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ST With a hissing snarl the vast Serpent that the Circle has feared and battled for all this time lunges at Carmine, its fangs flashing almost faster then the eye can see as it strikes toward her.
ST The serpent blinks its six eyes at Carmine as a small bit of its fang is chipped off by her Void-bladed sword. "You chipped my fang!"
Carmine "That won't be the last thing that gets chipped!" Carmine reassures him as the void black sword spins away from the serpent's mouth and then Carmine wills and jumps and suddenly she isn't standing in the serpent's maw but is above him, falling down to plunge her sword into his eyes, blood dress rippling in the wind.
ST The serpent snaps its head up in a motion that ought to be impossible for such a vast creature and chomps at Carmine as she falls toward it, its mighty jaws closing around her...
Sceadu Once again the serpent misses Carmine, his strikes deflected by her brilliantly black blade. He hisses as her sword bites his nose and scores through the slime and rubbery skin to bite into his flesh.
Oteki That was strange.
Xar`Rex rears back on his massive hind legs, the white granite reflecting the red of Carmine's anima. He lashes his tail back and forth and roars, "You died once, you will die again, and turn to ash!" The gem on his chest glows with flickering colors, finally settling on black, and from his great maw, a massive ball of black flame erupts, mirroring Eminence's darkness, and hurtling toward Sceadu.
Sceadu As the black flames rise around the serpent it hisses, exhaling a black miasma that races toward Xar, screaming for blood!
Sceadu howls and hisses in anger as the black flames Xar conjured burn him, crisping his slime and blistering his rubbery hide. He rolls, trying to put the flames out but they persist. Xar has clearly angered the serpent..
Xar`Rex swipes his claws through the air so quickly as to deflect the miasma with the wind of its passing, and grins toothily.
Myrrh "And this is for trying to kill us on the SHIP!" Fires, letting out a deafening raport. "And prison time!" Another shot. Myrrh stands still, biding him time until he can attack the beast in it's weakened state
Xar`Rex jerks, startled, as the attack flies past him, and for a moment, Xeth's flickering eyes stare at Myrrh.
Sceadu "You will pay for that wound!" The serpent spits its words at Myrrh...and more! Two burning gobs of venom, sizzling and smoking with what may well be pure, congealed evil, fly towards the Twilight who has delivered the most dangerous wound yet given the Serpent. The rest of the Circle can see the ichor-oozing hole in the Serpent's side where Myrrh's second bullet wounded it so baddly.
Myrrh "And THAT-" Myrrh backflips away from the evil goop, avoiding even the tinyest droplet, surrounded by magical wards of all kinds. "Was for kidnapping Sun!"
Corve Even as Carmine, Myrrh and Xar attack, Corve's moving back, backpeddling it quickly so that he's out of reach. Once he believes he's at a more-or-less safe distance, he kneels to one knee, brings his rifle up, and delivers a whirlwind of sharp, sudden shots that twist and turn as they head towards the serpent's head with vicious accuracy.
Sceadu Corve's attacks pass through the serpent as he shifts and turns, but the beast takes his revenge upon Corve in spades. For each bullet that flies through him, a wad of the same burning acid that attacked Myrrh is sent against Corve. Only one hits, but the deadly effects of the venom become clear as it starts eating away Corve's chest.
Corve tries to roll away, but it's too fast; even for his preternaturally enhanced body to evade. Upon being hit, he falls back, clutching at his chest to wipe the gunk away.
Oteki circles the battlefield, seeking a vantage point. Then, with a series of frankly jarring, angular motions, he summons up three shimmering, oily threads of Essence, sending them with a flick of his wrist toward the serpent. Two, he sends to seek two of the creature's eyes. The third, he uses as an anchor point to haul himself toward it, sword held high.
Oteki sails forward on a thread of Essence, and with a mighty cackle of manic glee, stabs the Hexblade into the flesh of the giant semi-undead behemoth worm creature... thing.
Oteki bounces off like a pebble against a windshield, and goes rolling in the dirt. "Initial tactics ineffective. Curses."
Sceadu The serpent strikes after Oteki, his fangs flashing but each time Fate intervenes and the serpent's attacks are foiled. Oteki continues his roll in the dust, coming up unharmed. The serpent is bleeding a bit from one of his six eyes, the friendly blue orb stained with red now.
ST The great serpent of shadows snarls, hisses, rages and snaps. His eye is bruised from Oteki's strike, Myrrh's spiritual hammer has harmed him more then he would wish and even the puny Dragon-King's fires have burned his slimy covering and crisped his flesh. His miasmas and acidic venoms have been of little help, only striking down one of the Solars and then not even slaying him!
