[IC] TotMV:G^2: Clash of Fate: The Witch of Betrayal

[StormLord]

Friedhold relaxes and puts away his gun before dusting himself off and picking several bone splinters out of his coat and the girl's hair.

Once finished he(cautiously) approached the half-spider-half-woman who had simply vaporized their enemy.

"I am also curious as to how that trick of yours works, is it simply 'magic'? some form of energy or radiation? or something else entirely?"

 

~~Meanwhile~~

 

Alice wanders a little way over to where the still smoldering remains of Assassin lay, and then in a victorious tone loud enough for most of the room to hear she shouts "Yeah!  I knew we'd get ya, unzipped'em like all the other monsters.  I'm gonna tell all the other girls I've got the best daddy!" She seemed to think about what she said after she said it, as she lost her drive and excitement to be replaced with an expression of defeated sadness, of loneliness.

[rustytengo]

Bridgett landed as the fight ended Mornings Arrow let out a large amount of steam as she did. She was rather curious of the magic the one they where fighting was using but since said person was n longer around she didn't have anyone to ask. So She wandered near the door and quietly waited tell she was needed.

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi landed lightly; she'd taken up a striking position in midair before Assassin had been downed, but as her blade was unnecessary, she simply floated back down. "Is anyone wounded?" She wasn't certain; she'd seen the spider-goddess heal most of the party, but it never hurt to be sure. 

[Sutoratosu]

"what, this?" The Spider asked, before holding her palm- instantly a sphere of white, pulsating light formed in it "It's positive energy, the stuff that makes it possible for fleshbags like you lot to exist in the first place; It's the glue that holds together all the other elements in order to create living organisms, animates them. Just like negative energy does the same thing for undead. Whenever you fleshies take too much of a beating, I just pour some more of this into you to restore what's been lost, and you get to keep living a bit longer. This realm has some... odd similarities to the cosmological structure of my own. Which is good, for my purposes. If I teach you fleshies how to channel directly from the Positive Plane itself, you might get a much better feel of what it feels like in it's rawest form, and that will make the process both easier and faster...."

 

A pause... before Aurora smiled, rather ominously "That is, it will...If you obey me and don't end up drawing too much, in turn causing your fleshie little bodies to explode in pure radiance as raw life force overloads each and every one of your cells~ Hmmmm... oh my, that does sound like a fun idea for execution though. I should try that on some foolish fleshie sometime, just filling them up with the stuff until they go.... POP!"

 

Another pause, as she pondered the idea... before

 

"Oh wait, now that I think about it, it would take quite a lot of the stuff for that to happen, probably much, much more than beginner fleshies like you lot could ever hope to channel, without stepping foot inside the Positive Plane. Which would also result in a big, glorious POP. So... I suppose you'd probably be safe if you somehow screwed up.

     Anywho, seeing as how I'm leagues more resistant, can draw it out as easy as water from a flooded well, and even radiate the stuff at will, I'll most certainly be making a mental note to try it~"

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi's eyes narrowed as Aurora spoke of her divine powers and what would happen if the mortals attempted to channel them. "Enough, Aurora. Pride is one thing, but mockery and arrogance do not fit a divine being such as yourself." The spider-woman was strange to her in a number of ways; it seemed that her full nature hadn't shone through to this point, though she had always clearly had some divinity to her. And much more power than Mitsurugi herself was capable of bringing to bear, in her present state. . .

[Powder Miner]

Isobel looked flabbergasted at Aurora's little rant. "I... think I'm fine with my poppies. Eek..."

 

LOTUS moved his eyes so it looked like they could be gazing at Mitsurugi. "I think Aurora is entitled to a little bit of mockery here. The fact of the matter is that we came within a hair's breadth of taking casualties, and I had to make use of outside help to have this fight take the course it did, even. Aurora is one of the single largest reasons there weren't casualties here, and that's because she had to constantly juggle her healing beams, even as she was continuously taking fire herself -- it's not an enviable situation. I do agree with what she said about learning to heal, or at least maybe with Isobel finding somewhere to grow more of her poppies for people to hold, or something. If we're going to be taking this much injury in every battle here, we need more ability to recover from those injuries."

 

That's when Isobel turned to Laver. "By the way... Laver... I know that we can't go in not intending to hurt whoever we fight next, but... we could maybe hold off a little bit in the future towards the end, right? Leave them alive...?" "Well, it would be in our interest in any event to keep at least one of the Servants we fight in each round of battles alive at least for a while, because we'll need to gather information. Keeping a Servant alive just because you feel bad for it, however, would be an unacceptable risk." "But... we spared the guards at Vishkar, right...?"

