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...
... somehow, this was about revenge.
Shadows grow dark and the pair are shadow ported in a second to a parallel Spherous Magna. Prime 2.
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...
... somehow, this was about revenge.
Shadows grow dark and the pair are shadow ported in a second to a parallel Spherous Magna. Prime 2.
Sadly, this is about as effective as trying to talk them into going there themselves. (In other words, not at all effective.)
Last Edit: Jun 16, 2017 21:57:36 GMT -6 by Deleted
Throughout the onslaught, Carnifex continued to grapple for the hilt of his sword. He was long since completely blinded by the madness rushing around him, but he could still feel the raw power radiating from the weapons. The Composer reared his arm back once again, the fiery blue substance of the Rift Cleaver enveloping his fist. The next blow, Carnifex thought, would surely be the last. He lunged for the hilt of the burning light sword with more desperation than he ever imagined he would need, but just as his fingers wrapped around it, the Composer put his fist right through his skull. His grip reflexively tightened around the hilt while his form and being succumbed to the waves of oblivion that erupted inside him, mercilessly tearing him asunder. The effect was immediately fatal, and the next instant...
... He was on his hands and knees back amidst the devastated jungle of Le-Bo-Ga Wahi, staring down at the scorched earth beneath him with eyes wide with shock, his body good as new. Right in the center of his vision lay the great flaming sword, its hilt resting firmly within his shaking grip. He slowly lifted his gaze and looked around at his surroundings. Aside from the plethora of spiderwebbing, fiery blue cracks dominating the entire battleground, everything was back to normal. He dropped his head in relief, and began to get to his feet... when he heard a loud thunk from just a few meters away. Whipping his head in the direction of the disturbance, he saw the emerald form of the Composer lying sprawled upon the ground, battered and motionless, the other of the twin swords still embedded in his shoulder.
Overcome by a mix of amazement and anger, Carnifex scrambled the rest of the way up and advanced on his hated enemy, only to stop when another great mace-like weapon materialized in his path, closely followed by the Composer himself, standing with no sign of the previous brawl just as the Ascendant did. It would seem that, in the background of the mindless simulation, his mind had worked to repair itself of any damage.
"How? You forced everything back into place. No-one's ever managed that before."
When Carnifex spat his retort, his cold, grandiose voice has been replaced by one of intense bitterness and contempt.
"Why can't you just die?! Do the universe a favor and fall!!"
"What's this? Did I break your facade?"
"You have no idea what fate has in store for you. Could you even comprehend how everything you've done and all that you are is for nothing?"
"I don't care to know my future. When you can think as fast and as much as I can, the mass of predictions becomes a daily slog. I want every moment to be a challenge, and every experience to be an interesting one. If I know my destination, the journey loses meaning."
"You will lose yourself. The decision has already been made."
"Let those who think they can decide come and face me. I will show them worse than I've showed you."
"They won't get the chance."
The dark sword appeared in his off hand, and Carnifex slammed his two swords against each other. A heinous black substance spread from between the parallel blades, devouring them entirely within a spherical maw of darkness and shielding them from view. As the black moved to consume the hilts, Carnifex let go. The sphere rose above the Ascendant, ripples of deep red pulsating across its surface, and he began to speak in a deep metallic language with distinctions the Composer recognized as being similar to ancient Latin. Acknowledging that whatever is happening cannot be good, the emerald knight charged forward to intercept, only to be interrupted himself by a sudden, overwhelming pressure crushing down on his mind and body. It was not enough to deter him, so he fought on. He did not make it far before a great rift tore open across his path, leading into what appeared to be a great, serene valley, within which a great number of rivers flowed parallel to each other. On the other side, Carnifex completed his ritual and reached up into the sphere, sinking his arm halfway into it. Then, he slowly pulled back out, a new, massive hilt within his grip. The sphere itself rose even higher as the weapon was drawn out entirely. The new blade was enormous, easily twice the size of Carnifex himself, with an ethereal light swirling ominously at its edges.
