Dragonball M, Chapter 5: Clarion’s Call! The Signal! The Fate of the Universes!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Koolard and Glacia float back to back, neither speaking but both surrounded by a thin aura of Ki. Each starts charging Death Balls, preparing to drop them on the planet.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

There is indeed, another foe. This one invisible, and also an Incenio.

Oh and it knows magic.

With a magical gesture, the invisible one cancels Parsley’s spell even as Avoca is getting dangerously close to being impaled by the Death Beams. It almost seems like they are leading her into a trap of sorts.

[grampagen]

"....People are born with a fear of death, inscribed to their very essence. They spend their entire life coming to terms with the inevitability of it....and then to have Immortality just fall into their hands. They are my kindred....but I pity them, because they'll suffer forever, chasing that flame even as it burns them hollow." Morgan shakes her head. ".....Can you imagine the maddening thoughts.....to be given hope like that, and then be forced to spent the rest of eternity feeding that flame. The best we can do for them is give them peace now....before others suffer for it."

Raising her staff above her head, a blue aura engulfs it as she brings it down against the floor. A loud metallic gong sounds as her magic flows downwards into the ships super structure...a flash of blue expanding outwards from the bridge and through the veins of the vessel. The trapped void minions found themselves under attack as spears of magic emerged from the floors and walls around them, while at the same time barriers formed for the living crew and defenders.

"Perhaps they are right to know it. Even we are trying to survive, after all..."

With this latest spell of Morgan La Fay enshrouding the Super-Katchin that crept through the Gotengo like so many veins and nerves, the interlopers were swiftly dealt with. Seated there upon the bridge, Ochazuke maintained his meditation field, integrating the energies. The engines roared, intertal cancellers rotated, and levitation thrusters at last pulled the starship free from the deranged claws of the gargantuan Void Spawn.

"For all this twisted shape, the ego-memory of the Cultist appears to remains as it ever was. Certainly he would think himself superior for it, to shed the mantle of this temporary flesh."

Arthur's Ring, the humble band, absent the seal of House Pendragon, carried with ith the pulse and rhythm of the legacy magic carried through Morgan's Familiar spirit; perhaps that was how the Guardian King had known it was his, Ochazuke thought, as he could feel it among the gestalt energy intersections.

And sighted there with its aid, within the haggard decks where the cerulean spears impaled the Grey Thorn Cultists, he found another facet of their foe; it traced itself upon his sense sublime as acutely as the ten-thousand eyes of the tendrilled corpus which raked over them.

There it is.

"However," he said, "I don't have to imagine this madness. Held aloft in the benedictions of the Void it would appear his faith had been rewarded. For all the Grey Thorns who have claim to have left humanity behind, Morgan, there is his peace."

Animal fear, and the prostration of a thrall.

Erosa, meanwhile, was watching as the ship had managed to put a small amount of distance between it and Agravain. They were well within range of those of her weapons.....and the choice between what button to hit was causing her to sweat and hyperventilate.

For a moment she wondered how Etrina would approach it.
"Choose the current tool for the situation and counter the enemy with strategy."

Erosa shook her head, she knew some strategy...but it wasn't exactly her strength, switching her thoughts to what her "mom-in-law" Sarada would do.
"Hit it with your biggest gun and don't hold back."

Erosa again shook her head.....She really wasn't sure which button did what, and she didn't have time to read the manuel. Again she thought deeply, what would her other "mom-in-law" Inanna do.

That's it.
Erosa gritted her teeth, pulled her head back and head butted the command console....hitting pretty much every weapon launch key at the same time.

BGM: Big Battle (symphonic version)

The issue of terror shook through the Gotengo, the hellish cries past the veil all aboard were sure to know and recginize the fear it brought. Ochazuke blinked one more, and his head bowed; his perceptions through Banjakuza had allowed him to decipher the track of the Void its crawled between spaces, and so unveiled saw a piece of its very nature.

