Dark Age Legends

[Drannic_Lord01]

- Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre; Captain's Room -

Doriana leapt quickly out of Vincent's way as he passed on by in the midst of the fight, then looked up at Nex as he attempted to destroy the room and everybody in it, or so it seemed. She jumped in front of Valos and knelt down, picking him up and jumping out of the way just before a bolt of lightning came crashing right behind them. She took him out of the way of battle and patched him up with a quick spell that restored his fatigued body. He'd be up and about in moments. At this, she jumped back into the room and deflected a few bolts of lightning that came just before her, landing softly and serenely upon the ground near Duilin.

"If you think I'm unequipped to fight you because I'm a woman, you're in for a rude awakening." After she spoke, Doriana held her palm out and forced a large amount of pure energy from her hand. It was transparent, looking like a ripple in the air, and it ignored the bolts of red lightning that cruised on by it. It was aimed for Nex.

[Dude Man]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -

Nex straightened his right hand and then slapped away the projectile of translucant pure energy.

"You're going to have to do better than that." Nex sneered. He then finished shooting lightning in the air and summoned a demonic fireball in each hand which began to increase in size slowly. He jumped off the shelf and then landed on the floor.

"You know, I think my room needs some redecorating anyways. It's far too formal for my tastes." Nex commented.

With that the demon tossed the fireballs at each side of the room and began to set the room itself on fire. Due to the superior Kandarinian architecture, the building itself would not collapse from the fire, but simply the interior of the room would be burnt.

"Ho hum. Let's see how long you can last in a burning room." Nex said devilishly to his foes.

[Xorlak]

- Kainengrad Command Center, near Captain's Room -

Vincent ducked into the doorway and proceeded up the stairs just as the room behind was set ablaze.  Huh... that was easier than he expected.  Nearing the upper reaches of the complex, he removed the orb from he coat pocket to see if he could get a signal...

[D. Ein]

-=Unknown location=-

The dark clouds flowering above the grounded Citadel were twisting into an infernal maelstrom to an orchestra of eerie sounds filling the air. The sun was nowhere to be found now - the land around the Gros Morne fortress was illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning discharging from the spiralling vortex, and strange floating lights orbiting it. Gusts of chilling wind sent blighted leaves flying from dead trees, and the unnatural darkness was driving wildlife mad to the point of cannibalization.

The maelstrom seemed to be speeding up in its rotation, and tightening, focusing on top of the Citadel. The "will-o'-the-wisp"-like lights stabilized in their flights, becoming more orderly, patterned, but at the same time rotating faster.

Before long, the storm tightened to the point of becoming a vertical pillar with wavering lines of the wisp lights, which, unlike the vortex, continued getting closer to form a shining orb. Picking up the last of the ghostly lights, the orb descended into the Citadel.

For a second, everything went silent - the lightnings ceased, the clouds vanished, though the darkness remained. Everything was calm for just one second...

As if from its heart, a massive shockwave of blackness-streaked blue light erupted from the Citadel. Chunks of the fortress flew everywhere, each engulfed in a strange cerulean fire. Trees, rocks, anything above the ground simply ceased to be, while the ground itself boiled and cooled, in a matter of seconds, into a mirror-like blueish surface. Where the Citadel used to be, naught remained... but a lone silhouette.

The outline of a humanoid creature, towering at about 8 feet tall, turned its head up to the sky, as if measuring the place it had appeared in. Spreading its massive wings, it heavily ascended into the air and soared somewhere into the distance.

[Dude Man]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -

Valos' eyes slowly opened and get got back up. "Blasted demonic lightning--waaa!" He looked around the room to quickly realize that the room had been set on fire. "Fuckin' demons."

'Valos, Doriana! Get up onto the roof quickly before you guys burn.' Duilin commanded, through a telepathic message. 'I'm half demon so I can handle the heat a lot longer then you guys can. I can handle him on my own for a little while. But I'll try and lure him out of the room.'

Valos growled, he didn't want to leave the room. Then he started to feel his skin burning, as the flames began to reach closer toward him.

Nex gave out another menacing cackling laugh, and his hands began to glow a dark red.

Duilin recognized the spell he was casting from when Abodahon was teaching him demonic magic. It was the infamous 'mind affection' spell, but Duilin was never able to fully master it. He then tried his best to brace his mind as much as possible. However as the evil demon seemed to throw the glow into the air shooting a barely visible wave through the room, Duilin could feel a shudder of fear run through his body, yet he tried to fight it as much as possible. He wasn't going anywhere.

