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Post by The Mammoth on Jun 3, 2009 9:44:28 GMT -5
((BTW, why does every single mention of energy now have to go with Dragonball or some derivative? It was not the first! Sigh, stupid pop culture... Its the same as any mention of orcs turning into a "LOTR" world... STOP IT lol))
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Post by piñata on Jun 3, 2009 12:00:13 GMT -5
(I've never seen any Dragonball stuff, so it's not my fault. When I refer to energy it's usually mana from Magic: The Gathering.)
Pinata watched Mammoth fall and Jodice die. They had struck major blows before being removed from the equation, but their losses still enraged him. And now, the shield was gone. Pinata's sword turned a poisonous shade of black... now, every strike with the blade would carry with it a dose of Omukade venom. The giant, flesh-eating, extremely poisonous magical centipede was a rare creature native to certain countries on Pinata's home plane, and his sword had taken on properties of its venom after he had killed one with it. A female Omukade was said to be able to destroy an entire village with one dose of venom, though Pinata felt that was probably an exaggeration... besides which, the Omukade he had killed had been a mere hatchling, as opposed to a full-grown adult. At any rate, he would get to see how a demon withstood the venom now.
He moved in, ducking under one axe and running up the blade of the other, and slashed Ralf'url's groin before diving underneath the demon and coming to his feet behind him. Ralf'url bellowed in agony; the venom had worked, especially well in such a sensitive spot as a matter of fact, and would now leave him severely weakened and much easier to finish off. Pinata's blade turned silver again, and he said, "When you find yourself back in Hell, say hi to my father for me." Then he charged again.
(Okay, Mammoth or Caelen -- or Jodice, if she wants to return this early -- can jump in now if they want. Feel free to have Pinata get knocked aside or something if he'll be in your way while he continues to fight.)
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Post by Da Pwny on Jun 3, 2009 19:06:26 GMT -5
*its the one reference I know, thankfully, but yeah... I couldn't help it XP Jodice won't be getting up for a few minutes in-character, so yeah... Caelen? where art thou O.o?*
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Post by The Mammoth on Jun 3, 2009 21:00:02 GMT -5
((I give Caelen until tomorrow before i move on since he seems to have disappeared.))
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Post by piñata on Jun 4, 2009 11:07:58 GMT -5
(Fair enough. He likes to absquatulate from time to time... he'll be back eventually, but I agree it's inadvisable to wait more than a day or two for him.)
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Post by Da Pwny on Jun 6, 2009 21:21:00 GMT -5
*i guess its my turn again :\ this is gonna be a doozie...*
Even if her body had run out of existence, the feeling of Enia's hand was all-too-real. Jodice recoiled and whined, even if she couldn't do so physically anymore "Wh-wh-wha?! That hurt..." Enia glared at her daughter, giving the child one of those looks as she stated "Was this the same thing I labored and died for? This weak child that can barely stand as all else falls around her? I waited two centuries for this day, and my vengeance shall not be denied now!" "Then... go do it yourself..."
The suggestion at first infuriated the Valkyrie, whom appeared outside her usual suit of armor, wearing simple under-clothes while before the younger, but then her words stumbled, unable to shoot back at the given retort. Finally, in defeat, she slumped down next to a shocked Jodice, tears brimming her eyes as she said in final desperation "I... I cannot, Jocy..."
The background faded from a darkened red to a faded blue, reflecting the sadness that was finally surfacing upon her. Her head falling into her hands, for the first time in two hundred years, the Valkyrie Enia cried. Her child, without any idea what was going on and unable to stand the sight, fought back in vain against tears as the emotions from her mother poured over her like a tidal wave, and soon both were weeping. "I... I'm sorry... That was mean of me... M-mother? Are you... are you okay? Are you... sad?" At first there was nothing as darkness descended, and then the weakened voice came saying "No... It is all my fault, Jodice... I have withheld the truth from you, the truth as to how desperate this situation truly is... Well, there will be no more of that. If this world is to survive and live again, you must know everything."
And truly, she told everything she knew...
Over two hundred years ago, this world was thriving, with forests stretching as far as the eye could see, clear water in abundance, and with no fear of demons or unnatural things or anything of the like. Sure, the human populace occasionally bickered and warred, but those silly beings have always done so. Most importantly, the Gods reigned true and fairly over all that existed, protecting the mortal realm from the invasions of Asgard, the Underworld as it were.
