Duel In the Heat of the moment

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil


Eol Sha, a planet that had only been rather recently come under the control of the Diarchy, and even now was but a fringe outpost of the growing territory. A brutal planet, where volcanic wastes and plateaus dominated the surface, where sulfuric acid was spewed out in hot steamgeysers, and where the air was scorching hot and nearly unbearable to breathe. Still, it was here that the exiled Bryn'adul, the former Marauder of the Titan found herself in the search of stronger creatures to fight, to dominate and to convert. She knew as soon as her biologically altered vessel reached the surface, that this place was going to be a true hotbed of predatory life, not that it looked on first sight as if there would be any actual life on the surface, but Hraelga...or Hraelesh as some had started to call her within the Bryn'adul castes, had seen the potential of life in this place, she was sensitive to such things due to the glimmering oil coursing through her veins, practically guiding her to new life to infect and to convert.

After a short walk across the ashen plateaus, halfmolten rock and lakes of nearly plasmatic lava, the corrupted Aeravalin noticed movement in the distance; about a few hundred paces away from a small mound of slag she had perched upon, she could see humies, wretched pinkskins in protective suits doing some sort of meassurements on the plateau. Hraelga had no clue what these strange, soft creatures were doing, but she hated all of them, more than most of her former kind, for she had seen the brutality and cruelty these softskins had hidden deep within them, she had felt the overwhelming pain they could make others suffer and she had felt how some of these softskins had continuously injected her with unknown substances, how they watched as she was broken and rebuilt over and over again. Only THAT one, only the one with the monstrous golden and crimson eyes, only that one she did not hate, but fear to the core of her being.

"What are these softskins doing...?" She muttered to herself in a series of clicks and gutteral sounds, licking her lips as she decided that in the end it did not matter. Whatever the softskins were doing, it would not matter to her, all they needed to be was a proper warmp up. After all, she was still certain that life was present on the planet, perhaps if she was lucky, the fresh smell of these softskins' entrails could entice the planet's life to reveal itself.

Without hesitation, the exiled drael leapt from her position right in between the handful of softskins in protective gear, relishing the expressions they showed from behind their plasteel protections. With a single swipe, Hraelga's long, sharp claws managed to bisect two of the softskins, while a third was not given any chance to react when her hand reached for the softskin's helmet and plopped it off of the being's protective gear: head and all inside it. "Too easy, you softskins are pointlessly easy to kill...where are those of you who possess the magicks? Where are the ones that were called the... Jah'dah'i?"

Her attention, momentarily weakened, suddenly had her snap back to reality when she remembered there were two more softskins, which had clearly decided to make a run for it. Turning around and scanning the horizon, she let out a gutteral sounding tone akin to a laugh when she realized those softskins were only fast when it came to running for their lives. A futile effort, but still remarkable how they could be so fast only in such situations. With her nose, her tongue, her very being picking up the scent and the sensation of those softskins, her legs began to move, carrying Hraelga with great speed (yet still much slower than what she used to be capable of in the olden days) to what looked like some sort of square rock. It was what these softskins called a 'building'...out of duracrete. Tilting her head a bit upon reaching the structure, the former Bryn'adul Marauder slammed her hand against the metal door that shut her out, tearing the heavy metal apart like as if it were tissuepaper.

The screams coming from the structure were intense, the sound permeating the area beyond and drawing in massive creatures traversing the molten lava. But then the structure went silent, with Hraelga emerging, dripping with the lifeblood of those softskins, settling herself on top of the small square, duracrete structure, holding what looked like a head with a spine attached to it in her hand. "This was pointless... softskins can't even hurt me...they are so flawed."

The recording of what had happened in the research outpost had been sent to the nearest active military outpost of the Diarchy, the recording showing the last remaining scientist hastily stating to the camera who he was and what their business on Eol SHa had been, while it was clear that in the background a door was being forced open, torn off of its heavy hinges with relative ease. Screams could be heard, the sound of bones snapping, muscles and skin tearing spread in the background and before the holomessage was completed, a hand with long, white claws grasped the head of the scientist pleading for help, until with a sudden rip and tear, the scientist's head popped off of their body, with their spine being viscerally ripped out of the body. The message ended and was sent in all of its gruesome truth onto the network of the Diarchy...