ST And while they flash and strike, the serpent's vast fangs have yet to pierce a single foe.
ST With a quick threat-assessment the serpent determines that the greatest problem is the sorcerer and his spiritual attacks. Rearing up so that his head becomes a blurry shape in the distant reaches of this grey non-place, the monster brings his head down upon Myrrh in such a rush of speed that the Solar barely registers the attack is coming!!
ST A massive WHUMP of impact, a growl as fangs strike and a hiss of expelled breath are the only sounds of the attack!
Carmine "Corve!" Carmine cried out, as she saw her lover fall back with blood gushing from his wounds. She ignored the serpent for the moment, sprinting over to him, pressing hands into his side, heedless of the blood which flowed into her dress, concentrating on the little bit of sun still inside her, pushing golden light into his wounds, closing them.
Myrrh dives away from the flickering serpent in a mixture of fire and contortions that would make an cynis concubine wince.
ST Somehow, no one is quite sure how, but Myrrh manages to find himself standing unharmed, having avoided, defended or just plain ignored all the Serpent's various forms of wrath! Incredible! Even Sceadu himself is shocked by the way in which Myrrh avoids his attacks!
ST The acid is burned away by Carmine's light and Corve starts to heal, though the burns remain severe they are no longer crippling.
Xar`Rex crouches and springs forth with a great leap, his wings sweeping down to propel him further, faster, leaving swirls of chaotic nothing in his wake. Surrounded by a halo of light that spreads from the earrings out to encase him, he is a living weapon, a golden-granite statue of sharp edges and wicked fangs that lands atop the creature, sending the black flames dancing. His wicked fangs tear into Sceadu over and over.
Sceadu "VILE CREATURE!" The vast serpent writhes and thrashes, trying to dislodge the Dragon-King biting into him. "HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME!" The creature's black ichor runs from the wounds as Xar's claws and teeth bite deeply.
Corve stands up, slowly. He smiles at Carmine, brushing at his burns. After a moment's contemplation, he reaches over and kisses her softly. "Okay. I'm getting tired of this." Corve's steps take him forward towards the serpent. Not too close. Rather, he just gets in front of his lover and lifts the barrel of his rifle to aim it at Sceadu. There's no taunting words; no witty reparte. Just a still silence for a moment. Slowly, Corve's body begins to misten; from this silver and violet mist tinted with or comes the shadowy, ephemeral shape of Sixth. The bald, gigantic Solar's memory smiles in recognition of its once long foe. From within, Corve summons everything he has. Every ounce of strength and power, of determination and courage, all concentrated on a single, unwavering spot directly before the barrel of his rifle.
Corve It flickers, small and innocuous. Then? He pulls the trigger. The bullet shoots out, clear and plain; just a single piece of iron half-melting on its way to the target. Then Sixth rears his head back, the necklace upon Corve's chest lifts and glows; and the bullet-- so simple and normal once-- explodes into a gigantic ball of pure solar light. It burns towards its target, setting the very air left in its wake on golden fire. It is a blow unlike any other. It cannot be stopped. It cannot be avoided. It just moves with the spirit of the Unconquered Sun, to slay a foe.
Sceadu The six eyes of the serpent widen as it sees the ghostly, golden form of its old enemy rise behind Corve and widen further until they almost pop from the things massive skull as the ball of Solar Fire hurtles toward it. The Master of Darkness, Serpent of Shadows and Slayer of Nations hisses, hurling his will against the ball of fire....
Sceadu and fails. His cloud of black poison burns to grey dust and the dust explodes in a white flash as the golden fire burns onward, striking the Serpent in the nose. Slime turns to white vapor, dead flesh disappears into golden glory and the spirit of the great serpent screams. For a moment, there is silence.
Sceadu Then, a feeble twitch. A stronger twitch. And the thing rises...starting to move forward. Wounded horribly, possibly even dying, the Serpent is hauling its vast body forward though several of its eyes are burnt and blackened and much of its face has been reduced to bone and tatters. It rasps, its fangs broken and dripping ichor.
Sceadu "I will...eat your soul...Solar.."
Myrrh seems almost taken aback by the massive display. He was going to make a witty remark about what Sceadu could eat but at this point his humor was gone. As was his appitite. "I'm sorry about this." He sets his rifle down and unslings his plain looking shortbow and takes the shiny golden arrow. He notches the arrow and pulls back, the ground or dimension or where ever they were starts to shake.