[Sutoratosu]

"What, I'm merely calling them out on the fault they've displayed time and time again," The spider snarled indignantly at Mitsu "These ones here, like the talking slab said, they rely too much on me, What about when this situation happens all over again? What about when I am indisposed or too far, and they are left to fend for themselves against the beasts we were gathered to destroy in the first place?

    And this not even the greatest Mockery or Disdain I can muster... compared to the fleshbags I have spent my entire existence fighting tooth and nail, the treatment I give these lot is utterly unimaginable by comparison.

   Imagine, for so many countless generations, pests who are constantly multiplying, swarming across the lands, tearing down everything in their path, flaunting forces the likes of which they have no cognition of, daring to use magic and the power of the non-material planes to subjugate and destroy the very boundaries which were set up to protect the world they inhabit. All for the sake of defying their place, the vain, constant hope of ascending to some higher form when if they'd simply stop and tried to work with the world around them rather than in spite of it, they'd find...."

 

A pause, the whites of her eye shifting to green. Her tirade hung on that note, before eventually falling as she gripped her head in her hands, snarling filled the air, her carapace again lit up...

Spoiler

plumes a black smoke, an ebony tower splitting the heavens. The stench of countless thousands, the burning light of the crystals, the Positive energy violently being purged from the realm, the screams, the cries, the roaring of flames, the howling of beasts. There among the ruined encampment, the blood and flesh of so many soldiers littering the earth around her, yet more still pouring forward.... 

 

Ajax to her left, one torrential blade of water after another cutting down the advancing guards, Sylvi off in the distance, blasting apart the restraints of those few still alive... a demon of fire and ash, bedecked in hollowed armor, so many more like him, working against the humans as well, burning, biting, cutting stabbing, crushing- Damned of all different varieties.

 

The white wizard, Hair like ashen snow, eyes like vibrant fire, dressed in the flowing robes of imperial office, the fires practically leaping at his command, that savage, shit eating grin on his face as hot flames lanced through one Wodani to another, and once he'd cut his way through, the few prisoners still able to flee.

 

The machines, the pulsing aura in their cores growing greater with every kill, the groaning of ancient magic, foul magic... The fire demon, promotheus, breaking off his assault, turning to face the human, righteous wrath in his eyes. Agni Kai, a dance among the flames, ash and the stink of iron choking the air.

 

The general- the shape shifter, the lion, locking spears with her, contesting against the might of a demigod, the look in his eyes as pure radiation pierced his flesh, the snarling hatred he radiated as his body shifted and grew, the deafening roar as he surged forward, only for her to do the same, apex beasts locked in a mutual exchange of fury. Bones being crushed, fur torn from flesh, poison coursing through veins, until at last, she had him, took him in her grasp, and send him hurtling back into the earth once, twice, three times, over and over again, until the force snapped his head once, twice, until the beasts maw faced a direction no monsters ever should, blood coating his mane, the body shrinking, his armor twisted, broken like beams of melted steel, limbs flayed, bone protruding from the worse of the destruction she'd wrought on him.

 

More of them, coming from all angles, wolves, panthers, bears, each with eyes alight with unnatural intellect, coordinated, bashing charging slashing her without pause.

 

A fist slamming into the earth, the very light distorting as darkness overtook them all, and for the briefest of moments, time stopped, and at it's rebirth oh so violently shredded the lot of them with so many countless shards of earth and stone, bodies twisting and tumbling from the rapidly shifting gravity, skin and fur scorched from the mammoth droves of cosmic fire.

 

And yet more come. Soldiers, guards, Lords, each bearing the same fire in their eyes, each so proudly displaying the colors of Arcadia upon their breast. The Wodani falling, one by one, the main Crystal nearing maturity, the White Wizard slowly but surely pushing back the demon, black aura tainting his very being, face contorted into a mask of horror, black flames, white flames grey flames... no flames... 

 

No flames. Only storm. Thunder, Lightning, the earth quakes, their wills break. Bolts from the blue, killing one, maybe two, for who truly knew? more and more, they fall by the score. The Essence of a god, long forgotten, long abandoned, hailing his peeling bolts upon the field. The White magus taking it head on, yet still standing, limping, bleeding, burning, thinking. Escape, must escape, the Crystal... Godhood, ascension- the empress needs it naught, tis his country, his brilliance, his operation- twas he who perfected the ashen death, perfected the crusade, where they barely caught a few they could slaughter thousands, purge the earth at long last... but what thanks does a mere servant get...? none.

