"Oracle, I trust you invited all the right people, but I would like to make sure you got it right." Creos said. After all, he was looking at the possibility of killing him.
"I have all the invitations in order, master. The invitations include the Silken Queen, Vargas, the Dark Gunner, and the Swarm's representative."
"Good." Creos replied.
All of a sudden Ares's head hurt, the intensity of the pain almost causing him to blackout. He was barely processing anything, and he was seeing everything in a purplish haze. Just listening to the knight (why hadn't she come in already?! he screamed in his mind) was like trying not to burn to death in the center of the sun. Seeing past her was currently like picking out a black spot on a black shirt. He was paralyzed with pain, which was needles stabbing him in his back, limbs and head. Then the knight said something else garbled, Ares couldn't make it out, but Purple-Eyes could.
"Please help me. I need a place to stay." she had said.
Purple-Eyes's influence had gotten stronger since the arrival of the knight. He was feeding off her corruption, and in the instant he realized this, Ares had formulated a plan. Through what required tremendous willpower, Ares formed a mental restraint on Purple-Eyes, he almost passed out from the effort. The color faded from his face as he attempted to get Purple-Eyes under control and veins pulsed and throbbed violently across his temples. A grueling thirty seconds later, Ares had completed his task. And now that Purple-Eyes was under control, Ares let him take over (mostly). The changes that occurred in the next 30 seconds were played out in Ares's eyes. Purple, blue, purple, sky blue, purple, light blue, purple, pale blue, and then finally the eyes were purple, with the exception of a blue circle in the center.
Purple-Eyes was frustrated, but at least he had some control over the body. It was a start. Ares called the shots from his mind however, and this thought tormented him to no ends. Anyways, it was time to follow orders. Noticing that the Snarbolax knight had woken up, and then prioritizing this fact, he spoke to the knight at the door again, under his own willpower.
"Come in. You can stay here, and, the fridge is loaded," he said, forcing an authentic smile (with some help from Ares).
(Last few days have been, something. Sorry for not being here.)
Dark Part reached the elevator.
"Now, all we have to do is reach T3 and find some more fiend levels, and get some more Trojans."
Light Part traveled with his Wolver and Battle Sprites.
"So, we get enough of an army. Reach Dark Part, recruit an army of knights, build up some constructs, all while getting you food."
The Wolver barked, Light Part pet her head.
Why had the strange knight taken so long to reply? The pain in her arm got stronger, she looked at it and noticed the swarm was spreading down her hand. She also felt it spreading across her chest and face.
"Th4Nk Y0u," Lyn said walking in, "My n4M3 iS Lyn." The only understandable word of this sentence was Lyn. She opened the fridge and so some wolver meat and gorgo meat. Normal Lyn loved wolver meat, but the swarm seemed to hunger more for the gorgo meat. Lyn ate a dainty bite of Gorgo, she had never had it before. It was heavenly! Lyn devoured her chunk of Gorgo meat like a rabid wolver, then wiped her arm with her sleeve. She went to the bed next to Scorpio and flopped down.
"H3y Scorpio, 1T's m3 Lyn," Once again, only the names were understandable. Lyn quickly began to doze off, dreaming only of food, and having nightmares of darkness.
'Note to self: Don't sleep in that bed' thought Scorpio, as he once again drifted off to sleep
((I thought I was going to have to knock Lyn out or something, this way it's a lot less painful))
Purple-Eyes watched the knight (the corruption on her was still rapidly spreading) as she walked into the base. She introduced herself as Lyn, which Ares, for some reason didn't hear, and slinked her way over to the fridge. She seemed to be deliberating over the Wolver and Gorgo meat, eventually settling on the latter.
"Just perfect," Purple-Eyes groaned. He loved Gorgo steaks, especially raw. Purple-Eyes watched again with some amusement in his eyes as Lyn tore into the meal.
*Very unladylike* he noted.
*Give her a break, she's probably come a long way.* Ares piped up.
*Why don't you shut up and let me do what i'm supposed to?* Purple-Eyes snapped at him.
Purple-Eyes was contemplating how to commence his plan. It would be better for the knight...Lyn.. to be unconscious through the procedure, it would hurt a lot less. But if he was to knock her out, the Snarbolax knight, (whose name appeared to be Scorpio, according to the girl) might assume hostilities and complicate matters. It would be a lot easier to fix her if he didn't have to kill someone while doing it. Then, a miracle happened. Scorpio fell asleep again, and Lyn had fallen asleep in a matter of minutes. This put an end to the particularly and discreetly violent plan Purple-Eyes had begun to form.
He wasn't sure he could pull this off, but he had to try. Ares wanted to help the girl, but Purple-Eyes needed to help himself. To Ares's credit, he realised that there was only one way to get what he wanted, and that meant giving Purple-Eyes what he wanted. Ares could only sit in the back of his mind and pray things didn't get out of control.
Purple-Eyes approached the girl's bed. The corruption seemed to have spread into the bed as well. He placed a hand on the girl (and the other on the bed, for good measure), focused intensely (with no Ares-related interruptions) and slowly but surely absorbed the Swarm. In a matter of minutes, and intense mental strain, Purple-Eyes had collapsed from exhaustion.
