Symphony of Destruction, And you thought it was going to end...

[Jake Delfeir]

Nexus, the centre of this universe, had despite its importance been often overlooked by the wars and the problems that plagued so much of the lesser Planes. Yet things seemed to be building up there. An uneasiness had settled over much of the population, noticed especially by two of the Celestials that presided there in relative privacy.

Tristan knew something was happening before it happened. Something familiar... but no idea what it was. Wordlessly, he went to find Aly.

It was then that elsewhere in the city, another portal opened amidst the multitude that dotted the plain. And from it stepped a monster. Vaguely humanoid, but a monster nonetheless. The humanoid appearance ended at the legs and torso - the arms were misshapen monstrosities that fell past the creature's knees, and seemed to be made of shadow and spikes. From its back reared what looked like a scorpion tail composed of the same substance, the tip darting through the air as if sensing for threats.

And the face itself was hidden beneath a hood of the same shadowy energy... exposing a pair of eyes that seemed to change colour with every blink. The eyes moved, looking around as the portal closed behind the creature.

"Hello Nexus," the apparent male said, laughing as he began to walk through the city. As he did so, his arms shot out and clutched at everything they could grab, tearing it all apart with blasts of shadow magic. Whatever this creature was, it wasn't friendly.

[Ryuujin Black]

Raidel had just arrived at the place. He sat perched atop a tall building and witnessed the monstrosity of a thing tear through the population.

"Heh..."

====

Aly was at home sitting on her couch. Aurel was off with it seemed Kyosuke and his friends. This was good afterall. She didn't have to witness the coming events.

[Jake Delfeir]

Tristan stepped into the house quickly, immediately grabbing his sword from its resting place inside before moving to Aly. He could sense the power surges... whatever he could sense was beginning to attack something. Likely everything.

He looked directly at her, mildly calm but still with a hint of worry. "I can't sense the details, but it's something very bad. What about you?"

- - - - -

Said monstrosity was still walking calmly through the streets, the arms acting almost as sentient creatures in themselves as they lashed out almost independently. The tail, despite looking more dangerous than the arms, waited at his rear... merely sampling the air but yet to attack anything.

After a short advance, however, he stopped and focused his eyes on Raidel. Nothing was said, but the tail became even more tense.

[Ryuujin Black]

"It's more than likely demonic. I sensed shadow magic being shot. But nothing besides that." Aly stood up from her resting spot and looked at Tristan. "I want to know. If anything happens to the other, I want us to flee and go and protect Aurel." Aly obviously did not want her child orphaned like Lasier was or how her brother and her were.

====

Raidel sat perched still. "What are you supposed to be?" He asked hoping it was still sane enough to answer him. Under his cloak, the man clentched his fists.

[Jake Delfeir]

"That's always been the plan. And as usual, it's not something that we'll have to worry about today." Tristan kissed her lightly before leading her out. "Let's deal with this, then."

- - - - -

Something seemed to touch Raidel then... what seemed like a tenuous mind link, upon which game a hideous cackle repeated ad infinitum by several voices of indeterminate age, race, or gender. And amidst the laughter came one clear thought.

"Chaos, malice, death... freedom."

The laughter rose in volume, serving as a distraction as both arms lengthened considerably and shot towards him.

[Ryuujin Black]

Aly nodded before following Tristan

===

Raidel grimaced before he dodged with fairly good speed. He flipped into the air, drawing twin katars, as he kicked away the tentacles with his braced legs.

[Jake Delfeir]

The tentacles were surprisingly solid despite their composition, but they were knocked aside nonetheless. They stayed in the air for a moment, before suddenly stabbing downwards to destroy whatever was beneath them. Upon contact with the ground, shadow magic flared and shot up and all around, wrecking the buildings further and threatening Raidel from there.

[Ryuujin Black]

Raidel went into a defensive stance in the air as he was blasted higher into the sky. His clothes shredded at this point. Raidel somehow landed on his feet.

"Heh." Raidel made a lunge towards the monstrosity, moving quicker now, the katars laced with small traces of energy.

[Jake Delfeir]

The arms retracted as Raidel approached, but they were not the method of defence. Now the tail lashed forward, splitting at the tip to become a net of shadow magic that laced through the air in all directions to strike Raidel if he kept moving forward. The arms waited now.

[Ryuujin Black]

Raidel stopped as he got closer. His memory flashed in front of him, before he was stuck in the net of shadow magic.

"Grr...." Raidel's eyes flashed with a dangerous glare.

[Jake Delfeir]

And in that moment, the ends of the arms turned into bladed claws before jabbing forth at Raidel, one after the other. The net around him solidified to trap him in place as the claws rushed forward.

[Ryuujin Black]

The Katars flashed with a silver light as he lashed his way out of the net of shadow magic. Raidel bounded just out of reach of the jabbing claws.

With a flip he was back into the fight, now his speed had increased exponentially.

[Jake Delfeir]

With what sounded like half a roar and half a scream, the creature lumbered forwards towards Raidel, the arms repeatedly jabbing. A shadow seemed to be forming at his chest, too... likely another weapon to bear if he Raidel got too close.

[Ryuujin Black]

Raidel weaved the various stabbing, actually knocking a few back on the blades of his katar. Raidel continued to speed through the seemingly web of claws, to stop this monstrosity.

[Jake Delfeir]

The claw strikes continued unabated, aided now by the occasional stab from the monstrosity's tail. The shadow at his chest began to expand, and very soon it looked almost like a cannon, expelling rapid blasts of shadow energy at Raidel to match the already impressive assault.

This wasn't going to end anytime soon.