[The Outer Sector: Kingdom of Corzox]
Within the [Tomb of Hashfalhan]...
Akelus, Xylus and Hrimulfr carefully navigated the dense gray fog, following the voice of a mysterious man dressed magnificent flowing white robes. But, this man was only visible to Xylus.
That man was wielding a sleek obsidian-black cane. Xylus could hear him gently laughing from within the fog. He could see the man waving at him, gesturing the group to follow.
The man's face was obscured by the ominous gray fog with his white robes elegantly embracing his regal physique. His skin faintly shimmering with a subtle golden hue.
The man continued to pave an open path through the fog with Xylus closely following behind him leading the rest, namely Akelus and Hrimulfr.
The arcane storm was steadily becoming milder and more distant as the group travelled deeper into the gray fog. The fog grew denser and calmer, as it gently encircled the group isolating them from the rest of the realm.
With every step, Xylus steadily aged as the fog slowly obscured his face. He grew taller, as his body slowly morphed into an older version of himself.
Akelus was fairly intrigued by this transformation, but was cautious as well. Xylus' figure was gradually engulfed by the fog, making it vague and hazy to identify. Nevertheless, Akelus firmly held on. meticulously wading through the fog behind Xylus while guiding Hrimulfr.
The white robed man eventually reached a towering altar embroidered with intricate mural portraying all eight cycles of [Ragnarok] that have occurred so far. The mural was still incomplete, with several burning strands extending upwards in a helical pattern.
The base of the altar had carved channels dividing the circular platform into four portions. Each portion was delicately engraved with an arcane pattern.
The white robed man came to a gentle halt before the faint barrier protecting the altar. He turned to face Xylus with a bright smile on his face, extending his arm he presented the sleek obsidian cane.
Xylus stood still dazed and confused, he had grown considerably older now. The vision of the white robed man had left him considerably confused.
The mysterious man simply shrugged, as he simply handed over the cane to Xylus-
"I knew, you would eventually reach me... But, for now this shall guide you.", the man spoke with a gentle smile. "Guide them well, you have done well so far..."
Akelus saw Xylus' obscure figure abruptly halt before the ominous altar, he witnessed an intricately designed cane materialize in Xylus' palms. A cane delicately embroidered with gold dragon wings folded as its handle, with a pale jade pommel shaped like an eye, colored in teal.
"Kid,.. are you alright?", Akelus questioned with concern. "You are aging..."
Xylus turned his head, still shrouded by the fog-
"Don't worry about me. I am fine... Just give me sometime.", Xylus assured with a fairly heavy voice. "I'll work around this barrier, then I assume we can use the altar to summon my guardian
[The Pioneer]."
"Just don't push yourself, okay?", Akelus said.
Xylus simply nodded, as he began working on the barrier. He planted the obsidian cane over the subtle barrier, gently twisting it like a key.
The barrier started churning and warping with faint cracks and fissures.
But, right then something happened, something unfortunate. Suddenly, the-
Swish...
Suddenly, the arcane storms became more violent and vicious, the fog began roaring furiously.
An ominous figure had warped into the [Tomb of Hashfalhan], he had a malicious glint in his eyes. An inhumane care-free attitude, a look of pure apathy. His eyes brimming with fury and wrath.
He was none other than [Hermes], Smiling wide as he casually dispersed multiple orange discs across the realm. The discs traversed inside the gray fog without any issue, eventually locking onto a masked figure, that was Akelus wearing the Jester mask.
"Found you...", [Hermes] grinned with malice.
Startled, Akelus quickly scanned his environment immediately erecting an array of blue constructs around Xylus, protecting him.
His eyes gleamed gold:
[Pathfinder]
An ominous black sigil marked [Hermes], unveiling a trail of pitch black arrows leading to Akelus.
BOOM!!!
[Hermes] teleported from the orange construct, viciously lunging at Akelus, punching his gut.
Akelus was launched away from the sheer ferocity behind [Hermes'] punch. He flipped and regained his balance, only for [Hermes] to follow up with another punch.
Akelus was plunged to the ground below, but before he could do anything else, [Hermes] grabbed him by his leg and began thrashing him over and over again. [Hermes] kept ferociously bashing Akelus against the ground.
Akelus was bloody, his coat drenched with ichor dripping to the ground below. But, [Hermes] didn't let up, he continued pummeling, plunging and strangling Akelus.
Xylus momentarily turned his head around, only to watch in absolute horror.
