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 Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:46 pm
The smirk upon that man's face remained right up until the moment that Shouyin's stone fist removed the man's head from his shoulders. Dust to dust. His entire body scattered across the floor in a spray of sand and pebbles, leaving nothing but the gold chain that had been in his pocket and a pile of dust where he had been. There was nothing left, only dust. Not of the man, nor of any of the winged monstrosities that had been assaulting the half-golem. They all lay strewn about the room in drifts of sand. "That was a good punch, my boy. Excellent form." The voice boomed from every corner of the building, sounding exactly the way that it had before. It had not been an echo from the walls, but instead it was that the walls had been doing the speaking. "My pets won't be as easy next time. If you're still interested in our bargain, I'll be waiting for you on the higher floors."
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:54 pm
The ********> He shook his right hand in a habitual sort of manner, as if the impact had hurt it, loosening stone joints as he tried to pinpoint a source for the voice that surrounded him.
A source his feet found before his ears had a chance. Even with shoes on, he could still -feel- the ground's vibrations. It was a simple matter of concentration, something he hadn't been able to spare as he'd faced the man and his 'pets'. More unsettling than the boom of the all-encompassing voice then, was the fact that it truly was -all-encompassing-. The stone was finally talking back to its master.
"Never gets any easier."
Casting the remains of his jacket aside, Shouyin began jogging towards the stairs and making his way up.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:59 pm
It wasn't until he reached the landing on the second floor that Shouyin would see one of this man's 'pets'. It was not laying in wait for him, nor was it hiding and ready to pounce. Instead, as soon as he began to walk away from the ascending stairs he would feel it behind him.
The rumbling, the shaking, enough to make the entire building seem to shake. A brief glance to his back would reveal a rhino three times the size of anything that could have naturally lived charging straight out from one of the walls and down the corridor towards the half-golem.
It's head lowered, baring horns, and it prepared to barrel right over Shouyin.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:28 pm
"Nope--" Shouyin did an about-face to look at the rhino, "never."
The half-golem -threw- his left foot back, steam scattering away from it as he stomped his heel down like a sort of piston. He brought his hands up to the forefront. This was the sort of moment that separated the man from his peers, and the sane in general. The part where the audience realized 'fight or flight' wasn't a choice Shou ever had to make.
Breathing slowly (in through the nose, out through the mouth), he flexed his fingers, and met the giant charging rhino head on. Lead hand gripped the back of the second horn, actually -tugging- the beast in as his rear arm circled behind the first, aiming to grab the upper lip of its mouth.
Toes pinched the soles of his shoes, trying to suck some sort of support from the surety of the ground beneath him. In a relaxed state, the man's heart pumped almost twice at fast as the average man's in an effort to force the rock in his blood through his veins, but now it was at least triple, and rising steadily. Muscles screamed with an overload of oxygenated fuel as they stood against the rhino's charge. Fibres in his thighs already bordered on tearing, and, mind blocking out the pain, he leaned back, torquing his body, and the rhino's, around counter-clockwise.
It had been said, that in a contest of strength, one could simply assume Shouyin was stronger.
And, in an effort to prove it, he'd go about throwing a giant rhino off the citadel's second story balcony.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:35 pm
One might call it the most absurd suplex ever conceived.
One might be right.
Regardless of what one might call it, the rhino's charge halted and swerved as Shouyin contested with it for ownership of the second story. It struggled, but could not resist the pull on its body as first the head went, then the body; and, taking a section of the railing with it, the stone rhino smashed against the floor below and shattered into rubble.
The building did not shake again.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:47 pm
Peering over what was left of the railing at the rhino's remains, Shouyin was reminded of the wall's words, and looked up once more. He couldn't really see past the fifth or sixth floor in the mood lighting, but it was obvious there was plenty more to come after that.
I can't do that a dozen times, no less half.
"Maybe the next floor'll just be a surprise party."
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:58 pm
There would be no such luck on the third floor, at least. When he stepped off of the stairs he would feel a familiar rumbling coming... as two stone rhinos charged out from the walls on either side and charged towards the half-golem who was squarely between them.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:14 pm
"Oh ******** this," Shouyin breathed in sharply at the top of the stairs and began running full out at the charging behemoths. Throwing one rhino was alright, fun even-- a chance to shove it in the big man's face! but this was unnecessary cruelty.