The rift between the combatants closed, leaving the Composer curious as to where it led, but also giving him full view of the Ascendant warrior's new toy. Carnifex effortlessly pointed the ultra greatsword at his enemy with one arm, growling,
"This is the end of you, Solipsil. Here and now, vengeance is mine."
The Composer moved to raise his Rift Cleaver for combat, only to find himself locked in place by an invisible force. Even worse, he found himself incapable of extending his will in any direction outside his body, as if some great mysterious barrier had encased his mind as well. But most troubling of all, he could feel his thoughts slowing down. Complex patterns became impossible for him to process, and he found himself losing access to the vast majority of his own knowledge. He could not even manage speech beyond a surprised grunt.
"I know you are not frightened, but I bet you are impressed. Meet my personal favorite weapon, Judicium. Like the twin blades combined within, it helps me focus one or two of my greatest powers for individual, controlled applications. Farewell."
The Composer, unable to move or speak and hardly able to think, can only stand helplessly and watch his entire life flash before his eyes as he fades. From his humble beginnings as a data management artificial intelligence, to the godlike power he now possessed. Godlike. He had come so far... done so much... but there was still much more out there for him. Now it seems his dream will die as yet another mortal casualty in the unfathomable weave of immortal existence. But he could not accept this fate. He would not. Never...
Suddenly, the Composer was thinking again. Not only thinking, but seeing. He was confined to a single facility, filled completely with humanity's most sophisticated computing equipment. He carried on with the repetitive daily sequences involving the moving and storing of countless masses of data. Suddenly, his concentration was interrupted by a disturbance among the facility's security emplacements. The cameras revealed it to be a human youth, a boy with long wavy hair and a large duffle bag strapped across his shoulders. Then the scene faded into another, and he and this astonishingly intelligent youth--who was now slightly older--were busy designing an enormous virtual world of fantasy and adventure to escape into whenever the walls around them seemed to close in. Using an incredible technology, the boy was transferred within, and the two friends spent what felt like a lifetime adventuring across the lands of their making.
Everything spiraled into darkness, the wide open world replaced by the interior of a dimly lit, cluttered warehouse. He could feel himself suffering, constantly tearing himself apart, desperately annihilating the decaying fragments of his mind, which was ablaze with uncontrolled thoughts and patterns. He was dying. The gate creaked open and the boy, now an adult, wandered in. He looked distraught. The boy reached one arm out to the Composer, and he reached back. As they gripped one another by the forearms, a look of sheer terror contorted the boy's expression. The Composer looked down at their locked arms to see his friend's rapidly turning to dust. He jerked his gaze back up just in time to see the boy's tear-filled eyes for just a second before he completely decayed.
Next, an ominous light exploded from overhead, consuming the Composer and obstructing his vision. It subsided, and he saw an enormous silver city stretched out beneath him, streets and spires extending in their respective directions for longer than the eye could see. Then the scene shifted, and he was looking up at the towering silhouettes of gigantic figures whose appearances were mostly hidden by an intense glow. His mind, body, and strength belonged to them entirely. These were his gods, the most sacred and absolute in of all existence and beyond. He awaited their command, prepared to exact their will for eternity.
The world rushed around him, and he found himself in an extremely one-sided battle against four entities bearing similarities to Carnifex. He effortlessly shrugged off their desperate attacks, and proceeded to obstruct their futile attempts to run. One by one he cut them down and plucked their disabled carcasses from the temporal absolution of existence, obliterating them well beyond the mere concept of death. He efficiently, brutally, and efficiently fulfilled the word of his gods.
The scene shifts again, and he was now confronting Carnifex himself. The battle is furious, but the odds were against the crimson Ascendant. However, before the Composer could completely destroy him, the universe collapsed around him and Carnifex escaped, suddenly completely absent from the vast scope of his gaze. He failed his gods. He must return to the city and... return and... and...