"Kid! Decrypt the barrier quickly!", Akelus roared telepathically, as he was getting rag-dolled by [Hermes]. "Don't worry about me, everything's under control."
[Hermes] slapped Akelus right across his face, disorienting him. Then quickly grabbed Akelus by his collarbone.
"Ha! Would you look at that? You are holding up well...", [Hermes] mused at Akelus' bruised and bloody face, with a wide grin. "Let's see for how long will that last."
Firmly holding Akelus in place by his collarbone, [Hermes] began brutally pummeling Akelus' face with a vicious flurry of punches. Akelus' knees buckled from the impact, as his head was muddled with pain.
Pathfinder-Hermes' Blind spots.
Several golden sigils appeared around him, most in the ground below while some within the gray fog.
"Kid, on second thought... I need help. Invoke your guardian.", Akelus wheezed, as he began forming gold constructs in the regions marked by the gold sigils.
"MIJAR EL VALTORUK!!!", Xylus didn't waste a moment as he invoked [The Pioneer].
Suddenly a spectral aura shrouded Akelus as he unleashed the constructs that he had hidden in the ground. Shattering the ground, The constructs rammed into [Hermes] lifting him up high.
Akelus capitalized on the moment, quickly equipping the Stygian blade and disappearing into the fog. Xylus was still working on the barrier protected by Akelus' constructs.
Countless golden constructs emerged from the gray fog targeting [Hermes], attempting to barricade him in. But, [Hermes] was simply too fast. He elegantly dodged the golden constructs while simultaneously dispersed a swarm of Orange Discs into the fog.
Akelus carefully observed [Hermes] while hidden, analyzing the orange discs.
[Pathfinder]
Multiple trails of golden arrows appeared around Akelus showing him different paths to avoid [Hermes'] perception, as well as a few golden sigils marking safe spots.
Though there were considerable amount of red sigils and black marks ridden across the realm.
"Was that ichor?..", [Hermes] mused, as he casually hovered inside the fog. "So the Rift-borne have a rogue deity helping them. Hmmm... this fog is hiding him pretty well. That Pariah seems to have learnt well from Hypnos."
His orange constructs continued scouring the realm to find Akelus.
Meanwhile Outside the [Tomb of Hashfalhan]...
[The God of Death-Thanatos] and [The God of Fear-Phobos] stood guard before the channel leading to the [Tomb of Hashfalhan].
"Are you alright, Sir Phobos?", [Thanatos] formally inquired, with an exhausted look in his eye. "Dragon King Varcielle seems to have been a formidable opponent for you."
"I just didn't anticipate him being able to commune with [The Purge].", Phobos sighed. "But, yes he is formidable."
[Thanatos] contemplated in silence-
"Then, you shall fight the [Demon of Famine] while I confront the Dragon King.", Thanatos continued with a formal tone, summoning his scythe as he prepared for the approaching Varcielle and [Gaki].
[Phobos] summoned a dark aulos (Xyrak: An instrument similar to a flute...) locking onto [Gaki]. Ominously opening his fanged mouth, [Phobos] hissed, unleashing the [Mist of Fear]. He played an unnerving rhythm using his Aulos
Several apparitions of [Phobos] encircled [Gaki] and his bodies, disorienting their psyche dragging the demon into a state of limbo. Yet the [Fog of Atrophy] continued passively consuming everything around it, including the [Mist of Fear]. While, [Phobos'] apparitions continued echoing the ominous, unnerving rhythm keeping [Gaki] imprisoned within the [Mist].
Varcielle's swarm flew past the deity and the demon, ignoring the [Mist of Fear] clashing with the [Fog of Atrophy]. He was desperately trying to reach the [Tomb of Hashfalhan] before [Hermes] did something catastrophic to [The Outer Sector]. He was still augmented by the spectral aura.
[Presence]
[Thanatos] controlled his innate nature to simultaneously appear behind every Varcielle clone hooking his scythe around all their necks. Then with a precise motion, he yanked the scythe back decapitating all the clones with one strike.
The Spectral aura flared as Varcielle's clones fell, with their lifeless bodies raining down from the sky. While, [Thanatos] simply hovered in place, exhausted and apathetic.
Despite getting decapitated, new clones sprouted from the dead remains of the old ones, continuing to multiply in numbers. The swarm continued approaching closer to the channel leading to the [Tomb of Hashfalhan].
