It wouldn't take long for Iona to find the being she was looking for. After all, she didn't made any efforts to disguise the trail of destruction she left in her wake.
"Stop right there, Beast, I have come to talk. However, I know of your tendencies, this will be the one and only warning," Iona said to the lizard woman before her.
However, once the Dark Archangel arrived there, someone else had also joined their little reunion. A sudden shift in reality would come to both of them as they were dragged to the Oblivion Dungeon's deepest levels where no one but Helena waited for them, sat cross-legged in a throne built with whatever riches laid in the prison's vault.
"Well, well, look who's here. I never thought that you of all people would climb down from your Master's throne to attend to the matters of inferior beings such as us," Helena said, clearly directing her words at Iona.
"If it were for you and your delusions of rebellion, I would have let Juno destroy this place. Nevertheless, I have come to judge whether or not We will need to consider her at threat too. After all, it's not too late for her to join our cause," Iona said back to Helena, while still gazing at Titanica.
Meanwhile, the creature stands motionlessly as she exudes a scowl of displeasure. Here she is, inside this dungeon, having just eliminated four measly Angel warriors who happened to have landed in an unlucky place like this, and now two vassals, one light and one dark, just appear before her. Was she looking for a fight? Was she looking for company? No. She was here for her own agenda. A personal vendetta that is her's to deal with alone. And of course, just as she awakens to find the answers she seeks, she has to bring the attention from the rest of the vassals. Clearly she isn't the type to make friends or rekindle with pleasantries, let alone participating in shallow conversations.
It becomes rather clear that they seem to be arguing over which side she should choose. Choose Iona's side of light and order, or Helena's side of darkness and chaos. Granted both choices aren't too appealing towards her. She looks again at both characters silently, issuing a guttural growl mentioning how she's not amused at the entire situation.
"Stay out of my way..." she growls between her teeth towards both factions menacingly as her spines began to pulsate slowly in short bursts.
"And what way is it that you talk about?" Helena asked. The vampire flipped her hair nonchalantly, clearly not amused with Titanica's display of rage. Helena had to deal with a literal bull inside her castle everyday, childish tantrums were the last thing to faze her.
"The last time I checked, your master was allied to my Master, this makes you my ally by default. Unless, of course, you forgot why we are called Vassals." Helena finished her question flashing her fangs at Titanica, not in an intimidating way, but as an statement of her superiority in this discussion.
Iona on the other hand remained quiet. She didn't have the time to engage in a verbal war with Helena of all people. If this came to it, she wasn't going to think twice about using force. Though, Iona made sure to remain in this sealed form. The collateral damage from their battle was likely what Helena was really looking forward to and Iona knew better than to play the vampire's game.
Titanica simply glares at Helena after she issues her response. While it's true that she herself is a vassal, there's just one prominent problem. While technically, she is bound to their whole "Vassal Civil War", she chooses not to participate in their pointless charades. She's on her own and she's content with it. That's why she normally sleeps in places such as deep in the ocean, or in an isolated cave high in the mountains. She only awakens once every several thousand years to stretch her legs, or according to the Vassals, eliminate one of the three factions back to square one, just as they attempt to claim superior domination over the entire Nexus. But this time, she woke up early. She had at least another thousand years to sleep before waking up, yet now she awakes to deal with a personal issue. These two Vassals are seemingly trying to delay her search, whether they mean't it or not. With nowhere else to go, her spines began to crackle rapidly as her eyes began to glow in pure rage.
"LEAVE ME ALONE." she commands as her anger and impatience climbs towards its climax, her tail leaving a firm impact on the steel ground below her.
"Are you done with your thinking? I asked you a question and did not receive a suitable answer, this must mean that either you are deaf, or want to face the consequences. Given that the first is not true, I'll assume the second," Iona said, summoning her swords and positioning herself for battle.
"Well, let's put it this way, then," Helena said as she got back to her feet.
"If you don't choose a side to stand for, you'll become a foe to all. What will that accomplish, my dear Ti. Ta. Ni. Ca?" She asked as a magic circle of dark energy shone around her feet, summoning several orbs of darkness to orbit around Helena.
Despite the threats that both sides warned of, Titanica is far from being intimidated. The whirring sound of charged up plasma has just reached its boiling point, along with her rage engulfing her entire body. Her mouth begins to glow a bright-blue as she fires a beam of concentrated blue plasma towards the vault entrance, incinerating it completely. The beam then quick turns to fire upon Helena and Iona in quick succession as the raging creature steps out from the vault. She gleams her sharp teeth as she readies her body for an inevitable fight ahead of her. A battle between three titans in a showdown of oblivion.
