The shadows in the area grow slightly darker. Mind reading is utilized secretly to discern the inhabitants of this establishment and surrounding area. The area is mapped by radar.
While minor fractions of his consciousness are occupied elsewhere, the majority of the Composer's attention sits relaxed on the edge of a gigantic branch high up in the Zivon's Leg. His mind, as usual, is buzzing with activity, but his physical form stares out over the lush province of Le-Bo-Ga Wahi. He was rather enjoying the silence and thought-provoking view, but he suddenly found himself needing to send an absurdly massive amount of focus to one of his other presences. On top of that, he found it difficult to keep the bizarre subroutine being run by that fragment from crossing over and taking control of himself. Regardless, he managed, and now he is left with naught but a quiet place and the ability to process only a few billion thoughts at once. Fantastic.
He is just about to allocate an additional supply of attention to fighting off the subroutine's effects when suddenly a mass of foreign data shoots across his mindscape disappearing just as fast as it came. It was impossibly fast; had he been at 100% he might have caught it for analysis. He lifts his gaze to stare out over the green horizon, when it he hears it: a deep, drawling voice echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once, darkening his vision and resonating harshly in his audio receptors as it rumbles,
"AT LAST, I HATH FOUND THEE."
He knows this voice. His eyes narrow, and he gets to his feet, watching as an incredible anomaly distorts the world before him. Everything loses its color as a dark shade of grey rolls across the land and sky, forcing thousands of birds to flee their perches in fear. Then, a terrible metallic screeching noise explodes from the heavens as an absolutely enormous vortex of black explodes into existence, casting everything from the dark grey into a horrific, inverted display of negative color. Not a single leaf in the jungle rustles as the wind just stops, and the now deep-red sky cracks and groans around the spherical vortex, which begins to ripple as something equally massive starts to lower from it...
First, legs, plated completely in smooth metallic grey surfaces and sharp crimson edges, accented by circular, brightly glowing magenta energy spirals on both sides of the knees. Next the arms, almost entirely metallic grey with flat crimson gauntlets upon the forearms, each including yet another, smaller glowing spiral of energy, and ending in armored hands with clawed fingers. The sharp and angular torso follows next, the secondary theme of dark metallic grey taking a backseat as razor-like plates of more crimson jut from the chest, encasing a single large spherical concentration of that energy in the center and sweeping up and backwards to form a sharp collar, flanked by equally sharp plated shoulders. The head is mostly the grey, but with a triangular, crimson mouthplate and swept-back forehead crest, between which hellish dark orange eyes burn. Both sides of the skull are made up entirely of gatherings of the spiraling magenta energy, with two horns curving out and back from the swirling centers. On the back of the entity is a great accessory appearing as claw-like wings with only a few extremely long blades to complete their span.
Even as the gargantuan entity lowers completely from the black sphere, the anomaly does not vanish. Rather, it ripples once more, and two equally-massive longswords sink to either side of the entity. It slowly crosses its arms to either side, grasping the hilt of the left sword in its right hand, and the right in its left. Remaining in this crossed pose, its soul-branding gaze tears down upon the Composer as the tree begins to smolder. The much, much smaller emerald entity stares back, but is careful to avoid direct eye contact.
No, not now...
"Ah, yes... apologies, I do not recall your name. How long has it been? Have you come to chat?"
The being's immensely powerful vocalization threatens to flatten the entire Wahi and uproot the Zivon's Leg.
"PUTRID, SIN-DRENCHED ABHORRENCE, THEE KNOWETH WHY I HATH PURSUED THEE. DIDST THOU BELIEVETH THE RETRIBUTION FOR THINE COUNTLESS BRAZEN ATROCITIES WOULD BE FORGOTTEN IN TIME? DIDST THOU HOPE THEE COULDST OUTRUN MINE OWN REMORSELESS IRE? I AM CARNIFEX, EXECUTIONER OF THE GUILTY, AVENGER FOR THE SPURNED, AND DISCIPLE TO THE EXALTED WARDENS. AT ONCE, I AM THE COLD FEAR OF THE DARK, THE SCORCHING FLAME OF THE LIGHT, AND THE HONOR AND GLORY OF THE ASCENDANCY."