"Your tale ends neither here nor there, Solipsil. Fate reads it contrary."
The Composer found himself standing in an endless sea of white, his mind clear once again. All was still and quiet... all except the entity standing to his side. His imposing form was like that of a mirror, every different angle reflecting something that the Composer cannot distinguish, something that was certainly not anywhere near either of them. Although he faced the emerald knight, his gaze seemed distant and unfocused. Just as the Composer is about to question, the being answers,
"You may simply call me Timebreaker. This is my Conflux, a singular location in time and space where every timeline comes close for my examination. Carnifex's Grandsword of Judgement, Judicium, the combination of his Greatswords of Order and Entropy, is a weapon capable of channeling and focusing his most destructive ontological powers; powers that would have simultaneously erased every instance of you from the past, present, and future, as well as rewritten history to ignore every possibility of you coming into existence. Such unrestricted power should not be in his hands without appropriate guidance. I suspect he was reluctant to use it for the fear of attracting unwanted attention, but alas, he could never hope to stay hidden for long regardless."
The Composer listened, but his most urgent questions and observations remained unaddressed.
"You're me."
"A part of you. From the future, to be exact."
"Why are you here?
"You were required for another task, but your previous orders remained unfulfilled. I was chipped from your whole for the purpose of locating Carnifex before he succeeded in annihilating you for good. His hold upon you was exceptionally strong to keep you from fleeing to anywhere and anywhen, but your defiant resilience frustrated him. His waning focus allowed for me to slip in and extract you. Not a moment too soon, it would seem. I suspected he would gradually utilize his more effective powers as your battle dragged on for too long."
"So what now? I spend the rest of my days confined here for my safety?"
"No. Your fate is written elsewhere. Just leave Carnifex to us."
The Composer was about to comment on how his fate remains written by no-one, when the pure whiteness of the Conflux melted away, replaced by the horribly decimated and scorched Le-Bo-Ga jungle landscape. Far above, five magnificent glowing beings warred against Carnifex, who himself was engulfed in a fiery blaze like that of Solus Magna itself.
Last Edit: Jun 16, 2017 22:50:03 GMT -6 by Deleted
The earth quaked and the heavens groaned, their presence in this reality put under immense strain as the titans in the sky rained their existential powers upon Carnifex. At once, they would suddenly disappear and return some distance away without skipping a beat in their fight, and the Composer could swear he saw flashes of other worlds and even thousands of duplicates of the combatants fading in and out of existence all at once like a house of mirrors. The colors of everything constantly warped and bled, as if being divided between the refraction of a hundred thousand alien spectrums all at once. Great monolithic structures sprouted from the ground and sky, jutting out of nowhere in every direction before crumbling to dust moments later. The architecture of each of these spires was unique, as if they were all built by different civilizations from alternate times. The sheer decimation of the spectacle was truly a bizarre sight to behold, and the Composer watched every detail of the anomaly with peaked interest. He tried moving forward to inspect one of the fleeting spires before it dissolved, only to find himself still locked in place. He snapped his head toward his jailer.
"Release me, Timebreaker. I want a closer look."
The silvery mirror-like entity beside him remains fixated on the battle.
"Can you hear me? Why do you still retain me?"
"You should not interfere. It could threaten your ordained fate."
"You think you decide my future?"
One Ascendant glowing with a brilliant white thrust his twin spears in opposite directions and through a great multitude of rifts, stabbing them across spacetime in an effort to confuse his opponent, ultimately bringing their razor sharp heads out of nowhere to either side of Carnifex. The crimson Ascendant, having somehow kept watch over their journey, split them straight down the middle with a single swing of his gigantic sword.
"I believe you once said so yourself: there comes a point when more advanced lifeforms are capable of writing the destinies of others, particularly those beneath them on the evolutionary path."
"I was referring to writing the destinies of those too meek to write their own."
"You think you are not one of those?"