Not but 194 years prior to now, however, all that changed. It began with your conception: many eons prior a contract stating that relations between the mortal realm and the standing godhood was strictly prohibited was drawn up, although certain exceptions were placed in of course. This included anything beyond simple direct contact with the humans and any other being with a lifespan that terminated; this prohibited marriage, reproduction, and anything of that sort - it even prohibited simple love, if such a thing existed, as that was believed to lead to these other things. The reason this was created was to protect this world from abominations that could have threatened not only humanity but also possibly our own interests. The breach of that contract was punishable not only by exile, but possible d**nation, or even outright destruction of the offending souls involved, something very possible with the power certain gods wield.
I... I did the unthinkable, and fell in love with... a human, whom you have met and watched die already. You were not my first, I will admit to you only, but you were and still are my favored. Seeing him fight as the champion of the gods, I just... I don't know, something clicked inside, and I couldn't help myself but to want him in ways I cannot describe with a straight face. This was, of course, kept as quiet as possible, but when it was found that I was with child soon after that battle... well, it quickly spiraled into a fiasco. I was young and stupid at the time, and let emotions guide me instead of reason; the later of which told me to simply blame it upon as forced rape, that he "made me do it". But love could not- would not allow me to witness falsely, and that was my downfall.
They knew not what to do with me, as no god nor goddess had ever broken the contract before. However, while they bickered and blamed each other for what was happening, I was put away, sealed in a sort of dungeon on Earth, though that does not exactly describe how horrible it was. It was there I found out that, should I do nothing, you would most certainly be aborted to save face. As a young mother, I knew not what to do, until she came.
A sorceress or witch of some sort - I cannot remember now - she said there were ways for a goddess to preserve her seed, to move it into another so that it would not be found. Terrified, frightened, I complied, even if it would be found out later no matter how much I lied about it. I'm sure the pain was as terrible as giving birth, but I had no idea it would take two hundred years to transplant such a child!
Anyhow, I was tried and convicted, but before the proceedings could conclude, another impossibility happened; Valhalla, our home, our life, was attacked viciously. The demons of Asgard came swiftly, in force, lead by an unknown whom I suspect was a traitor of some sort, and the outlying villages of our home were utterly flattened. There was little time or ability to do anything; such a thing had never been heard of nor attempted before, and as such there were no defenses against it. The results were... catastrophic.
Most died in the initial assault, either executed on-the-spot or trampled by the crowds. I myself was released, given permission to use my gear once more, and sent out to fight alongside my sisters. Whereas before there were surely countless hundreds of thousands, after the battle's conclusion, fewer than ten-hundred remained, with the demon's losses standing at less than a tenth-score of their force (less than two percent). Many, if not all, of the civilian population had been overrun, slaughtered, and a quarter of the citadel fell in the first fight. The rest met an unknown fate.
The humans, without protection, were quickly subverted. I myself... I cannot tell you what indignities my body suffered when I fell, but to kill a goddess of a higher rank is difficult; instead, they forced me through something worse than death: they severed the link between me and... and my physical self... locking the latter away... somewhere beneath a complex layer of spells and omens, cursing me to never find peace. How you were born... I do not know, but I felt it, and I knew as only a mother can... I know my burden is not yours, child, but it has been thrust upon you unceremoniously, and thus far you have shown adamant courage and strength that... that not even I... ever had...
"For all that I have suffered, for all that I have been thrown through, I have learned many things. However, it is time for you to learn what you truly are, what you always have been. Jodice, do you know why we fall?"
Hearing the story, Jodice had been listening, but through her own pain and torment she had become somewhat lost, until that question. Unable to answer as she held her crying mother, she simply shook her head 'no' in response. Enia smiled; "So that we learn to pick ourselves up, that is why. I won't force you to, but I will say that the future hinges upon this very moment, upon your very decision. For your race, for your friends, the time has come. Rise, and take what has always been rightfully yours."
For several minutes as the fight continued downhill, the body of the female warrior simply laid still, eyes closed. Abruptly, however, a twitch, possibly easily mistakable for death-throws; but then a hand that moved on its own, ever so slightly even if it was only barely an inch. By the time these accumulated into something noticeable by those locked in battle, the fate of Ralf'url would be sealed.