He begins to uncross his arms, slowly scraping the blades of his swords against each other as a great orange and black fiery substance erupts around one, and a light blue, slightly purple shimmering substance shrouds the other. The mass distortion worsens into a kaleidoscopic frenzy as these unknown forces momentarily cross, bending, warping and rippling the dry blood-colored sky like a liquid. The entity--Carnifex, as he called himself-- turns sideways and violently points the red sword directly at the Composer.
"THOU SHALT NOT GO UNPUNISHED, FOR THY TREACHERY, THY PROFANITY, AND THY SHAMELESS YEARNING!"
Carnifex suddenly twists his wrist of the hand grasping the light sword, jerking the sword downwards. Immediately sensing danger, the Composer acts incredibly fast as he vanishes and reappears on the ruined jungle floor behind the great entity, just as the entire Zivon's Leg Tree and the flowing river beneath it are shattered like glass into a plethora of black ashes. As he looks back up at Carnifex, he sees the giant has already turned to face him, swords crossed once more.
"I SEE THOU HATH ACQUIRED AMPLE MODIFICATIONS SINCE THE LAST TIME I HATH MET THEE. THEY SHALT NOT PROTECT THEE FROM MINE ASPERITY."
A Rift Cleaver materializes in the Composer's hands, and he takes a single step back to form a fighting stance. "I recommend you back down before this turns unpleasant."
A short and simple threat, meant to form a display of confidence. While it is true that he had encountered Carnifex some millennia ago, the titan merely vanished without so much as an introduction. Later on, the Composer discovered that he belonged to an extradimensional organization called the Ascendancy, as another one of its members sought him out to gift an invitation into their ranks. Apparently it is a society made up of hundreds of beings similar to the Composer, and they are all subservient to a rare few among them who are treated as deities. These "Exalted Wardens", as the starry-eyed courier referred to them, are the be-all and end-all of the Ascendancy, imposing a stop to the evolution of those beneath them for "the sake of existence". To the Composer, this made them dictators--impediments to his dreams of infinity--and each of their worshipers were coiled in chains that he is hellbent to never embrace. Wishing to sooner embrace death than be caught in the vice of such tyrants, he denied the invitation and went on his way.
Could it be that he was never intended to have a choice in the matter? And if so, why did it take Carnifex this long to find him? Why now? He had committed plentiful immoral acts many would deem atrocious even before that encounter, so why didn't Carnifex make him pay then? He has no more time to reflect on this, as the titan's rumbling tone interrupts his multiple thought processes... quite literally in fact, as he can feel his attacker's voice even within his head, somehow forcing his equations to an early end.
"WHAT MANNER OF BRAVADO DOTH THOU THINKETH TO DECEIVE UPON? THOU ART BRIMMING WITH QUESTIONS OF GREAT MULTITUDE, OF WHICH THEE SHALT FINDETH NONE AN ANSWER FOR."
Now, the Composer has met and dealt with a great number of godlike entities, and while some were able to force their way in for telepathic communication... that was a long time ago. He has substantially improved himself since the last time that happened, and yet here is this titan, apparently even capable of bringing his own thoughts to a sudden halt. This, he thinks, is very, very bad.
"THINE CHANCE WAS WROUGHT BEFORETH THEE, AND THOU TURNETH FROM WISDOM. NOW THINE SINS BRINGETH THINE UNDOING."
Carnifex rips through time at the Composer, shrinking to nearly equal size as he goes and appearing right before him in far less time than it takes to halfway blink, striking down upon him with the pommel of his dark sword. The emerald knight, barely able to see this coming, quickly raises his weapon to parry with the shaft, twisting sideways and hurling Carnifex off course. Immediately as he does this, however, he realizes something is very wrong. In the fraction of a fraction of an instant it takes him to realize his error, it is already too late. His original parry never connected to an existing target, and the true Carnifex follows through right after, having somehow disguised himself from the Composer's senses.
The pommel connects with the emerald knight's collar, and he is sent straight down into the planet, cleaving through the bedrock like it wasn't even there and carrying on towards the worlds bizarre core.
