02-17-2017, 09:39 PM
Despite having its lower jaw blown clear off, the Beast appeared no less determined to grind Tearen into glassy mince. The Shadow slowly circled the towering monstrosity, keeping his own green eyes locked on the empty sockets in the half-skinned skull. If anything, the only thing that the detonation had achieved was to make the creature's hateful shrieks all the more aggravating. The ex-enigma wondered just how long the Beast could stay standing, considering the amount of blood that was currently cascading from its cavernous mouth. Maybe it didn't even matter. With a halting scream, the blood-soaked horror took a lazy, pawing swipe at Tearen, who side stepped it with little effort.
Then the unexpected happened.
A caustic set of claws clove straight through the robes on Tearen's back, causing a burst of glittering black blood to spray out onto the cracked tile. Acting on instinct, the Shadow skirted off to the left and half leaped, half floated into the air as another claw scythed just inches below his feet. He twisted around in mid air and came face to face...well...face to face would be a bit of a misnomer. This second creature's facial features were obscured by a dangling sheet of flayed skin that seemed to have been torn off of its own back. Fully on alert now, Tearen executed an adroit loop as the first Beast's smaller claw made a grab for him. Was this normal? Did all combatants have to face off against two of these wrecked abominations?
There was no time to consider it as the smaller, hunched creature made a frog-like leap to try and snatch Tearen out of the air. Before its toes could depart the ground, however, the ex-enigma summoned a well of intense gravity beneath it, causing the flayed monster to crash hard into the cold floor. Tearen hissed an irritated breath as the first Beast snatched him fully during his moment of concentration. The Prime's eyes narrowed into slits as the jawless giant brought him close to its reeking, dripping face. Yet another one of those dreadful howls was screamed directly into Tearen's ears, and for the first time, the Prime became legitimately angry. Both monsters released short barks of frustration as the Shadow melted into an inky mist that sank slowly to the floor, free from the tall Beast's clutches.
"I've had enough of this." Tearen whispered to himself. With a wipe of his hands, five Aspects were called to his side. Each one winked with an individual color as their facets glimmered in the clean torchlight of the Azgradurg Colosseum. The ex-enigma pointed two fingers at the jawless beast, and the black tetrahedrons flew into a frenzy of flashing fiery light. As it thrashed haplessly at the Aspects, the flayed Beast that crawled on all fours made a loping dash for the Shadow. Space bubbled in front of the Shadow for a moment, and the squat monster found itself crashing into an unseen barrier of hyperbaric space. During the time it took the flayed Beast to recover, Tearen summoned a veil of telekinetic power around himself and lowered into a defensive stance.
The flurry of primal swipes that came from the creature shortly thereafter were each deflected by a disciplined slap or jab from one of the Prime's mentally armored limbs. Once this passed, the monster roared in fury before rearing up on its hind legs, threatening to crush Tearen beneath its two taloned forepaws. The ex-enigma shunted the full force of its telekinetic armor into his left palm and smashed the empowered extremity into the flayed Beast's obscured face just as its claws began to fall. The force of the blow knocked the frog monster onto its back with a startled yelp, and not another instant passed before Tearen was upon its mold-speckled chest, Enigma poised high in the air. When the halberd found a new home embedded in the flayed monster's chest, the Shadow was allowed the briefest moment of celebration before a choking cloud of noxious vapors spilled out of the fatal wound.
Even as the skinned frog went limp, Tearen staggered off of its clammy corpse, hacking and wheezing as the green miasma violated his newfound lungs. The effects were, frankly, startling in their potency. It was all Tearen could do to remain standing, Enigma bearing his weight as he leaned on the trusted halberd. Distantly, Tearen could hear the chortling choir of demonic onlookers mocking him. Insult was added to injury when his first opponent, the Beast sans-jaw, pinned the ex-enigma under one hairy foot. It ground its full, immense weight into Tearen's body, shrieking in mad glee at finally having the upper hand on its Prime opponent. From his place face down in the concrete, Tearen could hear the Aspects still firing their potent blasts into the tall monster's hide, but it appeared to be past the point of caring. Phase! He needed to phase again! The Master be damned, he couldn't even breathe let alone phase!
Being a simple-minded thing, the Beast finally took its smothering weight off of the Prime's body. Tearen could sense the monstrosity raising its primary claw for a killing blow. Taking in a raggedy breath, Tearen summoned everything he had to offer, and demanded the flow of time around him to cease. A deep silence settled in the area around him, and the Prime weakly turned over to see the towering Beast frozen in place, blasts from the Aspects in the middle of slicing their way through its chest cavity. What was keeping this horrid thing moving?! Gripping Enigma like a headsman's axe, the Shadow channeled the full extent of his cosmic fury into a swift, sweeping blow. In a shattering instant, Time resumed its normal flow.
