[IC] Angar-Rylla- NVM

[LeeRoy]

Theme Music!


The Voidman mocked the guard's super serious tone inside of his head and then blew a raspberry, LeeRoy was inclined to agree. 'Well, just go up to them and blow him up.'

I'd ask if you were serious, but I know you are.

'Hey, you said I could make the plan this time!'

LeeRoy opened up his chest panel and pulled out two explosive plates from the compartment, closing it back quickly to avoid them turning around and seeing where he hides them. This was stupid, incredibly stupid. More stupid than that gamble he had with the previous empire. Especially since he doesn't have any of the tools he had back then, he kind of regrets his last time going to port. LeeRoy left behind way too much last time, but food is usually more important than weapons in the short term. Now, with the explosives in hand he took a couple running steps and swung his right hand around, whipping the small plastic explosive through the air at the first guard. The one at his right hand side. On contact with a rigid body these plates explode with enough force to stun them. The guards weren't expecting this one. The right guard was knocked onto his face by the explosive detonation.

LeeRoy's focus snapped to the staggered guard's sidearm, a sleek rifle that had been in his hands as he fell. The immortal ripped it out from under him and tilted it up at the second guard. Commanding him to stop didn't do much, LeeRoy pulled the trigger and fired off two rounds into the base of, what LeeRoy assumed, was the helmet. Before seeing if his shots had succeeded he took the gun and popped a couple rounds in the back of the first guard.

'Two guys, dead. I thought you were a humanitarian.'

"I am! But technically they don't count, since they're Extraterrestrials!" In a madcat gambit LeeRoy ran for the door, exiting the way that he came but instead of heading back to his ship he took a left. "It's probably locked down, if they haven't destroyed it already. So there's a small chance that I won't be getting out the way I came. I'll have to come back for my ship later."

'What about your supplemental pills?'

"I really don't need them, I love them. They keep me sane longer, but I don't actually need them right now. I'm producing enough adrenaline on my own, thanks."

'Good luck, I'll keep quiet so you don't get distracted.'

"Thanks." That comment lead him to doorway, and that doorway opened up to reveal a room full of armored soldiers. Just like the ones that he had just dealt with. "You're serious right now? This is the kind of fate I'm living? This is peachy keen." He closed the door back and started to run like hell. A caged animal is often the most wild, and LeeRoy was no different when it came to being a prisoner. See, if he could find the armory and get a suit of power armor, then he could use that to make a clean getaway. Biggest problem with that plan is not knowing the layout of this ship, he hadn't seen much of it overall, and especially not an armory. So hopefully he'd find a map somewhere, like you'd find in a mall. "Where's the: 'You are here!' sign!? Can someone give me a break?"

To be perfectly honest, the only plan of action was to get off this ship. These people are mad, like actually mad. Some kind of plot to destroy the multiverse. Or worse, a misguided plan to use powers they don't comprehend to CONTROL IT? So LeeRoy has to make this up as he goes along, hell, around the next corner he could bump into the General himself. "Bet money he's stronger than I am."

'I'll take some of that action.'

"You said you were gonna be quiet!"

'I'm a compulsive liar.'

"Besides, what are you going to do with money?"

'Get my weave did.'

"You're not messing with my haircut." Those words were punctuated with a sliding halt, LeeRoy leapt into a small room which he hoped was empty. Slamming the door behind himself and leaning up against it. The suit made running fast easier, it did not prevent LeeRoy from becoming exhausted. "I'm out of shape."

'No, you're in shape, you're just old.'

"Yeah. I'm old, not out of shape. I was looking for the right words."

'No problem. But why are we in this room?'

"Take a break from running."The scientist panted heavily, hoping to every god out there that nobody knocked on this door. Now, unfortunately, his attention was solely on the door. LeeRoy was not actually paying attention to what was in the room with him. He could have literally stumbled into an airlock, and that would be just his luck.

[GreivousKhan]

Khazna stood impassively as the Lord General briefed him on the situation. When Dr. Kur entered and was introduced, he inclined his head toward her in acknowledgment before returning his full attention to the General once more. Who by now had punched in a command on a console changing one of the viewing screens to a feed that Khazna realized was one of the vessels on broad labs. Within was what appeared to be a man wearing a suit he did not recognize of being imperial in design…and though while the video feed was of fine quality, Tablurath bitterly noted it did not allow as much in depth analysis as he would otherwise be capable of at a mere glance had they met face to face. Still he noted that it was of inferior design to anything Angar-Ryllan was capable of. In fact it looked downright primitive. The video feed did also allow Khazna to note something quite peculiar about the man. As with all living beings, he possessed a thread of fate the Cardinal could clearly see, though it was beyond Khazna's abilities to read it or any thread for that matter. He did note that this one was quite different, it shun with radiance unlike anything he had seen before in mere mortals, and was fractured in several places. He had seen that brilliance before however.

Khazna remembered the strands the Fireen had possessed from the last chance meeting between them. He too had possessed strands of fate unique to the norm. Khazna had assumed it was due to his energy manipulating abilities, but this being did not seem to be filled with as much raw power.

“This man claims to be immortal. He also appeared just as our attack forces encountered the Talisan, and his appearance here coincides with a sudden spatial anomaly off of a series of planets collectively known as the Demon Webs.”

Khazna visibly straightened. Immortal? Yes...that might explain the other wordily brilliance that seemed to be about the man, despite the lack of energy flowing through him. Or perhaps he was so powerful he could somehow mask his true potential? Could even Khazna's eyes be tricked? That idea seemed ludicrous to the Cardinal. However, it was apparent that this man was more than what he appeared to be. Still without actually laying eyes on him face to face, Khazna could never be sure. The mention of an anomaly also peeked Khazna's interest.

“This man is currently considered a Class A threat. His appearance is not a coincidence. I am not sure the extent of his powers nor what his purpose here among the Home Fleet is.”

Khazna nodded his agreement on the canny general’s perception of the being. Though he did feel it was a risk to even have him on board at all. But he wisely kept that to himself.

The General nodded towards Garal Vash, who stepped forward, his eyes flicked towards Khazna in acknowledgement, “Lord Cardinal, your fleet has been tasked with entering the Demon Web system and searching for the anomaly. We believe that it leads to the Nexus itself.”

At this Khazna raised an eyebrow, though the gesture was mostly hidden behind his mask. A gate, to the Nexus itself? If such was true then that could very well change 'everything.' But he quelled his excitement for now, no point in getting his hopes up yet without boots on the ground to verify.

Garal Vash took over, his voice low as he locked eyes with the Lord Cardinal, “You are to consider this a black operation. You have tacit authority to do what you have to do, and punish those who oppose you in any manner you see fit. Nevertheless, the anomaly must be located before its signature vanishes.”