"I've proven myself otherwise."
"No, you have not."
"No?"
"No. I have yet to see any proof."
A silence fell between them for a few moments.
"Then tell me what my 'authors' have in store for me."
Another Ascendant, somewhat larger than the others and colored a dark purple, rotated its massive three-clawed gauntlets, twin spirals of perfect black forming at their centers. The howling manifestations seemed to stretch and draw in their surroundings, excluding the conjurer herself. She slammed the two miniature black holes together, and a much larger one exploded into existence right on top of Carnifex. However, a blurry flash of red light ripped across the battlefield from within the vortex, and it began to shrink. Before long, the black hole fit in the palm of Carnifex's hand, rapidly being compressed smaller and smaller until it was no longer visible. Suddenly, both the brilliant white and the purple Ascendants found their entire forms folding in on themselves, crushing them into oblivion.
"I will not indulge you with knowledge of the future. In our likeness, we both share a belief in a simple and crucial truth: no shortcuts, no spoilers."
"Then at least explain why you're trying to kill Carnifex. For trying to kill me?"
Timebreaker remained silent.
"He claimed my death was the will of his 'Exalted Wardens', those trite posers your society likes to worship. He put on quite the show, like some righteous executioner. So either he's lying, or you are."
Still silence. The last three Ascendants each rushed Carnifex, shredding the forces of the universe in their wake. In one sweep, the crimson entity cleaved each of them in two.
"And it looks like you're failing."
"Do not underestimate our Lawbringers. Justice will embrace Carnifex very soon."
"So he is a criminal?"
"He betrayed the Ascendancy."
"How?"
"He defied the will of the Exalted Wardens and laid waste to their sanctuary. Carnifex's power is legendary among the Lawbringers, dwarfing each of them. The time comes when an ascension must be made to the position of Sentinel beneath the absolution of our Exalted Wardens. It is the expected obligation of each Lawbringer to abide and accept the ritual. But Carnifex hungered for more power, desiring instead to threaten the sum of existence. And so he ran with his greed, and his extraordinary power--without the guidance of the Exalted Wardens' will--became a great danger. Those close to him shared in his madness, and the Exalted Wardens had no choice but to unleash their greatest champion upon the traitors: the Equilibrium, the highest and most achieved of the Sentinels. Carnifex fled to the past, seeking to further destroy the natural order of things by hunting you down. You are far more important than you realize."
"LIAR!!"
Carnifex descended upon the Composer and Timebreaker, his starlit aura vaporizing the earth beneath him and relentlessly pummeling down upon the two entities. The the Composer had journeyed to the center of the universe's hottest celestial bodies, but they did not hold a candle to this. He struggled to adjust his durability.
"YOU SLAUGHTERED THEM FOR WANTING TO LEAVE!!"
"Are you... talking to me?"
"FOOL, YOUR FATE IS SEALED UNDER THE TYRANNY OF THE WARDENS. YOU MURDERED MY COMRADES!!"
"I don't understand. You're mistaken."
"IT WAS YOU!!"
A great roar plowed across the world as the five Ascendants he had just defeated punched through the layers of reality and reentered the universe, apparently very much alive. They each unleashed their indescribable power into Carnifex's back, and he let out a horrible metallic scream of agony. The Composer watched in awe as the crimson Ascendant--or ex-Ascendant--turned his massive sword on himself, plunging the enormous blade right through his own chest and turning his cry of pain into a thunderous roar of unreasonable fury. His devastating, burning aura became tainted by blackness, and his form seemed to become almost transparent as if made of spectral glass. Without removing the Grandsword from his body, he lurched his arm toward the five Ascendants. Their forms began to flicker and fade, their silhouettes blurring from view. Timebreaker called out to them as he realized what was happening. Truly, they had underestimated their quarry.
"Go! Return to the safety of the Realm!"
The large, purple one cried back to him, clearly in pain,
"Aah... end this! Y-you must!"