*whew x-x wanted to give everyone another chance to post if they wanted to before carrying this on to the end ^-^" that, and my hands are hurting x-x*
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Post by The Mammoth on Jun 7, 2009 9:02:10 GMT -5
It was just as Ralf'url had struck down Jodice that Mammoth looked up. Seeing her run through, his mind screamed, telling him to get up, telling him that he can't just lay there. He tried with all his might to force himself to his feet, but to no avail. He couldn't move, he tried again and again, barely able to muster the strength to lift himself up. He somehow managed to get himself back to a knee, bracing all of his weight on his blade again. He stared at Jodice's lifeless body, and Ralf'url's sick grin. Mammoth gritted his teeth, and struggled to his feet. He was breathing like he had run hundreds of miles, sweating as if it were hundreds of degrees out, and he could hardly support the weight of his blade, but he was standing.
"So, you stand! A bit late for her, though!" Ralf'url mocked.
Mammoth didn't respond. He just stared. It was as these words left Ralf'url's mouth that Mammoth could head the roar of demons coming toward the gate. Ralf'url had called them back... He was afraid of losing...
Mammoth looked over to the gate, seeing what was nearly one thousand lesser demons rushing the gate, no doubt more were on their way. Mammoth took one more glance at Jodice's lifeless body, and pulled his blade from the dirt, wearily lifting it up with both hands. He wobbled and shook, pain and exhaustion stopping his movements from being sure and firm, but he stood there like a bastion of courage, what remained of his armor shining in the half-covered sunlight.
"Pinata... Caelen... I'll hold... Them off... Kill him..." Mammoth said, taking the first struggling step toward the charging demons. He had no idea how he was standing, and from the look on Ralf'url's face, neither did he...
Mammoth was sure that they would win. He would have his vengeance for the fallen.
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Post by piñata on Jun 8, 2009 9:22:02 GMT -5
Pinata placed a hand on Mammoth's arm as he was walking away. A surge of green energy passed between them, entering Mammoth's body and seeming to strengthen him. Pinata explained what he was doing in case Mammoth was curious what sort of magic he had just used on him:
"It's called a Stream of Life. The green mana is converted into health, fortifying you so that you can stand against a numerically superior enemy." Pinata seemed slightly winded, suggesting that he had poured much -- or possibly even all -- of his remaining magical energy into the spell. "Good luck," he told Mammoth before turning back to face Ralf'url. The demon grinned, seemingly knowing that Pinata had weakened himself.
"What the hell are you grinning about, you wanker?" Pinata asked, charging the demon.
(Since Jodice seems to have big plans and Mammoth probably wants to do an ass-kicking post, I'm not gonna have Pinata do much to Ralf'url in this post... if it falls to me to finish him off in my next post I'll do it, but for now let's give Caelen one more opportunity to log in.)
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Post by Da Pwny on Jun 10, 2009 23:08:17 GMT -5
*mm... imma keep yakking until I find an opening x-x that'll waste time XD*
Quickly, quietly, changes were happening within the girl; her wounds began to heal, bones were knitted, molded, strengthened, changed - even the placement of certain organs was altered, all while she remained still, unfeeling. Inside, there was still much that Jodice wanted to know...
"So why now? Why not tell me this before its critical?" "Because, you wouldn't have been listening like you are now. Your childish arrogance can be a nuisance sometimes, but I guess I wasn't much different at your learning stage." "Learning stage? You don't mean 'age' do you?" "No no, not age. You forget that we most likely aged at different rates; I was probably a good hundred years in human terms old before I even looked similar to you now. Of course, technically, you are twice that, but we won't fret the smaller details. Really, I don't think you would have been ready to accept death so readily until now, until it mattered that you had to. Even if you don't feel it, your demise has triggered something... special within your physical self.
"Even as we speak here, it is changing, readying itself for when you decide to take hold of your destiny. Just... please do not hesitate for too long, or your friends may suffer worse than they should. I know your feelings for that one, but you must think of the grander picture; if you fail, as a god-borne, then this planet will fall with you, and there will be nothing to stop those others from taking it without hesitation. I know you're probably scared, even if you won't admit it... frankly, I'm biting my nails too, but this has to be done. Besides, there are six of us here now, instead of four... we will succeed, but only if you get up..."