The Composer's scrambled mind just barely manages to mend enough to regain full control of his physical form, completely stopping his momentum and ceasing his brutal journey through the layers of Spherus Magna. He rockets back the way he came, launching out of the hole he was put in and into the air. As he rises and then starts to fall, he scans everywhere at once for any sign of his opponent. He does not have to look far, as the massive dark sword suddenly blinks into existence right as it impales his torso with such ungodly might that it sends him flying backwards.
As he quickly travels across the land while falling, he feels the absolutely agonizing sensation of the shrouded blade's wicked power somehow wreaking total havoc in his mindscape, corrupting it and forcefully peeling his consciousness apart, obliterating the shreds with surprising efficiency. Although he's able to reflexively move his arms to grip the weapon's hilt, posing to try and rip it out, it's been eons since the Composer last felt any pain at all, let alone such unimaginable agony as this. He goes into shock, and he finally meets the ground. His form plows through the foliage, earth, and rock, tearing a massive crater across the land with the half of the blade sticking out of his back serving as a poor anchor. Finally, his velocity is slowed enough that when the foot of a rocky cliff blocks his path, he comes to a total stop as he smashes into it, the dark sword skewering him to the jagged wall. As if he was waiting for him to arrive at this exact location, the dark form of Carnifex steps up to his quarry while a bewildered Composer still tightly grips the sword's hilt. He painfully chokes,
" ... Such... power... "
"MORE THAN THEE DESERVETH TO REALIZE."
Carnifex quickly grasps his sword, and an explosion of dark power erupts from its blade as he effortlessly rips it upwards and out of the Composer's body, cleaving vertically though his neck and skull. The ruined corpse of the emerald knight slowly dissolves away into a plethora of green ash-like particles, which fade from existence as they fly off. "AND YET, THEE REMAINETH A PERSISTENT BLIGHT."
The entity turns away from the dead Composer to face the opposite direction, where an unscathed Composer now stands, great mace in hand.
"You'll find me a slippery opponent, who's well-prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to stay that way."
"THOU HADST ALLOCATED THE GREATER MARGIN OF THINE WILL, AND HADST LEFTETH THE RUINED TO PERISH. NO MATTER--THEE SHALT NOT TRIUMPH." "We will see. And in the meantime... "
A bright blue fiery substance engulfs the Composer's weapon, and he hefts it into a two-handed combat stance.
The Composer's scrambled mind just barely manages to mend enough to regain full control of his physical form, completely stopping his momentum and ceasing his brutal journey through the layers of Spherus Magna. He rockets back the way he came, launching out of the hole he was put in and into the air. As he rises and then starts to fall, he scans everywhere at once for any sign of his opponent. He does not have to look far, as the massive dark sword suddenly blinks into existence right as it impales his torso with such ungodly might that it sends him flying backwards.
As he quickly travels across the land while falling, he feels the absolutely agonizing sensation of the shrouded blade's wicked power somehow wreaking total havoc in his mindscape, corrupting it and forcefully peeling his consciousness apart, obliterating the shreds with surprising efficiency. Although he's able to reflexively move his arms to grip the weapon's hilt, posing to try and rip it out, it's been eons since the Composer last felt any pain at all, let alone such unimaginable agony as this. He goes into shock, and he finally meets the ground. His form plows through the foliage, earth, and rock, tearing a massive crater across the land with the half of the blade sticking out of his back serving as a poor anchor. Finally, his velocity is slowed enough that when the foot of a rocky cliff blocks his path, he comes to a total stop as he smashes into it, the dark sword skewering him to the jagged wall. As if he was waiting for him to arrive at this exact location, the dark form of Carnifex steps up to his quarry while a bewildered Composer still tightly grips the sword's hilt. He painfully chokes,
" ... Such... power... "
"MORE THAN THEE DESERVETH TO REALIZE."
Carnifex quickly grasps his sword, and an explosion of dark power erupts from its blade as he effortlessly rips it upwards and out of the Composer's body, cleaving vertically though his neck and skull. The ruined corpse of the emerald knight slowly dissolves away into a plethora of green ash-like particles, which fade from existence as they fly off. "AND YET, THEE REMAINETH A PERSISTENT BLIGHT."
