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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:06 pm
Ascended General Kerberos was exactly the opposite of someone you wanted to meet in a dark alley. Unfortunately for the poor civilian he was draining, that was exactly what had happened - and as a concession to the Negaverse's infernal, frustrating Public Relations machinations, his intent was to drain him until he fainted and then remove his starseed, rather than leave him alive to report what had happened. After all, the particular methods by which an Ascended survived were sort of damaging to the idea that the Negaverse was full of benevolent rulers.
His plans were interrupted, however, by the feeling of a Squire aura on the edge of his senses. Positive emotions came only rarely to him, but one of the few things that could make him something approaching happy was the thrill of hunting down and executing Knights.
"How lucky for you," the Ascended murmured, as he pulled the civilian's starseed, "your suffering is ending even quicker."
He tossed the body aside and the starseed into his mouth, and approached.
"Come out, come out, little Squire - I'm surprised they let you come and play on your own. Don't you know there are nasty things out at night?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 9:22 pm
The cat and her partner were a few blocks behind her by now. This Ascendant General wasn't their intended target--no, that little General had got away. But she had a suspicion, a sneaking suspicion, of just who she was chasing down, and she was confident that if it was Kerberos, he would not hurt her… too much. They'd been friends once, after all. "I know you've gotten pretty nasty," she said, slowing her roll as she faced down the horrorterror that was the remnants of her good friend. "What the hell's wrong with your face, Kerrrrby? Didja trip and break yourself, like a teacup on the floor?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 11:43 pm
Kerberos recognized the Squire immediately, and he did something that was probably unexpected - he started to laugh. The sound came out false, more villainous than mirthful, and even the expression associated with laughter must have looked wrong, on the cracked and broken face of an Ascended.
"Oh, Avalon, you were Chaos once, you know exactly what happened to me." But just to emphasize it, he took a step closer to her. "I murdered everyone I loved, and then I gave my planet and myself to Metallia. It was glorious."
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 12:20 am
She sighed, scrubbed her face with her hands. Her skin crawled at the sight of his face, broken and shattered, hard edges where there should be soft. His tattoos were fractured to pieces, and Avalon looked down at her own hands for a moment. Patterns of black and violet flowers covered the backs of her hands, from fingertip to wrist, in a delicate filigree that covered a multitude of scars. Pretty. Delicate. Everything she wasn't anymore. "Yeah," she said. "I know." He was Ascendant now. And a General. But they had weaknesses, just like everyone else did. She wasn't thinking it'd be easy to bring her once-friend back to base, to expose him to the sort of thing she did as a Shadow, but she wouldn't let anyone else do it. "Guess that means I mean jack s**t to you, old buddy, old pal?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:09 am
"You're a loose end, Avalon," Kerberos replied, "hich means you're of very specific interest to me. I hate loose ends." And then he leapt at her, inhumanly fast. The fragility of his Ascended body rarely entered into his mental equations - when he could drain the life or pluck the starseed of his fallen prey to repair the damage, it seemed less important.
His hand reached for her throat, difficult when she was still so much taller than him.
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:24 pm
She went down, because of course she did; she couldn't hope to match him for speed of movement. Avalon was a glass cannon, true, but she was a glass cannon with a significant strength advantage over a smaller Ascendant. So she took the hit--not that she had a choice--and didn't fight to stay upright; she rolled backwards, ending the movement with him under her. His hand was around her throat, but she could fix that. She could totally fix that. "I've heard this speech before," she said, her voice strangled and thin. She flattened out her palm and struck at him, her target the elbow blow the hand that gripped her. Leaning back only hauled him up with her, but she had to get her legs between his body and hers--protect the starseed, maybe knock his head clean off. There was no purifying an Ascended, but killing them. Testing them. That would do. "I'm pretty bored by it, honest." She kicked out the moment she had enough room, trying to take his arm off at the shoulder, now.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:31 am
Kerberos leaned down, pressing his weight against her throat. Physicality was difficult, but it was so very worth it - would be worth it to steal away her last breaths.
He hadn't banked on how viciously she would fight back - and rather than risk ending up broken into pieces - or, moreso than he already was - Kerberos released her with a snarl, rolling away. Her blows hurt more than they sohuld have, and pain was a powerful stimulus. God, if there was one thing he regretted about Ascending, it was how much weaker he was physically.
"Fine, then forget the speeches," he said, getting to his feet and spreading his arms wide. "Asphodel's Requiem."
The field of flowers that grew around him looked like something plucked straight from the underworld - even the stems themselves were a creepish grey, and they looked almost dead, despite being in full bloom.romeo wilco Eternal Sailor Attack: Asphodel's Requiem! Sailor Kerberos says the name of his attack and spreads his arms, and in a radius of eight feet around him, a field of asphodel flowers grows up. Anyone, Chaos or Order, within the radius except Kerberos experiences crippling grief and hopelessness. As well, to the affected, everyone within the radius but Kerberos himself appears wraithlike, greyed-out, and insubstantial (though they would feel normal to the touch.) This attack lasts for 40 seconds. Sailor Kerberos can use this attack once per battle.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:12 pm
He let go, and she took a deep breath before shoving herself back to her feet. God, ******** all this, why hadn't she just killed him before? She reached out for her weapon, the empty sheath with its petulantly missing sword, and-- Avalon was swallowed, then, by a crushing awareness that he was gone. Not Kerberos, but Babylon. She told herself, sometimes, that the moment anything terrible happened to her husband, she would know. Instantly, the same way she would be instantly aware of a missing limb. And she did, she knew he was gone. It took all her effort to remain upright, but she could barely see for the tears pouring down her face. If Babylon was gone, if he was, she would have to find Antonia. Her baby ought to still be safe, but she didn't know that. She couldn't know that. And if Antonia were gone, if her baby were to be gone too, she didn't know what she would do. And then she snapped out of it, the field of flowers fading. She was no longer so certain that her husband was dead, but she couldn't shake that feeling… she had to end this fast, so she could catch Babylon before he left camp. Forget bringing Kerberos back so he could serve Order at least once in his life. He had to die. "Okay, so you're creepy," she said. "But flowers, you know, they're easily bruised--" Songstress Kitsune Squire: A simple leather scabbard. At this stage, Avalon's magic develops. She confers a field upon her opponents that latches onto the chaos/lack of virtue in their hearts and feeds upon it, causing a moderate amount of physical damage over time. This manifests as truly impressive bruising, which fades to a state of near-healed after the spell ends--still painful to the touch, but doesn't disable during the fight. With concentration, Avalon can set this field upon someone for thirty seconds at a time.
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:30 pm
Kerberos had approached closer while she was doubled over under the emotional weight of his attack. (It was curious, to him, how people reacted since he didn't feel those things anymore most of the time.) She was an easy target, like that, but it would be too easy to execute her when she was indisposed.
He shouldn't have waited. He gave her too much time - time enough to hit him with the nasty power of her magic. He let out an almost animal yowl of pain, and staggered back, doubling over.
"I'll find you again, Avalon," Kerberos snarled, and then he vanished.
Maybe if he was away from her, the pain would stop.
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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:24 am
He was gone. She took a deep breath, and then another, and--she activated her signet ring, and sighed when it connected to Babylon's at a mere whisper. She hung up without saying anything; just his sleepy hello, 'Kady was good enough, for the moment. Avalon turned on her heel and scrubbed her face quickly with her sleeves before booking it back to her comrades and their way out of the city.
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