It took considerable force at first to even lift one eyelid, but she didn't regret it when Jodice could finally see again, without blurred or shaking vision. She felt... reborn, as if her body had just been pushed from the womb; this included the intense pains that accompanied it. The scene was dire; Pinata and the cat-person were locked in battle against Ralf'url, Wolfie was long-gone, and Mammoth was about to engage suicidally in a battle against the hundreds-strong army that was still left, most likely hoping to buy the other two enough time to defeat the demon general. Their chances for success currently were next to zero.
However, she was still too weak to stand, even as energy poured into her from some other source. It didn't take Jodice long as she relaxed herself back into darkness that the source was everywhere; every soul that still existed in this plane was feeding her small ounces of energy, and the more she concentrated upon it, the more she got. Such power... and I hardly know how to use it still...
Letting her breathing stop so as to continue appearing dead - oxygen apparently was no longer required for her to function - Jodice listened to her mother's instructions, reaching out to Mammoth first, talking to him without uttering a word, even though she really didn't know what to say. 'Stay strong... Mammoth... and be ready for this to end... I won't take to lying down for much longer...'
She said something similarly to Pinata before falling silent, conserving her energy as much as she could until her body would move again. That would take several more minutes, and she needed the enemy to stay distracted for at least that much longer...
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Post by piñata on Jun 11, 2009 10:29:36 GMT -5
(Okay, it's just completely unrealistic that Pinata's still alive without Caelen's help, so I'm gonna have to godmod our striped friend a bit. I can change it if it's too much.)
Jodice's voice inside Pinata's head distracted him just enough for a glancing blow with the butt of an axe to knock him aside briefly. But he knew what the plan was now, and before Ralf'url could bring his weapons to bear on Caelen Pinata had gotten back up and started hacking at the demon's right leg with his sword, like a lumberjack trying to fell a particularly difficult tree. Ralf'url was forced to keep his attention divided, defending against both Caelen's assault from the front and Pinata's from the rear... even better yet, he was favoring his right leg slightly.
Ralf'url's injuries did nothing to detract from his confidence, and he continued to boast about how his opponents would suffer when hellfire consumed this plane. Pinata wished he had held back some magical energy so that he could cast a Silencing Charm on the demon. As Ralf'url roared in frustration and spun around to strike at him with both blades, Pinata rolled underneath the oncoming strike, continuing the roll between Ralf'url's legs, striking the right one with his sword one more time on the way by. Now, for the briefest of moments, both he and Caelen were behind the demon. "Go!" Pinata said, leaping up and lodging his sword in Ralf'url's hip for leverage. He yanked the blade back out and then clambered up the demon's back, Caelen joining him, both trying to strike at the unprotected-from-this-angle head and neck of their foe.
Ralf'url roared again, and swung the axes back behind himself trying to dislodge them. Pinata had to dodge an oncoming blade that would cleave him in half otherwise, and decided jumping would be the lesser of two evils. He landed on the ground below with a sickening crunch... he had landed on his left arm, and it had broken badly. He let go of his sword so he could push himself up with his right hand, and got back to his feet. Bending down to retrieve his sword at a particularly fortuitous moment, he didn't even realize he had ducked under the next sweep of the axe until he felt the wind from its passing. He didn't see Caelen anywhere, and realized that the weretiger must have held on. Whatever you're doing up there, I hope it causes that bastard a lot of pain, Pinata thought at his new friend, even though he doubted he had the same ability to actually transmit the thought that Jodice had suddenly developed.
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Post by Da Pwny on Jun 18, 2009 20:36:00 GMT -5
(fine... I'll try to grunt a post out. don't blame me if it comes out bad... *strained noises coming from the bathroom*)
The Pendulum of Fate was on the downswing; the battle was reaching its climax. Soon, it would end, but in who's favor rest upon Jodice. Her allies were faltering, and she had her own issues to resolve. Right now, though, her biggest worry was just standing up.
Even with her eyes closed, she watched the battle, and in a second's time assessed the situation as best she could: Pinata and the cat person were holding their own for now, but one couldn't tell how long that would last; Mammoth was barely standing against the hoards that swept forward like an incoming wave; she herself had officially just died and come back, and was as of the moment only able to lift a finger. In half of a half hour she might be able to fight again, but at the rate things were going, the others would be killed by then. Getting up in her condition, however, would expend unnecessary amounts of energy, and only result in her getting killed again most likely. It seemed her only option was to wait.