Suddenly, Scorpio bolted out of bed. He had heard something collapse. Next to Lyn's bed was their strange host. Wait. He could sense it in him. He knew he felt it. Than he noticed Lyn. She was free from the Swarm!
'How did this guy cure Swarm corruption?' Thought Scorpio
Once again, is anyone on the lvl three skywatch mission in Destiny?
It was... odd. Lyn didn't feel the swarm in her anymore. She tried speaking.
"Ares?" she called out, "Can you understand me?" Lyn had a horrible taste on her tongue... like that of sweat and paperwork.
Lyn walked over to the fridge and grabbed a flank of wolver, when she reached out her hand, she realized it wasn't corrupted! Lyn ran outside to a puddle of water, she looked at the reflection...
"CLEAN!" Lyn shouted, "PURE!!!! I'm free!!!" She drew her nightblade, but it wasn't Swarmbane..... She called for Sarah, but there was no response. Lyn killed a few slimes and cooked the wolver meat over their burning gel. When the meat was done, and the gel caramelized, she coated the meat in the caramel gel, and ate it. Delicious, just the way her mother used to make it. Lyn cried a single tear. Then lyn had a strange yearning to delve deeper into the clockworks.
"Ares? I'm heading down!" Lyn shouted not caring whether or not he heard her. Lyn hadn't lead herself wrong before.... ignoring that swarm bit... She trusted herself now. Down she went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three depths down in the clockworks... Sarah's ears jolted upright. It was Lyn calling! Lyn was coming! Hooray!
"Mew mew!" Sarah shouted.
Swarmbane sat driven into the rock, "So she heard my call," he thought, "We'll see if she can handle the challenges." If Swarmbane had a mouth, he would be sooooo smirking right now.
(The following events took place in the mind of the body of Ares/Purple-Eyes)
Purple-Eyes was invigorated with power. It flooded through his body, pulsed in his veins, infected his mind, and took complete control over Purple-Eyes, and his body's consciousness. At least it would've, if not for a certain OTHER consciousness still asserting dominance.
Ares hadn't predicted that making Purple-Eyes absorb the Swarm would have such disastrous results. He had assumed that once the influence of The Swarm was already in him, in couldn't get any worse. But now he realized that in wasn't ingrained into his consciousness, and therefore like a split personality, but it was a totally separate part of him, like a second mind. And with absorbing the corruption from Lyn, his Swarm mind was now gaining power, and control.
Suddenly, both parties were in a vast room, where the walls, ceiling and floor were all a Swarm pink. You couldn't see the join between any of them. Purple-Eyes drew his Nightblade and grinned at Ares. Ares drew his Carver, and regarded the adversary with a baleful stare.
"Now I get why you let me "force" you to help," Ares started.
"Shut up. Now just surrender and leave the body to me," Purple-Eyes replied maliciously.
"Why do you even want the body? You can't seal me away in my own mind you know. You'll just go through what I was with you," Ares stated matter-of-factly.
There was apparently some truth in this statement, even though Ares was bluffing, as Purple-Eyes seemed to start considering his options.
"True. You are right. And I can't simply kill you in this arena, it just wastes time. I have the power to create my own body, but now you are the only thing keeping me from entering the world," Purple-Eyes stated.
This revelation hit Ares like the Thwack Hammers from the Gremlins. The words made him flinch. Just how powerful had he gotten?
"Well fine then," he started again, brandishing his sword. "But I will not let you enter the world as your own entity. May the better Ares win."
Purple-Eyes cackled and said:
"I admire your fighting spirit, but it is a waste of your own mental energy. And anyways, seeing as I now consider myself a superior and singular entity, I deserve a superior and singular name. It shall be Armerio."
The two rushed across the room to each other, swords raised high. Ares swung low aiming at Armerio's legs. Armerio jumped and landed behind Ares before the swipe had begun.
"Wh-" Ares was struck across his windpipe. Not only was the wind knocked out of him, but it seemed like it wasn't coming back. Armerio ran towards what seemed to be a door. Ares whipped out his Blackhawk and fired three rapid shots. All hits. Armerio didn't even notice them, and stepped through the portal of his mind, and entered what Ares guessed was the real world. Not even able to talk yet, Ares pulled himself along the floor and to the door.
In the real world, some freaky shit was going down with Ares's body. It was slumping itself up to a standing position, and seemed to be muttering the most hellish incantations, all while flashing pink. It danced around the room, and almost hit Scorpio. Then it instantly went rigid. The pink flashes had materialized as another body, and was forming itself to look just like Ares. In a few seconds, there was an actual body, identical to Ares, standing in the room. Then it opened its eyes. Its pink eyes.
Looking at Scorpio, he said:
"I'd kill you, but luckily for you, I have important matters to attend to. When Ares comes to, tell him I wish him all the best," with a lot of amusement in his tone. Armerio then stepped to the elevator, pressing a few buttons, and then he was gone, with the world ahead of him, and its occupants soon to be at his mercy.
Back at the base, Ares's eyes fluttered open, and he let out a long, loud groan.
((@Saucce- I don't play Destiny, don't know about anyone who does))
Nvm I actually beat it today
"Hey, Ares, that weird guy said that he wishes you all the best." Scorpio said. "Who in vog is that weird guy?" Questioned Scorpio, "Thinking he could kill me." Scorpio got out of bed and pulled out his Grim Repeater. "What do you say to a little Swarm hunting? Also, Lyn left."