There was silent awe from the crowd as the towering Beast flopped onto the ground, still thrashing and screaming in denial of its fate. The bottom halves of its legs remained standing; the previous blow from Enigma had been so clean and swift that they remained perfectly balanced. Tearen knocked them over out of spite. With hoarse breaths, the Prime watched its stalwart opponent claw and flip its way around, trying to come to terms with its new life without legs.
"Kill it." Tearen whispered.
The Aspects obliged, swarming like a crown of hornets around the jawless Beast's head. Each one took a turn blasting the dying creature's skull with a lance of light. Each time, the Beast let out a fresh, keening shout. Tearen's patience finally gave out. With a whispered screech of his own, the Prime leaped high into the air and clove the head of Enigma into the Beast's face.
"WILL. YOU. STOP. SCREAAMINGG!" Tearen hoarsely roared, slamming the axehead into the monster over and over. He wasn't exactly sure at what point the thing actually died, but he didn't stop until he was personally satisfied. It took a while.
...
By the time that Tearen finally staggered out of the arena, he was covered in both his own and the blood of two other creatures. A trail of dripping gore followed him as he weakly stalked back into the shadows of the staging area. Enigma stayed at his side, helping him stand. The halberd had always been a bit of a pet object to Tearen. It was good that he had felt inspired enough to call the trusty weapon back to his side. The sweetness of the reunion was soon soured by the stench of Ilthiax's fevered mind. Tearen could taste the cyborg demon's giddiness from a dozen yards away, and in his current state, it caused the Prime to lurch into powerful dry heaves. When Ilthiax started slapping him heartily on the back, it didn't help.
"Job! Well! Done!" Ilthiax said with a grin. Tearen couldn't see the demon's face, but his tone of voice made it evident that the hellspawn was wearing an entirely self-indulgent smile. The jubilation was hastily discouraged when the Prime drove a swift elbow into the cyborg's corpulent gut. Ilthiax stumbled back with a fat-sounding 'Hooof!' and reached into his overcoat for another one of Grooota's. This course of action was discouraged when Tearen simply turned his head and shot the demon a silent, threatening glare.
"Fine, fine. Be your sullen self, plebian." Ilthiax grumbled. Tearen fantasized about telekinetically tearing the fat from the demon's bones. The gory thought brought a grim comfort as the agent went into detail about the next round. It wasn't as if the Shadow actually didn't care, but he was convinced to give the appearance of disdain as he shuffled to a nearby bench and sat heavily upon it. After a few gurgling breaths, the fattened agent gathered his composure and took his own seat, a foul looking drink close at hand.
"Well you passed the qualifiers! Fancy that. I have to admit I was worried when they threw the second beastie curveball at you, but you seemed to handle the situation...just fine." Ilthiax cooed with a greasy grin. Curveball? Was that what changing the rules was called in Azgradurg? Tearen supposed he shouldn't have been so indignant. After all, he himself had cheated to just be a participant in this farce. It should come as no surprise that this kind of underhanded nonsense was the norm. It was clear that Ilthiax was growing accustomed to Tearen's unresponsive nature as the old demon kept babbling away.
"I've managed to grease some palms and find out who your opponent for the second round will be. He's an old soldier from Diablo's army named Gamil, the Knight of Hatred. I've seen him fight before and I think it will be a good match up. I could tell you about him if you're interested..." Ilthiax said, his yellow eyes sliding in their sockets to look at Tearen. It was a ploy to get the Prime to show interest in what Ilthiax was saying. Indeed, Tearen was interested, but he had ways of getting the information himself. As the two maintained their eye contact, the ex-enigma began to subtly induce chemicals in the demon's brain to ooze free of their moorings, and Ilthiax's eyes began to droop.
"Iss...Snrk...Wha's..." the demon groaned, clumsily looking at the drink next to him with suspicion. Not a bad conclusion, but it was too late for Ilthiax to actually figure out the source of the sleep. The cyborg let out buzzing sigh as he slumped over into unconsciousness. A minute passed as Tearen waited to confirm he was actually slumbering before the Prime quietly stood up and walked slowly over to Ilthiax. With an outstretched hand, the Shadow delved into the demon's ember-ridden thoughts. Visions of fire and sadism washed over Tearen like hot coals, trying to push the Prime out of the demonic mind. The cyborg provided more resistance to Tearen that he had been expecting, but after some deeper concentration, Tearen finally found the information on this Gamil individual that he was looking for.
