(( Author's Note: We're finally here. At the top of his quiet sanctuary far above the Docks, Shion will retake his original form here. As such, I'll be inserting musical cues so that you might more easily visualize the incident. That said, don't be worried if you can't find some of them. I had a hard time locating one track in particular. Additionally, any and all characters mentioned here have been approved by the involved players. Lastly, I'm using orange for Shion because yellow will hurt my eyes and likely yours, too. In any case, here we go! ))
The Castle Omnia, Abberation's Summit, Time Unknown...
One, two, and at last three...
Three sigil-borne rifts began to tear through space-time's fabric to deposit their requisite lords therein. At last, the cloaked schemer, the feckless youth, and the waistcoat-wearing degenerate stood at the eve of their conjoined triumph. Poised were they about the seething mist that had been spewing from the veritable coffin of a throne whereupon Scionius sat. As one of the three raised a palm into the air in the seated man's direction, said man came to feel the invisible shackles around his wrists, his legs, and his arms - along with his time - loosen to the point of invalidation. Rising to his feet, the newly invigorated male folded his arms over his chest in defiance of the world around him: an utter anathema to the means by which he had chosen to exist. Glancing to the three he was beset by, he hardly needed to guess at what was about to happen. At his silent behest, the prideful being stepped away from his prison to the empty, fourth position in order to properly set the stage. A lowered palm from the cloaked one sent the throne sliding back into the stone and crystal from which it was erected.
"Not much time remains to us.....Let us be swift about this."
{ - Cue "Open the Gate" from Blazblue Calamity Trigger - }
Each of the others nodded in response, the youth having been clad in silken, ceremonial robes all the while seeming a tad....bewildered by comparison to the other two. Nevertheless, the three sauntered over to their designated places. Soon enough, the youngest Shion was surrounded by his three 'elder' selves in a notably triangular fashion. At once, the runes beneath their frames sprang to life, emitting a light correspondent to the temperament of each: Jade for Shu, Violet for Shion, Crimson for Scionius, and finally Alabaster for the young lad in their midst. Without warning, twelve individuals in cloaks of the deepest abyss appeared from the same rifts that the three had prior, completing an equidistant, circular perimeter about the four lords. No doubt, their arrival weighed heavily on the eldest of the four fragments' minds, and yet his calm remained ne'er faltering. He had a single purpose to fulfill, and fulfill it he would. Now that the light had all but enveloped them, all three elder lords extended an arm toward the young master. Finally, the cloaked one deigned to speak before them all.
"State your will your lot, that you might be accepted by our true form and taken back to whence we came."
"Hnhn. Right. Name's Shu....Lord of Chaos and Order....I am your past, Original One."
"Hmph. I am known as Scionius....Lord over Power....I am your present, Original One."
"And at last....You may refer to me as Shion, my lord. I am the Lord who represents your Will and our Conjoined Destiny. Alongside you and the others....I am your future, Original One. May you receive us with your blessing, that we might once again be returned to the whole."
Slowly did the youngest Shion's eyelids part to observe the three in turn, unveiling his amethyst hues and the golden, four-point stars he bore as pupils. Gazing upon Shu, the unaware adolescent's shimmering gems drifted closed, the boy nodding in acquiescence of both the First Lord's Chaos and Order. Secondly, he shifted his gaze to take Scionius into his sight. Once more, he nodded in witness of the Second Lord's Power. Finally, the boy averted his gaze from them that he might see his Will. The cloaked male's hunched-over form would seem a tad brittle and weakened, but he found it a suitable cost for what he stood to gain from taking him back. At last, the boy nodded in complete acceptance of his Destiny, arms outstretched that he might receive them all with that solemn visage of his. Thereby, given the young one's silent leave, the three willingly relinquished their physical forms and became spheres of the similar light to that which the runes had previously borne upon them. They then wound themselves around the adolescent, encircling him in a soft hover with a gradual increase in speed upon the completion of each rotation about him. As his eyes once more slipped closed, the remaining Shion then spoke in a voice deeper and more unyielding than any one of them had ever exhibited in their time in RhyDin, regarding each of the spheres with a quiet adoration.
"Forgive me, you three. It has been too long since I reclaimed you. You have served me faithfully, and are indeed deserving of your rightful place herein. Whatever occurs after this is merely the path we shall walk together, and of one accord. The culmination of efforts from eons past returns....anew."
