[IC] HCL 2: Twisted tinkers' triumph

[thewizardguy]

Before leaving, Cosmos decided to leave his mark. Reaching into the minds of the soldiers present, he left his symbol. A spell that would latch onto their mind, a slow-moving thing that would gradually break their mind apart over the course of five years. He would gain steadily more control over this period of time, eventually completely supplementing their conscious thought. It wouldn't have worked on a magically capable being, of course, but it didn't have to. With this, he could quite rapidly turn this world and it's weapons into a tool for his success, should he ever need it.

On the new world, he turned to the stranger that had appeared. Creed. He remembered the figure well, having taken the image from the minds of those who had been present at the Battle of Tassadar. A battle where, supposedly, Creed had died. His current analysis clearly showed, however, that this was neither undead nor doppleganger. He would have easily been able to detect any being attempting to deceive him, and no such deception was present here. This indicated that Creed had somehow survived, or more likely, that he had been revived. And the number of beings capable of such a feat were rather limited.

The Enemy was on the move. Why Creed had been revived was unknown to him, and most likely to this being as well. But if the Enemy was active, then they would need to act fast. Once it emerged, all of his plans and schemes would be for naught. Whilst it would certainly be interesting to remain here and investigate this situation, duty called. Three Seals remained unbroken, something the Omegans were of a mind to change.

"I have important business to attend to. I will find you at some later date to continue my observation." He looked at Creed as he left, his suspicion not showing on his blank face. "I hope you will excuse my premature departure. I'm sure you will be able to take care of.... whatever this creature decides to name itself." He then leaves by portal, already planning his assault.

[Tyki]

@thewizardguy

the creature follows cosmos, leaving creed for the time being as it silently joins the processecion, it's energy signatures completely hidden as it waits silently in the background, watching to see what happens

[CreedTheChimera]

Creed sat there, blinking for a time before he stands up. "Well... seems I'm alone now..." He had a lot of questions, concerning why he wasn't dead and why exactly he was put here of all places. He made a decision to leave, and to try and find someone who may know what the fuck is going on. Whether or not there was a door and whether or not it was unlocked was not a question that concerned him, as he went to the Gildarts school of leaving a room. He burns a hole in the wall and walks through it, looking around for some direction to head in.

[kishin asura]

@supertinyking

Asura manages to dodge, but the punch takes out his arm. He looks at gunner as the arm heals and sighs "I suppose you're not gonna tell me where that place is." He says

"I said shut it." Theta says. Raising her voice a little. It was clear that hunger's words were getting to her

[supertinyking]

@kishin asura
"That's bad bounty hunter manners my good sir, kill and don't tell is the rule..." The Bounty hunter says, continuing his attacks, wild heavy swings of the fist, him throwing all tactics to the wind, save punch the crap out of the other guy.

Rinack chuckles.
"Or what, big bad betty badass is gonna get angwy?" Rinack says, before laughing loudly, falling over in the process.
"....If he does win, he'll of murdered a good man...who has a woman, and who had a son...can you let him murder a father? A lover? A friend? A brother? Does none of that matter to you? Are you a monster?" Hunger asks, hoping to get though to her once again.

[kishin asura]

@supertinyking

Asura dodges each punch. Progressively moving closer "too bad." He says "for you at least...."

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." Theta continues repeating those words as she covers her ears

[Wraithblade6]

@Wraithblade6
"All right...." Hesitating, the woman wasn't entirely sure how to react to this slew of strange. Of course, she had clearly witnessed the appearance of several figures before, including one who had attempted to wipe her memory of the event. So she was certainly willing to accept that he came from a place foreign to her. And the great chasms she'd seen in the ground confirmed that some battle had occurred while she was knocked out. But telling this figure that might not be the best move. She still wasn't sure if he was a threat or not, and to what extent his powers remained. "Whatever you say. Of course, if we do manage to pull this off, you're going to have to show me this shit, so I know you're not crazy."

She held out her hand, choosing to currently ignore the implication that he ate people. "My name's Alice. If we're going to be working together, I should know your name."

