Retribution of a Fallen God

[Echo of sanity]

Ruin was disappointed, these were mere children, there was no honor, no rush to slaying them. But he had a Blood lust to satisfy, so he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and let his instincts take over.

He singled out a student with a small axe, yelling and flailing it wildly. He picked up the student in a three fingered palm and squeezed until the battle cries turned to panicked screams, and then silence. He hurled the bloody mess across the battlefield and picked another target.

A small, red-haired mage hurled arcs of pure energy into Morians men, killing half a dozen before Ruin swung his club at her, hitting her on the side and killing her instantly.

Ruin smelled the air. The stench of death and magic was all around, as was the putrid smell of the barbarians. Ruin raised his head, gazing across the field. "There" he muttered to himself, eyes fixed on a tall human, wielding two swords. Death flowed from this one like a river, hopefully HE would pose a challenge. Ruin stomped across the battle towards him, flexing the muscles in his razor lined jaw.

((OOC: SaigoKusunoki , im going after Phoenix.))

[Ryu Kurai]

Two warriors about ten yards from Shalvanis suddenly fell, each with a wooden shafted weapon in the gap of their armor in-between the helmet and chest piece. Darenith threw another, hitting one using a pair of maces squarely in the chest. The seven foot demon survived, staggering forwards and flinging one of his maces at the swiftly approaching warrior clad in demon bone armor. Darenith slapped it aside by spinning his spear, bringing the weapon around in a slice just below the demon's neck, demon bone slicing through steel better than any steel weapon could. Darenith came around with a spin, lowering both his arms and thrusting smoothly into the demon's stomach with his spear. Darenith's head swiveled quickly to the right, then to the left. He pushed on his spear with his upper body, the spear head sliding through the now limp demon's body. He turned the nearly 300 pounds of demon carcass to his right, shielding himself from the arrow of an archer who had been aiming at him. Another demon approached from his left, greatsword raised high. The elf moved the corpse quickly, the demon's sword slashing through the demon's armor as easily as Darenith's spear. The black blood of the demon sprayed over Darenith, and his shield gave out an agonizing cry.

Guess he wasn't dead after all. Darenith thought to himself, the demon's left limbs falling to the ground like steel-covered trees. Darenith pulled back on his spear, shoving his shoulder into the remaining parts of the demon he had impaled, slamming into the demon with the greatspear, then stepping back and grabbing the end of his spear's shaft, rushing forward again. The singing slice of his spear impaling a second demon brought a sick grin to Darenith's face. He planted his foot to the left of the demon whom he had just impaled, turning to his right once again. The arhcers predictably had unleashed more arrows, since Darenith's manuever had taken roughly four seconds, enough to string the arrow, aim and fire, and for the arrow to travel to its target. He heard a gurgle from the demon on the far end, and the soft clang of the greatsword dropping to the ground was enough to convince him that the demon was dead. Darenith started pressing his spear, now carrying around 600 pounds of demon corpses, out across the open plain towards the small platoon of archers who had been targeting him. He imagined that the archers weren't making anyone else's job easier, but they were a threat that needed to be eliminated before he could start having more fun with his prey.

Besides, anyone that far away from the battle was most certainly a coward.

And cowards had one place on the battlefield.

On the ground. Preferably in a few pieces.

[SaigoKusunoki]

"I bring the doom of the Endtimes upon ye! Let me hammer shake the fair earth herself!" shouted Enav as he barreled into the legs of a Legio soldier standing over Abzadrael's trapped body. The weight of the dwarf and the angle that he was hit knocked the soldier face first into the ground, forehead connecting with the spiked pauldron of a fallen comrade, cracking his skull.

Enav brought his hammer Worldbreaker against the chest of another soldier with a powerful, overhand swing that the man did not see in the chaos of battle. The man's hauberk crunched in, and with a sickly sound, so did his ribcage. Enav stood back to back with Abzadrael, growling menacingly at any who approached, and lashing out with heavy, powerful sweeps that were unblockable and could only be dodged.

"Lad it's not a good idea to go runnin' and jumpin' into an enemy formation like this ya know." he shouted over the din of war jokingly.

*****

Phoenix felt ponderous footsteps inexorably approaching, and he turned to see a large being resembling a frog pounding towards him. It carried a large club and was battering students out of the way without effort, it's demonic eyes fixed on him. Phoenix did not feel fear, only a heightened sense of things. If that was how it was going to be, then so it shall.

