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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2015 20:43:12 GMT -6
Well, that was surprisingly brutal. Not that he was complaining, anyway. The less heads there were to deal with, the better...and he was just glad they both survived. He didn't know what was going on with Nayru as he saw the strange phenomenon with the tattoos on her arms, but whatever she did, it saved the both of them and gave them a bit of an edge. At least now, the chimera's combined strength of their breath attacks were now slightly weakened with the demise of the goat head. Hopefully that thing didn't have the ability to regrow it's head...but if that did happen, he was going to have to punch himself in the gut real hard for always thinking of the worst case ahead of time. But given the nature of this battle, it was sort of natural to think of all the possibilities.
Speaking of natural, he was feeling something unnatural now as he sensed the magic within Kenji getting all riled up all of a sudden. Nayru herself seemed to have some more changes as well, which might have been related to the sword? Well, he had no way of finding out, and not like he had the time to ponder too deeply into it. But whatever it was that triggered this strange feeling, it felt like the lightning spirit within was...growing. Not like something that didn't have a physical form could grow, but growth in a sense that the magic from within felt a little stronger and a little more difficult to control. Maybe it was something temporary? He just hoped he was still able to use it...
But he was snapped out of his train of thought as Nayru spoke up. "...Yeah. I'll be fine. Been in a much worse condition than this." He spoke in a struggling tone, but was picking back up quickly in strength. Yeah, at least he wasn't bleeding all over like a few past battles that instantly came to mind. But as he listened to her plan, he didn't have anything else better in mind. He already tried his own tactics and that didn't get him very far. Standing back on his feet now, the swordsman simply nodded his head as he backed away a few feet. "All right. Do what you must, but be careful."
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Aug 1, 2015 16:02:14 GMT -6
Post OST"Yeah."One word - short and sweet - within which was everything she wanted to say, but couldn't. Nayru wasn't entirely sure how this was going to work out, if they were even both going to get to go home after this, but she didn't have the luxury of worrying about it at this point, much less trying to explain to Veigue. If - when - they got out of this alive, she'd level with him about what she expected, but for now, they each had their roles to play, and fate or chance or luck or the Goddess or the Saint or Gaea or whoever was in charge up there would decide what happened in the end. All they could do was fight. But for now - she was out of time. Nayru glanced down at the tide of rising shadow emanating from her left arm, soaking in the moment as she looked back up to the creature still recovering from its wounds in front of her, and was struck for a moment at how dreary the scene was. As though the light itself was fading around them, consumed by darkness; a twilight realm of living monochrome. It took an infinitely long moment to realize that it wasn't just her eyes - that color was actually fading, inverting, in the vicinity, and then everything vanished into smoke as Nayru simply disappeared, reality simply folding around her as the darkness emanating from her evaporated almost instantly afterwards. The sky (2:00-2:10)Where she had been, there was nothing; no trace that she had ever existed. above, the sky was already darkening, strange crimson markings and arcane runes snaking outwards across the sky overhead. A massive circle, expanding ever onwards, for miles in every direction. What human eyes could not yet see, Elibe already knew. --- Equivalent exchange. She finally understood. For one soul to exist in two bodies simultaneously, the other would have to be stored elsewhere. In that moment, as she knew herself, she finally understood the gulf between her and a normal dragon. But at this point, it didn't really matter. She had her power, and a use for it. She didn't need her mortal shell for now, and where safer to store it than in a place that never changed? The cold and emptiness was as warmly familiar as madness, but she couldn't stay here - not this way. Not now. She didn't know or understand why, but somehow Nayru knew it as though that fact had been shouted from the rooftops. But that was alright., she thought, her consciousness expanding. She'd find another way here - one that would let her stay - and discover this place's secrets... later. --- Back in Elibe, it had only been a few moments since her disappearance when a massive crack ripped through the air above where she had stood, a phenomenon so strange and visibly wrong that it physically hurt to look at. But as quickly as it came, it too disappeared into darkness as it was consumed by the sudden massive portal that exploded from its confines, a vertical gateway to another world that spewed forth the curdling, infinite Nether from its maw. But from the curdling shadows that ate away at wood and rock and earth equally emerged something far greater, a hulking black beast one and a half times larger than her weaker - sealed, she now understood - golden form. She could feel the ground give away between her, feel the portal collapse in on itself in her wake, feel Elibe shudder and recoil from what she was now. It was as though time had stopped; as if ll the world was a stage, eagerly awaiting the show. Maybe it was the unfathomable power flowing through her, or the strange familiarity of this form - but the hell with it, Nayru thought, throwing caution to the wind for one moment. She could feel ever more of her power, her birthright, flowing into her; she was complete in body but not in spirit, the transfer process still barely held