@thewizardguy

Mithias stopped and hesitated. He looked at her hand and time slowed down for a moment. Alice was a beautiful name. The lady's offered hand sparked a cordial reflex in him, and he reached to take it gently. He lowered his eyes as he bowed, "Mithias." He answered her, bringing her hand to his fangs.

Suddenly he stopped, just centimeters away from her skin. He gasped as the fog cleared. Where had his control gone? He was hungrier than he thought! He realized he was holding her hand quite tightly and let it go. "I'm sorry!" He backed away, honestly ashamed and furious with himself. "Please don't kill me... I can't keep doing this. He covered his eyes which had begun to change.

He tried to explain. "You must... You need to let me go. I am an 'animal.' I need to feed. I didn't realize how bad it was." He lowered his hands from his eyes, unsure how Alice would see him. "I know nothing of your plight. I wish I did, and I wish I could truly help you. Trust me, you have no idea how much I want to help you... but how can I?" Goddamnit! Mithias gritted his teeth. "You must abandon me and look away. Perhaps we will meet again. I am sorry." Painfully, he turned to go, staggering out into the endless wasteland of ice completely alone for the first time in a long time.

[Wraithblade6]

@CreedTheChimera@Tyki@thewizardguy

The sound of arcing electricity sunders the peace while white light bursts forth from a completely random and unstable portal.

"And here we are!" Wraithblade honks the horn a few times at Creed and whoever else he is with and nearly bumps him as she steps on the breaks in her convertible. Strygwyr's head is gleefully sticking out the back window area with his tongue hanging out.

She stops the floating car and then lands it in park on the ground. She turns and puts her arm on the window. "Bloodseeker, Dark One. Make friends with this guy." She points at Creed. "I don't know what the hell else is actually going on, because I was at work all day and I didn't read all the shit people posted." Wraithblade opens up the glove compartment and rummages through papers and random shit in there while Stryg and young Darky get out. "Hey! Goddamnit, Strygwyr, shut the door! yes, the door... Yes that. It's a car-door, it's still a "door..." NO! What are you doing! Put your leg down!!" Wraithblade shakes her fist in embarrassment and despair as Strygwyr proves his association with dogs. "You're one of my favorite characters!"

Strygwyr grins wide at Creed.

[supertinyking]

@kishin asura
Gunner grumbles, as he starts to attack faster, still not the fastest strikes, his rage giving him some much needed speed.
"Hold still you skinny little pest." He growls, throwing punches left right and center. He smashes though walls, cupboards, and most else his strikes connect with.

"Do you want to be that monster, the one who let their friend murder, and kill good people?!" Hunger screams, loudly, as he stands up, his bonds falling to the floor. "Are you that creature, with no morals, no courage to stop those who would hurt the innocent? Huh?!" He roars, right in her face. Rinack sorta looks at Camilla, surprise quite apparent on his face.

[supertinyking]

@Tyki
It was sudden....but it was massive. A large call for metals, and other such items such as preserved foods, clothing, weapons, and mercenaries, the Clone empire called for it all, the Sergal reserves being bought out at a rapid rate. It was a massive shift in tone, as before the Clone empire rarely bought much from the Sergals, but right now, they were their best customers. Then...silence. After such a large amount of buying, and massive amounts of trade deals were being made, there was..silence......

Slowly, this silence spread over many allies of the Sergals, them vanishing without a trace, or a word. Diplomats would loose comunication with their worlds, and soon, the reason would appear before them. The Clone Empire began a massive, hostile expansion against all non-allied races, even wiping out Sergal allies in sheer moments, the clones mobilzing a military force unseen before, dwarfing their military might they had when they first allied with the Sergal Empire.
Strange new clones, huge, beefy, and strong were produced, and it was speculated that Sergal genetics were being used. Logar couldn't be reached, at all, any coms directed at him ignored...this was most likely extremely startling to the Segals, as the Clones had been peace loving, diplomatic people at one point, but now fought with a blood lust like the Sergals of old. This was a massive advance...


And it all happened in under 9 hours.