{ - Cue "maleficus" from Blazblue Chrono Phantasma - }
The spheres then halted their rotation and gradually began to enter his body, slipping harmlessly into the folds of his ornate robes. In the same instant, a spire of intense light engulfed the youth and obscured his body in its entirety whilst all twelve cloaked figures around them raised their arms to the sky; said night sky then began to twist and distort in the space around the floating sky fortress with the structure shuddering under the pulsating weights of all four, now-resonant power sources. The spire pierced into the cloud cover above the grandiose temple, sending waves of energy and temporal-spacial ripples throughout the surrounding area; although, the brunt of said ripples met with cessation once they reached the harbor below. E'er long, the distressing turbulence of the event deadened and quieted as a lone sphere of golden light descended from the clouds back to the castle's summit peak. The bare feet of pristine, dark skin met for the first time in eons with solid ground in the form of dark crystal and obsidian stone as the ceremonial robes that Shion had worn before settled around a new frame. Where the youth once stood, a much taller man boasting wild, flowing locks of ivory came to be situated, at which instance all twelve of the cloaked entities then knelt in reverence. At last, his wispy vocals solidified into their rightful tone as the man started to speak, his uncannily practiced manner befitting that of an ages-old entity.
"So, 'twas here that I was summoned. Hmhm. It has been....far too long..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{ - Cue "Kiss of Chaos" from Final Fantasy XIV - }
The heavy scrawling of quill to paper came to an abrupt stop as Zynisch peered over to the window of his office in Crios. In the wake of that odd anomaly in time and space, he'd positioned the space-displaced pane so that it would display the view of the docks from even his gloomy residence. That said, when he caught sight of it fully manifesting and forming red clouds around it, the instructor bolted up from his chair, quickly grasped his cloak, and ambled out the doorway without a second thought. Zyn's mind was awash with a number of alternate possibilities. He didn't want to consider what was ultimately the most likely scenario. He didn't want to even consider his old master's return a possibility. It wasn't in him to countenance a situation like that so willingly. He'd not even given himself the time to prepare, as he'd rightfully gotten himself more caught up in Crios matters.
"Did you hear that, Izumi?" he inquired through his communication crystal as the corridor by which the room was connected to the rom deposited him on the docks by the harbor. Indeed, though it was a ways off, the castle was very much there when it had only occasionally appeared during specific meteorological circumstances. This wasn't good. This was anything but good.
"Yeah, it's really there now. Listen, I want you to wait outside my cottage for me. If all goes how I foresee it, I may require a few days' rest afte—"
"...No, you can't come with me. I don't even want to go right now! ....Yeah, it's probably too late to stop it from happening, but maybe I can stop him before he becomes an issue."
"How" I dunno. Something tells me whatever was protecting it from intruders is gone. I could probably just spirit myself over there."
"...I know. I will."
"...I love you, too."
That said, he released his hold on the crystal concealed with his robes, lamenting silent volumes on how he'd let it come to this. Heaving another sigh, he slammed a palm to his chest and dispersed his body into the crystal shards it was composed of, artificial winds guiding his traversal of the harbor toward the floating fortress above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{ - Cue "Awakening / Kakusei" from Blazblue, Alter Memory - }
As the light from the grandiose occurrence faded into the gloom of the darkened sky that came to be before it, the newly reconstituted entity busied himself with ascertaining the limits of his new form. Tentatively, he twitched the first of his ten digits, confirming that it did, in fact, move in accordance with his wishes. To be truly sure, he sequentially moved all the remaining nine, in tandem getting a feeling for each and every bit of muscle tissue that held his human form together. As if on impulse, he clutched his now tenuous left hand into a tight fist, raising it and its requisite arm to further test just how real this experience was.
Breathtaking.
Such was chief among his surging thoughts as he stretched his arm out forward as far as it would reach before real pain set in, simultaneously forming a tightly-clenched fist with his opposite hand. There was a minute difference the second time around, for as he dug his nails into his palm, the male Hume actually winced rather than feigning injury like his other forms had in the past to lend credence to their overtly 'human' bodies. Reflexively did both arms fall to each side of him, limping hanging as he had ordained it. Only now would he do the unthinkable and proceed with slowly opening his eyes to the world around him. As the taut creases parted, the whites of his sclerae would shimmer themselves into existence before settling into a more natural, unlit appearance. By contrast, the violet irises that formed as the white melted away around them gave off a soft emission of luster, likening them more to gemstones than actual hues. At last, the slits of pure goldenrod that individually and neatly fit themselves in the midst of each violet and alabaster sea attained a radiance brighter still than the irises before them. A soft crackling in his neck sounded as he craned his head from left to right, cementing in his mind the reality of his body. Finally, he parted his lips to speak, his eyelids narrowing as he peered past the twelve about him to the crimson cloud cover beyond.
