Necrophage

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The area around Zios charged with palpable energy. The colors varied from purple to black to silver. They just kept appearing and focusing around him like he were a magnet. He swept his shadowy arm forward and some of the energy organized into a wall in front him. Motes of energy moved out to his left and right with purpose. "We should consider his weaknesses quickly. I don't think the conventional attacks you're used to will be effective. Consider him as resilient as Rajaka and quick as Zelriane. Whatever you used to dismember Rajaka and leave him in such a sorry state should be effective. That is if you can hit him with it." Wisps of silver energy coated along the outside of his shadowy limb. "I have a plan that should work. Mostly. I think." Zios smiled with clear uneasiness.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios held the beam for a moment, not realizing the danger until it was nearly too late to do something. The glowing motes in his eyes swiveled around in recognition of the difference in energy coming down his own beam. He separated from the channeled beam. As his own power tapered out the green energy from Zelraka was made clear. The beam clipped his forearm, drawing blood as he pulled away. It was too late to have evaded that completely. He raised his phantom claw to cover the spot. Despite the wound he seemed unfazed. Likely plotting something to make up for the error in judgement.

"My introduction will be settled later. This is Zelraka with every troubling implication you can imagine." Zios peered outside the hole behind Zelraka at the troubling storm. It wasn't normal. He could see it as the others could not. Past the clouds, like the atmosphere was tearing and a terrible blackness beyond. The Veil that separated them from the abyss was thin. Time was running out. His eyes passed to the up-staircase as he considered his options. "Get this thing outside! He'll beat us in these close quarters. I can promise you that." Zios commanded. He stepped wide, feet shoulder-width apart, facing toward Zelraka. He let go of his arm and blood dripped freely to the floor, instead separating his hands as if pushing his arms to the sides before flipping his palms up. Silver energy collected around him, brightly lighting up his being and the surrounding room.

"Outnumbered four to two. Let's see how good you are with that reckless power." He directed at their fused adversary.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The violent explosion of energy sent Zios careening into the wall. The chamber filled with dust and debris for the moments between the expulsion of energy and when Zelraka next spoke. Fierce wind from outside drafted through the chamber and cleared much of the dust away to reveal the fused order member. It only took their joining to break a wall that was previously thought unbreakable. The fusion of Rajaka and Zelriane was certainly incredible but was it stable? From their promptness of union it would almost seem they had done this before.

Zios pressed himself off the wall and stepped forward. Despite his protections that expulsion of energy was vicious. Tendrils of spectral energy flicking back and forth from his left shoulder coalesced together, knitting like muscle as they formed a clawed arm. Blood still dotted Zios' form from the various injuries he had suffered from fighting Zelriane. He ignored them. Most of them had been superficial at best: flesh wounds, surface bruising and various burns. Nothing to stop his fight unless it prolonged too long. Zios coughed through the floating dust and with a flourish of his hand sent a gentle wave of force outward that cleared the room of floating debris. He glanced briefly at Jeff, who was likely bewildered by Oz's drastic change in appearance, before returning his attention to the grave new threat. "I'll take you on."

Raising his right arm, Zios chanted. "Neo Ultima!" The beam of deadly energy flashed toward Zelraka.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Blood dripped from Zios' tightly gripped hand as he held the bladestaff vertical behind him. "You speak of Oz. Know that I am no longer he even if he makes me. I do however understand what he felt. There was no joy in his decision. Only dedication and fear of what was to come. Oz was confident that the void creature's values had been sufficiently swayed. He reconciled that the eventual doom of the world by my hand was preferable to the immediate doom by yours. He had a certain admirable hubris that his will would win out in the end and that the immediate growth would win him victory for today." He swung the blade to the side, spattering Zelriane's loose blood from the tip across the black stone. "Those things remain to be seen."

With no further alarm he took a step forward and swung the staff for Zelriane's midsection.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios spun around and raised his spectral arm against the akari, it delayed very little as it shred just like everything else in front of that technique. Using his other arm he leaned the bladestaff against the ground and vaulted to the side. The shredded arm wisped around as no more than ineffectual smoke. Blood from earlier wounds ran down Zios' face and touched his mouth. He spat some to the side and grunted as he spun the bladestaff through the air and whipped it around toward Zelriane's back. "Death is a cheap escape and I've barely started."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios was blasted back, interrupting the black hole's growth as it dissipated in a cloud of purple matter drifting with the direction of the explosion. Zios used his spectral claw to rake against the ground and stop himself from being blown any further back. He had managed to shield the majority of his body in that instant but his right arm was burnt. He flexed it and blood welled in the cracks between his fingers. His face and left shoulder had singed gashes from where the sudden shield failed to fully block the explosion. He glared furiously at Zelriane.

"Each move a check on the board." He swiftly pointed down with his spectral arm and the intact parts of the shield around them plunged a barrage of ribbon-like energy at Zelriane in the form of spikes. He brought his right hand up and the fallen staff jolted off the ground to him. He spun it in front of him causing each side to spread out into bladed tips. He centered it in both hands in front of himself like a balancing stick a tightrope walker would use and began walking toward Zelriane while the dome barraged him.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios dropped his arm from the staff and let it fall to the floor. He snapped his hand down, just barely catching Zelriane's forearm before the speedster made contact with Zios' abdomen. The grave expression on Zios' face said it all. Zelriane had nearly landed a death stroke. Every movement from here on out would be dancing around the edge of oblivion. All Zelriane needed to do next was use his withheld hand to strike with and this fight would end.

The constellation of stars in Zios' eyes flared up. "The intensity!" Translucent purple energy ruptured out of his left shoulder. Even as the energy bled outward it gained form as a clawed appendage. The familiar color and form lent it an air of how Geode's spectral form appeared. Motes of dark purple energy collected at the claw as he brought it forward. "Allow me to reciprocate your enthusiasm." The dark orb growing in his claws pulled at an increasingly alarming rate.

"Black Hole!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios brought the staff up, gripping it tightly and holding it along the length of his forearm. The way he moved was graceful and completely alien to the methods Oz had used. He took a deliberate step back and thrust the staff forward at the incoming Zelriane. It carried excessive force behind it which meant that despite being a blunt weapon it still had enough concentrated energy to impale someone.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios projected a prismatic, multi-faceted shield around himself. The explosions swarmed around him as Zelriane did his pass but failed to inflict any damage against the shield. Being well aware of what Zel's light techniques were capable of, Zios pushed himself aside and slid around in a semi-circle to face the speedster again.

Killing Zelriane was quite viable at this point - assuming he could land a direct hit. Opening himself to an attack to draw the man in would likely work. A feint like that usually did work against Zelriane but it also put Zios at risk of another severe injury or death. Trading lives or damage was out of the question. That being said he would need to outsmart the man.

A glowing staff materialized in Zios' hand. He held it straight up-and-down behind his back and stood tall. It was a defensive posture any way you looked at it. How was he going to wield a staff properly with one hand?

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Boreas drew back on his bow once more and fired an arrow of energy at where Zios intended to be in a scant moment. "I thought you would know that we're all pieces in someone else's game. I have understood it as a game from the start. You underestimate how serious I am." Zios slid to the side using his power to push himself out of the way faster than it took for his electric nerve signals to reach his legs. He batted his hand through the air, deflecting the shot from Boreas at an angle so it would zip right back toward Zelriane. Zios kept sliding back like he were skating, trying to keep out of reach of Zelriane.