back by a seal or barrier of some sort. If Elibe wanted a show - well, she'd just have to oblige. Throwing her head back, Nayru summoned everything within her for one moment, all the power and the anger and the vitality that filled her, and loosed a defiant roar that shook the heavens and the earth with its ferocity and sheer volume. It was less a coherent sound than a physical wall of force that flattened grass and gouged the earth and crushed trees in its wake, a bellowing proclamation of challenge that most certainly drew the attention, and ire, of the chimera. The glowing arcane patterns far overhead turned ever deeper crimson for an instant before simultaneously shattering, the very sky itself seeming to crumble like panes of glass stressed beyond stability by the force of her challenge, and in their wake there was a massive storm, more intense than any Elibe had seen in centuries. Crimson lightning ran through it, tinging the roiling clouds as red as they were grey, sending a storm of colossal bolts of raw energy crashing to the ground below that gouged craters in the earth and left boiling earth and melted stone in their wake. The storm (30:25 to ~30:35)She couldn't see all of it, but Nayru could feel it, her connection with Elibe sharper beyond anything she had ever dreamed of. It was exhilarating, almost overwhelming, to feel it respond to her will as though she were natural law; even as the vast majority of her power broke through the seal and flooded her in a boundless tsunami, so too with it came an entirely unwanted sense of responsibility, the realization that she had work to do. Chimeras to kill, Veigues to NOT accidentally turn into piles of glowing cinder, and there was that whole... the dragon made a sound suspiciously similar to a snort as a little belatedly she realized just how thoroughly and absolutely fucked that plan was. Well... at least this area was more or less evacuated, right? And it would probably take some time for anyone to come investigating... the sheer ludicrousness of some of her first coherent thoughts being how do I lay low was not lost on Nayru, but it was less out of fear for human retaliation than the thought of how many people she would have to kill to escape, and that just... wasn't how she wanted this whole story to end. No, this whole venture was to SAVE human lives - the countless innocents who might have been killed by the chimera - and she could not afford to throw that away completely in order to cavort around like an overgrown puppy for too long. So she had a time limit. Nayru wasn't sure where the nearest major Bernese army base, Ilian nest, or Rebellion stronghold was in order to be able to make an accurate estimate of how long it would take fliers to arrive, but she would also like to be well away from there before they did... a bit of mental math, and she estimated they might have anywhere from ten minutes to an hour at best to muck around with this accursed creature before they had to git while the gitting was good. She could feel the electricity flowing through her, both figuratively and literally as immense quantities of the crimson lightning danced off her body, arcs of pure light scything off of her and leaving gouges in the already scorched earth. It was... reassuring, in some ways; even knowing that she was born of shadow, that she could yet be the light to banish it. Oh god that was lame. And she was thinking about escape - was THIS what being an adult was like? Nayru decided in record time that maybe being a dumbass teenager wasn't so bad and she would go right back to that as soon as this stupid ordeal was over. Mood was ruined, big awesome transformation gone to crap, god DAMMIT this was why she couldn't have nice things. It was almost hard to summon up the enthusiasm for an epic battle between titans now... almost. They still had some time to play, and she would be completely fucked if she didn't at least get SOME sort of enjoyment out of this whole stupid debacle. Taking a deep breath, again feeling the lightning crackling around her jaws, she turned her head half to Veigue again, realizing a second too late that she couldn't talk in this form, and instead just sort of nodded her head in the direction of the chimera, who seemed thoroughly incensed and slightly ironically even more ready to fight than she was. At least the lightning crashing down everywhere looked pretty cool, the slightly crestfallen and slightly regretting her actions dragon attempted to console herself with.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 12:10:47 GMT -6
Huh...
Something felt different this time, other than the obvious change in color of the electricity and her appearance this time around. Nayru's transformation was still something that he wasn't completely used to, but by this point, it wasn't as much as a surprise as it was when it first happened. By from her movements, and how her power seems more controlled this time, he knew that there wasn't anything to worry about. Though the change in weather was definitely not the same as the last either...but those can be questions for later. The only thing he was concerned about was her safety, as the chimera itself seemed more eager to fight it's opponent more than ever as opposed to being frightened. It was something far beyond his understanding, however he knew not to try to comprehend either. "Well, this is it..." As such, Veigue settled for just taking more steps back and out of the way as he crossed his arms and hoped for the best, nodding as well when he saw Nayru move her head in his direction.
He still remained on guard, however. He had to keep an eye out for an opening when Nayru would provide it for him. Since she was going to be fighting it head on, he needed to use his speed to it's peak in order to get behind the thing fast enough for it to not react in time. That snake head seemed like the perfect first target for his upcoming assassination work. He just hoped that everything would go along as smoothly as they planned...