"How truly sorry a place this is....What could have possibly prompted them to make this their home" Hm-hm....No, let's not linger on that note now. There are still several things I need to be sure of," the Hume spoke as his body's latent and long dormant energies welled up inside him, causing the castle and even the air about the structure to quake shudder once again. Wisps of white and golden light began to snake upward from his form, billowing into the air like an odd, ghostly haze. Ere long, a red-violet glyph of light not dissimilar to a rune appeared below him prior to spiriting his still-steady frame into the air far above its former resting place. With his arms once again outstretched, he conjured another seven runes in the air around him almost instantaneously. "Flare Star Omega....Idle Formation," he suddenly uttered aloud, coercing the jettison of several larges spheres of dark-violet and ruby energy outward from the runes. Once they made their procedural downward and successive upward arcs toward each other, they collided with and absorbed each other in order to collapse into a much, MUCH larger sphere of intense smoldering flames beneath which the Hume's hand was poised. As he closed his fingers inward toward his palm, the sphere diminished in size until it ultimately snuffed itself out with his hand's complete closure.
Satisfactory.
Yet another of his thoughts pushed to the forefront of his mind with the summary descent of his glyphic platform back to the summit of his unholy temple. Once his feet touched down, his shadow began to twist about and distort as it....rose up from its constraints and solidified into a humanoid likeness boasting a fierce expression, wildly unkempt scarlet hair, bronzed skin littered with superficial red scales, moderately-sized crimson wings, a similarly crimson tail, and ruby irises that encompassed brimstone slits: Shard's ghost, as it were. Gesturing to the ground with a palm, another of those glyphs, cerulean in color, formed at the point whereupon he'd fixed his gaze. In a flash of blue light, another humanoid stood, bearing a much more feminine guise that consisted of pale, blue skin dotted by small, indigo crystals and chilly eyes that threatened to become ice themselves: Star's phantom. So, the Lady Nyx and Silhouette's "Stria Forme" had persisted alongside his now amplified prowess with magicks"
"Hn-hn. You have seen better days. Friends, I will not ask thy forgiveness on the part of my fragments. In its stead, I merely ask that you serve me well in these final moments that you two yet bear your leashes. Now..."
{ - Cue "Nemesis Horizon" from Blazblue Chrono Phantasma - }
With care, their master lifted a hand to his own chest and brought from within it a cryst of pulsing red and black. Silently, he pressed it against and then into Stria's chest. Without warning, a number of seals extended outward in a number of directions from the center of his chest wherein said crystal rested until they essentially engulfed the shadow simulacrum's form. The sudden sensation of power beating within the silhouetted being's chest then forced it to shrunk and mold its body into a spheroid of shade which the man then forced into the sky with another of his instantaneous runes.
"Come, oh hallowed father of eidolons....my precious Bahamut Infinity....With thy all-enveloping Exaflare, let this world be rent asunder to make way for real progress..."
Once situated at a favorable altitude, the darkened sphere of red and black ichor abruptly expanded, bloating substantially to facilitate a truly monstrous size. From the seal markings that littered its body came a single crest of light at the apex of its nethermost quadrant. A foul, viscous liquid then dribbled free from the marking as a winged creature of absurd proportions separated from the bottom of the magnanimous sphere. Unfurling its insane wingspan, the unruly beast reeled its head back and let loose a roar thunderous enough to briefly disperse the immediate cloud cover near its form. However, before it could begin mustering up the necessary spellforce with which to unleash its deadly deluge of flame upon the lands, it was stricken by a lavender light arc reminiscent of an augmented blade's sheen. The massive creature briefly drooped in its hover, coming to a stop and lazily hanging in the air. This drew a raised brow from the robed man as he leisurely cast his mildly annoyed gaze to the opposite edge of the castle's summit. Crystalline matter promptly collected and coalesced into the crouching frame of a cloaked man; no sooner did the twelve turn their hooded heads to face the interloper. Though they made to conjure a significant number of spells with their own runic projections, they swiftly silenced them the moment the man in the middle raised his hand to quiet them.
"And....Who might you be? Remove your hood that I might look upon one so deserved of my attentions," he called out as calmly as being forced to yell would permit him, folding his arms laxly in front of his abdomen in waiting.
The intruder subsequently took to his feet and removed his hood to reveal his lengthy, indigo braid and bangs whilst they whipped against the turbulent winds below the wingbeat of such a massive wyrm. Of all the dragonkin he'd seen, this one had certainly eclipsed even the largest in size and likely purpose. Sheathing his ghostly blade, Yuurei, he called unto the ornately-dressed man, making a note of his appearance for further study later....should he survive this encounter.
"I am known as Zynisch Lucis! I am the Covetous Moon of the Goddess, Amaterasu, and sworn protector of the Coven and Academy of Bristle Crios! As for you....Would you happen to be....Scionius, the Dread Lord"!"