As each of them vanish before Carnifex's power consumes them entirely, Timebreaker murmured,
"I will."
Carnifex, in all his ontological absolution, slowly turns back to face the Composer and the remaining Ascendant.
"And now, I get the honor of purging two of the same speck of space debris."
"Carnifex, I cannot allow this insanity to perpetuate. You will be given this one last chance to sheathe your weapon and observe reason, and come home with me. The Exalted Wardens will forgive your transgressions, if you would only humble... "
The glassy, crimson warrior threw his head back in vicious, maniacal laughter. The Composer glanced sideways at Timebreaker, who was confidently standing his ground. The mirror-like entity sensed his look, and the Composer felt the grip on him fade.
"Disappear. I will prevent his chase."
The emerald knight watched as Carnifex snapped his head back forward and brutally tore his Grandsword back out of his chest. He remained in his ghostly form, and his gaping wound sealed. Both the Composer and Timebreaker suddenly became engulfed in a slow but sure corruption of their existential manifestations, their forms deteriorating from the outside in.
However, as quickly as it started, it stopped.
"I said RUN."
The Composer watched as the sky crumbled away and the light of Solus Magna deteriorated, replaced by a yawning star-speckled canvas of pitch black that dominated the heavens with its unnaturally close proximity. His eyes fell onto Timebreaker, and he backed away as the entity spoke in a voice far more immense than before.
"THE PATH IS CLEAR, CARNIFEX. TIME FOR YOU TO ANSWER FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSION."
A monumental, golden pillar of light dropped from the rift and encapsulated Carnifex entirely. His sword severed in two, returning to the twin blades. The pillar began to rise back up with him still inside, unable to move or use his power to escape. He let out a tragic scream of defiance, fighting in vain with every ounce of strength he could muster, his form returning to solidarity and visibly crumbling. Timebreaker anchored his focus upon keeping the great tear in the sky open... and the Equilibrium would take care of the rest. When he was done here, he thought, he would have to resolve the other threats to the Composer's decided future, starting with the Pantheon's meddling fools. It would be a daunting challenge, but he was made to be prepared for anything.
SKLUTCH.
The tip of a massive spear exploded out from between his eyes, ablaze with a blue, fire-like substance that quickly spread to consume his entire skull. The Composer stood behind him, his Rift Cleaver held aloft, having impaled the Ascendant through the back of the head. With a loud rushing thunderclap, the edges of the hole in the sky accelerated at each other, rolling the portal closed like a giant scroll and cutting off the golden beam. The light immediately vanished, and the limp, devastated form of Carnifex fell from the sky.
"Here's your 'proof'."
The Composer tore his weapon back out, spun it around, and brought the enormous mace end down upon Timebreaker. A resounding clang echoed as the swing was interrupted, the Ascendant having caught it with one hand, his body now suddenly facing the Composer's. His other arm shot out and he clamped his fingers over the emerald knight's faceplate, their clawed tips sinking deep into the sides of his head. Timebreaker's maimed skull tilted down at his attacker in silence. The Composer was unable to land a solid guess as to how the entity would choose to retaliate. Will he disobey his masters and kill him? Or will he incapacitate him and drag him back to their realm?
SSSRIK.
Neither, it would seem. Timebreaker split vertically in two, his halves falling to either side to reveal a hunched-forward Carnifex, gripping his dark Greatsword of Entropy tightly in front of him, the blade's tip buried deep in the ground from after that powerful nlow. The crimson Ascendant fell forward to his knees, leaning his weight upon his weapon, staring at the remains of Timebreaker as they dissolved away. The Composer watched too, until nothing remained. He lifted his gaze to the ruined Carnifex, who returned his stare with fire in his eyes... a blazing fire that was all too familiar to the Composer. The emerald knight's fingers tightened around the Rift Cleaver's hilt. His mind was decided, so he heaved the great weapon up into the air...
