Originally Posted by
grampagen
There it was again, a primordial beckoning issued between spaces. The ground shook, and the mountain ignited, but the cacophony that followed from beyond the edge of his mundane senses Ochazuke felt it rake against his bones; frigid, creeping it spread, like the crystalline expansion of ice drawn from water as the Wintry north suspended it crystalline. The essence of the Void a paradox as mercurial as it was filled with the rot of stagnation. The calm brought from meditation was ill sufficient to set him at ease; this was no parasympathetic reflex, the knowledge of what dwelt behind the veil, behind the First of the ancestral Guardian's house, was a twisted thing. One that he could not suffer to persist past today.
Rocketing past from the impact as his Valiatium Staff extended, Zaofan's trusty katchin staff was now wreathed in a composite of his own ki and a rudimentary form of the magic gathered from Persephone herself in a volatile mixture he kept at bay.
Just like blooming spices, he thought to himself. Steady in the realm of the familiar, what he knew, this was far more for his own comfort than anything he truly understood; in so many words this felt about as sensible as keeping one hand on a stick of dynamite as the fuse burned. He had a scant few second to do something with it.
"Zao. Charco is still in there." A familiar voice crept into his ear over the Capsule Comm.
"As long as that thing Rex has twisted himself into remains, there's a chance he can be saved," Ochazuke said. The words of that Islay creature were still fresh in his mind, and though he could only watch the boy die, if his soul could be saved, he would not fail him in this. First they all had to survive this.
Zaofan rocketed past, and Ochazuke drew once more upon the latent powers within the Earth. By the path of Wolf and Bear, his instincts had sharpened. As the brothers met in the middle, they exchanged a look, and Ochazuke lay his hand out, adding a burst of additional power to reinforce the staff, Ishiki Toei stabilizing the reaction of Pot Au Feu held fast from end to end.
The dead city of Amdapour was destroyed. Now they would bring Persephone's throne down to meet it.
With a great shout, Zaofan cradled his staff over his shoulder, and brought its myriad construct up, dragging through the sky for a moment before bringing it crashing down over the Guardian's Lookout.
Meanwhile, Ochazuke sped off. His drew a fist to his side, and with it what remaining powers he could muster. Arthur's Ring never felt so heavy than it did at this moment, but there was one more debt yet to be paid.
Closing in on the construct clone of Persephone, it would come down to seizing the moment.
Shoshin Hiei, nothing else but the moment existed in his mind; Mushin Nehan, the execution would have to be flawless.
All of his training to this point, the clarity of his sight, that would all he could rely on at this moment, as he rushed this second Persephone in all haste. A display that would, perhaps, seem as futile as it was mad.