Valos on the other hand wasn't prepared and already had trauma from being in Hell. Seeing as he was in a burning room with a laughing robed demon in the room, Valos had to clench his mouth from screaming. He through the room, towards the staircase Vincent took to get upstairs, repeatedly shouting the word 'shit' as he went.

Duilin was able to fight it all off. "Nice try." Duilin chuckled and he charged more energy into The Iduran.

Duilin slashed it down at his foe, who instantly summoned his scythe and blocked it. Nex then lifted up his right foot to swing a kick at Duilin as their weapons were locked, yet Duilin expected that move and swung his foot and kicked Nex's left leg before his could make contact and tripped him onto the ground. Not wasting a fraction of the half demon stabbed his sword down right into Nex's chest.

The robed demon roared in pain, but continued his trademark laugh. "Ohhh my...You have gotten better." With that in the blink of eye he simply teleported up onto his feet and punched Duilin square into the stomach.

"Ooofff---" Duilin's stomach nearly caved in on itself, shooting a shockwave through him that dented the wall on the opposite side. He was propelled in the air for a second before sent flying through the room (keeping a tight grip on the Iduran) and crashing into the wall, which was surprisingly still stable despite being on fire. The flames started to burn him, catching his shirt on fire. Duilin howled in pain, but got back up onto his feet and ripped his shirt off and threw it aside. The now bare-chested Duilin twirled the Iduran around and glared at Nex across the room.

"Alright...Now you got me pissed."


- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -

Valos panted and caught his breath as he reached the roof. He wasn't sure what came over him but he still had an extreme fear of going back down. He looked around the roof and saw the familiar looking man who rushed through the room earlier.

"Vincent? General Vincent?" Valos asked stepping towards him. "Didn't you get your ass killed back in the Aspye-Grey Empire war? What are you doing alive? I thought Draven would have hunted you down and chopped you into tiny pieces and cooked you up for betraying him, by now."

[Xorlak]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -

His back to Valos, Vincent turned slightly, his hand covering the orb as he put it away.  It was evident he had just finished using it.  His coat whipped around in the turbulent wind.  Though the rain had stopped, the murky clouds above still cast the city in shadow.

"Hmmm... you look vaguely familiar, but I can't place a name..."  In a heartbeat, he flipped his coat open and removed the long shotgun, pointing it at the man with a single hand as his coat flapped in the breeze.  In his left hand, he still held the metallic case that concealed the NGO.  "Though I don't consider myself much of a traitor.  I just tend to stay on the winning side... and you, my friend, are on the wrong one."

He grinned widely, his rectangular glasses gleaming once from an unseen light.  As he squeezed the trigger, the gun exploded forth a single blast of light, which careened for Valos' chest...

[D. Ein]

-=The Skies=-

The dark figure cut the sky like the point of a black knife. Tattered robes fluttered in the wind as massive wings kept the creature airborne, ascending and soaring downward to achieve incredible speeds. It seemed to be drifting to the right a little, weighted down by a large iron gauntlet on its right arm.

[Dude Man]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -

Quickly realizing he was being attacked Valos emited a glob of dark energy in his hand and used it to block the beam of light heading towards him.

"Well, that was very polite now was it?"

Valos pointed his finger like a gun at Vincent, with the dark energy still flowing through his hands.

"Then again who am I to criticize people for being impolite, when I'm not such a well mannered person myself?"

With that, he shot a powerful bolt of dark lightning from his hand, directed at Vincent...

----

- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -

The demon and the half demon clashed their weapons violently as they stormed around the burning room. Duilin's increased skill over the years was really starting to show as Nex seemed to be well matched against his foe.

"I say Duilin, you have got your father's spunk." Nex said, trying to provoke his rage even further.

Rather than loose it though, Duilin simply smirked. "Abodahon wouldn't have shit on me now, so neither do you, scum."

Duilin then gave a mighty violent slash smashing Nex's weapon from his hands. He pointed the Iduran at Nex and used it to fire a single shot of a white coloured sacred fire at his chest, knocking him to the ground on his back. With his freed left hand, he casted a ball of yellow energy which shot over Nex, creating a shield tightly around him.

Nex attempted to get up but found himself unable to move, due to the shield around him. The demon growled and began to push the shield away by increasing his aura. Duilin kept shooting energy into the shield to hold him in place, and with his right hand holding the Iduran he began to charge it with his energy at the same time.

Nex was amazed at Duilin's raw power. "This...is...making me...extremely...FRUSTRATION!!!"