The entity turns away from the dead Composer to face the opposite direction, where an unscathed Composer now stands, great mace in hand.
"You'll find me a slippery opponent, who's well-prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to stay that way."
"THOU HADST ALLOCATED THE GREATER MARGIN OF THINE WILL, AND HADST LEFTETH THE RUINED TO PERISH. NO MATTER--THEE SHALT NOT TRIUMPH." "We will see. And in the meantime... "
A bright blue fiery substance engulfs the Composer's weapon, and he hefts it into a two-handed combat stance.
" ... We have a real fight."
A flash and the 12 Observers emerge, they take upon strategic locations. Each one holds a gleaming orb, which shimmer translucently in the light.
A rift opens in the sky, and Excidia, the dark angel, the goddess of destruction flies out. She looks at Carnifex with narrowed eyes.
The Composer's scrambled mind just barely manages to mend enough to regain full control of his physical form, completely stopping his momentum and ceasing his brutal journey through the layers of Spherus Magna. He rockets back the way he came, launching out of the hole he was put in and into the air. As he rises and then starts to fall, he scans everywhere at once for any sign of his opponent. He does not have to look far, as the massive dark sword suddenly blinks into existence right as it impales his torso with such ungodly might that it sends him flying backwards.
As he quickly travels across the land while falling, he feels the absolutely agonizing sensation of the shrouded blade's wicked power somehow wreaking total havoc in his mindscape, corrupting it and forcefully peeling his consciousness apart, obliterating the shreds with surprising efficiency. Although he's able to reflexively move his arms to grip the weapon's hilt, posing to try and rip it out, it's been eons since the Composer last felt any pain at all, let alone such unimaginable agony as this. He goes into shock, and he finally meets the ground. His form plows through the foliage, earth, and rock, tearing a massive crater across the land with the half of the blade sticking out of his back serving as a poor anchor. Finally, his velocity is slowed enough that when the foot of a rocky cliff blocks his path, he comes to a total stop as he smashes into it, the dark sword skewering him to the jagged wall. As if he was waiting for him to arrive at this exact location, the dark form of Carnifex steps up to his quarry while a bewildered Composer still tightly grips the sword's hilt. He painfully chokes,
" ... Such... power... "
"MORE THAN THEE DESERVETH TO REALIZE."
Carnifex quickly grasps his sword, and an explosion of dark power erupts from its blade as he effortlessly rips it upwards and out of the Composer's body, cleaving vertically though his neck and skull. The ruined corpse of the emerald knight slowly dissolves away into a plethora of green ash-like particles, which fade from existence as they fly off. "AND YET, THEE REMAINETH A PERSISTENT BLIGHT."
The entity turns away from the dead Composer to face the opposite direction, where an unscathed Composer now stands, great mace in hand.
"You'll find me a slippery opponent, who's well-prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to stay that way."
"THOU HADST ALLOCATED THE GREATER MARGIN OF THINE WILL, AND HADST LEFTETH THE RUINED TO PERISH. NO MATTER--THEE SHALT NOT TRIUMPH." "We will see. And in the meantime... "
A bright blue fiery substance engulfs the Composer's weapon, and he hefts it into a two-handed combat stance.
" ... We have a real fight."
A flash and the 12 Observers emerge, they take upon strategic locations. Each one holds a gleaming orb, which shimmer translucently in the light.
A rift opens in the sky, and Excidia, the dark angel, the goddess of destruction flies out. She looks at Carnifex with narrowed eyes.
A camera drone also flies into the area, watching the fight and Excidia's arrival intently.
"EVEN IF THEE WEREST WHOLE, THINE POWER BEETH BUT A FLICKER TO MINE. FRAGMENTED AS THOU ART... THINE DEATH IS ASSURED. WHAT HOPE HAVETH THEE?"
"I don't hope. I make it happen."