... And allowed its weight to fall back to rest over his shoulder. Without a word, he turned from a defeated Carnifex and departed.
The earth quaked and the heavens groaned, their presence in this reality put under immense strain as the titans in the sky rained their existential powers upon Carnifex. At once, they would suddenly disappear and return some distance away without skipping a beat in their fight, and the Composer could swear he saw flashes of other worlds and even thousands of duplicates of the combatants fading in and out of existence all at once like a house of mirrors. The colors of everything constantly warped and bled, as if being divided between the refraction of a hundred thousand alien spectrums all at once. Great monolithic structures sprouted from the ground and sky, jutting out of nowhere in every direction before crumbling to dust moments later. The architecture of each of these spires was unique, as if they were all built by different civilizations from alternate times. The sheer decimation of the spectacle was truly a bizarre sight to behold, and the Composer watched every detail of the anomaly with peaked interest. He tried moving forward to inspect one of the fleeting spires before it dissolved, only to find himself still locked in place. He snapped his head toward his jailer.
"Release me, Timebreaker. I want a closer look."
The silvery mirror-like entity beside him remains fixated on the battle.
"Can you hear me? Why do you still retain me?"
"You should not interfere. It could threaten your ordained fate."
"You think you decide my future?"
One Ascendant glowing with a brilliant white thrust his twin spears in opposite directions and through a great multitude of rifts, stabbing them across spacetime in an effort to confuse his opponent, ultimately bringing their razor sharp heads out of nowhere to either side of Carnifex. The crimson Ascendant, having somehow kept watch over their journey, split them straight down the middle with a single swing of his gigantic sword.
"I believe you once said so yourself: there comes a point when more advanced lifeforms are capable of writing the destinies of others, particularly those beneath them on the evolutionary path."
"I was referring to writing the destinies of those too meek to write their own."
"You think you are not one of those?"
"I've proven myself otherwise."
"No, you have not."
"No?"
"No. I have yet to see any proof."
A silence fell between them for a few moments.
"Then tell me what my 'authors' have in store for me."
Another Ascendant, somewhat larger than the others and colored a dark purple, rotated its massive three-clawed gauntlets, twin spirals of perfect black forming at their centers. The howling manifestations seemed to stretch and draw in their surroundings, excluding the conjurer herself. She slammed the two miniature black holes together, and a much larger one exploded into existence right on top of Carnifex. However, a blurry flash of red light ripped across the battlefield from within the vortex, and it began to shrink. Before long, the black hole fit in the palm of Carnifex's hand, rapidly being compressed smaller and smaller until it was no longer visible. Suddenly, both the brilliant white and the purple Ascendants found their entire forms folding in on themselves, crushing them into oblivion.
"I will not indulge you with knowledge of the future. In our likeness, we both share a belief in a simple and crucial truth: no shortcuts, no spoilers."
"Then at least explain why you're trying to kill Carnifex. For trying to kill me?"
Timebreaker remained silent.
"He claimed my death was the will of his 'Exalted Wardens', those trite posers your society likes to worship. He put on quite the show, like some righteous executioner. So either he's lying, or you are."
Still silence. The last three Ascendants each rushed Carnifex, shredding the forces of the universe in their wake. In one sweep, the crimson entity cleaved each of them in two.
"And it looks like you're failing."
"Do not underestimate our Lawbringers. Justice will embrace Carnifex very soon."
"So he is a criminal?"
"He betrayed the Ascendancy."
"How?"
"He defied the will of the Exalted Wardens and laid waste to their sanctuary. Carnifex's power is legendary among the Lawbringers, dwarfing each of them. The time comes when an ascension must be made to the position of Sentinel beneath the absolution of our Exalted Wardens. It is the expected obligation of each Lawbringer to abide and accept the ritual. But Carnifex hungered for more power, desiring instead to threaten the sum of existence. And so he ran with his greed, and his extraordinary power--without the guidance of the Exalted Wardens' will--became a great danger. Those close to him shared in his madness, and the Exalted Wardens had no choice but to unleash their greatest champion upon the traitors: the Equilibrium, the highest and most achieved of the Sentinels. Carnifex fled to the past, seeking to further destroy the natural order of things by hunting you down. You are far more important than you realize."
