The Light That Blinds
Well.
It was time.
Juliana swallowed thickly, hoping no one would notice how hard her hands were shaking. Just aliens. Just aliens. Just aliens. How much would be destroyed this time? Just aliens. Just aliens. Just aliens. How much blood would be spilled? Just aliens. Just aliens. Just aliens.
How many would she kill this time?
JUST ALIENS. JUST ALIENS. JUST ALIENS.
And as luck would have it, those very aliens came around the corner.
The rest of her class moved. They were whirling storms of pain and death, easily cutting through the Spores like a hot knife through butter. Help them, Juli's mind hissed at her, hand already moving towards her dagger. Move.
But she didn't. Her feet were rooted to the ground, as frozen as all the humans around her. Do something. She needed to. But...part of her didn't want to.
So when Kat went crazy and gave her something to worry about besides killing...she was almost relieved. "Kat, try not to go completely insane!" Juli yelled, hoping that her own cat connection might break through whatever was going on. "We'd be very sad if you did!"
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
City
In their own way the students began to tear through the twenty or so Child Spores, leaving their forms fallen to the ground, leaking a black fluid as thick as oil. The voices of the combined creatures began to cry out, screaming in pain and agony until Juli said the one word that spoke universally to the Family. "Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad." the screams became a chant that seemed to echo throughout the city, picking up steam as louder voices rang in, until finally the massive creature floating above the city stopped, thousands of eyes glowing red as one loud word echoed above all. "SAD!"
@$#%@#$%$@#
Aaliyah and Vein stuck back to back as another wave of Child Spores surrounded them, both of them preparing spells to blast away the creatures, only for them to float away back to the large Mother Spores floating above. "Well thats different," Aaliyah watched as they moved through the city, turning to look at the third year class rep. "But the Father Spore is probably feeling lonely, want to go keep him company while its distracted?"
Vein pulled a bead from the string around his necklace and crushed it, summoning forth a massive winged griffon for them. "After you beautiful," he gave a small bow and got a punch in the shoulder in return.
"Time and place idiot," Aaliyah got on the creatures back as Vein climbed up behind her, the two floating up to the sky.
#@$!@%#!
A number of people wearing pure white uniforms and blank masks with words ranging from 'Pawn' to 'Bishop' gathered together around a mass of fallen Spores, gathering together the odd liquid with syringes before putting them in secure cases. Their heads turned up to the sky as three of the Mother Spores surrounded by massive crowds of Child Spores began to move in a single direction.
"Orders from command, assist Solomon Academy students. If they fall collect the bodies for genetic match experiments. If they are injured to the point they can't fight, collect them for possible live experimentation." the one with 'Bishop' on its mask spoke in a monotone as the others fell in line behind him. "Prove the glory of Lovelace house."
"Yes," the people behind him spoke in the same monotone and with the exact same voice.
$%@$#%@$
Lucy blinked and looked over at the first years, realizing what had just happened. "Well shit," she grabbed a car from the side of the road and chucked it toward the fallen creatures hard enough for it to ignite and burn away the last traces of their bodies. "Okay everyone, heads up. We just attracted the entire city to a block party. Lets prove that we can be good hosts."
Three Mother Spores descended from on high, chains of Child Spores surrounding them and slowly floating down like rain. "Sad. Save. Sad. Replace. Sad. With. Happy." the Child Spores giggled like insane toddlers, their vein like blades reaching out with surprising gentleness.
The Mother Spores plunged their blades into the ground around the students, the landscape shifting and changing as if liquid around them only to transform from an industrial city into a broken wasteland, with ashlike dirt and hollow black trees growing from the ground. The Mother Spores gave off a hum in a hundred voices as their masks began to gather energy, launching a beam directly at the students.
Before the others could move Lucy leapt into the air and slammed her fist into it, the shockwave of her fist meeting the blast canceling out the beams of light as she fell. "Okay everyone, new assignment, kill what you can, and then bolt. We're at a heavy disadvantage while those big ones are controlling the environment."
