The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

The Grand Battle [Game Over!]
Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

cyber95 Wrote:
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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.


Eximo continued with the cleansing. It was starting to get used to controlling its body again. It soon cleared the nearby ashes.

Aeon and Nathan seemed to both be waiting for the other to make a move. The demon seemed wary of Aeon, as he had proved unpredictable in previous rounds; and Aeon likewise didn't seek to start a battle with such a dangerous opponent. Not yet.

The ashes were quickly swept up. The island was clear... almost. Oddly, the crystal shards did not register as filth; even though they were debris, Eximo's sensors detected them as cleaner than the surrounding ground.

But the second broom was another matter. Aeon had dropped it in all the confusion since he had landed, and was too preoccupied with the demon lord to look for it.

Eximo could not vacuum it up, so it simply lifted it with skeletal arms. It had vague memories from its time as a spirit of Amethyst using such an object to fly.

It could detect filth on the other islands now. It needed to reach them. A large landmass covered in a desert wasteland seemed especially in need of cleansing; the sand all registered as filth to it.

The broom, sensing its intentions, lifted up and carried Eximo towards the wasteland.


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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

After flying some distance, Amethyst finally slowed to a stop, and hid in the shadow of an island. In the distance, she could see Lutherion. His wings had returned, but something seemed off about him. Amethyst decided to approach him.

She whispered a few commands first, and three of her black crystals formed together, and flew off towards Lutherion.

One crystal flew out in front of the formation- heading straight towards Lutherion like a bullet. It stopped at the last second, and turned 90 degrees, causing the flat part of the crystal to slam into the Necromancer's torso. The second crystal flew towards his human arm, and reshaped itself to form a cuff of some sort, binding his arm to one of his wings. The third tried the same, but instead flew off past, vaporizing once it sensed its purpose could not be carried out.

Amethyst flew in front of the now-bound Necromancer, and began to speak.

"Gyuh! What the hell?! You again?! Aren't you bored of messin' with me?"
Amethyst spoke as calmly as always, "The answer to that is conditional. Are you bored with your constant affinity for violence?"
"Jeez. Little girl, you don't GET bored of killin' people!"
Amethyst looked over Lutherion. His shirt had been folded, so his lack of an arm almost looked natural.
"I see. I listened in on those thousands of voices that were bound to you. Do you remember when I tried to claim your weapon? After hearing that, I do not blame you for your insanity."
"Well I don't need your approval strawberry girl! Now lemme outta here so I can go get my arm back!"
Lutherion struggled, but without the Weightmaw Arm, he was essentially just a magical zombie. The crystal bind held. Amethyst tilted her head slightly.
"You desire that madness to return? Do you find peace of mind that unpleasant?"
Lutherion continued to struggle.
"I don't have to explain myself to you little witch! Now let me go! GAH! I AM THE GREATEST NECROMANCER IN THE UNI- NO! THE FREAKIN' MULTIVERSE!"
Amethyst smiled slightly.
"How convenient then, the current lack of any sort of dead bodies for you to manipulate. Will you not simply spea-"
Amethyst stopped, as Lutherion began to scream incantations. His dark spell reached out, and grabbed anything it could find. An automated magical interface device like Amethyst's would have described it as a lock-on routine, as the magic searched for anything nearby. Some sort of organic matter, lacking in the kinds of chemical processes associated with life. The spell wasn't designed with magical lifeforms in mind though, and it found the nearest thing it reasoned to be a dead human. The black crystals didn't fade, for Amethyst's armband still saw her alive, but her will no longer reached them. Lutherion easily shattered the restraints, curious about what he just did.

Amethyst whispered curses, as her body fell under the control of Lutherion's spell.


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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.


Eximo set itself down on the island, and put the broomstick in storage. It had no immediate need to sweep, and the crystalline broom would be of little help with that regardless.

It began vacuuming up the sand. There was a lot of it, of course. In fact, there was so much that even to Eximo, with its innate drive to cleanse, the task of clearing it all appeared distressingly tedious.

It scanned some more. Ah. There was a spot which registered as slightly more filthy. It could go there first, vacuuming all the while. Perhaps that would provide some variety.

It set out for its goal. Along the way, for but an instant, its memory seemed oddly blank. As if it had been taken away and suddenly returned.

It also felt a strange sense of satisfaction, as though it had completed a cleansing task much greater than any it had completed before.

It lacked the curiosity to ponder the matter further, and continued vacuuming up sand as it made its way through the wasteland.


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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

To his front: a boy, highly aggressive and possessed by a demon. Everywhere else: grass, void, and a whole lot of chaotic confusion. It was a situation Aeon had never quite expected to be in. Nevertheless, he adapted to it the best he could.

