thewizardguy said
Far above the marshlands floated a figure, clawed feet treading on a carpet of runes, forming some form of barrier for him to stand on. His nearly translucent pearly skin shimmered in the faint sunlight of the red sun around which the planet orbited. A pair of bright blue eyes searched below, as he growled. It was a deep, guttural sound, not at all pleasant. It quite accurately depicted his opinion of his current situation.The thick mists this planet generated clouded the surface from his eyes, and some kind of powerful natural energy flowed through the swamp. Most likely the presence of some local nature deity, or perhaps a pantheon of spirits. Whatever it was, it was messing with his senses, and pinpointing his prey had become quite a hassle. If he continued to rely on arcane vision he'd never find them. Within such an area as this, it would be nearly impossible to find even the most obvious of targets, and it was quite possible that these people were versed in stealth, hiding from his eyes. Anyone who a being like Genocide considered to be a threat would be a dangerous opponent, with the appropriate combination of intelligence and power. He couldn't touch down to the ground for fear of a sneak attack on him, but from the sky he couldn't find his prey. Truly he was face with....Then he spotted a massive glowing angel fly past, practically wearing a neon sign.For a moment, Cosmos simply stared. Then he simply shrugged, and made the assumption that they perhaps had more brawn then brains. Even someone stupid enough to do something as obvious as fly around in the sky on glowing wings while attempting to hide could be dangerous, provided they had enough raw magical or physical power. It was, in fact, Toguro's entire purpose in life to be the incarnation of that brawn. However, there was a reason he was the strategist of the group, and he would make sure to know his opponents better before facing them this time.Manipulating the wind was an easy feat, and in doing so he shrouded himself in mist. Now that he had a lock on on the angel, following him was a piece of cake, and also led to the discovery of the red-clad humanoid. Both of them were pieces of work, contracted to higher beings, invisible magical chains placed on their minds and bodies. Were they aware of these chains, of the limits that had been placed upon them? It did not matter. They were a pair of zealots, admittedly for different Gods, but their devotion would make them difficult. Such people could often not be intimidated, persuaded or bribed, and would die before losing face for their goals. But this also shone some light on an excellent strategical opportunity.Just from a glance, Cosmos could tell that the red-clad humanoid worshipped a far more bloody god. His Contract felt ancient, it felt like a primal being, most likely more of a spirit than a God. The Angel, however, reeked of righteousness and purity, a God of Order and Absolutes. A far more morally strict deity, most likely presiding over a pantheon of lesser deities and worshipped by an advanced society. Both were 'divine' beings, but that was perhaps the only comparison that could be made, and it was in this contrast that he would find his strategy. He would turn the two against each other, and as they fought, he would defeat the weakened victor. Then, the Dark One would be his for the taking, for whatever purpose Genocide had in mind.he trailed the figures through the marsh. In this environment, hiding his presence was an easy feat. Occasionally, the red-garbed man had turned, and sniffed the air, as if attempting to catch his scent. Cosmos had taken notice of this, and altered the wind around him to prevent the humanoid from sniffing him out. The Angel, in typical fashion, remained completely oblivious to the danger, lacking the hunter-prey instincts of the red-garbed humanoid. The Dark One, unformed as it was, was impossible to judge, and even if it had sensed Cosmos, it's indecipherable motives did not cause it to warn it's current guardians. Had it known Cosmos was there, would it have been intelligent enough to realize the danger, or would it even care, seeing as how it personally would not be endangered? Cosmos decided to save these questions for a later time, when he was more at liberty to experiment.With patience, Cosmos stalked his prey into a settlement. The locals were a primitive group of amphibious humanoid creatures. Cosmos could instantly tell the Shaman apart from the rest of them. This individual had some form of connection with the vague magical entity that encompassed this swamp, similar but also different from the Contract that bound the zealots. He would be wary of this individual. However, he would not be sufficiently skilled nor versed in the ways of magic to counter Cosmos, regardless of the power of this local deity. Power was useless in the hands of those who did not know how to use it. After quite some time, something quite interesting occurred. The red-garbed humanoid came out from his tent, blades in hand. Bloodlust was clear in it's eyes, and yet it appeared to be headed away from the camp. It was easy to figure out what the purpose of this little excursion would be, and it would be all the more fun to exploit it to his advantage. With a simple gesture, Cosmos changed the wind, as the fog suddenly turned to a wall before strygwyr. He then ladened it with spells of misdirection, to remove one's sense of way and, particularly, smell. Anytime Strygwyr would attempt to leave the camp, he would find himself turned around, heading right back in.Soon, he would have turned all of them against each other. Even now that the red-garbed zealot knew he was being meddled with, there was little he could do without targeting Cosmos, who was careful to hide himself from smell, sight, and arcane sense. From this point on, turning them all against one another would be easy, and once the majority of his possible opponents were dead, his job would become a walk in the park.
The girl watched on. Taking another bite out of her apple. Her eyes moved. Alternating between the spells cosmos had cast, to cosmos himself. Analyzing both. She grinned and snapped her fingers. An action which caused the fog to disappear. She then threw the half eaten apple to the ground and walked toward cosmos. Knowing whatever magic he had wouldn't give her position away
((Given that the thread is starting to die, I think I might just start wrapping things up))