[Thanatos] started spamming his [Presence] on Varcielle, rapidly decapitating his clones over and over again. This had trapped [Thanatos] in a vicious cycle of slaughter and carnage, but Varcielle's clones continued multiplying voraciously.
Varcielle's swarm had grown ridiculously large by now, and [Thanatos] was visibly exhausted. Yet their carnal stalemate continued. The dragon swarm circled around [Thanatos], viciously targeting him from all directions. Varcielle's mind was spiraling down to madness from the sheer mental load due to his clones, while [Thanatos] kept harvesting the swarm without rest.
The swarm was blasting [Thanatos] with arcane storms, elemental magic and pure spectral fury. [Thanatos] simply avoided them all using [Presence]. He would trick the swarm by simultaneously appearing all across the battlefield, teleporting all over the place. Purging the clones in repeated cycles.
Descending to madness and frustrated, Varcielle's swarm began adapting and morphing using his innate nature [Reconstruction]. His clones were imperfect but overloaded with surplus amounts energy, these imperfect clones exploded around [Thanatos] like suicide bombers. These bombs left behind smokescreens and shockwaves.
The swarm then began producing extremely colossal clones that tried to grab hold of the
[God of Death], while simultaneously generating minute clones, similar to spores, that tried to rip into [Thanatos'] physique.
"Tsk...", [Thanatos] observed Varcielle's swarm, with annoyance. "Dragon King's tenacity is impressive but utterly foolish. Refusing our mercy, he seems to be more stubborn than his predecessors."
Varcielle's mind was a mess, driven by a single motive of entering the [Tomb Of Hashfalhan]. The swarm slowly began circling closer to the entrance, trapped in a vicious cycle of multiplying in numbers with Thanatos casually purging them.
One of the clones almost made it into the channel, only to be grabbed by Thanatos and disintegrated. Yet, the clone only further dispersed into multiple minute spore like clones, still moving towards the entrance of the tomb.
The rest of the swarm began rapidly concentrating around the entrance as well. [Thanatos] with an exhausted sigh continued spamming [Presence] at the swarm, fiercely holding back the dragon clones.
But, the clones continued generating more and more spores until some of it managed to warp into the open channel and enter the [Tomb of Hashfalhan].
Varcielle had divided his swarm to fight two fronts, one will hold back [Thanatos], while the other will confront [Hermes].
[Thanatos] considered chasing after Varcielle, but from one glance at [Phobos] who was struggling to keep [Gaki] in check, he decided to stay behind and fight off Varcielle's remaining swarm.
Within the [Tomb of Hashfalhan]...
The entire realm was in utter chaos, the dense fog shrouding the realm was swirling in an erratic and voracious manner. The arcane storms had gotten more volatile and ferocious, attempting to repulse the combatants that were locked in vicious combat.
Akelus remained within the dense gray fog successfully hiding from [Hermes'] radar using the [Pathfinder] while he continued pestering [Hermes] with several arcs of blue crescent energy slashes from the Stygian blade, along with several blue energy chakras,(Xyrak: Also known as the [Dawn Chakra]).
Akelus, would launch these crescent energy slashes and the [Dawn Chakras] into the dense fog like homing missiles which would lock onto [Hermes]. This way Akelus indirectly targeted [Hermes] without revealing his position
[Hermes] continued scanning through the fog, while deflecting the slashes and dodging the chakras. As he observed from afar, he could see Xylus decrypting the barrier around the ominous altar. There was a fortress of blue constructs protecting Xylus.
The fortress didn't dissuade [Hermes], he was simply waiting for Xylus to complete with his decryption. Once he was done, [Hermes] would simply blitz past the fortress and potentially capture the altar.
Akelus had to circle back to Xylus without getting detected by [Hermes], before the decryption completed. And, that's exactly what he was trying to do.
His attacks were merely a distraction, as meticulously began repositioning himself to be closer to Xylus. He had clear line of sight towards Xylus now. Observing that he was nearly done with the barrier, Akelus began sprinting towards him at top speed.
He used [Pathfinder] on Xylus:
Xylus was marked with a pitch black sigil. There was golden sigil marked behind the altar.
Frantic Akelus augmented himself with several blue constructs that embraced his own body like an armor, while reinforcing the fortress he had built around Xylus.
Suddenly the barrier collapsed as Xylus fell through at the foot of the altar, the fog in response completely shrouded him trying to hide him from [Hermes].
[Hermes] immediately rammed into the fortress which held up remarkably well, rapidly dissipating the impact from [Hermes'] assault but cracks began to appear.