The attack was sudden. Nathan had been nearly motionless for several minutes--Aeon suspected that the demon was attempting to catch him off-guard. That time came when Aeon took a brief moment to remove a crystal splinter from his hand. The next instant a near-invisible wave of energy was approaching him at a tremendous speed. Fortunately for him, Aeon's quick reflexes allowed him to create a shield of a familiar-looking metal using his adaptive tool, barely in time. The wave crashed onto the shield, sending Aeon a few inches backwards and a reverberating boom sound into every nook and cranny of the void.

Just the sound enough was loud enough to pop Aeon's eardrums, giving him a persistent ringing sound for the remainder of the fight. But before he could ready himself, another wave hit the shield, and another.

"Your will or your body, something has to break eventually" Nathan said, in an unfamiliar voice.

With each crash of energy Aeon came closer to collapsing under both the stress and the concentration it took to manage the shield. He rummaged through his pocket and found a small, black shard. In between the last attack and the next, Aeon sidestepped out of the way, his shield morphing into a broad sword made of a black metal that seemed to glow black and red simultaneously in various places. Nathan, without a flinch, placed his hand out and created himself a defense.

Either Aeon nor Nathan expected what happened next. The sword hit the barrier directly and seemed to stop. However, it began sinking through the defense, almost absorbing the energy. Nathan reacted quickly and jumped a few feet back, just in time to avoid getting hit.

Aeon steadied himself and looked at the sword, moderately confused. However, his thought was interrupted as he noticed another wave of energy. Not having enough time to remake the shield, Aeon raised the sword and it seemed to absorb the wave easily. At this point Nathan finally had the smallest edge of frustration on his face, and proceeded to attack some more, each being futile.

As Aeon readied himself for another parry, however, the metal began to emit a high-pitched ringing sound, and began to vibrate. Before he could even glance at it, the blade shattered entirely, releasing hundreds of shards, powered by the absorbed energy. Although Aeon managed to avoid most of the shards, he got one stuck directly in his left eye. Nathan was not so lucky--his right arm and chest looked like a pin-cushion, and he made a hasty retreat.


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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by OddGuy.

His arm and chest were bleeding profusely, which was something that had higher priority over the destruction of the necromancer. It was weird that there were so many. He was positive that there was only one when the game started. But the demon told him that the necromancer was many, and the demon wouldn't lie. Not to him.

It was odd though. The way that the necromancer moved, and his morphing weapon- It reminded him of someone. However, this was probably just another trick. He was sure of it. However, it looked like his time was up, it was the demon's turn to be in control. That was ok. Nathan felt a bit tired anyways.

Nathan suddenly stopped his retreat, a familiar grin growing on his face. This grin only intensified as the shards of metal popped out of his flesh in little spurts of blood as the Nathan/Demon breathed in and out, a small popping noise made for every shard.

Aeon, on the other hand, was clutching his now useless left eye, blood spurting out with a disgusting squelching sound. However, that did not matter for now, as it would seem Nathan was prepared for another clash. He readied his sword, and- The demon ran away in the opposite direction. Aeon, however, was ready, and quickly dodged when a shockwave came towards him.

Nathan/Demon continued to run about, sending shockwaves toward Aeon, until finally one got him in the leg, causing him to fly back a bit and land. Nathan/Demon rushed up to Aeon and taunted him, using a highly deformed version of Nathan's voice. " I'm not really that strong... I don't think I can do anything... Or at least, not until I got this power here. All thanks to your amazing idea, friend! How can I ever repay y-," Nathan/Demon started, before getting two fingers chopped off.

"Ouch," Demon said in a completely different voice, " If it wasn't for your current poor depth perception, I doubt I would have this arm. Lucky me, eh?," he commented as they exchanged blows, ending with a fist to Aeon's face, which, surprisingly, fractured several fingers in the Demon's left hand. " Used the shield before I could hit him. Not bad," he murmured to himself as he attempted to snap his mangled fingers back into place and walked towards the now recovering Aeon.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.


Lutherion looked at his new "puppet" with surprise. "Wasn't expecting that. But I'm not complaining!" He laughed, looking back at the island with the crystal. "Hmm. That crazy boy and the old man are busy with each other. No need to get involved there just now." He turned around, and noticed something moving in the wasteland. "Ahahaha! That must be the stupid vacuum. Perfect. There's your target, strawberry girl." Lutherion pointed Amethyst over towards the wasteland. Unable to resist, she flew swiftly over there.

This is a problem, she thought, unable to do anything more than watch as her body followed Lutherion's orders. Up to now, I have been on relatively good terms with Eximo. This attack will jeopardize that loose alliance. It will see me as a threat, and even if I regain control of my body, I may have difficulty convincing it otherwise.

She flew ahead of Eximo. The vacuum paused, puzzled. It had not expected to be interrupted.

