LoD Chapter 2 - The Legend of the Forsaken Brother

[lazy man]

"Listen, Bort, before this starts, let me just say one thing. We're too good for them to ever let us go. It doesn't matter what happens, we're the ones that make them their money, it's not like they're going to just free us after a certain amount of fights. Once we get too slow or too old or something, they'll just kill us anyway. I've seen it before, I know they'll do it. Just consider this early freedom."

Bort looked at Kerith with a look of disgust. This man had obviously had more friends than Kerith, and Bort was lucky that they had all been good fighters, otherwise they would have been dead long before. Kerith, however, had been forced to kill his own friends in the ring early on, just because his owners wanted to see the look of horror on his face as he brutally murdered them. Because of that, Kerith remained very shady for the years after, the closest person to a friend being his trainer.

"I don't really care what you think, bastard, but you got all my friends killed. Besides, we're already here, there's no avoiding this fight. Hehehe, I'm gonna enjoy this."

"I'll make sure it's quick, Bort. You'll be free after this, so enjoy that freedom," Kerith thought. The man was obviously too angry, but that didn't mean he would put up a bad fight. Kerith readied himself for the call for the fight to begin, giving Bort one last look before they had to kill eachother.

[Astral Harmony]

Renetta stood down here. Trevor stood up there. Their gazes met.
"Abandon this foolishness," Trevor said, his eyes bleeding snaky black tendrils of darkness. "Am I really the one to blame for the deaths of your mother and my father? Why can it not be blamed on your inability?"
Renetta looked at her Arm Blade as Trevor continued.
"Could their deaths simply be destiny? If that is the case, then they were meant to die because they were weak and we had been weak because they continued to live. They have held us back, sister. My love should have been for you only, but both of them got in the way. Your mother seduced me with her filthy body, and my father made it perfectly clear that my dreams, while pure and good, would not be realized because I was not a great warrior like he was. However, now your mother is no longer around and neither is my father. We are free to pursue the destiny that was meant for just you and me, and no one and no thing shall stand between us."
"Father is not dead, though it is just a matter of time," Renetta said, her tone emotionless and dead. "Even in the short time that I looked at him, I knew that your arrow had mortally wounded him. He will not last much longer."
"That is fate," Trevor preached with a shrug. "They were meant to die a long time ago. However, their resourcefulness had made it apparent that they would live as long as they wanted. However, I have changed, becoming so much more than they could ever be. Father didn't escape me this time."
"You killed her, didn't you. You killed mom." It wasn't a question.
"It was unintentional. I was seduced by that woman ever since the day father proposed to her. I had to do something to make her mine, but she was such a fool. Such a waste of love to stand in the way of an attack meant to slay father. I grieved for what felt like eons, but things are different, for now I see who I really love."
"A waste of love. Yes, exactly. I see it for what it is now. Just like you think mom wasted her love on dad when she got in the way, the real love that was wasted was the love I always have for you."
Trevor didn't speak. He didn't move. All he could do was watch as Renetta finally poured her true feelings out.
"I still love you and you're not even my brother anymore! My brother would never have killed our parents to finally realize how much he loved me back! That's what Richard found out. He found out that you weren't his son anymore. Before things had to change like this, you had to change, and in the worst way possible. But mother and father are gone now. They can't stand by my side to make things right, to make things the way they always should have been. It's come down to me, brother. It's all in my hands to turn us into a loving family again. This time, it won't happen like it did six years ago."

Renetta slowly lowered herself into a battle stance. "I too am a foolish woman. I tried to save you with my sword. Fortunately, it didn't cost me my life to learn how stupid that was. This time, I'm going to save you with my love. Please, brother, if you're still listening to me...if you still truely love me, then you'll understand why I must lift my sword and my heart against the one I love more than anyone else in this world. Brother, this is for us."
"Sister, you have matured more than I could possibly imagine. Though the path you have taken is not one I desire, I will not run away from our fight this time. Show me the strength in your heart and the warmth of your love. Do not let up, for I shall show you the true darkness that has destroyed my mind and left me a soulless husk. Let battle be joined."
Trevor slowly raised his left hand. Two patches of snow blew away from the ground and tentacles whipped up from the exposed stone, coiling and solidifying to create giant suits of full plate armor, complete with swords that Renetta assumed could easily bisect her down the middle. They lacked helmets and there was obviously no organics involved in their makeup. They were simply large suits of sentient armor.