[Xorlak]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -

The blast of shadow energy caught Vincent completely off guard.  It swiveled around his weapon and exploded, blowing his right arm clean off.  Clutching the metallic briefcase to his chest with his remaining appendage, he teetered backwards several feet as he hissed. After he regained his balance, his head slowly rose, his rectangular glasses flashing.

"Heh heh heh... nice try.  But I'm afraid you're late.  Far too late..."  As he chuckled a shiny metalic ooze pulsed from the wound of his missing arm, forming itself into a somewhat arm-like shape.  His eyes widened and he began cackling with all the fervor of a mad scientist, clutching the box more tightly to his chest. "You can't have it!  It's mine! MINE!!!"

With that he leaned forward and thrust his metallic arm into the ground, an ensemble of metallic spikes surging upwards in a row towards Valos.  At the same time the deep rumbling of engines resonated in the distance, a shadow piercing the horizon's clouds...

[Dude Man]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -

"Bahh!!" Valos jumped to the side high into the air and levitated himself with his magic and hovered in the air to avoid the spikes. "Gah, I'd rather not drag this out, as I need to go back downstairs soon." He mumbled.

Valos pointed his sword and Vincent and began to charge shadow energy into the blade, causing it to glow a dark violet with an eerie black shadow around it...

[D. Ein]

-=Kainengrad - Command Center=-

The entire building shook as if from a boulder smashing into the roof. Clouds of noxious dust swallowed everything as the shockwaves from the impact threw both Duilin and Nex sideways. There, beside the spire adorning the Command Center's roof... there, past the shattering shield, past the rising silver spikes, past the broken chunks of the building...

The outline of something huge was clearly visible even through the thick layers of airborne dust. It appeared to be a humanoid silhouette keeling over. As the dust settled, more details began to come through - a massive iron gauntlet on the right hand, a downward-horned helmet, a scarlet robe laced with bone, and a pair of enormous bat-like wings...

Bones cracked as the figure straightened out, stretched its arms, blowing the dust away, revealing a withered man's face - strangely familiar - behind the iron guards of the helmet. Almost with great effort, the man filled his lungs with air, and bellowed:

-"We am become ABODOS! The destroyer of LIFE, the bringer of DEATH!"

[Xorlak]

(Did this thing crash onto the roof, or though it a level or two (leaving a hole) to where Nex and Duilin are fighting?)

- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -

Vincent's mad cackling was interrupted by an explosion of such force he was thrown off his feet and slammed into a crumbling brick wall.  He clutched the briefcase to his chest as he fell, absorbing much of the impact himself.  His writhing metallic right "arm" jittered around frantically until, gritting his teeth, he reshaped it into something human, complete with jacket sleeve.

His calm demeanor immediately returned.  He looked at his reformed hand and flexed the fingers.  Blast... he thought he had more control over himself when that happened... he would need to concentrate harder next time.

Standing, he peered through the miasmic dust... it appeared to be one of those undead conglomerations like Kronos used to make.  Who made this one he did not know, but it was about blasted time.

"You there!"  he shouted, trying to waft away the dust with his free hand.  It was still too thick to see clearly. "That one!  That is your target. Kill him now!"  He commanded, pointing to Valos on the other side.

[Dude Man]

(It's not on the roof, it's in the room with Duilin and Nex)

- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -

Duilin was blown to the wall of the room, loosing his focus on the shield he was holding Nex into, allowing him to break free but only to be blown to the opposite side of the room.

Nex started laughing as he slowly recovered himself and looked at the abomination which entered the room.

Duilin got himself up onto his feet and quickly noticed what caused him to be thrown back he looked at the giant figure in the room, he could feel a cold shiver through his veins as he looked at it. He could recognize parts of it, some of the parts were disturbingly familiar. That gauntlet, it was exactly the same as his father's, exactly the same.

"What are you!?" Duilin shouted out to the beast.

[D. Ein]

-=Kainengrad - Command Center - Captain's room=-

The monster calling himself Abodos seemed rather unappreciative of commands - after a rage-filled roar, he smashed the wall right above Vincent with the gauntlet-protected arm. The two-metre-thick wall section broke off like a piece of flicked wafer and flew a good fifty meters before utterly demolishing a vacant tavern below. Having calmed himself thusly, Abodos swooped Vincent off his feet and brought the captain closer for inspection. The face behind the helmet appeared to be.... Kronos himself!

That being said, his face was now even paler than ever, his skin covered with scars and various pentagrams, his eyes turned to white, pupil-less orbs, and his short hair changed to long, white locks appearing from under the helmet. But the facial features, though slightly warped, definitely belonged to Kronos. Abodos proceeded to put Vincent back down, and, without turning back, mumbled:

-"Vanish, Vincent."

