Black Knight of SO
Owner/Operator of SO’s Item/Weapon Shop
Claimer of the original Rumbles 2,000,000th post
CBR GM/DM
Parsley's ax sang as it sliced clean through the hybrid's neck. His head tumbled to the ground, with his body falling limply beside it. Another abomination against the Saiyan race had been disposed of, and Parsley felt good about what she had done.
She vaporized the body to make certain he wouldn't bother her again.
With that done, she held the weapon up to eye level and examined it. "Feels like this was made just for me," she murmured. Observational Insight would reveal its secrets to her. Perhaps the alternate version of herself had it created for her, but never got a chance to use it. Unfortunate for her, but just in time for the one true Parsley to benefit.
After the blow lands and sends her counterpart sailing away, Ishtar staggers upright, using the brief interlude to catch her breath, and asses her wounded side.
Not without considering, however, that despite the ups and downs -- of finding hope and subsequent stripping away of it -- this was going about as well as expected. To the point where it was not unlike her fight with Nergal; the only true difference being that the curve wasn't nearly so severe between herself and her Alter ... well, that and the fact that the Goddess of Ruination was unlikely to toy with her for as long as her cousin had.
And knowing that, Ishtar could only hope the task that the others had come here to do, was finished quickly.
"Ah ..." Ishtar exclaimed with a wince, as a hand pressed down on her side to briefly slow the blue-black blood oozing from her side. There was nothing to be done about it now, unfortunately, the wound was a mess and she needed the pain it provided to sustain Araska, regardless. Which prompted it a dry chuckle. "I wonder how long I can keep this up."
Sensing her respite was at an end, Ishtar scanned the horizon in search of her Alter; and once she'd been found the newly transformed Oni targeted a chunk of falling moon before using gravity magic to fling it into her. Not bothering to see if it connected or not, Ishtar then loosed a torrential burst of electricity before launching herself after it, coating her claws with Katchin in the hopes she might return the favor and tear a chunk out of the Goddess of Ruination.
Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran
Arx Inosaan
"So the goal is to get it open, then?" His shoulders stirred, his fingers tightening over folded forearms, concealed. As far as he knew, there was no underlying condition that afflicted the Terran princess, only that a long, dreamless sleep was preferable to the waking nightmare her guardian had protected her from for countless years.
He turned to Wilhelm. However much Char had known of the developing circumstances, the real reasons for Jinzi's absences, and the truth of what had happened days ago only he would know. But what he asked was weighted with that shadowy world they had only just returned from. "I know you have your reasons, but if this is indeed the best time for her to wake..."
Deeper into the facility they went, following a directed path that anticipated discovery, to penetrate the matter on a scale unseen for those who did not know where to look. Dr. Gero saw a way through, but Ochazuke saw the controlled infection that spread through her. All that set to her fingertips, her senses, her very being; doubtless that affected how she saw the condition of things. Countless gaps to divide, bridge, and fill. To replace, to graft with something better.
"...you would be the one to do it, wouldn't you, Gero?"
When they arrived, the first thing Ochazuke noticed about the cloistered facility was the sterile, metallic scent that waft through its exacting geometry. Even through the insulated walls he could feel the generated power that poured into the room. Yet it was only when they set foot into the chamber, seeing the Cryo-Tube nested in a machine-crypt of monitors, panelling concealed, thrumming silicone set upon a floor crossed with cabled guts feeding energy into the operation that he became aware; that of much of the scientific practice, the sheer breadth of these attuned instruments - including Adam's eyeless face set atop its mock-human shape - he felt painfully out of his depth.
"Can you believe she would call you aggressive?" he said to Adam, "Quality is hardly a thing to be quantified."
He stood before the princess, arms still folded. After all, the only thing he could do in turn was observe. His meditation expanse fell through the room, attempting to discover just what they had planned for Karis, and what lay beneath the surface of Adam. Char had called them upgrades, but she, too, held something unseen.
The skin of his arms had split from the impact of the blow, blood flowing freely from it as the dust settled.
Exhausted by his efforts, Charco only spared his alternate a look before feeling that familiar headache return, unaware that it originated from his reaction to seeing the book.