He began to make his way over to it, dispatching an unsuspecting barbarian with a scissoring motion of his blades, severing the man's head whilst he faced the other way. Cheap and dishonorable, but Phoenix was being challenged, and he would let none get in the way.

*****

Saigo could take it no more. The students had grown horribly complacent, and though there were those that used powerful magics, or those that were superbly skilled in bladework, the majority were like lamb to be slaughtered. Hefting his spear high above his head, he dashed towards the fighting. He smiled to himself; he had not gotten the opportunity to test his new power, and there was no better time than now. Unseen in the confusion by the students, he snaked his way in between bodies, lashing out with his spear when the opportunity arose. He found himself singled out by a barbarian wielding twin maces, but it was no contest. The man seemed to move slowly to Saigo; with much grace and little effort, he twisted his body in between the two swinging maces, and drove the head of his spear through the bottom of the man's jaw, the tip erupting from the back of his skull in a spray of blood and brain matter, that temporarily blinded the barbarian behind him. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, he angled his thrust a bit and kept pushing, until his speartip pierced the blinded man's right eye. Quickly running behind the man whom had originally received his spear, he gripped the spear just in front of the second barbarian's face, and with almost no force applied, pushed it through until the speartip yet again burst from the back of a skull. When the whole head was through, he gripped the spear behind the head and yanked hard, freeing his spear from both heads in one swift motion. He would have been amused, had he the time to think on matters other than fighting. Three men, seeing his awesome feat of skill, charged, various blades raised high and guttural cries in their throats. Smirking, Saigo held out his hand, and focused for the quickest of moments. A white light flashed for but a moment, and all three men collapsed in agony, their eyes bubbling out of their sockets.

"Im beginning to enjoy this. A lot." he mused to himself. He dashed deep into the enemy formation, hacking and thrusting and slashing and slicing; with each drop of blood drawn, he grew more rowdy; the slaughter fueled him, fueled his rage and hatred. Each death was the end of a heresy for him, and as Emperor, all heresy must be mercilessly eradicated.

*****

Captain Garvi had begun to lead his company forward; a combination of the rear cavalry charge, the hail of bullets, and the stout determination of the soldiers had begun to weaken the Legio; wounds and weariness were taking their toll, and the Legio was fast becoming less of an organized unit and more of self-minded rabble, each man becoming more and more concerned with slaughter than with completing their objective. That was the one flaw of the Legio; their demonic pacts made them bloody minded, the spilling of blood throwing them into a frenzy, a frenzy they would only break out of if killed. For the newer recruits of the Bastion's defense force, this spelled almost certain doom, as each man became a bloody minded, furious God of war. For the disciplined veterans, however, this was a godsend. Small wounds and much careful dodging would eventually wear the heretics down, until the killing blow could be made. For veterans like Garvi's company, this was no real problem; skilled in footwork and shieldwork, they minimized casualties until Garvi called for an attack. For them, the war became a methodical slaughter instead of a desperate defense.

Garvi dodged right, an axe head missing him by mere inches, but he quickly recovered by bringing the tip of his longsword down, into the weak spot in the Legio's armor between the breastplate and helm. The warrior, however, was not about to be taken down so easily. Dropping his weapons, he gripped Garvi's body two handed, headbutted him, and threw him into his own men. Garvi blacked out, landing face first, and then having a Legio soldier fall on top of him, dead.

[PhoenixFlame]

Twin paths of slaughter from the Northern Warrior and Sunev made Auvrea's job easier, but not by much. She were but a mage, and while she carried her staff in such pattern because she knew how to use it, she found it difficult to advance and match their pace with enemies closing in from all directions. How could one so willfully allow themselves to be surrounded? Truth be told, it was hardly willing, for the sorceress found herself surrounded aswell.

"So, for my next trick..." She sarcastically muttered, glancing around at the myriad vectors of chaos surrounding her. Deftly withdrawing from her robe a small chain of beads, she looped one end around her hand, and tossed the other, lasso-like, over the edge of her staff.

It became crystallinely clear to her why one was graded on the factor of time, now. Good art could not be rushed, but in battle, all martial art was rushed.