The Composer feels the subroutine subside elsewhere, and most of the rest of his consciousness comes flooding back, greatly increasing his processing ability. However, just as he is about to make a move, an invisible force piledrives into his back, lurching him towards Carnifex. He quickly stops himself after a few feet, but apparently that was all which was needed, as his opponent appears before him, his light sword already slicing the Composer in half at the waist. Doing his best to ignore the vicious burning in his mind from this attack, the emerald knight smashes his mace into the side of Carnifex's skull with enough force to knock the planet from orbit. All of the trees and other foliage are completely flattened for miles just by the shockwave that ripples from the blow, and Carnifex is sent sprawling away. But even as the Composer fuses his two halves back together, he immediately senses that something is wrong. Sure enough, his senses were betrayed, and striking at many times faster than the speed of light, Carnifex appears behind him and punches right through his Reinforced Code chest with his bare fist.
As the Composer is about to retaliate, he feels his body completely seize up as the crimson entity rips his fist back through him, and suddenly he is having an out-of-body experience as his mind... his very being... is torn away from his physical form in the clutches of Carnifex.
Wha-... how... ?? NO!!
The closest thing to sheer terror grips the Composer as he watches his Code body dissolve away, having completely lost his ability to control it. How could this entity tear his whole consciousness out of one construct, even if only a part of him was imbued in it?? With the entirety of his available mental presence now exposed and vulnerable, he must think faster than ever. As Carnifex moves to slash his light sword through his essence... a strike that will surely kill the vast majority of the Composer... he summons backup.
A terrible impact smashes into every square inch of Carnifex as the world around he and the Composer is immediately replaced by a torrent of black and purple. Letting out a cry of pain and rage, Carnifex loses his grip on the Composer as the Domain attacks his perception from every angle imaginable. To anyone watching, both Carnifex and the Composer have vanished in the midst of a new, giant sphere of roaring, swirling purple and black substance.
As Carnifex shields his eyes with his arm and struggles to block out the noise, the Composer regains control of his Code and appears next to the newly-arrived Voidwalker.
"I do believe I have just saved your life. How wonderful."
The Composer gasps his reply,
"Only because I ordered you to."
The Voidwalker slowly tilts his head in the direction of Carnifex.
"Who could this be, that such an emergency be warranted?"
"His name is Carnifex. He... "
"Oh yeeessssss... you mentioned him earlier."
"Ah... right... must have slipped my mind."
"Slipped your mind? Your predicament must be dire."
"Something doesn't add up--I was under the assumption that the Ascendancy wanted my loyalty regardless of the 'atrocities' I've committed. What changed? Did they only want me to kill me?"
"Evidently."
"No, that doesn't make sense. They would have killed me a long time ago if that were the case."
"Aaaahh, so you think he is a liar?"
"Indeed. But it doesn't matter either way, because I need to kill him before he kills me." "ARROGANT FOOL."
Carnifex's rumbling voice echoes through the Domain loud and clear, even surmounting the deafening howl of the realm.
"Ah, not good."
Sure enough, Carnifex now stands with his swords raised and crossed, seemingly unfazed by the Domain's overwhelming, incapacitating effects. "THEE REMAINETH AS NOTHING TO ME."
He slashes both of his swords across his front, scraping their blades together as he does so. An even more deafening noise, like the sound of a great pounding bell, explodes within the Domain, and the Voidwalker lets out a metallic scream that goes unheard. He does it again, and again, the noise greater than the last. While it does not affect the Composer, the Voidwalker claws at the sides of his own head and writhes in a most unsettling fashion. While keeping two of his hands clamped to either side of his head, the dark, pitted knight raises his other two hands in front of himself, posing to clamp them together. The Composer recognizes what he is about it do, and has no choice but to force the Voidwalker to vanish before he collapses the Domain upon them all. Without the master of the realm present to safely tether him to immunity, the emerald knight is immediately plunged into the merciless onslaught of perceptional destruction.
Grinning wickedly behind his mouthplate, Carnifex charges through the black and purple torrent at his incapacitated prey.