He did not like what he saw.
Then the unexpected happened.
A caustic set of claws clove straight through the robes on Tearen's back, causing a burst of glittering black blood to spray out onto the cracked tile. Acting on instinct, the Shadow skirted off to the left and half leaped, half floated into the air as another claw scythed just inches below his feet. He twisted around in mid air and came face to face...well...face to face would be a bit of a misnomer. This second creature's facial features were obscured by a dangling sheet of flayed skin that seemed to have been torn off of its own back. Fully on alert now, Tearen executed an adroit loop as the first Beast's smaller claw made a grab for him. Was this normal? Did all combatants have to face off against two of these wrecked abominations?
There was no time to consider it as the smaller, hunched creature made a frog-like leap to try and snatch Tearen out of the air. Before its toes could depart the ground, however, the ex-enigma summoned a well of intense gravity beneath it, causing the flayed monster to crash hard into the cold floor. Tearen hissed an irritated breath as the first Beast snatched him fully during his moment of concentration. The Prime's eyes narrowed into slits as the jawless giant brought him close to its reeking, dripping face. Yet another one of those dreadful howls was screamed directly into Tearen's ears, and for the first time, the Prime became legitimately angry. Both monsters released short barks of frustration as the Shadow melted into an inky mist that sank slowly to the floor, free from the tall Beast's clutches.
"I've had enough of this." Tearen whispered to himself. With a wipe of his hands, five Aspects were called to his side. Each one winked with an individual color as their facets glimmered in the clean torchlight of the Azgradurg Colosseum. The ex-enigma pointed two fingers at the jawless beast, and the black tetrahedrons flew into a frenzy of flashing fiery light. As it thrashed haplessly at the Aspects, the flayed Beast that crawled on all fours made a loping dash for the Shadow. Space bubbled in front of the Shadow for a moment, and the squat monster found itself crashing into an unseen barrier of hyperbaric space. During the time it took the flayed Beast to recover, Tearen summoned a veil of telekinetic power around himself and lowered into a defensive stance.
The flurry of primal swipes that came from the creature shortly thereafter were each deflected by a disciplined slap or jab from one of the Prime's mentally armored limbs. Once this passed, the monster roared in fury before rearing up on its hind legs, threatening to crush Tearen beneath its two taloned forepaws. The ex-enigma shunted the full force of its telekinetic armor into his left palm and smashed the empowered extremity into the flayed Beast's obscured face just as its claws began to fall. The force of the blow knocked the frog monster onto its back with a startled yelp, and not another instant passed before Tearen was upon its mold-speckled chest, Enigma poised high in the air. When the halberd found a new home embedded in the flayed monster's chest, the Shadow was allowed the briefest moment of celebration before a choking cloud of noxious vapors spilled out of the fatal wound.
Even as the skinned frog went limp, Tearen staggered off of its clammy corpse, hacking and wheezing as the green miasma violated his newfound lungs. The effects were, frankly, startling in their potency. It was all Tearen could do to remain standing, Enigma bearing his weight as he leaned on the trusted halberd. Distantly, Tearen could hear the chortling choir of demonic onlookers mocking him. Insult was added to injury when his first opponent, the Beast sans-jaw, pinned the ex-enigma under one hairy foot. It ground its full, immense weight into Tearen's body, shrieking in mad glee at finally having the upper hand on its Prime opponent. From his place face down in the concrete, Tearen could hear the Aspects still firing their potent blasts into the tall monster's hide, but it appeared to be past the point of caring. Phase! He needed to phase again! The Master be damned, he couldn't even breathe let alone phase!
Being a simple-minded thing, the Beast finally took its smothering weight off of the Prime's body. Tearen could sense the monstrosity raising its primary claw for a killing blow. Taking in a raggedy breath, Tearen summoned everything he had to offer, and demanded the flow of time around him to cease. A deep silence settled in the area around him, and the Prime weakly turned over to see the towering Beast frozen in place, blasts from the Aspects in the middle of slicing their way through its chest cavity. What was keeping this horrid thing moving?! Gripping Enigma like a headsman's axe, the Shadow channeled the full extent of his cosmic fury into a swift, sweeping blow. In a shattering instant, Time resumed its normal flow.