Now they came to the meat of why Khazna had been summoned. He saw also why he had been chosen for the task, for few where the mortals that could see the strands that made of the very fabric of existence, even if comprehending or even manipulating it was well beyond Tabluraths own humble abilities. Such a talent would still help however little in the finding of this 'anomaly,' because if little else was known of these gates. Their very nature would, or at least should, bend and warp time and space itself. Ultimately finding the cause of this disturbance was not quite unlike finding the threads that had been misplaced and disturbed. How befitting he would be searching a place that was in its simplest form a great web in and of itself. Though of a very different nature. Still such disturbances would not last long, time would be against them. Khazna for his part more than welcomed the challenge.

It had seemed he had been sitting quashing the upraising now and again for too long, now was a chance to break from the normal routine. A true challenge befitting his skills. So he felt.

Lord General Klaast leaned forward, “Dr. Kur will be on stand-by, she and her team will be ready to utilize a fast vector transport to be in orbit around the planet in 6 hours.”

Straightening the Lord General faced the Lord Cardinal, “I cannot tell you the importance of this mission. You are have free reign to recover or find this anomaly. Do not fail Lord Cardinal.”

The Lord Cardinal matched the general’s gaze, a subtle light in his brown orbs.

"I will not fail." Came his only reply.

In his, admittedly short, but none the less eventful time within the Angar-Ryllan, Lord Cardinal Khazna had never batched an operation and many of his peers, if not a little begrudgingly considered him something of a prodigy. His talents in both command and his natural charisma were matched only by his relentless zeal to see every star and every universe under the iron hand of the Empire.

As the general turned back to watch the man now alone in the lab Khazna joined him. Something about this one intrigued the Cardinal.

Lord General narrowed his eyes, “I do not trust this man. Lord Cardinal what does his action tell you? I am always interested in the opinion of my Cardinals, especially those with a certain eye towards fate reading.”

Khazna offered a somewhat tepid smile beneath his black mask before replying. "In that cause Lord," He began, eyes slightly squinted as if studying a book he had read before but still greatly perplexed him. "I must agree with your suspicions. He is far more than what he appears to be. The threads of fate on him are..." He paused for a moment as if searching for the right word. "...shifted, as if it is no longer his own. It oddly shares some similarities with the Fireen. Infinite in some ways but ultimately finite. In sort, he seems to be telling the truth in so far as his immortality is concerned."

Tablurath then raised his shoulders then dropped then in a symbol of defeat. Explaining the depths of his sight when it came to the threads of fate was akin to trying to describe color to a blind man. Sadly, Tablurath could only see these threads, the fate of those who held them was beyond his ability to comprehend or see. So when the man on screen suddenly launched explosives from his suit and quickly incapacitated the guards in the room, he was as surprised (and a little amused truth be told) as the General might have been.

The man’s actions were a surprise certainly to the guards he put down. Already he had escaped the lab and was running beyond the videos feed. Other screens showed bits and pieces of his escape attempt as he sprinted down corridors. Khazna could not decide if the man was either an excellent and brilliant spy, or soft in the head. His blind running around seemingly at a loss suggested the latter. If anything he was certainly a brave fool. His ship was detained, there had to be hundreds of crewmen and guards on board, and he had literally nowhere to go. The last feed showed him jumping into what Khazna recognized, by the Ryllan lettering on the door, was a laundry room where crewmen sent dirty cloths and gear to be cleaned and repaired.

Khazna only sighed and shook his head at the sight. The man would likely be apprehended in due time, there was no hope of escape. Still there was much preparation to do before his fleet set out, and it had been some time since he had operated on the field himself. He hoped, he might find some amusement in facing this threat directly. It would at least save time and resources if nothing else.

“Well my Lord General, It would seem our...quest… is none at all pleased by our hospitality." He said with a smile in his eyes. "Allow me General." He voiced pre-emptively guessing the Generals next words. "The liberty in confronting this man. It might prove a fitting exercise before the 6th fleet must set sail."

[LeeRoy]

Having caught his breath and feeling no knock on the door, LeeRoy saw fit to take a look around the room. It was a laundry room of some sort, uniforms all over the place and underpants galore. The filth of a thousand men is the same no matter what planet you're from it seems. The scientist removed the tint from his visor to look around, there was absolutely nothing of use here. Clothes upon clothes upon clothes! "Dammit!" LeeRoy swore to himself, kicking a shirt aside in his frustrations. "I'm probably being watched right now, gonna bet that there's a camera somewhere in here!" Frantically looking around the room he spotted no cameras, that doesn't mean there aren't any. They're likely small and near invisible to the naked eye.

'LeeRoy, calm down. When was the last time you took your medicine?'

His left hand rubbed against his helmet, scraping across the top of it. "I don't know! Probably a day or so, I was going to take it before I got on board this ship!"

'So you're not filtering your blood right, that's not good!'

"Yeah, I'm gonna start getting light headed." Now, a little explanation here. LeeRoy can't sleep, therefore his body doesn't do the tasks that it normally does at night. His body only does things at 1/2 efficiency due to the lack of an ability to sleep. To supplement this process he replaces his blood periodically. any blood will work. He's AB positive.

Back on topic. Shaking his head out of frustration he sat down on a bench near the back wall. Popping the clip out of the rifle and checking the number of bullets, pulling out twenty six total remaining. He's fired four shots, and he only popped it he didn't hold down the trigger. It was designed like an automatic weapon, gas powered, thoroughly analyzing it to find how he should best use his remaining shots. "Headshots only, gotta make sure I get close enough to aim. There's not enough ammo for me to spray and pray."

'Spray and praaaaay!' She screamed it as though this weren't a serious situation, LeeRoy's face tensed up in frustration. 'Yeah, sorry. This is important.'

Popping the clip back in he loaded a round into the chamber and looked down the sights. Damn thing was too thin for his tastes. The bulkier masculine guns are his style, but that's because he loved the 80s era of hyper-masculinity. "It's a bit light, good material. It'll take a bit more getting used to before I can shoot the head off of a fly but I could pinpoint someone's head."

'Steady hands, cold heart, level head and no sweetheart.'

"Are you mocking me?"

'Maybe.'

"You're not gonna take this serious are you?"

'You've never given me reason to doubt you.'

Lowering his gun he raised a finger and opened his mouth, going to say something but then he just. Closed his mouth and lowered his finger again. "Was that a compliment?" That's a first.

'It's a fact! Shut up!'

"I'm starting to think that you're not as evil as you act."

'Shut up, they're probably watching you! I bet they think you're crazy!'

With a rather unnecessary intensity he muttered to her. "Are they wrong?"

[GreivousKhan]

Upon reaching the floor that lead to the ships on board Laboratorium, the system emitted a dull ping shortly followed by the doors sliding apart with a sigh. Five figures sprung out from the elevator quickly setting up a defensive perimeter around the doors creating a half circle. A moment later a slightly shorter figure then the hulking Nas’Gaduran warriors followed with calm purposeful strides. Despite his shorter stature he carried himself with an air of self-certainty befitting a man of the Cardinals rank and stature. Dark eyes cast about his surroundings, spotting a familiar gleam from one of the many threads scattered about the ship.