He took in his words and failed in his latter attempts at resistance of his chuckling habit. In fact, it soon devolved into uproarious chortling as he clutched his chest. What a riot that was. Though his humor would be received, it was quickly rebuffed seeing as a pair of gem-encrusted blades leapt into this Zynisch's hands, seemingly demonstrating his seriousness nature. The unnamed man then positioned his arms at with palms right upward and fingers curled as though they were mimicking claws. At last, he deigned to speak.
"Hn-hn-hn. That name is familiar enough to these ears. You must have been someone that my present self once entertained the favor of. Nevertheless, Dreaded Scionius is rendered naught....as have the elderly Shion, Shu, and that boy. They were, and have always been a part of me. For I am the truth of all three of them. I am Shion Maegne of the Everseer Clan....and the long-foretold heir to this and every world. Need I prove it, I shall in time; however, this gambit for vengeance has run its course. Bahamut has lost much of its tempered force....Even were I to try again now, it would be a while yet before it could perform the world-bathing cataclysm that I so very much desire."
That was the last straw that Zynisch had left to sunder. Extending his arm forward and slamming it against his shoulder, his body was subject to a wash of luminescence all whilst the glowing essence of a large blade manifested in front of him. His armor soon fixed itself to his body, allowing him to grasp the sword's hilt effigy and draw it out of its dimensional sheathe. It took to hands to hold such a large blade, but it was well worth it for the sheer potency it offered: so he thought, anyway. With said blade firmly in hand, he lunged forward, dragging the huge edge along the ground only to bring it upward when he figured he had closed enough distance. With the swing, the whole of the armor resonated, directing an impressive wave of perceptible, holy light in Shion's direction. Alas, he would learn the hard way what it meant to be someone like the Everseer Lord.
{ - Cue "Audience" from Blazblue Continuum Shift - }
"Hm-hm-hm. As much as I would love it..." he trailed off, reaching up to intercept the burst of energy. The aether sword appeared to meet his hand; although, in truth it was halted in the last moment....by a ripple in space time" Using the realm of RhyDin as both his shield and a distraction, he allotted the others present the time to prepare a countermeasure. Nyx, on a silent sort of cue, wrapped her body in a whirlwind of frost that culminated in a large shard of ice. When it shattered, a large female of almost elven nature took her place, fashioning a lengthy shard of ice to lob at the unfortunate knight. Though he managed to swing his hefty sword to shatter the ice, his impromptu defensive measure robbed him of the ability to see his twelve other assailants, seven of whom had already begun launching beams of highly-concentrated light in his direction. The successive shielding he made for himself sent him sliding back toward the edge of the tower's summit. He'd not the clout to take on this many mages at once. He was nowhere near ready to do so without an advantage of some sort. Anti-Magic would have hindered his transformation were he able to cast it successfully. Zynisch peered over his Zweihander's barrier to hopefully catch a point of vantage, only to be buffeted by a hailstorm channeled by the witch of ice that had attacked him before.
"Tch! Not....not now....I can't lose here....Not like this!"
"...I'm afraid I haven't the time to deal with you. You have impressed me by halting the Wyrmking with your sword's exceedingly sharp edge, but as it stands, I have no interest in the whims of a knight errant. This is farewell," he ended with, crushing the fizzling wave that was worthy of his defense before in the now steaming palm of his hand. That was it....Pain. Pain was what would drive him now. The agony of the potential for death would serve as the end of his stagnation. Mercilessly, he would conjure up a wave of the same ripples and gesture in his direction. It traveled with unimaginable speed, embedding itself in his sword and promptly sundering it, and with the severing of his sword, so too came the end of his defensive capability. Instantly, he was beset on all sides by light and frost, almost flash-freezing when they reached him. With nothing keeping him from doing so, he tumbled from the heights of the spire upon which they had danced, eventually slamming into the water below with force enough to shatter his original human body several times over.
"Such is the fate of all who would oppose the will of a Everseer....Let us be off. There's work to be done."
With Nyx's dispelling of the Shiva's summoning to regain her avatar form, she returned to Shion's side. Soon, all twelve cloaked beings retook their original positions, albeit with arms risen to the heavens above. Twelve glyphs formed above each of them, whirring to life in order to fashion the thirteenth glyph beneath that spanned the full breadth of the castle. The last of the thirteen signs gradually spun to life, alight with the spellforce of twelve debatable archmages in their own right....and a thirteenth in the form of Shion's passive casting. Moments later, the castle and the now slumbering wyrm disappeared from sight and sense. The clouds finally calmed to resemble the night sky again, and the moon regained its place as the brightest visible thing amid the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alas, the fallen knight reformed from being reduced to crystal vapor into his regular, human glamour, left adrift among the waves in the sea that led to the Docks nearby. He solemnly contemplated his situation, as by this point he was left with no other option. Somehow, this Shion Maegne both was his old master and wasn't, but regardless of whom he had become, he was now in a league of his own....He didn't think he could get any stronger than he was, but with him casually weaving and threading space and time itself to create a shield, the circumstances had become more dire than even his worst-case scenario.