There was silent awe from the crowd as the towering Beast flopped onto the ground, still thrashing and screaming in denial of its fate. The bottom halves of its legs remained standing; the previous blow from Enigma had been so clean and swift that they remained perfectly balanced. Tearen knocked them over out of spite. With hoarse breaths, the Prime watched its stalwart opponent claw and flip its way around, trying to come to terms with its new life without legs.
"Kill it." Tearen whispered.
The Aspects obliged, swarming like a crown of hornets around the jawless Beast's head. Each one took a turn blasting the dying creature's skull with a lance of light. Each time, the Beast let out a fresh, keening shout. Tearen's patience finally gave out. With a whispered screech of his own, the Prime leaped high into the air and clove the head of Enigma into the Beast's face.
"WILL. YOU. STOP. SCREAAMINGG!" Tearen hoarsely roared, slamming the axehead into the monster over and over. He wasn't exactly sure at what point the thing actually died, but he didn't stop until he was personally satisfied. It took a while.
...
By the time that Tearen finally staggered out of the arena, he was covered in both his own and the blood of two other creatures. A trail of dripping gore followed him as he weakly stalked back into the shadows of the staging area. Enigma stayed at his side, helping him stand. The halberd had always been a bit of a pet object to Tearen. It was good that he had felt inspired enough to call the trusty weapon back to his side. The sweetness of the reunion was soon soured by the stench of Ilthiax's fevered mind. Tearen could taste the cyborg demon's giddiness from a dozen yards away, and in his current state, it caused the Prime to lurch into powerful dry heaves. When Ilthiax started slapping him heartily on the back, it didn't help.
"Job! Well! Done!" Ilthiax said with a grin. Tearen couldn't see the demon's face, but his tone of voice made it evident that the hellspawn was wearing an entirely self-indulgent smile. The jubilation was hastily discouraged when the Prime drove a swift elbow into the cyborg's corpulent gut. Ilthiax stumbled back with a fat-sounding 'Hooof!' and reached into his overcoat for another one of Grooota's. This course of action was discouraged when Tearen simply turned his head and shot the demon a silent, threatening glare.
"Fine, fine. Be your sullen self, plebian." Ilthiax grumbled. Tearen fantasized about telekinetically tearing the fat from the demon's bones. The gory thought brought a grim comfort as the agent went into detail about the next round. It wasn't as if the Shadow actually didn't care, but he was convinced to give the appearance of disdain as he shuffled to a nearby bench and sat heavily upon it. After a few gurgling breaths, the fattened agent gathered his composure and took his own seat, a foul looking drink close at hand.
"Well you passed the qualifiers! Fancy that. I have to admit I was worried when they threw the second beastie curveball at you, but you seemed to handle the situation...just fine." Ilthiax cooed with a greasy grin. Curveball? Was that what changing the rules was called in Azgradurg? Tearen supposed he shouldn't have been so indignant. After all, he himself had cheated to just be a participant in this farce. It should come as no surprise that this kind of underhanded nonsense was the norm. It was clear that Ilthiax was growing accustomed to Tearen's unresponsive nature as the old demon kept babbling away.
"I've managed to grease some palms and find out who your opponent for the second round will be. He's an old soldier from Diablo's army named Gamil, the Knight of Hatred. I've seen him fight before and I think it will be a good match up. I could tell you about him if you're interested..." Ilthiax said, his yellow eyes sliding in their sockets to look at Tearen. It was a ploy to get the Prime to show interest in what Ilthiax was saying. Indeed, Tearen was interested, but he had ways of getting the information himself. As the two maintained their eye contact, the ex-enigma began to subtly induce chemicals in the demon's brain to ooze free of their moorings, and Ilthiax's eyes began to droop.
"Iss...Snrk...Wha's..." the demon groaned, clumsily looking at the drink next to him with suspicion. Not a bad conclusion, but it was too late for Ilthiax to actually figure out the source of the sleep. The cyborg let out buzzing sigh as he slumped over into unconsciousness. A minute passed as Tearen waited to confirm he was actually slumbering before the Prime quietly stood up and walked slowly over to Ilthiax. With an outstretched hand, the Shadow delved into the demon's ember-ridden thoughts. Visions of fire and sadism washed over Tearen like hot coals, trying to push the Prime out of the demonic mind. The cyborg provided more resistance to Tearen that he had been expecting, but after some deeper concentration, Tearen finally found the information on this Gamil individual that he was looking for.
He did not like what he saw.
And, we dream of home I dream of life out of here Their dreams are small My dreams don't know fear I got my heart full of hope I will change everything No matter what I'm told How impossible it seems We did it before And we'll do it again We're indestructible Even when we're tired And we've been here before Just you and I
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued