Sickle-cell — Roleplayer Guild

Glancing over Rannon, Celica gave a small smile through the twisted pain her face displayed. “Better listen to him, I’m not in much shape to lead anyone, currently. When you head out, though, I do have a request.”

“Deliver them retribution for my men.”

She turned, then, to the journal left by Daeron. What secrets would it hold about the Architect? Would it show that her decision was a good one, or had she made a grievous error in judgement that day? Peeling the front cover open, she dared to begin reading.

The darkspawn army had vanished entirely into the dark mist of The Verge and had been there now for a good twenty minutes. Wardens everywhere took stock of the dead, helped the wounded and proceeded to get re-armed for any additional incoming attack. What they wanted to do more than anything was to descend upon the weakened forces like a tidal wave and cleanse the depths below, but with Celica out of action and no new chain of command yet emerging, no-one dared to act. Tensions among the wardens ran high, however, and they hung around twitchy and desperate for a chance to wreak havok upon their oppressors.

The fight wasn’t as clear-cut as the initial showboating from Giratina let on. While the beast was certainly far stronger in terms of physical strength, and with an uncannily bolstered endurance, Xerneas did have his own advantages. Faster and more agile, he was able to simply dodge blows which carried the raw power to pulverize. In terms of non-physical strength, Xerneas again possessed the upper hand, but this was a somewhat moot point given Giratina’s hide was simply deflecting any attack thrown at it. As it was, no side was able to gain a clear majority over the other for more than a fleeting second, meaning only one thing. In order to sway the battle, the Embodiment of Life would need to fully utilise his trump card. 

Intellect.

Spiked tentacles whipped past his head, as Xerneas deftly pirouetted under the oncoming assault, charging straight towards the foe. It was becoming harder to see with each passing moment, since the Distortion continued to engulf the area, nipping away at any light before swallowing it whole. A murky purple haze took precedence, air so thick it could almost physically choke you. Despite all that, Giratina’s entirely inhuman eyes continued to burn with a deathly fire. Pure red, like a bulls-eye. A shimmering orb of energy hit the ground just off to the left, and another burst of searing poisonous smoke engulfed the healer. The still-strong light from geomancy faded, distorted from the thick cloud, as he remained within a touch too long. Just enough to sow doubt as to whether he would ever emerge once more.

With a single flare of varicoloured light, Xerneas screeched forward-bound at Giratina. Slamming down hard on his foot, the Avatar came to a skidding stop directly in front of the monstrous form of the Lord of Shadows cracking and splintering the concrete with a mix of pressure and friction. A spiked tentacle rose up, preparing to lash down hard, as his hand struck the lower abdomen of the beast. As his power blossomed into life, Xerneas opened his eyes, and time itself seemed to become inert. Pain buffeted every single nerve cell within, as he ‘overclocked’ them, giving more of an opportunity to analyse the situation with his brain working beyond optimal capacity. Now, the vision of his adversary was utterly clear, a view of each individual component of its hulking mass, down to the very makeup of cells. 

The biological form of Giratina was impossibly complex and downright alien. A sort of highly reinforced composite material made up the dazzling golden sections at the tips of his legs and head. It was polymer-based, and resembled bone in more ways than not despite the glint and raw density. Next up, the spiked tentacles appeared to be crafted from an organic, writhing leather. A solid core made up the interior, more of that composite bone, and it was that too which formed the spike. It’s colour was relevant, it would seem, as the red material was even more reinforced than the golden counterpart. The structure meant that it was both durable and flexible - a truly fearsome combination. Most surprising of all, however, was the natural armour covering. It had looked, at first glance, to be some kind of chitin-esque material. That wasn’t true. It simply was chitin. Under it all, Giratina was one big Crabby. 

Xerneas smiled. Observing the carapace, it was a composition of chitin and calcium carbonate, identical to that which you would find in the shells of many arthropodic Pokemon. Chitin alone is quite tough, but too pliable to be efficient as armour. On the other hand, calcium carbonate is tough but exceptionally brittle, meaning any real force simply cracked the shell. Only together do they form an impressive barrier capable of staving off a horde of superpowered Moonblasts with such ease. The next course of action was clear. Xerneas removed the raw chitin from a small, circular patch of Giratina’s armour, directly around his placed hand. 

Time, all at once, began to surge forth as the Avatar wound down the internal power overclocking his mental capabilities. Vibrant ribbons of light speared out from the chitin in all directions for but a few seconds. The spiked tentacle from earlier resumed its assault, driving straight towards Xerneas’s head. Dropping his right hand off from Giratina's abdomen, he blocked the blow. A crack sounded out as it collided with force into his now upraised arm, snapping straight through the radius bone. His left hand, however, gathered another Moonblast. Augmented with Fairy Aura, Geomancy and some of his own drained life from the Orb, Xerneas drove the radiant sphere directly onto the now-weakened patch of pure calcium carbonate. The pressure emanating from the attack shattered in the armour before the blow even connected. With the sickening sound of ripping organic matter, his glowing hand burrowed up inside the belly of the beast. 

Only then did he loose the attack proper.

With an entry wound and nowhere to go, the Moonblast scoured inside Giratina, crashing hard against the chitin at the back of his abdomen. Dark red ichor spurted out from the neat circular phlebotomy, covering Xerneas’s entire left arm and splashing across his face and hair. A gentle heat washed out from the beast’s blood, and it seemed to glow faintly pink from the residual energy. The area was filled with the howling noise unleashed by Giratina in response. One part dire pain, another part shock horror and a solid helping of raw unbroken rage. 