Ares coughed, still coming to.. Scorpio was talking about Swarm hunting, and that Lyn left, at least from what Ares heard.
"Don't." he replied. "I'm not sure how strong you are, but I need to get stronger, won't take too long though. But anyways, you're wasting your time looking for him now, unless you think you and I alone can handle all the enemies in Haven. Give it a couple days, he'll be back, trust me."
Ares grabbed some Chromalisk from the fridge and roasted it, he offered a plate to Scorpio, and began eating his own. Then he continued.
"When The Swarm attacked Haven, I was there. I barely escaped with my life, and I was infected on my way to escaping. However, I was knocked out, which seemed to protect my mind, and so the corruption made itself like a second mind, battling for dominance of my body. I didn't think it would get any worse, so I used it to cure Lyn from The Swarm. But I hadn't realized that it was like a second mind then, and that using it that way would be like feeding it power. It got enough power that it could then create it's own body, and now here we are, with me weakened and a madman on the loose, I'd advise you to find a way to get stronger too, because by the time you find Armerio, he'll be much stronger too."
Ares then commenced to just sit there, mute, seemingly thinking of his next move. Chomp was still sleeping peacefully.
Scorpio took the plate from Ares's hand, opened his mouth incredibly wide, and swallowed the meat whole ((Fun Fact! In real life I once at an entire slice of pizza in a single bite!)).
"I already am strong enough" Says Scorpio, setting down his Grim repeater, "My parents were killed when I was less than one and the Snarbolax raised me. I watched the girl I loved get smashed by Darkfire Vanaduke and single handedly brought him down. I watched my squad get murdered by a power-hungry Apocrean. I hacked, slashed, stabbed, and shot my way through the Swarm to become who I am. I am ready. The only person in this room who needs training is you. We should begin. Come outside, and I'll show you what I'm made of." Said Scorpio solemnly and softly. He walked outside, taking his Barbarous Thorn Blade.
Ares listened to Scorpio's tale, not even noticing how he managed to eat everything without a single bite, while regarding his own situation. Ares had never been through anything remotely close to that kind of drama, he had never had things to strengthen him like that. The only reason The Swarm hadn't killed him back in Haven was probably his own luck, if nothing else. However, he had done things quite easily with his admittedly sub-par equipment that most other knights could never do, or struggled to do, and that was before Armerio had taken root in him. He had taken down Vanaduke with a Cold Iron Carver and an Antigua, taken down the Royal Jelly with a Flourish and an Antigua, he had killed two Rabid Snarbolaxes with his Nightblade and Blackhawk. Not to mention surviving the Shadow Lairs in his 3* equipment set. Just think about what he could accomplish with some training and better equipment. And there was no time to waste, Armerio definitely wasn't wasting any.
Ares looked at the Alchemy machine, and decided he had enough materials to take the first step. His endless tinkering with the machine had caused it to become ridiculously efficient, and it didn't just make a special set of equipment anymore. Ares commenced in turning everything he had to at least a 4* piece of equipment. ((I'll post the full list later)) This only took about 2 minutes, due to the increased efficiency of the machine. Before he walked out, Ares equipped a Wyvern Scale Helm, with his Mighty Cobalt Armor and his Nether Shell. His weapons were a Cold Iron Vanquisher and a Sentenza.
Ares walked through the door, taking his Silent Nightblade with him, and closing it again.
"Ready," he said, fatigue evident in his voice.
((Sorry it took me awhile to reply. My brother f*cked with some of my stuff. Also here, NO META GAMING (Knowing what will happen ahead))
Holding his Barbarous Thorn Blade in a fighting stance, Scorpio rushed forward in a diving stab. If this stab misses or is blocked, Scorpio will either dodge Ares's next blow or continue the attack with a sweeping cut. If the stab hits, Scorpio will roll and pull out his Grim Repeater. If after the dodge/sweeping cut Ares attempts to strike again, Scorpio will parry. If not, Scorpio will roll and pull out his Grim Repeater. After the either of the two alternative rolls, Scorpio will open fire. If Ares tries to shoot Scorpio, Scorpio will keep his shield up until Ares must reload. After this sequence, he will fire at Ares. If Ares attempts to rush towards Scorpio, then Scorpio will dash to the side and continued firing. If Ares brings up his shield, Scorpio will instantly cease fire. Until Ares brings down his shield, than Scorpio will not fire. When Ares brings down his shield, Scorpio will fire until he is out of ammo. If Ares tries to run towards Scorpio, Scorpio will bring up his shield. Scorpio will keep his shield up until Ares ceases striking. He will than pull his sword back out and tackle Ares. Scorpio will put his sword to Ares's throat. He will than ask Ares if he is hungry or thirsty.
She had rushed through them quickly, not fighting anything. She simply wanted to find where she was leading herself. Lyn reached a strange forested shrine, upon entering two tortodrones awoke and looked at her. Lyn didn't draw her sword, hoping they wouldn't aggro at her.
"Are you who he chose..." the tortos said.
"I think so?" Lyn replied to them. The torto's moved aside to reveal Swarmbane and Sarah. Sarah flew to Lyn's side.
