Zombehs

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

While their vision wasn’t enough to see further up the room, the response that followed made the stranger’s intentions clear enough. Dismissing the staff with a frown, Ihosha lowered their stance to bolt at a moment’s notice and continued to look upwards, watching for any sign. Refusing to be distracted by the sounds following their retreat, Ihosha’s eyes widened a bit at the sight of a spinning sphere falling through the air towards them.

Indeed Dwyn’s warning would have come a bit too late, trailing after the projectile’s descent, but thankfully the stranger hadn’t kept silent. Gritting their teeth as they hoped this would work, Ihosha wrapped their robe around their arms and stretched the cloth between them; hoping it would be enough to cushion the impact and keep the orb intact. The room seemed to shake again at the commotion going on above, but they focused on simply snapping their arms shut and bundling the orb up so it didn’t bounce off and shatter elsewhere anyways.

Ihosha sighed in relief as nothing horrible immediately happened, and knelt to the ground to carefully lower the glass orb. Their grip seemed to steady as they took hold of the orb, and lifted it for a better look at the contents within. Another series of growls and groans gave them pause though as Ihosha glanced back down the hallway they had come from. Silhouetted by the dying flames, the form of several twisted could be seen in pursuit.

Well... Ihosha wasn't too fond of trying to lug around something that was possibly very volatile anyways. Taking a few moments to calm down and steady their nerves, Ihosha couldn't quite contain the hint of excitement as they wondered what the projectile would do on impact. Frowning as it looked like the ghouls were still a bit too far for their tossing arm, Ihosha nudged at Solomon with a foot. "There's a rope about... seven steps back and to the right? Start climbing, looked hard enough for Dwyn." For now they'd have to wait for the ghouls to get closer if they wanted any chance of accuracy while tossing the orb.

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

@RyuShura Oh right, how big is the glass bottle that was dropped on them?

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

Even at a distance and at their back, the light that Ezain shed in his final moments was bright enough to sear Ihosha’s eyes. Leaned up against the wall after their brief stumble, Ihosha tried to steady their breathing even as it felt like something was wrested from it. The sensation might have been a bit different, but pain was quickly becoming rather familiar. Slamming the staff against the floor to create a sharp thump, the sound helped Ihosha focus and ignore the strange shifting in their forearm, the oddest sense of satisfaction, and the commotion of a temple very much aware of their intrusion.

Slowing slightly as the light ahead suddenly disappeared, Ihosha halted completely once they registered the stench that was ahead. Grimacing in disgust as their eyes watered, they nonetheless pressed on after taking a moment to wrap part of the robes over their lower face. Peering up cautiously from the entrance of the room towards where the light had come from, it seemed the room was a bit too large for them to see the ceiling. It did let her see Dwyn in the midst of ascending a rope, though where it was attached to was still a mystery. Clicking their tongue in annoyance at being rushed through the room without a chance to study anything, Ihosha winced at the loud thud as something heavy buried itself into the far wall.

Well, hopefully she’d just crush herself rather than bring down an entire wall and that would be that. Good riddance. Trying their best to ignore whatever shenanigans were going on across the room, Ihosha looked up as they took hold of the bottom of the rope. “Dwyn!” Hissing to stay quiet but keep their words sharp, Ihosha tugged back the hood just enough to reveal their third purple eye. The silvered staff faded and rematerialized in their other hand quickly as well in the hopes that it might catch her eye in the unlit room. Hopefully one of the two would be enough to convince the other Chosen, but well… they were keeping a careful eye out for a reason. "Who's above?"

Afterlife: Dead Sun

Sorry it's taken so long, but I'm out of the RP.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Please don't @Mention me.

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

Oh. Ihosha will have to find a lantern and implant some Blight in the body then~

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

S'long as they weren't a waifu, s'all good.

We'll loot the body if we find it.

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

Git out.

Shattered Fates - A Dark Fantasy, Boss Battling Epic

Ihosha resisted the urge to rub their eyes with messy hands as stars danced in their vision. Breathing unsteadily as it looked down at the fresh corpse, the third eye slowly cracked open and Ihosha’s head tilted as something seemed to catch their attention. Nudging the briar covered body over onto its back with the end of their staff, the silvered weapon was raised and poised to slam down on the torso when they stopped for a moment and turned to look at the others that were the closest.

“Dwyn triggered something. It followed her down the e-“ Whatever else they might have said was cut off by the scream that came from the Eastern passage, interrupting and making their point at the same time. Figuring things were clear enough at that point, Ihosha still flinched as more gunfire filled the chamber and returned the ringing in their ears to painful levels.

Scrunching up with a wince as stone was pulverized underneath the firepower brought the stairs crumbling down at the center, Ihosha finally drove the narrow end of their staff down into the corpse’s torso. Their third eye had to squeeze shut tightly with the flash of gunfire lighting up the room, but again the mark on the void within the corpse seemed to linger for a moment; long enough for Ihosha to try and strike at the physical spot it appeared upon within the body.