...But before he could get lost in his thoughts further, Veigue felt Kenji acting up again. This time, he witnessed the red lightning surging around the sheathed blade when he gazed downward at his side. Well, that was most unusual. Did Kenji have some sort of direct link to Nayru after she helped with it's awakening? It would probably have to be something he'll more than likely take up with Nayru herself after the fight, but all he knew was that even if the blade kept getting stronger, that just meant that it'll be even more of a challenge for him to call on the deeper aspects of it's power. He doubt he had the proficiency with it to even use it's possible enhanced powers, if they were enhanced at all. But shaking off those thoughts for now, all he needed was to keep his focus on the fight.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Aug 3, 2015 23:04:34 GMT -6
Post OSTWell, this whole 'not really able to communicate' thing did put a damper on the art of high strategy, but at least the ancient and refined art of nodding their heads at each other seemed to work pretty well. A small part of her continued to be thoroughly underwhelmed with how this all had gone in practice compared to her mental imagery, but Nayru was finding it pretty hard to be all that bothered by it, surprisingly enough, even to her. The elements raging around her, the boundless essence coursing through her, the sheer strength in every coiled muscle; it was a heady experience, empowering, one that called less for disappointment and conscious thought so much as living the moment to its fullest. Throwing caution to the wind and simply living wasn't something she'd had much practice in over the last few centuries, but for now, she couldn't help but succumb to the allure. The great black beast growled at the Chimera, reveling in the electricity flowing through it, and was rewarded with the sensation, the experience, of feeling yet more lightning cascading off of her and tearing furrows in the earth, the storm overhead also intensifying for a moment to send another cascade of incinerating light downwards more widely dispersed. The moment took her, and impulsively she charged the hybrid creature head on, awash in the sensation of motion, of absolute phsycial perfection beyond anything she could remember. Nayru didn't really have any brilliant plans of fancy footwork in motion, just a test of raw strength and durability as she struggled to encompass and overcome herself and stay in control. A battle, not for sanity, but for rational thought, one she was not making easy for herself in the process.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2015 12:46:46 GMT -6
The storm that was brewing in the wake of Nayru's transformation was becoming more fierce. Perhaps other than being a result of her power flowing outward, the storm could also symbolize the ongoing battle, as it wasn't going to be something too pretty for both sides. It almost reminded him of the thunderstorm that roared in the skies as he dueled his father both in the past and their spiritual confrontation not too long ago. The weather always seemed like a good indicator of how things would play out for most situations. Though this wasn't a natural storm, so...maybe he was just thinking too much, as usual. Still, it worried him a little. Despite Nayru's seemingly new transformation and powers, he wondered if it would be enough to stop the chimera.
...All the more reason for him to stay alert for any opening he could get on that tail. They were mere moments away from clashing with each other, and considering the chimera's got a colossal opponent like itself to challenge, it's attention from Veigue has probably already been diverted...and the now-destroyed goat head seemed to be the more observant of the three-headed...well, four-headed beast. That simplified matters a great deal, and Veigue wasn't planning on screwing this one up. It wasn't time for him to take action now, but Veigue fixed himself in a battle ready position as he laid his hand to rest on Kenji's hilt. He could see the snake tail from where he stood, feeling like striking now would be a bad idea. He just needed to remain patient, but he also wasn't a fan of sitting around if he had the power to help. Those feelings seemed to react to the magic within Kenji as the electricity began surging around it again, but Veigue was much too focused to pay attention to it this time.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Aug 6, 2015 0:26:03 GMT -6
The impact of the clash reverberated through her with earthshaking force, a jolting backlash that disoriented and momentarily stunned her as dull pain shot through her upper body from the shoulder that had made first impact with the other creature. It wasn't a serious injury or even really all that big of a deal, but more a sobering reminder that she wasn't invincible, that her body was not as armored as it felt. She needed to be - more. Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger. To forge onward, through the pain and the storm and everything else in her path.
In the rush of power, Nayru couldn't tell if it was merely her own altered perceptions or reality, but her body felt... Protean, malleable; as if it was changing, responding to her will directly. She didn't think overmuch of it at the time, still awash in the tide of emotion overcoming her, and turned her attention back to the battle as both she and the chimera recovered almost simultaneously. Somehow she felt to her core that she had to defeat the creature, not out of vengeance or revenge but some inscrutable motive that would take a great deal of boring stuff like introspection and rational thought to figure out.
But seriously, f**k that noise. Taking the lead in their deadly dance once more, the dragon charged again, closing the minuscule distance between them almost instantly and bringing up one massive paw as she cleared it for a crushing downwards strike. But it was not to be, a torrent of ice and cold exploding outwards from the chimera's dragon head that arrested her motion and chilled her muscles for a brief moment, followed by the creature itself trying to carve through her chest with its own claws, to little effect. Invulnerable she might not be, but piercing dragonscale wasn't that easy, and while Nayru herself hadn't realized it, her scales had hardened and thickened slightly compared to her previous transformed form.
