[center][b][h3][color=#ff8566]Sister Sophia[/color] vs [color=826644]Queen Clotho[/color][/h3][/b] Round 1 The whispering woods – the Forest King [/center] Sophia ignored the pills for now and instead raised a single bolt pistol, aiming it squarely at the Clotho, who had risen from her seat behind the aber screen, drawing her sword and standing at the ready. At the word go she pulled the trigger, the shell hurtling towards the screen propelled by both the powder and by further boosted by a rocket jet on the back. At the same moment the swarm queen took off, her 4 wings buzzing as she hurtled out of the box. The bullet slammed into the screen but was surprisingly reflected by a strange glow covering the material, the shot flying off into room before detonating in mid air like a tiny flak shell. Sophia had the range advantage and was going to make every advantage of it, saying on the ground so she could have a more stable firing platform she tracked the nimble bug woman as she began to try and get closer to Sophia. She had the xenos in her sights, but right when she was pulling the trigger Clotho suddenly changed direction in an instant but Sophia's arm continued to trace Clotho’s previous movement as she finishes depressing the trigger. And she missed. So she fired again. And she missed. And then she missed again. And she fired again, and then she missed. And then she fired, then she fired again, she missed both times. And then she fired and she missed. This went on until [i]click[/i] [color=826644]”You may wish to work on your aiming”[/color] The bolt pistol was empty and Clotho had easily closed the distance between them, in the few moments she had before the swordfighter got in for a stab at her eyes, neck or armpits she drew the falmer, and let of a torrent of flame towards the bug queen. Once again Clotho changed direction in reaction, but this time Sophia could adjust the burning wall of flame and make it close in on Clotho, forcing her to pull out of it’s range, as getting closer would mean her gossamer wings would be caught in the flames. Clotho pulled back out of the reach of the flame pistol and hovered, for a moment the two women simply stared at each other, considering their options. Sophia was rather relieved that she did not try again, her flamer having half of its tank left remaining from seeing her off the first time and only one spare tank remained. [color=826644]”I suppose this will be dragging on for a bit then, till you tire or leave an opening”[/color] Clotho let out an audible sigh at this ongoing waste of her time, her voice as ever a practical monotone. [color=#ff8566]“I shall not rest till you are dead foul insect, for I fight in the name of the Emp”[/color][color=826644]”I don’t care what god you're about to join. OPEN THE GATES!”[/color] At their Queens command Myrmidons hidden behind the walls of the arena pulled on the chains connected to the gates around the arena, raising them slowly. Through these gates the innumerable hordes of the Forest King began to swarm, hulking Antlions followed by the lesser Myrmidons entered from 3 sides, while the buzzing Lambents came from behind the walls, hovering near the ceiling and screening Clotho, who was soon lost from sight behind the glowing abdomens of the massive beetles. Sophia ejected the clip from the spent bolt pistol, the heavy frame that held the bolter shells thudding into the ground next to the pills, and she holstered it before grabbing a fresh clip and pressing it home into the holy weapon. Until she figured out a way of hitting her foe she was going to have to keep the threat of the flamer at the ready to fend of the queen while she dealt with the minions, so she was going to have to fight with one weapon for the time being. That is inconvenient. She takes a deep breath and [color=826644]”oh and none of that. silence her!”[/color] [color=#ff8566]“...!”[/color] Just before the swarm closes in she sees three Myrmidons up on the sides of the sides, holding gemstones taken from the pile of items that formed the throne, which send soft beams of light that have locked onto Sophia, stealing her voice. [sub][sub][i][color=#FFD700]oh good, I’ve had more than enough religious drivel for one day[/color][/i][/sub][/sub] Two antlions leading the swarm both lunge at her which breaks Sophia from her attempts to wordlessly scream insults at Clotho as she triggers the jetpack she flies up into the buzzing fireflies. The two massive ants crash together as Sophia flies up, the Lambents unable to fire without hitting the ground based troops. Sophia draws a bolt pistol and fires of a trio of shots, punching through the armored bugs carapaces the shells explode inside them, showering their fellows in ichor as Sophia herself flies through the gap in their formation left by the dead bugs. She kicks one of the dead oues into its fellows and uses the momentum along with her jetpack to get clearer, flying out towards the first silencer, the dead bug slamming into another and bringing them both crashing towards the ground below. [color=826644]”you four pick up an antlion, you lot get over there and be ready to throw, the rest of you get after her”[/color] Now it was Sophia's turn to be the unpredictable flyer, doing barrel rolls and erratic momentum changes she avoided the incoming blasts of napalm shot at her as she approached the first gem bearing bug, whom she landed a blast directly between its more humanoid torso and its ant abdomen, splitting the bug in two its upper half fell to the ground, a second shot smashing the gem it carried. She turns and her eyes go wide at just how fast Clotho closed to the distance, Sophia just barely swerves to the side fast enough, the blade scraping along the outside of her helmet where the slightest delay in her reaction would have sent it directly through the lenses over her eyes. [color=826644]”Keeping your eyes on me might be wise.”[/color] Clotho spins away from her narrow miss and easily evades Sophia's retaliatory shot, then is immediately hidden from view as the firefly swarm catches up [color=826644]”not that I’ll make that easy. Antlion carriers, crush her”[/color] Two antlions born by a pair of Lambents each fly straight at her, the massive crushing jaws will probably tear her apart, her power armor can protect her from most of the bugs attacks but she is pretty share that if those get her in their grip she is done for. They are also very resilient to bolter fire. Sophia instead takes aim at the first approaching carriers, two bolts sailing out in quick succession, one popping the head of the leading Lambent, the other smashing through the left wing of the one behind it, causing it and the antlion to plummet to the ground. The second trio adapt quickly, using the antlion itself as a shield as they approach, bolts chipping ineffectual against its armor, so she swaps out the bolt pistol for the melta pistol. The handheld anti tank weapon produces an intense, energetic beam of heat that is tens of thousands of degrees Centigrade, which melts the bugs armor in milliseconds, cooks its insides in an instant and punches through the other side, igniting the Lambents and then causing their napalm stores to spray onto their fellows as it burns. Several of the nearby Lambents also explode as their napalm stores ignite in a chain reaction and they all tumble from the sky in a burning screeching mess, scattering the trailing ground bugs. Sofia the rockets away from the rest of them, landing next to the relatively safe area next to the throne as she reloads. 4 bolt clips, 1 and a half flame tanks and 1 and a half charge for the melta. Despite her success she needed to find a way to hit the buzzing queen and fast before she was out of ammo and reinforcements from the rest of the forest king arrived to negate her kills. She would have to save ammunition where possible and use her knife more often in order to buy herself more time to solve this conundrum. Speaking of the problem: Clotho was standing below the blasted in half Myrmidon, a Lambent which has lost one of its wings and the dropped antlion, who are all just barely alive. [color=826644]”So I thought I might give you a little demonstration of your fate and what I would much rather be doing than participating in this droll fight”[/color] She kneels down and injects the three with a small stinger on her wrist, they all begin convulsing and chittering in a panic as a strange corruption overwhelms them, their flesh twisting and growing impossibly, horrifyingly. Sophia can only stare transfixed as the change overcomes Clotho’s victims [color=826644]”You see, I have made this mutagenic serum. Never works the same way twice but it makes just the most interesting monsters for me after only a short transformation period. It’s incredibly painful if the screams of my past subjects are any indication but you can't argue with the results.”[/color] She says all this with a flat, almost academic toan, but you can tell with just how intensely she is watching the three bugs that she is taking some enjoyment from her work. The torsos transformations completes and it has turned into... Into! A [url=http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gromory.png]a squat thing,[/url] about the size of a monkey with miss sized arm that grins gormlessly at the pair. There is a moment of silence(enforced in Sophia's case) and calm in the arena. [sub][sub][i][color=#FFD700]that is an ugly yet adorable thing. I shall call him Geromory[/color][/i][/sub][/sub] [color=826644]”It’s normally a lot better than that”[/color] She didn’t sound embarrassed, just incredibly disappointed with the thing and she proceeds to pointedly ignore it. At this point the silence was broken by the two other mutations completing The antlion's shell split in two and a [url=http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/hemogeist.png]red skittering thing[/url] emerged, all that remained of the antlion was its massive snapping jaws on the end of a long snout. [sub][sub][i][color=#FFD700]that one is Snips[/color][/i][/sub][/sub] The firefly’s shell had instead lengthened and segmented, its legs had fallen off and is jaw expanded to contain three sets of razor sharp teeth, overall forming a [url=http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bogweasel.jpg]massive armored worm[/url]. [sub][sub][i][color=#FFD700]and finally Blinky[/color][/i][/sub][/sub] [color=826644]”That's a bit better. As you can see, no predictable or consistent results. I have made hundreds of these out of my fallen advisories and not one has been the same as any of the others. Now. go get her.”[/color] The two creations were about 3 times the size of their creator and quickly adapted to their new strange shapes. Sophia was doubtful of their threat compared to the other ground based bugs until they started moving, both exhibiting an ungodly speed, though one that did not compare to that of their mistress, weaving back and forth to avoid the panicked shots Sophia sent flying in their direction before they both leaped at her. Sophia blasted into the air again and Blinky smashed into the wall behind her, dazing itself briefly. Snips however landed somewhat gracefully and then leaped again, launching itself after the flying Seraphim and, clamping its jaws around her waist, brought both her and itself crashing to the ground. Blinky, having recovered, launched itself at her once more but this time she had drawn the chain knife and stabbed it into the bottom of the worm's mouth, the whirring blade going in between its two jaws and slicing through the beast's underside, splitting it’s belly in two. She hauled the bloody carcass off of herself and then stabbed Snips in its two bobbing hes that it was ineffectual smacking her with, before sawing off one of his pincer jaws to free herself. The thing had not damaged the armor, but she could feel the bruises beneath from its clamping jaw, which had unfortunately lost some of the antlions strength, and from the subsequent fall. They hurt. Alot. She was going to need those painkillers after this. [color=826644]”I suppose I will have to use more mutagen next time”[/color] Due to Clotho’s comment Sophia managed to react just in time to deflect the follow up attack with her chain knife, using her weight and the rapid buzzing teeth of the blade forcefully knock the attacks out of the way. One blow parried away from her neck, and a second follow up jab narrowly guided away from her knee before she could draw the flamer again, the inferno once again forcing Clotho to retreat, as well as dealing with the Myrmidons that had been clambering up the barricade towards the throne. She ignited her jetpack, soaring away from the hordes, passing over the center of the arena she put the last tank of promethium into the flamer. Clotho gave chase and it was in this way, with most of the bugs over near the throne, that they both saw the gormless mutant pick up and eat the red pill from the small bag that had earlier been thrown to the floor. [color=826644]”Guess we are about to find out what that does”[/color] [sub][sub][i][color=#FFD700]Geromory Nooooooo[/color][/i][/sub][/sub]