Striking the engorged spot caused a bunch of black puss to splatter out, releasing a foul smell in the air. More rancid than usual. Maybe a leak of some intestinal gas? But other than that, it did not seem to cause any other effect other than make a mess.

The strange Mark and parasitic nature of the vaccuous 'Blight' seemed seperate from one another though, seeing as the inkling lines began to quickly fade with the passing seconds, while the dark essence remained. In that case, was the Mark more of a brand? But the Blight seemed to destory any semblence of essence, as suggested by the lack of their soul while they themselves possessed such a thing. So how could a spell like that exist in collation with it? It was one big mystery.

But what was clear from this informal prodding, is that the Blight and the condition of its vessel were not intrinsic. As the death of zombified human did not cause the dark disease to expire outright, appearing to continue to swirl viciously within. It was like a creature trapped within its shell. Was this how their unique revival magic worked, by somehow tapping into this vile thing? That also brought up the question of what will happen if the main blighted nucleus were to be severed from their host. Maybe Ihosha might be on the course onto finding some sort of weakness by which to exploit these ungodly abominations than swinging wildly and hoping to rely on the strength of their weapons.

But it was hard to affirm that claim without proper testing. Maybe if she were more given time to examine the other corpses, she might find conclusive evidence?

Gagging a bit as some of their robes were stained by some of the disgusting fluid, Ihosha ignored how their eyes watered at the stench. Instead, focusing on what laid beyond the physical, their head titlted at the curiosity beneath them. It seemed the Mark had been placed on after these individuals had been Blighted? Hard to be certain, but it definitely didn't seem that the brand was somehow shining through the void that continued to linger within, even after its death.

Yet how were they supposed to draw out this darkness? Nera had mentioned their stigma was supposed to assist in the burden of absorbing the darkness, but it currently seemed quite intent on clinging to the dead corpse. Could it be revived even now? The mark had faded, but there was nothing that hinted it could not be replaced if a lantern bearer had some time to work on the battered corpse. The commotion drew even closer and Ihosha spared a glance at one of others... Ezain who'd returned. Clicking their tongue at the thought of giving another mark-bearer to the mad and lost coming for them, they turned their attention towards the corpse again.

Only moments left before they had to run. Better make them count. Breathing deeply and filling their lungs with the sickly scent of decay and rot, the silvered staff faded from existence and left only an entry wound into the corpse's torso. The third eye burned with power as they searched for even the faintest strand with which to grasp and tear the darkness from its place within the corpse.

Spotting the central place where most of the darkness collected, they reached down. When their hand pushed into the fleshy chasm, something stirred slightly, and writhed as she pulled forth a black-gushed root of sorts. And she would notice soon after, the body she extracted the Blight would begin to rot and decay rapidly, becoming nothing but a pile of mush and metal pieces. With this, it might be safe to assume that doing so to a 'living' speciment would yield a similar result.

What was left is the thing in her hands. The nasty little core was covered in grassy fur that shivered in the air and smaller veins that seemed to... try and bore into their skin. But with its attempts to try and consume her, were stopped by the Stigma Nera insrcibed in their very beings. The foul things attempts were met with tiny zaps and sparks, but it continued on regardless, mindlessly trying to reach its new host. However, something strange happened. Her third eye started spinning upon realizing the contact with the thing, glowing bright as gurgling voice filling her head. Closing shut and dripping with blood again, the root then managed to bypass the warding magic and sink deep into her flesh.

It felt painful as it merged with her flesh, but the root did not stray any further. As though scared of something deep within Ihosha. Somehow, she felt she can control the thing. But how and to what extent, she had no idea. That also begged the question of whether it can do the same in return, given enough mass. A troubling notion indeed.

Stumbling in surprise as their foot sank into the pile of rotten matter, Ihosha stared at the writhing mass of darkness they now held. While it had destroyed the body with startling effectiveness, the act of tearing the Blight free was probably even more difficult than beating them down with brute force. Squeezing the root within their hand, the light show of sparks only intensified as it seemed to redouble its efforts to try and burrow into their skin. Did it somehow fear dea-

Hunching over as pain flared in their forehead again, a purplish light bathed over the writhing darkness as their third eye stared at it with interest and... hunger? Going still under the scrutiny of the alien eye, a few drops of blood that splattered onto it seemed to stir it back into a frenzy and this time it sank beneath their skin with startling ease. Clutching their hand with a choked gasp of pain, Ihosha stared as the bulging mass wormed its way up the forearm before finally stopping, sliding backwards, and then settling.

Curious and concerning. Would it be able to draw the Blight from within others to itself? It was not a possibility they wished to test before they had strengthened themselves further. Allowing their robe to fall down and fully cover the Blighted arm, Ihosha called their staff to their other hand and planted it against the floor even as another salvo of gunshots rocked the chamber. Clicking their tongue again, it felt like such a waste to simply allow Ezain to sacrifice himself, and the feeling was... stronger this time? "Focus," they murmured before shaking their head to clear away such thoughts.

"Careful!" Calling out to the two that had gone ahead, Ihosha hurried after them as well. "Something already gave chase after Dwyn!"