"Arthour....What do I do now?"
END
The Castle Omnia, Abberation's Summit, Time Unknown...
One, two, and at last three...
Three sigil-borne rifts began to tear through space-time's fabric to deposit their requisite lords therein. At last, the cloaked schemer, the feckless youth, and the waistcoat-wearing degenerate stood at the eve of their conjoined triumph. Poised were they about the seething mist that had been spewing from the veritable coffin of a throne whereupon Scionius sat. As one of the three raised a palm into the air in the seated man's direction, said man came to feel the invisible shackles around his wrists, his legs, and his arms - along with his time - loosen to the point of invalidation. Rising to his feet, the newly invigorated male folded his arms over his chest in defiance of the world around him: an utter anathema to the means by which he had chosen to exist. Glancing to the three he was beset by, he hardly needed to guess at what was about to happen. At his silent behest, the prideful being stepped away from his prison to the empty, fourth position in order to properly set the stage. A lowered palm from the cloaked one sent the throne sliding back into the stone and crystal from which it was erected.
"Not much time remains to us.....Let us be swift about this."
{ - Cue "Open the Gate" from Blazblue Calamity Trigger - }
Each of the others nodded in response, the youth having been clad in silken, ceremonial robes all the while seeming a tad....bewildered by comparison to the other two. Nevertheless, the three sauntered over to their designated places. Soon enough, the youngest Shion was surrounded by his three 'elder' selves in a notably triangular fashion. At once, the runes beneath their frames sprang to life, emitting a light correspondent to the temperament of each: Jade for Shu, Violet for Shion, Crimson for Scionius, and finally Alabaster for the young lad in their midst. Without warning, twelve individuals in cloaks of the deepest abyss appeared from the same rifts that the three had prior, completing an equidistant, circular perimeter about the four lords. No doubt, their arrival weighed heavily on the eldest of the four fragments' minds, and yet his calm remained ne'er faltering. He had a single purpose to fulfill, and fulfill it he would. Now that the light had all but enveloped them, all three elder lords extended an arm toward the young master. Finally, the cloaked one deigned to speak before them all.
"State your will your lot, that you might be accepted by our true form and taken back to whence we came."
"Hnhn. Right. Name's Shu....Lord of Chaos and Order....I am your past, Original One."
"Hmph. I am known as Scionius....Lord over Power....I am your present, Original One."
"And at last....You may refer to me as Shion, my lord. I am the Lord who represents your Will and our Conjoined Destiny. Alongside you and the others....I am your future, Original One. May you receive us with your blessing, that we might once again be returned to the whole."
Slowly did the youngest Shion's eyelids part to observe the three in turn, unveiling his amethyst hues and the golden, four-point stars he bore as pupils. Gazing upon Shu, the unaware adolescent's shimmering gems drifted closed, the boy nodding in acquiescence of both the First Lord's Chaos and Order. Secondly, he shifted his gaze to take Scionius into his sight. Once more, he nodded in witness of the Second Lord's Power. Finally, the boy averted his gaze from them that he might see his Will. The cloaked male's hunched-over form would seem a tad brittle and weakened, but he found it a suitable cost for what he stood to gain from taking him back. At last, the boy nodded in complete acceptance of his Destiny, arms outstretched that he might receive them all with that solemn visage of his. Thereby, given the young one's silent leave, the three willingly relinquished their physical forms and became spheres of the similar light to that which the runes had previously borne upon them. They then wound themselves around the adolescent, encircling him in a soft hover with a gradual increase in speed upon the completion of each rotation about him. As his eyes once more slipped closed, the remaining Shion then spoke in a voice deeper and more unyielding than any one of them had ever exhibited in their time in RhyDin, regarding each of the spheres with a quiet adoration.
"Forgive me, you three. It has been too long since I reclaimed you. You have served me faithfully, and are indeed deserving of your rightful place herein. Whatever occurs after this is merely the path we shall walk together, and of one accord. The culmination of efforts from eons past returns....anew."