Not by as much as it felt like to her, a dangerous gulf of expectation and reality, and in fact nothing particularly impressive by Divine Dragon standards, but without any real comparison she had no knowledge of any of that. To her, the world was rapidly shrinking down to nothing but herself and the creature, around an unimportant backdrop of roaring thunder and shrieking lightning that pulverized the ground and arced through the air in ways impossible for natural electricity.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2015 22:14:21 GMT -6
"Hmm..." This chimera seemed pretty aggressive...but at the same time, Veigue was having difficulty trying to find any kind of weakness in it's charge and assaults against Nayru. It seemed much more like a wild beast when it came to fighting, but with the absence of the goat head, perhaps that did a little more internal damage than they thought? Would be pretty amusing...and helpful, if the goat was considered the "brains" of the four heads, and once it got blown up, the whole thing instantly became retarded or something... Wishful thinking, but no way that was actually the case. But silly thoughts aside, perhaps the more heads they got rid of, the more it's abilities would weaken? Well, normally he didn't have time to strategize for a prolonged time, but with the time he's been granted, he wanted to take full advantage of it before it was time for action.
But then something hit him as the beast was continuing to fight his friend. It wasn't exactly the same as Zarius, but something about the chimera's aggression seemed a bit cocky - reckless - and it was quite apparent at how persistent and so quick to jump back into the battle when it's pushed away or harmed by any attack...and Nayru's few exchanges with it so far jogged his memory about that fact. They could probably use it to their advantage... It probably left certain openings during it's attacks, and that might be the small windows of opportunity he required to chop something off...if he could. That just meant more paying attention to it's movements.
...That was the last thing he wanted to happen, was to disappoint Nayru when he actually gets close to the thing only to fail miserably because he wasn't strong enough to cut a head off or something. He wasn't going to allow that to happen...and judging from how the battle was going so far, there wasn't any clear indication as to who was actually at the advantage or disadvantage, but with three remaining heads, this was more like three-on-one... Very even odds. He wanted to even it out efficiently instead of just being dead weight. As he focused and observed the chimera's movements, so did he concentrate the magic within Kenji. But he also felt something else there....unrelated to Kenji entirely. More like something stirring up from within the more he thought about failure, as if something was ready to explode from within him and outward. Hopefully that was figurative thinking...and Nayru wouldn't have to pick up his...well, remains.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Aug 7, 2015 4:45:12 GMT -6
It was nothing more than instinctive savagery, bordering on mindless brutality at the razor's edge of reason. A small part of her was acutely aware of that, cognizant of the fact that this wasn't accomplishing a great deal of anything and that all her super invincibility and phenomenal cosmic power wasn't enough to just casually browbeat the creature, but the vast majority of Nayru's attention was more immediately consumed in the fight itself, repeatedly trying to crush through the creature's guard while dealing with multiple angles of attack simultaneously. It was frustrating and fruitless, a clash more of wills than of skills.
Yet at the same time, she couldn't back down. Not out of pride, but an extension of the absolute feeling, verging on belief, that she had to be the one to end it - out of mercy or judgement, from morality or necessity, she wasn't sure. She couldn't explain it any more than she could deny it, and that frustrated her too. So despite being aware that she wasn't being very effective, despite knowing that she wasn't using her abilities to their fullest, Nayru still fought on with tooth and claw and scale, trying to understand herself and her growth blindly.
At least it wasn't boring.
She snarled back at the beast, fangs bared, as the lion's crashing roar died down, followed by a torrent of flames that she intercepted with her body. The heat was intense, magical flames that consumed all in their path, but she could feel her body reacting, adapting to the heat and force, growing more durable. She didn't understand it, but simultaneously Nayru dimly understood that it was through this very sort of brutal, costly melee that she could physically grow, that her body possessed that sort of rapid reactive evolution.
The fire died down, its remnants cascading into the earth and melting foliage around them, and she brought one paw across for a sweeping slash even as she turned back into the fight, ignoring the followup torrent of ice as best she could - another hardship to be endured and overcome rather than treated as something to avoid. A growl of defiance, forging into the hail of sleet and snow and ice through sheer stubbornness. But it wasn't just mindless savagery. It was a crude and blunt way of researching the opponent to be sure, relying on her stellar and rapidly growing defensive capabilities to weather attacks that would have consumed her before, but at the same time she was beginning to come to an intimate understanding of the creature's traits. Its strength, its strengths, its abilities, its reactions, and how it too was trying to gauge her.