"I'm on NEITHER side!" she roars as her tail makes another indenture in the ground,
"NOW LEAVE ME ALONE OR PERISH!"When the flames subsided Helena was nowhere to be seen. She certainly hadn't been killed, given that her presence was still noticeable in the Oblivion Dungeon, but her physical form had vanished. The dark orbs of nothingness still hovered in place for a moment before zooming out of the room, mingling with the very shadows and dissolving. Their purpose unknown.
"Very well then, have it your way, the outcome won't change regardless of your choice. Just remember, a Vassal that does not follow her Master's biding is as good as nothing. And, if it's nothing you want, I know all about it..." Helena's voice seemed to come from the very walls, echoing all over the place in an ominous way as she left to do what she came here to do in first place.
"Do you know nothing but how to scream and make pointless displays of power?" Iona said as her figure emerged from within the flames, without even a single spec of ash or dust in her. A fraction of a second later, a wave of tainted light blasted the room with the same force of Titanica's attack. Without any warning, Iona joined her blades by the hilt, turning them into a bow and firing a powerful shot with the same power of her previous attack concentrated in a single point, aiming for Titanica's center of mass, at shot right at her solar plexus. Once she was done with this warning shot, Iona said,
"Even Juno knows better than this. I refuse to believe that there's one of us with even less finesse than she used to have."The bright tainted light hit the gijinka square in the chest, pushing her back a few steps. She growls as she shakes the attack off, only to see that her opponent was attempting to hit her with her bow. The arrow was shot with a similar power level as Titanica's atomic blast, but this time she was prepared to counter. Her right hand glows blue in radioactive energy as she attempts to block the attack with her bare hand. The arrow collides with her hand, only for most of the energy behind it being extinguished upon impact. Granted it stung a bit, yet it will heal itself in several minutes so it wasn't a problem. Yet now Iona is beginning to push on her nerves. If it's a fight that she wants, then a fight she shall receive. Again, her spines glow bright blue as Titanica fires off another blast towards Iona, this time with a bit more power to it. If she attempted to dodge, the beam will follow her moves with impressive accuracy. She'll need to be quick to escape getting hit.
"Ho?" Iona couldn't say that she wasn't amused with Titanica's resistance. However, she would need a lot more experience if she wished to challenge Iona to an actual fight. The Dark Archangel flew up, noticing the homing properties of her opponent's attack. Not that she couldn't take advantage of this, though. Iona flew in a seemingly random pattern, avoiding the beam and shooting at Titanica. However, none of the attacks hit her, since Iona was actually aiming for the floor and walls, placing light arrows twice as powerful as the others she used before, all over the place with the intent of restraining Titanica's movement.
Once she was done, Iona dived at full speed towards Titanica, separating her swords. She used one for a sweeping move and the other to parry any feasible counter, placing Titanica in the path of her own blast.
The arrows were placed around Titanica that kept the gijinka in one place. She extinguishes her own breath as she glances around her surroundings. She was at first puzzled at why Iona would purposely miss her shots and put them on the ground. Then she quickly realized that they were meant to be traps, as if she gets too close, they explode. She's seen similar tactics long ago in her battles, just not with arrows. Regardless she continues to confidently stand her ground and face the dark archangel as she sweeps down on her with her blades. At first, it would seem as if Titanica would simply let the swords cut through her, only to be confirmed falsely at the very last minute. The gijinka quickly turns around and whacks Iona with her massive tail, throwing her into a location where her arrows are primed. Yet as she hits her opponent, some of the arrows were triggered by her tail and exploded simply due to its proximity. Titanica would be slightly rocked around by the blasts, producing a rather significant amount of damage towards her. She would roar in pain as she would have several scratches and cuts on her face and body, yet she was far from being out of the fight.
From the position she placed herself, it was all nigh impossible to avoid the sweep of Titanica's tail. Yet, the gamble paid itself when the lizard followed her instinct, rather than her mind and triggered a number of the traps Iona set up. The Dark Archangel braced herself for the impact, absorbing a good portion of the force behind TItanica's attack, but still not enough to avoid being thrown backwards. Iona hit the wall feet first and remained there, defying gravity. She crossed her arms, after dismissing her weapons momentarily, and said,
"Do you see it now? It's not a matter of who's the strongest, but of who knows more. You have power, but you lack experience. You need to control the rage and the darkness consuming you, not be controlled by them."Iona walked up until she was hanging right above Titanica's head, looking down on the Lizard Woman, with a patronizing look in her eyes.