Xerneas stumbled back in the midst of a gleeful fit. Not only had he injured the beast at last, but in doing so, drawn blood. It was a statement, a motivational blow as much as a physical one. His left arm hung, limply, by his side. Willing some power into it, a glare of coloured ribbons sparked out into the sky above. Using it then to slick his hair back into place, using the blood in place of his silver circlet lost during the fall from Mauville’s roof, he walked towards the monster, slowly and deliberately.

“Do you know what the humans say, oh brother mine?” Looking Giratina in the eye, his voice was a contained roar, dignified and fierce. “A proverb almost hand-crafted for such an occasion.”

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall!”



The sheer pain that Giratina was feeling, it almost blinded him - it felt as if a searing blast of heat had pierced all the way through his body; at the same time his own body felt oddly alien to him ,as if that devious cretin had done something to it. 
Giratina moved his massive frame backwards a few meters, destroying numerous pieces of the hallway in doing so - as well as crushing a few more floats.

Instinctively he used his tentacles, that were the closest things to arms he had, to cover the gaping wound in his movement he left a large trail of blackened blood and more continued to spew out of the wound - it wouldn’t heal very fast in this world, not before he lost a lot of strength or that bastard could amount another offensive; and Giratina would be damned if he would run from this foe.

He turned his blazing eyes back towards Xerneas - he would not anticipate this - with a surprising level of deftness and agility from such a large and wounded creature, Giratina flung his colossal frame at his target, the face of Xerneas gave a small twitch of surprise that looked like a grimace - the man's entire head and upper body was covered in a thick red blood, the very blood that had come from the wound he created
The graceful and handsome man was no more, he looked as if he had been fighting in a war, his clothes tattered, bruises, cuts and countless scratches littered his clothing and skin, as well as numerous scars from previous injuries that he healed in the fight.
Giratina would ensure that he would not be able to heal the next wound that would be inflicted.

As he reached Tantalus, his tentacles grabbed around him, twisting and covering his body, locking him in a small prison - he would not contain him for long, lest he perform a similar attack from last time, that seemed to render his natural defences useless.
Picking up the small adversary as if he were nothing more than a piece of waste, Giratina flung his massive frame around and threw with all the collective might he could muster towards to sky- bursting through another piece of roof, after piercing the ceiling, Xerneas headed for his destination like a bird without wings.
The large black portal that blotted out the sun opened up its maw to accept its arrival - all that could be glimpsed from the man's eyes was the reflection of the hulking creature fast on his tail - together they would enter the Distortion world, where the fight would be on Giratina's terms. 

When Giratina pierced through the black veil into his world he soon spotted his adversary on a small island not far from him, Giratina moved his forme close enough to Xerneas so he could witness something.
Below, where the wound was, his flesh was knitting back together, the blood had stopped flowing and small layer of skin kept his innards in place as he naturally - or rather naturally healed his body back to what it should be, he would still be weak there - but it no longer posed an immediate threat to him. 
“Welcome to my world, Xerneas - after that last attack of yours, I thought I should show you some hospitality - to treat you with respect as it were… now I shall show you my true power.”

Giratina began collecting collecting massive energy, an Ancient power began to swell up inside him, his massive forme appeared to bulk out, his already tough hide looked harder than Aggrons plate, his mandibles and claws appeared to gleam with energy and had the sharpness that cut through the very air - a keenness was found in his burning eyes - it appeared as if every element of what made him strong, was inexplicably raised to a new level. 
“Behold! The power of an Ancient god!”

He opened up his chitinous maw and began to collect dark energy - but something was off- it didn’t have the same look or feel as the last time Dark pulse was used - it was the same move, without a doubt, and yet something was inherently different about it this time round. 
Xerneas defiantly put up his Light screen, mirroring the defense from the previous attack. This time, though, the power was far stronger. That realisation happened a hair too late. 

Giratina unleashed a powerful blast of dark energy that rippled space itself, a pure beam of dark energy pierced through the space between Giratina and Xerneas, with a force so strong that it pushed Giratina back as he used it.
The light barrier bent the dark energy around it, as if a paladin was burning the darkness away from himself; a star that was keeping the dark and cold space away from its forme.
But all stars die, the dwindle and sputter out and darkness reigns supreme in the end - when everything ends, when time itself stops flowing, all that will remain, is the darkness - it endures, it exists, if there was anything that existed first, it was the never ending darkness.

The barrier couldn’t maintain against a powerful torrent of energy that assaulted it, the very ground that Xerneas stood upon was splintering and cracking under the massive force and power, and as expected the beam shattered the power in a massive explosion of fluorescent light -  a sound that could shatter the eardrums emanated from the resulting blast and the small body of Xerneas was engulfed in colossal energy.
It’s effect was dampened due to the barrier, but the sheer power was enough to blast his body down deeper into the Distortion world and eventually cracking on another island. 

Giratina swiftly made his way down towards his prey, like a wolf stalking its prey in the dead of night, he could smell blood, and the weakness of its form, the frailty of the body. 
The sight… was not what he wanted, the barrier, and the effects of Geomancy had negated a lot of the damage - it had stunted his foe, definitely but nothing the pompous bastard couldn't laugh off.  

Naturally, that is exactly what he did.

“You arrogant fool.” Xerneas called out, wheezing slightly. “Even here in your seat of power, this is all you can muster?”

Quickly he encapsulated his foe once again, and held his trapped foe close to his face, his hot breath blistering Xerneas’ face.
“I WILL KILL YOU!”

Giratina pulled.

And with a sick crack the top half of Tantalus’ body found its way flying through the space of the Distortion world, in an almost serene manner, leaving behind a trail of bright red blood as the body soundlessly drifted through the Distortion world and plummeted towards the hole that he was flung from not moments ago - shortly after, his other half followed through with him. 

His body had been separated from the waist. 

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