The tentacles binding Annabelle collapsed into a pile of meaty hunks on the floor, diced by Amaryllis' sword's might, before eventually dissipating into a black, ethereal smoke. Annabelle herself fell to the floor, emitting a small cry of pain.
This didn't stop her, however, nor seemingly stop the drain that had been put on her.
As the darkness-magical girl stood up again, bit by shaky bit, cultists swarmed towards the center to protect those who were chanting around the altar. Some were wielding nothing but their teeth or tentacles or fangs...others wielding a menagerie of other things such as metal knives and baseball bats stolen locally. Others held tomes in their hands, glowing with various sigils and symbols that would be found incomprehensible to the mentally stable or sane. It was a very visible effort to protect the ritual and the body lying on the altar, as if it was more important than their very lives and existences.
After all...wouldn't it all merely return to that void of origin?
'Ah, there is a mortal phrase to describe your position....a 'knight in shining armor' perhaps? Such an odd phrasing to linger in the mortal vernacular, but i shall accustom myself to these soon enough.
In fact, i must say it is an exciting prospect to indulge in this at all. Haha, so very peculiar of myself after so many eons to focus on the short-term...but i feel it shall alleviate my boredom for a while yet~'As Soth spoke, inky dark portals formed around the center of the ritual site behind the warmed cultists. The portals rippled into the world like some kind of liquid, protecting the chanting cultists and the altar at the center. Some of the cultists noticed the phenomenon and began to smile, their faces bearing the look of true insanity...others began to relax their defensive stances. What was happening? Did the cultists know what was going on? Were more enemy forces about to come out against the two free magical girls?!
As this occured, Soth's voice seemed to ring out in the chamber with a low chuckle, coming from the portals physically, loud enough to be heard beyond the door of the crypt itself even like it was a speaker for the horror's physical voice.
'Ah, seeing Laat's little toy fumbling about has been most entertaining. All the little toys these 'patrons' have been more so overall, in fact, squirming like ants before the boot.... I suppose this is what a mortal might call 'perspective'?
But i have decided in earnest, now.
You, my failed avatar who is fuel for my incarnation, shall witness greatness. And you, slave of that rusty knife cast aside by the gods, shall enjoy a treat this day.
As i feel the time wane closer and closer to the climax, a strange sensation grows within me! I cannot stand idle, and thus i shall amuse myself more.'
Wait, what was going on here? 'Amuse himself more', what did that even mean?! Was it going to be another giant monster like at the stadium, or-
'All my loyal servants, rejoice! Your mortal coils and very souls shall return into the abyss, and there find eternal rest! Raise your voices to the heavens with praise for your lord!
I make a partial manifestation this day, a rare event rarely seen twice in all time! Your lives shall freely fuel this great thing.
Lo, watch on with awe! Give thanks to all creation, that you may witness this in your final moments!!!'
Oh no.
The ritual chamber began to rumble with the thrum off power, the crypt visibly seen to be shuddering by those on the outside. A parting formed in the dark clouds, forming directly above the crypt and swirling like some kind of nexus. In the center it was clear, revealing the dark backdrop of the twinkling stars themselves as if the sunlight was being blocked out.
Then it began. Not the main ritual completion, but the
partial manifestation of a greater horror in the mortal plane.
Rain began to pour down from the sky as the sky crackled with thunderstorms rapidly appearing around the nexus of cloud movements. Small tremors quaked in the ground, enough to be felt in the graveyard by those present.
Sequentially after came waves of tangible magical power, coming from the great cylindrical portal that had finally formed in the ritual site around the altar. The magic rippled into the graveyard, and all the way out into the wider city itself even. It was utterly alien in nature, and the inherent nature of it made it feel
wrong to even the basest forms of life. It wasn't destructive, and not a single blade of grass was cut, though it wasn't a good feeling either.
And so the cultists in the basement, the ones on the outer side of the abyssal substance now protecting their lord's chanters and soon to be vessel, began to sing. Only the two magical girls at the ritual site could hear now, but the words were unmistakable and rung clear. Haunting and clear it was, a melody of jagged and alien rhythm that would jar the very soul.
"LET THE HEAVENS BECOME FILLED WITH TUMULT,
LET THE SOIL OF THIS WORLD DRINK UP THE BITTER CUP OF TIME'S FOLLIES!
ALL EXISTENCE SHALL PRAISE,
AND OUR FLESH NOURISH,
THE ARRIVAL OF THE INFINITE ABYSS!!!"
Before the magical girls' eyes, physical space itself
bent as the cultists on the outer side of the barrier finished their incantation. Their forms were then sucked up like a vacuum, pulled deep into the abyss which had fully formed behind them. Only an occasional spellbook or knife remained floor where some of them had once been, dropped in an instant by those who had let them go before being taken in with looks of bliss on their faces. A bloodless, but ultimately horrific, sight.
...Then the tentacles and eyes began to emerge. From the barrier, that very portal composed of the void itself, they same out slowly as they manifested. Physical space seemed to bend around them just a little bit, and the feeling of "wrongness" from the magical energy emitting out seemed to spike. The eyes seemed to stare through one's soul, and the only cultists left the in ritual chamber were not hidden behind something incredible as they chanted.
"This is but a part of me....i hope you both do not mind, but this new feeling i wish to give my thanks for this day.
I shall deal with you myself, and any who come to this place to try to prevent my incarnation.
It seems so absurd...haha....but i shall relish in this sensation further. Do keep me entertained!" Soth's own voice run in the chamber and from the crypt itself again, not some psychic message, nor a verbal communication via a portal. This was the very flesh of the Infinite Abyss, of Soth made manifest. It rang with power to the senses, and his presence seemed utterly drenched in it to the core.
...And this was just a part of himself, let out on a whim in exchange for a few lives.
He wasn't being serious, however, and both Amaryllis and Annabelle would not find it too overbearing. It was many-fold greater in magnitude than any mundane monsters, or even the being at the stadium, but at the same time felt restrained still. They didn't seem any different than the tentacles Amaryllis had butchered in a heartbeat either, though there were far more now.
In other words, this partial manifestation was something they could actually fight against. And were anyone else to get into the ritual chamber, they would be able to join in on things."...I can take the right for a little bit...ah...if you take the left for now....deal?" Annabelle said with a small smirk at the end as she looked at Amaryllis. By this point she had finally fully stood up, and now her chain arm was slowly unraveling into over a dozen tentacle-like chains. She was huffing still as she spoke, and it wasn't like the other pain and drain had stopped ravaging her body.
Though...she seemed rather determined now, even if it was a mask by some means, and a healthy bit of fear still could be heard in her voice alongside this.
@t2wave@MadManMoon@Shifter_Master@Ariamis@PlatinumSkink@Vocab@FamishedPants@Flamelord@ERode@DarkwolfX37@Card Captor@BrokenPromise~ALERT!!! PATRON-TIER ORGANISM DETECTED!!!~
Type: ??? (Greater Horror?)
Designation/Name:
(Partial Manifestation) (Yes, you can fight him. Yes, this is a winnable battle since he's not being actually serious. Yes, i got dramatic with this post and went utterly ham with it. XD)
Sunny Suzuki
Thunder999999
Xaltwind
Dark Cloud
Izurich
strawbsandsugar
Zapdos
Teyao
Ashh
OliveYou