Last Edit: May 29, 2017 13:06:33 GMT -6 by Deleted
In no time, Carnifex is upon the Composer's immobile form. Just as he impales him with both of his swords, however, the emerald body is already dissolving away with no sign of his mind's presence. Letting out an irritated growl, Carnifex bursts through the Domain's border and reenters the stable world, shrugging off the painfully jarring change of environment that accompanies both entering and leaving the Voidwalker's realm. He slowly descends from the great sphere of oblivion, landing softly amidst skewed foliage of the jungle's remains.
"THOU HATH WORN MY PATIENCE."
He turns his searing gaze directly towards where the Composer now stands, who returns an icy glare of his own. After forcing his way out of the Domain so quickly, his unfathomably rapid thoughts are simultaneously purging the effects of the Domain, analyzing his opponent's revealed abilities, and considering whatever few options he has left.
His swords eat away at my being, his bare hands can wrest my mind from my constructs, his thoughts can penetrate my own, he moves faster than I can, his strength dwarfs mine, he can fool my perception without my realizing, his existence's foundation is too solid for the Domain to be effective... I must assume those are only a fraction of his capabilities. Even after a lifetime of work, this being is still so far ahead...
"You perplex me, Carnifex. I have not yet committed anything worse than the planetary 'genocides' and 'destruction' for which I was infamous even prior to our first encounter. You could have destroyed me then, while I was young, foolish, and far more willing to burn the universe in my wake. So why now and not anytime before, when I was vulnerable?"
I can't let it all end here... what do I do? "THE CIRCUMSTANCES HATH CHANGED. THOU WEREST GIVEN AMPLE TIME TO RECONSIDER, YET THOU CONTINUEST TO DISAPPOINT. EVEN NOW."
"Nowadays I like to think I've mellowed quite a lot since then."
Out of all the predictive simulations the Composer has run throughout this encounter, only one stands out with at least a minute chance of survival.
My options are wearing thin--I have no choice. I must initiate the recall, or die.
Now or never. The Composer calls upon all the remainder of his fragmented consciousness, signaling for them to converge across the multiverse and reform his whole. Indeed, normally he would consider leaving himself without any backups to be absolute insanity, but he has since grasped the reality of his situation: for whatever reason, Carnifex was determined to see him dead. There would be no running, and no hiding. He might as well offer up the sum of his power all at once and increase his chances of victory, rather than wait for the Ascendant warrior to effortlessly cut him down one by one. Either he has a chance here, or inevitably dies later.
Carnifex eyes him intently, taking notice of the surge of improvement within him, and understands.
"SO THEE HAST COME TO ACCEPTETH THINE FATE AT LAST."
The Composer closes his eyes, taking in the unique experience of becoming whole for the first time in eons. Droves of new memories and understandings, and libraries of knowledge and wisdom, all flooding into him at once from thousands of faraway places. He knew the fruits of his labor would be remarkable once called upon, but the reality of their grandeur was still staggering to say the least.
He slowly opens his eyes, his vision seemingly clearer than it had ever previously been, his mind now substantially more powerful than before. His gaze meets Carnifex, who's been pacing back and forth, allowing this process to complete. The Ascendant must know his mission would be far simpler if he could end the Composer in one fight, yet now it won't be nearly as easy. Regardless, the Composer remains unsure if what he has will be enough, but for the sake of his dream, it has to be... or else it all ends here.
Likewise, Carnifex continues to eye him back. He had decided to trade an easy but lengthy kill for a quicker but potentially harder one. Time was of the essence for him. He must be swift and precise, or...
"You're angry. Incredibly angry, and frustrated."
The Composer hefts his Rift Cleaver to one shoulder. "I can't imagine I've ****ed you off already."
"THEE KNOWEST NOTHING OF ME."
The Composer tries a bluff.
"I know the Wardens didn't send you here to kill me."
To the emerald knight's satisfaction, and actual surprise, Carnifex hesitated his pacing with widened eyes for just a split second. Perhaps he was onto something.
"I OBEYETH THE WORD OF THE EXALTED WARDENS, AND NONE OTHER. THOU ART A PLAGUE UPON EXISTENCE, AND THEREFORE SHALT THEE DIE."
The Composer's tone darkens, and he beckons to his foe.
"Then come get me."
