Nexus Battle Royale — Threat Elimination Protocol (PvP)

[Strazio Rockwell]

Chaos enveloped the alabaster walls of the Nexus. A god of war was made manifest, and those foolish enough to stand against it paid with Their flesh. Even still mortals dared to fight against this harbinger of their destruction. Flailing wildly against the inevitable conclusion, much like Icarus they spread their wings and dared to be burned. A gauntlet created from fire and fury burned into existence around Harbinger’s fist. The righteous warrior Kanda stood resolute before his opponent, spitting in the face of the godlike being. Harbinger lumbered forward and reeled its blazing gauntlet backwards. A visage of hunger, terror, ruin, and loss burned across the monster’s hollow skull.

“We shall bring your ruin,”  the many voices of Harbinger echoed upon themselves and threatened to tear apart the very fabric of the Omniverse.

The meteoric fist lurched forward, leaving behind a trail of blood- red cinders. The deafening sound of a thunderclap cracked across the nexus. A thick lance of white-hot energy broadsided the harbinger’s fist, forcing it to veer off course. Kanda jumped backwards, disengaging from the beast. Harbinger turned to face the newcomer, a furious man draped in a white cloak glared back at the fused monstrosity. Simmering steam billowed from his singed arm, the macabre price paid for such a powerful spear of magick.

“Strazio,”  Harbinger’s many voices spoke in terrifying synchronicity, “have you come to witness the birth of a new age?”

“So you are Shang Tsung?”

“We are so much more than our individual parts,”  Harbinger’s flame shifted from green to a yellow hue, and Thaal’s visage flashed to life briefly,  “we were known by many names, but now only one seems fitting. Harbinger.”

“Thaal?” Strazio smirked and sharply sniffed the air, “makes sense, I could smell the arrogance the second I stepped through the Nexus gate.”

'We will bring yo-"

“You morons have made a big mistake,” Strazio interrupted the chorus of voices, “at least two of you have pissed me off dearly, and by fusing all you’ve done is let me kill two arrogant birds with one angry stone.”

"In time you will know the terror we bring,"

Harbinger raised its burning hand and let loose a burst of ochre light. The hard-light beam crashed into the avatar and sent him skipping like a stone across the ivory floor. Thin wires of hard-light stretched out towards the fallen defender and wrapped tightly against his seared body. Strazio thrashed and strained against his bindings, but found no reprieve as he was lifted high into the air. Smoldering flames coalesced in Harbinger’s free hand and a red-hot bronze spear was carved into existence. With a practiced throw the spear pierced through the air and skewered Strazio’s abdomen, forcing him to screech wildly.

"Do you hear that?" Harbinger turned towards the other combatants, "that is the sound of crushed insolence."

“I’LL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!” The avatar shrieked.

The harbinger turned to look at its prey and found nothing more than a wounded animal. Feral eyes carved holes of hatred into the fusion’s very souls. Strazio’s flesh peeled away like alabaster cinders escaping a bonfire. Thousands of sparking fireflies erupted from the defender’s form. The hard-light wires collapsed upon themselves as their quarry became nothing more than a torrent of sparks. Atelos’s spear fell to earth, skewering itself into the ivory flooring. Sparkflies surged past harbinger and converged into a single humanoid form several meters away. The avatar’s body pulsed with destructive magick, his flesh was burned away to reveal an endoskeleton of pure roiling rage. Energy charged blood oozed from Strazio’s gut, staining the pristine floor with crimson liquid.

With a ferocious roar, the avatar of anger charged forth towards the target of his hatred. His reckless charge was cut short by an explosion of toxins and scalpel-sharp shards of bone. A well placed blight grenade coated the furious avatar with deadly pathogens, and laced his body with shrapnel. Black spiderwebs of poison-filled veins wormed throughout Strazio’s magick-charged form. His lungs quivered as the venom stole his breath. A knight in putrid armor stood between the avatar and Harbinger, he dared Strazio to pass. Okor raised his bolter and let loose a vicious bolt of irradiated metal. It whizzed past the avatar’s skull, rocketing outward into the white oblivion

"Don’t you dare get in my way!” Strazio bellowed, rushing towards his new foe.

Large tongues of destructive magick arced off Strazio’s form, scorching black pock-marks into the ground. His lungs strained to draw breath, and fire pumped through his veins. The two warrior’s collided with a horrifying crunch. Strazio’s hand burst deep into a chink in Okor’s rusted armor and a burst of magick cracked into the fanatic’s body. The sound of cracking dry bones echoed outwards. Strazio watched in horror as Okor’s abdomen split open to reveal a rapacious maw lined with crooked fangs. Panicked thrashing merely whet the appetite of the daemonic mouth. In his recklessness Strazio had torn a hole through Okor’s armor and his hand was now stuck within the festering abomination.

“Why must... you struggle...?” Okor’s vile voice lectured the impudent avatar, “your rage is nothing... but a withering flame, waiting to be... snuffed.”

Gnawing bones and teeth tore into Strazio’s burning flesh, spilling more sizzling blood. A mixture of pain and rage screamed forth from his gullet. Large arcs of magick surged across his tempestuous form, his muscles surged with renewed strength. Inhuman might coursed through his flesh as his muscles strained against the behemoth before him. Okor pressed back against his foe, refusing to be toppled. A standstill ensued as each combatant strained and pushed against the other. Every heartbeat sent unchecked magick through Strazio’s veins, tearing apart his juiced muscles. With one final heave the ferocious avatar shoved his plodding opponent stumbling backwards.

“You’re lucky,” Strazio snarled, “if you were any less stubborn I would have spiked you into the fucking ground!”

"You mistake strength... for luck?” Okor droned on as his power armor stabilized, “your rage... it makes you... foolish and haughty.”

“My rage,” Strazio began, his voice a crashing wave, “makes me unstoppable.”

1144 words according to my writing program
Using Avatar of Rage for a round -2 SP
Strazio has 2 SP left
Used the fully charged version of breach -1 HP
Used Overcharge, any subsequent uses will cost 2 HP