ALL WILL BE ONE​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Eol Sha
Outer Thermosphere - DSD-Vault – Personal Flagship of the Diarch
Inventory - Conviction - Blooded Seer Cloak - Spear - Bodyguard RDB-01

Through the durasteel viewport the fire world slowly turned and shinned with malicious intent. A hostile planet by all means. With some commands and formalities seen through about notifying Reign and the High council of his position and task in worst case scenario, Rellik prepared the QRF teams to begin their descent.

At the hangar bay eight troops of the DAF each were loaded into two Upsilon II troop transports, with Rellik himself and two RDB-01 droids loading into a Executive Command Shuttle. With everyone set to go the shuttles launched from the vault to the world below. With the sharp hiss of the ramp opening the Diarch stood at its entry way. The RDB droids at his flanks, their crimson visors pulsing as they synced with the terrain readouts.

The ground thrummed as the two troop transports touched down ahead of him, hissing plumes of vapor bleeding from their landing gear as eight Diarchy troopers poured from each, helms sealed against the noxious air.

Rellik's voice cut through the static of their comms without need for encryption.

"Secure the science building. Upload every blackbox and biometric log. No one steps inside without bioshielding. If you find something… Transmit. Don't touch."

A simultaneous "copy, Diarch" was all he needed.

With orders given the Diarch and his Dra'Khan droids approached the lava crater where the first workers had been attacked. He wanted to know for himself if this was some mutagen lava beast or something else. The recording was not great with the urgency of the scientists words before he was annihilated.

The Spear on his back with the spirit of the Warden Kiev'aran began to hum at his approach. The Dra'khan droids stepped behind him like shadows, their footfalls surprisingly quiet despite their bulk.

He surveyed the site ahead. A chasm of molten rock stretched between two ragged plateaus, its center was scorched with black slag and sun-bleached bones, their outlines warped from proximity to the lava. This was where it happened. The first slaughter.

He stepped to the very edge. Wind caught his cloak like wings. The molten light below painted his silhouette.

And for a long, still moment… he simply stood there.

Inviting.

Baiting.

Hraelga Nacht

 

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil


Sitting down upon the duracrete structure, the former Bryn'adul Marauder looked up at the heavens when she could see them; the ships breaking through the clouds, revealing their presence with little desire for stealthiness. Her hand slowly moved to the side, where a strange, dog-like beast sat down next to her, caressing its head with care. "Yes, yes Rhigi...we'll be having visitors soon."

With a wicked smile on the visible lower half of her face, sharp metallic teeth revealing themselves below the bloodred lips, the large mutated Aeravalyn followed the ships' path, tilting her head a bit when it looked like they finally touched down. Standing up straight, Hraelga took a step forward, silently stepping off of the duracrete structure, landing elegantly upon the rocky, searing hot ground. As she did so, two more of the Hellhass hounds appeared from around the structure's corners, their hunched stance combined with their maw's lined with sharp, irregular teeth making them quite the formidable pets.

The original Rhigi, Rhogo and Rhaga had long perished, but these three fulfilled their broodmates' legacy, serving as Hraelga's forward scouts, her hounds. "Do you smell it? Can you feel it, little ones?"

Moving her hand forward, the former Bryn'adul motioned her hounds to start hunting, after all she would not deal with the weak softskins herself, what was the point? There was only one among this batch of fresh meatbags that could possibly entertain her. She could feel the sensation deep within herself: the smell, the thrill, the sheer presence of those who she only knew as Jah'dah'i. These were the softskins which made it harder for her kin to cleanse the worlds during the Bryn'adul crusades, they were the only softskins to truly stand up against those commanders serving the Titan himself.

Silently she started to move forwards, towards the origin of this sensation, her hounds moving in front of her through the sulfuric fog which spread out in front of her. It was close to where she had taken down those pointlessly weak softskins with their awkward coverings. Hraelga could see the shadows beyond the fog, the sensation and presence of a Jah'dah'i so close to her made her practically quiver in anticipation.

"Go hunt the other softskins...this one's mine," With that order in the form of strange gutteral sounds escaping her lips, the hellhass drones suddenly accelerated their movement, vanishing into the sulfuric fog as they started to sniff out the other softskins which had been brought along with the one who drew the former Marauder's attention.