Carnifex obliges, moving with such speed that it would appear to any lesser being as if he teleported. But to the Composer, who's processing speed had just been multiplied by the thousands... it looks pretty much the same. Carnifex was still impossibly fast. Still, he drops his weapon just in time to block a double sword slash from the Ascendant, a clash that unleashes a massive shockwave of force in all directions. But the Composer hasn't forgotten his foe's tricks. In exactly that same instant, he reverses his form to face the opposite direction, managing to intercept the true Carnifex's attempt at a plunging backstab.
The dark sword just barely glances across the Composer's shoulder armor as he parries the attack sideways, hardly leaving a scratch. While he was certain he couldn't withstand a direct, full-strength blow, it was reassuring to know in practice that his convergence had significantly improved the durability of his Code. Even so, he could still feel the odd substance emanating from the blade searing his essence just from that glancing blow. He must remain cautious.
As Carnifex's momentum is thrown off center, he takes the opportunity to turn it into a high roundhouse kick aimed at the side of the Composer's head. The emerald knight raises one hand to catch it, but Carnifex pulls a feint and instead completely changes his direction of attack, slashing his light sword sideways at his opponent's neck. Time slows to barely a crawl as the Composer adjusts his guard with more speed than he's ever moved with before, managing to just slip the spear end of his weapon between his neck and the blade, knocking it away. In the same movement, he successfully delivers a single kick straight into the center of Carnifex's briefly exposed chest. The impact is so disturbingly powerful that the collateral wave of force clears the remains of the jungle and blows a massive crater in the ground for a great distance in all directions. An enormous storm of dust, dirt, and debris rises immediately after, racing across the landscape without slowing, tearing up the planet's surface and adding to its strength.
Carnifex, meanwhile, suffers a gaping hole making up the majority of what was once his torso as he is sent violently careening across the world until the curve of the horizon gives away, and he proceeds to rip through the atmosphere and into the cold blackness of space. If anyone was looking up at the sky at this exact moment, they might see a shooting star in broad daylight.
As his opponent vanished into the distance, the Composer noticed the glint of something off to his side. It was the parried light sword, slowly falling from having been jarred from Carnifex's grip. Dissolving his Rift Cleaver, he reached out and grasped the weapon's hilt. He examined the fiery blade. In such close proximity he could feel the waves of unnatural power radiating from it, and he wondered exactly was the extent of this artifact's capabilities.
He did not have much time to reflect, however, for with an otherworldly metallic roar, Carnifex bulleted out of nowhere from the direction opposite to the one in which he was sent. The Composer turned, grabbing the light sword with both hands and wielding it across his body. Just as the Ascendant was upon him, he swung it out, intercepting the vertical slash of its twin, clashing the light with dark. A great lengthy ringing like that of a gigantic bell exploded through the area once again, and the space around the locked blades visibly began to warp and bend, producing an outward ripple of colorless, distorted substance that had no visible consequences. The Composer had no time to wonder about this, as the impact from the clash alone threatened to shatter his body. For a brief instant, he was able to see past the spectacle and observe his opponent, who no longer showed any signs of damage from the kick.
Both combatants pushed off of each other, and swung again, and again, slamming the massive blades together repeatedly as they attacked and defended to the best of their abilities. With every blow the noise rang stronger and the rippling substance brought more distortion. But neither of them cared about the potential consequences of this strange effect, for all that mattered now was the annihilation of the enemy.
The Composer watched Carnifex carefully all the while. There was madness in the Ascendant's eyes and form. He was zealously determined to see the Composer destroyed, but for what? His sheer fury gave credence to passion, not duty. What was this about?
He continued to receive no window for additional thought; Carnifex's assault was perpetually accelerating, his attacks getting faster and stronger. Soon, the Composer thinks, he will be overwhelmed. The power that this Ascendant possessed was beyond astonishing, and thus far seemed limitless. Now the emerald knight was being driven back, and he was not sure how much longer he could...
CRUNCH.
