TokyoPewPew
Izurich
RevekaRed
DracoLunaris
Forsythe
Archmage MCDiabolical Incantation
Lvl 3 Grimm Zenkichi, Primrose, Lvl 9 Roxas
Word Count: 3,109
As any dedicated explorer of the Under -or indeed, the Kingdom of Hallownest- could attest, the subterranean realm generally became stranger and more exotic the deeper one went, but the Qliphoth seemed to be the opposite. The higher the Seekers climbed in their steady ascent toward the demon tree’s canopy, the denser this alien environment became. Up here the floodfestation zones were a terrible sight to behold, with entire sections of the trunk overgrown by rampant, hateful flesh, a cancer metastasized beyond any hope of removal. Yet the most powerful demons lurked up here as well, an elite cadre of inglorious devils risen from the seven hells to safeguard this stronghold on the World of Light’s surface, varied in power and form but united in common purpose. And as Grimm sliced his way out of a bloodstream to set foot in a broad cylindrical hollow lined with iridescent oil-black stone, it was one such horror that his scarlet eyes witnessed.
At first blush, it loosely resembled the spawn of some gargantuan bird, a gangly hatchling yet to grow feathers with a disproportionately large head. But its skin was yellowish brown, scaled, its head further distended as if by bloated tumors within. Inside its beak lay rows of rotten human teeth, and all over its body -but especially its wings- twitched what might have been bony fingers or arachnid legs. Yet as horrid as this was, that wasn’t all. Atop its back lay a handful of crystalline spires that ringed an arcane vortex like the contents of a swirling cauldron, and over the diabolical brew loomed a clustered trio of pale, feminine bodies, clothed only in pitch-black hair, with only one arm per torso and ritualistic marks on their faces. At the intrusion, the three heads turned, followed shortly by that of the nightmarish bird-thing. “Some manner of insect. Uninfected, too. I smell a strange, dark magic on you…”
”Well met. I am Grimm, master of the Troupe beckoned by the nightmare flame.” The newcomer bowed dramatically, a claw held over his heart and the other extended sideways. ”And I have come in search of kindling. A fine stage this is, your towering kingdom fallowed by worm and blight. Let us light it, a funeral pyre, ignited by the passionate heat of our dance.” He held out his hand, as if beckoning the creature to come and take it.
The demon spread her claws wide, leering at the dancers, detective, and nobody. “A dance, is it? Know then that you stand in the presence of Malphas, and the mightest sorceries of hell! I will squash you -all of you- like the bugs that you are!”
Wiping the bloody xylem from his body, Zenkichi slumped his shoulders a little when he realized they were in for another fight- because obviously they would be in for another fight, it’d be too easy otherwise. Ragnell appeared in his hand as he looked at his companions for this battle- Roxas, the bug guy from Meridi-At-Han whose name he didn’t remember or didn’t catch, and Primrose. Not a bad squad, all things considered, he thought. Instead of Preservation Protocol, though, this time he set up Restoration Protocol. The double-buffing was useful, but with Primrose here, he could buff and heal the whole squad at once, which might prove invaluable. ”Alright, giant chicken demon lady. That’s new.”
For Roxas, the only Seeker here he was particularly familiar with was Zenkichi. But that wasn’t going to stop him from helping them take down this demon lady person. ”Wish I could say it was new to me.” Roxas quipped in response to the Phantom Thief’s comment. Even before Galeem, Roxas had certainly seen and fought his share of bizarre enemies. Nevertheless, the Nobody brandished his Keyblades and got to work. The first thing he did was cast Tailwind on everyone present, including himself.
Then he used his StepSword to instantaneously move himself to a position to strike at one of the upper torsos from behind with the ignited energy blade and try to follow that with a quick series of Keyblade strikes.
It's like every horror in the area has come to take shelter in this tree, Primrose thought as she was freed from the vein only to find herself immediately staring yet down another monstrosity. Though for all she knew the Qliphoth had been like this the whole time. The dancer's eyes flickered over to the teammates she now found herself with, meeting each of their eyes (or in one's case, their mask) to signal that whatever they were in for, she was ready for it.
She did want to try out the mysterious reward she'd gotten after the last battle, but in the crucial opening moments of this one Primrose also chose to empower her allies. She'd seen a little of Grimm at work in Meridi-at-Han, had noticed the boy Roxas cast a spell or two, and knew that Zenkichi possessed some magic of his own... so she swiftly decided on her first performance, kicking things off with a dance most literal. The Peacock Strut, with motions as bold and confident as they were elegant, would increase the power of a Seeker's magical and elemental skills - but with just a few extra moments the effect spread to every one of them.
When the nobody had taken a second to cast, Malphas prepared herself as well. The uppermost torso jabbed two fingers forward and unleashed a wave of purple spikes toward her challengers. That naturally wouldn’t trouble Roxas, but the other two had waved their hands to conjure three murky orbs apiece, which hovered briefly in the air. After Roxas flashed with a flurry of blows, all six orbs launched his way as dark magic lances, and the bird itself stepped forward in order to whirl around. Luckily for Roxas he was quick enough on the draw - thanks to Tailwind - to generate a small platform of virtual cubes to plant his feet on in addition to a chest high wall in front of him he could crouch behind to try and avoid the lances - or at the very least slow them down or blunt them. Four crashed against the wall, but two shot down at a high enough angle to strike him.
Grimm took advantage of the distraction to use a little magic of his own. He flung wide his cape, releasing first the Grimmchild, then three firebats that hurtled through the air to blast the hatchling’s face. The next moment, though, he was forced to dodge the incoming spikes with a quick, low scuttle to the side. To his surprise the spikes curved to track him, fast enough to catch him with painful jabs from below, but it would take a lot more than that to put the Troupe Master down. He did not happen to see the uppermost torso as her extended fingers traced his path, but as Malphas turned her back he began to run forward.
With only her dagger as a means to deal physical damage, Primrose had to largely stick with her spells - though she'd known that going into the mission this morning, and as such was fine leaving her allies with the getting up close and personal. As the wave of spikes extended towards them Primrose leapt, floating up until they passed under her, and prepared to join in on the offensive. Though this demon claimed to be a powerful sorceress, she hoped it did not have some measure of magic resistance... She called upon her Moonlight Waltz to test it, even as she began to conjure Luna in her free hand. The swirl of darkness took shape to fall upon the demon's center mass, soon to be followed by silvery moonlight.
Summoning Ragnell, Zenkichi ran straight towards the multi-bodied demon, rolling to dodge the wave of spikes coming his way Much like they did with Grimm, the spikes curved to pierce his side, forcing a grunt of pain out of the Phantom Thief, who rolled his eyes. Of course they were seeking projectiles. Oh well, he'd have to either knock them out of the sky or block them next time. As soon as he got within range, he swung Ragnell a few times, launching blasts of explosive energy at Malphas.
Just as the demon delivered a monstrously powerful peck that shattered the ruby-red cubes and threw Roxas to the floor, its legs and back took a handful of empowered elements. The chick uttered a horrid squawk as it looked back, its eyeless face bulging, then lifted one leg. Two of Malphas’ torsos snapped their fingers, conjuring dark swirls by both Zenkichi and herself, and when the chick thrust its limb into one a taloned kick extended from the other to stamp down on the detective from above. Grimm dashed past him while this happened, but once the leg retracted all three of Malphas’ torsos worked together to manifest a huge portal directly above herself, into which the demon promptly disappeared.
After a second, more portals began to appear around the Seekers. In quick succession the bird’s leg or head burst through each one, each hard and fast strike delivered from an odd angle with only a moment’s notice. In the chaos, Grimm only narrowly avoided a full-force peck, sprayed by oily shards kicked up from the impact point, then committed to constant motion in order to stay ahead of the demon’s assault. A few seconds later, a large portal opened on the other side of the arena and Malphas drifted out sideways, quickly sliding to a stop.
Zenkichi was caught off guard by the kick from above, which knocked him to the ground, groaning. Once he picked himself up, he saw the many portals appearing around them, and resorted to the ancient art of rolling around like a madman, leaping and diving away from talons and beaks as they launched out of the portal. Even with his desperate dodging, he was clipped by more than one hit, though the glancing blows were far from lethal.
Primrose continued to keep her distance and cast her own magic - though unfortunately she'd learned that staying out of melee range would not protect her from that deformed chick's melee attacks. The portal barrage had taken her completely off guard, and the first strike from the thing's beak she'd suffered had been a rough one. She abandoned her offensive to devote herself to evasion as the attack continued, patching herself up by placing the flame of Warmth at her bleeding side. After several close calls the portals closed, and Primrose summoned her Makami in retaliation.
"Tarunda!" she ordered, and the willowy wolf flew towards Malphas to deliver its debuff to the demon's strength.
After those lances caught him, Roxas wasn’t able to react in time to avoid getting thrown down to the floor by the initial peck attack. But he recovered quick enough and was back on his feet, only to find that Malphas was no longer nearby. She’d used some kind of portal to move to the other side of the arena. ”You’re not getting away from us!” Roxas shouted, already locking onto the demon lady before he, too, vanished.
He reappeared once again directly above Malphas’ flank where he struck with the energy blade of his StepSword. But rather than continue attacking, he conjured up a fresh formation of virtual cubes that he pushed himself off of in order to launch himself down to the ground, hoping that his blocks would help protect him from the trajectory of any more dark lances. And as soon as his feet were back on the ground? He summoned Kayano - who used her mysterious powers to instantly pull the Nobody’s allies to his location while simultaneously pushing him backward toward theirs. Plus they all got a nice attack boost as a bonus. All Roxas had to do after that was use his StepSword again and he was immediately back into the thick of the fray.
In reply Malphas cast with all three hands to unleash a huge cone of purple spikes, into which the nobody’s allies were dragged. Grimm, at least, managed to react in time and launch himself skyward with a scything uppercut. Though it allowed him to evade the spikes it fell well short of Malphas herself, until he teleported while in the air, which released a rain of four large fireballs. Their descent preceded his reappearance on the demon’s other side, opposite Roxas. He joined in the assault with two floating claw swipes, followed by a brisk divekick.
At the same time Primrose prepared her latest spell. It was a potent one with a longer casting time, but when the crystals shot forward again Primrose trusted her Baldur Shell to protect her. The purple spikes crashed against the shell, and though it shattered it had succeeded in preventing the spikes from reaching her. The three masses of shadows she'd conjured shot forward then, her Dirge of Dusk twisting through the air towards the demon's trio of humanoid bodies.
Going from dodging like a madman to being pulled into a wall of spikes was not Zenkichi's idea of a great time, though in this case he managed to pull up Ragnell in time to block, or more accurately, deflect a couple of spikes out of his way as he narrowly avoided the rest. ”There's just no end to this, huh?!” he complained, launching a few blasts of light with Ragnell before calling for Valjean. ”Fine, then. Valjean, Triple Down!” In his experience, birdlike things didn't fare too well when presented with gun damage, and the healing burst that flowed out from him thanks to Preservation Protocol was a nice addition, as well.
Roxas was not happy seeing what he had accidentally dragged his fellow Seekers into, to say the least. He thought he was giving them an edge by giving them a means to press their attacks while simultaneously being buffed, but instead it looked more like he’d just thrown them against a wall. After his initial reappearance in the aftermath of his StepSword attack, Roxas generated a collection of scattered virtual cubes that he could launch himself between with flow motion. That kept the Keybearer himself out of the barrage of spikes on the ground. But it also put him in a position to be right in Malphas’ line of sight. For now all he could do was keep zipping between cubes and try to get in fly-by slashes. Maybe if he could harass Malphas enough it might create a window for some of the others to capitalize on with their attack boost from Kayano.
While Roxas and Grimm’s empowered attacks helped soften Malphas up, and Primrose’s tenebrous magic dealt respectable damage, it was the amped-up Triple Down that tipped the scales. When the magic bullets hit the head bird itself, rather than the demon torsos, the malformed hatchling shrieked and slumped to the ground with a massive slam. It could only write feebly as it lay there in a heap, despite Malphas’ best efforts to coax her lesser half into action. “Up, up!” she seethed. Knowing that she was a sitting duck right now better than anyone, she began to cast more orbs in a desperate attempt to keep the Seekers at bay.
With this chance presented to them, Primrose moved swiftly to make the most of it. She danced around the magic orbs flung their way, moving up slightly if only to make sure her aim would be true.
"Lights out!" she said, conjuring a large inky black lance. It hovered in the air for a moment before stabbing through the air at a harsh downward angle to skewer Malpha's triplet body. In addition to the strike itself and the waves of damaging darkness that would waft out from its impact point, it would make her allies more likely to land a critical hit.
Seeing the opportunity, Roxas wasn’t about to let it go to waste. He pushed himself from a virtual cube and launched himself down toward the toppled Malphas and stabbed both Keyblades into her with all the explosive momentum he’d built up from his previous uses of Flow Motion. Then he followed that up with a Cross Slash that then led into a flurry of rapid Keyblade strikes. And since his feet were touching the ground, Roxas decided to generate a bunch of virtual blocks right on top of the demon for good measure, since they would deal constant touch damage to anyone other than himself that touched them.
Perhaps still sore from those spikes earlier, Grimm decided to lend a hand by repaying the favor. He plunged the tips of his cape into the ground, and after a second or so, they shot up from the ground beneath Malphas to pierce her hideous lower half from beneath. His Grimmchild joined in with a little scarlet spitfire as well.
Zenkichi also rushed in, barely taking time to dodge the magic attack Malphas had launched, powering through to take advantage of her vulnerability. When he reached her body, he lifted Ragnell into the air, fire accumulating around the blade. As the flames reached their peak, he thrust the blade into the ground, a series of fiery explosions emanating out from where the holy sword hit the floor.
This time, luck was on the Seekers’ side. The Eruption from Ragnell inflicted a critical hit, explosively launching the entire demon off the ground. She smashed through the blocks left by Roxas to add insult to injury, then arced through the air in a majestic backflip before the demonic hatchling slammed back down. Grimm could hardly avert his eyes from the spectacle, convinced that no living thing could survive a spectacle like that, but to the Troupe Master’s surprise Malphas somehow galvanized the bird into action. It staggered to its feet in a berserk rage, the swellings on its head pulsating abominably, and filled the hollow with a brain-rattling shriek. To Grimm, it looked like the parasitical demoness had just lost control.
Primrose got the same impression. She breathed in deeply, slowly backing away from the demon toward a stretch of flat, solid ground from which to resume her casting. If the lower half was crazed, the battle would become all the more chaotic. Either way, they were in for it now.
Zenkichi jumped back from the screaming monster, pulling Ragnell up into a more guarded stance as his ears rang.
Roxas tightened his grip on his Keyblades. He knew an incoming phase two when he saw it. And this? This was definitely just the beginning.