3.22 - Head-to-Head
…pick up someone, hm…
"Are you sure this person will be useful?" you ask, taking on a deep breath.
"Sure. He might be a bore and an asshat, but Mlynar Nearl is nothing if useful."
All right then.
"Go, then. Stay safe!" you tell her.
She smiles, and salutes you- before turning into that insectoid creature- the she shapeshifted into, at the match- and scurrying away on her thin, bladed legs.
As she leaves the edges of your auditory range- extremely quickly, you might say- you pick up the pace.
Soon enough, you can see the arena.
And the tornado.
Uh.
That's a big one.
But…
There's something strange about this. Something you're not getting.
If it wasn't for this page, you'd lying on the floor, bleeding out. It really is nifty.
No matter how much you bleed, it just doesn't seem to matter at all. It's such a strange thing. No lightheadedness, your body isn't any paler then usual…
Instead, you feel stronger.
The aches and pains make the world more…
real. The colors are sharper, the sounds more vivid, the scents a veritable banquet of sensation. The mere idea of a life-or-death situation already made your heart beat faster, but here, facing this Distortion, you can hear its feverish pulsation. Every cell of your body is singing to this melody.
Is this how Pickman lived? No wonder he sought death like some kind of demented vulture. It's seriously addictive.
Your lost blood seems to not matter- as if an infinite amount of it runs in your veins.
Probably an effect of his E.G.O, you think. It wouldn't be the strangest one, compared to your boss' massive, towering Library.
You dodge another hail of spectral arrows, shot by another line of spectral bowmen. They vanish just as quickly as they are formed, with their arrows dissipating before they hit the ground.
The wind grows even stronger, and you see something vaguely recognizable running out of the funnel.
Your boss!
The Distortion in front of you is thrown off balance by the intensifying force of the winds, and you take the opportunity- burying your sword on its armored gut. The metal and the cloth easily give way to your edge, and it stumbles again.
The announcer- Beats- lands a lightning-wreathed kick on its skull, and it is thrown against the stands, helmeted head singed by the electrical pulse.
The screenhead frowns- two dots, open parenthesis- and displays a single exclamation point afterwards.
You catch the warning just in time, rolling out of a patch of spears that emerges from the spot directly under your feet.
That could have killed you.
You don't know if it's a radar, some other kind of sensory enhancement or simple hardened experience and battlefield awareness- probably all of those- but Beats is an excellent spotter. There is no weakness he fails to exploit, no attack he fails to predict.
If it wasn't for his battlefield instructions, you'd be dead maybe twice over by now. One of its swings would have split you in half, and when it tried to leap up the stalls and jump at you to trample you, if he hadn't seen it coming…
Another strike.
Beats' plan is simple and intuitive. Trying to run away from the Distortion is pointless. That quadruped body it sports is clearly optimized for speed. If it charges, only Beats will be able to maneuver around it. You'll be toast.
So you need to keep it from charging. Never give it a straight line towards you. Keep running at all times. Keep-
keep dodging!
Keep circling it, keep dancing the dance of death.
Pickman's page is downright
giddy at the idea.
And then- your boss leaps into the fray, locking blades with the Distortion.
"We have to- we have to get out of here!" he roars, mask still on his face.
The Distortion recognizes him- and tries to headbutt him. He easily dislodges Durandal from the stalemate and leaps back…
The storm intensifies again.
…oh no.
"It's going to-" Roland tries to speak, but the wind muffles his voice. The storm is only growing stronger. It's…
No.
It's not growing stronger.
It's focusing itself.
Before you can react, the gale lunges and tears out chairs from the stands, smashing into the Distortion. You, Beats and Roland dodge, but it isn't so lucky. The sheer strength of the howling wind is enough to tear the creature's non-dominant arm right off, and smash it against the wall.
It trembles, and tries to pry itself out, but before it can do so- the wind hammers again, and it screeches in fury and frustration.
It's focusing its assault on the Distortion- you have time to regroup.
You run towards your boss as the gale smashes into the wall again, cracking the concrete and shattering one of the monster's legs with a painful snap.
Roland isn't wounded, thankfully. The worst he's got are some light scratches on his cheek, trickling blood.