Katarina
For a brief, shining moment, it seemed as though Juli's words broke through. Even as Katarina was tearing through her foes in a mindless rampage, the glow in her eyes dimmed, her claws retracting as she became aware of her surroundings. "...juli? I—"
And then a horde of abominations flew over, surrounding them with their black bulbous mass as they unleashed the motherload. Acting on instinct, she leapt in front of Juli, summoning her forcefield and protecting them from the beams before Lucy could cancel them out. No matter what else, Juli was her friend. Or the closest thing she had to one.
How in the world could she have forgotten that?
PROTECTPROTECTPROTECT
Breath of the Sun
Aaron
As the world cracked and warped around them, Aaron was still moving, already launching more spears and javelins at the masks of the Mother Spores even as they fired their beams, though not fast enough to stop them.
Fortunately, Lucy was able to cancel out the main blast, leaving them free to keep mowing down the Child Spores.
Aaron headed directly for one of the Mothers, a battleaxe drawn, his body a blur as he barreled forward, before leaping at the thing, raising the axe above his head, and bringing it down as he flew towards the face of the beast.
Lucy's 'assignment' went unheard; Aaron had no thoughts of fleeing. He would kill until there were no more monsters to kill.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
City
"'Bolt' where?" Móirín said through gritted teeth. "Kat has gone feral and Aaron..." She didn't have to look to know Aaron had already run deeper into the mess of spores. She was aware of maneuvering to a better position, was already doing that in fact. She preferred drawing child spores to narrow gaps between the ruins and then pureeing them. And she certainly jumped clear of that spore's trap the moment after Lucy had covered them. Moving for advantage was one thing. Running was...ugh!
"Where we will go that those things can't just form up again? Those things will just keep going and this town is full of people." Maybe was. That damned spore just wrecked everything! And if it could do it that fast... She had eyes looking every which way and she remembered Lucy's whole time loop explanation but the town just did not look good. Plus, their city was ruined if they were alive.
And... and she had just been crowned. Her first act was not going to be to abandon hundreds of thousands of people to a ruined city and becoming those things. If this was Mulan, there'd be a convenient snowy mountain or... Hm. They had come up by the sea. If there were more krakens or even just big squids... And they didn't have to fight entirely magically. If anything here worked still.
"Jun, see if you can spot a fire truck. Or that's just my idea. If your magic's exhausted, use what's around you. The people won't mind. You're saving their lives." Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Fwomph
Sniping Spores
The change in battlefield was concerning for Kyn, it removed a lot of her own possible cover and entirely removed bottlenecks she could have used. But regardless her role had not changed as she continues loosing off arrows into the gathering spores.
"Well if we are retreating, just let me know what direction!"
Under her breath she muttered something about a weapon as she tried to continue her pace.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
The Light That Blinds
Juliana (might as well start using these)
Oh god.
Oh god oh god oh god.
What had she started? What had she done?!
What had she unleashed?!
The Spores came down on them as a collective, eyes glowing red as they chanted "sad" over and over. Lucy yelled at them to "kill what they could" and then bolt.
And everyone else did it. Everyone else could kill and kill and kill, with no problems at all. They were whirling dervishes of death, completely unimpeded by any restraints. They were unstoppable.
And Juli...turned on her sort-of invisibility, pulled on her cloak, and stood there, rooted to the ground, eyes wide with horror.
She wanted nothing more than to cry.
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
City-Dark Hour
Aaron's axe dug into the flesh of the massive Mother Spore, a burst of purple ichor splashing out over the ground and his body. In response hundreds of tendrils honed in on him, and a large number of Child Spores joined them in their assault, each reaching out to strike against the son of Ares. Even with Kyn launching arrows able to burst holes in the massed creatures the simple fact was that they were surrounded and divided. Even with Móirín directing the others as much as she could and Kat distracting those trying to hunt Juli things weren't looking good.