"Not such a bad job either, me." He replied, each word punctuated by a soft ragged breath.
"...shit... that hurt..." He grumbled to himself before withdrawing his capsule wallet. Pushing the button and tossing it aside, his portable wardrobe appeared with an audible popping noise and a puff of smoke. Crouching down to a built-in cupboard, he opened the door to reveal a mini-fridge and in it, a bottle of Korinzu tea. "Thanks, grandma." He muttered before popping off the top and downing the bitter but healing brew. Not quite as potent as a senzu bean, it did visibly stop the bleeding of his arm and slowly did the tore flesh begin to knit back together.
"Whew... so, what's next?" he asked the Deputy, having recovered as much as he was going to for the time being.
"Back down there." Cyanna point down the hallway where she had come from, "There were several rooms, including one full of weapons. I broke a few locks on storage lockers and found a large number of weapons, most of which were typical and boring. This axe was locked up by it's self, and it sorta stood out. I was planning on giving it to the first person I ran into, so I guess that would be you. So, uh, happy birthday?"
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
Whatever the alternate Ishtar had done to move the two away had been violent enough to leave a small tear in the fabric of space, nothing that could be noticed normally....but it was there all the same. Etrina floated closer and gave the tear a meticulous examination. The tear would have to link to wherever the destination point of the teleport had been....but in its present state it could not facilitate any form of travel.
She needed something bigger......yes....if she could rip it back open, even in an unstable state it should provide her a path to the destination point.
Etrina steadied herself above the tear and began channeling her magic into her hands, cupping her hands around the tear and letting the energy pour into it. A trickle at first, then a stream.....the a river. More and more, she needed more power...more magic.....every last bit she could pull from herself. Her hair bristled, her eyes flashed, her hands glowed scarlet crackled with dark energy.
More.....More.....
A aura of Condensed Magic formed around her, and as her Power Level Spiked a pink glow coated her skin and her eyes turned to dark pools with a glowing red pupil in each. The void energy within her burned, seethed....like pouring pure alcohol onto a fire, it added to her power in a way that nearly burned too hot for even her transformed body to handle.
Then, finally....at the Apex of her building of energy, she directed into all into the tear with an allmighty scream.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
Birthday. It occurred to Parsley at that moment that she missed her most recent birthday. To her recollection -- she hadn't really ever seen the point of birthdays besides keep track of how old she was -- she should have been 22. "Thanks for finding it," she said with a nod. Aleka should have been just about done, and there was no one else on the ship but those with her, so Parsley felt safe to head outside. Besides, the ship was barely intact after the beating it had been taking both outside and in.
She silently flew out of the hole she made earlier and scanned the battlefield. All of the enemies had been killed, but Sarada was on the ground. "..." She was also missing a hand and her energy was dangerously low. "..."
Parsley landed softly beside her sister and kneeled down. "What happened to you?"
Sarada's eyes cracked open a touch. She appeared to have been sleeping. "I...I almost got cursed," she admitted.
She frowned heavily. Leave it to her sister to somehow get herself nearly taken over by a magic spell. That strangely didn't explain why her hand was missing. "And your hand?"
"I thought that I could stop it by cutting my hand off."
That didn't make sense, yet at the same time, it made perfect sense that she would do something like that. She sighed and held her hand out. She fired a milky white ball of energy into Sarada, a portion of her own power to help her back to her feet. "You're no good to anyone on the ground. I guess you'll have to ask Pants for a new hand." At least she and Ishtar would match, kind of.
She grabbed Sarada's good hand and helped her up.
"Where'd you get the ax from?"
"Cyanna found it. I used it to kill another abominable hybrid Saiyan."
"Another one?" Parsley nodded. "I have to find Ishtar. I think she's fighting her alt by herself!"
That wasn't a fight the Oni was going to survive, much less win, unlocked Hakai or not. Sarada wasn't completely over-reacting, so she was still alive. That much was good. "You need to wait and get your strength back. You at anything less than full power will get killed at worst and will only hold Ishtar back at best."
"...tch. Does anyone have a senzu bean? Or anything that can heal?" Sarada asked, hoping someone would answer her this time.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.