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A long battle had transpired on the mountains of Renpia, with the Vassal of the Nether, Titanica, pitting her atomic flames against the chilling cold of the Vassal of Ice, Archorus. As it so happened a certain Machina soldier was caught in the middle as he so often is, helping Titanica fend off Archorus in his pursuit of the skin of a Black Goat. A few missing limbs and a thousand foot fall later Henry was barely alive on top of the tallest peak of Renpia while Titanica was sitting pretty. "Five of you. I've survived five of you insane bitches." He kept laughing as he repaired his liver, rolling back to his stomach and pushing himself off the ground, flying in midair as he observed Titanica. "I really hope you're not gonna try to kill me. I probably couldn't take you on when I'm at my best and I'm far from my best right now." Henry gestured at his missing legs and laughed a little harder, feeling his eyes straining as he finished working on all his internal organs. Henry reached to his left and a portal dropped a syringe of red liquid into his hand, a quick jab into his right thigh emptied all of it in one fell swoop.
The Vassal gets up slowly as she issues a low growl while shaking off her joints from the battle at hand. She figured quickly that Archorus was not physically there, rather she simply controlled the mech that mocked her organic glory. But she'll be back... when and where however is not a question she cares to answer. Yet there is indeed a question she has regarding the presence of this... boy. A boy that survived five encounters with different Vassals? He must've had some serious luck, both good and bad, for having encountered them and actually surviving. If this is true, then the least she can be is a hint impressed. The looming vassal ominously eyes the demon-looking figure as she listens vaguely to his pleads for mercy, only for him to laugh cruelly towards his legs as he tries to recover from the initial blast of Titanica's nuclear pulse. She simply snorts as her tail smacks the floor, yet does not finish the boy off. Not yet anyways. She inspects him carefully before issuing a response.
"Why are you here?" she simply asks bluntly towards him with a cold face.
Henry's left eye twitched as Titanica smacked the floor with her tail, the legs were already beginning to reform due to the healing potion at the very least. Would they reform in time for any sort of fight? Maybe. She asked why he was here and he thought over his answer for a moment before eventually settling on a safe but honest answer. "I'm searching for the leather of a black goat. Roma wants it for a contract, you Vassals don't settle for anything but the best apparently." If he pushed a bit of mana into his legs they would reform faster, but that was valuable mana for opening and closing his primary offense and defense. Would the short term boost in mobility outweigh the long term combat viability? Dozens of calculations along these lines ran through Henry's head as his fight or flight response kicked in and he prepared for battle once again. On the surface he maintained a cool demeanor, but the air was tense as Henry stared down Titanica, awaiting a response from her.
The vassal processes this information carefully. So he has been instructed the same task as well from Roma the Eel? It was an interesting revelation. Before she begins to answer however, she suddenly hears baying coming from behind her. Titanica growls as she turns around to notice a single black goat perched on a rock formation. The grazing goat's hide was indeed black, the same one that they have been searching for no less. She glances down at Henry again before looking back at the grazing mammal. Before anything else can happen, her tail smacks the ground again, only significantly harder. The black goat perches up suddenly, startled by the sudden shaking, only to realize too late that a loose rock below one of his hooves was loose and sent Billy Goat tumbling down the small hill before plopping down on the ground. It landed at a very odd angle, the same hoof having been sprained upon impact with the ground. Even as it bays for help, there was nowhere for him to run, let alone stand. The vassal quietly walks towards the fallen goat as she eyes her prey right in her sights.
"Ah shit." Henry burst forwards as the goat's eyes began to glow an ominous red, drawing his blade and slicing the goat's head off as three spikes of hardened steel began to emerge from the ground. All of which were pointed directly at Titanica's throat. "Fucking goats, can never accept death without a fight." He flicked the blood off his blade and smoothly sheathed it, looking at Titanica with a unreadable expression. The goat head rolled to her feet, bumping into her before stopping and staring at her with dead eyes. "A lot of things are like that in the Nexus. They never go down without a fight." His message was clear. If she planned on killing him, he wasn't going to make it easy.
Even as the eyes glowed an ominous red towards the massive vassal, Titanica didn't flinch or move. She only stopped dead in her tracks only after the spikes nearly tried to pierce her throat. She looks down at her feet, seeing the goat's head roll down by her feet. Yet the vassal produced no sudden jolts of movement, only another ominously guttural moan as her yellow eyes give off a vitriolic glower towards Henry. As she turns, her tail chops the spikes with a clean sweep of her tail, the stone cones rolling off to the side, with one of them falling off the edge. She gives off an audible grunt as a small blue flame escapes her toothy maw.
"You have no idea who you're fucking with." she warns bitterly as her heel crushes the goat's skull, spilling brain matter, horns, and eye balls from it, "It may simply be coincidence or fate that brought us here... Yet our goals seem to have coaligned. Other goats roam this mountain... so find your own. Yet if you wish for a fight, so be it."
Her stance begins to shift as her arms begin to become covered in dark-grey scales, her spines cackling in blue aura with a low hum, and her tail stiffing up in aggression.
"Do not expect any mercy from me."
Henry waited a few moments before turning away from her and prodding the corpse that lay before him. "I have a good idea of the powers that I prod. Even if I don't consider the battle of the gods I was just a participant in, I've been punted through enough mountains by Juno to know exactly what a Vassal is capable of." His legs finally grew back and he touched upon the ground, clothing forming around his legs already as he began to walk away. "You eat them don't you? Actually no, don't answer. I don't want to know what someone like you would want with a goat." He flipped her off and moved on from the corpse, stopping just before he stepped off. "We'll meet again Vassal of the Nether. But next time I'm going to be strong enough to kick your ass." Henry grinned to himself and leapt off the mountain, spreading his wings and flying away from the icy battleground.
It appears he knows who she was. Yet this, on top of a cheesy speech of blind bravado, did not worry Titanica as she watches him take off from the cliff. She has heard many speeches during her journeys before, yet they never followed up on their claims of victory. Yet those who tried were gravely put back in their place. Even his claim of having contact with five vassals was, while slightly impressing, only issued empty threats. She gives a single chuckling sigh, as her stance relaxes as she keeps her composure this time. She walks back towards the decapitated goat and eyes it for a short moment before proceeding to rip open his hide. It was a gory, yet surprisingly short process as she wears the skin over her body. She glances back at the cliff where Henry leapt off of briefly before she issues another portal that takes her back down to the bottom of the mountain. Indeed may they meet again down the line - only time will tell - but Henry seems to have forgotten or be blissfully unaware of her purpose here.
He better hope he doesn't encounter her when that time comes... for his sake, and perhaps the entire Nexus' itself.
