's wounds, but she felt the blood of many others on her hands at that moment. She stumbled to Vincent's side and sat down, moving his hair out of his face and just hoping he would be alright. "We should never have come here. No one else deserved to be dragged into this... And Irving, I'm sorry. I can't-... I just have to rest. This is why I don't fight. My mana runs out before the battle really begins. And now you're going to have to bear the burden of keeping us all safe alone, and I'm sorry about that. I'll be back on my feet soon, but until then..."
I feel so tired, but I'm still crying. With everything that has happened, I wonder if I'll ever be able to stop crying again... Just... Wake up soon, please. Don't leave me know, after everything. I need to talk to you, Vincent, to hear your voice again and to tell you all the things I feel guilty for, so you can tell me again how it's all going to be okay. I need you to remind me that the world hasn't come to an end. So please, just be alright.
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Post by Neo on Apr 21, 2015 22:50:05 GMT -6
Michael's sudden demise caused a mental shockwave to ripple through the minds of his followers, shattering his control over them. Instead of regaining their minds, however, the abruptness with which they were freed fractured their minds and splintered their sanity. Screams of panic and confusion rose up from the cultists, as they ran around like confused sheep being chased by an invisible wolf. Amidst the chaos, a couple even tumbled off the bridge into the endless chasm below.
Then their screaming turned to rage, and their confusion began to focus, and they blindly turned their eyes towards their master's murderer, despite him being the very same being they worshiped. Enraged, the cultists moved on the church en masse.
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 22, 2015 0:39:50 GMT -6
Having gone to Rosetta and Vincent's side after their collapse, Irving looked back as he heard the cries of the cultists as they flew into a frenzy. He could guess what was about to happen next
Irving grunted at Rosetta's words as he slowly stood up to face the horde that was headed in their direction. "You apologize way too much, boss. Just recharge and... heal him or somethin'."
Without waiting any longer, Irving ran out toward the church exit as he switched slots. Before he got the chance to even get halfway there, however, a few of the cultists had already entered. Irving immediately readied his weapon and began firing off Type-7 shots on the horde, primarily aiming for their torsos and taking any brief instances he got to charge up each shot; about two shots a target. He slowly advanced as he continued firing and the first wave of cultists dropped like flies with holes in their chests and/or stomachs.
The more I can divert their attention away from them, the better.
"That's right, I killed your master!" Irving lied as he reloaded. "Lazarus is a piece of s*** god!" He shot another cultist who ran inside brandishing a sword. If he and the other ones that were already dead were any indication, these cultists were using ceremonial swords and knifes as weapons. "Death to his followers!"
Now that he was closer to the doorway, Irving switched to a Type-6 shot and raised it, undaunted by the greater amount of cultists charging him. He fired off three shots to incinerate the closest cultists (With one shot lucky enough to hit two at once) before another cultist managed to get close enough to stab Irving in the right arm. After a cry of pain, Irving punched the cultist away, but he noticed a dark pool forming under him. He jumped out of the way as a dark pillar sprang up and nearly impaled him. Picking himself up from the ground, Irving switched to a Type-1 shot, charged it while dodging another swipe from the cultist that maimed him earlier, and placed it between himself and the entrance as even more cultists (who were so aggressive in their charge that they've begun trampling a few of their own) entered.
More and more at once. Guess they're going berserk one by one; a good thing since I don't want to be overwelded or whatever the word is.
Irving turned his attention to the person within melee range as he heard the barrier reflecting some dark fireballs. He unsheathed his machete and ran it through the man's throat. Irving brought the machete to his teeth for a quick form of holding as he switched back to a Type-6 slot. He only got to hit one more person before someone's arms wrapped around him from behind and a knife inserted itself into his chest. He jumped back and fell on top of whoever was on him before standing back up and turning to face whoever it was. In the split second between Irving pointing his ryfel at the assailant and pulling the trigger, he saw a large wound on the cultist's throat. It wouldn't take a genius to piece together that it was a reanimated corpse.
Necromancers?! Goddammit, why can't I meet -- or at least hear about -- a NICE AND SANE necromancer for once?!