Lucy grit her teeth held back the thousand of curses on her tongue. The simple fact of that matter was that they could take on an individual Mother Spore and its escort, but three of the creatures letting out their spawn and firing down left them with very little room to work. "Okay," she reached up to her eyepatch and pulled it off. "I invoke my father to give me the strength to burn all impurity. Surt, lend me your blade," when she opened her eye a mass of flare spat out, burning the impure area around herself. With her free hand she reached up and let out a gasp of pain as a hilt appeared among the flames. A guttaral cry escaped her as she pulled it forward, a blade of trailing flame spawning from the hilt itself. When she was finished the flame in her eye disappeared, leaving an empty socket and the blade in her hand. With one simple movement she slashed the blade forward, a trail of fire lashing out and hitting one of the Mother Spores above. A moment later the creature split in two. "I guess I should have mentioned, while the Mother Spores are on par with a Fourth Year in terms of strength, there is nobody stronger then me."
Despite making that boast she could only use that much explosive power every half hour from her fathers sword, and even with one down there were still two massive Mother Spores hanging in the air.
However the target of the Family wasn't to defeat the Demigods attacking them, that was mere set dressing. Their actual efforts were targeted elsewhere.
Juli's mind
Juli would suddenly find herself in an unfamiliar environment, a land that looked much like what the ground under her feet had ben transformed into. Nothing but utter rot and decay, acrid smoke, and twisted humanlike bodies laying in piles staked as high as buildings. Screams rang from every direction, especially from the mountain of bodies which to her horror she would find herself already knowing that some of them were alive but unable to move, stuck under the weight of hundreds of corpses. High above a massive creature laughed and reached down a palm, smashing one of the piles and letting out a guttural laugh.
"The. Gods. Are. Cruel." an image appeared in front of her, a perfect reflection of her down to the last minute detail. "We. Suffer. We Die. We. Suffer. Again." the reflection spoke in her own voice as it approached her, raising a hand and extended its fingers to reach out to her. "You. Have. Suffered. We. Will. Bring. Peace. No. More. Suffering. Only. Joy."
Her reflection reached out to her, offering its arms. "We. Will. Take. All. Pain. Return. To. Joy."
City- Lovelace Intervention
Just as things looked like they were about to hit a fever pitch, as more Child Spores began to come at the students despite their efforts, another force struck out. From different areas around the students large groups of young men and women all wearing identical white uniforms and blank uncanny masks denoted with words ranging from 'Pawn' to 'Bishop' appeared, each wielding a variety of weapons. "Extermination of Outer Beings, mission objective stated. Confirm?"
Each student responded in a pure monotone. "Confirmed."
Aaron would suddenly find himself much less surrounded, as a group of the figures carved away at the Child Spores surrounding him and bashed away at the tendrils. "We will handle defense, simply focus on offense," one of the figured, denoted by their mask as 'Rook', spoke to Aaron as a number of other students moved in his defense. None were quite as strong as the son of war, but each was at least beyond human level and could act as a shield.
Kat would soon find her defensive shield bolstered with multiple other barriers surrounding it as a number of 'Pawn' students surrounded her, fueling their own magic into her. "Confirmation of powerful magical abilities confirmed, now allowing access to life energy in order to directly provide aid."
Kyn would find a number more of the 'Pawn' students along with a few denoted as 'Knight' creating a wall of their own bodies, pushing back the Child Spores and giving her room to breath and pick her targets. "Moving to protect long ranged combatant."
One of the students, this one 'Bishop' came before Móirín and gave a small nod. This one didn't carry any sort of weapon on them, instead wearing a pair of white gloves and speaking at a tone slightly above the drone of the rest of the students. "Retreat no longer necessary, destruction of Outer Being's now possible due to our current alliance. Recommendation, destroy Mother Spores. Father Spore has a delay of one hour when spawning additional Mother Spores and these two currently make up all available forces that can be sent without compromising other battlefields in this location. Explanation now complete, engaging anti-psychic measures." with that the student walked over to Kat's barrier, keeping a respectful distance while extending his hand.