 

No more. Reaching, groping, Ajax shouting, Prometheus dying, survival waning. 

 

Another bolt, a deafening jolt, the world becomes light, if only for a few moments that night. Divine Spark, leaving its mark, the wizard gone, the rain driving on. The Wodani fight anew, eyes shining, blades beaming, one by one, they cut man down, a Shining Force, Valkyries in their own rights, come to put things to rights.

The forgotten god reigns supreme. Their lives little more than a fleeting dream. one by one, they all fall, until there is no crimson left to bedeck the halls.

 

Yet another vision...

 

mechanical beast, towering, black, ridden by the foulest mages. Men scouring the earth, armored and armed. Burn, Clear, leave nothing but fear. They catch the little ones first, drawn cuts, screaming, crying, dying. Dying, with her so far removed. No, they tell her, stay, we must not give ourselves away. To hell with it. She leaps, she roars, smashes one, then seven more. curses, shouts, but eventually they join in the rout. 

 

Yet more. so, so many moe.

 

Rangers, possessed by the flame, taking aim at such prime game. a flurry, a flame in the night, before it's all set alight. Run, flee, through the dying and the already dead trees. 

 

Beastmen and Half-breeds, strung up and gutted by the dozen.

 

Rivers turned crimson, others black, choked with the blood of countless, bodied long since gone slack. 

 

Holy men, paladins, atop white stallions, doing most unholy work. 'Round up all the freaks,' they say 'round up all the rebels and infidels too. for today is their final day' Not a peep from anyone. The purge has already long since begun. 

 

So many pits, rotting wounds in the Fields, festering, bloating by the day, ruled by the stench of decay.

 

Crosses all along the main roads. Decorated with Damned Bones...

 

dying fields. Withered forest. Crystals all around, stronger by the day. For the very land itself, death seems inbound. But for men, what surer path to rival gods?

 

And finally... the ashen snow, the dust, the creeping death, the white stalks. The dead walking once more, but by no necromancy, oh no no no, something far fouler. Mother, sisters, friends, mentors, not a one of them left untouched. Her spear through the heart of the closest, a quick snatch of the charm around her neck. 

 

More of them, over time. Others, not just spiders... bugs, lizards, on and on, as one beast race falls another takes its last stand. And endless army, tearing, ravaging, spreading... born of magic, born of avarice, born of hubris... the death of them all...

 

Death magic. Death all around. Death ever inbound. They were the facade of the holy and right, but what they seek is naught but unbridled might. 

 

For the world they seek, there is no forgiving. Someday, even the brightest of false lights will cease to burn.

 

And yet, then there was... them. The fleshies here, these other outworlders. The ones for all their quirks didn't seem outright murderous, or so dangerous as to warrant destruction. The ones who for the most part seemed to just want to end this mess and go home. Yes, some of them were fools, many of them were short-sighted, but... 

 

but not the same breed as the utter horrors she'd faced her entire life. 

 

No, no, not even close... how could it be, that two types of beings who looked so similiar in form and biology, could very so differently in every other way? They each smelled a bit different, depending on the ambient scents of their own homes, but undeneath it was still the same stink- the same stink that had clung to the crusaders, the parasites, the Worldkillers...

 

They were reckless and wateful and destructive, yes, but even still, the nature they'd displayed so far came nowhere near as much... as them. There had to be something more...something deeper... 

 

Someone greater... what if... the humans were merely the symptom... mere pawns, pawns which on their own might be bad, but.... somewhat tolerable to a degree, as she'd managed to do with all these damn outworlders? What if, by the influence of one unseen, one forgotten, they were simply amplified into the scourge they were when she'd been snatched up for this fight?

 

"....so..." She at last uttered. The worse of the memories had passed. Whatever she had seen, whatever she had heard, whatever she had been thinking, it had all been over in the span of mere seconds, "To think, for so many years, I only saw the surface... never put the pieces together until now, when it might already be too late... To think it would take being around so many misfits, to see all the infighting and the foolishness... that even if such qualities are ingrained in them, there was still something... wrong with the ones I was so used to... something... driving them, pulling the strings like puppets, pushing the extremes, all for a purpose."

