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

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?

[schardynfreude]

We can save astonishment for later. Don't lose focus! [talk later, boss fight now!!]

[discutio]

...A fair point. [Yeah, this might as well happen. Twirling his sword around easily, he turned back in Samael's direction.]

But next time, perhaps, you might consider being a little more punctual.

[phantasmagorial]

. . . Chiron . . .

[ She's holding down the fort and keeping things as cool as she can, but under the safety of Achilles' shield, Rei's eyeing him with unmistakable concern. ]

[daughterofthemark]

[...

......

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

[cancrymods]

[ She's FUCKING FURIOUS, thanks for asking! :) ]

[daughterofthemark]

[And Veil's running out of Orders. Stupid multiple-phase boss battles making her burn through all her TP.]

[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...

[schardynfreude]

My dear, doing your best to keep everyone safe... Do keep it up. We aren't finished yet.

[If he's taken note of the way Achilles has reacted to this fun neat change, he says nothing of it. It's fine! Obviously!]

[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?

[schardynfreude]

No, not hurt. I had a safety net, after all. [Let's not dwell on where the hell he wrangled a Revenant from and how he managed to get one over the cliff.]

I'll certainly use whatever newfound power I've got to assist with this pest. I'd ask if anyone is injured, but... [He makes a little motion up? at Lion??] I imagine healing efforts will be focused on someone in particular.

[discutio]

Believe me, 'really angry' is nothing new.

[PHOENIX.]

[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! ]

[discutio]

[As she starts trying to take off, Phoenix moves to take a swing at the joint between wing and shoulder.]

[mostly because he can't the fuck reach you all the way up there, get back down here.]

[daughterofthemark]

[That sure is a weak point, and turns seem a little fuzzy right now but it's surely been long enough for her to use Frost Bomb again.]

Take her down!

[syrinfacet]

[ The longer the heat presses down on her, the more she can feel herself losing to her sin. Chiron becoming the new Authority alleviates some of the pressure she feels, the Wrath brimming just beneath her scales, but Galea knows a weak point when she sees one.

DRAGON TUSSLE, ROUND TWO. Galea roars, snarling, hooks her claws deep into crumbling scales. She's going to tear Samael apart. ]

[emberserker]

Not so overpowered now, are you? I'll rip you to shreds and feed you your own skeleton!

[Does that even make -- whatever, she's cackling and swinging her axe, casting a huge fire-and-ice tornado at Samael.]

[twibeast]

[ Oh goddess, LAVA?!?!

Yeah he is keeping the shield up and maybe also lowering it a bit closer to the ground so if it any of that comes there way it can at least be diverted around himself and the ones he’s protecting. ]

[crypddyd]

[Oh... oh lava running down his arm. That's bad! Lion bellows, his armor saving him from instant firey death but not from the pain of it. Still though he hangs on, a fall from this height is likely to kill him even as an Executor if he landed badly. As Samael is peppered with more attacks he starts to claw his way toward her back- as much as he wants to keep tearing at her belly it would surely kill him to stay where he is.

So instead he clambers up up... towards a wing, the same one Phoenix attacked... and tries to grab it and wrench as hard as his super strength can manage]

[schardynfreude]

[For his part, here to assist as a brand new Authority, Ardyn holds out a hand and crystalline summons up his fuckoff huge scythe. His outfit flutters, and instead of his normal white robes so ubiquitous to his Executor outfit, he now looks...well, like slightly more of a trash-heap than usual. It's fine!

With Samael in the air, the dragon might still be out of range without a good warp or two, and touching is right out.]

Seems Lion might attempt to ride the damned thing. [He sounds more impressed than worried. He takes off at a run, leaping up with a swing of his weapon toward the other wing, wondering if perhaps he still might be able to catch it without wasting a warp-] Make way!

[mementomoritz]

[Medic reaches out with Mantle's tendrils, to strike and to drain... but also, one last time, with her senses.]

[Samael is hurt, and furious, and dying.]

[Somehow, it seems important that she watch as closely as she can, so that at the end the dragon won't feel alone.]

1/2

[cancrymods]

[ Even this deep into Purgatory, even running on the fumes of a hate and rage that could destroy an entire Layer of the afterlife... not even Samael can stand up to the combined might of the Executors at their best.

She only manages to get a few feet off the ground before her wing ruptures, splintering thanks to the efforts of Phoenix and Lion. Down, down she goes, crashing down with an incredible din... directly into the powerful assault from the rest of the Executors. Wolfsbane's tornado whips Veil's Frost Bomb up with itself and combined, they smash into Samael shatter the horns adorning her head, removing one of her most deadly weapons.

The dragon howls and beats its remaining wing to try and get back onto the end, but just as soon as it summons up a breeze, Ardyn's scythe cuts through it like butter – the scalding, raging power of the Wrath Authority turned against its previous owner. Like that, there's absolutely no escape from the might of her fellow dragon's claws. They strike true and with a horrible wet ripping noise, a huge chunk of Samael's scales are shattered and broken away, leaving globs of lava leaking from her wounds.

For a moment, she stills. But then – Medic is the first to feel it, connected to the great beast as she is. Hate. Hate. Hate. Broken and dying and dead as she is, even having her body crumble isn't enough to extinguish that sort of rage. The dragon's shattered and broken form lunges forward, aiming to close its jaws over the closest Executor - ]