Irving ignored a stray thought that said they might soon be reanimating corpses Rosetta once knew for him to slaughter in front of her and raised his ryfel to block a vertical slash from a cultist that had advanced to his position. Sure enough, now there were a lot of them within melee range. Irving parried the sword, grabbed his machete, and slashed across their chest before slashing downward at their head. He pulled his machete out of the cut down the head and slashed across someone's arm, ducking under something, and stabbing another through the stomach. Although Irving was mostly working on instinct, he managed to retain enough awareness of his surroundings to note that all of the cultists seem to be targeting him instead of Rosetta or Vincent.
His head throbbed briefly as he slashed someone across the thigh, which left enough of an opening for someone to hit Irving's hand with a sword, forcing him to let go of the machete. Improvising, he blindly fired his ryfel around to expend the rest of the magazine before grabbing it by the barrel and smashing someone's skull open with it like a club.
A brief chuckle escaped him as he heard bones breaking. He felt something slash him from behind. He began to turn to counterattack, but the hand of someone he presumed dead grabbed him by the ankle, making him fall to the ground face first into a small puddle of blood. Irving's expression darkened as the dropped ryfel hit the ground. Though you most certainly wouldn't be able to hear it under the current circumstances, he growled.
Fine. Want to play like that?
With almost inhuman speed, Irving sprang up and charged through the crowd forming around him, pushing through two or three of them. Now with sufficient space to move, Irving turned back toward the mob. Sure enough, the only bodies left on the ground were the ones that burned to death.
"You gonna do that? Then I'll just have to tear you all apart to the point of uselessness!"
Now fully crazed from all the recent bloodshed, Irving charged into the mob and began a vicious display of violence. The first victim of his was merely grabbed by the neck and slammed into the ground, shattering their face. For the next victim, Irving grabbed his arm and hit the back of his elbow, breaking it before punching him across the face with a vicious punch. One charged in and attempted to stab him with a knife, only for Irving to grab his arm and pull on it to tear it clean off. Another, their lower jaw was smashed off by a backhanded strike. The one who followed was a reanimated corpse that was greatly decayed, clearly from among the coffins that lined the cavern walls. Irving simply brought his hands to the corpse's head and crushed it.
Irving laughed like the carnage he was delivering was a fun game, even shrugging off the slashes and blasts of dark magick that managed to hit him. The specifics of what followed were mostly a blur to him. The next thing he knew, he was kneeling down by the foot of the bridge outside, covered in blood and cuts that didn't hurt, panting heavily, with someone's throat in his hands. After a moment of catching his breath, he tossed the bloody chunk off into the abyss and trudged back toward the church, watching his step as he passed through the bloody bodies and severed limbs littered about, both fresh and decayed.
"All done!" he yelled as he walked over to Rosetta and Vincent were. He was smiling, clearly in a good mood. "Damn that felt good. You alright? I can carry ya'll outta here if ya want."
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 22, 2015 18:18:33 GMT -6
"I remember that there was apparently a way from these caves into the smaller one where we hid during the day. If we can find that exit then we would be able to get Vincent out of here, and have someplace safer to stay for a while," she said.
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 22, 2015 18:46:28 GMT -6
"Yer the boss, boss." said Irving. He bent down to retrieve his ryfel. He looked around a bit for his machete and saw the hilt sticking out from underneath the top half of a cultist. He casually tossed the body aside and retrieve his machete. He could worry about cleaning them later. "Got a plan for findin' it, though? Not sure I want to search blindly fer a secret exit instead of just takin' the long way back."
He walked over to Vincent. After scanning him, he lightly pushed him in the shoulder with a foot to see if he stirred. No reaction. Irving knelt down and lifted the unconscious man over his shoulder and stood up.
"Can ya stand, by the way?" Irving asked. "I still got another shoulder to spare."
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 22, 2015 19:05:21 GMT -6
"Yes, I can stand. I just need to get out of this place."
If I had a secret exit to use for emergencies, where would it be?
"It would be hidden away for sure. It has to be somewhere in this room, because there's no where for it to be in the last room since there's that chasm. So, what around here could be used to hide it? A banner? Moss?" she said.
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 22, 2015 19:14:51 GMT -6
Irving looked around a bit before eying one prop in particular.
"...The altar?"