Strangely enough, while it was clear that neither of them had any practical experience fighting opponents of the other's size or caliber, both carried instincts eerily fitting for that very task; perhaps it was less incoherent savagery as simply allowing one's instincts to carry them, bolster them, until a more intellectual understanding could be reached. And there was something oddly offputting and yet familiar about that dark mirror she could see in the other creature - something that gnawed at the edges of her mind, that searched blindly for the strings to put things together and make sense of it all. As for what it was - well, she'd burn that bridge when she got to it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2015 11:05:12 GMT -6
Well, it looked like from his perspective that Nayru was going to need some help pretty fast. He wasn't in her shoes or anything, but he didn't know if she could keep up her defense against the chimera's brutal torrent of attacks the entire time. He could try to strike it after getting a considerable amount of distance in between it and himself, then use Kenji's magic, but Veigue already knew that his current level of control of the blade's magic wasn't enough to actually deal decent damage to it's body...let alone the heads. It would do nothing but provide a minor distraction and nothing more. It wouldn't stop the chimera from actually attacking Nayru. The thing seemed like it had some pretty sharp reflexes... It had to if it could literally slap him silly across the field with relative ease earlier.
As much as Veigue wanted to intervene, they had a plan to stick to and he didn't want to mess it up. But letting Nayru tackle an opponent of that caliber alone was something that he did not like to settle with. It was within that moment that Veigue placed his thumb on his blade's guard, ready to unsheathe it at any moment's notice as he took a couple steps forward, finding it almost impossible to stand by any longer. He always had that gut feeling that something bad was going to happen, and when he ignored it, the bad thing always happened before he could react to it.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Aug 14, 2015 14:44:41 GMT -6
The cold spread across her, through her; the attack itself might have been blunted by her armored frame but the simple temperature disparity was intense enough to fight back the fire in her veins nonetheless. It certainly seemed that the creature had no shortage of fuel for its fire, so to speak - which was perhaps an unfortunate choice of metaphors given that it was vomiting up furious gouts of ice, which was basically as far as you could get from fire. Really, it was for the best that this body seemed to have a will of its own, or she'd probably have gotten herself killed already while casually thinking about the weather in a life or death situation.
...Actually that sounded pretty creepy, like it was it fighting instead of her, which wasn't really accurate. It was more that there was still a human(ish) Nayru kernel in the greater dragon Nayru, so while most of her, or Her, focused on the battle, that part could afford to loligag around... slightly... and try to figure out how to actually sort this battle out without getting herself or Veigue killed in the process. Speaking of which, where WAS Veigue? She couldn't even tell if he was still there, much less where he was, what with the complete lack of visibility... but she didn't think he was the type to run away. That would be the smart thing to do, and Veigue unfortunately had a tendency to do the right thing, instead of the smart thing, which was something she really needed to discuss with him one of these days.
It seemed that the frozen torrent was dulling, the creature's resources of magic perhaps not entirely unlimited, and with renewed vigor Nayru burst through the flow with a vengeance, her left paw already swinging as her right shoulder brushed aside the back end of the blast, in a wide diagonal slash across the creature that finally struck true, leaving jagged crimson furrows across the lion's chest even as it moved backwards to minimize the impact of the attack. It was impressive how good the creature's instincts were, she couldn't help but acknowledge; either it had a great deal more combat experience than its recent rampage across Bern, or... perhaps it was like her in that regard.
Unfortunately, a single light scratch was not quite the fatal blow she had hoped for, and the chimera growled venomously at her, more enraged than seriously wounded, before meeting her again with a right-handed swipe of its own. One that was easy enough to intercept, but the weight was all wrong, she knew it could hit harder than that - but the snake was faster than her, and by the time realization struck, its fangs were already slicing through the all-too-thin armor on her right shoulder, the head she had forgotten in the heat of the moment striking deadly and true, and she could feel the ice turn to acid in her veins as it injected something into her.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2015 15:13:30 GMT -6
Curse the tendency of his strange premonitions to always come true, Veigue gritting his teeth as he watched the snake head sneak in to bite Nayru. If he recalled correctly, it was the head that...spewed poisonous gas and acid. That didn't bode well for his companion, as it seemed she was already beginning to suffer from the bite. He wasn't sure if her dragon form had any kind of resistance to poison or other things of the like, however that didn't seem to be the case. It was only a matter of time until the other two heads would take advantage of their first major hit against their opponent whether or not she was actually affected by the bite. As much as he had to stick to the plan to sneak in when he could, this was no time to just sit around anymore. Quickly unleashing his blade, Veigue was ready to dart on in.
...Actually, the fact that the snake head bit her was the perfect chance. But given their distance, the other heads would probably spot him the moment he charged forth, thus placing Nayru in more potential danger. He didn't really consider what the chimera would do to him if he was spotted, but that wasn't his concern. Veigue was fast, but he knew he wasn't THAT fast. He knew this wasn't the time to start doubting himself now, but he knew if he failed, it'd just make things worse, like it's always been for his whole life. The feeling of utter helplessness was tearing at him much more than it ever had before, and it was at that moment where his legs began to move on their own...