One of the heretics her wind saber had knocked backward drew forth now, flanked by two of his bretheren. In the back of her mind, it suddenly occured to Auvrea that they should outnumber the barbarians. If they did, why was the battle going on so long? Sorrow gripped her heart, and the beads across her staff and hand crystallized into a chain of ice. Pouring her sorrow into the chain, she looked toward the trio of barbarians whom her earlier spell had buffeted, but not killed... They appeared quite angered by this.

"Come no closer. Only the mad would attack the unbound." She warned, but they paid no heed.

A trio of barbarous warcries resounded through the air, and Auvrea sighed. Letting go with her hand, she flicked the chain at the leader. As it flew, it broke open... A line now, and each link carried a gradually lengthening icicle, razored along the chain's inside edge. A moment later, it snapped around the leader's neck like a choker, blades inside. He faltered for a moment, and without discipline, so did his compatriots. Hardened warriors they may be, this was a queer and strange form of magic the witch used. Clutching at the choker, the man tried to tear it free but with every wrench, it tightened. All of this took but a pair of seconds, though it seemed to last for time immemorial.

Auvrea slid her right foot back, into stance, and gently twirled her staff behind her. At that moment, the chain twisted in a circle, wrenching the man's head free of his shoulders. The two beside him stood momentarially dumbstruck, it were only a short moment's hesitation, and they were unpreturbed, continuing mid-charge. Flying guillotine or not, their axes where much more direct.

The sorceress broke her stance for a moment, as if to flee, but it was merely a fade to one side, an action which threw the linearity of the barbarian's charges, aswell as her own response. Leaping forward to one's side with suprising grace, she angled her weapon downward, ducking under his high-level axeblade and clipping his thigh as she passed. Hamstrung, the man fell to the ground, but quickly regained his knees. The second ran behind his friend towards her, swinging his axe overhead like a rabid animal. Though she deflected the swing with the tip of her battlestaff, the man let go of the weapon and, in a suprisingly unexpected move, punched her in the face.

Reeling from pain, she dropped to one knee, as if defeated by a single strike. Blood dripped from her nose, and the barbarian laughed.

"Is that it, elf? You have lots of flash and glamour, but little real fury!"

Auvrea's left hand trailed across the ground, feeling along with her fingers like a spider, until it reached blood.

"You are going to die now..." The man grunted, hefting his axe with a broad, sadistic grin.

"I don't think so..." she looked up, gripping the cold chain she felt around the bloody stump. With a desperate lunge, she threw the used guillotine at the man, catching his right arm as he raised his weapon. It fastened loosely this time, as her mind was reeling, but enough for her to use agaisnt him. Rising with a dramatic whirl of her staff, the barbarian dropped his axe with a stifling scream.

"Let's see your fury without your sword arm." She coldly spat.

[Red Mage Black]

(Not sure if I'm allowed to do this, let me know otherwise please.)

As he closed in on the action, Black caught a soldier fleeing from the battle. "COWARD!" He shouted stabbing the man through the gut. The soldier reeled forward and Black wrapped his free arm around the man and got close to his ear. "Shhh shhh...." He said calmly as if trying to quiet the man.

As he pulled back, Latis absorbed the blood on her form. The soldier merely fell to his knees and clutched the wound, staring up at Black with wide eyes. "Fear not young warrior. Your blood shall be the life force that leads me through eternity." He opened his mouth to reveal large fangs in which the soldier stared in horror at. The man let out a scream before Black sank his fangs into the man's jugular.

The blood flowed quickly into his mouth, the warmth making it all the better. Black savored every second of satisfaction he got. Yet it wasn't enough to satisfy his hunger. As he finished up the man's body fell limp to the ground, Black wiping away blood that overflowed from his mouth. "Don't worry, you will not be forgotten. Fear and anguish have made your blood ever the more potent. You have made me strong enough for the upcoming battle." Black left the soldier's body on the ground as he continued towards the chaos.

[SaigoKusunoki]

Saigo could almost smell something was not right. There was someone here, someone familiar, that should not be. Pulling his spear from the throat of a barbarian with a vicious yank, and began to back off from the battle slightly, letting students fill the gap between him and the Gorobar. He looked over the battle to see how things were going; both sides had lost a lot, and it saddened him to realize the students had lost more. He had a more important mission, however, so he tore his eyes from the battle, and began running towards the source of familiar energy.