Juli's Mind
Within Juli's mind the Bishop student appeared beside her, looking at the reflection. "Psychic link established, current weakness resulting in guilt caused by destruction of enemy source. Solution, remind subject that if they didn't act their classmates," the student paused. "Correction to early subject. Remind subject that if they didn't act their friends would have died. Further, ask subject if they are willing to sit back and let others die due to inaction on their part. Lastly, remind them that time is of the essence due to current damage being caused outside."
Kat
Kat continued propping up her barrier, desperate to protect the closest thing she had to a friend, and even more determined to block out that damned gem's constant racket—
PROTECTPROTECTPROTECT
"GO TO HELL!"
Her resolve continued to strengthen, slowly freeing her mind from the gem's grasp. She was determined to prove she was not whatever this thing wanted her to be. But there was a small part of her that wondered if she was playing right into its hands. After all, it wanted her to protect, id it not. And right now, that was exactly what she was doing. But did she have the luxury of—
And then Aaron got swarmed by Cthluthy's vomit.
They...
PROTECTPROTECTPROTECT
They're hurting...'
PROTECTPROTECT
They CAN'T
PROTECPRO—
"SHUT IT!"
Even before reinforcements arrived, Kat's barrier surged, her new helpers only bolstering her immense power. Blasts of light shot forth from her gem, blasting through small holes in the barrier and burning anything it came across.
Funny how seeing your lover nearly absorbed into Lovecraft's anus was enough to get your head out of your ass.
Breath of the Sun
Aaron
Despite being surrounded, Aaron's body never stopped moving, becoming a swirl of blades and fury that cut down everything around him. His axe had become twin swords, sending the purple ichor flying as he spun, cutting through both tendrils and the Mother Spore's endless flesh at once.
It was only by sheer number that the tendrils looked to overwhelm him. Still he did not falter, and silently prepared to face the onslaught.
Only for a number of others to appear and fight the tendrils off. Aaron paused only a moment to nod in thanks at his backup.
"Understood." He said, gruffly, and then turned back to the Mother Spore, forming a battleaxe once more and continuing to chop at it for as long as it took to kill the thing.
Something itched in the back of his mind, and for a brief instant his head turned to gaze over in Kat's direction at her yell. But seeing she was fine, he turned back to his task.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Fwomph
Spore Sniping Swarm
"Ah, reinforcements! Thank you."
Kyn flashed a quick smile at the gathering swarm of humanlike creatures that she didn't really understand but they were helping her. She briefly pondered whether a chess-themed hivemind was in fact the Second-Year's project but the seeming lack of outright divinity made that seem less likely. Besides, she needed to redouble her focus and resume sending arrow after artifact infused arrow at the Mother Spores overhead.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
The Light That Blinds
Juli
Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could pretend none of this was happening. Maybe if she kept her eyes squeezed shut, no one would see her. Maybe all of this would go away and leave nothing but sweet silence and the sound of screaming...
...wait, what?
Juli's eyes snapped open, and she let out a scream.
The world had...transformed. Piles upon piles of bodies, acrid smoke rising into a bloody sky, rot and decay everywhere you looked. Rotting corpses staring into space, occasionally shifting as people who were still alive tried to claw their way out from under the bodies—and some were then crushed by the massive hand that came down from the heavens.
"Oh god," Juli whispered, feeling nausea rise in her throat. "Oh god oh god oh god—"
"The. Gods. Are. Cruel."
Huh? The voice...it sounded like...
In an instant, someone shimmered to life before her—and Juli gasped.
"We. Suffer. We. Die. We. Suffer. Again." Her reflection approached her, speaking in her voice. Family trap. Family trap. And yet...part of her couldn't help but think they had a point. "You. Have. Suffered. We. Will. Bring. Peace. No. More. Suffering. Only. Joy."
Juli's reflection stretched out a hand. "We. Will. Take. All. Pain. Return. To. Joy."
...
For a moment, Juli considered it. For a moment, she wondered, Is all of this really worth it? For a moment, she slowly, shakily reached for her reflection's hand.
And then from nowhere came the Bishop.
For a few moments, Juli stared at him in surprise. Then he started talking, and her eyes narrowed. What was I thinking? Sure, this was painful...and there was so much death...and she'd probably need therapy when the world wasn't in danger of ending...but at the same time, there were people who needed her.