He walked forward briskly and the men accompanying him arranged themselves about him in a proactive guard. Not that he needed their assistance, but it helped to keep up appearances. Baltu would have no doubt urged him to take a few along anyway. Though he would have likely have advised for more to be one the safe side. His second in command was a capable man, but was a surprisingly over cautious fellow. A not all together bad trait in the grand scheme of things. Still if this so called immortal could not handle a few Ryllan soldiers then he was simply not worth the Cardinals time.

"Mi'lord, scanners reveal the target has not moved from his last position." Khazna easily overheard Baltu's voice over the communication rely built into his mask. Khazna nodded his head in understanding, though Baltu was not present to see the gesture.

"Very well, then we have him trapped." He grim smile playing on his lips. "I wonder how I dear guest will escape his predicament."

" Lord...are you sure you need deal with the filth directly, it would be easier to just-"

"Enough, if I wanted your opinion I would have asked." Besides there is something I need to confirm...

"Of course my Lord. The hall leading to his location is around the next bend."

The unit paused as they came to the turn, the point man peering around the corner quickly before giving the signal that it was clear. It was but a single man, but the stock discipline of the Ryllan soldiery took the threat seriously all the same. The door leading to the laundry chamber was down a fairly wide corridor some 12 feet across, with the only cover being on the form of steel ribs jutting out from the sides of the hall at every seven foot interval. The guards went into a tight skirmish line as they quickly leapfrogged from rib to rib as they closed in on the door their traget hid behind.

The Cardinal for his part simply walked calmly forward down the center of the hallway. When two men pressed against either side of the sealed door the group paused from behind cover as they trained their weapon on the entrance. At least 13 feet from the doorway off to its left Khazna regarded the strands of thread woven around the doorway and beyond spotting several shatter points.

Then as casually as if he was addressing a neighbor down the street on the state of the day’s weather, he spoke. "To the one known as LeeRoy." He shouted as if tasting the name. His inbuilt translator using the dialect English this man seemed native to. "You are asked but once to surrender yourself immediately into the custody of the Angar-Rylla Empire. You have committed an act of anarchy against the God-Emperor. Of which you have earned the penalty of death, however, should you surrender yourself now without delay or resistance you may find mercy yet. Your ship is detained, you a trapped in a room we can just as easily eject into cold space where we can destroy you at our leisure, and you are hopelessly outnumbered. You have no hope of escape, there is after all only one reasonable choice left to you. Submit. You have ten seconds."

Khazna smiled and waited for the man’s replay. The space ejection was untrue, but the man had no way of knowing that. The rest however was as plain and true as the moons of Angar-Rylla. They could easily kill the man, or at least test just how immortal he was. But such would be a waste. If he was a spy there would be more to gain by taking him alive if possible.

"Do you think he will really submit?" Baltu piped in over the comm channel.

"If he is half as smart as he claims..." He merely shrugged. “We will see wont we?

[LeeRoy]

Several noises outside the door, sounded like the footsteps of well trained guards. Likely a bit better trained than the ones that he had finished up earlier, not much of a problem. A voice chimed up and alerted him to a high ranking individual. LeeRoy didn't have to worry about the guards, the man was probably here to get a pin put on his chest that said: You killed an immortal, good job. For a moment LeeRoy believed the bluff about the spacial evacuation, but then looked around. There were clothes in here, and almost nothing but clothes. This wouldn't be a garbage shoot, it would have a lot more in the way of food scraps. And these clothes are in rather good condition, besides being dirty. The two words that LeeRoy really hated had been tossed into the Brass's bluff. "God emperor this, god emperor that. What is it with you extraterrestrials and speaking of god emperors. You know war isn't the way to peace, right? Of course not, most societies in space are barbaric and crude. Even with advanced technology you're little more than a bunch of Angry Gorillas throwing your shit at eachother. Huh, I guess that's why you're called the Angar-Ryllan Empire."

'It is sort of common.'

Because society works in parallel, god emperors just seem to be the point that things like to reach. Luckily on Earth we had the Greeks, they put a stop to the God Emperor psychology real quick.

And to further insult the Brass he stood up and slowly crept towards the door, hoping they didn't hear him. "And besides mister man, this is a laundry room. Why would you have a way to suddenly eject your panties, ma'am?" It was at this point that the voidman was laughing hysterically, to be honest LeeRoy let out a few chuckles of his own. That was pretty funny. "And my last point." He spoke again, almost at the door, rifle at the ready. Making sure to stand about three feet away from the door to prevent the gun being grabbed from his hands too quickly. "If you know I'm immortal, which I'm sure you do at this point. Everyone seems to love that information. Then you have no chance of killing me. That's kind of in the repertoire of being immortal. So I'm willing to bed you're just some big bad brass ass who wants to prove himself as the biggest bad and bring back the head of an immortal to boast to your ugly alien friends."

LeeRoy readied himself for what was sure to be a fight that he wasn't going to enjoy, then again he didn't enjoy any fights. And the last fight he had gotten into had nearly gotten him dismembered, but that's another story. Alright, analyzing time. There are, most likely, a load of guards out there. There were lighter footsteps and then mechanical footsteps. Meaning that he had at least two power armored men out there with him, they would be harder to deal with. In all likelihood, however, they won't attack until he starts to feel his confidence slipping. So be prepared for things to get hectic late fight. Early fight, since he's assuming that this man is stronger than he is, LeeRoy would have to stun him first. With that thought in mind he plucked out two of the explosive plates and tucked them between his fingers, closing back his chest container. "Alright, buddy, I've just got one last question before you get yourself killed."

'Ooh, big tough guy.'

With that same unnecessary seriousness he spoke through the door. "What's your name, boy?"

[GreivousKhan]

Khazna shrugged, it was always the hard way. The seconds ticked by in his head as he ignored the other man’s pointless attempts at a taunt. Khazna had never really had the time or patience for such things. He liked to think he had grown beyond that, though if it was a calculated response by his enemy to throw him off it ultimately failed. It must have never occurred to the so called scientist that a ship fire could easily happen anywhere, laundry cell or not. Ironically it seemed the man’s ignorance had allowed him to guess at the bluff. It mattered little.

Khazna did take note of the man’s movements, the threads that made up his existence shun brightly beyond the obstructions of the wall. Though there was always his thermal optics in his mask, had this man possessed no threads of life so brilliant in the first place. His words might have also given away his position if Khazna had relied on those senses alone. The intruder was closing in on the entrance it seemed. Khazna raised a gauntlet clad hand and the soldiers went into action. Those further up the hall kept their weapons trained on the door while the two on either side of it readied themselves. The one on the left side of the door pulled and primed a thermal flash grenade for over just a second. While the other held his hand close to the control counsel. The man had never bothered destroying them and sealing the entrance.

The guard punched in a command, then readied his weapon as the door chimed before hissing open. The moment the door split in went the grenade. It was a nonlethal weapon of course, not merely to incapacitate the man, but to spare any damage to the ship as much as possible. The thermal flash would burst in a stunning array of light and with a painful burst of sound further ahead in the center of the room. In such a confined space the bang would be quite unsettling and the low fuse meant there was little chance of it being thrown back in time unless the catcher had super human reflexes. The other guard would attempt to shoot at anyone within once the flash had passed.

Khazna himself kept his distance for now calmly pulling one of his blades, serenity, free. If the man could not handle a few guards he was not worth his attention.

[LeeRoy]

There was actually a reason for him not sealing the door, it was kind of the only way out of the room. Besides the ventilation shafts, but he was way too big in his armor to go through the ventilation system. Now, LeeRoy heard the hissing of the door, and honestly he was hoping that for once his taunting had worked. When he saw the armored guard stepping in his face distorted into a frown. This obviously wasn't the guy he was expecting to come through the door, just another pawn on the chessboard, but then something awful happened.

"Is that?" Damn, miscalculation. Not at the taunt, taunting never seems to work. It's like everyone in the multiverse is an emotionally static individual. "That's a SWAT breach." No, the miscalculation was the typical SWAT breaching tactics. Through the door a flashbang came through, the noise wasn't the issue here his suit was thick enough to shield from ear splitting sound, it was the flash of light. When it exploded it caused his eyes to go fuzzy and be flooded with little circles of white light. In the haze a figure moved forward, LeeRoy brought his gun up and fired with his eyes closed. Closing his eyes would allow them to adjust faster than if he held them open. He knew he was facing the door so he wouldn't deviate much from his firing sights. Though he was blinded he could still kill at least one of the poor unfortunate bastards. "Usually the bad guy enjoys fighting the protagonist one on one." LeeRoy fired off six shots from the rifle into the doorway, totally blind to their flight path. Fortunately they were fired fast enough and close enough to the door that they shouldn't miss.

[GreivousKhan]

The moment the grenade went off, the other guard quickly charged in weapon raised high. At that moment a storm of rounds slammed into him knocking him off his feet, one round puncturing his helm splitting his skull and raining blood mixed with grey matter into the air. His death scream cut short when another two rounds whipped into his throat and the base of his neck. With a gurgling sound like a man drowning he went down. The other guard avoided a similar fate thanks to the fact his companion had served as an involuntary human shield. However he did not escape completely unscathed as a round punched into his shoulder spinning him away to his left.

The shots had either been guided by the gods or damn lucky. The last few shots flew past Khazna, who had wisely stayed out of the direct path of the door. The bullets almost moved in slow motion to his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at the display. Turning back in time to see the last guard, now hugging the wall near the door, start spraying rounds back though the entrance in a blind fire. Seeking to avoid his comrade’s fate by staying behind cover. Whether the blind shots hit was another story.

Khazna simply continued to watch on while the other three guards remained behind cover weapons at the ready.

[LeeRoy]

This was nice, at least he knew that he had hit all of them. The sound of bullet penetration was nice, but then a volley of bullets came his way. Two struck his suit and glanced off, a third actually penetrated his helmet, blowing a hole clean through the back. Much to LeeRoy's fortune, however, it's a space helmet. It missed his head by an inch and a half and actually ripped out some of his hair. Before getting shot again he leaped backwards and grabbed for the bench he had been sitting on earlier. Rather difficult considering that his eyes were still shut, but his hands found the piece of metal again. "Jeez, you guys are jerks. If I get shot in the head one of two things will happen. I'll become mentally retarded or I'll have to make a wish. Nobody wants that second option." Forcing his left eye open he saw the bullet hole in his visor but also saw the bench. Jeez it was blurry, it wasn't going to be fun. This'll last at least another minute or so. With a quick snapping motion he picked up the bench and held it in front of him as a shield. It wasn't enough to completely cover him but it would protect from any fatal shots.

"Now that I know you're a chickenshit, buddy, I'm just waiting for you to dismiss the cannonfodder and actually fight me. I'd be willing to bet that I could take you in a one on one fight. Your guards are just gonna get killed if you don't come in here." This was a distraction, from his left arm he popped the compartment and pulled out the solid brick of C4. "I swear to the god who's cursed me with Immortality I'll spare their lives if you come in and fight me yourself."

'You're a cheeky bastard.'

"I take pride in my word, boy. I'd be willing to bet you'd love to mount a still living head to your wall wouldn't you? So, are you going to callously throw away the lives of your men just to give yourself a pitiful advantage against me?"

'Ooh, that aught to sting at his pride. If he has pride. He could be the sort we run into all the time.'

Arming the explosive for remote detonation he pulled out the detonator and peeked around the bench. Ensuring to keep the explosive out of sight before speaking. "Well? It's up to you now. Are your men's lives that worthless to you?"

[GreivousKhan]

Khazna idly ran his left hand over the dull side of his blade as he admired its craftsmanship. Khazna seemed oblivious to the small battle just several feet ahead of him. Still the 'immortal' continued shouting jibs just barely heard over the cacophony of gun fire. One might have thought he would have given up by now? Years spent under intense psychotherapy had born in the Cardinal a discipline few men possessed. This Leeroy certainly liked the sound of his own voice. By now he had leapt blindly for cover a few feet back in the form of a bench. At this point a black mist had started to swell around Khazna as he calmly walked forward. Just then the man began to lift his temporary shelter and made it something of a shield. The last rounds of gunfire colliding into it and around the man’s feet creating sparks here and there.

"Now that I know you're a chickenshit, buddy, I'm just waiting for you to dismiss the cannonfodder and actually fight me. I'd be willing to bet that I could take you in a one on one fight. Your guards are just gonna get killed if you don't come in here."

The guard’s gun ran dry before he could correct his aim and he hastily reloaded. There was an almost deadening silence as the shooting stopped momentarily. At this point Khazna stood almost within the doors entrance.

"I take pride in my word, boy. I'd be willing to bet you'd love to mount a still living head to your wall wouldn't you? So, are you going to callously throw away the lives of your men just to give yourself a pitiful advantage against me?"

Khazna causally tilted his head at this outburst; he certainly liked to use the word 'boy'. The man was really in no position to threaten let alone make demands. Such an interesting one this Leeroy was turning out to be. Still perhaps he would humor the man? The mist of black was now heavy in the air around him and he decided now was the time to make use of it.

"One on one? I don't make a habit of fighting the handicapped." Even as he spoke his sword had already flashed in front of him in a blur of motion slicing the open air. "But if you insist. Catch." Suddenly as if by magic, a blade appeared in the air seemingly built out of the space before him, or more accurately the black mist. An almost exact duplicate of Serenity he caught the sword cleanly with his left hand then tucked it across his chest under his right arm then flung it forward with uncanny skill and godly precision.