When she closed her eyes to rest, however, horrible images filled her mind, ones showing the possible outcome if she were to wait. For some reason, though, the most frightening one was that of Mammoth pinned to the wall, slowly dying as Ralf'url laughed before- Her eyes opened again, unable to watch any more. Jodice didn't dare open them all the way, though, for fear that she might be seen as something other than an unmoving corpse.
Still, there had to be something she could do about this... but what? She was too weak to even move her feet, let alone fight a battle and turn the tide. And then, before her eyes, it began: the demon general, having managed to dislodge the were-cat that still clung onto him by some freak chance, blew past Pinata, and headed straight for Mammoth... Without even closing her eyes, the images flashed in her mind; time slowed as she watched, helpless, while her friend was about to be slaughtered by their common foe...
No... don't let it end this way! No no no no NOOOO!!
In the span of two heartbeats, something within her changed dramatically: energy surged through her like adrenalin, but a thousand times stronger, while everything around her faded almost instantaneously to white, the world around her barely a blur as she felt herself move, though it really didn't feel as though she had moved... When her vision returned, her eyes opened again, but a very different sight greeted her through her mana-vision; immediately in front, her sword had shifted form into a longer version of its native shape, and was currently facing downwards in a defensive stance, holding back a horizontal axe blow belonging to a very surprised Ralf'url.
Her injuries had been, and she felt energy continuing to flair within her. Both eyes now flared with white; even the veins on her body, which was partially exposed after multiple unending battles, glowed slightly, creating a spiderweb effect upon her. With an enraged scream, she pushed the assault back onto the general, changing the form of her weapon into twin blades, a more familiar format for her.
Ralf'url barely had time to recover before she attacked again; he managed to block the incoming strike, but Jodice simply rebounded as she was pushed back, ricocheting off a wall, using the quick-dash ability she'd discovered before to push herself even further, landing on the other side of her opponent. Taking a moment to recover and recollect herself, she tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. All around her, she could see streams and points of light, of all different colors, some coming from nearby but others that very far away... just what was happening to her?
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Post by The Mammoth on Jun 19, 2009 12:14:10 GMT -5
Mammoth's vision was blurry, his hearing muffled, his nerves screaming. He could hear nothing but his roaring heatbeat pounding in his ears. His vision was black around the edges, blurry and fading, despite the overcast darkness outside, he felt as if it was midnight. As he stepped, he felt a slight surge of energy from Pinata. Unfortunately, it seemed that the strength gained by his ability to use neutral energy also dampened the effects of other energy. The green mana spell provided some much needed strength to his arms that left like anvils. However, he still felt as if he was about to fall to the ground. Suddenly, in his ears rang a familiar voice. He couldn't understand how Jodice was speaking to him, or whether it was divine intervention, but nonetheless, it gave him some bit of purpose, as well as much needed fury to keep fighting.
Stepping forward into the hordes, he cleaved through the hordes with massive, lobbing, slow swings. They were torn limb from limb, but Mammoth was not faring well, as the demons bit and clawed, slashed and cleaved. His armor was practically scrap, so he was taking much of these strikes to his bare chest and thighs. Mammoth finally decided that his blade was just too slow, and he threw it aside, cutting down a few demons in the process. With his bare hands, Mammoth began the sickening work of swinging his massive fists, and hearing the sound of crushing bone and wails of pain.
But, Mammoth was being overrun, he couldn't keep this up much longer. With a heavy swing, a demon slammed an axe through the remaining armor in Mammoth's left leg. It cleaved into the back of his thigh, causing him to drop to a knee. He reached around and threw the demon into his allies, as he disappeared underneath the hordes of demons. Every few moments, a demon would fly from the pile, but the slowing pace by which it was occuring meant that he would not last much longer....
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Post by Da Pwny on Jun 25, 2009 22:51:54 GMT -5
Her body and sword moved in an impossibly fast rhythm, blocking and dodging blow after blow from the enraged general. The room was large enough for there to be plenty of running space, but the walls were as hazardous as the arms her enemy wielded; they changed shape, sometimes into spikes, sometimes into bear-trap-like jaws, or just plain fell out. She had to keep moving to keep from being hurt, lest she find herself in a situation like earlier where she'd nearly gotten herself killed again from being too close to the mortar and it held her for a few seconds before she managed to free herself. He screamed insults and retorts, but Jodice saw the fear in his eyes now, facing an opponent fresh off the bench and with surprising amounts of energy all of a sudden. Repelling one more attack, she lept backwards, avoiding a downwards swing from the axe weapon Ralf'url was utilizing.