"Mew!" Sarah mewed (obviousness is obvious).
"Sarah!" Lyn shouted, and hugged Sarah. Lyn then drew Swarmbane.
"Took you long enough," he scoffed.
"Nice to see you too," Lyn said, "Let's head up a few depths, I've got a few friends up above who will help us get going..." But to where, Lyn thought to herself. She only had one place left to go.... The surface.
Lyn headed toward the elevator as her armor transformed back into it's angelic state, her eyes as blue as ever.
((I usually try to use randomizer for this kind of stuff so..let's hit it))
Ares wasn't sure if this was training combat or straight up "I'm gonna kill you combat." Not that he didn't trust Scorpio, but you just never knew with what was in the Clockworks nowadays. So when Scorpio went into a diving stab, Ares was still deliberating on how much force to use, he didn't want to terminally hurt an ally.
((So combat hit rules. I'll use random.org to generate a number out of 100. I'll do this 3 times. In general if you average a 60+, you hit, with the higher number meaning more damage. Cool? So I got 57, 70 and 46 , which averages to 57.7, so u barely missed him))
Ares sidestepped Scorpio and pivoted, counting on Scorpio to be continuing his forward motion. He swiftly drew the Sentenza and fired three rapid shots at Scorpio.
((Ares is an all-around knight by the way, only reason he doesn't use bombs is because he doesn't like them))
((Don't worry about it, I had to go out..))
Scorpio brings up his shield extremely quickly (my # was 62.7)
EDIT: NOT trying to kill you
EDIT 2: NEED TO AVERAGE MY NUMBERS
Scorpio shielded himself extremely quickly and none of his shots hit. Ares, stunned and a little frustrated with this fact, ran towards him, pulling out his Vanquisher. Scorpio unshielded the instant Ares stopped firing and fired a shot himself.
((70, 82, and 52 and that gave me a 68, so i'll say you caught his arm))
Ares was clipped on the arm before he even began to run towards Scorpio, throwing him to the side. Ares regained his footing and then aimed a shield bash, intending to hit Scorpio in the chest.
((So if you dive out of the way, Ares is gonna shoot, no matter which side. If you can jump over, he's gonna try and hit your legs with his sword. If you get hit, he's gonna follow up with a strike from the sword and then fire three quick shots, If it just plain misses he's gonna throw his sword at you, and he's slightly better with his sword than his gun.))
Scorpio sidesteps slightly and tackles Ares to the ground using the momentum before Ares can react. My # is............. 67.66666666666666 etc. Go to last entry of key. Sword to throat, are you hungry or thirsty, that thing. Also regarding your post, Scorpio has an automatic gun.
EDIT:
Scorpio asked
"Are you hungry or thirsty?"
Ares, wasn't hurt as bad as he would have been as he rolled to absorb the contact. He jumped up, sword in hand, but regarded the question.
"Thirsty." he replied confidently.
((Oh automatic, alright))
((In a movie this would be in epic slow motion)) Scorpio ducks narrowly, and my number is 66. A single hair is cut off Scorpio's head. Scorpio stands up and once again, does a diving stab. My number is 61.
Another diving stab Ares thought wearily. This one, however, barely caught him, Scorpio's sword being deflected off his armor. Ares fired three quick shots at Scorpio, and rolled to pick up his sword.
((If the shots hit you down, he's gonna dash to you and swipe. If they miss, he throws the sword again. If the sword hits, he's gonna go for a shield bash, if you dodge, he's gonna fire five shots and then shield))
((Shouldn't I generate for your attacks and you for mine? Or do you wanna do it the other way around?))
Ok... so my # 4 u was 46.66666666 etc.
Scorpio sneered as the three shots nearly missed him. As Ares threw his sword again, Scorpio slid and kicked Ares's legs out from under him ((I'll do my own #s here)) My # is 67. He than put his sword to Ares's throat. "You done yet?" He asks.
Ares mulled over the question. Was he done? It was clear that Scorpio was the better fighter, but he had beaten superior enemies before. He had never let anyone beat him before The Swarm, why should he let himself continually be beat post-Swarm?
*One more try.* he thought. Ares fired at Scorpio again and rolled back for his sword.
*This is getting repetitive* Ares thought. This time he held onto his sword and charged at Scorpio.
((If you manage to dodge the shots, he's going to swipe then shoot (he's dual wielding). If you get hit and you're still down, he puts his sword at your throat and asks you the same question. If you get hit and get up, he dashes over to you then shoots first (from close range) then slashes to the region where you dodge (should the shot miss) If you get him after this, he'll be tired, so he'll give up.))
((Well, things sure escalated quickly between Ares and Scorpio XD))
Dabbing a finger into the purple gooey stuff, Jisston brought it up to his mouth, taste sampling it. Unsurprisingly, it's texture was similar to that of jelly, and the taste wasn't half bad either, almost fruity. He had dispatched the monsters with ease, they were slow and predictable, and his Nitronome had made short work of them. He concluded that they a much more reliable food source than Wolvers, stuffing a few kilos of their innards (which were no different from the rest of them) into his bag. Deciding that there was no such thing as too much, he wandered deeper into Jelly Territory.
Haha, maybe there's even a Jelly King, completely made out of scrumptious..well...jelly!
