descent

[cancrymods]

growing heavy for the vintage

Like flakes of snow, the days spent in the Sloth Layer slowly but surely begin piling up. Life here is quiet and easy, even with the anxiety that comes with needing to move onto the next layer. But as the days drag out, so do the mysteries at play here – with the gradual uncovering of the odd doppelgangers and the seeming lack of any way to proceed to the next layer, it leaves the Executors at a loss for what to do. Until one day, everything changes. It comes entirely without warning – the ground lurches under everyone's feet in a sickeningly familiar way as a brief but violent earthquake rattles through the town. Then all of you feel it; a snapping sensation deep from the very foundations of Purgatory followed by the most cataclysmic impact any of you have experienced in your lives – or unlives. Snow explodes up from the ground, houses creak and lurch and the whole layer seems as though it might shatter apart under your feet. It seems like it's going to last forever. Then, finally, it stops. The silence that follows is even more pronounced in comparison to the hell-rattling noise from before, but as some semblance of calm starts to return, you realize several things. First is how eerily quiet the town is. Surely after all that, you'd hear a Specter or two... but there's nothing. Secondly – a splash of something wet strikes your cheek. Then again. Until it becomes clear that the weather has taken a sudden drastic turn and in place of the gentle snowfall from before, the heavens have opened with a torrential rainfall. Why? Possibly because of the steadily growing heat you suddenly feel burning up through the foundation of the layer and radiating out through the town. Will you investigate?

Comments

[cancrymods]

[ The din is absolutely calamitous – with everyone screaming and yelling and Samael screaming and yelling, keeping track of it all is impossible. Attacks bounce off her scales, sending sparks and chunks of bone white raining down all around. As if in response to the chaos, the ground continues to rumble and shift under everyone's feet, pulled and rolled by the powerful emotions of its Authority.

Eventually, numbers and the Executors' well-polished teamwork do make a difference – with her flight interrupted by Phoenix's attack, she's forced to land and that impact combined with Lion just fucking whaling on her teeth has her whipping her neck back and flinging Lion right into the sprawl of Executors at her feet.

Of course, that doesn't account for the Executor right in her face.

With her own devastating claws, Galea gets a clean swipe right at Samael's face that draws a massive spray of hypersaturated pneuma and a gutrattling scream. Samael responds in kind by lunging forward, teeth bared, to take a bite at Galea's throat. DRAGON TUSSLE. ]

[syrinfacet]

[ You know what's worse than one dragon wracked with wrath? Two of them.

The roar of victory she lets out at swiping Samael's face, amethyst claws soaked with pneuma, is short lived as Samael lunges back. Galea isn't fast enough to avoid the blow - only fast enough to angle her head as Samael comes at her, hoping one of her crystalline horns catches the other dragon in the face or eye as they lunge at her.

Samael's teeth crunch into Galea - it doesn't sound like teeth rending flesh but rather teeth cracking open rock or biting into a mountain. Pneuma gushes out of the bite, crackling with electricity, as Galea roars in pain, stained glass wings twitching with agony. And yet... ]

Don't...don't worry about me! I've got her here where I want her! Take her down!

[ And claws rake at Samael again, anywhere Galea can reach. Fuck you, if she's going down, she's taking you with her. ]

[mementomoritz]

[There's a tendril abruptly thwapping onto Galea and attempting to channel healing into her. Not on Medic's watch, you don't! No dying again, you've had a death already!]

[daughterofthemark]

Get her, Dame Galea!

[Attack Order. But the situation that makes that an obvious step to take also suggests that maybe Veil doesn't actually want to be riding Galea right now and in fact maybe everyone should very specifically not be doing that.

So.

Veil's fellow Executors may have noted that she has a certain tendency to act on impulse. If something seems very clearly like the right thing to do, she'll just do it, especially if it's time-sensitive. Frequently, upon closer examination, one can find a clear line of reasoning that led her to her decision even if she didn't spend much time on it, but that does little to overturn the initial impression that she just did the first stupid thing that popped into her head.

So rest assured, Veil is probably trying to trick the hostile dragon into accidentally biting herself, or get in some blows with her nice blunt staff that doesn't need to pierce through armored scales, or something. There's definitely some reason she's jumping onto Samael's back.]

[ourtomorrow]

VEIL-SAN!

[ Everything is happening so fast! What can he do? What can he do?!

He can think, maybe, for those who aren't.....

And he can spot Veil, in case this ends badly! ]

[crypddyd]

[Lion hits the ground in a classic Yamcha pose, legitimately dazed for a bit. But eventually he gets to his feet, stumbling like a drunk before resummoning his lance and charging back in. Maybe someone heals him on the way, maybe not. He's sure not stopping to see.

At least he doesn't try to jump on her face again, instead running UNDER the two dragons to aim for her belly. He attempts to tear into the underside with Atrocity after Atrocity, always attempting to hit in the same spot, eventually likely shattering his weapon. But if he can make a gap in her armor it won't matter. He'll tear into her guts with his bare hands if he has to]

[emberserker]

[Wolfsbane skids back as she lands on the ground to the right of Samael. She points her halberd in the air and cackles.]