As she lost sight of her pets, the Perfaected Marauder leaned forwards, the muscles in her long legs tensing, claws digging deep into the barren soil. with a sudden crackle coming from her hips, her legs pushed, her entire body practically becoming a blur as she pushed herself with great force and great speed towards that which made her feel so unbelievably good: the Jah'dah'i. Without warning she would leap from the sulphuric fog, landing down on the unstable ground with her tall, yet slender frame, practically shattering the consistency of the ground below, forcing more sulphuric steam to escape from the cracks in the ground all around her.

Straightening herself to her full height, Hraelga moved her hand forward, utilizing her still relatively newfound power to blast aside the sulphuric fog with a gentle push. "Are you the jah'dah'i? Are you the one who makes me feel so... good?"

ALL WILL BE ONE​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Inventory - Conviction - Blooded Seer Cloak - Spear - Bodyguard RDB-01

The steam moved unnaturally now, it tingled the warrior senses of the Diarch. Informing his RDB droids to head towards the structures where the DAF troopers were now moving around, Rellik was beginning to have a bad feeling about the coming situation. It was the loud thud of the landing upon the monsters tail that had him whip around to finally lay eyes on the monster that destroyed his people.

The form that emerged from the haze was no creature Rellik knew. Unnaturally tall. Her skin shimmered like split flesh wrapped in marble and bone. Her face, if it could be called that was half-swallowed by an ornate helm that curved out in bladed crescents, like a crown torn from some executioner god. There was no species name for her in the archives. It was some form of perversion. Presumably to him, of Sith alchemy origin.

He stepped forward, spear across his back loosened itself, slithering into his palm with a whisper of steel and the wardens soul.

Then his voice cut through.

"I have had a few to many nights at the wrong Cantina but I don't think I am the one making you feel good. And I am no Jeh'dai"

His saber whipped to his other hand. Conviction igniting with a gurgle. The golden hue vibrating out in the Sulphur fog.

"I don't know what you are. Yet, I intend to get revenge for my men and take a piece of you home to study in my lab."

And with a single, fluid motion, Rellik hurled the spear across the chasm, its point aimed not for center mass, but for the crown of her malformed brow Hoping to test her chassis's strength. If it missed he could always call it back to strike from the back.

The battle had begun.

Hraelga Nacht

 

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil



It was clear, that despite the fact that at the very least those Jah'dah'i were supposed to know about her kind, or at least the kind she used to belong to prior to her 'change', this one seemed to steadfast, too brave to actually be aware of those who she used to call her kin. Tilting her head ever so slightly, the visible lips curled into a wicked grin, her sharp teeth visible for Diarch Rellik to clearly see. Even if some of her features did hint at a human ancestry or mix, too many of her other features contradicted this idea.

"Don't worry about those other softskins...my little hounds will take great pleasure in their hunt," A black, forked tongue slithered across the metallic teeth, calmly raising one arm in front of her upper torso, as she took a quarter turn to stand in position. It almost looked as if she had taken some sort of martial arts stance, creepily continuing to smile.

"I have had a few to many nights at the wrong Cantina but I don't think I am the one making you feel good. And I am no Jeh'dai"

"If you are not one of them...you must be one of those other who wield their red shinies... it does not matter, you are all but food to my kin, food and sport," A chuckle escaped her mouth, sounding gutteral and otherworldly, completely nothing like the humanoid image she seemed to project with her appearance. This was deeper, darker, a reminder of the Draelvasier she used to be, one of those who had stood alongside the Titan in their ancient crusade.

"I don't know what you are. Yet, I intend to get revenge for my men and take a piece of you home to study in my lab."

"Cute," her head seemed to move a bit, turning towards the lightsaber Rellik had ignited and seemingly her smile only for a moment seemed to diminish, turning into a momentary scowl of sorts, as if she couldn't place the color of his blade and as she was captivated by the fact that she had not seen such a color yet, her attention snapped back towards the Diarch when he made his move.

As swift as rellik's fluid motion had been, as blindingly fast his opponent's draw would be. From behind her back, a massive blade, the size of the diarch himself would be slamming down upon the incoming spear with such weight and might behind the swing, that inevitably, the massive blade not only deflected the incoming spear of the star-fallen king, but managed to cleave straight into the ground, from which large amounts of pressurized sulphuric gas gushed out like a geyser.