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 22, 2015 19:38:04 GMT -6
Elia gestured towards the altar as her way to say that if he suspects it, he should go check himself. Meanwhile, she was trying her best to ignore all the death, and especially the reanimated corpses. In order to do that she was watching Vincent carefully, trying to figure out what she could possibly do to help, though nothing came to mind.
I can't help him... What am I going to do?
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 22, 2015 20:39:18 GMT -6
Irving set Vincent down onto one of the church's seats before approaching the altar. He tried mildly pushing the altar to one side only to have it not budge and inch. He then picked another side and push if from there. It slid forward, a dark hole visible from where it used to be. Grinning, Irving pushed the altar with greater force, this time breaking it off the hinges keeping it in place. A narrow stairway downstairs revealed itself.
"Told ya." He said to Rosetta. He walked over to where he propped Vincent down to pick him up. "Make a light. Looks dark in there."
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 22, 2015 20:49:08 GMT -6
Elia nodded and then created a small sphere of light, which she held in her hand. "I don't think it will last for very long, so if it looks like we won't make it back to the cave in time, we may have to turn back..."
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 22, 2015 20:55:55 GMT -6
"How 'bout a torch, instead?" suggested Irving.
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 22, 2015 20:58:34 GMT -6
"We could use one if you want to be safe, but I already made the light. We could try doing it this way, and if it doesn't work we can worry about a torch then.
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 22, 2015 21:01:53 GMT -6
"Then let's stop wastin' time and get to it", said Irving.
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 22, 2015 21:21:26 GMT -6
Several minutes later Elia and Irving had found their way through the passage and back intot he cave where they had rested before. While she still had the light Elia rummaged through her supplies and pulled out the extra bandages and medicine, ready to hand them to Irving so he could tend to his wounds, in order to make sure he wouldn't bleed out before she recovered enough mana to treat them herself.
"I would help you myself, but my vision is a little blurry. I think I could only make things take longer. But if you do need my help with the bandages for any reason, I think I can do that."
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 23, 2015 8:32:04 GMT -6
Irving accepted the bandages and medicine after setting Vincent down on the ground. He sat down and set the items to the side as he removed his shoulder guard (the one on the side that didn't get stabbed) and other pieces of armor to pull his shirt up. After a thought, he paused and faced away from Rosetta.
"Well, if yer offerin'", said Irving, "mind pointing out any wounds on my back? Can't see them for obvious reasons."
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 23, 2015 17:38:14 GMT -6
"I will, but from what I can tell right now it appears that you only have minor injuries on your back," she said after observing for a moment, "If that's the case, you're quite fortunate."
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Post by empireoffire on Apr 23, 2015 17:49:02 GMT -6
"No s***, but where?" said Irving. "Poke the general area or somethin' so I know where to start patching up."
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Post by GX1997 on Apr 23, 2015 18:01:21 GMT -6
"Right here, underneath your right shoulder blade. Anything else is just a shallow scratch that isn't worth bandaging since the only concern is infection, and the medicine should prevent one from setting in. And once I recover my mana I'll patch everything up myself. This is just temporary," Elia said as she took a little of the medicine and dabbed it on the scratches.
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Post by Neo on Apr 23, 2015 18:31:08 GMT -6
The flood of images and emotions gradually receded, leaving behind only a vague throbbing. Vincent stirred, slowly regaining consciousness. He found himself in the same cave they had camped in before, the one in the valley, just outside the fort. The fort... That's right. I remember now. Gah, my whole body hurts... And my head feels like I got trampled by a herd of berserk buffalo.
His eyes and mind slowly began to focus, just in time for him to hear Elia speaking to Irving. She was clearly checking his back for wounds, but between how it looked from where he was sitting, and her words-that could be construed to mean something else when taken out of context- he couldn't help but tease her. "Only temporary, huh? You two certainly got comfortable while I was out," Vincent says groggily, using his hands to quickly propel himself to his knees. From there he attempted to stand, but tried to do so too quickly, and a wave of dizziness overcame him. He fell back against the cavern wall, leaning on it for support.
"Don't even think about stealing my woman, Merc," he says, smirking slightly. "I'm grateful you saved my life, but not that grateful."
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