"Is the assistance of this unit required? The cleansing is currently top priority."

She did not respond. Lutherion had not given her specific orders for what to do upon reaching the target. As he watched in the distance, he grew irritated.

"Don't just float there, strawberry girl!" he yelled. "Attack him! Use that wind storm or something!"

The body responded almost immediately. Amethyst's hand reached for her armband and used one of the presets to summon the wind. The sand was blown around wildly, some of it getting into Eximo's circuitry.

"Sudden attack seems inconsistent with previous behavior of lifeform Amethyst. Life signal suggests, however, that this is lifeform Amethyst and not a mimic. Unable to analyze situation further. Must focus on defense until an opportunity to escape arises. Mechanical components not operating at full capacity due to foreign objects in circuitry."

Eximo extended four of its skeletal arms, with knives in two. It was, strangely, feeling conflicted. The situation would have been straightforward enough for its usual programming, but suddenly that programming seemed... insufficient.

Even while under attack, it did not want to harm Amethyst. Nothing in its programming could explain this - it made no strategic sense. An attacker must be stopped, by any means necessary. Yet, Eximo now found itself reluctant to do so.

Amethyst noticed the hesitation. Strange... It seems to be struggling with the idea that I might attack it. I suppose... it trusts me? Fortunately, Lutherion does not quite seem to have fully grasped what he can do with me now. Yet, I can do nothing but watch...

Finally, Eximo brought itself to attack Amethyst... but with an empty hand, not with a knife. It grabbed her leg and pulled her down towards the ground. She did not resist; Lutherion had not ordered her to, after all. In the distance, he groaned.

"Useless thing! Get back in the air!"

Her body responded to the order, and flew up, with Eximo still grasping the leg.

"This is boring," Lutherion muttered to himself. "The vacuum isn't even fighting back that hard! Maybe all that sand blowing around is messing with its head."

At least neither of us is in danger of dying any time soon, Amethyst thought. And now that I think of death... This landscape reflects a dead world.

Despite the situation she was in, Amethyst couldn't help but reflect upon the worlds she had seen this round. She had little else to do. The cubes... Structured. Monolithic. Order. The crystal in the plains. A source of healing. Life. The world with the strange staircases and waterfall, where I left the message. Disorganized. Chaos. And now, this desert. A wasteland. Death. Order and Chaos. Life and Death. Is it coincidence, or design?

The battle was not very intense, and as Amethyst could not influence it regardless, she found herself with nothing better to do than ponder this riddle. The winds soon died down, and Eximo continued its attempt to ground Amethyst's body, which continued to attempt to fly again. Lutherion, bored, pondered how he could make the fight more interesting.


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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

Dammit, this wasn't what I had in mind, Aeon thought as he wondered how he was to survive this fight while still fulfilling Emily's last wishes. At least it looks as if the demon is keeping Nathan alive somehow, but his body is going to become a pile pf pulp if things continue like this.

Aeon took brief glances around the grassy island in between Nathan's/Demon's attacks. His first thought was escape, hopefully finding some time to recuperate. He then remembered Amethyst's broomstick and the healing crystal. The crystal was in a heap a short distance away, but the broom was nowhere to be found. But at least part of the crystal remained, and perhaps it still contained a few reserves of healing energy. Aeon took a few steps towards that position, while keeping his good eye on Natan/Demon.

As he moved, however, Nathan/Demon immediately noticed. They stopped running about to ensure that the attacks came from many directions, and walked closer. It was not long before they were face-to-face again and Aeon hoisted his shield.

"You're welcome, by the way. It's a pity you have such an unfamiliar way of saying thanks." Aeon said calmly.

"What are you doing?" Nathan/Demon said mockingly, ignoring him. "Do you really think I'll let you escape again?"

He thinks I'm Lutherion. But that doesn't make sense. If Nathan thinks I'm Lutherion, then why did he say thanks for giving him the idea of making a deal with the demon?

"Then again, what fun would it be to just let you die? Thanks to you, I've been able to find such great entertainment, after all." Nathan's/Demon's voice changed slightly. Aeon noticed his dismembered fingers have grown back. Well, the bones did, anyway.

He's messing around with me. Playing mind games. Heh. Aeon straightened up. Well then, let's have a battle of words.

"You know, I've faced many enemies before. I've faced little boys with extraordinary power, and I've faced a number of lesser demons. But I have never quite faced both at once."

"Lesser demon? Do you know who I am?"

The demon is able to hear me perfectly, as I had suspected. "No. I can't claim to be an expert on exorcism. But do you know who I am?"