Little did he know how right he was.
Armerio had not paid attention to where Ares had programmed the elevator to go, so he was a little surprised when he saw another base camp in the distance, and a forest even further in the distance, with a magenta glow emitting from it. However, he dismissed the camp as
*None of my concern. There's also another Swarm presence here, and it will likely make short work of the occupants.* he thought. He took the nearest elevator, which was actually just a few feet away, and went up again. He reached a Deconstruction Zone, which was actually humming with activity, and he grinned.
"I haven't seen gremlins in so long," he said, and strode into the zone confidently. The Darkfang Gremlins had decided to start a reclamation of their areas of the Clockworks, as they had been in hiding ever since The Swarm had gotten loose and ravaged the Clockworks. So this horde of gremlins was, in a way, their Alpha Squad. Armerio drew his Nightblade and Blackhawk, still confident, but it also crossed his mind that
*Ares has probably upgraded these by now, maybe I should've waited and gathered more power from him.*
However, the time for doubts had passed. He was here to make an impact on Cradle, and he planned to start by demonstrating to the gremlin community, wherever they were, that the Clockworks were no longer safe for their kind. After he figured out what seemed to be calling him first, he would go to Emberlight and deal with the gremlins there. The Darkfangs had not rushed towards him in their groups, he suddenly realized. Looking around, he saw that the gremlins were actually running from him, he realized that
"They're afraid of the Swarm. They're afraid of me..."
Armerio then proceeded to play a brutal game of cat-and-mouse. The gremlins were actually outfitted with anti-Swarm equipment, but they were still weak to shadow. Armerio would deliberately go slow, giving the gremlin the opportunity to hit him or run, then he'd suddenly speed to them and decapitate them. He did this for a few minutes, all while Ares and Scorpio, unbeknownst to him, were sparring. All too soon, there was only one gremlin left, this one a Ghostmane Stalker.
"Hm.. never seen one of these before," Armerio remarked. "Let's see how you take hits." Armerio lunged forward with his Nightblade. The gremlin disappeared before Armerio could get close.
"What? Where'd it go? How did it move so fast?" he asked, with a touch of hysteria in his tone. He stood there, dithering for a few seconds, when he felt a pulse. Turning around, he saw the gremlin uncloak and throw a blade. Armerio knocked it aside, and blurred over to the gremlin, slashing it in the stomach.
It fell down, clutching it's stomach. Armerio raised his hand over the gremlin, and focused, willing the Swarm corruption to reach its brain. It wasn't as tough a fight as Armerio expected, the gremlin even passed out. But in a matter of minutes, Armerio would have his first servant.
((Wow, only us new people are posting. Well. anyways, lets get your numbers. Are we rolling numbers for eachother? Oh, and yeah, I am a swimmer and I love diving.))
Scorpio narrowly manages to dodge the three shots (your number 56.66666 etc.) and ducks under the sword stroke (your # was 48.33333333 etc.) and rolls before the shots can hit him (Your number was 40.3333333 etc.) He then jumps tackles Ares before he can react to his dodges (Screw it heres my number 79). He finally puts his sword to Ares's throat. "Are you f*ckin' done yet?" he asks,"You are a pretty good fighter. Nearly took me out and I'm a Vanguard!" Scorpio congratulates "Let's go inside and have some water." Inside, Scorpio asks, "You want to upgrade your gear some more?"
((True, I think some of the older ones might get back soon enough though. Cool, I only do a couple of the techniques, can't even float..ah well))
"Let's go inside and have some water," Scorpio said. Ares, a little winded, nodded and got up. He waved the door to the side with his Sentenza ((all shadow weapons could open the door, unless they were Swarm infected)) and went in ahead of Scorpio. Looking around the base, he still felt a slight Swarm presence, in the direction of the elevator. He looked over there, and then saw the telltale magenta glow.
"Crap! He messed with the elevator!" Ares snapped, running over to it. ((edit))
Then Ares, registered Scorpio's (who had just come inside) question.
"Sure, but I need materials, like a lot of materials, I used most of them to get to this point. And either way, I need to fix this elevator first, or any Swarm thing can just get in whenever they want," he replied.
***
The Stalker, who in all his time as a gremlin fighter and assassin, had never been hit by an enemy, was stunned.
"Wake up," a voice said gently. His eyes fluttered open and shut again. This time, the voice said the same thing, but much more harshly. His eyes were forced open and his brain snapped to attention, due to some unknown force.
"Hello, gremlin. I am Armerio, and you are?" the disembodied voice said.
"Sicarius," his raspy voice replied. His head, limbs and brain hurt, but it was isolated, as if it was not him truly registering this pain.
"Ahh, hello Sicarius. I am a Swarm Knight. I engaged you in battle, and your movements and abilities impressed me, so I believed, aided by The Swarm, you would make a fine warrior and servant. So I possessed you." the voice said again. This time Sicarius saw the source of the voice. A knight with pink eyes, in a Drake Scale Helm, and a Scary Skelly Suit (Sicarius had carried out an in-depth study of the knights). He also held a Nightblade, which he recognized as the weapon that wounded him.
