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[Panopticon] was a kaleidoscope of sight, unfolding like a mandala into thousand-thousand perspectives before Us. Acid trips and magic mushrooms could not compare to the experience. Green Christ, ayahuasca got second place at best.
It was not disorienting, much the opposite. Through the subliminal circuitry that bound Us as one, We felt Juan host the majority of the subprocesses and streamline the sensory input into discrete and manageable packets of mem-data. Since he wasn’t moving, most of his brain power went into becoming a supernatural walkie-talkie and command center hybrid.
Maharaja’s scythed through anomalies, fungal sword-steel blossoming from his armor of blades. A bird’s eye view warned him of a reaper in his blind-spot—the hive-mind of the [Finger] was beginning to learn Our individual weaknesses.
Bladed limbs extended from Raj’s shoulders and pinned the Antediluvian in the air. If he had simply cut the anomaly in two, it would reform. These things were only vulnerable to extreme temperatures.
Super-heated blades of bone shot into the reaper—courtesy of Our most wonderful Aisha—turning it to ash. Raj took the blades into his armor through the esoterica of [Sword-Logic], assimilating them and using them to truly dispatch Our foes.
We advanced, Raj and Aisha at the front while Mike and Alexander guarded the back with Bao and Eli at the center of the formation. Noah was currently blitzing through swathes of enemies as a mobile unit—he kept his leaps low to the ground, aiming for buildings that could halt his momentum while he was still in his Atlassian state.
When one of Us flagged in strength, Mike’s indomitable endurance came in clutch.
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Entity: [Omniglot//Moonscorched]
Sphera: [Golgotha], [Luna], [Empyrea]
Para-class: [Red-Aphelion]
Esoterica: [Strength-Of-One-Man]
Hubris: [Nazarene]
Reliquary: [-]
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Esoterica: [Strength-Of-One-Man]
Ignosis: [The esoterica of {Strength-Of-One-Man} derives from the sphera of {Golgotha} and {Luna}; establishes a commissural tract in the implanted entity matrix between the ontological concept of endurance to the platonic ideals of mankind and humanity.]
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Hubris: [Nazarene]
Ignosis: [The hubris of {Nazarene} derives from the sphera of {Golgotha} and {Empyrea}; establishes an antipodal ligature in the implanted entity matrix between the esoterica of {Strength-Of-One-Man} to the ontological concept of hair.]
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Michael wielded an Antediluvian scythe’s dismembered blade-limb, his tempo unhindered by the paltry limitation of human endurance. Plates of bone protected him as they protected the rest of Us. Aisha had formed them beforehand, bits of fabric ripped from Our clothes holding them to Our bodies.
Mike could not cut his hair or beard, both left unkempt. So long as the hair of his head was not severed, his endurance was unflagging. He took point many times, letting Aisha and Raj recollect their breaths while We pushed towards the heart of the world-wound.
[Fingers] descended from dimensional apertures located in the sky but their hearts were at their fingertips, so to speak. We raced towards the belly of the beast, each inch gained more than worth its weight in hurt, blood, and sweat.
Alexander’s esoterica was the least known to Us, Our collective only now knowing the full extent of the United-Tsardom transplant’s power.
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Entity: [Omniglot//Moonscorched]
Sphera: [Golgotha], [Luna], [Empyrea], [Akasha]
Para-class: [Red-Aphelion]
Esoterica: [Jörmungandr-Tincture]
Hubris: [Nine-Paces]
Reliquary: [-]
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Esoterica: [Jörmungandr-Tincture]
Ignosis: [The esoterica of {Jörmungandr-Tincture} derives from the sphera of {Akasha} and {Luna}; establishes a commissural tract in the implanted entity matrix between the ontological concept of shadow to the platonic ideals of apophany and insanity.]
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Hubris: [Nine-Paces]
Ignosis: [The hubris of {Nine-Paces} derives from the sphera of {Golgotha} and {Empyrea}; establishes an antipodal ligature in the implanted entity matrix between the esoterica of {Jörmungandr-Tincture} to the platonic ideal of nine-paces.]
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Alex’s esoterica gave him poison that could affect the soul.
So long as another entity’s shadow touched his own, he could exacerbate deep-seated fears into paranoid persecutory delusions, make the darkness of your own mind from diffuse inkblots into sharp, raking claws. It was through this clause that We survived the onslaught of Antediluvian anomalies at all. A wall of their own brethren attacked them like confused, trigger-happy immunocytes that recognized the body’s own cells as foreign bodies.
A wave of terror-laced histamine was released from Alex’s shadow, propagating throughout the chain-link confluence of bodies of darkness. Every nine paces treaded, an anomaly would shake away the geas and become immune to its effects for nine paces more. This counted for both Alex’s own gait and that of the afflicted entities themselves.
All-encompassing sight, it turned out, was a tad astigmatic. You lose the trees for the forest, a scarlet projectile of fungal sword-steel overboard in a sea of red.
It caught Mike in his bicep while he pushed Alex to the dirty ground, saving the man’s life. Alex was shorter than him and would’ve caught the spike to the forehead. There could only be one hollow eye-like aperture in this forehead town.
We found out then that Noah’s tendency towards groan-inducing puns was not hindered in the slightest even in the midst of a life-and-death scramble.
Trying to lighten the mood here, morale and all. We ignored that.
After the second spike, this one entirely dodged, Bao latched onto a distant, obtuse shape of imitation flesh. Her esoterica gave her a heightened premonition-sense, making even the slightest look known on her skin—through the position of the feeling, she could even track from where an entity that was staring at her currently was.
And that sonuvabitch was trying to burn a hole through her forehead.
Bao ducked a third spike but she did not need to tell Us about directions.
We knew where they were.
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