Nathan/Demon cracked his neck in a sickening snap and paused. "Aeon Ferrous, an insignificant inhabitant of an insignificant little town in the outskirts of an insignificant village." Nathan/Demon uttered an unearthly chuckle. "What kind of name is 'Ferrous'? What, you were named after a hunk of iron?"

"A piece of iron, regardless of the shape it is in, may be used as a weapon. You should know that by now, shouldn't you?"

Nathan/Demon paused again. "Does a multitude of jobs within the village and is known by most for an uncanny ability to adapt to many, if not all situations. Quite an... impressive reputation you have there. Now would you like to know mine? Nathan Finley, inhabitant of-"

Aeon did not let him finish. A dozen tendrils of metal sprouted from beneath the crass and encased him in a thick cocoon in a fraction of a second. Equally quickly, the cocoon began to ring like a bell, its victim obviously attempting to escape.

"You are not Nathan." Aeon muttered to nobody in particular, and made a somewhat shaky sprint towards the remains of the healing crystal.


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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

"Hah! I know!" Lutherion shouted, and flew down to the island, pointing his staff at Eximo. "If my magic works on strawberry girl, I bet it'll work on you too vacuum! You, restrain him! Use that rock bind thing or something"
Amethyst complied, and small streams of shifted up from the ground, wrapped around Eximo, and then fell uselessly down.

Eximo briefly considered the strangeness of this, Amethyst was taking orders from Lutherion? Before swiftly dodging a bolt of black light fire from Lutherion's staff.

"Gah! Dammit, hold him still! Use a spell that doesn't suck!"

"Vertigo Wind." She said, in a fairly monotone manner. The entire island was blown upward by a sudden burst of wind.
"NOT WHAT I FUCKING MEANT!" Lutherion shouted, as he swung his staff down at Eximo, who proceeded to block with a skeletal arm.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.


"Gah! Stupid strawberry girl!" Lutherion shouted. Then a wicked grin crossed his face as a thought struck him. "Wait... If the wind can get this island moving... HAHAHAHA!" He pointed towards the island where Aeon and "Nathan" were still fighting. "Use the wind to move this island above them!"

Amethyst nodded. "Vertigo Wind", she said, quietly. The winds shifted direction, slowly moving the island towards the arena where the other two contestants awaited.

Eximo was struggling with the wind - the spell was much stronger than when Amethyst had cast it in the previous round, and the sand storm it created was interfering with its circuitry. It held tightly onto Amethyst, struggling with its simple mind to find a way out of the situation. Lutherion watched the vacuum get blown around with amusement.

"This is perfect!" he laughed. "All I need to do is cast the spell on the vacuum, and then I'll have it under my control, too! Then, once this island is in position, I'll order her to stop the winds, crushing the other two under this island! With them gone, and you two under my control, I can win this entire Grand Battle right now!"

He grinned, and prepared to cast the spell. The wind made it hard to concentrate, but the vacuum was struggling even more. And there would be plenty of time to cast it before they reached the other island.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by dexexe1234.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by dexexe1234.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aeon woke with a start, and saw the Chaos symbol in the sky in front of him. After silently cursing that this was not all a dream, he touched his left eye and remembered that he had fabricated an eyepatch from a piece of crystal-paper and a convenient string--the bit of crystal had just enough energy to stop the bleeding, but did little else. He was propped against what little bit of the crystal that still stood, and unknowingly fallen asleep after plucking a few crystal and metal splinters from his body.

Aeon, realizing that he may have been vulnerable for quite some time, stood up quickly and looked at where the metal cocoon was. Surely enough, it was broken to pieces, but when looking around, Nathan was nowhere to be seen. Somehow this concerned him more than assure him.

Dammit. He could be anywhere. Aeon looked around the void for signs of any change. Although he could see no trace of any other contestant, other than the broken cocoon, a certain island caught his eye. It had a giant whirlwind of sand above and around it, and did not seem to be there before. In fact, it seemed to be moving.

Assuming the worst, Aeon looked for means to get off the grassy island. There were three islands in total: the one he was on, the approaching one covered in sand, and a third, of which even looking at it caused a minor headache. The remains of the cube field, however, was that the cubes were dispersed throughout the field. There was his escape.

Soon, Aeon found himself directly under a familiar cube. After a bit of fumbling, Aeon created a crude ladder and climbed to it. Soon he was on top. However, when he tried to jump to the next cube as he did earlier this round, he just nearly made it. Clearly, the lack of depth perception and the headache from the previous attack took their toll. Instead, he slowly climbed between cubes using the crude ladder again. Within a few minutes, Aeon found himself level with the sandy island, and could barely make two human figures in the sandstorm, one with an oblong shape clinging to it, presumably Eximo. Finding his current condition unsuitable to intervene, Aeon sat down on the cube and opened a can of soup.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Re: The Grand Battle [Starring Eximo Pulvis!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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