"Gh…" you try to say. Your mouth is, unfortunately, filled with blood. It's hard to muster a coherent sentence. "Boss…?"
Roland frowns.
"I couldn't reach him." he says. "The wind gets stronger as you go deeper. I saw that knight guy- the storm is pushing
him around, too? But he's standing firm, holding that flag…"
"He didn't Distort?" buzzes Beats.
"No. Still human." says your boss, before pausing. "Or Kuranta, I guess…?"
"So, where," you say, trying to speak through the flow of blood- "where gong back, bach in,
rifhht?"
You meant to ask if the goal was to go back and fight the Distortion. God damn it.
"...I don't think we need to." says Beats, gesturing towards the creature.
Oh.
That…
That's brutal.
The Distortion before you has been thoroughly butchered. All limbs but the one holding the spear have been rendered into barely recognizable pulp, with black fog bleeding out of the appendages. It was beaten thoroughly, with its quadrupedal torso bent and twisted, and its armor smashed and dented. Its helm looks like a crumpled beer can, and it has stopped moving entirely.
The wind continues to howl.
Your instincts flare- someone walks into the arena. No.
Not one.
Seems you came in at just the right time.
There's something- a Distortion? Laying on the stands, crushed utterly. If you had to guess…
By the clothing, it's the knight you saw on TV earlier.
Did…
Did he Distort?
Did you get everything wrong? He wasn't supposed to. Who the hell is this guy?
There's no sign of him being an Apostle, right? You would have been warned…
No, he isn't one.
Call it a hunch, but you feel he isn't one. You feel a sense of… purpose. A lost purpose, a fragile quest…
"Khaganquest." you mutter beneath your breath. That's the word that came to your mind. It sounds important, somehow.
Time slows down to a halt. Your perception accelerates until you can discern each individual beat of the wings of a hummingbird.
Your eyes move.
First, scan the scene.
From the stands, you can see the forces of Rhodes Island. Amiya's hand is wreathed in black crystals, and she carries an equally black sword with her. Both shine with a strange red light.
The Doctor is screaming something, and a strange woman with pink hair and two swords is around him, and you recognize instantly what she's doing - bodyguarding him.
Kal'tsit seems to have joined them, and Abel's materialized form, by her side, is pointing in your direction.
On the other side, X. His tentacles- tendrils, appendages of unholy and disgusting nature- are flailing around. He seems to be very nervous.
He's also riding that… thing. Figures. It seems to find this entire situationrather exciting.
"That creature..." says Abel.
Oh, hello.
"I apologize for not communicating earlier." he says.
"Could you maintain this for a little while?"
Why not?
"Thank you. The creature is not excited. It's… rearing for combat, by the way."
Is there the possibility that issues might arise? That it might, say, rampage?
"Unlikely. X is firmly in control… or at least what passes for control in the "agreement" they have."
If it does rampage, what to do?
"Keep it away from victims to prevent it from reproducing. The mental damage it inflicts compounds with that of the "children" it produces."
Wait.
Children? You remember the dream…
Oh. Right.
"Correct. [CENSORED] is capable of reproducing with humans. Humans typically do not survive the process."
Okay.
That's…
Something you've heard of before. In the Ruins. With those
eggs… that sprouted legs. You thankfully never witnessed the event occurring.
You really don't want to see it occur with… that.
How does it even work, you'd ask, if you weren't well aware that creatures like those, be it Abnormality or mere monster,
don't have to. It doesn't have to make sense by your standards.
All right.
Back to important matters.
How's Rhodes Island?
"Called reinforcements already."
Who did they call?
"What agents were scattered through the city. With the storm intensifying and growing more focused, they might get here too late."
More focused?
"The Distortion before you was not defeated by the Library. The wind manifested and proceeded to repeatedly smash it against the stands until it stopped moving."
So, a great deal of fine control, given how it's a
literal tornado. How's the Library?
"Recalling its agents. Two are here. Alongside Beats."
Right, he noticed you immediately- alongside the Librarian. Roland also did, but he's more focused on the storm.
The storm…
Time returns to its normal pace. The Distortion grunts and tries to get back up.
The wind proceeds to smash onto the creature- whose name you still don't know- and it falls over, unmoving.