He was tiring, but not enough. Jodice had to go on the offensive, but every time she did so the walls interfered. Ralf'url was desperate, she could see it, but he hadn't lost his tactical mind; when she made a misstep, he took full advantage of it. Soon, the spell Pinata had pinned on him was going to wear off, and he might be able to bring his strength back. That's when she saw Mammoth - rather, the lack of him.
Momentarily distracted, Jodice saw the pile of demons off to her right, knowing exactly who was under it. Before she could react, an uppercut from the bladed spine of the scythe sent her sailing, though it seemed to hit some barrier between him and her; that was new, but then so were quite a few things. Recovering mid-air, she vaulted off the wall before it could swallow her, tucking and rolling under the demonic general's legs as he tried to swipe her with the axe. Landing on her feet, she turned her attention to Pinata momentarily, speaking to him directly through her soul Pinata, go help Mammoth before he gets himself killed. I'll keep this fat bastard distracted for a while longer.
Using the dash-slash attack she'd learned, Nartusela found flesh at Ralf'url's ankles, the overlord roaring in anger now as she landed by the druid. Moving quickly and without an ounce of care for his opinionated notions, she slapped a hand onto him, transferring as much soul energy as she figured she could safely give him; he'd figure out how to use it in his own form of magic. Even so, she hardly felt drained, and her mana-vision showed a peculiar sight; for a moment, tiny strings became visible around some of the closer points of light that she'd seen earlier, but vanished the moment she finished the transfer. Keeping that in mind, the pieces were starting to fall into place, but she still didn't know what it all meant. 'FOCUS, CHILD! Your enemy still stands!'
With that warning, she turned back to face Ralf'url, readying her blade once more.
*if someone else wants to play as him, feel free... i'm not sure how to X'P *
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Post by The Mammoth on Jun 26, 2009 1:36:58 GMT -5
Ralf'url laughed, cracking his neck and tossing aside his axes. He cracked his knuckles, and from the long fingers of his hands, shot out massive barbed spines, likely laced with poisons. The spines were the length of a normal longsword, but the fact that there were 5 on each hand, put Jodice at a severe disadvantage.
"Enough playing. You are mine, child."
Ralf'url stepped forward, slashing high, then low, then slamming his foot onto the ground and causing more barbs to shoot from the ground. It was apparent that this was his last ditch effort to win, he was running out of options...
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Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pile, Mammoth felt his flesh taking the horrid beating from the various weapons, claws, and teeth of the assorted demons. The feeling of pain and the weakening from the loss of blood made Mammoth realize he was likely to die here. Knowing this, he realized he had nothing left to lose, and decided he would release every bit of energy he had left. Slamming his fists to the ground, he released a shockwave that incinerated off the demons on him, and knocked the remaining ones off their feet. His vision blacked out for a moment. When it came back, he found himself faced with more demons, he attempted to get to his feet, but immediately fell back on his knees. He couldn't stand, his legs were torn up, his chest was pouring out blood, and through the cuts on his face, his vision was tinted red. There seemed to be more blood than skin on the man, and somehow, he was still alive. Mammoth watched as the demons hesitated to charge in on him. They didn't know how much he had left. Luckily for Mammoth, his stunt held them off for a moment, because he literally had nothing left. He waited, fists clinched, as vision went in and out of blackness. He always thought that death would be far more troubling than this. But oddly, he felt at peace.
I'll go down giving them the time to win this... Come on... Let's end this.
The demons finally mustered the courage to fight, and they charged Mammoth...