So many more people would die if she didn't act.
Looking the reflection in the eye, Juli lowered her hand and reached for her dagger. "Your proposal is intriguing, but I'll pass." She lifted the dagger, then swung downward—
—and cut through the illusion, shattering it like a hammer to a mirror.
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
City Battle
"You just fell out of the sky..." Móirín deadpanned an answer to the 'bishop's' saying that retreat was no longer necessary. "Thanks though." Having more help did will help. On another note I'm going to strangle Clothos for being so slow.
And she didn't want to leave anyway. Not after Lucy pulled off that fire show and blew a legion of the things away. "Lucy, I hope I don't have to update you on what's in plain sight," Móirín said, quickly glancing between Kyn and Juli and then Aaron. Hm. Kyn could handle herself even if the chess pieces turned out bad and Aaron was the furthest out so...
Móirín started to launch a fire bolt but held onto it and balanced the flaming ball like well a hot flaming ball while leaping up towards Aaron's mother spore. She'd never tried to charge or hold one before. No time like the present.
"Bombs away, Aaron!" the fomorian called her fire bolt launch and swung the thing at the mother spore. She hadn't aimed at Aaron, but he still needed to know not to jump in front of the thing. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
???
Marco stood in front of the coffin that contained the deity he had spent over two years of his life trying to make with the somber expression of one about to attend a funeral, resting a hand on the rune covered wood and closing his eyes. "Just a bit longer."
"Man this new body you got me was worth the wait!" Armin entered through a strange glowing portal, twisting his neck violently as it let out a few 'pops'. "Guess I can thank our 'boss' for that one through." he stood over the coffin and laughed. "C'mon, crack a smile. We're about to be witness to history in the making."
Marco simply shook his head and turned as a larger portal opened, the rest of Class 2 exiting it. They were all still exhausted from their fights with the class and it showed, most of them limping forward. "We're back," Lala offered a smile toward Marco and stepped forward, only to suddenly freeze. "What..."
The other newly arrived members seemed to be held in place, a slight glint revealing their bodies being held by thousands of tightly pulled threads trapping them in place. All except Bogdasha, who joined Marco and Armin by the coffin.
"Thanks to our efforts the birth of our god is immeniate, however the last thing we need is a mass infusion of divine energy," Bogdasha turned to the rest. Lala, Ester, Abraham, and Skala, all of whom were perfectly trapped in place by the webs that Marco had created.
"Marco you bastard," Ester tried to struggle against the thread, but any movement just caused it to dig into her skin, blood running along the razor sharp web but doing nothing to get her any closer to freedom.
"Sorry about this," Armin looked over his classmates and shook his head. "But its not like any of us are blameless. Isn't that right leader?"
Marco locked eyes with Lala for a moment before turning to the coffin. "Now, feast."
The lid of the coffin exploded as worm like tendrils exploded out of it, latching onto the trapped members of class 2 and draining them. Despite how hard they struggled they could do nothing as they were slowly drained of their energy. Within moments their very forms were reduced to nothing but energy for the creature within. And finally, from the coffin began to rise a figure.
Marco let out a shaky noise that could have either been a laugh or cry before finally speaking. "Now its time to repay our debts," he turned to Bogdasha and Armin. "You two stay here and continue in service to our newly created god. I'll accompany him past this point."
The two other students gave a nod of acceptance toward their leader, Armin sporting a grin while Bogdasha simply looked toward their creation with interest.
"Now then, lets go. Hadron."
$#%@#$%@#$%@#%$@#
City
Under the weight of Aaron's continued assault, the missiles that could level buildings being fired by Kyn at its form, and Móirín's own magical assault the Mother Spore let out a death shriek as it began to fall from the sky, its form impaling upon a building before evaporating to dust. As it fell so too did hundreds of the Child Spores that had been created from it, each becoming nothing more then dust. They physical forms were held together by nothing less then their shared mania, and once enough damage had been dealt they simply disappeared into total oblivion.
