RE: The Battle Majestic (Round 4 - Magpie Skies)
07-03-2016, 10:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-03-2016, 05:19 PM by Pharmacy.)
The group looked on with slack-jawed expressions as two strangers dazedly tumbled out of the beanstalk boat. The duo was…eclectic to say the least, consisting of a purple-clad princess and for some reason, a gigantic jello-lizard most people recognized as Sen. Sen was wearing a hat, holding a balloon, and seemingly contemplating murder more than usual. The sheer awkwardness was almost tangible until something lit up in the princess’s eyes.
“Steven!”
Steven found himself in the arms of princess, which he immediately recognized as his friend, Violet. At this revelation, his heart fluttered and on reflex, he reciprocated the embrace. They held each other for a long time, head on each other’s shoulders in knowing silence. Steven was ecstatic, but there was a falling feeling as he realized his brief happiness was merely a matchstick in the joyless void of the knowledge he learned from Sruix. He pulled away.
“Violet! I—”
“Alright, alright. Enough with the friendship-talk,” Sen clumsily stepped forward. “Me and Vi here are going to kill the Midnight Queen because we can. Now I don’t particularly care about you jerks but you better join us or leave us. If you try to stop us, you are welcome to try, but you’re going to have go through these babies.”
Not-quite Sen pulled up a hand and showed out long, creepy, and most importantly, how potentially pain-inducing their claws were. Jacob was nonplussed.
“What, surprised?” Sen sneered.
“I never knew a bloody lizard was so…articulate.”
“Hmph, the fact I could talk is the least impressive thing about me. I’m the freaking gardener of the apocalypse. I am neither plant nor animal. I can bisect a man with my feet-hands. I am literally bigger than you, and the fact I could speak. SPEAK? That seems to impress you more than anything else about me.”
“Uh.”
“Or the urgency we have in hand. Come on, you do realize we have a dragon to kill? I am frankly insulted at your priorities.”
“What a coincidence,” Jacob raised a suspicious eyebrow. “We were thinking about the same thing too.”
“Nice, nice. More dead-meat for the Midnight. I suppose this is an alliance then? A deal?”
“…Right.”
“Good, good,” Sen gave a cursory glance at the basements and its inhabitants. Haphazardly placed cages full of chimerical abominations. Sen immediately recognized them to be former royalty, twisted at the sadistic whims of the Midnight Queen. The sight made their blood boil as he still felt a connection with these wretched monster. They were still their kin after all and they’ll never get their comeuppance. But wait, that just gave them a good idea…
“You jerks go ahead, I’ll stay here.”
“A couple minutes ago, you just said you want to fight the Midnight Queen with us,” the mercenary sneered. “I suppose it is you who did not get their priorities straight?”
“No, I do. I have my priorities. And a plan in order.”
Sen clambered past the group, making sure to shove Jacob because why not. As they went past, they could see Violet glowering at them. Her cheeks sunk in and her lips bunched together in annoyance. Violet had realized the ruse they pulled over everyone’s eyes and not exactly happy about their little stunt. Sen’s smile got even eviler and teethier when they saw that. Violet had some pretty good plans, but Scarlet could make it better.
---
The group arrived to unpleasant stillness. On a crimson throne, there was Midnight in all her draconic majesty. She was currently in the process of relieving something of their limbs. As soon as she heard the footsteps, she looked up surprised. Surprise that was soon obsoleted by extreme annoyance as soon as she remembered. Who. They. Were.
“Oh, look what we have here, two heroes and their pets. Almost cute,” she forced a chuckle, anger seething behind her jagged teeth. “Surrender now and maybe I’ll play nice. If you try to play hero, well…”
Midnight threw something at Steven. Violet leapt forward to parry on reflex. She was confused by the squelching for moment, a mystery soon solved by the slow realization that she was hands deep inside the ragged end of an armored torso. She screamed and jerk back in instinct as what remained of the thing unceremoniously went down with a wet thud.
Violet looked at her blade. It trickled with slick, slippery grey, coating the bell guard and her hands. Her trembling, trembling hands. She didn’t know what to feel, but the feeling was certainly not positive.
“You--Was that even necessary?”
“Hmmmmmmnah. I just wanted to see your fear once more” Midnight stood up, seemingly to grow large and menacing. “You can’t exactly frighten a corpse.”
“You--. Steven, help me! We have to kill her!”
“I do not recommend it.”
Steven turned around and saw that Sruix had placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. Sruix had an unreadable expression. His glasses were cracked and dirty but the dim glowing of his eyes told all Steven needed – a warning.
“G-Get away! I know what I’m doing!”
“I’m trying to help. No vagueness. No hidden strings. No ridiculous parlor tricks. I have to tell you three things – you are not a contestant anymore, you are definitely not prepared, but most importantly, you have a future ahead of you.”
Steven struggled to get away, but Sruix had an iron grip on his shoulder. The ex-gentleman violently turned Steven around so they can see face-to-face. Steven could see faint desperation lacing the urgency of his clenched teeth.
“Please…just, do not fight Midnight Queen. You will not win – you don’t even have a weapon for fuck’s sake. You are definitely going to die. It is going to be sad and all, but the worst part is it is going to be meaningless. It definitely won’t help us and it is definitely not going to get out this madness.”
“…Why?”
“Because your gloves, your damn gloves.” Sruix made a forceful motion at Steven’s hands. “Your gloves are a core part of your identity in this entertainment. Without your gloves, you’re just a human. You’re boring. You’re nothing. You do not interest the organizers that may be.”
Sruix sighed, excess air going between his teeth.
“Plus…do you not care about Violet? Think of it, you and her in a nice surfacebound cottage. Or Kingdom, if you’re feeling ambitious. No dragon and certainly none of this gladiatorial nonsense. No suffering and strife until the last of your peaceful days...”
Steven looked at Violet and had a cascade of emotions. He gotten used to feeling insignificant since the revelation that every factor of his life was just a string of coincidences pre-planned by otherworldly forces to turn him into a weapon against the tyranny of the Elephanzor. But that’s all gone to shit. He has nothing. He is nothing. He’s just a homeless wanderer in the void of the multiverse. But Violet? She had potential. He despaired, she hoped. Her determination was so…enviable.
He saw that the Midnight Queen was lunging towards Violet. Her jaws slavering and wreathed with jagged teeth.
He ran ahead.
“Steven what you’re—”
Violet felt something wet and coppery-smelling splatter all over her. She saw the reptilian eyes of the Midnight Queen glared back in shock. In shock? She wondered if the Queen was so close and so surprised, why she did not feel any pain. When she looked down, her breath caught in her throat and her hair stood on her skin.
Steven, or what was left of him, anyway - sheared between the teeth of the Midnight Queen into rancid paste. The only thing left intact was his head and his left arm. His head had a stunned expression as though he was only aware just now what’s going on. He tried to mouth something at Violet but the bit of life he had went away as soon as the arm dropped out of the dragon’s lips.
“Ugh,” the Midnight Queen growled. "Your boyfriend tastes terrible."
Violet stood there in stunned silence before flying into a screaming rage. She proceeded to slash at the dragon’s head, which proved nigh-impregnable until she drove her sabre into one of the Queen’s eye.
“BITCH,” the dragon shrieked, flapping and stamping around in pain. “YOU TOOK OUT MY GOOD EYE.”
“I guess you didn’t see that coming,” Jacob smirked. He started to hum and flicker. “Alright guys, we got a scaly beastie to take down. Those who cannot fight, stay away. Those who can fight. Aim for her eyes. Or her vulnerables, whichever is easier to reach. She is tough but she feels pain. I think we got the advantage here, if we can take it.”
---
Midnight Queen was currently squaring off with the princess and the time knight. She certainly had not noticed Lionel now and that suited him fine. He slunk behind. Finding purchase on some rubble, he slowly climbed to a height that allowed him to see everything. The dragon looked small and the figures that darted between her legs even smaller.
Look at them. Like ants.
Lionel blinked.
They’re never going to live.
Okay.
You don’t care about them.
Yeah, maybe.
Ditch’em.
Right.
Wait, what are you— Lionel shrugged off the voice of his father. Too often he heeded his word, and for once he wanted a chance of his own. Of redemption and glory. He slipped down a handy shortcut that brought him near the back of the draconic queen. He could hear the clash of blade against scale as he gotten closer and closer. Just needed to climb on the dragon. Are you shitting me. Juice up his arm. Do you have a death wish. Apply a healthy amount of kilovolts to the base of her neck and for once, he—
—had the misfortune to bump into Jacob.
“Out of my way, lad.”
Suddenly, pain. White hot pain. Compounded by the psychic screaming of his father. Lionel could look in stupefied horror as he was aware of sudden wetness trickling down his chest. Yessire, that certainly is blood. A quick test with his slowly numbing fingers confirmed his theory. He would had laugh, but he was getting cold and the vertigo was certainly not helping.
“BLITZ.”
Ah, that woman. Lionel never thought that annoyance had the gall to come to his defense. He was almost appreciative.
“J-Jacob, you big meanie. He was helping!”
“Well, if he was trying to help, he shouldn’t have been such a clumsy oaf.” Lionel winced as a broadsword the width of his head slipped into his shoulder. Icy spikes of pain travelled to his freezing extremities. “Besides, he’s a big danger to everyone involved.” A dismissive sniff. “As far as everything goes, I did everyone a favor.”
“You-you can’t just assume things!”
“Assumption? You take that hypocrisy back. I don’t assume things. You assume things. You assume that everyone is your best friend. And I hate to break it to you, that’s not how the world—gah.”
A clawed hand spirited away the mercenary. From Lionel’s spread-eagled position, Jacob’s struggles reminded him of a ragdoll to the wind. This brought him no end of amusement, even with the cacophonous screeching of the worm in the background. With the last of his energy, Lionel only regretted not stay consciousness any longer – he really wanted to see Jacob converted into dragon-shit.
---
“More talk than sense, huh?” Midnight sneered.
The armored figure fit neatly into her calloused palms. He glared and started to flicker and hum, reverberations vibrating down her knuckles. Midnight was mildly impressed. She gave him a brief squeeze. There was a burst of energy and the stink of ozone, but he was still there, even more disheveled and annoyed than usual. As much as Midnight enjoyed to see him struggle, all good things must come to the end. She dealt the final blow.
Or would have if her arm was not stuck. Her arm was covered in a bundle of matted wool. The all too distinct shade of red and the click-clackity-clack-clack banished her doubts. She knew who it was, but the certainity made her felt a rare and hated emotion – dread.
“Hey bitch.”
Midnight looked up. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a mountain of a monster suddenly materialized too close for comfort. Said monster was both carapaced and caprine, furiously converting its ever-growing beard into a pile of half-formed minions. Midnight recognized it as the former Scarlet Queen. It also recognized her.
It bleated angrily. And gave her a mighty headbutt. She dropped the armored man on reflex.
“Yes. Yes! Yeeees!” A tiny lizard-bird she hadn’t saw before cackled with glee, bobbing with such vigor that the hat could barely cling onto its forehead. “The cavalry’s here and revenge has never been so sweet!"
Chimerical abominations of all shape and size flooded out of the entrance. A vortex of fur, scale, and skin. A sea of countless limb, jutting in alien directions, confounding her reflexes. They were many. They were determined. But they were weak. They can’t beat her. She bit, scratch, and tore, determined not to lose to the failures she painstakingly separated from her successes. She can’t lose. That was inconceivable.
“What are you even trying to do?” Midnight shrieked. “Are you trying to teach me a lesson?”
“Nah,” it shrugged. “Just providing a distraction.”
Midnight was so intent on her victory that she did not realize that Violet slipped into her blind-side until the adrenaline wore off. She was painstakingly aware of a sabre drove between her adamantine scales. The throbbing, oozing pain indicated it hit a vital spot. It made her felt mortal, insignificant. She hated it.