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Post by Da Pwny on Jun 26, 2009 18:56:10 GMT -5
*Pinta!~ hurry uuup >P* Dodging every attempt made - but barely in most cases - Jodice didn't even feel a drop of sweat on her forehead. Even with the barrage coming at her, she could see - no, it was almost as if she knew where every strike was going to land, and avoided it at the last possible second. How long could she hold out against such odds? Well, that was answered soon enough; finally, one barb managed to scratch her fighting arm, and instantly the poisons began seeping into her skin, into the muscles below, causing them to fail in quick succession. Without hesitation, she dodged another strike, bounding backwards and out of harms way for a precious second or two; knowing what it would do if she left the spot alone, Jodice dug her nails into the area infected, tearing it out and tossing it away as the flesh turned black. Oddly, it didn't hurt, and the wound barely bled more than the scratch had, already healing up with such speed that it frightened her. She felt the shockwave brush past her, though by now it was merely residual. If Pinata didn't hurry his sorry ass up, she would kill him herself should Mammoth- wait, where'd that come from?! What was she thinking now? Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she refocused when another wave of spikes raced towards her. Mother, this has got to end soon. I don't know if the others can hang on much longer... I hope you have something good planned cause I'm running out of ideas. 'As a matter of fact, child, I do. You just hang on a few seconds longer and keep another thing like that from happening. Prepare yourself; I would be lying if I said this is only going to hurt a little.'Jodice obeyed - what else could she do? - and continued dodging as best she could, though a few of the ground spikes managed to snag in her armor occasionally. Suddenly and without any warning, a huge influx of soul-based energy filled the room, directed straight at her. She could feel it, see it rushing towards her, and there wasn't a d**ned thing she could do to stop it; what had been strings turned into rivers, slamming into her from all directions like a 360-degree tidal wave, filling her body to the point that she swore she was about to die. She could feel the spikes poking at her, but they did not touch. Scared out of her wits, Jodice did what she could; she hung on, and screamed as her body filled to the overflow with energy. Voices, some familiar, others vaguely reminiscent, others not even that, filled her ears - she felt her body being moved, lifted, but by or from what she did not know. Her vision turned white again, and she knew she was going to die. And then, amidst it all, when she thought she had hit her breaking point, the pain hit her. Her body, her body, shifted violently, molded, changed, reformed itself in the span of a second's time. And by the gods, it hurt immensely. Jodice felt tears streaming down her face even as it changed form itself, her soul a prisoner of her own body, unable to cry out for help because her lungs had seized up from the anguish. But still she clung to her sanity, and was rewarded for doing so. Finally, the changes ended, the pain resided; as she opened her eyes again, she knew everything had changed. Much of her human features had, for the moment, been washed aside; in its place was the true form of a Valkyrie: ~four steel-formed wings glimmered behind her as they beat the air; ~before them, a thin but strong body, partially armored in gold, silver and other metals, though its primary color was a deep green; partially exposing her body, it showed milky-white skin beneath an array of small, thinly-dispersed, impossibly-colored feathers, arranged in delicate patterns resembling archaic tattoos; ~up and down her arms, rows of plumage likewise clung to her skin, and her hands were now hidden behind talon-like gauntlets, her feet armored as well, almost bird-like in appearance; ~shin and elbow guards of the same colors and metals as the armor she wore were in place from the knees down and elbows up, a small section of her stomach and cleavage exposed at the center, her waist covered by a heavy silk-like material, clad in armor at the very center; ~her face was hidden from view behind a face guard shaped in a beak-like form, down to the top of her mouth, but even so she could see so much more now, both right in front of her and far beyond, every soul she saw shining as brightly as the stars at night, brighter still perhaps… ~even though they were not visible, her eyes, once blue as the sea, were now white at the edges, black in the center, the pupils shaped oddly, like a triangle bent in a little on the sides She was both beautiful and frightening, a force of the gods that stood undisputed for times untold, and had now returned to this world to end this battle once and for all. A spear with a serrated head materialized in the right hand at her beckoning, transparent and bluish - the color of ice when it freezes at its purist; in her right, a shield of the same color with the symbol of the gods etched on its face, seemingly brittle but seeping with magic, as was her weapon of choice. Her body radiated power to the excess, restoring her allies along with herself within several seconds. With a sly smile crossing her face, Jodice spoke in her own voice as Nartusela leveled at her sworn enemy, which now echoed into the hearts of every living individual in the area, her tongue stating in a language lost nearly two centuries before with her soul translating for those whom could not understand it, "Ralf'url, general of the demonic armies on this plane, your rampage of destruction ends here, today. Your crimes and sins lay before you, like the stinking fetid pile that they are. Prepare for judgment." *if I went too far with it, please tell me >.< I just want to avoid god-modding, even though its kinda... hard :\* <(M's seen this pict before, but I took inspiration from it. Its not exactly child-safe XP: Valkyrie_Winter. I found it on deviantArt.com, so its not mine at all; all credit goes to its creator)> EDIT: edited for more clarity, and to correct a few mistakes XP
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