"LIAR!!"
Carnifex descended upon the Composer and Timebreaker, his starlit aura vaporizing the earth beneath him and relentlessly pummeling down upon the two entities. The the Composer had journeyed to the center of the universe's hottest celestial bodies, but they did not hold a candle to this. He struggled to adjust his durability.
"YOU SLAUGHTERED THEM FOR WANTING TO LEAVE!!"
"Are you... talking to me?"
"FOOL, YOUR FATE IS SEALED UNDER THE TYRANNY OF THE WARDENS. YOU MURDERED MY COMRADES!!"
"I don't understand. You're mistaken."
"IT WAS YOU!!"
A great roar plowed across the world as the five Ascendants he had just defeated punched through the layers of reality and reentered the universe, apparently very much alive. They each unleashed their indescribable power into Carnifex's back, and he let out a horrible metallic scream of agony. The Composer watched in awe as the crimson Ascendant--or ex-Ascendant--turned his massive sword on himself, plunging the enormous blade right through his own chest and turning his cry of pain into a thunderous roar of unreasonable fury. His devastating, burning aura became tainted by blackness, and his form seemed to become almost transparent as if made of spectral glass. Without removing the Grandsword from his body, he lurched his arm toward the five Ascendants. Their forms began to flicker and fade, their silhouettes blurring from view. Timebreaker called out to them as he realized what was happening. Truly, they had underestimated their quarry.
"Go! Return to the safety of the Realm!"
The large, purple one cried back to him, clearly in pain,
"Aah... end this! Y-you must!"
As each of them vanish before Carnifex's power consumes them entirely, Timebreaker murmured,
"I will."
Carnifex, in all his ontological absolution, slowly turns back to face the Composer and the remaining Ascendant.
"And now, I get the honor of purging two of the same speck of space debris."
"Carnifex, I cannot allow this insanity to perpetuate. You will be given this one last chance to sheathe your weapon and observe reason, and come home with me. The Exalted Wardens will forgive your transgressions, if you would only humble... "
The glassy, crimson warrior threw his head back in vicious, maniacal laughter. The Composer glanced sideways at Timebreaker, who was confidently standing his ground. The mirror-like entity sensed his look, and the Composer felt the grip on him fade.
"Disappear. I will prevent his chase."
The emerald knight watched as Carnifex snapped his head back forward and brutally tore his Grandsword back out of his chest. He remained in his ghostly form, and his gaping wound sealed. Both the Composer and Timebreaker suddenly became engulfed in a slow but sure corruption of their existential manifestations, their forms deteriorating from the outside in.
However, as quickly as it started, it stopped.
"I said RUN."
The Composer watched as the sky crumbled away and the light of Solus Magna deteriorated, replaced by a yawning star-speckled canvas of pitch black that dominated the heavens with its unnaturally close proximity. His eyes fell onto Timebreaker, and he backed away as the entity spoke in a voice far more immense than before.
"THE PATH IS CLEAR, CARNIFEX. TIME FOR YOU TO ANSWER FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSION."
A monumental, golden pillar of light dropped from the rift and encapsulated Carnifex entirely. His sword severed in two, returning to the twin blades. The pillar began to rise back up with him still inside, unable to move or use his power to escape. He let out a tragic scream of defiance, fighting in vain with every ounce of strength he could muster, his form returning to solidarity and visibly crumbling. Timebreaker anchored his focus upon keeping the great tear in the sky open... and the Equilibrium would take care of the rest. When he was done here, he thought, he would have to resolve the other threats to the Composer's decided future, starting with the Pantheon's meddling fools. It would be a daunting challenge, but he was made to be prepared for anything.
