Rise From The Depths (Invite Only)

[VeraC]

Aberon smirked as the Omega Wave struck hard against the Ancient being, yet just as quickly, he was subject to the gravitational bindings brought about by the magic circle the machine had implemented below him.

“Such… pitiful bindings…”

He spoke under the weight.

The energies by no means were of any risk to him immediately, yet the force of it made it more of a nuisance than anything else. Though even then, it wouldn’t last long, as he could hear the voices reaching across the dimensions and space, and gave another smirk. He knew not exactly what they came from, but the effects of it were becoming clear as day to him, and likely the others around him. As the bindings lessened around him, he straightened his voice and grinned at Volkruss.

“Humans are… quite interesting, are they not?”

Aberon spoke to Volkruss as the circle faded and the gravity that held him in place subsided.

“Far too interesting to be erased as a whole. They always find some way to surprise you.”

It seemed evident that Volkruss’ power was beginning to wane, and the Shin Nazgadd grew weaker as the negative energy began to escape from its form. Perhaps it was about time to finish this whole ordeal, and perhaps even take back a bit of what was originally his. His face grew serious, and he was finally getting serious.

“Return to the origin.”

The sword Zephirut held began to fade away, and Aberon shifted his hands to his side. As if from the aether around him began to condense and be drawn into the core of his machine. Aberon was he who created this world, and throughout it, his power laid dormant, waiting. He would enact his authority as ‘God’ and eliminate this threat to his world.

Spoiler: The Ancient God

No more than a flickering visage that for but a brief moment appeared around Aberon, the image of his ‘true’ form appeared to all present. Perhaps incomprehensible to the average human who knew little of the ancients and gods, but for the God of Destruction, the Apostle of the Giants, and the servant of the Angel, a great draconic form that dwarfed all present; even the prior form of the god of destruction paled in size to the momentary visage. Though as quickly as it became visible, the image vanished from sight. From then, the energy flowed outward and began to swell in its hands before it reached out as if to grasp Shin Nazgadd in its entirety.

“By my Authority as Aberon, the creator of this world and all who live in it, I shall make my decree. You, Volkruss, a being who shouldn’t exist, who's existence is a sin in itself, I sentence you to oblivion. From nothing from whence you came, to nothing you shall return.”

In the palm of his hand, the form of Shin Nazgadd began to take shape, as if it was but a mini-sized version that fit in his hand. At the same time, the space around Shin Nazgadd would begin to contort before being torn open and being folded over the machine, encapsulating it whole. Zephirut would slowly begin to squeeze its hands together around Mini-Nazgadd, encapsulating and later crushing the image in its hands.

Paralleling Zephirut’s action, the space that surrounded Shin Nazgadd began to ‘shrink’ around the machine, slowly compacting and crushing that which was within it.

“Lao… ‘tis unfortunate things ended this way. I can only say I’m disappointed in you.”

Aberon spoke to himself with a frown on his face.

Zehn Gebote remained persistent around Volkruss, continually crushing and holding the machine where it was until it was no more.

Vayne on the other hand, took this as his time to make an exit, perhaps his help was hardly needed from the very beginning. Though perhaps he took pleasure in watching the great and mighty Volkruss crumble before him, it was possibly worth enough for him to have stayed the time he did. Nonetheless, he could only imagine things would be getting busy in the coming days, there was much preparation he needed to do.

“Thy fate is sealed. And I shall take my leave. ‘Twas a pleasure, Lao.”

With his final remarks, a dimensional rift appeared behind Azrael, and Vayne shifted backwards into it, vanishing from sight, shortly before the rift did as well.

 

[MKR]

There it was, the trick. As his blade passed through the foe he knew that using that weapon of his would have been doomed to fail had he used it immediately, given his prior experience using it against something that got on his nerves as much as the thing in front of him, or now technically 'in front' of him as it shifted in another plane of existence. A thought interrupted by the shining of kaleidoscopic light the momentary distraction immediately followed by the retort of the god of destruction one intent on causing the utter decimation of his foes.

The Z.O. Sword was now forced down to the ground as the Astranagant pushed against the force aiming to crush him, perhaps for some getting to face off against a dark god of destruction would get their blood pumping and heart racing, but even as he was clearly aware of the dire situation he was in, and that it was far from guaranteed for him to leave this situation alive Derrick was not feeling adrenaline coursing through him, but exert himself he did struggling against the oncoming darkness and destruction because one must, the first and last line of defense was this battle here and so he, they, could not fail.

Until suddenly, a small light danced in front of his eyes.

That, caused him to pause. For all the monstrous creatures he had seen, for all the envoys of the endtimes encountered and now this twisted dark god eager to devour and destroy existence itself out of sheer spite it was not them, but this small dancing light that disrupted his focus for the first time since his meeting with the Angel who had him in his employ.

Amidst the cacophony of crushing crystal and shrieking metal, there was... singing? As well as snow? No, tiny DEC particles dancing in the void of space carrying these voices within. Someone had disrupted the ritual of the Cult of Volkruss at the most fundamental level, and he had no clue who or what had done so. But the fact of the matter was that the crushing grip on the Astranagant was weakening and now, now he could push away the grasp of the monster clawing at him.

And now...

Was the time for 'that' weapon.​

This moment of reprieve, 'return to origin' was indeed apt the Guardian of Causality could not help but note. He needed distance to do this freely, and it was being offered freely.

In the flickering visage he saw traces of the reaction done by Zivon to Gail during the latter's 'visit' to the former's abode, but as the would be creator of all things put pressure, in more than one way, on the dark god Derrick saw his opportunity clearly.

The wings of the Astranagant flared up, green light crying out like a beacon to all mankind, the Black Angel held both its arms up, cracked crystal reflecting and cascading the green light of the wings in a million patterns and a thousand lights, the damage done by the crushing motion was evident yet the Astranagant still held together, it would break rather then bend.

"Now then, Dark God of Destruction. Allow me to grant you a true parting gift of the Dark God of Creation, the epitome of both your efforts and that of your now deceased peer- An ultimate destruction at the moment of creation!"
Derrick outstretched his hand over the image of the Shin Nazgadd on his visual feed, before in a simple motion snatching it. Unlike Aberon this would not take manifest in a direct way, but rather it was a signal to the machine he sat in.

And now, the kaleidoscopic light of Aberon's prior attack was outperformed by a white 'light' more equivalent to an all devouring void bellowing forth from the shadow of death that was known to this battlefield. A blinding light, 'Ein Sof'. The engine with a million cogs, the thing that eradicated the ur-humans, the ultimate weapon against the Akashic Records themselves. A violation of all laws of space and time. It was the ultimate creation of man's hubris, and now.. It was preparing to fire once more.

As the Astranagant spread its arms wide holding a pose not unlike that of a famous 'son' of the very entity deigned to arise from Ein Sof, a golden crosshair of light came into being in front of the Black Angel's chest. If the metal within the frame of Astranagant had creaked before, now it was echoing throughout the battlefield. The distinctive sound of metal groaning as the crosshair formed faded to be replaced by the pilot naming the attack at long last once more.

"Infinity Cylinder!"

The crosshair collided into itself, shooting forward in a stream of light that soon became a massive ball, as this sphere of annihilation travelled it began to break down turning into ten smaller spheres that kept on course to the Shin Nazgadd.

Neutron stars, the smallest, densest objects barring black holes and now ten of them danced across the surface of the moon. Yet the moon was somehow unharmed. These constellation creations were after but one thing, the god of destruction. Perhaps the man who tested himself against them previously was watching this display again, to see how it would go.

And now, with the monster held so well into place the finishing blow could shatter the dark god. The ten stars circled the being faster and faster until they were but motes of light then streaks of light circling around their target faster than Derrick could keep track of, perhaps the two gods in his company could perceive more of it but he cared not.

Time... That undeniable killer of billions, the thing that kept marching forward. It was both the Alpha of all things that 'exist' for there needs to be a point at which they begin 'existing' and their Omega, for every carton of milk has its expiry date and organic tissue decays. Now it may be true that gods do not feel the weight of time as heavily as humans to that there was no denying but everything would expire with enough time.

But, the one thing no thing that required 'existing' wanted, the one thing they all feared was if 'Alpha' met 'Omega' the beginning becomes the end.

Stillbirth.

To die the second one comes into existence, such was the task of this weapon. The ten stars that circled brought with them time, and used it as a weapon spinning in such a way to manipulate the 'time' of the target to make Alpha meet Omega.

From within the confines of the cockpit Derrick watched, once this battle was done... He would have a chat with the overseer of time itself.
He had questions once more, and now seemed like a time to cash in for answers.

 

[GEAR]

The Ein Sof.

The light of creation, and the twilight of undoing.

Eerie half-radiance spilled from the combined two machines from the Moon's surface, casting dazzling reflections as it glinted off their crystalline hides. Nagzadd - no, Volkruss, felt the spectral grip of the higher planes closing about its phantom throat, holding it in place as a power greater than its own began to assert itself. It couldn't feel fear, but only blind, acrimonious hatred, a sensation so vile it caused its own flesh to spill and melt, tendrils and mouths and eyes bursting spontaneously into being across its body as it began to melt away, unable to even maintain its own composure.

A wall of rolling flesh, of malevolent spirits, that reared up one final time, attempting to crush the Black Angel-

"Infinity Cylinder!"

