The maelstrom of chaos played out mostly as anticipated. Spheres of intense destructive force had surged forward at the command of two exploding golden figures. The scene orchestrated as carefully as the one who had set it all up had hoped. The instigator of the chamber’s sudden maelstrom of dust and stone watched with vested interest through enhanced perceptions. The soft glow of electrons emanating from his single iris.
The trajectory of his attack hadn’t angled as he’d hoped, the larger spread of spheres having surged too far forward a large majority missing their intended target almost entirely as they sped towards the south-eastern most pillar closest to the entrance to the pyramid’s interior chamber. Debris flew in all directions as the impacts caused a cacophony of sound to fill the room. The second set of spheres, reaching their target simultaneous to the other assortment, had a much more interesting effect that. The spherical shape of the strange shadow-stuff that had split earlier from its main mass was peppered by the barrage of soccer-ball shaped spheres.
The barrage caused the mini-fields of crimson energy to come into contact with the spheroid before the physical portion of the attack did. As before, the dark mass spread out to encapsulate and squash out the potential of the field it first came in contact with. However, unlike before, the energy field’s unique frequency, the cause of the red glow surrounding the spheres, began to shear the dark stuff and eradicate it unlike the first Zeus Cannon round with its basic field. The magnitude of spheres focused in that area brought with it a similar amount of red energy that would rip and tear at the orb like a hot knife through butter. It didn’t take long for the strangely separated shape to be ripped and burned until nothing remained; effectively being destroyed completely by the unique field generated by Mazono’s volcanic waveband.
That moment however, was not seen as a flutter of movement caught the auburn-haired individual, forcing him to focus his attention on the now rising darkness. Its ascent was barely visible at first - illuminated only by the golden images of Mazono and the persistent light generated by the spheres of electrical energy that had released their fury not even a second prior, though hidden for the moment by the obstruction – yet as the angled aerial maneuver continued, the form of the compacted darkness became far more visible as its position cleared the defensive cover of the Pillar the miasma had remained behind prior. Through his enhanced perception, the Shroud may as well have been moving in slow motion. Through his eye, he witnessed all he had to.
As debris flew through the air, several assorted pieces of varying size seemed to pepper the surface of the strange apparition with granite stones. Much like it had with his earlier attacks, the cloud of pitch seemed to writhe and move around the objects coming into contact with it, its forward momentum slowing. It was at this moment Mazono would strike hard and without abandon. After all, what was the point in preparing his weapons for their attack if he wasn’t intent on using them? His actions occurred before him, so swiftly – he barely noticed they seemed to occur at the same time the shroud slowdown in response to the falling threats.
The twin fire-arms, both having been in position and ready to fire since his earlier maneuver, filled the air with a loud CRACK as their potent caliber types flew from their chambers at speeds unreal. The ZC round would of course take the lead as it was the faster of the two rounds, it’s enlarged VERTBRINIUM mass emitting a glowing reddish hue, the same as the spheres used in the previous assault. The projectile soared towards the large black mass’ center (more discernable from the compact design of the cloud). Much like the earlier use of this weapon, the energy field coating the round would of course come into contact with the black mass before the physical round would – but unlike earlier, the bluish white hue was replaced with the crimson opalescence. The second weapon, the Ratifier, fired two bullets from its unique barrel. While not unlike the earlier attack with said weapon, this time the rounds had also been coated in the same unique defensive field as the ZC Round. The red glow more intense around the smaller projectiles as they followed behind their larger predecessor. This shot was aimed slightly ahead of the ZC shot, causing the Ratifier’s first and second rounds to impact slightly to the side of the ZC round's initial impact and one more right next to it for a maximum spread of damage.
Occurring at the same time, as if triggered by the release of the ballistics, one of the three remaining golden copies seemed to change as the visage’s appearance distorted into a golden bolt of lightning. The stream of brilliant radiance surged forward at the whim of its creator, accelerating and maneuvering into position to impact against the darkness hesitating in its escape. The timing of the simultaneous attacks would cause two unique obstacles for the defensive mass, threatening to overwhelm its writhing form. Before the first portion of the energy field encapsulating the ZC round would potentially come in contact with the darkness, the stream of energy would reach its destination first. As the once former golden decoy would come within inches of making contact, an explosion of searing heat, accompanied by an ever-growing blinding sphere of golden electrical discharge, would expand upon the shadow's obfuscous form; it would continue to grow by the second, attempting to power its way through the haze and cause intense damage.
Mazono, of course, was unaware of the passengers within this darkened miasma nor of its original intended desire to launch a counter-offensive – the act of which was now threatened by this assault. So far, the moving pitch had done a fantastic job at keeping pressure on him, as well as fending off his mighty attacks. Yet none of it seemed to bother the former man in white. While unaware of his barrage’ effectiveness on the separated piece of shroud, Mitsu wasn’t taking anything to chance again as the iron sand that had been gathering at the tip of his feet continued to amass more and more – propagating at an exponential rate. It wouldn’t take long until the sand used for his barrage would be replaced by new iron sand particulates. The sound of twisting leather once more filled his ears as too did a barely audible hum (Audible only to him) as he readied his defensive tactics once more in preparation to the shadow’s attacks that may be to come.
A flutter of movement from his sealed eye, as the lid lifted; once more exposing the retina to the stale air of the chamber. At first, the view from seemed partially blurred out of the targeted socket, but as the electric surge of the neuron burst began to show once more through the iris, the temporary damage caused by the shadow’s unique use of light seemed mostly restored. As his newly restored sight once again remained focused on the task at hand, Mazono couldn’t help but feel the familiar thrill. That moment when death’s hand threatens to overtake you, and that moment you deny it’s cold embrace…it was irresistible. The curious nature of the world never ceased to amaze him, and it was in this moment – this singular moment in time and space – that nothing in this moment felt as alive as he did right now. His body tense like an animal, ready to dart and move in this direction or that in response to a need. The thrill….it was intoxicating.