Pax RP

Glaze

The Ice Dragons curve back in the direction of the God was interrupted by an enormous black and gold Dragon lunging at her as she went by.. She was going far too fast now to make a sudden change in course so Shalims lunge caught her full force, partially crumpling one wing and causing her to make an unwanted course correction. Glaze went spiralling down in an out of control dive, crash landing in the stands and sending up a cloud of dust.

"Glaze! Ignore them and freeze the God!"

Hearing the familiar voice hollering a-ways by, Devon directed himself to what he ordered. Glaring, the man slammed the staff into the earth. Be better with direct control, but seems like I've got another role to play," he grumbled, watching the ends of the stick darken.

Devon raced on foot towards the least known being in the area, Glaze. Snatching a few stones from his vest, with one each clenched in his palms, he tossed the remaining two up. Quickly, he slammed his fists into the glowing pendants, firing a crackling ball of fire at the blue dragon.

The Collector

C would be rather pleased with that blow much later, when she wasn't busy dealing with a God. However, now was not the time for gloating, especially as it was growing increasingly clear the deity was far more experienced in this duelling than the entity was.

After her strike C pulled her 'hand' away rather abruptly, to better prepare herself this time. It was a fortunate move too as DP started pushing forwards with a flurry of rapid jabs and slashes whose onslaught were just about impossible to avoid. C brought her arms forwards to shield her body as quick as she could. She'd gotten too close to him to avoid the blows. There was only really one thing for her to do here...

C backed off,, back pedaling away from the God of Insanity and bringing her skinless wings forwards across her front to take the brunt of the barrage off her. She could still see though, and brought the tail into play once again, jabbing it back at the deity

But by now enough damage had been done to reveal one thing-the Sanity Blade had cut enough deep gashes down and even through her arms to show the brush was no longer in one of them, yet she was quite insistent on protecting her centre...

Double Post of Doom!

Glaze

The blue Dragon raised her head from her knocked out position in the midst of the rubble she'd just dived into involuntarily, scales scraped and torn on the side that she'd hit the ground with. Her right wing dragged on that same damaged side, refusing to fold properly onto her back. Whether it had been broken by the black and gold brute or the impact she didn't know, but it didn't matter now. She still had a job to do.

Glaze stood up slowly, she could still walk at least, despite the pain. The pain would pass, and besides, she was a Dragon. That hurt a lot, but she wasn't out yet.

The Frost Dragon felt the heat of Devons fireball before she ever saw it through the dust, the reptile turned her long head sharply in the direction of the sensation and quickly raised her undamaged wing to defend herself from the attack. She wouldn't be able to use it to fly now anyway, may as well use it for something.

"GRRRR ARGH!" Glaze yelled, as the scales over the thin skin on her wing began to crack and distort as they were cooked by the fire, leaving a char mark before it dissipated. "Attack me when I'm down will you?" she yelled "Pity you're not on our side! My Mistress would be so pleased with that quality!" Glaze threw back her head then, before darting it forwards and extending her long neck in the direction the fireball had come from with her maw wide open, to send her freezing breath attack at her own attacker.

[REPAIRS 87% COMPLETE]

The world was cut off from the Artificer behind it's wall of flesh and metal, but the sounds of battle still raged on. The machine was under no illusion that it was actually safe, and this was confirmed by the roaring sounds of lightning, followed by...

[ALERT: 163 SLAVE SIGNALS LOST]

The lightning hit the shield of Husks, and an outer layer of bodies was stripped away, leaving only the mechanical augmentations. Without the time to develop the virus was dependant on the flesh of the host, and so the metal was mere scrap. No matter... there was always another use. The Artificer ordered the Husks to reform, and as they did so the remnants of the fallen were seemingly consumed by the mass.

There was work to be done.

"Glaze! Stop screwing around and freeze that God! One blast! One! " The lightning Dragon roared, furious the ice dragon was so easily distracted. "The other Dragon is simply a pawn to keep you busy. We can deal with it later..."

Red diverted his attention once again to the robotic cocoon that seemed to be regenerating. The blast he had recently fired did exactly as intended, vaporizing all those it came across. All that was left was the mechanical augmentations, which now seemed to be swallowed up by the horde. For what reason was unclear... but Red didn't like it.

He inhaled deep, and blasted those who had replaced the fallen. Then, without hesitation he began to tear into the tangled mess with his claws, shreading metal and throwing it where the couldn't reach it.

A pain.

The lightning dragon looked at his claws, which had become splintered and cracked. In the jagged lines lay something foreign... and phosphorescent. He bellowed, angrier than he had ever been, and resumed his mission of leaving no scrap left to use.

Devon struck at the dirt between them with the two charged pendants. Streaking down to shining snap, the explosive vitality diffused to the roots that have been delved deep in the substrate, bolstering their size beyond doubt. The glacial torrent blitz ragged at the young woody pillars. Sunk past the bark, the frigid fangs shattered its veins, snuffing all tissue above ground.

"Just the pangs of war, nothing more," he answered. The quick draw saved his hide from the blunt force of Glaze. Frost thrown asunder off Devon's frame, the man grabbed another four stones, enriching the rocks as he delved to the right. "As you said, you should know your style well then."

Pelting along a curve, three aggressive vines leaped out in attack, racing to ensnare the weakened dragon.

DP saw his opportunity...but also saw something else. Everytime she moved - it was always to defend the same area - her core. That had to be where he must strike. He thrust and jabbed a couple of more times, making sure he was clear, then did a backflip to give himself some space. Once he landed on his feet, he flashed bright white. When the light faded, he stood, but different. He looked almost as if he had been a Lycoan - werewolf. Or he would have had it not been for the wings sprouting from his back. He had easily gained about 2 feet, and seriously bulked up - but it was all lean. He looked like he was built like a gymnast. Combined with the modified skeletal structure - this creature could move....fast. He still held the sanity blade, but his other hand had long talonous claws.

As soon as he solidified, he was off again, running on three limbs, the forth holding the Sanity Blade behind him. He lept above and behind C, turning midair so he landed facing her, bringing his sword to bear with a slash to her upper back.

The Collector

The entity had had to keep her eyes on DP even when he back flipped away, the incarnation opened her wings so they wouldn't be in the way when she moved...

... Only for her to be blinded by the deity flashing a bright white light when he transformed, meaning the transformation was lost on her because she'd screwed her eyes shut against the hated brightness. She also yelled, the pain from one of the weaknesses she'd had exposed quite a few times while being up here not likely to dissipate, and brought both hands up to her head to shield them more.

The light.... It burned inside....

C stumbled back, like a mortal would if someone had just thrown acid in their face, hunched over with her barbed tail quivering at the side.

Unfortunately for the entity, that also meant that she stood in the perfect place for DPs Sanity Blade to cut a neat line right through where a spine should be, deep into the body's chest and just far enough to hit the paintbrush. The artifact fell out of C's back, freed by the tear and free of its abilities thanks to the Sanity Blade. The ever changing morphic paint that had been on the end dulled to white, the paintbrush now just a paintbrush.

C did little more than growl at this, but spun around and backed away from DP, still holding one hand to cover over one eye and squinting at him with the other.

"Don't think this is the end of this!" she told him, and then melted into a pool of the stuff that was now everywhere, the glowing red eyes fading as she went.


The thick liquid darkness that was everywhere started moving by itself, all of it following the same path out of the Arena towards the Tainted Forest.

<hr />

Glaze

Glaze roared as thick vines snagged her legs and part of her tail before she could bound off in frustration, then turned her head towards the annoying plant life and opened her maw to breathe ice on that which snagged her.

DP stood on alert...it would be like someone evil to wait until he had his guard down. Then once he could no longer sense her presence, he eased slightly. He closed his eyes, and the werewolf form evaporated off of him, leaving his normal avatar. Then the Sanity Blade glowed briliantly, and stretched into the Sane Reaper's Scythe. He swung it at the brush, restoring it to it's previous ability.

He then dismissed the weapon with a thought, reached down, and picked up the brush. It's physical manifestation was small, but meta-physically, he knew what he held was huge.

"Just like riding a bicycle" he said. He held the brush, then released his physical form. Shalim also evaporated, her essense rejoining with the diety until she was needed again. The brush entwined with the diety, and the diety with it, each growing more brilliant. The light rose in the sky and with a flash - it was gone.

As the light faded, a breeze picked up. Everything that had been touched by the brush started to break apart - the pieces flying like cherry blossoms in the breeze. Glaze, still trapped with in the vines and plants, broke apart, releasing the light inside. As it faded, Fade laid there, injured by returned to her normal self. Red still flew around, but he too broke apart. His inner light descended, and when it reached the ground, shrank down and faded - revealing Coolpikaa, returned to his rightful mind. The Sheeple - though not touched by the brush, each poofed like popcorn back to their normal selves. The arena evaporated, in it's place the encampment and the surrounding forest reappeared.

Then, it started to rain gum drops.

But not everything was the same. A new road appeared leading out of the encampment, heading southeast. It was simply marked "Fortress Yorick Rd. It took a traveller across a lake, over a bridge, and finally to a giant 60m skull, an even larger tower with two airships docked to it, and a pagoda with permenant portal facility. It was here DP reappeared, in his home brought to this world. In his hand was the brush.

"Well, time to make sure you can't be used again" He said to no one in particular. He threw it up in the air, materialized The Sanity blade, and was about to strike when...

A sudden twinge of pain arced from his right shoulder. As the same time, visions of a world on fire, him atop a black throne, and a sudden urge to find what happened to Cornelius struck. As soon as it happened, it was over. But it affected his aim, and he missed.

"Well - maybe I should keep you around....for now." He mused, and pocketed the brush in a private pocket dimension.

[REPAIRS 100% COMPLETE]

The machine was whole once more, and just in time too. The red dragon had begun tearing it's way through the remaining Husks whilst the Artificer constructed what was possibly it's last ditch effort. The scrap of the Husks could not operate on it's own, but it was still Artificer technology, and could be moulded into any form that was required. And the Artificer needed a capable soldier.

The machine lord ordered the remaining Husks to retreat and scatter as far as they could. This fresh batch of the world ending virus should not go to waste after all. In their place, amongst the scrap and gore stood the Artificer, and a single skeletal construct. It looked a little worse for wear, obviously a machine cobbled together at a desperate pace... but it was still Artificer technology.

[ACTIVATING ARTIFICER WARRIOR UNIT]

The scrap warrior stood almost as tall the the Artificer Lord itself, although it was somewhat less ornate. Where the Lord was slender and intricate, the warrior was sturdy and spartan. In it's hands it held a long rifle like device, which it had immediately trained right between the eyes of the raging red dragon. The Artificer was about to order it to fire, when it noticed the claws. A slow, soulless laugh followed.

HA. HA. HA. HA.

Backing off a little, the Artificer also noticed that the so-called Collector seemed to have retreated... perfect. Checking parameters in it's programming, the Artificer confirmed all that it needed; it's oath was cleared and the Artificer was finally free.

The tendrils thinnest sides met to frozen crisp as the harsh breath gnawed on the vegetation. Devon, balking from the trailing breeze scattered along ground, readied himself for another volley of vines to torement Glaze with. That is, until the Lord Psycho came to finish the rest of the Collector's cohorts. Apparently a diversion was all the immortal needed.

"What a relief," the man smiled in content. "Just a victim of transmogrification, not unlike-wait a minute." Walking as he pondered, Devon approached the weakened woman. Kneeling, he got a closer look at her. "So it is you."

Before the tides turned, Geidra alerted him of an odd signal radiating from the assassin. A sense of relatedness, that like of kin. Frowning, he jostled the stone pendants in his hands. "I'm quite saddened you had to bear so much pain during your ordeal. Just wait a second," he whispered, trying to tie the glowing stones on the wounds with a few wiry vines off his vest.

Fade

The assassin barely moved even whilst Devon was talking to her, after she'd been returned to her true self by DP. Fade only fidgeted slightly when Devon touched her with the stones-one as she was still unconsciou. One arm was showing signs of burns the other of a fracture.

<hr />

Blue

In the middle of The Encampment, in what had once been the altered building that Lili had used as a temporary home, what had been a baby black Dragon had the opposite effect.

The baby Dragon was revealed to be Blue, the Dragon Mutant, a long ago member of the Flock that had left it. The mutants eyes snapped open to reveal pools of black, but the colour rapidly changed to soft glowing white that showed her slotted pupils.

Blue got up rather hurriedly once she realised where she was and started moving towards the exit as quick as possible, , though she sometimes had to catch herself.

She couldn't be here. Just being here was dangerous.

<hr />

The Horn and Halo

On the floor of the newly restored bar lay a werewolf, Tala had spent almost the entire time that C had been in charge as a fur carpet. And what was worse, she'd been completely conscious for it too&#33; Tala moved a once more human hand over over her eyes that she was slowly daring to open, so she didn't hurt them. She'd be alright, she was sure... In a minute. Then she'd go check on Syllak. The Draconian had suffered a far worse fate than she had.

"Hmm, not life-threatening, but still," he grumbled, evaluating the best method to expedite Fade's recovery. "Be better if I had access to amber. Regular rocks can only do so much." Devon unraveled more of the vines, carefully taking time to make to stiffen a section as an emergency splint, supporting the fractured arm. The women was fortunate for his years of traveling. Squinting, he checked the burns on the other side.

Holding a pendant over the damaged skin, Devon attempted to aid the the wound. Concentrating, a soft glow sunk into the wound, fortifying it with natural energy to accelerate healing.

Fade

The newly restored assassin opened her eyes, slowly, to find one arm had been put in a splint and the other was being tended to by a crystal and something that was making the wound feel, less burned and more... itchy as the skin started accelerating healing. Fade stared at Devon for a moment. "You are helping me" she said ^Why?^

<hr />

Blue finally got to the end of the restored house and opened the door, nearly stumbling out in her panic. Blue hung on to the door frame, and breathed deeply before she spread her leathery black wings wide as she prepared to fly away.