{ - Cue "maleficus" from Blazblue Chrono Phantasma - }
The spheres then halted their rotation and gradually began to enter his body, slipping harmlessly into the folds of his ornate robes. In the same instant, a spire of intense light engulfed the youth and obscured his body in its entirety whilst all twelve cloaked figures around them raised their arms to the sky; said night sky then began to twist and distort in the space around the floating sky fortress with the structure shuddering under the pulsating weights of all four, now-resonant power sources. The spire pierced into the cloud cover above the grandiose temple, sending waves of energy and temporal-spacial ripples throughout the surrounding area; although, the brunt of said ripples met with cessation once they reached the harbor below. E'er long, the distressing turbulence of the event deadened and quieted as a lone sphere of golden light descended from the clouds back to the castle's summit peak. The bare feet of pristine, dark skin met for the first time in eons with solid ground in the form of dark crystal and obsidian stone as the ceremonial robes that Shion had worn before settled around a new frame. Where the youth once stood, a much taller man boasting wild, flowing locks of ivory came to be situated, at which instance all twelve of the cloaked entities then knelt in reverence. At last, his wispy vocals solidified into their rightful tone as the man started to speak, his uncannily practiced manner befitting that of an ages-old entity.
"So, 'twas here that I was summoned. Hmhm. It has been....far too long..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{ - Cue "Kiss of Chaos" from Final Fantasy XIV - }
The heavy scrawling of quill to paper came to an abrupt stop as Zynisch peered over to the window of his office in Crios. In the wake of that odd anomaly in time and space, he'd positioned the space-displaced pane so that it would display the view of the docks from even his gloomy residence. That said, when he caught sight of it fully manifesting and forming red clouds around it, the instructor bolted up from his chair, quickly grasped his cloak, and ambled out the doorway without a second thought. Zyn's mind was awash with a number of alternate possibilities. He didn't want to consider what was ultimately the most likely scenario. He didn't want to even consider his old master's return a possibility. It wasn't in him to countenance a situation like that so willingly. He'd not even given himself the time to prepare, as he'd rightfully gotten himself more caught up in Crios matters.
"Did you hear that, Izumi?" he inquired through his communication crystal as the corridor by which the room was connected to the rom deposited him on the docks by the harbor. Indeed, though it was a ways off, the castle was very much there when it had only occasionally appeared during specific meteorological circumstances. This wasn't good. This was anything but good.
"Yeah, it's really there now. Listen, I want you to wait outside my cottage for me. If all goes how I foresee it, I may require a few days' rest afte—"
"...No, you can't come with me. I don't even want to go right now! ....Yeah, it's probably too late to stop it from happening, but maybe I can stop him before he becomes an issue."
"How" I dunno. Something tells me whatever was protecting it from intruders is gone. I could probably just spirit myself over there."
"...I know. I will."
"...I love you, too."
That said, he released his hold on the crystal concealed with his robes, lamenting silent volumes on how he'd let it come to this. Heaving another sigh, he slammed a palm to his chest and dispersed his body into the crystal shards it was composed of, artificial winds guiding his traversal of the harbor toward the floating fortress above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{ - Cue "Awakening / Kakusei" from Blazblue, Alter Memory - }
As the light from the grandiose occurrence faded into the gloom of the darkened sky that came to be before it, the newly reconstituted entity busied himself with ascertaining the limits of his new form. Tentatively, he twitched the first of his ten digits, confirming that it did, in fact, move in accordance with his wishes. To be truly sure, he sequentially moved all the remaining nine, in tandem getting a feeling for each and every bit of muscle tissue that held his human form together. As if on impulse, he clutched his now tenuous left hand into a tight fist, raising it and its requisite arm to further test just how real this experience was.
Breathtaking.
Such was chief among his surging thoughts as he stretched his arm out forward as far as it would reach before real pain set in, simultaneously forming a tightly-clenched fist with his opposite hand. There was a minute difference the second time around, for as he dug his nails into his palm, the male Hume actually winced rather than feigning injury like his other forms had in the past to lend credence to their overtly 'human' bodies. Reflexively did both arms fall to each side of him, limping hanging as he had ordained it. Only now would he do the unthinkable and proceed with slowly opening his eyes to the world around him. As the taut creases parted, the whites of his sclerae would shimmer themselves into existence before settling into a more natural, unlit appearance. By contrast, the violet irises that formed as the white melted away around them gave off a soft emission of luster, likening them more to gemstones than actual hues. At last, the slits of pure goldenrod that individually and neatly fit themselves in the midst of each violet and alabaster sea attained a radiance brighter still than the irises before them. A soft crackling in his neck sounded as he craned his head from left to right, cementing in his mind the reality of his body. Finally, he parted his lips to speak, his eyelids narrowing as he peered past the twelve about him to the crimson cloud cover beyond.