Meanwhile Juli and Kyn would find the pressure pulled off of the, with Juli forcing her way out of the mental landscape and returning to find her physical form well protected by Kyn. Things were finally beginning to look up, that was until the final Mother Spore began to gather more power before it.
"Shit, everyone hit the..." before Lucy could finish her thought the creature was suddenly split in two, each side falling in opposite directions before dusting. None of the students had even moved before the attack was made, and a sense of stillness seemed to fall over the city for a moment. "Well...nevermind then," she dusted herself off and did a check to make sure the rest of the class was still okay before giving a sigh of relief. "Now then," she leveled her sword as 'Bishop' and shot him a glare filled to the brim with hate. "You and the rest of your freaks find a different part of the city to fight in before I send you to whatever Frankenstein'd afterlife you'll be sent too."
No doubt the students would find this turn a bit surprising seeing as they had just been pulled out of the fire by the arrival of the students. But the sheer hate radiating off of Lucy was nothing to be written off, at the moment it looked like she was about ready to go to war with the entire group that had come to assist them unless something shifted her focus.
Fwomph
A Moment Of Peace In The City
Kyn tilted her head at the sudden death of the third Mother Spore, looking around for a possible source before rolling her shoulders back and lowering her bow.
"It appears we have a moment to center and prepare for the next wave. I do have a question though... Whomst?"
Kynigos just kind of gestured at the associated chess-themed hive drones.
"I have not been briefed on these things but clearly they have been important enough to the academy to have a reputation."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
City
Lucy turned toward Kyn for a moment, never lowering her blade from the Lovelace students even as more of them arrived behind their commander. "Experiments of Lovelace Academy, they take a cloned body from one of their founders, fuse it with divine energy, and then blank their minds in order to create the abominations you see before you." each word was laced with more venom then the last. "Perfect toy soldiers without emotion, they would as quickly save us as they would burn this city to the ground."
"If it were the optimal solution the sacrifice of one city to bring the defeat of an Outer Being should be considered a small one. But as doing so would not result in any positive action the scenario you put forward is without basis in reality."
Lucy let out a low growl before taking a few steps back. "Regardless, of anything else don't trust them. The only time I've run into them one of my classmates that had been injured disappeared from where they were supposed to be setting up a healing area. They would gladly harvest us for parts to feed into the factory they call a 'school'."
Katarina
With Aaron and the others safe, the gem finally gave her room to breathe. The messages in her head had ceased, and the headaches with them. But it hadn't released its hold. Try as she might, she couldn't shift herself out of Sphinx form. No doubt the gem wanting to keep its little puppet ready.
But if it'd done anything, it got her priorities straight. She lept over to Aaron, hugging him with her paws and giving him a big smooch on the lips.
"Oh, Aaron! I'm so glad you're safe! I don't know what I was thinking, I..."
Okay, no. She knew exactly what she was thinking. What she didn't know was who was thinking those thoughts. Perhaps there was some kernel of truth at the center, but she was sure it'd been messing with her since the day she got it. Even that sense of pride as a Sphinx, that grand boost in confidence. Was that the gem's doing too?
Either way, she couldn't this let this act of grand theft Katarina stand, could she?"
"...okay, look. You see this?" She pointed to the gem. It had dulled since the last time Aaron saw it, but it retained a hint of its lustre. "This thing has... I don't know how or what it's done to me, but this thing, it tried to make me..."
Now that was a good question. What had it tried to make her? It was screaming in her ear like Crazy Harry down the street, but had it done anything that heinous? It had made her done what she wanted to do in the first place. Protect herself and others from harm. Perhaps it was aggressive in its approach, but—
OH HELL NO
It had done it again. She winced as her gem briefly glowed, forcing it back down along with the stray thoughts it had tried to force into her mere moments ago. That was what it had done. Convince herself that it was okay. That she needed to protect. To do nothing but protect. To be loyal to no-one but...
Mother...
No. Not her mother.
The other mother.
