[Round 4 - C] Skeletor & Kuzuru vs Pennywise & Shantotto

[Skeletor]

Skeletor felt sluggish, drained, and stupid. Kuzuru seemed back to his old self, charging in to fight the strange harlequin with a gleeful abandon that Skeletor found himself lacking. The suit was gone, the Malefactor too, yet again his power had been stripped away like a petulant child teasing their pet with a dangling string. This infernal Omniverse was an endless series of frustrations!

At least his magic seemed to be working normally again, though the fact barely mollified the warlock as he shot a blast of eldritch energy at the little smidgeon across the bridge. His diminutive foe raised her own staff and a shimmering field refracted his attack away harmlessly. She responded with a torrent of water, spitting from her staff like a fireman’s hose. Skeletor extended his hand, his own magic dividing the water into weakened streams that were no threat.

“Thanks for the shower, you diminutive dolt!” Skeletor cackled, arms crossed and laughing with an angry confidence. The Tarutaru planted her own staff on the ground, with an unimpressed glance.

“Your posturing is futile, enemy prime. Your magic will lose to mine every time.” She spoke. Skeletor stared at her, momentarily speechless, then he burst out cackling.

“Oh, are we rhyming? I think not, you impudent, insect-sized idjit! I won’t be losing to a clown and a midg-ickkk!” Skeletor’s teeth locked over the insult as lighting coursed through his body, locking muscles and turning his skeleton momentarily visible. He sagged to his knees, charred marks smoking where the bolts had scorched his flesh.

His senses had barely recovered before a strong gale swept him off his feet and into the air. Skeletor cried in alarm as his unwanted flight sent him over the heads of Kuzuru and Pennywise, tumbling towards the abyss. One flailing arm managed to snag hold of an errant bridge spike, saving him from his untimely fall. Skeletor heaved himself onto the bridge, brimming with outrage. He scrambled to his feet, but Shantotto had already scurried farther back, another spell already prepared. A dark swirling orb spun towards Skeletor, he growled in annoyance and reached a hand to intercept the missile. It splattered across him, stinging with an acrid touch.

Skeletor reeled backwards screaming, trembling hands clasped in front of his skull, as the sound of shattering glass and the agony of his disintegrating face leapt to the forefront of his memory. He was gone from the battle, cast back to the hall of Elders. A moment that should have been his rise to power, when Keldor and his followers took hold of destiny, and claimed their own future. Instead it was a moment that would brand him forever as a maddened lunatic, consigned to the darkest corner of the realm.

The anguish and spite welled up in Skeletor like a caustic tide, building into a shout of defiance and rage. He charged, two more acidic orbs failing to stop his forward momentum. His eyes were nearly blind with fury as he caught up to the backpedaling Shantotto. Before the mage could finish her channeling, Skeletor launched a foot directly into her chest. The small tarutaru was flung backwards, colliding with the rocky wall at the back of the platform.

“YOU CANNOT BE RID OF ME!” Skeletor screamed, rushing forward.  He slammed the recovering mage against the stone again, heedless to the sounds of snapping ribs.

“I WILL NOT CEASE MY CONQUEST!” he yelled. Shantotto grunted and a shimmering dark field forced Skeletor back.

“Leave me be, foul undead! Your ire is obviously misled!” She muttered, planting her feet as she readied her defenses, “You are my opponent in this duel, but your rambling marks you for a fool!”

Skeletor’s havoc staff reappeared in his hands and the warlock screamed again, smashing his weapon against Shantotto’s barrier with reckless brutality.

“I SHALL CONQUER GRAYSKULL! I SHALL RULE ETERNIA!” he railed, though when it became clear that his staff blows were not disrupting her shield he switched to a torrent of magic.

“I WILL NOT PERISH! I WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN! AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED!” Skeletor’s furious assault finally overwhelmed the barrier, and Shantotto was knocked from her feet by his attack. The Warlock seethed, chest heaving as he lowered his Havoc staff. He started to laugh, a slow chuckle, that bubbled up into full blown maniacal hysteria, his head thrown back as he cackled uncontrollably. Only slowly did he realize that another voice was laughing with him.

“This is funny. Yes indeed, it’s so so funny!” the strange voice spoke behind him. Skeletor’s laughter faltered as he turned to face the speaker. The eerie clown had managed to catch Kuzuru in a bad way, and the demon was on the ground, struggling to hold back Pennywise’s claws as the clown perched on his chest. Yet even as his talons scrapped for Kuzuru’s throat, Pennywise was watching Skeletor, with a tilted head and unnerving smirk.

“You’re a bad man. You act angry.” The clown’s smirk split eriely wide across his face, “But you’re also scared. Scared of SO MANY THINGS!”

848 words according to MS word