Something just seemed to snap; explode from the inside of him as everything around him seemed to blur...except for his path directly in front of him. Within that instant, he unknowingly sprinted forth so quickly that it seemed as if he vanished from one spot to the next - said next spot being directly beside the chimera. At that point, Veigue's mind wasn't focused on HOW he did that, but rather how he could take advantage of the fact that he was right in the middle of the fray in order to save his friend.
As the blur of black steel from Kenji flowed in the wind, this instinctive swipe of the sword carried much force behind it due to still moving forward somewhat with his sudden burst of speed. Kenji's edge sliced through the very center of the snake's...well, part of the body from behind; cleanly severing the head from the chimera itself. Even it didn't realized what happened, as it's eyes bulged wide open in shock and was forced to release it's bite from Nayru. After watching the snake head drop and life quickly fading from it, it was there when Veigue began to question to himself on what exactly happened.
The chimera itself was obviously stunned from having another part of itself destroyed, even if it was momentary. Veigue didn't have the luxury to stand around figuring out how he did that for now, as if he stood there for too long, it was going to turn around and either whack him silly again or might actually go for the kill... and considering what he just did to it, the latter was more likely to happen. As such, he tried his best to gain distance by back stepping multiple times... Even that felt like a chore, as that random boost of speed seemed to sap a large portion of his stamina. Even if he did find out how he did that now, he was in no shape to do it again.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Sept 26, 2015 20:24:25 GMT -6
Nayru was no less surprised than the chimera at Veigue's sudden interjection, glimpsing him only a moment before his attack was already slicing through the air; it was hard to see through the snake's neck exactly what he did, but ironically enough, Veigue's little surprise attack solved that problem pretty effectively - whatever strange puppetry gave the snake such incredible strength drained almost the instant its head was severed, the deathly grip its jaws had on her no longer so overwhelming.
She growled, a guttural emanation that exposed savage fangs, and rejected the poison, the fangs, the snake with all her being - the sovereignty of her primal form refusing to accept any law besides its own. From without, the dragon's muscular shoulder bulged, boiled, almost protean for a brief moment as flesh swam like water beneath the scales, and then a single bone-esque spike erupted outwards, impaling the remains of the snake's head and ripping it away from the wound, already closing as chitinous plating extended, extruded; the scales across her right shoulder warped and grew, inwards and outwards, as her body reforged itself in the wake of that trauma. More spikes followed the first, rapidly growing thicker as the line continued.
Nayru had no way of knowing what was actually happening, nor did she understand the principles behind it, but even through the pain and pressure and power she could feel it - feel her body gradually changing, growing, mutating into something more fitting. If it was a natural property of her true form, or related to how different this transformation had been, she knew not; all Nayru truly knew was the rush of raw power flowing through her, the sensation of absolute invincibility as the savaged snake head fell uselessly to the ground in the wake of her body's - her - violent rejection. She would have time to worry about the how and the why later; for now, what was important was what she did with it.
She took one deliberate step forwards, one armored paw crashing down on the severed head and obliterating it, grinding it into the earth in a display of naked aggression, of unbending defiance. Here, it seemed to say, lies your fate.
...Which was entirely ignored by the aggrieved chimera, still staggering from its loss; the dragon's head was searching for Veigue - had searched for Veigue - already launching jets of molten ice that carved through the earth with cold intense enough to leave burn through all in its path. The lion itself, on the other hand, was still trying to shake off... something. Phantom sensations? The lack of nerves? She wasn't entirely sure what its problem was, or why it was so affected by the loss of that head, but the threat to Veigue was none too subtle, and her skin bristled at the thought of his journey ending here.
The dragon head had nearly ranged in on Veigue, blasts becoming more and more accurate with each shot, when several tons of extremely aggrieved dragon rammed into the chimera at a dead run, her mailed shoulder meeting it head on. Inside, the twinge of pain - it hadn't healed anywhere near as thoroughly as she had thought - shot through her, but if it gave Veigue a bit of breathing room, it was the least she could do to repay the favor.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 12:17:24 GMT -6
"Ugh..." Seeing the dragon head had already spotted him, that did not bode well for him. On the plus side, Veigue did gain a considerable amount of distance away from the body, but the dragon head's range was one to not be underestimated, given his struggle with both it and lion earlier gave him proof on that alone. But on the slightly more grim side of things, he had to consider the fact that he was still somewhat exhausted from that sudden rush of mobility earlier, and he couldn't move as fast as he liked. With the overgrown lizard head's mouth opening wide as the frosty energy was clearly being formed, he could already feel a bit of sweat fall. But he had to keep in motion and maintain his composure, otherwise this was going to be a rather cold fall if he messed up.