Then he registered the sentence his new master said. He mentally groaned. Why Tinkinzar had outcast those gremlins from The Great Colony, Sicarius didn't know, but what he did know was that it was coming to bite them all in the arse. The Emberlight gremlins had created The Swarm in an attempt to get back at Tinkinzar, but couldn't control it, so they locked it in the Shadow Lairs. None of them could be infected by it, nor anyone in Emberlight, which was a miracle or extreme planning, as the entrance to the Shadow Lairs was in Emberlight. Now it was ravaging the planet and noone was well off, except those Emberlight gremlins.
"Anyways, you will serve me, won't you? I could use a servant like you, and i'm sure you don't want to die," his master said, looking down at him. Sicarius considered his options. If anything, he'd at least want to stick it to those Emberlight gremlins, and being alive gave him a chance to do so. So he picked himself up, bowed and said,
"Yes, master."
"My, my, Oracle, trying to show off how patient you are? I told you that you may speak at least five minutes ago, yet you sit here as though you are some sort of... sitting carcass!" Creos said angrily.
"Sorry, my lord Creos, but there is news of a new threat. Our spies tell us his name is Armerio, a Swarm entity of formidable power. I fear he may conquer your kingdom." Oracle pronounced.
"Oracle, this is not a kingdom yet. I will need to conquer more, capture more, control more, I need more," Suddenly, a realization dawned on Creos."It is like you said, Oracle. Armerio could be a powerful pawn if he were under my control. Send him an invitation to the meeting."
"As you wish lord Creos." Oracle replied obediently.
((You still didn't answer one of my questions))
"What did he do to it?" Asks Scorpio, after dumping out hundreds, maybe thousands of materials out onto the table (Scorpio hadn't used any of them since he started off with a Snarbolax set. He has all the materials he's gained since he was a recruit)
Already, Armerio was pleased with his first choice as a servant. Sicarius had struck down a knight who seemed to have been looking for him.
"Master, the knight had carried something addressed to you," Sicarius informed him. Armerio, who had a headache, was rubbing his temples and was in no mood to read.
*So this is what Ares felt like.* It was a somber thought.
"Summarize it for me, would you, Sicarius?" he addressed his subject. Sicarius scrutinized the text, and finally said: ((by the way, I have no idea what's supposed to be on the invite, so i'm improvising))
"Master, you have been invited to a meeting in Haven, with what seems to be a powerful group. Gremlin spies recognize these names and-"
"Thank you, Sicarius, but get to the point," Armerio cut across his subject.
"As you wish. Creos has been confirmed to be controlling Haven, and is the organizer of this meeting. Not much is known about him. The Dark Gunner had travelled through several dimensions to get here, and his parts (Light and Dark) are currently building Trojan armies. The Silken Queen is the ruler of fiends, and is extremely powerful, as you well may know due to Fiend's inability to be possessed by The Swarm. However, we do not know of Vargas."
"I know of Vargas, through Ares's memories. He was an outcast from the Spiral Order, and currently kills knights as revenge. Extremely powerful, extremely bloodthirsty. With all these powerful beings in one place, it could result in disaster, but, it could all end up in my favor if all goes well. Very well Sicarius, we shall attend this meeting," Armerio declared.
Sicarius bowed and said,
"Very well, master."
((Need you to do something))
Scorpio continues dumping materials out of his backpack until almost the entire floor was covered in trojan horse shoes, blue crystals, and gel drops (Much more stuff, but I don't want to go into detail). "Is any of this useful to you" chuckles Scorpio.
((Which one? And what do you need?))
Ares got some water out of the fridge and poured it into two lumber (1001 uses) cups. He slid one to Scorpio and said,
"First off, like thanks. REALLY. I can't even imagine how you got all those materials. The elevator, now. I don't know if you were at a certain base camp before now, or knew anyone from there, maybe Lyn was from there, but I modified this elevator to connect to the camp, to help. It looks deserted now though. Anyways, when he used it, he didn't control his Swarm influence, which is originally how The Swarm creatures were able to use the elevators."
He tinkered with the panel a little, adjusting a valve behind the button, which then turned from magenta to blue.
"So if too much Swarm energy goes into the elevators, they stop completely, and seeing as this is supposed to be an escape route, I can't have that," he said. He adjusted a few more nuts and bolts, and twisted a final valve, and a tiny magenta charge flew through his body.
"Ow! Stupid thing shocked me," Ares sulked, and slapped the cover for the panel back on. The elevator was back to normal, just like that. Looking at the table full of materials, Ares decided he should start working on it, and realized that his arsenal was finally going to be perfected, at least in his eyes.
"By the way, is Lyn coming back?" he asked Scorpio.
((And yeah, I have to go soon too))
"I believe Lyn should return to our depth soon" Says Scorpio. "Earlier I strained my ears to the point of deafness and heard her say something about going up a few depths and friends who can help"
Scorpio takes a long sip of water and progresses setting down all of his 4 and 5* orbs of alchemy into the pile of materials.
"Wow, the Snarbolax that raised you really taught you a lot, didn't it?" Ares replied, in wonder.
*How do you even beat someone that can hear you from depths apart?* he thought. The only answer he could come up with was,
*Glad we're on the same side.* A strange, faint, new voice then replied to his thought.
*Yes, isn't it nice to have friends?* it said cheerfully.
*Oh Isoras above not again,* Ares moaned inwardly. The new voice did not deign to reply, and so Ares continued upgrading his equipment. He didn't quite clean the floor, but by the end of about 3 quarters of the floor was empty again. Ares looked at his complete set with pride, and said
"Thanks, Scorpio, I owe you one."
She yawned as the elevator pulled up into the depth. Lyn saw the base, looking good as ever. She walked up and began waving hello.
"So guys, I'm really tired. This is Swarmbane," Lyn said holding up Swarmbane, "And this is Sarah," Lyn pointed to Sarah. Lyn then proceeded to walk into the house and collapse on a bed. Tomorrow she would cook them a fest, and tell them her plan.
"Hi" says Scorpio to Lyn. "You're welcome Ares." he said.
Dark part walked with a small squad, about four, Hellified T3 Trojans along side maybe five more T1 Hellified Trojans.
He held up the invitation while walking up to the Silken Queen's building.
"We got this!"
"So guys, I'm really tired. This is Swarmbane," Lyn said, holding up a modified Nightblade. Ares didn't even get to say hi before Lyn collapsed on the bed.
"You're welcome Ares," Scorpio had said. Ares nodded in acknowledgement, still looking at the Nightblade.
"I mean I loved my Nightblade and all, but why does it have a name?" he wondered out loud. Walking past Lyn's bed, and close to the Nightblade in question, Ares suddenly clutched his head. It felt an angry Shankle had decided to rampage in there.
*NOOO! Move away from the sword! PLEASE!* the new voice had begged him. It had seemed like the voice was fading, and if the sword was killing The Swarm in his head (at least that's what Ares had to assume it was) he didn't see why he should move. But the pain was unbearable, and he slowly sidestepped away from the sword. Exhaling loudly, Ares looked at the sword again, and then he understood the name.
"So that's why it has that name," he said softly.
*Thank you for moving from the sword, Ares, I owe you one,* the new voice faintly said.
*You're nothing like Armerio,* Ares remarked.
The voice did not deign to reply. Ares looked at his jelly bed, and suddenly he was drop dead tired. He activated the Retrode laser system. Pointing to a button near where Chomp was sleeping, he told Scorpio,
"I'm going to bed, if you need to go out, press that button and use a shadow weapon for the door, my Acheron is right beside the Retrode heads if you need it. Wake me up if anything important happens, besides that, Chomp will wake me up tomorrow, then I suppose we have plans to discuss. Night man."
Ares quickly fell asleep, and saw Armerio with a Ghostmane Stalker walking through a Deconstruction Zone. He held a paper which talked about some meeting in Haven, with some people he didn't know and Vargas. Ares thought wearily
*That can't be good, but why am I even seeing this?* This time the voice in his head did deign to reply.
*Armerio was your Swarm mind, Ares. When you totally lost The Swarm inside you, you wouldn't be able to connect with your previous one. But now I am here, and I will help you how I can. In this case, it is by linking you to your previous one.*
Ares was stunned. It really was nothing like Armerio, it was actually helping him. Of its own free will.
*Who are you?* Ares asked. The voice did not deign to reply. Ares shifted into subjectless dreams and multiple nightmares for the rest of the night.
She grabbed some wolver meat out of the fridge and began cooking it as she did last time. When the Caragelized Wolver, as Lyn liked to call it, was done, Lyn worked on a side. She took some gorgo meat out of the fridge, she could work with this. Lyn took the gorgo meat and diced it, she then threw it into a pot. She took a few rocky cores out of her pack and threw them into the pot as well. She set the pot over a fire and began to let it stew as she added some chroma tear and critter carapace. She would let that stew as she prepared the next thing. Lyn then took some forbidden fruit and diced it, she squeezed it's juice into a large contained of the liquid found in mugs of misery. She had Lyn to bless the whole drink to prevent any side effects and placed out three places worth of food onto three plates, three bowls and three cups. Now all she could do is hope the smells woke up everyone else, she sat down, and waited.
Ares had smelt the food, and wanted to get up, but he was locked in his own nightmare. He and Armerio were fighting, and he couldn't even land a hit. Ares dodged three shots from Armerio's Blackhawk and swung his Divine Avenger. Armerio stopped it with his hand. Armerio focused, and corrupted Ares's Divine Avenger. Ares let go before he was corrupted and took out his Volcanic Pepperbox. He fired, at point-blank range, only to sense Armerio blur away and then behind him. Ares swung his Furious Flamberge behind him and Armerio let it phase through him. Laughing, he punched Ares in the face. He picked Ares up by the helmet, and started to corrupt him. Ares knew this was his chance. Using his feet, he stabbed the Furious Flamberge into Armerio's stomach. Armerio reeled backwards, stumbling and falling.
Ares watched as Armerio pulled the sword out and regenerated the hole in his stomach. But Ares was determined. He threw the Acheron and it pierced Armerio's armor and heart, somehow. Then, he watched with disbelief as Armerio regenerated from that too. But before Armerio finished, Ares had cut his head off with the CIV. It was due to unbelievable luck, Ares thought, but he had actually beat Armerio.
Or so he thought.
A black mist poured out of Armerio, in a humanoid shape, and then it opened two pink eyes. Backing away, Ares then ran full tilt away from Armerio. He suddenly stopped as the black figure appeared in front of him. He swung the CIV, but it shattered into infinitesimal pieces. Ares was helpless as Swarmerio ((Sorry, had to do that)) put his hand over his face. Ares's body and mind were in searing pain, as Ares was agonizingly corrupted by The Swarm. Armerio let out a booming and everlasting laugh.
At the base, Ares could be seen tossing and turning in the bed, tormented.
Scorpio wakes up. Was he supposed to take watch? Well, it didn't matter now. All he could smell was... a delicious feast?
"What in Vog is that smell?" Scorpio asks, to no one in particular. He notices Ares tossing and turning. Scorpio than shakes Ares until he wakes up.
"Silly dreams" mutters Scorpio.
"Stop it Chomp," Ares muttered. He opened his eyes to notice it was Scorpio shaking him awake. His vision bleary, he stumbled out of bed.
"Morning everyone," Ares said. He noticed Chomp hadn't woken up yet, so he puts his breakfast, a lot of Power Orbs, in front of him. Then he noticed the smell. He smelled wolver, jelly, gorgo, and then he saw the plates, cups, and bowls. Then he realized how famished he was. He hadn't put down Scorpio or Lyn as the cooking type, whichever one of them did this. It seemed like Lyn though, as she was sitting down expectantly.
"Thank you," he told her. Then he told everyone,
"Well, let's eat. I'd imagine we have stuff to discuss, and anyways, i'm famished." He took up his bowl, plate and cup, and waited on the others to do the same.
Scorpio instantly drinks down his cup of juice.
"Is this forbidden fruit? Ah... wonderful," He compliments. As Scorpio once again wolfed down the steak in a single bite, he noticed the flavor "Oh my! Is this meat dipped in... carmel gel! I haven't had this stuff for years!" Than he took a big drink of the stew. "This stuff his heavenly! I knew we could use a cook around here!" Says Scorpio.
Ares couldn't put the food in his mouth fast enough.
"Lyn this is great!" he exclaimed between mouthfuls of the stew and the caramelized wolver.
"Haven't had this stuff since I won that bet with Kora," Ares said, then fell silent as he remembered Kora. ((probably forgot to put this in the bio, but Ares has quite the history with Kora))
"Kora got me into this kind of stuff," he muttered to himself. The visions of the gremlins murdering Kora was haunting him.
*Those gremlins were probably still alive too,* Ares thought. ((Armerio didn't know this, but this was why he had a slight dislike for gremlins, besides Sicarius)) Ares needed to take his mind off that stuff a little so he asked Lyn and Scorpio,
"What are we going to do?" and as an afterthought, "Oh Lyn, before I forget again, were you at another base camp before this. One with a bunch of rescue pods?"
Chomp woke up and devoured the power orbs, levelling up twice. He flew over and landed on Ares's head, nipping his helmet.
"Good morning to you too, Chomp," Ares said.
***
Armerio put on his Angelic Helm as a costume, laughing to himself as he thought,
*Maybe they'll think i'm a good knight.*
"Sicarius, some of the others invited, you said they had armies?" he asked.
"Yes, Master Armerio," Sicarius had said.
"Then we shall build a force as well. But which monsters should we use?" Armerio mused. Sicarius didn't want other gremlins in the army, there was so much war in-species already. Wolvers were trainable, but only to an extent. Constructs were faulty and the slimes were...slimes. You didn't really want to mess with fiends anymore because of the Silken Queen and so that left,
"Undeads." he and Armerio said at the same time. Armerio grinned, now even more pleased with his servant choice.
"Why yes I was! There were other knights there too. Coryn, Nyroc, Grell, Keep, Caite. Ahh I miss those guys," Lyn rambled on, "Why do you ask?"
Lyn took a sip of the juice, and began to continue eating.
"I, personally, was thinking of heading to the surface, but we'd need a team. Is that what you're thinking?" Lyn asked taking a bite of her wolver steak.
Ares spluttered for a second, and before he replied, he silently thanked himself that he wasn't eating or drinking at the time, would've been a sad waste of the meal.
"Surface? Well to be honest I haven't thought of it much. Do you know what it's like up there?" he asked her. Then her realized that she also asked why he asked her about the base camp.
"Well, no wasn't exactly what I was thinking. The base camp seems deserted. I was there before I came back here." he started. He pointed to the elevator.
"I wired that elevator to connect to the base camp, that's why I asked. I did it when I thought there were people there, but I haven't seen anyone there at all. I sensed some Swarm stuff, and saw some icy looking stuff, but otherwise, nothing, it was starting to get a little creepy too, so I left."
Ares began thinking of the surface. Of Haven and the rest of the surface. He just realized that there was probably so much more to the surface of Cradle. Had The Swarm taken over all of the surface? Was it still in control of Haven, for that matter? He had been asleep for a year. Chomp sniffed at Sarah, trying to get acquainted with the new battle sprite. Then Ares remembered his first dream.
"Armerio is heading to the surface, to Haven, with a bunch of other powerful entities. I don't remember who the others are, but I know Armerio's going," he said out loud.
She noticed something off about this knight. Like, someone else was in the same place as him... but how could that be? Lyn tried asking again, "Pl3AsE HElp M3. I N3eD a Pl4C3 to StAy." She really hoped the knight understood her this time, she was STARVING.