The Anita Chamber

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen watched the pieces fall into line and kept Draug's attention on himself. What was about to happen involved inherit trust for Talen and Arden to work together with Jensen for the victory he knew he could pull off. The other part of the puzzle came together from the man he did not know. It was his magic that allowed Jensen to reach Draug quickly, and it would be his hand again that would get Jensen the tool he needed. The guy was beaten, bruised, and bloody but he looked to the Maul, saw its power and looked back to the knight. His nod was all the immortal needed to make the play. The final piece was his brotherhood with the Tantalum troupe member. It would involve Arden understanding body language and no words.

When it was time Jensen blindly moved without a thought. Arden and Jensen had shed much blood at the Night of Debauchery, the Cult's attack forging a stronger bond between the hound and the immortal. When Talen's tentacles wrapped around Draug the abomination roared, turning to assess his new threat. The moment came and like lightning he was off.

Jensen laughed, his echoing mirth lost in the cry of the crowd as the knight moved like the wind right. The hound moved forwards, rushing as he slid to the ground, rotating in the dirt kicking up dust with his back to Draug. The immortal ran the length of a wide circle coming back towards Arden and placing his boot between cupped hands. When he pushed up Jensen threw all his power into the wind, launching himself high into the air nearly breaching a third of the distance to the top of barrier. His teeth hummed to be in such proximity, and the crowd gasped. On queue the unknown warrior had launched Crozius in the air and Jensen reached out a hand, grabbing the maul and twirling it to his hands, his laughter turning into a shriek of madness.

"Ashes to ashes," Jensen sang with a demented lyrical tune. "We all," he seethed, his weapon overhead coming down in a two handed blow for the stationary Draug. There was no escape, there was no chance to dodge. This was it, the end. They matched eyes, and Jensen roared with laughter. "Fall..."

The maul landed, and Jensen felt his muscles spike in protest at the sudden stopping of movement. He collided the tip of his Maul with the peak of Draug's skull, and Talen's tentacles released the abomination to back away from the spray of the acidic blood. Jensen cared not, his chest, face and arms sizzling from the poisoned vitae, but Draug's face was crushed in. What was once the poster champion of the Cult of Blessed Torture was now a deformed, stinking wreck.

"Down..." he whispered to the corpse watching it collapse to the ground.

((All bunnying and control APPROVED by all parties))

[Abomination]

Permission obtained from all those involved.

The crowd cheered the moment the weapon hit, splattering the Abomination's brains like a watermelon. He still stood after the blow, his feet sinking several inches into the ground, as if he was a statue, and then he fell forward. It was the first time they had seen the Cult truly vulnerable, and for their heroes the Ixian Knights to prove that they could fight the terrors that Cassandra Remi wrought. The old man on the wall was silent, still shaken by the idea that he stood next to the Ixian Killer and even told him about his son. He looked down for a moment, thinking that maybe he finally had his vengeance, but the crowd's cheers turned to gasps and shrieks. The old man looked into the battlefield once more, and he saw a perplexing sight: Jensen's head was missing, and he was lying lifeless in the dirt.

He asked a nearby onlooker, "What happened?!"

The onlooker shook his head and responded, "I-I don't know! It j, just exploded! ...Aah!!"

The next sight was even worse, for the Abomination pulled itself out of the ground despite his crushed head and leapt upon Jensen's body, sprouting several new arms from below his tentacles and holding down the immortal's arms and legs. Draug's head looked like a pruned grape, a writhing mass of eyeballs and lips. Jensen's own desire for a killing blow backfired spectacularly due to Draug's Recoil ability, and the arcane egg he received after the LCC insured that Cassandra's son survived the fatal blow to his head.

As flesh grew sloppily around his features, in a guttural, choking voice he exclaimed, "Go ahead and revive, immortal! Let's see how many lives you can shed!" As his hair started to grow back, his eyes found homes in new sockets and rows of sharp teeth lined his new jaw. His tentacle arms return to their original form, although they were bleeding from Talen's constricting tendrils. "What's wrong? You want to stay dead this time?" He pressed his knees into Jensen's legs, his various grips tightening. At this point, he was bleeding through all of the bandages on his upper body, some of them falling off to reveal the stitched flesh beneath.

Talen kept his distance, but uttered, "You took out his head. He's not bouncing back from that."

For the moment, Draug did not know whether or not to believe it. It was true that he didn't see any of that green magic this time, but that could mean anything. He got back up, his arms stretching from his chest to maintain his hold on the immortal's body. Reaching into his throat, he pulled out another sword and shoved it into Jensen's head. Lifting up a foot, he stomped on the handle of the weapon until only the hilt was sticking out of the Ixian. Even if Jensen sprouted another head, he was trapped. The growth that was his nose grew out from the center of his face, and skin started to cover his flesh. His hair finally grew out except for his eyebrows, and all that was left was the flesh around his mouth, but Draug decided not to let that part regenerate. No, he liked the expression he had now. His exposed teeth grew much further into his head than a normal person, so he looked like he had teeth nearly from ear to ear, in a permanent malevolent smile. Despite his appearance, his laughing tics had faded. He no longer felt any memories in his mind, but it was of little concern.

The crowd was nearly rioting, some of them pleading to Sei to finally take out Draug for good. They were getting desperate, some of them even believed that the barrier was not enough to protect them, and climbing down the wall on the other side to escape. That was the kind of influence that Draug exerted, the kind of fear that they had learned from the Cult's actions in this region. Draug looked up into the sky, his tentacle arms mutating back into their original forms, and he raised a fist, challenging the Orlouge himself. He knew that Sei would not intervene, for it would mean that he had lost total control of the situation. No, it was up to Arden and Talen to regain the people's trust. The Abomination briefly considered going into assimilate one of the remaining Ixians, but he decided to lean down and touch Jensen, feeling his blood pump faster and his agility increase once more. Maybe it was not sufficient to outrun any of the remaining competitors, but it was enough to not be at the mercy of their speed.

Stephanie also reared her head again, erecting a mental block between Draug and her secrets. If the Cult's Champion was not currently entranced with the thrill of the fight, he might have noticed the similarity between her influence and his own mother's. He was laughing again, laughing at the sky and at the crowd, laughing at Jensen's body, and laughing at nothing in particular as well.

Stepping away from Jensen's body, Draug opened up his maw and threw up a pile of bloody flesh onto the ground. Blood dripped from his exposed teeth, and the flesh on the ground started violently thrashing about and growing like a balloon made of tumors. From this petulant mass emerged two paws, and the rest of the hound followed. It was made entirely of muscle, and its head was nothing but ear holes, nose holes, and a never-ending jaw even more extreme than Draug's. Acid dripped from its snarling black lips. Another dog emerged from the pile before it decompressed, and together they immediately took off toward the likes of Arden Janelle and Xaxan Prophet. If they were to be ripped apart by the iron-crunching jaws of the Abomination's minions, then Adonis would be their next target.

Draug turned to Talen, his arms retracting back into his body save for his original two. The punctures in his limbs were not fully healed, but they were sealed up for the moment. He had lost nearly half his extra blood in his battle with Jensen, so he could not afford to take as much damage as before. Luckily, Jensen left him a little parting gift.

He kicked up a weapon that was lying next to Jensen, a weapon known to multiply the strength of its user. Crozius. He spun it around and started walking towards Talen, his exposed teeth still covered in blood, his dark eyes peering through the Shadow Walker. With a swing, he slammed it into the ground, and the combination of the weapon's enchantment and his own strength caused the impact to be as if a siege weapon hit the courtyard, sending a shockwave in all directions.

"I don't believe we've met," he said, crimson liquid dripping through his mouth as he talked. "I'm Draug Remi, and this," he said, referring to to the maul. "Is your death warrant."

Kicking the dirt, he flew at Talen wielding the maul preparing for a horizontal strike. He was aware of Talen's tendrils now, and prepared for them by growing two arms out of his shoulder blades that split into a dozen thin tentacles each, making him akin to a very ugly peacock. They were not strong enough to hurt Talen, but they made sure he did not get ensnared by the dark tendrils again.

[Solar Haven]

The plan was almost flawless. Everything went off without a hitch, the Freak was pinned, Jensen was teleported above the freak, and Adonis lobbed the maul at Jensen just in time for him to crack it down on the top of the Abomination's head, turning it into a pile of goo.

Normally, the next few moments would of caused Adonis to puke up his insides. However whatever was inside of him, that had healed his wounds and restored him back to health seemed to have a much stronger stomach then Adonis did. The Abomination puked up some rather rancid looking hounds and they took off towards Arden and the on looker that seemed to be doing nothing but watching.

The Abomination then took off towards Talen. Putting the maul behind him, getting ready for a massive swing.

“Now! Do a dirt wall now! You moronic child!” A deep voice echoed within Adonis' mind. Adonis was startled he looked around try and find where it had come from and how they knew his abilities.

“You fucking slow meat bag!” The Voice boomed again as Adonis' body began moving on it's own. Adonis was charging directly at the freak when he snapped his fingers materializing a dirt wall in front of the freak while the maul was still behind him. The wall wouldn't stop the beast, but it would do enough to slow him down and daze him, and that’s all Adonis would need to get his sword lodged inside the beast.

[Hysteria]

Talen's eyes peered through his mask in unbelieving shock at the headless body of Jensen. What had been a rather straight forward plan had backfired, or rather rebounded back onto the Immortal. Talen bit his tongue from saying any more to the abomination. The youth knew that death was not forever for Jensen, but it wasn't going to be soon enough to help. With the calm of someone who has stared down death many times before Talen stuffed a cigarette under the bottom of the mask that he pulled from his pocket and lit it with the small contraption under his wrist. A thin smoke trail lifted from the cigarette, framed by the blood smeared across Talen's mouth and mask. The thin eyes and small fake smile from the white mask remained emotionless.

The youth felt the cigarette take effect. His body felt lighter, freer than before. The youth didn't move to stop the desecration of Jensen's body. The crazy persona that Talen let radiate to the world quietened. A cold rage burned within him at the actions of the creature. It was only the cold, calculating centre of the boy that stopped him from charging in to enact revenge. As much as he wanted too. Jensen was more than another Capitan, more than a rival. The Immortal was a role model, a tower of cock-sure strength that had dazzled the naive Talen upon joining the knights. Sure, Talen could respect Sei, but he wanted to be like Jensen.

A childhood on the streets, a life spent in secret and shadows. The youth could hide his feelings well. Certainly he was able to control them. Regardless of the situation, if the youth was serious, and he was now certainly serious, he would not fail easily.

Talen removed the guard that kept his essence in check. The corruptness source of his make, pure and unadulterated darkness lifted outwards from the boy, filling the air with soot that would drain away the energy of any creature exposed to it for too long. The youth didn't stop, darkness manifested, shadows ripped out from the ground in swaths, filling the air with rippling waves. Talen kicked himself to the right, ignoring the pain ripping through his exhausted body. Using the illusions as cover the tentacles lashed out to their full eight metres lengths and pierced the shadows. Talen was not quite as fast as Jensen, but in this form, with the magic of the cigarette mixing with his own innate speed he was damn close. Talen's body ploughed across the ground around Draug, the youth doing his best to turn Draug into a pincushion, as his tentacles lashed out over and over through the tide of darkness. Talen hadn't missed a beat, with the resurrected Adonis approaching, a fact he would have to look into later, he youth at sought to weaken and distraction the abomination.

[Arden]

Arden was satisfied with his work. He watched Adonis charge Draug with reckless, feckless abandon. As he had declared to the guardian at the door, he was fighting for freedom. The sombre man had likely assumed the swordsman meant his own. In truth, The Hound was already free, so his struggles in the domed arena were for the benefit of others.

“A shame…,” he mused, as he turned his attentions to the carnal remnants of the enigmatic immortal. There was little charisma and charm to him now. “At least he’s free.” For a while, Jensen Ambrose was free of his eternal burdens.

He clenched his fists tightly around Kerria’s hilt. It still throbbed with power and satisfaction, an enjoyment for blood it shared with its master. Adonis’s’ resurrection had awakened something within the blade, and now, fighting to be let lose, Arden restrained its desires with a grit of his teeth and patience.

With hesitation, Arden watched Talen and Adonis make to break the shape shifter. If the creature had bested the strongest of the Ixian Knights, then he was too powerful for even the combined strength of the cell’s combatants. Though tentacles darted, and earth walls rose, they were paltry distractions against the instilled rage and self-loathing of the scorned sibling of the murder goddess. He shivered.

“Your husband…your son…your entire family,” he whispered.

One day, Draug would find freedom as well. For now, Arden turned to the solitary onlooker, who had, until now, chained himself to the rock in silent observation. Stepping forwards with determination and malice, the swordsman approached.

“Adonis is free of his self-doubt. Talen is free of his idolatry. Jensen is free of his recklessness…,” he snarled. A flesh hound ran in between his crimson blade and the hellish target. It turned to Arden, hesitated, and then charged with a gibbering, snarling glee.

No sooner than it did, Arden shunted his pauldron forwards, and let lose the Mastiff.

“What shall I free you from?” he asked the man, ignoring the hound as his own shadow guardian commence a brawl with it, scrapping and biting and snapping with abyssal fangs and an aura of midnight swirling around him. Mist and blood fell from both dogs, and Arden ran around them in a half-hearted charge. His boots thudded the earth. His cloak swirled in crimson trails, flickering like flame.

He roared. His pauldron roared. The crowd roared.

[Prophet]

Kyle rose with a grimace. He gripped his staff, his eyes flaring.

"I will not be freed, i am Kyle, Insane Battlemaster, i will not fall. "

He roared this in his head, before spinning his staff in his hands and running forward, he jabbed his staff forward, the spike aiming for Arden's neck, his fett propelling himself forward.

"SEI! Help me one last time!"

He shouted this mentally in the direction of the tower, the throne he knew was up there. He begged for one true strike, to have the satisfaction of killing just one man.

"Do me only this..."

[Arden]

Whatever Sei Orlouge did or did not want, Arden Janelle was not parlay to his whims. Though the staff was aimed true, he did not remain corporeal for long enough to be impaled upon it.

“Freedom comes to those who never knew they were chained,” he whispered, as his body vanished in a whirl of blue ribbons.

Though chaos reigned all around them, peace found the small space occupied by a solitary staff wielder. Arden’s momentum carried him through his opponent, and when he re-appeared, in an equally vibrant maelstrom of colour, he was some five feet on the opposite side.

“But if you won’t fight me on your own merit,” he whirled about. His feet slammed down on the sand. His greaves scraped over his knee plates, and his entire body jolted with adrenaline. “I will not fight you at all.”

True to his word, as ever, the swordsman waved his hand through the air. A sphere of silence formed around his own body, and he moved it with him as he broke away from the man still chained to heroes and the concept of ‘luck’. Denied a victory, he had it on good authority that the black haired, fiery eyes creature would let rage consume him.

Swaddled in a gown of silence, mystery, and clean hands, Arden broke into a run. His cloak whipped behind him, but shrunk to shoulder length, more a scarf, as he made towards Adonis. He held Kerria aloft, its bloodied blade glinting in the dim light. Behind him, the Mastiff let out a blood curdling howl that pierced even the potency of the Cell’s barrier, and signalled its momentary death. The flesh hound died with it.

I hope I am not too late, he thought to himself, panting without sound, and feeling completely one again as the Mastiff’s soul reformed in his pauldron. There's only one more person to free...

That person sat high atop a tower, out of sight, but eternally on the Hound's mind.

[Prophet]

you read minds?

Kyle raised an eyebrow and let his eyebrow rise, his mouth twisted into an insane grin he mentally laughed.

"I am not so easily induced to rage. It will take a bit more than some phasing to spark me"

He shuddered and ran towards the man, allowing his pain to be reduced to pure strength, aiming for his chest, he struck, allowing himself to carry forward, he brought it down.

"And the dance ends..."

[Abomination]

Draug dodged the Shadow Walker's tentacles as best he good, swinging Crozius at them only to see them retract back to their master. His own shoulder-tentacles whipped at the oncoming ones, deflecting them temporarily each time but getting destroyed by the end of it.

He's not letting me get close! Even with my added speed, I can't close the distance.

Someone who fought Draug at range was the worst type of opponent. What's more, the battlefield was being altered by the shadows. The Abomination felt them tugging at his strength like hungry children. He continued his charge, feeling his grip on the maul tighten.

Suddenly, a wall of dirt erupted between him and his prey. Draug had no idea where it came from, but he smashed through it with the maul, the force of the blast sending another round of shockwaves across the arena. The wall burst from the damage, completely dismantled, and created a fast-expanding cloud of dust. Draug was rendered blind by this, but he could still feel his connection in his hounds, although one of them had just died to Arden's own pet. The Cult's Champion remembered the swordsman from the war, and realized that he was the close range fight he sought. He sent his remaining minion toward Arden to buy time.

He leaned back and his cheeks were immediately filled with more generated flesh. He snapped his head forward and opened his mouth, allowing it all to spill out once more. It grew into a bulbous sack of flesh and then two more of his minions emerged them it, growling with blood dripping off their exposed muscles. With a mental command, they attacked Talen, seeking to rip him apart, or at least dispose of those tentacles.

While all this was going on, he felt a sword cut into his stomach. A fresh bout of pain coursed through his body, his organs tearing apart from the force of the blade. He looked down as the dust cleared and there was Adonis, an opponent he had not really considered to be a threat this entire time. Aside from the head-smashing, it was the best hit anyone had gotten on him all day. Blood sprayed from the wound, bandages were ripped apart and fell to the ground, and Draug's roar echoed into the sky, his exposed teeth gnashing together in rage. Throughout all this, he could not help but laugh, feeling Jensen's power still flowing through him.

He brought his hammer up, dug in his heels, and swung downwards at the bounty hunter.

Summary: The immediate area has been filled with dust from the destruction of the dirt wall. Two minions are attacking Talen. The one from before is attacking Arden. Draug himself is attacking Adonis with the maul.

[Silence Sei]

As Kyle begged for the mercy of his leader, Sei simply shook his head. As Grandmaster of the Cell, it was his duty to make sure that the rules stayed in place, and while previous Grandmasters abused their powers and got involved directly in the conflict, Sei was far from a person to go about breaking all the rules. The dying prophet should have known the benevolent mute at least that well.

“Misery,” Sei called to his beast, “Make it quick.”

While the telepath hated issuing an order like this to one of his own, he knew that it had to be done. Kyle had a sword shoved through his body, more specifically straight at his heart. It would only be a minute or so before the man would bleed out, if he was not already a dead man walking.

The plant creature appeared beside Kyle, touching him and releasing another howl. This time, however Kyle’s body slumped to the ground, his body convulsing and writhing on the dirt. Misery disappeared as the Ixian still lay in his paralyzed state. It was Sei’s hope that the monster would lower Kyle’s adrenaline, and put the poor warrior out of his pain. However, this was the Cell, and such things rarely ever went according to plan.

((Prophet is warned for Powergaming. His character is paralyzed for one post, only able to watch the action and remain inside his own thoughts. After one post, Prophet is free to move again, but he must wait for at least 2 posts by his competitors before he can make post #2.))