Amiya leaps off the stalls and lands on the arena. An enormous creature manifests behind Kal'tsit and she studies the battlefield. The Doctor's expression can't be discerned- he's wearing a mask after all- but he's taking his distance from the storm, his bodyguard trailing behind him. Abel nods to Kal'tsit and the masked man, and dissipates into motes of Light.
For a second, there's the hints of a standoff.
And then, the tornado dissipates. The storm above remains, as ominous as ever, but something emerges out of the vanishing storm.
A man, in the garb of a knight. Armor that was once generic, for the lack of a better word, has become more distinctive. It fits him better. It carries a silvery sheen, and strange… wings of wind emerge from his shoulders, from his forearms and from his back.
In one hand, a sword, seemingly entirely of silver. On the other, a towering flag- the flag of Kazimierz.
It is not a normal flag. The fabric feels alive. It billows in a way entirely unbound by the wind, and the threads themselves seem to be flowing, moving, as if the flag itself was woven from storms.
The pole is of the same silvery metal that composes the armor. Utterly pure and untainted.
"An E.G.O weapon!" roars Abel.
"The knight has manifested E.G.O! The Distortion Adam sensed was not him."
So, is he… is he not truly aware of what happens to his followers at all times?
"Likely not. That is… excellent news, in truth."
The knight looks upwards, and starts to laugh. First, a small chuckle- so small only your ears can truly hear it. Bit by bit, grows and grows… until he has descended into uproarious laughter, nearly doubling over.
When he finishes, he raises his arms.
And then- two people fall from the sky, right by his side. He jumps to the side, startled, before realizing who the people are.
Adam! And the Sankta.
On the other side of the arena, X seems to groan, annoyed.
You honestly empathize. Damn it, you just kicked those two to the curb, how are they back up again? And so quickly?
The Sankta is pretty banged up, it seems, but most of the damage you've inflicted has healed by now. He has his gun back in his hand…
Adam sneers and speaks something you can't understand at this distance. But you can grasp some words…
"No more playing around, Jamie. Knock them down."
The wind howls again- and...
the storm!
The winds surge again, aimed at you, at Amiya, at the Librarians- and at X! You have little time to react, with you and your friends having to scatter to avoid the assault. An invisible current of air pressure lunges at your throat
Adam raises his hand and touches the head of the knight, who seems to… glow. The light behind his head is vivid now, and shines brightly.
The storm intensifies.
Arabella roars and tries to charge at them, but the winds are strong enough that she has to stick her sword on the ground and hold onto it just to stay upright.
Ayam simply stands upright, as if the storm didn't even matter. When you take a closer look, you realize something is sprouting out of her legs- her blood vessels, which are burying themselves in the ground and allowing her. The leech creature is hanging onto her back, trying to not be carried away by the winds.
For you- it's no easy task, but you've done worse. A single spear of light is enough to give you something to hold onto.
"A– boost! He's —- with his — blessing!" Abel says, but something seems to be interfering with the connection.
The winds are growing even stronger. The clouds of dust they're knocking over makes it nearly impossible to see. You can no longer discern what the other groups beyond your own.
It seems that Adam is capable of enhancing the abilities of his subordinates even further.
What will you do, now?
[ ] Write-in.
Status of Self and Allies:
Sieghart: Weathering the storm.
Arabella: Held in place by the winds.
Ayam: Leech stuck to her. Stuck to the ground.
Rhodes Island: ????
X: ????
The Library/Beats: ????
Abel: The connection is being interfered with!
Enemy Status:
Andoain, the First
- Grade: Grade 2
- Condition: Seemingly partially healed.
Again.
Sieghart's Note: He's back. AGAIN.
Adam, Prophet of the Distortion
- Grade: ?????
- Condition: Unharmed. Very annoyed at you in particular.
Sieghart's Note: ...it's him. AGAIN.
THE SILVERY KNIGHT, "STANDING TALL AMIDST THE STORM"
- Grade: Star Of The City
- Condition: Being boosted by Adam in some way...
Sieghart's Note: The level of fine control he has is enough to use the storm as a bludgeon, as a weapon, and not only as an environment-shaping tool. But he can do that too, it seems.
"Khaganquest"
- Grade: ?????
- Condition: Utterly decimated. Barely capable of movement.
Sieghart's Note: That's one enemy out of the way, at least...