With that matter out of the way, Abodos turned to Duilin.

-"You.... you seem strangely familiar.... nay, it must be the --"

Suddenly, Abodos grasped his head, falling on his knees and smashing his forehead into the floor. His head jerked upwards, and he swung his left, unprotected arm, in a semicircle around him, shattering a wooden desk to pieces. Without even fully standing up, he charged at Duilin, drawing back his right arm in preparation for a devastating punch.

---

"Surprisingly, just when it happened, it wasn't as confusing as it got a few minutes later. Even now, writing so long after the first fusion, I still remember vividly the fleeting moments of clarity when, in error, I believed Abodos' body to still be fully under my control. It got me to Kainengrad fairly quick - I couldn't afford to lose Nex after seeing barbarians charge into his quarters. The landing, however... I think that's what jerked the demon's consciousness for the first time...

I recognized Vincent's voice immediately, but after landing, my thoughts no longer directly went from my head to my limbs. There was darkness between - a blanket of black cotton, letting me do only so much without interference. As such, I tried stopping the instinctive action of smashing the source of sound, but could not.

At that point... well, at that point, Abodahon's part of Abodos finally kicked in. Yes, Abodahon - he who became the King of Hell after the fall of Iban. I suppose it must get really boring down there, though - upon contacting him for a purpose as trifle as sparing a legion of demons or two, I was greeted by an offer that, literally, surprised me half to death. The mad chap wanted to fuse his physical being with mine; his excuse was that, as a demon of unfathomable power, he cannot simply pass over to the above world. Ruling Hell for eternity seemed like a dull hobby to him, so he wanted power on Gaian, too. The only way to transfer his power up here was to set up a conduit for it - which is where I came in. Using my phase-shift abilities and Nex's invocations, I successfully grafted the demon king into my own body."

[Dude Man]

- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -

Valos fell through the hole, which the beast made in the building, and lost control of his charging attack, and released prematurely and off target, blasting his dark lightning bolt into the air, shortly after loosing his grip on his sword allowing it fall on the floor in the room below. Shortly after his sword hit the ground, Valos himself followed falling on his back, a bit more than arms reach from the weapon.

Duilin stared at the creature with shocked wide eyes, yet not in fear of the oncoming attack, but still simply by it's presence. He didn't move a muscle as he stared at it.

It couldn't be who he thinks it is? He thought this too himself, as he watched the beast bring back his fist.The way he brought back his fist was exactly like how Abodahon did. And that name he called himself, 'Abodos' could this be his new form? He remembered how dismembered he was before he died, perhaps this could be a new being simply with old parts of his. He was different, defiantly different, but still disturbingly too similar to his regular self. It must be him though.

"So, just like that? You're gonna hit me? Is that anyway to greet your son, you sick bastard?" Duilin said sternly.

Abodos lowered his fist down and gave a smirk recognizable to Abodahon's. "Ahh...yes...now we are remember you. Son of Abodahon...." He then stood up, revealing his massive height. "Failure of son." He laughed evily pointing at Duilin.

Duilin clenched his fists and teeth, all those feelings of betrayal came back to him, the massive humiliation he went through by allowing himself to be controlled by him. By believing his lies. And the fact that he abandoned him the day before the rest of his family was killed right in front of him, the fact that he got a bunch of men to do it for him.

Duilin then stared at Abodos in the eyes and his aura began to burn around him, he shot a huge gust of air from his aura with blew what was left of the fire in the room out. He started to float in the air, as golden electricity began to shoot around him. The colour of his lightning aura slowly shifted to orange and then to red as he floated slightly away from Abodos.

Abodos simply continued to laugh. "FAILURE! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL-URE!!"

"Shut up!" Duilin shouted as flames started to shoot from his aura.

Abodos ignored him and continued laughing.

"I said...Shut....the fuck....UP!!!" Duilin screamed as his aura exploded, his skin seemed like it started to burn his body because of the intensity of his aura, his skin tanned to golden colour and his hair started to grey. His nails grew and pentagrams started to glow a burning orange on his body and then the glow died down leaving perfect brands on him.

"FAIL...Huh??" Abodos seemed surprised by his son's transformation.

The demonized Duilin gave an ominous roar. Although his sized increased fairly he was stilled towered over by the massive Abodos, yet Duilin didn't seem to care. He dived at the beast preparing to dig his claws into his chest...