"How truly sorry a place this is....What could have possibly prompted them to make this their home" Hm-hm....No, let's not linger on that note now. There are still several things I need to be sure of," the Hume spoke as his body's latent and long dormant energies welled up inside him, causing the castle and even the air about the structure to quake shudder once again. Wisps of white and golden light began to snake upward from his form, billowing into the air like an odd, ghostly haze. Ere long, a red-violet glyph of light not dissimilar to a rune appeared below him prior to spiriting his still-steady frame into the air far above its former resting place. With his arms once again outstretched, he conjured another seven runes in the air around him almost instantaneously. "Flare Star Omega....Idle Formation," he suddenly uttered aloud, coercing the jettison of several larges spheres of dark-violet and ruby energy outward from the runes. Once they made their procedural downward and successive upward arcs toward each other, they collided with and absorbed each other in order to collapse into a much, MUCH larger sphere of intense smoldering flames beneath which the Hume's hand was poised. As he closed his fingers inward toward his palm, the sphere diminished in size until it ultimately snuffed itself out with his hand's complete closure.
Satisfactory.
Yet another of his thoughts pushed to the forefront of his mind with the summary descent of his glyphic platform back to the summit of his unholy temple. Once his feet touched down, his shadow began to twist about and distort as it....rose up from its constraints and solidified into a humanoid likeness boasting a fierce expression, wildly unkempt scarlet hair, bronzed skin littered with superficial red scales, moderately-sized crimson wings, a similarly crimson tail, and ruby irises that encompassed brimstone slits: Shard's ghost, as it were. Gesturing to the ground with a palm, another of those glyphs, cerulean in color, formed at the point whereupon he'd fixed his gaze. In a flash of blue light, another humanoid stood, bearing a much more feminine guise that consisted of pale, blue skin dotted by small, indigo crystals and chilly eyes that threatened to become ice themselves: Star's phantom. So, the Lady Nyx and Silhouette's "Stria Forme" had persisted alongside his now amplified prowess with magicks"
"Hn-hn. You have seen better days. Friends, I will not ask thy forgiveness on the part of my fragments. In its stead, I merely ask that you serve me well in these final moments that you two yet bear your leashes. Now..."
{ - Cue "Nemesis Horizon" from Blazblue Chrono Phantasma - }
With care, their master lifted a hand to his own chest and brought from within it a cryst of pulsing red and black. Silently, he pressed it against and then into Stria's chest. Without warning, a number of seals extended outward in a number of directions from the center of his chest wherein said crystal rested until they essentially engulfed the shadow simulacrum's form. The sudden sensation of power beating within the silhouetted being's chest then forced it to shrunk and mold its body into a spheroid of shade which the man then forced into the sky with another of his instantaneous runes.
"Come, oh hallowed father of eidolons....my precious Bahamut Infinity....With thy all-enveloping Exaflare, let this world be rent asunder to make way for real progress..."
Once situated at a favorable altitude, the darkened sphere of red and black ichor abruptly expanded, bloating substantially to facilitate a truly monstrous size. From the seal markings that littered its body came a single crest of light at the apex of its nethermost quadrant. A foul, viscous liquid then dribbled free from the marking as a winged creature of absurd proportions separated from the bottom of the magnanimous sphere. Unfurling its insane wingspan, the unruly beast reeled its head back and let loose a roar thunderous enough to briefly disperse the immediate cloud cover near its form. However, before it could begin mustering up the necessary spellforce with which to unleash its deadly deluge of flame upon the lands, it was stricken by a lavender light arc reminiscent of an augmented blade's sheen. The massive creature briefly drooped in its hover, coming to a stop and lazily hanging in the air. This drew a raised brow from the robed man as he leisurely cast his mildly annoyed gaze to the opposite edge of the castle's summit. Crystalline matter promptly collected and coalesced into the crouching frame of a cloaked man; no sooner did the twelve turn their hooded heads to face the interloper. Though they made to conjure a significant number of spells with their own runic projections, they swiftly silenced them the moment the man in the middle raised his hand to quiet them.
"And....Who might you be? Remove your hood that I might look upon one so deserved of my attentions," he called out as calmly as being forced to yell would permit him, folding his arms laxly in front of his abdomen in waiting.
The intruder subsequently took to his feet and removed his hood to reveal his lengthy, indigo braid and bangs whilst they whipped against the turbulent winds below the wingbeat of such a massive wyrm. Of all the dragonkin he'd seen, this one had certainly eclipsed even the largest in size and likely purpose. Sheathing his ghostly blade, Yuurei, he called unto the ornately-dressed man, making a note of his appearance for further study later....should he survive this encounter.
"I am known as Zynisch Lucis! I am the Covetous Moon of the Goddess, Amaterasu, and sworn protector of the Coven and Academy of Bristle Crios! As for you....Would you happen to be....Scionius, the Dread Lord"!"
He took in his words and failed in his latter attempts at resistance of his chuckling habit. In fact, it soon devolved into uproarious chortling as he clutched his chest. What a riot that was. Though his humor would be received, it was quickly rebuffed seeing as a pair of gem-encrusted blades leapt into this Zynisch's hands, seemingly demonstrating his seriousness nature. The unnamed man then positioned his arms at with palms right upward and fingers curled as though they were mimicking claws. At last, he deigned to speak.
