[center][h1]Cycle VII[/h1][/center] [center][h2]The Season of Strife[/h2][/center] [hr] Zhongcheng swam through the dark depths of the endless Deep where even the light of the divine could not provide illumination. It was here where the immense serpent was seeking a dreadful presence familiar to its senses, one that it had thought was slain and vanquished from this realm, but it seemed that it was wrong, or that the vile creature had returned. It heard the monstrous voice as it awakened, uttering in a foul language antithetical to existence, but beckoning the blessed hunter onward. Zhongcheng answered with a hostile hiss as it accepted the challenge, and surged towards the undulating shadows wherein it would reveal this misbegotten fiend to the Ruler of the Gods and aid in its defeat once more. The scars it had acquired the last time it had pursued its prior foe itched, and Zhongcheng was well aware that it could not win alone against such an enemy, so it called outwards to its master. The creature resembling the Pariah with its aura of annihilation; an anathema to all of creation, continued to chant in its profane and grotesque tongue as it found itself approached. Zhongcheng was aware of the attention it had gained; the relentless rage, its eternal hatred, its undying wrath, all of the anger of this demon directed at it because of the blood that suffused its being. The creature would never cease unleashing its malice upon the world, hence it must be halted. Before allowing such a calamity to happen, the blessed hunter engaged its quarry and the two clashed like continents colliding with each other: The sea shook vehemently as sudden tidal waves crashed against the land, and a multitude of earthquakes occurred at once across the Galbar. Even the sky reacted to their confrontation, as storms gathered above and thundered loudly like an otherworldly orchestra accompanying the deadly duel between the sacred sea serpent and the evil entity that trespassed in the realm of reality. Gaping wounds in the world shifting and shaped like vicious talons reached out and tore at Zhongcheng who retaliated by battering away the miasmic mass with its body, and then biting into the darkness feeling foul flesh be sundered by its teeth. Gore then tainted the accursed waters, haunted by the death of Ao-Yurin, as gruesome injury after gruesome injury was inflicted upon Zhongcheng who only sought to hinder the second coming of the Pariah before the arrival of the Divine King and salvation. The blessed hunter only had to endure long enough for its master to come, but the awakened demon fought savagely, gaining in strength and resilience the longer the battle between them persisted, and Zhongcheng understood that it would have to retreat again if it wished to survive… They were entangled with each other; tenebrous tendrils that had lashed out from the fiend and strangled both frontal legs of the blessed hunter. As Zhongcheng crunched and bit through the tendrils constricting one leg, the other tendrils tightened until the trapped flesh and bone fractured, and the sea serpent suddenly lost a limb in an eruption of blood and sinewy fragments. Freed from the grasp of the fierce demon, Zhongcheng swiftly fled with its wings propelling it backwards before it pirouetted and hastily swam out of reach. Then Three spears of a strange metallic substance surged through the bloody water and struck the sea serpent, piercing one of its wings and impaling the end and central sections of its body. Zhongcheng continued to swim though, twisting and spiraling to avoid any other projectiles that the fiend would shoot, ignoring the grave harm it had sustained in a lingering state of shock and desperation. The presence of the evil became farther and farther, as the sea serpent ascended closer to the surface near the Crown of the Galbar where it would rest and await for its master. Before reaching its destination, when the light of the majestic sun was visible - reflected in the rippling depths like celestial curtains swaying as they shimmered, Zhongcheng felt something insidious manifest beside it. Before it could reach its destination, two gigantic pale reticular claws slashed apart its damaged wing, flailing wildly in search of more to ruin. Momentum carried Zhongcheng to the surface where it flimsily flew through the air towards the shore. It nearly crushed a mountain upon landing, but it had escaped further attacks from the second assailant and found a last bit of respite in the end. The blessed hunter could now sense what had ambushed it, and felt a combination of zealous fury and undeniable dread for there were two creatures that possessed the same polluted presence of the Pariah. Two demons of terrible power greater than that of their predecessor and evidently would eventually ravage the Galbar unless they were slain. The dying sea serpent, Zhongcheng, called out once more to its master, as the last of its lifeblood flowed from its brutalized body and it perished. Together, the two demons emerged from the sea and set their eyeless gaze upon the world around them. In their wake, they left a trail of putrid decay behind them, boiling the water before it became a grisly grey that poisoned what remained of the living in the sea between the Crown of the Galbar and Orsus. The pallid demon glanced back towards the corpse of Zhongcheng and raised a disgusting claw. The eastern half of what was once intended to be grounds for divine convocation was engulfed in a white explosion that spewed forth broken chunks of earth in all directions. After the final vestiges of such destruction had mostly faded, the two demons resumed their journey traveling northwards. [hider=Summary]Zhongcheng senses the awakening of another Pariah, and investigates it. It confronts the evil creature, but cannot win, so calls to its master and eventually retreats after sustaining severe injuries. Retreating to the Crown of the Galbar, closer to the surface, Zhongcheng is attacked by another creature akin to the Pariah, and suffers more wounds before escaping onto land. The sea serpent calls to its master again before it dies. The two creatures that are demons from outside the tapestry of creation emerge from the sea, and begin their journey of wreaking havoc upon the Galbar. The season of strife is upon us, it’s time to gain some Vigor![/hider]