[Mintaro]

(OOC:Thats one slow ass ice attack, moving at glacial speeds if you will. Especially when you consider that we got in here about 2-5 game minutes before anyone else.)

Karnok Followed directly behind howls movements. Instead of jumping onto the pillar however, he braced himself against it and waited for the results of the ice attack. preparing to spear the man as soon as his body surfaced. Dead or not.

[Bosolai]

The announcer's voice boomed from the fake sky of the arena. "For his eighteenth consecutive battle, we have... The Infamous Bort!" The crowd roared. People held up signs saying 'Go Bort', 'Bort for the win!', and even a couple 'Marry me, Bort!'. When the roar died down, the announcer continued, "And now, he needs to go up against his toughest fight ever. Challanging his championship is... the Ravager Kerith!" Even more noise, signs, and even some fireworks went up from the crowd. They were all ready. "Fighters, ready stance... And battle!"

Bort began the fight like he always did. With psionics, he jumped fifteen feet in the air, and with the same psionics, launched himself at Kerith at an incredible speed. Kerith had heard about his matches, of course. Nobody was ever fast enough to get out of the way, but should they block the spear, Bort's net was ready to grapple whatever weapon and armor was left open. Of course, Bort never fought someone of Kerith's abilities, so the crowd was left in awe for the split second he was in the air.

************************************************** *********

Trevor saw the ice spear coming at him, and a barrier appeared right in front of it. The spear shattered into pieces as Trevor continued his monologue with Renetta. He kept up with the shields holding Karnok at bay until the conversation with his stepsister was finished, at which point he conjured the sentient armor. The armor advanced forward, down the path, attempting to limit the ground the chosen ones had. Trevor shot another flurry of five arrows vertically between the the sentient armors and down the path, then brought out his axes to do some potential melee.

(OOC: You haven't been there more than maybe a minute at most, at which point everyone would still be fascinated by the temple and all that jazz. Also, just as some advice, Trevor can block attacks by quickly conjuring and immediately dispelling a shield of any shape or size, so unless you catch him off guard or with a really REALLY powerful hit, you won't be able to hurt him. The shields are nearly inpenetrable, however they are entirely immobile. The minions aren't too bright, just automatons. The more minions and shields he's got out, the easier it is to catch him off guard.)

[Lioness]

Ian arrived to the temple and was awed by the surroundings - the fascinating way the snowflakes fell softly to the ground from the statue, the beautiful snow and ice everywhere - it almost took his breath away. In a short matter of seconds, however, he returned himself to reality where Trevor was shooting arrows and was preparing his axes.

"Let's get this show on the road," he thought, planning his next move.

Ian decided to keep the sentient armour busy so the others could concentrate more on Trevor. He quickly decided to meet metal with metal and he too lifted his hands, but instead of forming armour, he created three animated swords which quickly sped towards the armour.

CLANG! The sound of metal upon metal resonated through the temple, around the pillars. CRASH! CLANG! BANG! The noises grew louder and more frequent as the last of the swords joined in.

Quickly, Ian found a pillar where he could stand, partly protected against arrows and the like but still see the swords and concentrate on them. He knew he couldn't fight, himself, while the three swords were around, since he had made them a little more powerful than usual, while not quite using up all of his abilities.

[Toastburner B]

The monk said nothing as he charged. He knew there was a time for words and a time for action...and Renetta had said all that had been needed to say.

His intital charge was for Trevor, but one of the sentient armors, despite Ian's attack on them, cut him off. Years of training paid off as Connor quickly chanted the familiar words which would increase his strenght and speed. When the armor attacked, Connor rolled out of the way.

However, his roll left him open to Trevor's arrow. As soon as Connor stood from his roll, and arrowed buried itself deep into his shoulder. Connor grunt in pain, and backed off behind a pillar. While Trevor was no longer paying attention to him, the armor was clearly hunting for him. Blood oozed out of the wound. Closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath, Connor grabbed the shaft of the arrow. It's already most of the way in, he thought painfully, it will do less damage if I push it all the way through...