Corve says, smiling as he collapses to his knees, drained. He glances at Myrrh, and then smiles at Sceadu. "Eat this." Someone had to say it.
Myrrh The arrow begins to glow softly and then seconds later explodes into searingly pure light as if Sol himself had decided to come along for the ride, in an instant Myrrh lets the arrow fly and a great soundless noise echoes across the plane. The arrow transforms from simple mundane thing into a searing bolt of essence that shatters the bow and digs a deep trench from myrrh to the serpent.
Sceadu A variety of surprising things happen when the arrow leaves Myrrh's bow and strikes the serpent. The first is that the serpent virtually explodes into flames, gold and orange and blazing with all the fury of the Sun himself. The vast body burns away, leaving only the weakened, parasitic spirit of the not-dead Behemoth.
Sceadu Even that writhes, screaming as the flames consume it. But as they wane away into darkness, only occasional embers flashing....it does appear...could it be? No. Certainly not. The hulking remnants of the monster are still pulsing with some vague remnant of existence.
Sceadu It isn't until, free of the golden fire, they can see what is happening.
Sceadu With a horrible scream, the Serpent of Shadows dies as the Black Wyld Fire, called up by Xar'Rex, eats its dead soul.
Sceadu The grey non-place is silent except for the happy crackling of the Black Flames.
Corve falls flat on his face, exhausted. Thump.
Dead Snake Monster smolders.
Carmine picks Corve up.
Xar`Rex prods at the corpes
Myrrh "I hope that thing's dead..."
Dead Snake Monster falls apart into bits of dust as it is poked.
Carmine kisses Corve, softly.
Corve sleeps in Carmine's arms. Happy snore when kissed.
Xar`Rex "Did we save the world?"
Carmine "Not yet. We still have to kill his slave."
Xar`Rex "Ah yes... Hmm. How do we get back?"
Myrrh "Oh you know extradimensional travel. There's always a door somewhere."
Myrrh stares across at the huge gash the battle tore into the land. "Although i'm sure the slave felt what happened."
Dead Snake Monster It takes Corve a while to rouse himself sufficiently to ask Sixth how they get out of the grey non-space but he manages. With Sixth's directions, Myrrh's lore and Xar's occult senses, they manage to find their way back through the non-space and into the small temple that was their door into it in the first place.
Carmine smiles down at Corve as they step out of the temple.
Corve can stand now. His wounds aren't crippling; it's the draining of his energies that really got to him. He pries himself from Carmine's arms and smiles at her, breathing slowly. "Okay. Who's next?" Blase.
Carmine "His slave." She frowns. "Wherever they are."
Myrrh "Well let's see...there's the Ebon Dragon, the Deathlords, I think there's some Fae lord that stole the very concept of Words..."
ST A man's baritone voice comes from the street outside the temple. "That'd be me." It sounds familiar...and when the man steps forward into view, he looks familiar too. Early twenties, a head full of rich brown hair, well-trimmed goatee, bare arms showing a brown birthmark on the right. Though the armored robe obscures the rest of him, he is still very much recognized by the Circle.
ST They do have to admit, though, the glowing Anima surrounding him and the sharp-looking black ivory dagger carved from some sort of giant fang in his hand are new.
Myrrh "Oh you have got to be fucking with me."
Xar`Rex cocks his head to one side.
ST Scarlet Poppy is probably around here somewhere too....and maybe the surviving Dragon-Blooded from the earlier ambush.
Corve rolls his eyes. "Figures."
Carmine is somehow relieved. At least it was no one she liked. "Good. You're here. Now you can die."
ST winks at Myrrh "Maybe later, after I defeat you all and make you my slaves while we await the rebirth of my master."
Myrrh "I'd say that's a long time coming. He's gone. I hit him with something that should have undone his pattern completely. I think he might be a rock somewhere."
ST laughs. "Don't worry. He survived the wrath of a hundred Exalted far more experienced then you. He lives on in me, tied forever to the Spark within. He'll be back."
Corve says, standing up straight. "It doesn't matter. You're not going to beat us. You're going to die. And then I'm going to go home to my daughter, and have some tea and biscuits." He smiles. "Don't argue with me. Don't try to bluff or make yourself seem confident." Corve lifts his rifle and puts it on his shoulder, sighing. "We're way past that."
Myrrh "Don't get offended but I think I know a bit more about essence patterns than you do!"
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