Within seconds, he saw the Vampire-thing and Sunev, and wished he hadnt. She was on her knees, crying, and he was standing triumphantly above her, scorpion-like tail raised and ready to strike. Saigo did not need anyone to tell him who it was; he had seen Sidian like this once before. He was surprised, however, that he still felt the real Sidian and not a monster. Not wanting to waste any time sitting and thinking, Saigo charged, spear raised. He was quick, and got in between Sunev and Sidian before he could thrust with his tail. Saigo caught the thrust in one hand, and pulled, bringing Sidian to his knees.

"Sidian Valentine, I should have killed you when I had the chance. It is a shame you serve the fool Morian. Now, go, tell your master that the Emperor has returned, and that I shall have his head within the month."

With his free hand, Saigo reached up and pulled the wolf pelts from his head and face, letting his silver-white hair spill to the ground. Sidian stared at him wide eyed; fear, it seems, could grip the hearts of those who spelled fear themselves. With a casual flick of his wrist, Saigo picked up Sidian by his tail and flung him into the chaotic melee, bowling over student and heretic alike, causing many to turn their heads in Saigo's direction. Not wasting time, he raised his spear high, and a white light emitted from the speartip.

"All shall FEAR the Emperor's WRATH!" he bellowed, his voice carrying over the entire combat. Without wasting time, he charged into the melee, hacking and stabbing left and right, taking out barbarian after barbarian with little to no effort, but full of fury. First one man, then ten, then slowly, all, began to turn tail and run toward the horizon.

Only two remained fighting, a young man wielding two golden swords, and a large demon, resembling a frog.

((OOC: We'll do the Phoenix/Ruin fight and then that will be over))

[Echo of sanity]

Ruin looked over at the fleeing barbarians. "Damned cowards." He spat, and turned back to his prey. Ruin held the club high above his head, and brought it down with the strength of a god. It connected with the ground, but the man was able to leap out of the way. Ruin tried to raise the club again, but all that he pulled up from the cracked earth was a splintered mess.

The other students were turning to him now. And Ruin was without a weapon. He could probably kill them all with his bare hands, but he didnt like the odds.

A elf charged at him, wielding a long-sword. Ruin couldnt turn fast enough, and the blade found home in his arm. The elf screamed in horror as he was picked off the ground and torn in half, his sword still quivering in Ruin's side, barely piercing his thick hide.

He ripped the sword out of his arm, and tossed it to the side. In his throaty voice ruin growled "Now, we fight.", eyes fixed on his first target.

[SaigoKusunoki]

Phoenix smirked devilishly. The beast was slow, and large, something he could use to his advantage. However, if one of the beast's swings connected with him, he would be over. Phoenix started by feinting to the left, then executing a series of swift strikes to the right. Baby steps, he told himself. Small wounds would wear the creature down, bleed it dry until he could finally make the killing blow, and send the hellspawn to whatever pit of the Nether it came from.

*****

The Legio Dominatus had three laws in it's creed; no retreat, no surrender, no mercy. Fear and pain were completely wiped from their minds; they knew it not. Over at the Bastion, the last Legio soldier stood, surrounded on all sides, bodies piled around him. He hefted a curved, two handed sword above his head, which was slick and crimson with blood. His eyes were wide and wild, knowing full well he was going to die, and being completely okay with it, for it was his duty. Three swordsmen rushed him at once, shields held high, swords low. They struck at once, one parried by the heretic's mighty blade, one bouncing harmlessly off his pauldron, and one finding home deep in the heretic's thigh. Bellowing with bestial wrath, the heretic swung wide, catching one swordsman's throat, and biting deep into the chest of another, his hauberk little protection against the heavy blade. Without waiting for a reaction, he grabbed the third man by the face, and began beating him into the broken bodies and armor below him, turning the loyalist into a bloody mess.

((OOC: Evan, Commissar-style his ass))

[Echo of sanity]

Ruin blocked the attacks with his right fore-arm, sheilding his face. The small cuts brought forth blood, but ruin ignored the pain. He lunged to the right, and swung a spine-breaking fist at the man. All he had to do was get his hands on him, but he was a quick little bastard.

Ruin was afraid. Even after he killed this one, there was still many more than 100 others waiting for the chance to slay him. He was afraid he was going to die here. There are things worse than death, and where he was summoned from is one of those things.

[Ugainius]

Iarann helped restrain the last Legio solider, watch the Grand Marshal approach, give a speech and shoot him. He wouldn't have minded, but a good bit of blood hit him the face.