"Hn-hn-hn. That name is familiar enough to these ears. You must have been someone that my present self once entertained the favor of. Nevertheless, Dreaded Scionius is rendered naught....as have the elderly Shion, Shu, and that boy. They were, and have always been a part of me. For I am the truth of all three of them. I am Shion Maegne of the Everseer Clan....and the long-foretold heir to this and every world. Need I prove it, I shall in time; however, this gambit for vengeance has run its course. Bahamut has lost much of its tempered force....Even were I to try again now, it would be a while yet before it could perform the world-bathing cataclysm that I so very much desire."
That was the last straw that Zynisch had left to sunder. Extending his arm forward and slamming it against his shoulder, his body was subject to a wash of luminescence all whilst the glowing essence of a large blade manifested in front of him. His armor soon fixed itself to his body, allowing him to grasp the sword's hilt effigy and draw it out of its dimensional sheathe. It took to hands to hold such a large blade, but it was well worth it for the sheer potency it offered: so he thought, anyway. With said blade firmly in hand, he lunged forward, dragging the huge edge along the ground only to bring it upward when he figured he had closed enough distance. With the swing, the whole of the armor resonated, directing an impressive wave of perceptible, holy light in Shion's direction. Alas, he would learn the hard way what it meant to be someone like the Everseer Lord.
{ - Cue "Audience" from Blazblue Continuum Shift - }
"Hm-hm-hm. As much as I would love it..." he trailed off, reaching up to intercept the burst of energy. The aether sword appeared to meet his hand; although, in truth it was halted in the last moment....by a ripple in space time" Using the realm of RhyDin as both his shield and a distraction, he allotted the others present the time to prepare a countermeasure. Nyx, on a silent sort of cue, wrapped her body in a whirlwind of frost that culminated in a large shard of ice. When it shattered, a large female of almost elven nature took her place, fashioning a lengthy shard of ice to lob at the unfortunate knight. Though he managed to swing his hefty sword to shatter the ice, his impromptu defensive measure robbed him of the ability to see his twelve other assailants, seven of whom had already begun launching beams of highly-concentrated light in his direction. The successive shielding he made for himself sent him sliding back toward the edge of the tower's summit. He'd not the clout to take on this many mages at once. He was nowhere near ready to do so without an advantage of some sort. Anti-Magic would have hindered his transformation were he able to cast it successfully. Zynisch peered over his Zweihander's barrier to hopefully catch a point of vantage, only to be buffeted by a hailstorm channeled by the witch of ice that had attacked him before.
"Tch! Not....not now....I can't lose here....Not like this!"
"...I'm afraid I haven't the time to deal with you. You have impressed me by halting the Wyrmking with your sword's exceedingly sharp edge, but as it stands, I have no interest in the whims of a knight errant. This is farewell," he ended with, crushing the fizzling wave that was worthy of his defense before in the now steaming palm of his hand. That was it....Pain. Pain was what would drive him now. The agony of the potential for death would serve as the end of his stagnation. Mercilessly, he would conjure up a wave of the same ripples and gesture in his direction. It traveled with unimaginable speed, embedding itself in his sword and promptly sundering it, and with the severing of his sword, so too came the end of his defensive capability. Instantly, he was beset on all sides by light and frost, almost flash-freezing when they reached him. With nothing keeping him from doing so, he tumbled from the heights of the spire upon which they had danced, eventually slamming into the water below with force enough to shatter his original human body several times over.
"Such is the fate of all who would oppose the will of a Everseer....Let us be off. There's work to be done."
With Nyx's dispelling of the Shiva's summoning to regain her avatar form, she returned to Shion's side. Soon, all twelve cloaked beings retook their original positions, albeit with arms risen to the heavens above. Twelve glyphs formed above each of them, whirring to life in order to fashion the thirteenth glyph beneath that spanned the full breadth of the castle. The last of the thirteen signs gradually spun to life, alight with the spellforce of twelve debatable archmages in their own right....and a thirteenth in the form of Shion's passive casting. Moments later, the castle and the now slumbering wyrm disappeared from sight and sense. The clouds finally calmed to resemble the night sky again, and the moon regained its place as the brightest visible thing amid the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alas, the fallen knight reformed from being reduced to crystal vapor into his regular, human glamour, left adrift among the waves in the sea that led to the Docks nearby. He solemnly contemplated his situation, as by this point he was left with no other option. Somehow, this Shion Maegne both was his old master and wasn't, but regardless of whom he had become, he was now in a league of his own....He didn't think he could get any stronger than he was, but with him casually weaving and threading space and time itself to create a shield, the circumstances had become more dire than even his worst-case scenario.
"Arthour....What do I do now?"
END