[Tyki]

@supertinyking

Strangely enough, the weapons deals were highly regulated, leaving the clones with fewer than nominal sergal weapons, but when the conquest began, the clones found a strange occurence: the sergals out conquering them. After their first few simply conquests, they found all previous worlds that had been allied with the sergals to now be conquered by the sergals, their rapid expansion circumvented by liquidation of assets, the money they'd payed for goods having gone to either conquering or buying out races, leaving the sergal empire nearly doubled from all the allies they'd made a part of them.

The clone empire was repeatedly called and the emperor actually forcefully contacted through unofficial means and, failing that, kalus was teleported directly in front of him, on top of any console he was stationed at and not in any wall he was viewing. At the sight of kalus the changes to sergal technology in the brief time span became appearent, his uniform white and his bracelet exchanged for gloves with small, minute crystals laced in symbols denoting rank and division with a short sword on his hip. "Logar. i understand that you've begun a conquest without asking for assistance. why is that?" kalus asks evenly, seeming the sergals were more upset that he didn't ask for their help rather than being upset over them conquering their allies, their own conquering and assimilation of their allies probably begetting the rumors that they'd planned to do so from the start.

[supertinyking]

@Tyki
Where Kalus would find Logar, he would find a familiar figure, clad in Golden armor.
"Kalus, nice monkey suit..." Tide says, sitting atop the throne that Logar would normally be in. Then, a large amount of clone soldier rush in, all armed rather to the teeth.
"...So, mind explaining why the fuck you're in my throne room?" Tide asks, cracking his neck.

[Tyki]

@supertinyking

"communications were being ignored, so i came instead" kalus replies evenly, twitching his fingers a bit before the soldier's weapons fall apart in their hands. "also, if you're going to threaten me, don't use our own weapons" kalus adds evenly as he leans against a nearby wall, adding evenly "you overthrow logar or did he just step down for you?" the last part seeming to be sarcasm

[supertinyking]

@Tyki
"An assassin killed him....." Tide says, and the clones get new weapons, rather quickly, drawing swords and new energy rifle. "Also, I wasn't wanting to talk to you, as I'd expect you to say something sappy, and would make me have to punch you. As for why we didn't call you, I'm not gonna let you in on everything we take over...although...you got a lot of what we intended to get. Whatever, we'll just end up taking over new people." Tide says, shrugging. The military forces that showed up disperses, going back to their posts around the room.

[Tyki]

@supertinyking

Kalus simply furrows his brow and mutters something along the lines of "why did they make an idiot king..." before asking "anyway, i don't really care why you're doing it, just bring us in on it cause we have a big, fuck off military that's doing nothing cause we want to maintain appearences" before leaving

[supertinyking]

@Tyki
"We'll call when we run out of bullets..that'll be...about fifty years from now." Tide says, before Kalus leaves.

[thewizardguy]

@Tyki
Cosmos emerges high in the air, floating above what appears to be a massive castle. A powerful enchantment neutralises gravity's hold on him, allowing him to float in place without effort. He surveyed the ground below, sensing the many powerful figures that dwelt within it, from warriors to Gods. This was Anor Londo, the Land of the Gods. Far below lay the First Fire, an elaborate seal containing Dremaera, a Daemon representing both Flame and Entropy. Connected through the White Holes, it also served as one of the Seals of Omega, holding him within his prison.

Behind him stepped the wire creature, which then rapidly fell downwards towards the ground, a 10 ton comet. Whomever that thing fell on was rather severely screwed. In fact, anything in the vicinity of the impact zone would most likely be killed. Cosmos didn't know why the wire creature had followed him, but he would serve as quite the distraction. Already he could feel this world's unstable timelines collapsing around him, hero upon hero emerging from the mists of time, each attempting to fight their way past him. This realm's most formidable defender, the Chosen Undead, a being divided over thousands of timelines, each incarnation nearly impossible to kill. It's very existence was linked to the Seal, both maintaining one another.

Beisdes him in the sky appeared Void and Bahamut. Kihaku would not emerge, for she was weak in the sunlight. But if Cosmos was not mistaken, this world's sun was an illusory one. And he would be able to turn it off with little difficulty. This world was ripe for the taking, and within the next few hours he would have shattered another seal. Even without Genocide, they would be able to unleash absolute destruction over this world.

[thewizardguy]

@CreedTheChimera
Creed, prior to the emergence of Wraith's plot-mobile, emerged to find himself in an ancient city. Long abandoned, it felt as if the very atmosphere was rife with toxins. Had he been a mere human he would have died rapidly, but his more sturdy Dragon Slayer body was able to handle them with ease. Great factories lined the skyline, even now active, pumping the air full of the materials that had most likely killed the planet's original inhabitants. Brief exploration revealed a number of corpses, locked in rooms filled with food, some bearing wounds from energy-based weaponry. Most likely there had been a panic once the death toll started climbing, which had resulted in violence. The weapons used by these beings looked strangely familiar, however, as if he had seen their design once before.

[thewizardguy]

@Wraithblade6
When Mithias had tightened his grip to superhuman levels, Alice had reflexively hardened the bones in her hand. Had she not done so, the pressure would most likely have shattered her hand. As she had suspected, this creature was significantly superhuman. However, she was suddenly aware of the fangs that portruded from between his lips, and the hungry glint in his eyes. Before she could pull her hand back, he stumbled backwards, seeming to apologize.

"So.... you eat people? Because if so, all that lies in that direction is starvation. The only human population on the planet lives under the ice, you'd never find them without a guide." Alice raises an eye sceptically. Unlike in many cultures, among her people cannibalism was not frowned upon. In weather conditions this dire, with almost no way to produce food, wasting any kind of meat was considered a crime. And it was considered part of a warrior's duty to devote their flesh and blood to their clan, whether living or dead. Had they not adopted such practices, they would have died out hundreds of years ago. "The corpses back there are only about twenty minutes old. Not sure if that's fresh enough for you, but you're welcome to eat them. If, of course, you promise to help me out."

Normally she would have hoarded the precious meat, but already members of her clan were preparing to haul the dragon carcasses home. The meat from one of those could feed the clan for a week, and with three dead they wouldn't run out of food any time soon. Whilst there was a slight question of dishonor, she believed the warriors who had lived and died by her side would happily surrender their flesh to assist her in her quest, directly or indirectly.

[thewizardguy]

@Tyki@supertinyking
The Sergal and Clone fleets both ravaged the less advanced worlds, tearing through their inferior military forces with ease. Each was able to rapidly expand their borders, using their mastery over technology to rapidly make use of conquered worlds. Their peoples were assimilated, slaughtered, or forced to leave. For every hundred sips the enemy lost, the Sergal or Clone armies might lose one. It was a devastating massacre that spanned many solar systems.

However, it was then that the tide turned. Devastated and horrified by the assaults, the many individual planets and small empires united under a single flag. The Council of Worlds was founded in an emergency state, a ruling body in charge of repelling the invaders. Military might was combined, technology was shared, and new strategies were devised. Resistance grew steeply, as the planets pooled their resources into their military might, massive fleets of warships being prepared in surprisingly short amounts of time.

The Council consisted of six members, each of which represented a separate species and empire. The individual planets had no representative within the council, but were forced to throw in their lot with the makeshift alliance in order to gain even a slight chance of fighting back. Within the Council existed also a seventh figure, known only as the Founder. Even in a period of a few days word spread that this figure had united the worlds, and even now represented the combined might of the species. It's body remained eternally hidden behind thick robes, hiding it's species. It was a representative of unity, a hero of the people.

The reports would arrive both for the Sergal and the Clone Empire. Vast and highly planned ambushes had wiped out entire fleets, the enemy's military might seeming to triple overnight. What had previously seemed to be population centres were filled with explosives, entire planets being used as a massive bomb to wipe out fleets. Ambushes making use of stellar gas clouds, with hundreds of ships seeming to materialize out of thin air. Powerful dimensional locks seperating the conquerer's fleets from their reinforcements.

Still the Sergal and Clone armies marched forward, but they gained nothing. Any planet they conquered was trapped and destroyed, their inhabitants willing to die before surrendering to the invaders. Every step forward became a struggle, and what had previously been unquestionable victory was turned into a bloody battle, casualties ramping up on both sides. The Sergal empire was cut off, their funds no longer accepted and all trade relationships halted. Any attempt to take planets by non-military means were inevitably met with defeat, the planets trading with one another in order to support those who had relied on Sergal supplies.