“B-bastard.” The Queen gurgled. She attempted to swipe at Violet, but the princess was too fast and her limbs and fading consciousness was too slow. She made a few lunges before her knees finally buckled behind her weight. Midnight fell with a mighty crash and she laid there defeated, too aware of her inevitable fate. She had an epiphany that since she died blind-eye up, at least she'll never witness the smug countenance of the victors. Oddly satisfied, the Queen exhaled her last breath.
Midnight was dead.
“Steven!”
Steven found himself in the arms of princess, which he immediately recognized as his friend, Violet. At this revelation, his heart fluttered and on reflex, he reciprocated the embrace. They held each other for a long time, head on each other’s shoulders in knowing silence. Steven was ecstatic, but there was a falling feeling as he realized his brief happiness was merely a matchstick in the joyless void of the knowledge he learned from Sruix. He pulled away.
“Violet! I—”
“Alright, alright. Enough with the friendship-talk,” Sen clumsily stepped forward. “Me and Vi here are going to kill the Midnight Queen because we can. Now I don’t particularly care about you jerks but you better join us or leave us. If you try to stop us, you are welcome to try, but you’re going to have go through these babies.”
Not-quite Sen pulled up a hand and showed out long, creepy, and most importantly, how potentially pain-inducing their claws were. Jacob was nonplussed.
“What, surprised?” Sen sneered.
“I never knew a bloody lizard was so…articulate.”
“Hmph, the fact I could talk is the least impressive thing about me. I’m the freaking gardener of the apocalypse. I am neither plant nor animal. I can bisect a man with my feet-hands. I am literally bigger than you, and the fact I could speak. SPEAK? That seems to impress you more than anything else about me.”
“Uh.”
“Or the urgency we have in hand. Come on, you do realize we have a dragon to kill? I am frankly insulted at your priorities.”
“What a coincidence,” Jacob raised a suspicious eyebrow. “We were thinking about the same thing too.”
“Nice, nice. More dead-meat for the Midnight. I suppose this is an alliance then? A deal?”
“…Right.”
“Good, good,” Sen gave a cursory glance at the basements and its inhabitants. Haphazardly placed cages full of chimerical abominations. Sen immediately recognized them to be former royalty, twisted at the sadistic whims of the Midnight Queen. The sight made their blood boil as he still felt a connection with these wretched monster. They were still their kin after all and they’ll never get their comeuppance. But wait, that just gave them a good idea…
“You jerks go ahead, I’ll stay here.”
“A couple minutes ago, you just said you want to fight the Midnight Queen with us,” the mercenary sneered. “I suppose it is you who did not get their priorities straight?”
“No, I do. I have my priorities. And a plan in order.”
Sen clambered past the group, making sure to shove Jacob because why not. As they went past, they could see Violet glowering at them. Her cheeks sunk in and her lips bunched together in annoyance. Violet had realized the ruse they pulled over everyone’s eyes and not exactly happy about their little stunt. Sen’s smile got even eviler and teethier when they saw that. Violet had some pretty good plans, but Scarlet could make it better.
---
The group arrived to unpleasant stillness. On a crimson throne, there was Midnight in all her draconic majesty. She was currently in the process of relieving something of their limbs. As soon as she heard the footsteps, she looked up surprised. Surprise that was soon obsoleted by extreme annoyance as soon as she remembered. Who. They. Were.
“Oh, look what we have here, two heroes and their pets. Almost cute,” she forced a chuckle, anger seething behind her jagged teeth. “Surrender now and maybe I’ll play nice. If you try to play hero, well…”
Midnight threw something at Steven. Violet leapt forward to parry on reflex. She was confused by the squelching for moment, a mystery soon solved by the slow realization that she was hands deep inside the ragged end of an armored torso. She screamed and jerk back in instinct as what remained of the thing unceremoniously went down with a wet thud.
Violet looked at her blade. It trickled with slick, slippery grey, coating the bell guard and her hands. Her trembling, trembling hands. She didn’t know what to feel, but the feeling was certainly not positive.
“You--Was that even necessary?”
“Hmmmmmmnah. I just wanted to see your fear once more” Midnight stood up, seemingly to grow large and menacing. “You can’t exactly frighten a corpse.”
“You--. Steven, help me! We have to kill her!”
“I do not recommend it.”
Steven turned around and saw that Sruix had placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. Sruix had an unreadable expression. His glasses were cracked and dirty but the dim glowing of his eyes told all Steven needed – a warning.
“G-Get away! I know what I’m doing!”
“I’m trying to help. No vagueness. No hidden strings. No ridiculous parlor tricks. I have to tell you three things – you are not a contestant anymore, you are definitely not prepared, but most importantly, you have a future ahead of you.”
Steven struggled to get away, but Sruix had an iron grip on his shoulder. The ex-gentleman violently turned Steven around so they can see face-to-face. Steven could see faint desperation lacing the urgency of his clenched teeth.
“Please…just, do not fight Midnight Queen. You will not win – you don’t even have a weapon for fuck’s sake. You are definitely going to die. It is going to be sad and all, but the worst part is it is going to be meaningless. It definitely won’t help us and it is definitely not going to get out this madness.”
“…Why?”
“Because your gloves, your damn gloves.” Sruix made a forceful motion at Steven’s hands. “Your gloves are a core part of your identity in this entertainment. Without your gloves, you’re just a human. You’re boring. You’re nothing. You do not interest the organizers that may be.”
Sruix sighed, excess air going between his teeth.
“Plus…do you not care about Violet? Think of it, you and her in a nice surfacebound cottage. Or Kingdom, if you’re feeling ambitious. No dragon and certainly none of this gladiatorial nonsense. No suffering and strife until the last of your peaceful days...”
Steven looked at Violet and had a cascade of emotions. He gotten used to feeling insignificant since the revelation that every factor of his life was just a string of coincidences pre-planned by otherworldly forces to turn him into a weapon against the tyranny of the Elephanzor. But that’s all gone to shit. He has nothing. He is nothing. He’s just a homeless wanderer in the void of the multiverse. But Violet? She had potential. He despaired, she hoped. Her determination was so…enviable.
He saw that the Midnight Queen was lunging towards Violet. Her jaws slavering and wreathed with jagged teeth.
He ran ahead.
“Steven what you’re—”
Violet felt something wet and coppery-smelling splatter all over her. She saw the reptilian eyes of the Midnight Queen glared back in shock. In shock? She wondered if the Queen was so close and so surprised, why she did not feel any pain. When she looked down, her breath caught in her throat and her hair stood on her skin.
Steven, or what was left of him, anyway - sheared between the teeth of the Midnight Queen into rancid paste. The only thing left intact was his head and his left arm. His head had a stunned expression as though he was only aware just now what’s going on. He tried to mouth something at Violet but the bit of life he had went away as soon as the arm dropped out of the dragon’s lips.
“Ugh,” the Midnight Queen growled. "Your boyfriend tastes terrible."
Violet stood there in stunned silence before flying into a screaming rage. She proceeded to slash at the dragon’s head, which proved nigh-impregnable until she drove her sabre into one of the Queen’s eye.
“BITCH,” the dragon shrieked, flapping and stamping around in pain. “YOU TOOK OUT MY GOOD EYE.”
“I guess you didn’t see that coming,” Jacob smirked. He started to hum and flicker. “Alright guys, we got a scaly beastie to take down. Those who cannot fight, stay away. Those who can fight. Aim for her eyes. Or her vulnerables, whichever is easier to reach. She is tough but she feels pain. I think we got the advantage here, if we can take it.”
---
Midnight Queen was currently squaring off with the princess and the time knight. She certainly had not noticed Lionel now and that suited him fine. He slunk behind. Finding purchase on some rubble, he slowly climbed to a height that allowed him to see everything. The dragon looked small and the figures that darted between her legs even smaller.
Look at them. Like ants.
Lionel blinked.
They’re never going to live.
Okay.
You don’t care about them.
Yeah, maybe.
Ditch’em.
Right.
Wait, what are you— Lionel shrugged off the voice of his father. Too often he heeded his word, and for once he wanted a chance of his own. Of redemption and glory. He slipped down a handy shortcut that brought him near the back of the draconic queen. He could hear the clash of blade against scale as he gotten closer and closer. Just needed to climb on the dragon. Are you shitting me. Juice up his arm. Do you have a death wish. Apply a healthy amount of kilovolts to the base of her neck and for once, he—
—had the misfortune to bump into Jacob.
“Out of my way, lad.”
Suddenly, pain. White hot pain. Compounded by the psychic screaming of his father. Lionel could look in stupefied horror as he was aware of sudden wetness trickling down his chest. Yessire, that certainly is blood. A quick test with his slowly numbing fingers confirmed his theory. He would had laugh, but he was getting cold and the vertigo was certainly not helping.
“BLITZ.”
Ah, that woman. Lionel never thought that annoyance had the gall to come to his defense. He was almost appreciative.
“J-Jacob, you big meanie. He was helping!”
“Well, if he was trying to help, he shouldn’t have been such a clumsy oaf.” Lionel winced as a broadsword the width of his head slipped into his shoulder. Icy spikes of pain travelled to his freezing extremities. “Besides, he’s a big danger to everyone involved.” A dismissive sniff. “As far as everything goes, I did everyone a favor.”
“You-you can’t just assume things!”
“Assumption? You take that hypocrisy back. I don’t assume things. You assume things. You assume that everyone is your best friend. And I hate to break it to you, that’s not how the world—gah.”
A clawed hand spirited away the mercenary. From Lionel’s spread-eagled position, Jacob’s struggles reminded him of a ragdoll to the wind. This brought him no end of amusement, even with the cacophonous screeching of the worm in the background. With the last of his energy, Lionel only regretted not stay consciousness any longer – he really wanted to see Jacob converted into dragon-shit.
---
“More talk than sense, huh?” Midnight sneered.
The armored figure fit neatly into her calloused palms. He glared and started to flicker and hum, reverberations vibrating down her knuckles. Midnight was mildly impressed. She gave him a brief squeeze. There was a burst of energy and the stink of ozone, but he was still there, even more disheveled and annoyed than usual. As much as Midnight enjoyed to see him struggle, all good things must come to the end. She dealt the final blow.
Or would have if her arm was not stuck. Her arm was covered in a bundle of matted wool. The all too distinct shade of red and the click-clackity-clack-clack banished her doubts. She knew who it was, but the certainity made her felt a rare and hated emotion – dread.
“Hey bitch.”
Midnight looked up. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a mountain of a monster suddenly materialized too close for comfort. Said monster was both carapaced and caprine, furiously converting its ever-growing beard into a pile of half-formed minions. Midnight recognized it as the former Scarlet Queen. It also recognized her.
It bleated angrily. And gave her a mighty headbutt. She dropped the armored man on reflex.
“Yes. Yes! Yeeees!” A tiny lizard-bird she hadn’t saw before cackled with glee, bobbing with such vigor that the hat could barely cling onto its forehead. “The cavalry’s here and revenge has never been so sweet!"
Chimerical abominations of all shape and size flooded out of the entrance. A vortex of fur, scale, and skin. A sea of countless limb, jutting in alien directions, confounding her reflexes. They were many. They were determined. But they were weak. They can’t beat her. She bit, scratch, and tore, determined not to lose to the failures she painstakingly separated from her successes. She can’t lose. That was inconceivable.
“What are you even trying to do?” Midnight shrieked. “Are you trying to teach me a lesson?”
“Nah,” it shrugged. “Just providing a distraction.”
Midnight was so intent on her victory that she did not realize that Violet slipped into her blind-side until the adrenaline wore off. She was painstakingly aware of a sabre drove between her adamantine scales. The throbbing, oozing pain indicated it hit a vital spot. It made her felt mortal, insignificant. She hated it.
“B-bastard.” The Queen gurgled. She attempted to swipe at Violet, but the princess was too fast and her limbs and fading consciousness was too slow. She made a few lunges before her knees finally buckled behind her weight. Midnight fell with a mighty crash and she laid there defeated, too aware of her inevitable fate. She had an epiphany that since she died blind-eye up, at least she'll never witness the smug countenance of the victors. Oddly satisfied, the Queen exhaled her last breath.
Midnight was dead.