"It is through this that are only prepared to realize victory. Pitiable, cheh! To cheat death by spreading it is to merely hide within a shadow! To claim imitation of the thing is mastery of it! Stalking, observing, to see mortality as weakness, life as merely fodder to sustain them! They would run from it a hundred thousand years and tear it apart for themselves to linger a moment longer"

Issued through a radial pulse that carried through the North, a Mastered Kiai resonated with the very essence of the Void Creature. and like the Chaff that bombarded them in salvos, Ochazuke had attuned to attuned to this subtle, arcane magic and amplified the effects to attack Agravain's host directly where they gathered from beyond, the thinned partition between the realms lashing the upon a paradoxical point affixed between the physical and metaphysical; All but confirmed as the Vulcan Cannons roared and hypersonic tungsten rounds loosed by Erosa split the skies above Cask and fell upon the malformed legions.

"They fear their own mortality most, for they haven't the heart to face the uncertainty an unfixed path brings!"

Affixed between two realms, the old wizard's undying shape now stood as the intersection between two world, and there the Gotengo crew could make their target as the energies collected over the bridge.

"For you that had surrendered your future in the face of mortal fear, see what it means for those that fight for it! Arm the Maser!"

It passed from Aleka the Acorian, Hops of the Time Patrol, the anomoly Chou Basaraa as they loaned their support. Guided by the magical power conjured through Morgan, the Wave Motion Engine of the Starship Gotengo funneled all the collective energies together into a cohesive union, each disparate elements tied together to the rhythm of Heka Flow as the energies swirled about the bow-drill.

Like a spiralling lance of lightning wielded by a phantom knight, a single shot fired out from the gathered defenders of the Earth, carrying with it a shout of rebellion into that passage beyond, piercing into the veil to strike at the very nature of First Magic itself.

[KingofPie]

The massive canon starts glowing cherry red, and a beam as thick as a skyscraper lances out towards the massive Durive.

"Here it comes..." P-Sta readied his hands. "Everyone brace yourselves for the next command..." He muttered, each member of the Katchin squad at the ready as the massive beam approached.

"SPIN IT!"

In unison, each member of the Katchin Squad spun their control panels and in doing so, the giant Durive began to move, faster and faster, gaining speed rapidly until he resembled a giant cyclone of energy, rapidly approaching the beam and aiming to deflect back upon the firing ship.

[grampagen]

Dash amplifies Praxat’s attack, and with Zaofan nailing the Death Ball backwards, the Toadian is able to fully focus her power on Sickle.

There is a massive explosion that obliterates most of Sickle, and any remains are quickly eaten up by the batter back Death Ball.


The Death Ball flies up, out of the atmosphere, and the Coldlight quickly neutralizes it before it can strike anything that surrounds Earth.

A steely ringing shook past his ears, and the metal shuddered in his grip. Zaofan laughed as the

"Heh, that's right," he said triumphantly, "don't screw with us-"

Koolard and Glacia float back to back, neither speaking but both surrounded by a thin aura of Ki. Each starts charging Death Balls, preparing to drop them on the planet.

...this really wasn't their day.

But we're here, now.

"Praxat, Dash, we've got to handle this! If that hits the Earth, that'll be all she wrote! Quickly now, together!"

In an instant, a column of ruby energy carried forth before him, an Optic Blast shooting straight upward in all haste.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

OT: just a note, the death balls are technically hidden under Adam’s dome he created at Sasheem’s request.

Zaofan absolutely can sense them powering up the Death Balls however.

[grampagen]

OOC: Ah ok. I'll wait for Sasheem to get his move in, then. You can assume Zaofan fires a bit after that or something

[Miburo]

The barely conscious form of the Nevadian laid upon a bed of sleet, a thick blanket of snow covering his prone body. What was once a large crater had been slowly filled in.

He shivered in discomfort, mumbling something grimly to himself.

It had been...Hours? Since he had found his body wracked with excruciating pain, incapacitating him entirely. Given that it was now night, he was fairly sure he had blacked out at some point.

Even now, he could scarcely move his head, the rest of his body as heavy as it might have been under 1000x gravity.

His mind was clouded by fog, as he attempted to ascertain just what had occurred.

The others had put out a call--not that it was necessary, with the nearly apocalyptic events transpiring among the cosmos. His Shingan could practically see the fabric of reality ripped asunder.

But, the call was put out nonetheless. And Held (even if slightly perturbed he had not the time for a good drink) would answer it.

His ship---One left on earth years ago--was summoned, and the Nevadian channeled ki into his body, preparing to fly into the sky to meet it.

He made it 100 yards into the sky before a sharp pain began to manifest within his body. For the slightest of seconds, he paid it no mind.

It then felt as if his muscles had suddenly exploded in concert. He vaguely recalled wondering if he had been attacked before drifting into unconsciousness.

"...Good...Grief." He mumbled to himself, gingerly twitching his fingers as he attempted to regain some control of his bodies functions. He certainly was not paralyzed, but it his body screamed in protest at even these minuscule movements.

......I should have called Zao up first. Damn it....What the hell...

The Nevadian had a vague feeling of frustration, before drifting into unconsciousness once more, a pillow of snow cushioning his head.

[KingofPie]

Koolard and Glacia float back to back, neither speaking but both surrounded by a thin aura of Ki. Each starts charging Death Balls, preparing to drop them on the planet.

Not having much time to act as the two Arcosians began charging their planet devastating attacks, Sasheem used the Venom Mist along with the Spider's Blessing to remain undetected for a few seconds. Then without much warning, he emerged up from the floor between the two Arcosians and used each of his hands to grip the edge of each one's ear hole thing, pulled them both together, and shouted directly into both with the dimension distorting Resounding Roar- The King's Call!



Hopefully that would be enough to disorient the both of them and put an end to their ki charging for at least a few seconds.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

There is indeed, another foe. This one invisible, and also an Incenio.

Oh and it knows magic.

With a magical gesture, the invisible one cancels Parsley’s spell even as Avoca is getting dangerously close to being impaled by the Death Beams. It almost seems like they are leading her into a trap of sorts.

If space wasn't a vacuum devoid of sound, the grinding of her teeth would have been deafening. Another Incenio, who just so happened to be hiding out the entire time while the other three were fighting Blizzar. What was he doing? Who knew and who cared.

Oh, and he knew magic. Well, that was just wonderful. As if those warts on Creation's ass crack weren't annoying enough.

That Incenio was strong enough to cancel her magic. Great. That meant Ki was the way to go.

She clasped her hands together, forming a blue ball of condensed ki in the center. Eat this. Instead of firing her Big Bang Attack at the invisible Incenio, she instead... let it detonated right there in front of her. At the same time, she activated Mirror's Edge to swap places with him so that he took the explosion to the face.

Avoca, on the other hand, was in desperate need of an idea. She knew the beams were leading her right into a trap, but there was little she could do about it. If they were locked onto her ki signature, that would explain why she couldn't escape.

It also gave her that much needed idea.

With Bidrae, the technique taught to her by the legendary Saiyan fighter Beatz, she divorced her ki signature from herself and then ducked out of the way. Doing so created several technicolor copies of herself which scattered in half a dozen directions. Each one was carrying a bit of her ki signature, which would hopefully fool the Arcosians and give her a chance to escape.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada, you cannot sense Cancer. You do sense at least two of her children however.

Instead, you sense something….much darker and more menacing. Cancer had been dangerous, hungry, but this was so much worse. Fouler, meaner. Darker.



—————

Neva, you arrive just as a massive dark red storm loud starts to move over the palace. Faintly you can sense two of Cancer’s children somewhere, but more alarmingly is the demonic presences hiding in the storm clouds.


No, that are the clouds themselves. Ancient demonic faces start to form and twist as the storms building across the planet start to merge and go from red to darkest ack instead. Eyesight will be useless here.

Sarada swallowed. It wasn't Cancer, but that didn't make her feel better in the slightest. It made her feel worse. Whatever was lurking in those clouds was far, far worse than Cancer could ever hope of being.

"We're in trouble," she muttered. Neva took off for her mother, so Sarada shook off her apprehension and followed her.

Whatever it is, we'll fight it off. We have to. Getting Queen Nevin to safety was their top priority, but the people's safety wasn't far behind. She was sure Neva could house all of them in Vaikuntha with ease, so that was a last resort if the need arose.

"What the hell?" she said. She looked on, startled and bewildered as the sky shifted. The clouds merge into a thick blanket across the sky and changed from crimson to the darkest black. Strange, macabre faces appeared in the clouds, each one sending a chill down her spine.

"Demons." She had read Auroc's journal, or a copy of it. So many times, in fact, that she had certain parts memorized. It was all a part of her preparation for the fateful day that was currently making their lives hell. One of the sections she memorized was the one about Gods and god-like beings, Angels and the like. Considering she had just fought Cancer not too long ago, that gave her a good idea of who they were currently up against.

"She Who Stalks." If it was her, they were in serious trouble. Parsley and Inanna fought her; or rather, they just managed to survive a shade of her, a weakened clone sent in her stead. If not for Caliban, they surely would have been killed. Without doubt, the scene manifesting before her was the work of the real deal.

"Neva, we're in serious ****," she said after picking up the pace and catching up to her. "I think that's another God of Destruction, She Who Stalks."

[MrSandman]

The Gotengo soared now, far above the skies...with the black fathomless expanse at their backs and the horizon of blue and white at their front. The entire north could be seen, marred here and their with the plumes of the barrage and the conflict brought to their doorstep. Most sickening of all was the...thing....following them upwards.

The chaff had done its work, or so it seemed....not in the sense the once proud mage had been slowed, but like brittle clay his form was barely holding in place under the repeated chaff strikes. Yet even in this visage of weakness, brittle shell cracked the clinging together....the monster would not be hindered. Moving with the same determination and speed as if he was invincible to the battering.

Energy arced across the hull of the ship as Ochazuke began to channel the needed energy for their final strike. Perhaps there was some underlaying feeling of urgency in his actions that even Argavain himself could not bring himself to understand nor care about...in the face of that pool of etheric energy, wrapping its way around the massive ship ahead. All sense would tell a normal being to be evasive, to disengage or fight from an unseen angle.....perhaps his bout of power had denied him even this sense of logic.

Who can say really....in the end it mattered little.

"For you that had surrendered your future in the face of mortal fear, see what it means for those that fight for it! Arm the Maser!"

It passed from Aleka the Acorian, Hops of the Time Patrol, the anomoly Chou Basaraa as they loaned their support. Guided by the magical power conjured through Morgan, the Wave Motion Engine of the Starship Gotengo funneled all the collective energies together into a cohesive union, each disparate elements tied together to the rhythm of Heka Flow as the energies swirled about the bow-drill.

With a crash, the beast rammed against the Gotengo once more...brittle, hollow tendrils wrapping against what parts it could. A thousand lifeless eyes stared back into Ochazuke soul....as the beast bound itself tighter to its prey then ever before. Void energy arced from his body in one colossal surge...transferring through his broken body and into the hull.

All too late would Ochazuke realize this attack...this last attack, was not upon the ship or its crew.

It was on him.

From all sides the volatile energies of the void surged in upon him. As the focal point of the ship he would feel his mind engulfed in darkness...overriding ever sense of his spirit, only barely held intact by years of training, the hardening of body and soul. He could hear the cackling of the wizard all around....the laughter of a mad man at a joke only he could understand. The world went dark around the Old fighter...pain...burning pain and howling.....

....and like that Ochazukes eyes were opened.

Like a spiraling lance of lightning wielded by a phantom knight, a single shot fired out from the gathered defenders of the Earth, carrying with it a shout of rebellion into that passage beyond, piercing into the veil to strike at the very nature of First Magic itself.

The world came into focus once again...his pain evaporating into a strange feeling of hollowness. He would feel....disconnected. His link with the ship was gone.

To his left, he could hear a squeal of joy from the Id....and he could see why. The ship view offered the aftermath of the attack....Agravain Void form had taken the blast clear through the bulk of his form, leaving a gaping hole of conflagrating void energy as the corpse, carried by the concussive energy of the strike, drifted backwards...falling downwards towards the snowy vista below.

"We did it~ero!" Erosa cheered, across the bridge some of the others added their own shouts of victory, while a sigh of relief escaped from Morgan.

But there was no celebration of relief to be had for Ochazuke...not even his meditation would answer his call. His body wasn't reacting in the way he wanted....it felt, alien to him....he had felt like this only once before, but only in a fraction of the way he felt now. In that space between worlds where he had made his accord....where that ill fated journey to Avalon had started.

Despite his senses dulled, he felt it before he saw it. Far below, Agravains body fell to the earth...and as it did, the air around in began to hum...and hiss....and scream. Purple-black light thrummed as his form destabilized into...the hollow left behind by the blast filled with a pitch darker then the blackest space.....even as it feel beyond the ability to see physical, it was quickly replaced by the rapidly brightening twinkle of a small purple star....

Void energy clashed with reality, no longer stable or shielded.

The celebration on the bridge died as the light of a thousand event horizons obscured the land beneath them. There was no sound...not until the full brunt of whatever had happened struck the Gotengo front on, sending the ship hurtling backwards through empty space. Ochazuke was flung clear from his controls, a wave of spirit destroying nausea flooding over him as unseen forces battered him and the occupants of the bridge....screams of panic and pain barely a whisper to the violent eddies of energy washing over him.

And the world stilled around him.....

Ochazuke lifted his eyes to the view of what lay beyond.....
The world...his world....the north continent was no longer visible, replaced by a yawning chasm that exposed down past the rock to the molten heart of the world. The skies of what remain burned with a purple haze that flooded over what remained and then expanded like a cloud outwards. He could feel them.....each and every one of them....screaming in void fire as the world breathed its last.

*tap*

To his left he heard the ryhtmic tapping of Morgans staff.

*scrach*

To his right, he heard the young ids claws.

*tap tap*

To his left, he saw the malformed creature tapping its melting staff against the void charred metal. Staring at him with fathemless eyes.

*scratch scratch*

To his right, he saw a crumpled dreg clawing away her eyes.

Behind him he heard the inhuman chanting of his former crew.

Ochazuke lifted his hands to his head, to shut out the whispering...and felt almost pleasant pain as his now distorted claws pierced into his eyes....

~~~

~





Ochazuke awoke with a start.

He was seated alone at a small table, around him customers were busy eating and talking. The night sky hung above...alight with stars, perhaps more stars then he remembered. The atmosphere around him felt almost....dream like.

"...are you here to order?" A voice asked him quietly from behind.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Koolard and Glacia’s heads simply disintegrate under the dimensional shuttering of Sasheem’s close attack. Adam’s dome falls and the combined attacks launched by Zaofan, Dash, and Praxat cancel and neutralize the half summoned Death Balls.


——————

The invisible Incenio staggers and decloaks after swapping places, though he seems unharmed mostly.

Avoca does indeed fool the attacks which detonate on one of her copies.


——————

The massive Durive spins and slams into the attack. He doesn’t deflect it, however, but instead starts drilling through the attack instead.

[grampagen]

Ochazuke awoke with a start.

He was seated alone at a small table, around him customers were busy eating and talking. The night sky hung above...alight with stars, perhaps more stars then he remembered. The atmosphere around him felt almost....dream like.

"...are you here to order?" A voice asked him quietly from behind.

"..."

Under the chill air upon the veranda, Ochazuke stirred, and the chair slid backward with a low scrape. Perhaps it was the length of time or the acquired habituation of having been seated too long that had granted extended a sort of familiar comfort in the evening air, for it felt like he'd been waiting here, listlessly, for an age. I must have dozed off...

Brushing a finger over his eyes, stiffly he blinked and found his eyelids were slow to move, for they had become quite heavy. Passing his view above, it startled him to see the night sky. ...for how many hours?

There was light from where the other customers gathered where they ate and drank, and yet the light from the stars, they seemed stilled to his vision, so pronounced they seemed to be the loudest things in this place.

When he was called by that quiet voice, without thinking he made his order.

"Green tea, matcha," he replied, "Set the powder aside, I'll whisk it myself-"

And then he lift his gaze to behold the owner of that voice, face forward in spite of his groggy condition so as to not be rude.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The invisible Incenio staggers and decloaks after swapping places, though he seems unharmed mostly.

Avoca does indeed fool the attacks which detonate on one of her copies.

It worked, Avoca realized with a silent breath of relief. She remained hidden and took advantage of the opportunity to retreat and regroup. She found Parsley some distance away and started to make her way over to her under the cover of chaos.

Parsley, on the other hand, was realizing that her current state of mind was only hindering her ability to think clear and strategize effectively. She wished Enoki hadn't contacted her. She couldn't get Garnish out of her mind and it was only distracting her. Unless she shaped up and started taking the battle seriously, she and Avoca were going to die. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Garnish, just hold out for a little while longer. Mama will be there shortly.

She opened her eyes and reassessed the situation. She could detect that Avoca had managed to elude the field of Death Beams and was covertly making her way to her. Good; that would give her a moment to determine a few things. With all three Incenios in her line of vision, she focused on all three with Observational Focus to determine what she could about them: weaknesses, any possible links, ki and magical energy flows, and the like. Only with that information in hand could she and Avoca proceed with anything resembling success.