Just then the man Leeroy had dared to peek from behind his makeshift shield to mouth off another challenge. The sight of the weapon would no doubt give the man quite the surprise, likely he had never witnessed one throw his sword like an oversized dagger before. With the speed the weapon was thrown and distance between them (if the man could even see the blade traveling through the air from his angle) it was unlikely he would be able to avoid it. Its velocity, some 189 feet per second, and weight meant it would pierce through the bench with over 30 inches of Starhilm. Impaling it and the man behind it with the force to knock the air from his lungs, cut through the flesh past his suit and sunder a rib or two. The weapons course aimed for the center mass of Leeroys body just under where his heart should be.

In the few seconds Khazna had been at the doors entrance his razor sharp eyesight had taken in the room in its entirety. Quickly absorbing his surroundings as any experienced warrior would. The room was roughly 30 feet in length and a little more than half that in width. Within it, three rows of machines took up most of the chambers room. With the walls possessing what seemed to be pipes built into them. An idea was already forming in the Cardinals mind and what little of his opponent he could see pointed at the fact he no longer could be carrying his rifle, and only one hand was carrying the bench. All this he took within the span of a heartbeat.

The moment he had loosed the sword Khazna entered into a combat stance legs bent and muscles ready to spring forward or back at a moment’s notice with his feet squarely set apart. His blade ready for another sweep through the mist around him.

[LeeRoy]

As LeeRoy peeked around the corner he saw a sword flying at him behind the bench, and unlikely as it seems he knew what was going to happen. Instead of letting it hit him in the side he flattened his back against the bench and braced for a devastating blow. And when it hit, oh boy did he feel it. Through the area just below his diaphragm and just slicing the top of his liver came through a sword.Caked in blood that was thinner than it should naturally be and the smell of coconut began to waft around the room. That took a lot of strength, a good deal more than LeeRoy can muster even in his armor. And the blade itself was strangely unnatural in its feel, something was off about it and was oddly familiar but he couldn't place it. From the way it just cut through a piece of steel and his armor like butter it was likely some sort of super material. Of course it was.

'They don't!'

Of course they do.[/u]

'Yeah, this is bad. I didn't know they had THAT kind of Supersoldier.'

[i]Power armor, super soldiers. This is all starting to sound real familiar.

Taking in a deep breath before trying to speak he responded to the sword with deliberate tones, trying to not sound like he has been impaled. "I'll be honest here, you're only the second guy to successfully do that to me." With one hand he pressed against the bench and shoved it to the ground, the blade sliding out cleanly with it. Blood trickled through the hole in the back of his suit but inside it was positively drooling. "The other guy did it better, actually cut off my head by throwing it like a disk instead of a dart." Between his fingers in the hand that Khazna could see were the two explosive disks, the other hand was pressed against his abdomen where the blade had struck him.

"But now I know what you're capable of physically. A super soldier, not unlike the ones I created to guard my home. Except you're the kind who-" LeeRoy had to stop to actually catch his breath for the first time in a while. "Who's prideful about it, aren't you?"

'What was that?'

I was just stabbed, it'll be a while before I'm not going to be in pain.

'Try not to die.'

I won't have to try hard, it's the winning that's hard.

Lifting his right hand up he smiled behind his mask and spun around, whipping the pound of explosives through the air. And no, it's not aimed at Khazna, LeeRoy threw it with the intention of it landing behind him. All the while giving him the impression that he was throwing it at him with poor aim. The sight in his eyes was beginning to improve, albeit slowly, but it was more than enough to see where his enemy was. Before he was finished with this motion he also brought his left hand up and flicked the two plates he had out in the Cardinal's direction. These flew with a more deliberate path at Khazna, with the tint on his visor gone he finally got a good look at his enemy. A human. LeeRoy smiled from ear to ear at this new bit of information.

[GreivousKhan]

The sword struck the bench and sliced right on through to impale the man behind it. He could hear a strained breath from behind the bench as the man attempted to recover to some extant after having a sword impale him.

"I'll be honest here; you're only the second guy to successfully do that to me."

"Well then, I suppose I should feel honored!" He answered with a mocking cordial tone and exaggerated excitement. “But I do fear it will only get worse for you from here.”

Still Khazna was mildly impressed that the man could still stand and even work the blade free. This Leeroy was not going to disappoint him as far as his seeming immortality went. Even before the bench fell to the ground Khazna was already moving to press his advantage. He sliced the black mist before him again and this time another blade appeared, seemingly smaller than the first which was also skillfully caught with his free left hand.

"The other guy did it better, actually cut off my head by throwing it like a disk instead of a dart."

"My dear friend, if you are unable to catch the weapon I so kindly offered you; I am forced to wonder if you are really worth my time."

Without the obstruction of the bench Khazna's dark eyes peeking through the visors of his menacing mask could now make out what appeared to be two disk shaped objects. Khazna recognized them as being in similar shape to the explosives thrown at the guards earlier in Leeroy's escape attempt.

"But now I know what you're capable of physically. A super soldier, not unlike the ones I created to guard my home. Except you're the kind who-" LeeRoy had to stop to actually catch his breath for the first time in a while. "Who's prideful about it, aren't you?"

Khazna only smiled behind his dark mask. Super solider? Oh, if only this man knew the truth. While Khazna possessed superhuman levels of hand-to-hand and sword fighting skills, none of it was the result of genetic tampering. Khazna however did not respond, already calculating the distance between them, the amount of time it would take to cover it, as well as reading his opponent as closely as the man’s suit allowed. This Leeroy's bulky space suit would make it difficult to read his muscle movements. Not to mention Khazna’s own speed was hampered by his training weights he still wore, though he was still faster then his opponent. He predicted he would not need to use the full might of his speed found in the art of Flash-point.

It was then the man made his first move, one that to Khazna's decade of long training and combat seemed painfully obvious in movement and application. First he shattered the first rule of combat; he turned about, allowing himself to lose sight of his opponent. The act of lifting his right arm up alone was enough to reveal the object it held, though he could only guess at its nature, no doubt more explosives. Khazna would have normally not have bothered allowing him to completely finish the maneuver. However, the sight of the object gave him pause, and in that time he simply posed his new blade for another throw. Then came high the plastic explosive as it went sailing into the air. Then in that very instant did Khazna react with a blur of motion sending his new blade sailing toward the device with inhuman precision for its blasting cap.

Too Khazna's eyes the entire throw seemed to have been played out with over-exaggerated movements and awkward slowness that was the hallmark of basic peak human speed and movement. Allowing him to easily predict its trajectory and intercept with his blade, which would impale it and send it flying a few feet behind Leeroy to stick fast to a steel beam built into a machine at his rear. However, he had not expected Leeroy to also fling his two discs at him at the same time. No mean feat to be sure. Fortunately the movement of him raising his left hand was just enough warning for Khazna to decide his next action, thankfully he had already readied himself for a quick dash from his stance. There was no room to jump to the side in his current position so he went down instead, falling forward into a tight combat roll, allowing the disc to sail just inches above him. Khazna gambled the disc were impact sensitive from the way Leeroy had employed them the first time. It was just bad luck that the guard waiting outside the door choose then to pop out to place a well-aimed shot between the eyes of Leeroy. He never go the chance to fire before being blown off his feet from the twin concussive blast of the two disk sending him flying back, likely out cold.

It was fortunate Khazna had witnessed their use beforehand, he'd have rather not have been surprised if he had decided to employ serenity in cutting them form the air. His move also took him over the prone body of the dead soldier Leeroy had killed. As he spun up from his roll into a kneeling crouch he would have a nasty surprise in store for his immortal foe. He had aimed for and grabbed the fallen weapon of the dead guard and leveled it at Leeroy. The sleek rifle barked as it spat a hail of bullets toward their target. But even one blessed with marksmanship as potent as Khazna could not fire a weapon such as this easily in one hand. Thus he did not bother actually aiming for the man before him. He fired rounds in a tight circle from one side of the room and up over the man's head then down.

Using pay-and-spray over marked precision, Khazna's rifle tore into the pipes aligning the wall. These were fed with hot steaming water that lead into the machines behind Leeroy. Sadly, instead of hot water dousing the ground around Leeroy for a distraction, hot steam spewed out with a hiss of anger instead.

Steam? Khazna thought. Well best make use of an unexpected outcome he decided. He fired a few shots in Leeroy's direction hoping to panic him to cover. Then he dropped the rifle, already spent of rounds. Khanza quickly rolled to his right as the steam began to fill this end of the room near the only entrance. He wondered how good his opponent’s vision was in an obscuring mist. He ended his role in a combat stance, his sharp eyes peering into the mist for his foe, the outlines of his threads visible to his extraordinary eyes. His mind eye now quickly placing them at roughly 12 feet from each other.

[LeeRoy]

"I'm certain that would end poorly for me, grabbing your sword. You're a smart-ish man, I bet you've got some technique or superpower that allows you to destroy whoever weilds your sword or something." With a deep inhale he watched the man easily deflect his bomb, how unfortunate. Not a negative thing, it just changes his battle strategy. Then Khazna rolled forward over the first corpse left from LeeRoy's blind fire, grabbing a gun and effectively dodging the two small plates of explosives that had been thrown. "And your sarcasm isn't lost on me, but your cocky demeanor is really starting to bug me. You have this particular-"

Before finishing his sentence the man whipped up a gun and unloaded the entire clip in his general direction. From behind steam billowed forward and slowly started to fill the room. And then the bullets started to dig into his suit. Before getting shot in the face he brought his left hand up to shield from the bullets. It didn't cover the full helmet but it prevented the bullets from hitting him in the head. In his left hand he caught a good bullet in his index finger, likely blowing it away from the joint. It was painful, like really painful, but LeeRoy had a plan. Once the clip was emptied Khazna rolled to the right and cleared a path straight to the door. LeeRoy smirked. "Particular way about you that makes you think you're smarter than I am. As though I don't have the next twelve minutes figured out already in my head."

'You're crazy if you think this is going to work.'

Nothing ever works, Voidman. Nothing ever works. It seems literally everyone I have ever met is some kind of psychic who is immune to anything that would naturally distract someone. But I think a high grade explosion should work.

'It's not going to.'

With detonator in hand he looked at the black mask wearing freak. "Say hello to the ground, bitch." In an almost comical fashion LeeRoy booked it for the doorway, sliding past Khazna with the smuggest grin on his face. At the doorway he pushed the detonator button and blew the C4 on the back wall, sending shrapnel and steam flying around the room. Even the highest tier character wouldn't enjoy hot metal being blasted into their face from the back of a room.

[GreivousKhan]

From his position just to the right of the room’s entrance, blade held calmly in his right hand Khazna merely watched for his opponent’s next move.

"Particular way about you that makes you think you're smarter than I am. As though I don't have the next twelve minutes figured out already in my head."

"Oh, well if you say so. I suppose you know all about the turkey knights waiting by your ship."

Just then his opponent rose to the bait, running for the entrance way. "Say hello to the ground, bitch."

Khazna for a moment really wondered if this intruder was really going to make it that easy. He decided to chance it anyway. As an old Angar-Rylla General had once said, Quickness is the essence of the war. As Leeroy made his mad dash to the entrance, he inevitably brought himself toward Khazna's deadly reach. With remarkable speed Khazna suddenly become a blur of motion--hardly visible in the mist of steam. Meeting the intruder halfway, placing them both some six feet from the entrance. He shifted forward straight for the man then spun on one foot sharply as Leeroy attempted to pass him keeping Leeroy to Khazna's front the entire time. Thus he danced to Leeroy's left flank keeping just out of the mean's reach placing him at the immortals one O'clock. In a heartbeat it might have seemed he had allowed him to pass.

In the span of almost half a second Khazna swung with his gathered momentum from his sharp turn maneuver, slashing at the back of Leeroy. His blade would cut at an angle through Leeroy's upper right side of his trapezius muscle across his spine at an angle down to his lower left latissimus dorsi muscle. Effectively severing Leeroy's spine in one quick cut with almost 20 inches of Starlhrim combined with his strength and speed easily cutting through Leeroy's suit. A task made all the easier with Khazna's considerable reach of over 7 feet to work with. Without missing a beat Khazna reversed the fall of the blade expertly to then follow up with a second cut, this one a horizontal slightly upward swing to sever the man's head from his shoulders from left to right, both cuts taking place in the realm of a second and a half. Khazna was not taking any chances. It was time to find out just how immortal his foe really was.

[LeeRoy]

LeeRoy was sure he was going to make it across the room, he was fast enough in his suit to travel that distance in less than a few steps. And he was in sprint, so the concept of Khazna catching up to him was mind boggling. Mid stride it became quite evident that his plan was about to backfire horrifically, this horrifying backfire was only further cemented when a blade penetrated through his backside again and cleaved through his spine in one movement. The blade was withdrawn and LeeRoy had to act before a second slash was delivered.

'Did he just!?' In his mind the Voidman screamed out in horror, watching LeeRoy get gored was never a pleasant sight. Especially since she witnessed it in first person and third person simultaneously, there was nothing pretty about what was happening right now. And LeeRoy knew it would only get worse if he didn't act fast.

Without thinking about the repercussions he plunged his thumb down on the button for the C4 stuck to the wall. Halfway through the room, less distance between him and the wall was a good thing. Why? Well that's because Khazna's in the way of the shrapnel blast and powerful pressure wave, that's why. With the detonation of his explosive there was a 50/50 chance of getting shrapnel in his back, but it was better than decapitation. And since Khazna would NOT be expecting it, and since his position was compromising he was likely going to get a back filled with hot steaming metal thrown at well over penetrating speed. Oh, and the concussive force produced by the explosion, can't forget that.