"Join us and we can grant you whatever is it that you seek. The Nexus is our to do as we see fit," Iona said, extending an offering hand towards Titanica.
"However, if you negate, I'll be forced to end this here and now. I won't make this offer a third time." The arrows that remained on the ground and walls turned into tiny specs and began to gather around Iona, causing her to shine in a baleful way as she gathered power for a killing blow.
Titanica looks up to see her opponent defying the laws of physics as she stands on top of the ceiling. But instead of continuing the fight, she extends an offering hand towards the gijinka. Titanica looked surprised at this offer of generosity coming from her and most of the anger within her eyes seemed to vanish. She pauses for awhile, still looking at all of this rather suspiciously, including the fact at how much she was radiating with pure energy. Could this be a trap to set her up? Was she serious? Titanica didn't seem to know. However, after a few seconds of thinking about this, the gijinka appears to have made her decision. Slowly does she raise her own hand to shake her opponent's hand. It appears that the two have finally found common ground...
But everything turned completely south in a matter of seconds.
The grip in Titanica's hand strengthened and began to glow blue once again. Then with a disgusting scowl, the gijinka pulls Iona from the ceiling and right down to her level, crashing her into the floor. Before she would have anytime to parry or issue that power to issue the final blow, Titanica puts her heel smack down on her chest as she pins the archangel with incredible force and power. It was time for her to finish this. Titanica's spines began to glow once more, but at the same time blue energy began to seep into her body from all around her. The whirring sound of charging plasma began to intensify as her entire body glows in this blue radioactive substance. The dungeon already began to rattle as Titanica prepares for her own killing blow.
Suddenly, everything seemed to stop for a split second. There was no sound at all as there was a moment of absolute silence. Then, all that pent up energy was unleashed in a powerful shockwave that was sent rippling throughout a considerable part of the dungeon, followed by an intense roaring boom. Anyone who happens to be nearby would feel the effects of the blast as it feels like they're burning alive for a few quick seconds. It wouldn't kill them, but it would certainly damage them considerably. When everything finally died down, the entire room of ground zero, and the closest rooms to it, were almost completely destroyed. Titanica towers triumphantly over her opponent as she breathes heavily due to the amount of raw power she emitted. She looks down at Iona, who seemed to lay motionlessly with severe burning to her face and body. She'll probably regenerate all the damage eventually, but it was clear that she was knocked out for the time being. The gijinka lifts her heel from the limp body, looking at it hatefully.
"You... shouldn't have come here." Titanica replies to her with another growl.
"Have it your way, then," A voice said from behind Titanica. Not anyone's voice but Iona's. Before the Lizard had any chance to react or even think, a blast of light several times more powerful than anything either of them did in this combat would tear a good chunk of Titanica's side, searing off one of her arms and legs as well as part of her tail and flank. The wounds would eventually heal, but they would serve the purpose of showing Titanica that even within the ranks of the Vassals and their Masters there was a clear hierarchy. Especially those who think of themselves as such. The Iona in the ground would dissipate in a nimbus of light specs as she revealed that she had been camouflaged for the whole time of this combat.
"Do you realize that both darkness and light are much more than that which your eyes can perceive, right?" Iona said, without a bit of compassion in her voice.
"I would be glad to stay here and torture you over and over again, but I have a report to make. It seems like we will have to devise ways to get rid of you for good this time. For the time being, take this as a parting gift," Iona said as she drove one of her light swords on Titanica's back, impaling her against the chamber's wall.
"Next time, think well before refusing our offers..." Those were the last words to come out of Iona's lips as she teleported away, to seek whatever dark purpose she had in mind.
Two acutely sharp pains ripple throughout Titanica's side and back as she snarls at Iona's words. She slowly stands up as she rips the sword from her back, only making a groan of slight discomfort before looking back at where the archangel once stood. Hate fueled her entire body as she mentally curses both Vassal "factions" in their attempt to recruit her into one of their sides. Her punishment for not responding? This whole thing. This is exactly why she hates both factions with a passion. Granted they aren't the worse wounds she has received, for she has taken much heavier blasts in the past, but regardless she was pulling back on her explosive raw power. But that time will come soon enough. Iona may have won this battle, but considering that Titanica has been awake only for the past hour or so, one can say that she simply needs to shake off the grogginess and to grab the feel of battle before becoming like her prime again. It doesn't even discourage her to continue searching for her goal, rather it invigorates her. The wounds on her body began to rapidly heal as she walks back into the darkness of the dungeon to search for the one being who has her scent on hold...
She will not hold back the next time she encounters Iona.
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