"That damn bitch..." She cursed under her breath. But it was the only thing that made sense. Even her aunt seemed to know about it, but she never pressed her. And now she knew why.
"Look, long story short, this blasted thing has been rewriting my thoughts and I think I know why. But the important thing is getting rid of it. Perhaps now isn't the best time, but there's every chance it'll do its voodoo hoodoo when the next Nobody comes knocking on our doorstep. Do you think you could try pulling it out or smashing it or something?"
Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 14th 2021 at 10:31:59 AM
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
City
"..." Don't get her wrong, Móirín watched the 'mother' spore fall happily enough even if there was no skull to collect and her fireball wasn't nearly as big and flashy as the storm that Lucy had made. It had only knocked the spore out of the air.
Móirín had sprinted partway up the skyscraper to start cleaving off chunks of it when it dusted along with its mini-spores. She watched the mini-spores dust and even watched the dust fade. Nothing. She didn't expect the mini spores to turn back into restored victims, but that would've been nice.
"Kyn," Móirín returned to the others and skidded to a stop near the huntress and Lucy not lawless. "Was that last spore your doing?" Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Breath of the Sun
Aaron
Aaron dropped from the crumbling Mother Spore, landing on his feet on the ground below, with enough force to crack pavement. He turned to the next Mother, preparing to continue the assault, only for it to be cut in half.
He tensed, realizing that an attack like that couldn't have come from any of his classmates. But Lucy didn't seem concerned, and whoever it was clearly was on their side, so Aaron let himself relax a moment as others surveyed the situation.
Then Kat came up to him, and he smiled, embracing her and returning her kiss, running his hands down her back as she explained what was going on with that gem on her head.
His smile twisted into a frown as he stared at the stone, seemingly embedded into her forehead. One of his hands came up to her face, his thumb on her cheek, and the other went for her forehead.
"Yeah, I got it. Sorry if this hurts, babe." Aaron warned, and then, holding her head steady, he pulled, yanking the Gem with all his might.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Aaron
As Aaron pulled, the gem glowed, shining like a Christmas tree as he attempted to wrench it from Katrina's forehead. The more he pulled, the more blinding it became, filling the whole block with its radiance. It grew hotter and hotter, burning Aaron's hands as Kat continued to wince. She hadn't had a headache this bad since she came down with pneumonia, and that was before this whole mess started.
But the more Aaron pulled, the more intense it got, each little push making it grow in ferocity as a defence mechanism. She would have praised it for its tenacity if it wasn't a danger to herself and others. But she wouldn't let it win. She couldn't let it win. That thing had already turned herself into a borderline sociopath. The least she could do was send it back home to mother in a doggy bag. If she could hold out a little longer, than perhaps Aaron...
...but this wasn't Aaron's responsibility, was it? It was hers. She'd nearly broken up with him for Bas— for God's sake! All because of this thing! Perhaps it wasn't entirely to blame. Perhaps there had been some kernel of truth for it to latch onto. But this wasn't the place for soul searching. As Aaron pulled, she pulled back. He was giving it his all, but it wasn't good enough. He needed leverage. She forced herself to pull away from Aaron's grasp, trusting him to grip the gem as tightly as ever. She pushed through the pain, growling as she cursed that bitch under her breath. Her eyes went bloodshot red, but she could feel its hold beginning to weaken. All she needed was a little extra push—
The next moment, Aaron found himself flat on his ass, the gem sitting pretty in his hands. But even without a host, it wouldn't give up. It continued to burn and fester, rattling in Aaron's hands as if begging him to put it on. And it would keep burning and turning until he did.
Kat would have rushed over and crushed the gem with her own paws if she wasn't reeling from the aftershock. She too had been knocked on her tookus, still in the form of a sphinx if without her royal raiments. Her eyes glowed bright, remnants of the gem's power lingering within her. It had been part of her long enough that some of its essence would remain, though perhaps without the nastier side effects.
But she was free. For the first time in a long time, she felt like... herself. She remembered everything that happened. Parts of it she couldn't fathom, but she remembered it all the same. And how she felt. Perhaps she hadn't done anything wrong, but she was one step away from becoming mother's little passive observer. And she wasn't sure if the gem was the only one at fault. That was something she'd have to reckon with.
But she also felt like waking up the next morning after downing a gallon's worth of catnip, and that was something she'd prefer not to reckon with. She staggered to her feet, struggling not to fall on her back like a wasted lioness. She was so out of it, she barely noticed the gem trying to take her boyfriend hostage. For better or worse, he'd have to deal with it himself.
Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 15th 2021 at 4:12:50 AM
Breath of the Sun
Aaron
For a moment, he almost stopped. Not that the burning heat of the gem was enough to deter him, but he worried he was hurting Kat. Then Aaron saw the fire in her eyes, as she attempted to help him pull it out, and his gaze hardened, his muscles tightening even further as he tore it free with a mighty roar, stumbling backwards and falling as he did.
He managed to roll back into a standing position quickly enough, his hands still blazing hot, the seemingly angry gem now blazing in his palm.
It seemed to call to him, demanding he put it on. Aaron merely smiled, before spiking the thing into the ground like a football, and stepping on it as hard as he could for good measure. "Fuck off." He grunted.
That done, Aaron strode over to Kat, kneeling and helping her to her feet. "You alright, Kat?" He asked. "I swear I heard that thing scream at me. Where'd you even get it? Did Sekhmet stick it on you?"
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Fwomph
A Post-Battle State
Kyn mulled over the answer from Lucy and hummed appreciably.
"That does sound like a fairly reprehensible system. I can see why it's probably best to regard them with healthy suspicion, yes."
And then she turned to regard the returning newly-crowned sea-Queen.
"That was not my doing and I'm unsure whose it was! I mean whatever happened it was beneficial and the source has not immediately attempted to attack us so that's nice? Also!"
She twirled in place, stopping to look in the direction of Kat and Aaron.
"Are you two alright? I am willing to help if you two require more assistance with your funky gem situation! My mom went to Egypt at one point!"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Katarina
Kat nearly fell on her paws, saved only by her boyfriend lending a helping hand. "I'm alright. I think." She tried to change back into something with two legs, but it was a struggle to stay on the four she had. Until she got her strength back, she'd have to deal.
"But no, I don't believe it was her. If it had been, I'd be tearing into your guts and eating your entrails for breakfast." She tried to smile like she was cracking a joke, but she was almost certain a gem from Sekhmet would have set her on the warpath.
"It was probably my mother. My other mother. Trying to turn me into mommy's little observer. And it nearly worked. I'm still not sure how much was the gem and how much was my own doubts and hesitations. I could have torn into Team Rocket and the other competitors when everyone was playing Gladiator. Instead, I sat back and watched. I don't know whether I chose to do so or the gem chose for me. If you were in real danger, it probably would have pushed me in there like a good little kitty. But even then..."
And then she kissed Aaron on the lips.
"...the important thing is that I still love you dearly. Something I nearly forgot. So don't you dare forget it either."
She turned to Kyn. She had never given her the time of day, but perhaps she should start in light of her recent predicament. "Possibly. If that bitch did create that poor excuse for a head ornament, then there's every chance it's still intact. You wouldn't have some magical hunting jar hanging around, would you?"
Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 15th 2021 at 9:27:20 AM
Fwomph
Gemstone Problem
Kyn hummed and slung her go-bag off her back to begin looking through it.
"Nothing specifically enchanted, but I do have one of those rigid clear boxes with the clicky-clasps that I am storing my lunch in or I could just bundle the thing up like a nice bone..."
She retrieved a decently-sized sheet of thin leather with a glistening coating and approached the gemstone carefully.
"Alright little conduit of divinity, I do not wish you harm but I also feel you would be best suited coming along quietly..."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Kynigos - The Family Hunt
"Don't worry, we have killed planets before. Having them come to us just makes it easier."
Kyn gave a cocky little wink before she began lining up shots with the Vijaya. This time however, she pondered something her 'upperclassman' had said and poured a hint her Artemis-given power into the already powerful bow.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.