You think we can't take a little heat? There's no one whose heart burns more than mine!

[What comes next isn't a fireball or ice shard. It's both fire and ice energy twisting around into a spiral as the symbol of Wolfsbane's Executor mark flashes in her magic circle. She brings down the axe, and the cyclone of fire and ice tears forward to Samael while she's occupied.]

[mementomoritz]

[Since she's standing next to her anyway, Medic is going to forgo the Mantle tendrils as a way of channeling and just very gently reach out to touch Wolfsbane's free hand with her own.]

[Guess where all that power she tried to drain out of Samael is going?]

[Right into her buddy. Let's send that power right back by boosting the attack.]

[cancrymods]

[ Samael's scales are hard to pierce, forged as they are in the hellish fire of the Wrath Layer but the persistent attacks and the sheer strength of another Executor whose sin also makes its home here? That's enough to start making some headway. Her horns slice a neat cut that sprays pneuma down the dragon's throat and her claws rend deep gouges in the layers of her scales, mirrored by the chunks cut out of her underside by Lion's brutal assault.

It isn't until Wolfsbane's attack crashes into her that she finally seems to truly snap. With another of those horrible screeches, Samael spreads her wings and with a huge, powerful beat of them, sends the Executors sprawling back with a blast of wind far too powerful to have come from a mere flap of the wings. And as the Executors rally, Samael tips her head back.

An explosion of violet flame streams out of her mouth... into the sky, rather than at the Executors.

In the deep, dark clouds still hanging above, thunder roars. ]

[emberserker]

[Wolfsbane flies back from the wind and barely lands back on her feet. She shields her eyes as Samael breathes fire into the sky.]

Now what?!

[daughterofthemark]

[Well, as possible ends to her dragon-hopping maneuver go, getting blown away with everyone else is anticlimactic but probably for the best.

She looks up...]

Take cover!

[What cover?!]

[ourtomorrow]

Hhhnngghh....!!

[ Monarch has himself anchored to the ground with web. He'll perform the same feat for anyone who needs it. ]

[syrinfacet]

[ Galea holds her ground the best she can, snarling as the wingbeats send her scraping back, her claws gouging into the earth. Once the others have stopped moving... ]

BEHIND ME!

[ Her brilliant wings outstretch as she holds her ground, protective and resolute. Dragons were meant to protect others. That was what she was going to do. ]

[cancrymods]

[ You feel the pressure change first. Your ears pop as the air around you shifts, abruptly yanked into an updraft that batters your face as it goes, following the path set by the eerie purple fire still pouring into the sky. Then just as abruptly, it all stops – noise and motion both.

You only get an instant of reprieve though. Another deep boom of thunder rings out from the clouds, followed by a storm of tightly compressed flames that begin to hail down onto the group. Hot feels like an insufficient word to describe them – as they strike the ground, the temperature seems irrelevant to their purpose, secondary to the intend of burning, hurting and killing. With this sort of Wrath... no wonder the Layer is so barren.

It's getting hard to draw breath. ]

[crypddyd]

[Lion, still under the beast, is perhaps a little protected from the first firefall. But that means nothing for the heat. Pneuma boiling heat.

He sees it. He recognizes it. This hate that is wide and blanketing- that would ruin everything around it by it's mere existence. How could he not?]

Poor, pathetic beast. What ghosts are you snapping at? It matters not, I will put you to rest and show you the power of rage given purpose!

[His weapon is shattered, but he doesn't need it, tearing at the spot he was focusing on with laser intensity. Any pain and suffering of his allies and himself just fueled his need to cut a bit deeper, to wrap his teeth around the danger and never let go, like an Aegir hound at a horse's belly. Stubborn and mad but, unlike this creature, with a pure hot rightousness]

[emberserker]

[Wait, did Lion just --

Wolfsbane twirls her halberd and grasps it tightly, growling as she casts again.]

You think you can stifle a burning heart like mine? I don't care if they said I was untalented, I don't care if even these people don't understand! I! Am the new Carmine Witch!

[A pillar of flame will shoot up under Samael, if she doesn't manage to dodge.]

And this kind of thing is my domain!

[And with that, the fire will turn into ice. Hope you dodged in time!]

[ourtomorrow]

[ Wrath. Yes, this is the Wrath layer, thoughtless and cruel, thinking only of lashing out.....Lashing out.

Lashing out, like a boy with a whip. Lashing out, thoughtlessly, because it was easier than powering through. Easier than thinking.

It doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be mindless.

They've awoken. That's not a bad thing. Monarch frees himself of his own webbing, running towards the fight, towards the ice - he'll climb it, if he has to, to get there, to help.

And he screams, hoarse in the drying air. ]

Lion-san! Look for a weak point!!

1/2 . . . ?

[cancrymods]

[ Wrought with pure, passionate emotions, Achilles' shield snaps into place above the Executors and against all odds it tanks a good amount of the flames, sun battling against sun. Under their feet, a jagged floor of ice spreads out; Rei has stooped down, sword pressed into the blackened earth to cast frigid air as wide as she can, with enough grit and friction to keep everyone's feet under them. Combined, it makes things just barely tolerable and under the barrage of the Executors attacks–

It– doesn't seem like there's any change, the beast's scales are intact and it pushes forward to take another blow against them but then–

Then something

changes.