He was able to evade the first blast as he allowed his body to swing into the direction he previously desired to go, but then here came it's multi-shots, Veigue tensing up as he needed to force his slightly tired body to work harder. Each evasion of the assaults were harder than the last, but the chilly breeze of the magic as it flew past him continued to unsettle his body. As he dodged the last blast he witnessed, chilly aura of the attack -barely- nicked him on the left arm, though the good thing was that he evaded the ice blast itself. This caused him to fall down backwards while seeing his left sleeve being entirely coated in frost. He felt slight pain as well in combination of the freezing arm, but that trip to the ground was a bad sign...
Just as he looked forward again, he could see it charging for one more blast, bracing himself as he crossed his arms in a blocking motion in a meaningless attempt to lessen the incoming pain. But he heard a crash before anything could happen - it happening to be Nayru ramming into it - to halt it's assault upon him. Well, that was certainly more than a close call. No matter how much he pictured it in his mind, that final blast would have been his end no matter what he did. This further made him curse his rather fragile nature his kind tend to have, the limitations which he's still bound to heavily outweighs any kind of helpfulness he could assist with. At least his left arm wasn't frozen solid. As long as he walked it off and shake the frost, he'll be fine... but the true injury that was inflicted was internally.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Oct 7, 2015 6:09:00 GMT -6
The two crashed into the ground as one conjoined mass, a raging cyclone of claws and teeth and fire and lightning. The creature was wounded, perhaps fatally, but apparently it hadn't gotten the message if so - even with only one head remaining the beast fought as though it were possessed, both legs still accounted for and its strength intact. By taking the fight to the ground, she had neutered its range advantage - but her victory had yet to be decided.
Nayru strained to force her own mailed paw downwards, to crush the creature's head in one brutal finish, but with strength born of desperation it denied her, pushing her away and then following through in the moment of disconnection with a savage clawing slash of its own that raked her skin, only drawing light furrows as she contorted to minimize the damage. In the wake of those crimson claws blossomed not red but black, the obsidian plating already covering her shoulder growing in their wake as her body continued to adapt to their - her - opponent.
The only warning she got of its next attack was a moment to recognize the intense heat building up before again she was forced to retreat, if only for a moment, as a column of fire, as bright as the light of dawn itself, tore skywards - the creaure's deadly breath only growing fiercer and fiercer since the battle had started, far beyond the mere orangeish flames it had been capable of at the start of the fight.
Nayru cursed her own lack of breath for not the first time in the battle, all too acutely aware of the burning sensation in her throat - the cost she had paid for her little stunt in human form. The human form was never meant to be able to safely conduct and launch the kind of power she had been forced to use to keep Veigue safe, and the price had been much of her throat. Her lungs seemed intact, or there would be much larger problems, but there was no chance of her launching a sustained ranged attack.
Whether it was repairable or not was a a fair question, but secondary in importance to ending this battle as quickly as possible. While the chimera was reeling, its own rapid evolution was becoming obvious - she was not the only one improving over the course of the battle, and going by her approximations, Nayru gauged that she was losing that battle. Her own adaptations were reactive, imperfect; the creature's seemed to be fueled simply by the use of its own power, and it was certainly using up a great deal.
Ironic - in some ways they were both reactors of raw magical essence, creators rather than consumers. Despite their differences, she had more in common with it than perhaps any other living creature on Elibe. Even most dragons, as if to add insult to injury.
-But that, too, was a concern for another time. For they were similar in the most fundamental and critical of ways; both were survivors, forced by blood and body to live no matter what the cost, neither could exist while the other yet lived. They were far beyond the point of negotiations and compromise; it was simply kill or be killed, and for the sake of her own desires, for Veigue's safety and that of all the other countless humans this creature would slaughter, to atone for her own crimes - she had no option but to win.
Her head raised for a moment, then slammed down onto the chimera like a massive hammer, sending shockwaves through the earth beneath them, a light crater beneath, stunning the creature for a moment. Only for a moment. Then it was on her, nearly bowling her over in another desperate charge.
If she had been capable of doing so, Nayru probably would have laughed until Veigue was convinced she was quite mad - a stalemate! For all her great and vaunted power, for all her armor and strength and willpower, she couldn't truly outmatch the creature in raw strength, and each passing moment only closed the gap between them.
But the real reason she was laughing wasn't the stupid irony of that; it was that at the one moment in her entire life where she actually needed the firepower that truly defined what her strength was, she couldn't actually access it.