Taken a series of deep breaths, Connor did just that. He cried out in pain as he forced the arrow through his body, until he could finally grab the head and pull it out of his shoulder. Trying to clear his mind, Connor chanted another familiar spell. Almost instantly, the blood in his wounds clotted, and the pain faded. He knew, however, that he was not truely recovered. This minor healing spell would dispell the pain, and prevent him from bleeding to death, but it did not heal the damage beyond that. The minotaur knew that the wound would just get worst as he fought, but he had no choice. He needed to be able to move free of pain for this battle.

The sound of metal rubbing together gave him his only warning, but it was enough. Connor darted away just the armor's sword cut into the pillar where the monk had been seconds before. Connor charged the armor before it could free it's sword from the pillar. The minotaur leapt at the armor, hoping to deliver solid jump kick.

[Astral Harmony]

Renetta saw the opportunities. Dodging both the arrows and the Living Armors would be next to impossible, but the others took much of the attacks away from her. The girl rushed forward and dove through the barrage, the arrow grazing her leg, leaving a long, narrow, yet fortunately thin cut. It hurt, but it kept Renetta focused. The armors didn't bother to turn and engage her, more focused on the enemies they were meant to deal with. That's right. Trevor wanted to be the one to finish her off. His face was cold and the blackness oozing from his eyes did little to make it warmer. "This time, a thick bed of snow will not be there to save you when you fall."
"You have nowhere else to run either, brother."
Then, brother and sister clashed in the snow. Renetta felt that she would have a chance to defeat him if she was able to channel her auras, but all of her focus was devoted to staying alive. She had no concentration for magic. Trevor on the other hand easily held strong against his sister, the power of his summoned armors not waning a bit. Was this the power of darkness? "I...I won't lose. I can't lose now!"

[TheBlindMime]

Howl landed silently after rebounding off the column and watching his spell shatter across trevor's sheild, seeing him pull out his axes gave howl an idea. Jumping upwards to another column he easily creates a horizontal shaft of ice on top of it.

Landing on it as gracefully as a wounded duck he surveyed all that was below him. Wandering suits of armor, a wounded minotaur, some sibling rivalry, and purely defense shielding. That Trevor's magic is based around defense of the user, and with his axes out a long distance attack from above is best. Although now that I'm out of danger the question is, a long continuous ice attack or multiple little ones.

Howl sat down on the cylinder of ice and clasped his hands together, focusing for a moment he created three spinning orbs which rotated above and below him. Drawing in more and more ice into the spheres as they turned he began to prepare for his upcoming attack. Churning for a few moments longer he felt he was ready, the orbs rotation grew suddenly then rapid blasts of ice which could only be described as ice arrows shot forth towards trevor.

With their continual spinning and the constant firing he couldn't possibly use one shield to defend against them. Even if he does block each shot he will still have to worry about his sister as well. Howls thoughts again turned to collecting and creating more ice for his spheres as they fired.

[Raiden]

Samoht watched the scene before him. Trevor was certainly skilled. Creating powerful shields that were damn near impenetrable, and now sentient armors that could walk around on their own. Of course, he had to focus to keep them there. Samoht had once fought a man with similar powers. Not so enhanced by Shadowcraft as this man was, but powerful none the same. And there was a trick to it. A mind can only focus in so many directions for so long. And since Renetta was taking on the big man with the axes, Samoht decided to make the guy's mind work for it's pay.

He folded his hands, with his index fingers sticking out. He mumbled a few words under his breath, and sparks formed on the end of his fingers. With a small thunder clap, hundreds of small electric orbs burst from his fingers, and began to fly around the room.

"Fly, my pretties, fly!"

The electric orbs scattered across the expansive area, and struck hard against the sentient armors.

(OOC: This attack doesn't do very much damage, but there's a lot of them, and since Trevor needs to focus to hold his armors, they're going to put his mind to work.)

[Mintaro]

Karnok's strength seemed to be doing no good for his attacks. He was starting to get tired and his spirit bonding was fading. It was time for him to regroup. He jumped away from one of the suits he had been battering against and moved himself as far from the main of the battle as he could. He released the spirit from him and prepared to call a different one. He quickly started a fire and added a green leaf to it. Inhaling the almost minty smoke. He took on a new hew. This time Green. When the summoning was complete his body looked more toned then usual. His eyes more alert.

He leapt into action. Moving with supernatural grace. Maneuvering himself around the various obstacles in his way. He wanted to make his way straight to the heart of the battle. Aiming to dodge his way to Trevor and plant his Spear straight into the mans heart.