[GreivousKhan]

Khazna had suspected that quadriplegia would not be enough to deter the good scientist. The moment Khazna had sliced through the man’s spine. A resounding blast suddenly lifted Khazna from his feet and caused him to barrel into the man before him. The Cardinal managed to shift enough to recoil into a ball as best he could while he was suddenly launched from his feet effectively foiling his coup-de-grace. Debris flung from the explosion sailed through the air causing further destruction to the machines in the room. Thankfully the explosion had carried over from the other side of the room, putting them outside its killing range of shear kinetic force.

In moments a rolling wave of heat washed over them, burning the edges of Khazna's cloak even as hot pieces of metal lodged into his armored bodysuit piercing some places and causing spots of pain. But as with any suddenness of explosive violence Khazna would not be aware of the complete damage to his body until long after, but the minute feeling of wetness near his back foretold of at least a few cuts that had passed his ceramic plates. As it was the force dashed his left shoulder against the side of the entrance way. Sparks from his shoulder plates sprung up in then died away in an instant from the impact.

He flew through the entrance hot on the heels of Leeroy likely. His senses were momentarily jarred by the unexpected impact. On his current course it seemed he'd collide with the intruder as they hit the ground and slide some several feet from the room. Which if nothing else would give the Cardinal an unexpected soft landing compared to hard steel floor his adversary would find himself upon. He quickly rolled to his side until he reached the wall from prone Leeroy's right side, trying to recover his senses. The damage so far seemed to be a dislocated left shoulder, with numerous cuts from fragments that had defeated his suit and a bruised rib, his bodysuit protecting him from the majority of the damage which was largely fragments of metal it was specifically designed to resist.

Leaning against the wall Khazna took the time to catch his breath. Soon finding that task difficult as a quick observation revealed a fragment of metal piercing just below his right rib towards his back causing a jolt of pain with each inhale of breath.

"Well...that was unpleasant." Khazna mouthed struggling to get to his feet. The three soldiers waiting at the hallways end had already started to advance forward at the sound of the explosion, guns ready. He was still dazed but tightened his grip on his sword. It was unlikely this Leeroy was going to be going anywhere soon with a severed spine. By all rights he should be paralyzed at least at the waist. But Khazna would not be surprised if he suddenly sprung to his feet as if nothing happened. That happened more then he liked to admit.

[LeeRoy]

The explosion was successful at preventing a decapitation, but being thrown through the air while the entirety of your body is numb is an unpleasant situation. His eyes caught something in his hand mid flight, the detonator was still there. Swell. All of the force from the explosion had sent his body into some sort of strange flailing spiral of motion with the man who was trying to kill him right behind him. Well, from the neck down he can't feel anything anymore, questioning how he pushed the button himself. Probably just the muscles tensing up, or maybe divine intervention. Sometimes these things are best left to suspension of disbelief.

'You're fucked aren't you?'

"Yep." His voice was gasping and unnatural, his lungs had been cut, crushed, and now completely nerve dead. But the words escaped him, and he looked to the ground swiftly coming up below him. His hands limply flopping behind him as he faceplanted into the metal flooring. And then, inconceivably, the worst possible thing happened. Literally the worst possible thing. As Khazna and LeeRoy landed the detonator landed button down, button down on the ground. His hand had fallen thumb first, the detonator was in that hand, and the button touched the floor. As khazna rose to his feet LeeRoy swore to himself.

"This just got a whole lot fu-" He was going to say 'a whole lot fucking worse.' But the C4 in his right forearm detonated while still inside of his suit's storage compartment. Literally impossible for LeeRoy to dodge in any regular way it would have even more dangerous repercussions for those around him than the previous bomb. This time it was in a container of plating and metal, with LeeRoy's innards to add to the mix. As well, the 16 other explosive charges were detonated by the C4 block, and their small explosive nature was still more than enough to reap havoc with LeeRoy's body. The Voidman and LeeRoy himself groaned internally as a brutal explosion tore his body apart, bombarding everything in the hallway with scalding hot chunks of LeeRoy and his suit.

[GreivousKhan]

By the time Khazna rose to his feet he'd began regaining his senses enough to hear Leeroy curse. His eyes spotted a device face down radiating waves. A signal. Alarm barked in his head as he quickly realized the nature of the device and deduced the reason for the intruders own fear. His free left hand flew to his crest at his neck. A sharp hiss releasing the weights at his ankles and arms, he didn't even wait for them to hit the ground.

'This is going to hurt.' He realized, but he found it preferable to staying here.

"This just go-"

In the blink of an eye Khazna vanished while the eyes of the three guardsmen eyes went wide as they recognized the detonator, though too late to do anything about it. The world become one great blur to Khazna where only the threads of reality were visible, but he already had a destination and direction in mind. He suddenly appeared 35 feet down the hall past the three guards pushing the limits of his time spent in such acceleration; he could go no further he knew, his injuries just would not allow it. That very instant the explosion rocketed down the hall becoming an intense inferno evolving into a fireball. He cursed realizing he was nowhere near far enough to escape the explosion and prepared for the inevitable bone crushing shock-wave....

[LeeRoy]

(As LeeRoy has lost his battle, I shall go through the process of revival as detailed in his Character Sheet.)

Watching the man escape the blast radius was insult to injury, he'd accidentally blown himself up and somehow the guy knew about it? It was nonsense, but LeeRoy's frustrations were soon to grow worse. Down the hallway that his body was smeared across the actual sound of a band playing music rang out, and LeeRoy's day was only going to get worse.

'You just had to blow up, didn't you?'

This time it wasn't my fault.

'And last time? You said it wasn't last time too.'

I was lying.

'Course.'



The blasting of trumpets rang out as a massive deep turquoise hand wrapped around the corner at the end of the hallway. The guards who hadn't rushed to the other end of the hallway stared in awe and fear at this new being had come out of nowhere with deafeningly loud music blasting from thin air. One poor sod tried to shoot at the newly appeared god, we all know what happens when you make a god angry. There's a new beautiful pillar of salt adorning the hallways of the Angar-Ryllan flagship now, in case you were wondering.

A deep and melodic voice came from around the corner, the hand not moving from its position wrapped around the wall. "MMmm-Mmph! Ooh, baby, the King is back and he knows exactly what he's here for!" With a groan LeeRoy's consciousness watched helplessly as an annoying show as being put on nearby. "Oh yes, I know exactly what dish is served up today." Impossibly he showed up from the doorway opposite of the one he was reaching through, his hand still hanging on to the other door. "Y'all know what that wish is baby?"

"Of course."

'Get on with it!' The two were in agreement about only one thing, LeeRoy's 'patron god' was an asshole extraordinaire with an unnecessary love for flair.