You don't understand what it is, but you feel it, deep in your gut. A sensation like the world has suddenly tilted on its axis and even the Wrath Layer seems to respond, quivering at its roots in response. Samael howls furiously, beating its wings against the boiling air but–

But you see cracks. Cracks in those scales, at last. Perhaps now if you push forward, you could–?! ]

2/2

[schardynfreude]

[There is so much going on that the Executors present would be forgiven for not noticing a blackened, smoking shape hurl through the superheated, fire-strewn cloud cover, hitting the ground with a pathetically dull noise.

It is not rock. And while the char is intense, one can still take in the appearance and realize that the reason for the soft, dull thud is because it's a body. It's a Revenant, or at least, you're pretty sure it once was one.

Though Samael's fury doesn't abate, even the dragon pauses for a brief moment at the sudden intrusion.

Ardyn comes freefalling after, through the small and momentary hole the charcoal body has made in the heated haze. The edges of his coat are singed but nothing more as he warps the last few feet to land neatly atop the wreckage of body, and he dusts himself off, seemingly paying little mind to the heat and the violent chaos before him.]

My apologies for being late, [vaguely singsong in quality as he bends low to dust off his trousers as well before straightening] but you were all taking so long that I simply had to come see what sort of trouble you had all gotten yourselves into.

[That sure is a fucking angry dragon. He seems oddly nonplussed about that development. Why, it even has cracks in it! Surely they've all been doing a wonderful job at fighting this thing together.]

Very large trouble, I see. Allow me to be of assistance.

[The moment he steps from the corpse, the instant his foot touches the ruined surface of Ira, there is

a further change. There is a sensation not unlike a pressure change, and a shift in paradigm to go with it, something felt, tugging inside, from Samael and rushing toward Ardyn.

There is a swirl of air around him, rapid and strong enough to billow his clothes and whip his hair, and even he is taken by apparent surprise. Strong enough to lift the whole of him, just enough, just enough that only a toe remains on the ground, and a sickly purple-pink glow surrounds him, infuses into him. This is not something you have ever quite witnessed before.

But it becomes apparent, in a way that is understood intrinsically and deeply and with assurance, what has happened.

The light and wind die away as quickly as they came, and Ardyn is left staring at his hands, flipping them over as though he sees something in a brand new light.

And laughs. A light, airy, delighted chuckle.]

Ah. Is that what that feels like? I suppose...that does make sense.

[He runs a hand through his unruly hair and steps forward with a renewed confidence as the new Authority of Wrath.]

[discutio]

Wh-...

[This felt...uncomfortably familiar.]

Chiron?

[daughterofthemark]

[...

......

Completely at a loss for words,
Veil blankly looks back and forth between Chiron and Samael. (How's Samael doing now, incidentally?)]

[crypddyd]

....

[Lion, who is full-on clinging to Samael's belly like a sloth, blinks at this development.

Then he forgets completely once he sees cracks forming. And just goes right back to snarling and tearing his hands into them. bitebitebitekill]

[twibeast]

[ There is a relief for a moment, seeing Chiron appear. He almost lets his shield down, almost reflexively runs toward him to make sure he's okay...

But a feeling of dread twists in the pit of his stomach. Something about this... is sickeningly familiar to him. Not to Achilles the dead, but to Orthrus the man he once was.

So he keeps his shield up and moves only a step forward. Just to put himself in the way if he needs to. ]

Chiron...

[mementomoritz]

Chiron!

[One of his fellow Executors, at least, is uncomplicatedly happy to see him. Medic wouldn't notice a danger sign if it was literally written in fire, and that hasn't changed.]

It's great you're here, this is really helping! [She's reaching out with Mantle to keep draining power off of Samael, and putting that energy back into boosting her fellow Executors whenever they're in range. Anyone who wants to take a boost here is welcome.] How are you feeling?

[She pauses and blinks, the implications of what just happened finally starting to register on a level beyond "interesting new data".] ...I mean, aside from "really angry", I guess?

You aren't hurt, are you?

[cancrymods]

[ None of you have ever seen a transfer of Authority like this – almost universally, it comes before things have ever reached this point and the Executors wield that power against the corrupted Aberrant. But with Ardyn siphoning that power, that status, the once impossibly fearsome dragon looks just a touch less fearsome than before. The horrible crushing heat that had been pressing down from the sky begins to break up and dissipate and seeing that cloud cover begin to break apart prompts a god-awful howl from Samael.

Or perhaps a scream. A horrible, terribly human scream.

Lion's hand breeches one of those cracks on the belly and from the inside of it, pneuma comes hosing out. But this time it's different – it's hot and liquid and molten, flowing like purple lava from the belly of the beast. Her wings beat and she takes to the sky again with Lion still clinging on – but you see even as she lifts off that huge chunks of her scales and claws are beginning to crumble away and shed. You're so close – just a little more to go! ]