 

She turned once, looking hard at the spot the Assassin had once occupied.

 

"Against her will, she said... was she really so blameless in this as she pleads? Or was she simply acting on something that had always been there, that was simply amplified, twisted and bloated to the point where it eclipsed everything else? You humans... so strange, so conflicted.

    But enough. I know now what it was about her that woke me up. Not the witch herself, but the something standing behind the witch. A presence that feeds on death... gorges on destruction, until it can become so powerful, it no longer needs pawns. A type of presence that only now do I realize, I have become far more familiar with than I ever thought. A type of presence that no matter where it hides, where it runs... I will find it... And I will purge it."

 

She began skittering towards the entrance of the cavern, not saying another word more besides "Regardless, i suggest at least some of you think long and well about what I offer to teach you. There are more like her, this much we already know. But what happens when they are all dead? What happens when there are no more great and powerful pawns, and this presence is forced to rear its ugly head? Our work here is far from complete, and you will help no one if you die before you end this mess."

[Hal Henderics]

"We aren't strong enough or smart enough to hold back against these servants."

 

"I'm trying my hardest right now to accept that, even though I want to agree with you more than anything else."

 

Laver finishes, looking at Isobel.

 

"If we want mercy, we have to make it, get strong, and figure out this thing.  We can't save anyone if we can't save ourselves."

Edited August 29, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Powder Miner]

Isobel let out a breath and looked down. "...well, maybe you're right. But I don't like it..."

 

LOTUS chimed in here. "Remember, this is a war situation, not a happy superhero show or something like that. We really can't afford to go around leaving these super powerful entities alive, because we're talking about a wholesale war of extermination where who is alive and who is dead greatly matters for force composition. Assassin here dying, well, I might have wanted to get some info but she absolutely had to die. The skeletons she has created were much too much of a threat to leave her alive."[/color

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi had been prepared to admonish the goddess further, but kept her silence when she seemed to. . . not quite retract her statement, but come to some sort of realization. At least, that these humans were not so worthy of contempt as the ones she knew. The kami wished to speak with Aurora further, but it seemed it would have to wait - the other goddess was distracted, a thought caught in her brain much like one of her webs might catch a morsel, and it was clear that she intended to devour this one way or another.

 

Turning to the mortals, it seemed they were conflicted. "Listen to Lotus. This is the nature of war. It is not a thing to be sought, but you cannot shrink from it when it rears up before you. Sometimes you must destroy in order to preserve."

[StormLord]

Friedhold listened to the first couple parts of what the Spider said but quickly became lost in his own train of thought about this concept of "Positive energy".

"Interesting, though without sufficient and thorough research I doubt the usefulness of this knowledge.  The method of transference however...that is something I could make use of."  Friedhold's inner monologue was however cut off by Laver's statement and the following responses.

 

"I will add if I may, that we came to fight this...witch in her place of power with little knowledge or preparation for the fight beforehand.  A foolish tactic that very clearly nearly got all of us killed."  He turned to look directly at Isobel and LOTUS "Not that we had much of any other option."

[Powder Miner]

"I'm not sure I would actually agree with that assessment, Friedhold. The one unexpected thing she did pull was to take some of us out of commission temporarily, and while we did have to use Nobunaga's help to get through that, we knew that she could do something similar to that, and the team makeup I created did its job, in a couple of cases far better than I had known they were capable of. The problem we faced this battle wasn't a lack of information. The problem was very simply that we weren't tough enough to deal with all of the injury they were dealing us. It's a matter of strength more than anything else. I made sure to bring along multiple healers, and we were still taxed.

 

That all said, come on, let's get going. The others are still fighting!" LOTUS changed his display to an arrow pointing out the doorway.

 

"...I guess I've seen that sort of thing before -- changelings and mercenaries getting gunned down on the station I'm from. But if someone could actually just be being controlled... terrible. but we can't go getting ourselves killed, huh...? Well, uh, anyway, alright, moving!" And indeed Isobel started moving out the door.

[rustytengo]

Bridgett shyed away from getting involved in the conversation since it seemed that everyone was annoyed at something and she didn't want to cause anymore problems then there may all ready be. Once Isoble and LOTUS started Bridgett quickly followed after them "I...I'm coming." She said quickly as she did. Before leaving the room Bridgett turned back to the other and bowed "I'm sorry i will try to do better next time and take the enemy down faster. " she said before following Isoble and LOTUS the rest of the way out of the room.