Oh, she was quite enjoying this fighting thing in general, and it was true that from Veigue's perspective she was more of a melee fighter, and she certainly didn't have any of the fine control and breath manipulation of a manakete - but in the end, her greatest weapon was not her durability or her strength or her speed or her mind. By dragon standards she wasn't especially tough, though as best she could tell Nayru felt she had improved greatly in that regard in this new form, and while her strength was great, it wasn't /that/ impressive by the standards of what she suspected Erim and other Divine Dragons could manage. They were simply the least flashy tools she had access to in human form.
No... her specialty was raw firepower. She had never known anyone but Erim to even come close - and that had been before unlocking the vast majority of her ruinous power.
And she couldn't use her breath.
If god was real, he was a joker.
Capitalizing on another minute opening, Nayru backhanded the creature away from her with enough force to lift it bodily, sending the foul beast flying away from her with all of the great and fantastic strength that was doing precious little for her in the actual fight. She didn't have time to feel sorry for herself or keep mucking around with this accursed creature; she had one last ace in the hole to play - hopefully - and not a great deal of time to figure out how to actually do it.
Even if her throat was pretty much wrecked, there was no issue with channeling her power, or feeling it cascading from - through - the world around her. Crimson lines still snaked through the sky, crimson lightning yet raining down haphazardly around them, though it was avoiding Veigue for some reason. It felt as if all the world around her was the emanation of her will, or perhaps just responding to it; Nayru wasn't really sure why she felt that way, something to figure out when she had the leisure to do so, but for now it felt as though she could do anything. As though the power of the cosmos was at her fingertips.
Well. Claws. Heh. Bad simile, she chided herself, her inner self smiling from within the consciousness of what she was now. As if she had the time to make jokes. The creature was already recovering, slowly pulling itself upright; it was only a matter of time before it was ready to rejoin the fray, and then the space she had bought for herself would be for naught. And this would only work once anyways.
Crimson darkness entwined erupted from her in a cascading torrent of light and shadow, the profane lightning arcing outwards in all directions like a massive tesla coil, leaving molten furrows in the ground as raging bolts played across it and evaporating air in their wake. At this point, there wasn't much of a point in saving up her power for future confrontations; if she didn't win here, it wouldn't matter anyways. And so, Nayru simply released it in waves, feeling it permeate the atmosphere as its concentration thickened. She wasn't sure exactly how much control she had over her magic outside of her body - she wasn't exactly a manakete - but directing it to some degree seemed to have become possible once the final barrier to her power had been lifted by her... other?
The chimera was back on its feet, but wary of the tremendous buildup of magical power around them. She caught its gaze, and for a moment there was something in its eyes. Intelligence? Sorrow? Nayru wasn't sure what she was seeing or even if she was looking too far into it, but for a moment it was more than a mere beast.
Then the sky fell.
Targeted by her will, vastly amplified by her released power, the countless lightning strikes that had been crashing down randomly across the battlefield struck as one. There was no subtlety or fine control, nothing as fancy as homing abilities or restraint or pretty patterns, just a solid torrent of raw destructive power that evaporated everything within a fifty foot radius in the light of judgement.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2015 11:40:24 GMT -6
He was still grateful that his arm wasn't frozen solid, though shaking off the frost from his sleeve wasn't very fun, since he had to use his hand at some point to brush it all off. He never felt ice so cold before, even while travelling through Ilia. Oh well. At least that dragon head was dead now, last he saw. Since he was out of impending doom for now, he decided to take it slow in his ascent so he won't end up injuring himself. While it was no dirt nap, that moment sitting down at least helped him regain some of his energy he lost from that strange sprint earlier. He'd try to do that again now, but he'd only embarrass himself trying to do something he didn't know how he did before. Well, he had more important things to focus on anyway.
Didn't take long to get nearly blinded from all the flashing light up ahead, however. He knew Nayru was still fighting the Chimera while it was on it's last stand, but all of the electricity coating the area around them made it quite hard to see. He could barely see Nayru over there, but he didn't see the chimera. Normally, one shouldn't be wondering where the enemy was if it were possibly dead, but with how dangerous that thing was, he didn't want to lose sight of it. Instinct alone caused him to search his surroundings, but if it was nowhere to be seen, then he believed that already answered his question.
Before everything cleared, he could make out on what remained of the chimera that was in front of Nayru before the rest of it was completely obliterated. That confirmed it then, Veigue breathing a momentary sigh of relief to finally have that strange encounter over and done with... hopefully. As long as another one of them didn't show up, that was good enough for him. Nayru was still transformed, Veigue finding it better to give her whatever space she needed after defeating the enemy. That didn't stop him from walking around a bit to examine heir surroundings one last time, holding his arm as he was starting to feel the after effects of the damage the dragon head dealt to it. Goes to show how powerful the thing was, as that blast only nicked his arm.
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