Taking a boxer's guard mid-run, the half-golem came to a sliding halt with his right leg in front, holding his right shoulder back as he loaded another stone-fisted punch, this time in a sort of downward-swinging hook that he brought careening into the side of the nearest rhino's snout. Altering the animal's stone with the strike itself, he'd shatter its head, sending the debris into the other rhino's face and starting a sort of chain reaction down the first beast's body: a ripple of shock waves and dusty explosions that'd leave it in manageable brick-sized pieces.
Then, without pause, he'd follow up with a clean left uppercut underneath the following construct's jaw, causing another ripple that forced particles to spread apart and drop the thing's density enough that it didn't immediately fall apart, but rather went sailing backwards into the air in a very unreasonable kind of half-backflip.
And then it'd break all the same.
"... Maybe the next floor'll just be a surprise party!"
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:26 pm
The beast's snout shattered as it was hit, breaking completely off of the front of its head even with the creature continuing to run through it. The damage was done, though, and the impact caused the rhino to swerve sharply and cross the path of the other. There was a tremendous crash as the two stone beasts collided and broke against each other... but in the end all that was left was a pile of rubble.
Huff!
Heavy breathing came from the pile of rubble... the entire thing started to rise, and pieces melded seamlessly in with others as the beasts melded into one shape. In a few seconds time the form was complete, and a towering twelve-foot gorilla shook the dust from its body before letting out a tremendous roar that was accompanied by a thunderous beat of its chest.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:45 pm
This is probably ******** -hilarious- for anyone watching.
"Let's do this, then," Shouyin said with a sigh. He eased into his favourite ol' basic fighting stance once more, holding himself patient and still as he tried to settle down after those first three exertions. Even though relying on sheer strength drained him the most, the energy and concentration required to persistently disintegrate large or numerous constructs was somewhat monumental. And while he was nowhere near his threshold of effort (which was immense, considering his will), that point still existed, and if this was going to be the pace for the entire building, well...
Even the Stone King could only go so far.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:16 pm
The great ape had no sentiments for the golem, it only did as it was commanded to do and pounded forwards with heavy steps. With another threatening beat of the chest, the creature threw its fists up into the air so high that the knuckles knocked debris from the ceiling above, and then it slammed them down with a tremendous impact.
Either the stone child would be flattened by them, or the entire balcony upon which he stood would give way underneath him.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:43 pm
"Ho no," the half-golem spoke softly, closing his eyes and lifting his left foot off the ground. There wasn't time to take his shoes off, so the connection wouldn't be as strong, but Shouyin had come a long way, and a connection would form ne'ertheless.
The slightly raised foot would come about as the man went into a horse stance, and the gorilla would freeze in place. In time with the planted foot he'd make a pair of fists, rotating his forearms outwards as he brought them down into a sort of ready position, and the gorilla's arms would follow along.
"Stop copying me," he'd say as he lifted his hands up to shoulder level, keeping the beast's down all the same. He'd make a little turning motion with the index finger of his right hand, and the gorilla would turn around. And then he'd start walking, keeping the construct in front of him and trekking it on up the stairs.
Pet monkeys... ******** hilarious.
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Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:24 pm
CRASH!The great ape's fists smashed together in front of it, rather than crushing the floor beneath the half-golem as it had been intending to do. Chips of stone rained across the third-floor balcony as cracks ran up the beast's arms and several of its stone digits fractured and crumbled to the ground beneath it. It shrieked something fierce, hollering and carrying on like an agitated animal in a cage. The ape stood with its arms frozen in place, hunched over and walking sloppily up the stairs in front of Shouyin up the stairs to the fourth level of the tower. - From the fourth level, the structure of the Citadel seemed completely different from what it had been in the vast lobby. The hallways were dark, with only a few, small electric lights set into wall fixtures and no daylight at all. Low ceilings and narrow passages restricted movement, and featureless walls stretching from floor to ceiling made the fourth level into a labyrinth. Needless to say, the twelve-foot gorilla wasn't coming along for the ride.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 1:15 pm
"Hrmmf," Shouyin said as he swung his arms about, the ape mimicking his movements once more, bringing his palms together in a clap the monkey sent echoing down the dim hallways-- just before it fell apart and blew away in a surreal cloud of dust.
"What a waste."
He tucked his hands into his pockets and started walking.
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:02 pm
Shouyin would continue walking for quite some time as he wandered through the mess of hallways and doors. Every time he turned a corner, another darkened hallway lay out before him. Every time he reached a dead end and doubled back, he would find the path behind him entirely unfamiliar.
No matter how much he wandered, Shouyin seemed unable to find the correct path... or even the path back to the stairs that he had come up from.
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