Akelus quickly lunged forward, phasing through his fortress and punching [Hermes] right across his face. Then, he quickly phased out of the fortress and slipped into the dense fog.
BOOM!!!
[Hermes] was sent a few steps back. He was amused, amused by Akelus' courage of actually hitting him. He simply hovered in place, his face masked with intrigue.
To ensure Xylus' safety Akelus used [Pathfinder]:
Xylus was still marked by the Black sigil, but there was a golden spot behind the altar.
"Kid, quickly get behind the altar.", Akelus instructed. Xylus quickly scampered behind the altar, further hiding from [Hermes].
Right at this moment the Dragon King Varcielle had warped into the [Tomb of Hashfalhan]. He locked onto [Hermes] from a distance. Varcielle dived into the fog in pursuit of him.
Meanwhile, Akelus and [Hermes] were locked in combat, with [Hermes] barraging the fortress with relentless strikes, and Akelus trying to counter his strikes using countless constructs, to both reinforce the blue fortress as well as attack [Hermes].
But, [Hermes] was simply too fast, he would destroy every construct thrown at him while simultaneously demolishing the blue fortress.
"Tsk... This is getting tricky.", Akelus grimaced, as he was now augmenting the fortress purely with his Qi.
"Kid, you might have to figure something out, and you have to do it fast. This fortress isn't going to hold on for much longer.", Akelus told Xylus. "Inspect the altar, I will try to bypass [Hermes] and reach you."
Akelus made sure that he always kept Xylus within his line of sight, protecting him using [Pathfinder]. He constructed several Qi barricades around the altar preventing [Hermes] from moving freely.
"Kid, make sure you are always in his blind-spot. Don't worry, I will guide you. Just listen to me, I promise to keep you safe.", Akelus assured, as he used [Pathfinder] to effectively hide Xylus from [Hermes].
Suddenly, [Hermes] noticed an anomaly, his discs had spotted Varcielle approaching him. The dragon clones had multiplied to a vast swarm by now.
Grumbling with frustration [Hermes] momentarily shifted his attention from the ominous altar, to Varcielle and Akelus, primarily Varcielle.
The dragon clones suddenly gushed out from the fog, swarming him like hornets. Akelus also kept distracting [Hermes] using the crescent energy slashes and [Dawn Chakras], this was solely done to keep [Hermes] focused on the fight rather than the altar.
But, [Hermes] was aware of their ploy, so he slowly began navigating his orange discs around Akelus' barricades. They were slowly making their way towards the altar.
Akelus noticed shifts in the arrangement of arrows and sigils around him and began re-arranging the barricades accordingly, in the hopes of delaying [Hermes'] advance.
"Kid! Capitalize on the moment. Quick find out what the altar demands.", Akelus quickly instructed Xylus, while fiercely fighting to keep [Hermes] away from the altar.
Xylus quickly circled around the altar to find inscriptions, sigils, manuscripts and found an engravement at the base of the Ragnarok mural, written in the Rift-borne language, Mjunenese. The engravement read as:
{"Galva Elvaar Miraaj, Ichore Bolus Altiare."}
"Grasp the hands of miracle, bless the altar with divine Ichor.". Xylus recited.
"The altar demands the blood of a Deity.", Akelus mused. "But it doesn't specify whose ichor, maybe I can provide mine?.."
Akelus quickly turned towards the altar, sprinting at it while avoiding [Hermes'] detection. He lunged over the platform, halting at foot of the altar. He nicked his palm using the Stygian blade and rubbed the dripping ichor against the mural adorning the altar.
The arcane circuit around the altar revved to life, pulsing vigorously with ethereal energy doused in a Spectral aura.
The fog began to clear in concentric spheres. [Hermes] momentarily shifted his focus from Varcielle to Akelus. He panicked as he saw Akelus powering the altar, triggering an unknown event.
[Voyage]:
Everything, every action halted into a single frame, like a painting on a canvas. [Hermes] ominously raised his palm, about to smudge Akelus from existence. When-
The canvas ripped and out from it peaked an eye, an ominous spectral eye. The realm between frames shuddered at the presence of the entity invading it.
"[The Purge]!!!", [Hermes] frantically exclaimed, startled by the entity beyond the canvas. Its growls echoing within the realm between frames.
[The Purge] ripped through the canvas voraciously lunging at [Hermes], with an extremely guttural roar:
"RRRRAAAARRNNGGH!!!"
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