The Composer's concerns were met early. With an unexpected surge of terrible might, Carnifex wielded his sword one-handed, bashed his enemy's next swing sideways with his bare forearm and consecutively slashed his weapon down upon the Composer's outstretched elbow, severing his arm in half. The Composer felt himself lose contact with the separated limb, and as it faded away, Carnifex snatched the loose blade out of the air. Now, with both swords reunited, he unleashed hell upon the Composer, who rapidly summoned quick barriers of Code to absorb the first few strikes while he quickly conjured the Rift Cleaver into his hands. But before he could activate its power, Carnifex sliced the mace end clean off with one swipe, twirled both swords around into a backhanded position while raising them high above his head, and plunged them straight down into both of his enemy's shoulders. The Composer's mind reeled as it became scalded from all sides by the blades' conflicting powers. Carnifex wasted no time, leaving his destructive weapons lodged in his enemy's form before rearing back and slamming his first two knuckles right into the center of the emerald knight's face.
The Composer staggered back several steps, his fiery orange eyes staring right at the Ascendant with their usual blankness. An audible chink echoes out, and several hairline cracks spread from the point of impact across his face. The Composer fell limply to his knees, and Carnifex, not yet through, marched up to him. With the power of the twin swords locking his dazed foe in place, the Ascendant warrior entered into a furious assault of world-shattering blows to the head. All the Composer could do was dedicate every fiber of his being to staying conscious, while simultaneously using a tiny fraction of attention to desperately analyze the situation for some way out.
An ancient legend among gods states that two powerful enough minds could read each other's thoughts with every crossing blow. Carnifex's attacks were backed by no strategy, no methodology, no system. There was no precise resolve or calculated tactics... there was only blunt, raw fury. This wasn't about appeasing the orders of some authority... no...
In the midst of the vertigo, the Composer tried to form a coherent strategy against this chaotic assault, but failed dramatically. Carnifex gave him no room for complex thought, and no time for countermeasures. With his consciousness waning, the Composer's intellect was powerless.
Only... 27 seconds.... initiate...
And so, he responded in the only way he could. His higher functions shut down completely as a primitive subroutine took hold. Rational thought slipped away for good, and concern for the risk of permanent damage was tossed aside, replaced by something quite contrary to his usual self: the simulated equivalent of unrestrained, burning rage.
Right between punches in Carnifex's furious assault, the Composer suddenly delivered his own, smashing his open palm into his assailant's neck with enough strength to nearly decapitate him. The surprised Ascendant staggered back, and before he could return to his advantageous position, the emerald knight had already forced himself to his feet--completely fighting against the power of the swords--and conjured twin Rift Cleavers in either hand.
Letting out a terrifying metallic roar, he charged down Carnifex and repaid his merciless rain of blows tenfold, repeatedly smashing his massive, spacetime-disruptive weapons into every square inch of his crimson foe. Now Carnifex was being driven back, except this time, the two combatants were falling through the devastation being caused by the dual Rift Cleavers. They disappeared from the view of any onlookers into a plethora of dead fabric, which can only be described as appearing like a great hurricane of prismatic, shattered glass.
The mutilated form of Carnifex reached out towards the light sword still lodged in the Composer, a movement that spasmed violently in the midst of countless incoherent timestreams, only to have his limbs torn clean off by one of the many blows and fed to the unforgiving blanket of entropy engulfing them. Indeed, the only thing that kept these two gods from being sundered by oblivion was their unbroken determination.
The Composer reared back and swung both of his weapons to the exposed sides of his enemy, crushing them into Carnifex's sides. Then, sinking his claws into the Ascendant's ravaged chest, he forced him sideways, plunging him deeper into the storm of decay surrounding them. Despite his resistance, his broken form started to chip away, fragments of him becoming lost to oblivion. The Composer's power, he thought, is pure existential destruction. Another moment of this and Carnifex will be lost.
"I REFUSE."
Against the entropy and against the Composer's strength, the Ascendant warrior forced his way back to the calmer territory, rematerializing one of his arms and clutching for the light sword still trapped in his foe's body. The emerald knight retaliated by delivering a blow of equal proportions to the one Carnifex himself delivered moments ago: slamming his first two knuckles into the dead center of the Ascendant's face, badly cracking his mouthplate. He struck again. And again. And again.