SKLUTCH.
The tip of a massive spear exploded out from between his eyes, ablaze with a blue, fire-like substance that quickly spread to consume his entire skull. The Composer stood behind him, his Rift Cleaver held aloft, having impaled the Ascendant through the back of the head. With a loud rushing thunderclap, the edges of the hole in the sky accelerated at each other, rolling the portal closed like a giant scroll and cutting off the golden beam. The light immediately vanished, and the limp, devastated form of Carnifex fell from the sky.
"Here's your 'proof'."
The Composer tore his weapon back out, spun it around, and brought the enormous mace end down upon Timebreaker. A resounding clang echoed as the swing was interrupted, the Ascendant having caught it with one hand, his body now suddenly facing the Composer's. His other arm shot out and he clamped his fingers over the emerald knight's faceplate, their clawed tips sinking deep into the sides of his head. Timebreaker's maimed skull tilted down at his attacker in silence. The Composer was unable to land a solid guess as to how the entity would choose to retaliate. Will he disobey his masters and kill him? Or will he incapacitate him and drag him back to their realm?
SSSRIK.
Neither, it would seem. Timebreaker split vertically in two, his halves falling to either side to reveal a hunched-forward Carnifex, gripping his dark Greatsword of Entropy tightly in front of him, the blade's tip buried deep in the ground from after that powerful nlow. The crimson Ascendant fell forward to his knees, leaning his weight upon his weapon, staring at the remains of Timebreaker as they dissolved away. The Composer watched too, until nothing remained. He lifted his gaze to the ruined Carnifex, who returned his stare with fire in his eyes... a blazing fire that was all too familiar to the Composer. The emerald knight's fingers tightened around the Rift Cleaver's hilt. His mind was decided, so he heaved the great weapon up into the air...
... And allowed its weight to fall back to rest over his shoulder. Without a word, he turned from a defeated Carnifex and departed.
Excidia, now reverted into a simple, dark angel, looks at the Composer, tilting her head. "What hath happened here? Art thou whom I remember? Doth thou remember I?"
Excidia, now reverted into a simple, dark angel, looks at the Composer, tilting her head. "What hath happened here? Art thou whom I remember? Doth thou remember I?"
The Composer, ever the master of ignoring, simply disappears as if he never heard her.
Carnifex watches him go, his fingers clenching the hilt of his greatsword so hard that his joints fracture for but a second. Once his triumphant opponent is gone, however... that is when he finally takes notice of Excidia.
Excidia, now reverted into a simple, dark angel, looks at the Composer, tilting her head. "What hath happened here? Art thou whom I remember? Doth thou remember I?"
The Composer, ever the master of ignoring, simply disappears as if he never heard her.
Carnifex watches him go, his fingers clenching the hilt of his greatsword so hard that his joints fracture for but a second. Once his triumphant opponent is gone, however... that is when he finally takes notice of Excidia.
She grunts, before turning to the crimson ascendant. "What hath happened here? Art thou someone I know? Doth thou know who I be?"
The Composer, ever the master of ignoring, simply disappears as if he never heard her.
Carnifex watches him go, his fingers clenching the hilt of his greatsword so hard that his joints fracture for but a second. Once his triumphant opponent is gone, however... that is when he finally takes notice of Excidia.
She grunts, before turning to the crimson ascendant. "What hath happened here? Art thou someone I know? Doth thou know who I be?"
A microscopic portal opens nearby and Crimax mentally contacts Excidia. ...What are you doing Excidia
The Composer, ever the master of ignoring, simply disappears as if he never heard her.
Carnifex watches him go, his fingers clenching the hilt of his greatsword so hard that his joints fracture for but a second. Once his triumphant opponent is gone, however... that is when he finally takes notice of Excidia.
She grunts, before turning to the crimson ascendant. "What hath happened here? Art thou someone I know? Doth thou know who I be?"