The sphere of nothingness struck true, hurtling across the short distance in the void between the two, to impact the core of Volkruss' being. Were it not for the void, the howl it uttered would have been utterly incomprehensible as it writhed monstrously. Slowly, agonizingly, as though the seconds were being stripped away from its being, it began to slow-

Then, where the blow had been struck there was... Nothing.

A hole, perfectly round and clear, as though the abomination had been punched clean through.

In moments, the magic circles about the thing tightened, and it was swallowed whole as more and more began to appear, chewing apart its body, dragging it across the causal horizon... To the plane of pitiless infinity from which none had ever returned.

Frozen in place, like some kind of ultimate horror statue, Volkruss vanished from the face of Luna, leaving not even the smallest trace of its existence.

Instantly, the hordes of Spirit Soldiers began to fade away, their features growing less and less real, less certain, as they too were pulled back across the border between life and death...

Yet, their features, which had only seemed malevolent so far, seemed almost... Peaceful.





In ones and twos at first, then threes and fours, from the spot where Volkruss had once stood - streams of light surged forth. To the Psychodrivers of Luna, these were especially bright, lighting up the surface like a fireworks display, as a profound sense of peace replaced the aura of terror and fear that had once spilled forth from the Evil God of Destruction.

The souls harvested by Volkruss, who had been bound to the malevolent entity even in death, at last being able to return to the great beyond.

 

[VeraC]

“Well, that’s that.”

Aberon gave a faint smile as he saw the destruction of Volkruss and the aftermath that ensued. It was one mistake wiped off the face of this planet, but there were many more than required attendance. Perhaps as time went on, Aberon could feel his power returning, slowly but surely. While without the twelve spheres it wasn’t likely that he’d return to his former glory, but for the meanwhile, these baby steps were the important foundation that would lead on to his true resurrection.

He rolled his neck and closed his eyes in slight displeasement.

“Still, this form is quite limiting…”

He gave a sigh and a shrug to himself. The form of the Zephirut began to fade away, as if its armor was corroding in a sort of purple ‘magical space dust’ At the end all that remained was Aberon himself floating in space, as if laying down on nothing, hands behind his head.

He turned his head to the black angel and gave a smirk.

“Hey, Errand Dog of the Angels.”

He spoke to the pilot of the Astranagant.

“Tell Zivon I said ‘Hello’.”

He smiled and waved sarcastically to the pilot. That Angel was another problem that needed to be solved down the line, but now was not yet the time to handle such things. Perhaps for today, Aberon would take a nice rest at some cushiony Luna Hotel. If there was a Luna to return to anyway.

I wonder how the coup went off anyways.

The man looked upward as he drifted in the zero gravity.

 

[MKR]

The Black Angel's crystalline surface reflected the myriad lights of souls upon its chassis, Derrick gazed on from within. This 'job' at least allowed him to see things that had been beyond his imagination mere months prior. Though he had been numbed by the horrors and sights from beyond this veil ample sights were beautiful and horrifying all the same. From the alien biomes of the Swordian to the lush fields of Zivon's plane. All the way to this, the souls of the formerly damned released above the surface of Luna.

It was so bright to him it almost hurt his eyes thanks to his proximity to the source of the light so Derrick squinted slightly to watch the display. Besides him the being spoke, presumable primarily to itself as it discarded its 'shell'? 'weapon'? it mattered little all in all which was more correct and which was the inappropriate word, nevertheless the new title caused Derrick to roll his eyes at the man, being, thing. The mixed feelings he got from the Astranagant on the person shaped being in front of her were also telling, especially when he indicated knowledge of Zivon directly. There was a history there it seemed, but frankly that was an issue for another time.

The Astranagant's gaze shifted upwards watching as the lights danced against he curtain of the stars. It was like a meteor shower passing overhead a once in a lifetime experience if even that... Time, this aught to have bought them some. One of the nasties that had pierced the veil of reality from who knows where. Between Gragios and now Volkruss that left only Lasfitor of the ever-competing dark gods to stand in the ashes of its peers.
Without a smile or a care of this he was sure, such was the way of the third.

But that was an issue for another day, for now there had been some things he really wanted to have honest answers on. Coordinates were typed in, knowledge recorded into the Astranagant accessible to him. Illegal coordinates in space and time one could say, like trying to find an everlasting moment in a haystack but he both knew and didn't understand the input he entered. But it was recognized nonetheless even if Derrick had no idea how to reproduce these results.

Gun Familiars placed upon the machine once more, a gateway of pure black opened behind it with a corona like a lunar eclipse happening before the sun. The Black Angel moving backwards into the equally black surface as it closed behind it. Offering no reply to the God beyond a final glance as it vanished from sight and arguably, from time.