The hand clinging to the door corner let go and snapped around the entirety of whatever circle he was forming with it, sending the blue god into a tornado of Mask-Like proportions, cleaning up the gore that was once LeeRoy in one quick motion and spitting it out into clean little bricks of gore. "Somebody's body is no longer a body, and that somebody needs some new body parts." A three pronged grin crossed his face, the split in his chin widening to show teeth lining it as well. "And I think that somebody is LeeRoy, isn't it?" In a sarcastic way he looked at the place where LeeRoy's consciousness was forced to stand. "I can't tell, the mess was so bad that even MY eyes can't tell. Oh what a shame that I'll have to forcibly revive whoever this is, an then I'll have to take something away from him or her."

'Oh you're just hamming it up aren't you, you cocky blue SOB!'

Oh and he was, the God's hands touched eachother at the palm and a thin black stick formed between them. the blue hand gripped the staff and he worked his magic. In an almost bibbity boppity boo fashion he tapped the pile of blood bricks on the ground. This was followed by the most grotesque sound imaginable. You know what sound that is? The sound of bones growing back, organs reforming, muscles stitching themselves back together, and skin congealing like skin on pudding. All of this horrendous noise making was followed by LeeRoy's screams of agony, and then silence as he falls to his knees. "You're a bastard."

'Uh, LeeRoy?'

The scientist clutched his throat wide eyed, realizing that something was horribly wrong with his voice. "You changed it!? My voice!? Of all things, you stole my voice from me!?" What was once a rather level tone, at an almost perfect middle tone, was now something that would make Clint Eastwood cough himself into hysterics.

His lips curled upwards into an awful smile, the blue tendrils on his head twisting around energetically."You know the rules, LeeRoy. But I'm feeling in an awful mood, not a bad mood, but a mood to be awful."

'He doesn't mean-'

LeeRoy's face turned bitter as he rose to his feet once again, entire body sore and weak. Like a newborn, but fully grown. "You're gonna fuck me over further, aren't you."

"Not per saaay." The god bit his own lip and lied through his teeth. "It'll help you out, if only marginally."

'He's not going to help you, don't let him do this!'

Now resigned to what was to come LeeRoy groaned, trying to get over the change in his voice. "Not much I can do, what're you gonna do?" The god snapped his fingers and the pair was on his ship, a second snap and LeeRoy's ship was plummeting from sub-orbit on some other planet.

"I never said I was going to tell you, but I hope you have fun~"

'We're falling you know.'

"Yup." With that, LeeRoy bolts to the controls of his ship. Whipping his helmet off of his head, only now noticing that his suit was brought back as well. Splendid. But that might not matter much, as they're in a direct nose dive towards the ground!

[yoshua171]

Arkaeis - Avatar of the Living Abyss


Stepping from the Nexus, a rift that connected all realities and made converge universes into a single all encompassing multiverse, Arkaeis answered the unspoken challenge that had been laid before him. His body drifting in the void of space, Arkaeis looked down to the planet known as Angar-Rylla. Though it dwarfed his vessel in size, it was nothing more than a solid object in a solid plane. He was far more than this, but he had no reason to gloat of it.

Casting the concept of size aside, the avatar began to drift down into the planet's atmosphere, though drift was hardly the term as he moved at top speed. Yet, to him, the world moved much more slowly, allowing him to react faster than almost any other. Soon, as he hit peak velocity, his weight increased monumentally by his own will and the properties of the void, Arkaeis suddenly slowed, for he was nearing the surface of the planet. However, its surface was hardly earthen, rather it was covered in light and the sheen of various mechanical objects. Unfazed by this, Arkaeis touched down in the center of a city, but he did not glance around to get his barrings. There was no need for that, he had already scanned the entirety of the sprawling metropolis. It took him only a few moments to do so, and his descent to Rylla's surface was plenty of time for that and far more. In fact, he had been able to accurately identify every single individual within the city so as to land in a location that had as few possibly violent individuals as possible.

As such his arrival, while it did not go unnoticed, would initially go without disturbance. "Have no fear, children of creation," the conduit said in the native tongue of the Ryllans, he had already learned it through his Transcribed perception and vast mental capacity. It was easy for him to accomplish something as simple as this, "...you may not recognize my form, but the one I serve is pervasive throughout the entirety of existence. I know you have seen it before. Let me remind you," some of the Ryllans backed away from him, seeming off-put by the strange aura that pervaded the area since his arrival. A soft smile formed on his features before a gentle wave of gaseous void formed in his hand as he raised it in front of himself.

As he did so, he noted that several of these individuals, and the city itself, had alerted the authorities to an unauthorized presence. He chuckled, for as he raised the sphere they were nearly there. "This is aging, death, destruction, to which I am sure your race and its empire are quite familiar. You have spread it throughout the multiverse, and because of it you have drawn my attention. Your existence offsets the balance, but it is not the fault of the citizenry. So fear not, I mean your ilk no harm, it is the higher echelons of your society to whom I must speak," with these words uttered the gaseous sphere of void rose from his palm, into the air, and continued to do so till it suddenly shot thirty feet above him, drawing the crowd's attention, as Arkaeis vanished from their sight completely.

Now standing atop one of the skyscrapers of the bustling metropolis, the conduit looked down upon the square he had been in where the authorities had arrived, cleared the crowd, and began to isolate the small pocket of void that he had released. Smiling slightly, he watched with interest as the energetic barriers they utilized began to degrade with continued exposure to the gaseous sphere. Its polarity was neutral, but he had altered the way it exhibited this property slightly, he had allowed it to expand instead of intensify its density. The sphere was growing and the more they tried to contain it, the larger it seemed to become, devouring, and degrading, everything that it came into contact with. Eventually they managed to utilize some form of stasis field in tangent with a layered barrier, which slowed its progress considerably. At this point, Arkaeis took control, allowing its expansion to cease and reverse entirely. It regained its density, returning to its former size. The officers looked at it with astounded expressions, they had plainly never come into contact with something of this nature. He was sure that they were familiar with magic, but this was something entirely in its own realm...literally.

Thinking to draw the attention of the military, Arkaeis began to materialize gaseous spheres of voidal energy all around the metropolis, and remove their ability to retain figurative mass within themselves. He increased their expansion rate and kept track of their overall status mentally and perceptually.

Chaos began to ensue in the city and the planet became a beacon.

Someone had decided to draw the attention of one of the most dangerous and powerful military forces in the multiverse, and he had no intention of backing down, no matter the opposition. Even better was the very fact that Arkaeis expended no energy other than that which was required to manifest the small spheres. Their expansion was simply a product of the void's inherent qualities, not his manipulations. Thus, his energy would be once more at its peak if anyone chose to oppose him. As such, he nullified his presence, pulling the entirety of its form inside of him and deciding to exude only the concept of nothingness itself, for while he could not use it to destroy in the purest sense, he could use it to destroy any form of his own presence. As such, his very lifeforce would vanish from perception completely, as if he did not exist at all.

There, in this state, his pitch black orbs ever vigilant, Arkaeis would wait for the adversaries that were sure to come. He was curious to see who thought themselves strong enough to stand against him.

It would be an interesting experiment, he thought. Interesting indeed.