Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 3: Escheresque!]
01-31-2010, 12:31 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.
Clutching the glove awkwardly in his free hand, Galus glared up at the place Vyrm'n on occasion placed its face, daring the shadow to confirm his opinion that it was little more than a savage brute. His barely-concealed mistrust spilled over into Vyrm'n's perception, reinforced by contact as the starscape rushed forward to meet Galus' open palm. The Faceless paused for a moment, choosing to brood upon its own thoughts for some time before divulging them to the Urisian.
Kill him. Vyrm'n first wondered what had triggered that thought, then had a better think about it, taking solace in the discreteness of cold logic. At present, with his glove unbuckled, the marine presented a much easier challenge than he did in the theme park. Then the world could shift again, away from this... headache had to be the right word. While the previous world was just a plain, cluttered mess to the Faceless' atomic senses, this world was steeped in paradoxical elegance that warped the mind in the same fell stroke as the one which warped the laws of space. And then what? All the other foes in this fight could hold their own against Vyrm'n, broken physics or no.
Even then, he would have to die... Unfortunate, but only if you insisted on being sentimental about it. The soldier still had one use to Vyrm'n, then; the Faceless still had to learn about its compatriot in Galus' universe, Luna. True, that could simply be teased out of the persuadable Urisian, but other tales Vyrm'n still fundamentally coveted were not Galus' to tell; or, at least, voluntarily...
The entire debate took less than a heartbeat, manifesting only as the briefest of awkward silences. Finally, some conclusion was reached and the thought of killing Galus here and now were discarded and forgotten.
-Maxwell-
"He's fine," was the Urisian's perfunctory reply to that. "That Karmist might've cut him up a little, but he's had the brains to stay out of trouble since." Vyrm'n seemed vaguely put out by Galus' dismissive reply, and did not probe further. Taking a leaf out of the aforementioned genius' book, the marine ventured, "Do you know what's going on at the fountain... Vyrm'n?"
The Faceless' awareness soared out and away to determine what was happening. -The Sunset is angry; I think the world has already left and only one remains to assist him-
"The world?"
By the fountain, I found a note. It was written by an Amethyst who is trying to escape from her own battle like ours, but their world has already left-
Vyrm'n did not have time to note Galus' reaction to this; as the souls of the Wightmaw Arm amalgamated in an atomic shriek that redefined the Balancer. The Faceless abruptly broke the connection in order to listen intently to the world and its scattered inhabitants again. The feeling of sick desperation grew as the world sang the situation into brutal clarity for Vyrm'n. The Urisian felt the surge of energy too, a blast which put the last shot to shame. Snapping his glove back on and double-checking the seal, Galus looked to the hulking darkness to see what it would do next. To his surprise, it tapped on his visor gently. A press of a button and it slid back, letting Vyrm'n reach out to the soldier.
-Galus, the Sunset his power is in the legion, their madness, his power, his madness-
Orange eyes stabbed through Vyrm'n's explanations, leaving them pinned down and floundering. Again, the thought of slipping a tendril of pointed dark right between those amber orbs surfaced, and was hurriedly drowned. The Faceless' pillar shape seemed to melt and run fluid, except down seemed to be towards the centre of the room. The inky, star-studded now-sphere shivered once before snaking out the window and into the purple sky.
The angry violet glow of the Balancer lit up the ruined remnants of the courtyard, casting the scattered remains of Dorukomets' armour in the light of a supernova. Vyrm'n could not see this, of course, but the illumination of a horde of souls provided the same effect. So chaotic and desperate for attention was their song, the Faceless could not shut it out; their presence warping atomic perception like bright light eating away at the details of a photograph. The eyeslits each spat out their own aura-piercing beams, which trained upon the ascending form of Vyrm'n as the armoured helm spotted the streaking black. The staccato machine-gun fire chased the Faceless across the sky, setting the rhythm for the crescendoing whine as the Nightmare recharged. One byzantium bolt, then another, pursued the desperately dodging shadow before getting swallowed up in the similar-coloured sky. The Sunset's attack was not quite spot on - with Faceless and Balancer being of such uncannily similar composition, he should've anticipated her movements. Instead, the harrowing rhythm of bullets then bolts stayed in wild, unthinking pursuit of Vyrm'n.
Powerful, indomitable, tireless, and now little more than a brute. Vyrm'n fumbled the change in down when approaching the remnants of the fountain, and was rewarded with a voidful of high-calibre bullets. Fluid fragments were torn off the greater mass where the Faceless could not part the way in time, and dissipated into nothing before the clatter of the spent casing was heard.
Hissing with pain within its mind, Vyrm'n slithered aside as the next round of bullets tracked her course across the courtyard and back into the air. Those bullets had taken their unsurprising toll on the Faceless' concentration, and she flew into the heavens of this pocket dimension without thinking it through properly. Another purple malevolence was released after a whine, and chased Vyrm'n upward. The shadow only just managed to avoid it, the prickle of a universe's energy burning upon its starry countenance. The Nightmare shot continued upward, then seemed to spontaneously impact upon nothing and dissipate in a violent pall of byzantium sparks. Vyrm'n failed to see this, and crashed into the barrier, right where the purple coilgun had hit.
The air seemed to thicken about the shadow, its movements becoming sluggish as it unwittingly thrashed through the gap in the prison, trying to tear it open. The cackle of the machinegun far below reminded Vyrm'n this was no time to be rendered immobile. Struggling furiously to dislodge itself from the rapidly sealing gap, the shadow only just managed to flee as the Nightmare finished recharging. The Balancer fired again, and Vyrm'n's world became pain. At least a fifth of the shadow had been caught up in the explosion, and less than half of that again managed to recoalesce.
The raw energy of the Sunset and a legion of the damned was too much for the dark beast's mind to handle. It started to fall back into the darkness, the void rushing up to meet Vyrm'n. However, whereas this sensation had always been an blissful release for Vyrm'n in the pass, now the raging emptiness triggered violent revulsion. Despite the mental screams, the Faceless dragged itself back into control and soared off, still pursued by the occasional blast in search of Maxwell. Four dimensions be damned, this time Vyrm'n was following him until it found him.
Clutching the glove awkwardly in his free hand, Galus glared up at the place Vyrm'n on occasion placed its face, daring the shadow to confirm his opinion that it was little more than a savage brute. His barely-concealed mistrust spilled over into Vyrm'n's perception, reinforced by contact as the starscape rushed forward to meet Galus' open palm. The Faceless paused for a moment, choosing to brood upon its own thoughts for some time before divulging them to the Urisian.
Kill him. Vyrm'n first wondered what had triggered that thought, then had a better think about it, taking solace in the discreteness of cold logic. At present, with his glove unbuckled, the marine presented a much easier challenge than he did in the theme park. Then the world could shift again, away from this... headache had to be the right word. While the previous world was just a plain, cluttered mess to the Faceless' atomic senses, this world was steeped in paradoxical elegance that warped the mind in the same fell stroke as the one which warped the laws of space. And then what? All the other foes in this fight could hold their own against Vyrm'n, broken physics or no.
Even then, he would have to die... Unfortunate, but only if you insisted on being sentimental about it. The soldier still had one use to Vyrm'n, then; the Faceless still had to learn about its compatriot in Galus' universe, Luna. True, that could simply be teased out of the persuadable Urisian, but other tales Vyrm'n still fundamentally coveted were not Galus' to tell; or, at least, voluntarily...
The entire debate took less than a heartbeat, manifesting only as the briefest of awkward silences. Finally, some conclusion was reached and the thought of killing Galus here and now were discarded and forgotten.
-Maxwell-
"He's fine," was the Urisian's perfunctory reply to that. "That Karmist might've cut him up a little, but he's had the brains to stay out of trouble since." Vyrm'n seemed vaguely put out by Galus' dismissive reply, and did not probe further. Taking a leaf out of the aforementioned genius' book, the marine ventured, "Do you know what's going on at the fountain... Vyrm'n?"
The Faceless' awareness soared out and away to determine what was happening. -The Sunset is angry; I think the world has already left and only one remains to assist him-
"The world?"
By the fountain, I found a note. It was written by an Amethyst who is trying to escape from her own battle like ours, but their world has already left-
Vyrm'n did not have time to note Galus' reaction to this; as the souls of the Wightmaw Arm amalgamated in an atomic shriek that redefined the Balancer. The Faceless abruptly broke the connection in order to listen intently to the world and its scattered inhabitants again. The feeling of sick desperation grew as the world sang the situation into brutal clarity for Vyrm'n. The Urisian felt the surge of energy too, a blast which put the last shot to shame. Snapping his glove back on and double-checking the seal, Galus looked to the hulking darkness to see what it would do next. To his surprise, it tapped on his visor gently. A press of a button and it slid back, letting Vyrm'n reach out to the soldier.
-Galus, the Sunset his power is in the legion, their madness, his power, his madness-
Orange eyes stabbed through Vyrm'n's explanations, leaving them pinned down and floundering. Again, the thought of slipping a tendril of pointed dark right between those amber orbs surfaced, and was hurriedly drowned. The Faceless' pillar shape seemed to melt and run fluid, except down seemed to be towards the centre of the room. The inky, star-studded now-sphere shivered once before snaking out the window and into the purple sky.
The angry violet glow of the Balancer lit up the ruined remnants of the courtyard, casting the scattered remains of Dorukomets' armour in the light of a supernova. Vyrm'n could not see this, of course, but the illumination of a horde of souls provided the same effect. So chaotic and desperate for attention was their song, the Faceless could not shut it out; their presence warping atomic perception like bright light eating away at the details of a photograph. The eyeslits each spat out their own aura-piercing beams, which trained upon the ascending form of Vyrm'n as the armoured helm spotted the streaking black. The staccato machine-gun fire chased the Faceless across the sky, setting the rhythm for the crescendoing whine as the Nightmare recharged. One byzantium bolt, then another, pursued the desperately dodging shadow before getting swallowed up in the similar-coloured sky. The Sunset's attack was not quite spot on - with Faceless and Balancer being of such uncannily similar composition, he should've anticipated her movements. Instead, the harrowing rhythm of bullets then bolts stayed in wild, unthinking pursuit of Vyrm'n.
Powerful, indomitable, tireless, and now little more than a brute. Vyrm'n fumbled the change in down when approaching the remnants of the fountain, and was rewarded with a voidful of high-calibre bullets. Fluid fragments were torn off the greater mass where the Faceless could not part the way in time, and dissipated into nothing before the clatter of the spent casing was heard.
Hissing with pain within its mind, Vyrm'n slithered aside as the next round of bullets tracked her course across the courtyard and back into the air. Those bullets had taken their unsurprising toll on the Faceless' concentration, and she flew into the heavens of this pocket dimension without thinking it through properly. Another purple malevolence was released after a whine, and chased Vyrm'n upward. The shadow only just managed to avoid it, the prickle of a universe's energy burning upon its starry countenance. The Nightmare shot continued upward, then seemed to spontaneously impact upon nothing and dissipate in a violent pall of byzantium sparks. Vyrm'n failed to see this, and crashed into the barrier, right where the purple coilgun had hit.
The air seemed to thicken about the shadow, its movements becoming sluggish as it unwittingly thrashed through the gap in the prison, trying to tear it open. The cackle of the machinegun far below reminded Vyrm'n this was no time to be rendered immobile. Struggling furiously to dislodge itself from the rapidly sealing gap, the shadow only just managed to flee as the Nightmare finished recharging. The Balancer fired again, and Vyrm'n's world became pain. At least a fifth of the shadow had been caught up in the explosion, and less than half of that again managed to recoalesce.
The raw energy of the Sunset and a legion of the damned was too much for the dark beast's mind to handle. It started to fall back into the darkness, the void rushing up to meet Vyrm'n. However, whereas this sensation had always been an blissful release for Vyrm'n in the pass, now the raging emptiness triggered violent revulsion. Despite the mental screams, the Faceless dragged itself back into control and soared off, still pursued by the occasional blast in search of Maxwell. Four dimensions be damned, this time Vyrm'n was following him until it found him.
peace to the unsung peace to the martyrs | i'm johnny rotten appleseed
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow