It began as brutal as it was as beautiful, Moyo having no chance to even glance at the others with Vesh baring down on him like an angry monster. Power crashed around in the Nethervoid, the dark expanse they fought in coupled by the shallow dark waters that splashed at their feet gave the area a somber look. Moyo could care less, he unleashed everything he had, aspect, intent, Ashe, willpower, whatever it took to bring down the phantom scourge, he used. Both beings traded hundreds of blows in those few seconds, striking and parrying in a fast-paced battle, both sides releasing enough power to level a continent and possibly push a planet into its final legs. Vesh started the real battle with a spell, binding screaming souls of dead beings from a source Moyo could not trace, shaping them into a sharp spear that shot at him.
Sage’s eyes showed the weight of aspect and essence the attack carried, Oshosi screamed at him to either deflect or dodge the attack and his aspect rose to the task. This new application of runic powers was one he had not witnessed before, but he was far from being caught off guard. Using his aspect to grab the attack that burnt in the void, it exploded, blasting him backwards but doing no harm to him. Moyo winced at the attack, aware it could had driven every single soul lower than master rank on Asa to pure madness, probably peeling the flesh of their bones before completely eradicating the continent.
It went far to show just why reality had dumped them in the Nethervoid, a place that could handle their rampages, masters were not meant to fight on worlds, not to talk less of beings like them. He grabbed his aspect, silently invoking his runes as he shaped his aspect around the rune he summoned. A large purple disc formed above him, glowing with a single rune,
SHIELD
Echoing with the reinforced Ashe and willpower of the titan, Moyo controlled it with a little fragment of his thought, going in on the attack as echoes of blasts from the other fights rung out around him. Mantle locked in place, he clashed with Vesh whose serrated blades clashed with Gegun and dominion simultaneously, Moyo feeling the entire weight of the mutator empowering her, both exchanging crushing blows again. Then dominion empowered by his aspects landed on her armor, Moyo silently activating black hole, her green armor cracking. Without a thought, Vesh slammed a punch into his wrists gripping dominion, weakening it much to Moyo’s shock. Pushing away from the blade, she gripped that path of her amor, shattering it before the black hole could spread.
Again, with silent surprise, she stabbed her serrated blade into the miniature black hole, the dark prism of power wobbling before it started to transform, bending to her will and expanding into something living. Again sage’s eyes showed him wisps of mutator’s aspect flowing from her and into whatever abomination the black hole was becoming, empowering it with her wishes. Moyo used step of Ogun, appearing close to her, interfering with his aspect that disrupted it, cutting off the connection.
Vesh, as if expecting him swung a blade at him, the shield intercepted, soaking the kinetic force of the blow, dispelling the abyssal power and returning the blast at her. This time the phantom scourge was the one caught off guard, the attack carrying her off her feet as Moyo saw a chance to attack. The rune he had used had come from his understanding of his personal cache, infusing the rune to shield and somehow picturing one of his edicts into the rune, he had created something entirely different.
He did not get to enjoy his moment of genius though, Oshosi warned him of a growing danger rapidly coming at him from behind. The shield flashed into position, taking the brunt of the attack and shattering completely, the attack touching him for a brief second as he felt his mantle wobble for the first time in forever. Step of Ogun took him clear of the obvious danger, Moyo landing a few meters away, glancing at his mantle and seeing it looked bleached, like his aspect and Ashe had been siphoned, weakening it.
Vesh spoke from afar,
“I thought of ways to killing you” she started as Moyo glanced at her, consciously empowering his mantle back, returning it to its purple sheen,
“Use you for experiments?, simply leave your soul hanging over the great vats of mutation, to forever suffer in agonizing silence as you’re stripped of your very existence over many millennia” she said,
“But no, I found the perfect way, to turn everything that makes you, well, you, I will end you with your own skills, reengineered with the power of the abyss and lord Molrik” she finished,
Moyo glanced at the being that stood close to her, its hulking form protecting her. Made of what looked like miniature spinning black holes within its gelatinous frame, it had a dark mask on what was to its face, with a single rune on it, glowing brightly with the power of Molrik. His sage’s eyes let him read the meaning, but he forcefully shut his sage’s eyes, the rune burning into his mind, causing him to have a deadly migraine,
DESECRATION,
It carried so many meaning and purpose, it would twist everything in its path to the will of the phantom scourge, it would take what wasn’t its and create an unholy replica, it would burn away any protection that wasn’t of its source, totally wiping out any lifeform that it considered enemy. All these had been made into a single being, fashioned to end him. Moyo had to admit, he was silently thrilled, he could finally fight without looking like he had no handicap. He nodded as he stood straight, opening his deific vault as he used his Ashe to will out entire racks of elixirs, legendary grade qualities that he had randomly bought simply because he had the near infinite funds to do so.
Floating around him, each encased in a crystal formed from his aspect, he nodded at her,
“Figures my long run of being overpowered would come to a stop sooner or later” he said,
“Although I must say, it’s quite applaudable that you were able to think of such an ingenious idea in its own way, you were waiting for me to use my black hole attack, weren’t you?” he asked,
Vesh did not reply, she simply pointed a blade at him,
“’eradicate him” she commanded,
The creature he called desecrator within him roared in an unearthly voice, sounding so hollow, Moyo resisted the urge to shiver. It shot towards him with speed rivalling an actual master, meaning it crossed the space between them in the blink of an eye, its form glowing as it created many limbs from within its body, coming at him from all angles. Sage’s eyes was useless in this situation, activating it would simply cause the rune on the creature to burn his eyes, driving spikes of agony straight into his skull.
Left with Oshosi and his other skills, Moyo acted with instinctive awareness, he was not some master who had been handed pure power as a novice. Contrary to the beliefs of almost every foe he had faced, those that survived anyways, he had fought tooth and nail for every bit of power he had gotten, he was a disciple of the one formerly known as the death blade after all.
Another shield forged with the same mentality formed next to him, this time though, he activated his runic shield skill around it, empowering it further, the shield resonating dimly with reality. Digi aye came next, the skill glowing in a circle below them, and then finally, mutator’s resistance flowed through his mantle, offering what little protection it could give against whatever attacks landed on him, the creature was after all, empowered by the power of the mutator himself.
Oshosi screamed from all angles, but Moyo maintained his composure in that second, listening to the cries of his skill, seeking out the most urgent source despite the loud almost crippling cries. He had been in worse situations, blind, broken, and helpless at the start after all, and even then, he still had his wits around him. He felt his body reacting in an almost instinctual level, swerving to the side, a limb grazing his skin, biting into his mantle but finding no purchase, mutator’s resistance holding out nicely. Then he began to move at subpar light speed, parrying, cutting and dodging, feeling the creature never relenting, never being fazed while all the while Digi aye burned the power of the creature as rapidly as it replaced it.
Gegun sliced limb after limb as it regrew back drawing on some power that replicated his enhanced regenerative abilities, dominion burning away the limbs coming at him from his other side while the shield took most of those he could not shear off, wobbling as it was repeatedly hammered into but holding on.
Moyo found himself seeking that elusive feeling of Anshara, the one that made him invisible, and while he knew it would leave him weak and drained the moment he finished off the monster, therefore leaving him open to Vesh’s attacks, he still sought it.
Whatever that presence was that bestowed him with that feeling, it did not hearken to his consistent attempt at summoning it, but still he pushed, falling into a slow rhythm of deflecting, dodging, and attacking. Still the creature never tired, even as he drew from the torrent of his aspect till his bones ached, his gaze swan slightly and his body glowed from the amount of power used, the creature pushed on. Moyo held the stalemate, invoking his very existence, feeling the mandate handed over to him from the first titan resonating with his aspect that gushed out of him like a critical nuclear reactor on the verge of exploding.
His titan’s body held on, lines of aspect flowing veins lining his body, the runes on his body that empowered his aspect and path glowing ever brighter as he pushed himself to the limit. Oshosi screamed at him, disrupting his very movement in a scream so loud he stumbled. The shield shattered as his runic shield skill was disrupted, limbs slamming into him and then a kick from Vesh who had snuck up to him, sending him crashing into the very distance.
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Moyo felt every bone in his body shatter like brittle glass, the agony was, well, there were no words to describe them. Vesh had found a way to circumvent his strength, for while nothing short of a primordial or in essence, a lord of the abyss could pierce his skin, she in her ingeniousness, had decided to find a way to shatter him from the inside. Puking out blood from his ruptured organs that were entirely made of aether at this stage of his existence, he felt his body rapidly healing at a rate his regeneration had hardly done before. Using his aura to levitate himself, he forced his body to move, using his healed arms that held both his blades to block another attack from Vesh, shattering them again into broken pieces.
Biting back the scream, he stumbled through the air, his head swimming, Oshosi still screaming as the creature came after him, limbs of siphoning power shooting after him. He caught a flash of something in his peripheral vision and then a sharp biting pain in his eyes as he screamed in raw pain, something piercing through his eyes as it burnt his literal eyes to nothing.
Still, he held on weakly, trusting Oshosi to carry him through the battle, for while he was still kicking, there was a chance at life. Tumbling through the air, he felt his arms heal, somehow boiling with strength, startling him as he flipped through the air, using steps of Ogun to flicker all around. He tightened his grip around his blades, feeling the handles creak lightly,
My hands he thought to himself in silence,
They had healed stronger, stronger, and better,
He focused on them even as he flickered continuously around,
“Running like prey” Vesh snarled from around him,
He could feel her invoking some restrictive power, feeling the area around him tighten for miles and begin to shrink rapidly, he paid no attention to it though, focusing on his arms as his eyes healed completely, blinking away the blood from his eyes. His arms felt strong, even for a master, and when he ran titan’s might through them, he could swear he saw a distortion around them, as if they pressed down on the void itself with weight,
Weight the desecrator possessed he realized with a thought,
The question however was, how had he done it?, how had he somehow enhanced his hands without the presence and help of the archailect and its system that was rapidly becoming obsolete to him?. He thought back on his actions even as he still flickered around, feeling the veins of titan aspect burning ever brighter all around his body. He was channeling aspect in such amount and strength that only a ruler’s body should had been able to have done such, it was straining his body, straining it to the extent that even Oya’s elixir could barely hold him together.
He should had been focusing on where he had been flickering around to, Vesh somehow appearing right where he flickered to, as if he had been predictable. Probably slow as she stabbed him with one of her serrated blades, he deflected with strength that crushed the attack in one move, starling her but getting pummeled by the creature that appeared in a fraction after her, its limbs slamming into his body all at once, once again shattering it. It was within that agonizing moment that Moyo suddenly got a moment of epiphany, even as aspect rushed to heal him before his story ended right there and then.
He activated everything within him, runic shield, mutator’s resistance, Oya’s elixir, Digi aye, his Ashe, intent, and mana. Mantle shattered, migraine pounding, the change happened in an instant, but Moyo had seen, felt it all in an instance and had understood, he had understood it all in that moment. Sage’s eyes blazed even as the migraine worsened, but it had been worth him seeing the changes to his body, changes that he was sure would be recorded once the archailect was back around him.
Grinning as he slammed into the shallow waters, laying there as he quietly let the changes complete themselves, he replayed them back in his mind. Mana, aura, Ashe, and aspect had flowed directly into his already enhanced bones, filling them through their shattered bits and completely twisting them to adapt with his current need, all thanks to mutator’s resistance. It was almost laughable that a skill created to help him resist the powers of the mutator had been the next step in his bizarre evolution, for it had perfectly blended every aspect of him, fusing his bones with something he had no idea how ti had gotten there,
The elixirs he thought,
Chuckling to himself even as he spat out a piece of bone his body didn’t need, Vesh had landed close by, no doubt savoring the moment. The elixirs had been protected by Aserite, somehow, someway, perhaps due to the desecrator affecting things around him, they had shattered and mixed with him, finding their way into his body, perhaps when his eyes bled?, he had no idea. What had happened next was the very Aserite, evolved mithril of his own making had been infused into his very bones, making them, well, very near indestructible.
Then his runic shields had carved runes of reinforcement into his very bones, Moyo wondered if his body simply did its own thing to preserve his existence without even him thinking of it, because he was sure he had not thought up the perfect blend of skills to empower him. He simply laid there, even as Vesh ordered the creature to pound him to death, he simply laid as every hit while shattering his mantle over and over, did nothing to his body, he screamed as if in pain though, buying more time for himself to test out his new idea.
He opened a tiny hole into his vault, grabbing a piece of Aserite and closing the vault immediately even as he screamed and groaned in pain. Shattering the Aserite in his fist, a metal said to be indestructible, perhaps the saying of not applying enough force was indeed true, anyways he rapidly implemented his plan. Mentally summoning his mantle over and over, he dispersed the Aserite, willing his mantle to absorb it whenever it shattered, activating his skills and bending them to his willpower, feeling something around him acquiesce to his command, empowering the mantle. Again, runic shield carved runes of reinforcement and mutator’s resistance made into runes on his mantle, Digi aye gave a part of itself into his runes and perfected it.
He dispersed his mantle though, leaving his perfectly healed form panting, despite him being totally healed from within. His attire totally shredded, he gathered his thoughts, preparing for what was about to happen next. Vesh stalked closer, pure glee in her gaze as she stepped on him, pressing down on him, and while Moyo did not feel a thing, jacked up to metaphorical super soldier state as he thought, he groaned to make it plausible. She bent to him, gripping his face in her hands, pale white face and ashen lips grinning at him,
“I told you, your death won’t be swift, not for the hubris and shame you have imparted into the realm of Molrik, your agonizing body will be displayed for all your vaunted primordials and harbingers to see, their chosen one reduced to a bag of bones and flesh” she said,
Placing her serrated blades on his chest without pressing them in, she continued,
“These blades won’t kill you, oh no, they’d pierce you, seeing as your insides are nothing but mush now, continually mutate your insides and destroy them while your regenerative abilities and aspect seek to heal you, leaving them in you would bring about such exquisite agony” she said, shuddering as if experiencing an orgasm as she bit her lips,
“You will be my greatest accomplishment yet titan blade, serve me even in pain” she snarled and pushed her blade, attempting to drive them in.
They simply cracked then shattered as his body glowed, his reinforced form completely repelling the blade. He acted in that movement even as the desecrator reacted to the perceived danger, one hand gripping the throat of Vesh, he slammed one foot into the desecrator, driving it back as his runed body flared, dispelling any siphoning attack from the creature, completely nullifying its power over him. Switching Gegun for dominion, he drove the blade through Vesh, willing black hole to shatter her armor. Slamming her down into the ground as she gasped in pain, dominion phased away, Gegun replacing the blade inside her as she screamed in literal agony.
The burning blade began to eat at her, even as he stepped on her body, the desecrator pounding at him futilely, he grabbed her two arms and tore them off with a brief flex of his titan’s might. Her screams of raw pain doubled even as he used his aspect flames to cauterize the two stumps, leaving them unable to heal with his aspect dispelling any regenerative efforts from the mutator’s aspect. Moyo had realized something as he had initially dueled Vesh phantom scourge, she was not a fighter, not genuinely, she was a scientist.
A being purely dedicated to tinkering with all things, mutating them to her needs, perhaps those are the qualities that made her the favorite of Molrik. She was capable of creating creatures of such destruction, that it blinded her foes to the fact that she was weak in a warrior’s sense, the desecrator being a perfect example. Leaving her there, crying and weeping in pain as she struggled to tear herself off the burning grip of Gegun that slowly ate at her essence and existence, he turned to the desecrator.
What commenced was a beat down of epic proportions, immune to its attacks, he used dominion to cut hack the limbs repeatedly till they were cut off and burned with aspect, focusing his entire willpower on dismantling the creature. Releasing black hole after black hole, he pushed them through the creature, overloading the black holes it had been made of, the creature screaming as it attempting to flee,
“HOLD” he growled,
Ashe freezing it in its tracks as it struggled to free itself, screaming ineffectively, he poured power into dominion as the blade glowed, brighter and brighter every second. He drove it through its head,
“DA PA DA!” he roared,
His edict roared through it, pouring titan aspect through its form, pushing back its powers and totally annihilating its form. It exploded in a tectonic blast that blew past the titan blade, leaving a smoking crater in that ground that healed itself, Moyo sighing in exhaustion, not physically however, he doubted he could feel such any longer. His literal muscles and veins ran with his aspect and the power of every other offensive skill that he had, he was something else, he was a monster in the truest form. Turning to where he heard the sobs of Vesh coming from, he saw she had brutally torn her body from the blade, basically eviscerating herself in two.
One half of her crawling away slowly, leaking green fluids and mutator’s aspect as well as essence that sought to heal her physical form. However, his burning aspect, the anathema to the mutator’s path had seeped into her very being, even her body began to break down. Her lower half had completely burnt to ashes, its proximity to Gegun contributing to that as well, the blade stabbed into the ground, steam coming from all around it as the waters close to it boiled. He gripped the blade, drawing it from the ground as he stalked closer to Vesh, hearing her pitying mewling, hardened to her cries, he placed one leg on her frail form, stopping her movements.
Flipping her over, he saw trails of tear on her face, her body having lines of glowing purple veins, his power wreaking havoc within her body. She choked on her sob, croaking,
“Why?” she asked softly, choking on a sub,
“Why did it have to end this way?, why couldn’t you leave us in peace?” she said,
“You came after us, this is the reward of your actions” he replied plainly,
“We simply wanted to explore, to create new lifeforms, we deserve to exist as much as you do, we simply wanted to live” she said,
Nothing was left of her except her head, empty sockets staring at him,
“Lord Molrik, I’m sorry” she whispered,
“I wanted to live” she said as she crumbled to burning ash and dissolved into the shallow waters,
Moyo sent Gegun and dominion into his vault as he stared at where Vesh phantom scourge, chosen and elite of Molrik, lord mutator and favored disciple had perished.