"Interesting..." The elegant monster's voice creeped out of the fog created by the thick, yellow gas. Her form clouded by the sulphuric gasses, this natural hunter, bred and raised with but a singular purpose would remain within the thick fog for a few moments, only to rush towards Rellik with no hesitation at a speed only those who were strong within the force or a Draelvasier themselves could manage to comprehend, wielding the massive Shard of Heresy as if it were a much smaller sword, with much more finesse and swiftness than would be expected from such an unwieldy looking weapon. Without warning, the Shard of heresy's edge would be swung down with great force towards the Diarch's head with reckless abandon.

ALL WILL BE ONE​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

The spear never reached her crown. Hraelga's blade came down in a blur, intercepting the throw with a sharp clang of alchemized metal on hardened bone. The force of the clash had the spear hit the ground and bounce back into the air tumbling end over end through the fogged air, spinning out. His palm opened, fingers splayed out in a wide spread as he called for the spears return. The spear curved mid-flight, altered course, and came streaking back through the gloom. He caught, the haft slapping into his palm with practiced weight.

His eyes stayed fixed on her: the way she breathed, coiled, leaned. In the time he was able to prepare himself in a Soresu stance to take on the attack. She was fast. Strong. And her timing was good. It was not the speed at which she moved but the way she raised her blade so quickly. He went to confront it with his saber but as he did, there was a tug on his back. His cloak was pulling him out of the way. Almost as if it knew he would not be able to handle the sheer force of confronting the beasts blade.

With the motion of the cloak he was thrown slightly off balance but caught himself by putting the bottom of the spear in to the ground and using it as a counterweight to hold him and turn him around the strike. With the momentum he came to swing to the back of his opponent and take the opening there.

Hraelga Nacht

 

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil


Like a blur she appeared, her striking alabaster and bloodred form seemingly hovering in the air near the Diarch in a moment which seemed to last forever, with her senses sharpened to their utmost limit, her massive blade slowly traversing through the air as it displaced the molecules of air in its path, allowing those same molecules to collide behind the Shard of Heresy as it made its way towards the Diarch's head. However, in what seemed like an eternity; a slowmotion image of what was going on, Hraelga could see the irregular movement the diarch made...as if something had pulled at him as if he had been a marionette.

While the Shard of heresy swung past where Rellik had been standing earlier, the draelvasier's crested head seemed to turn with a baffled expression towards the Diarch, the blade colliding with brittle ground with a thunderous noise, as a mighty boom rung like a thunderclap throughout the area, but it was not that which worried her, for that strange movement, that irregular shift in position and weight had allowed the Diarch to gain a position so advantageous that it would be near impossible for Hraelga to react if he were to use this advantage without hesitation.

Suddenly, to the monstrous Bryn'adul, time seemed to accelerate again, as her hands let go of the Shard still stuck in the ground, taking a deep breath as she could see how the Diarch swung around, reaching into her blind spot and thus making his moves unpredictable, for he had managed to utilize his momentum faster than she could actually turn around, with or without her blade holding her back. Yet that was the thing, without her blade in her hands, she could at the very least access the gift she had been given through the experiments they had done on her.

Hunching over, she suddenly let out her breath in the form of an earpiercing wail, a sound shockwave which amplified by the force itself began to spread out from her position, stripping away layers of the brittle rocky ground they were standing on, blasting aside the sulpherous vapor. "BEGONE!!"

ALL WILL BE ONE​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Inventory - Conviction - Blooded Seer Cloak - Spear

For a breathless second, he thought he had the beast. The blade was down, buried in the earth. Her back was turned, momentum tilted the wrong way. He had spun behind her and he was coming to slice her in half cross body. He would take her spine, cleave her from shoulder to hip. The conquering once again!

Then the world beneath him shuttered with force. Sonic pressure screeching out from his enemies mouth as it did what it had the time to do. He should have seen it coming. The downfall of the Diarch was always arrogance in his quick thinking plans. That he would always succeed in the moment. The blast caught him full in the chest. His cloak lashed backward, and for a heartbeat he was weightless, boots leaving the ground.

He slammed into the earth several meters away, dirt and sulfurous rock exploding around him. A deep, bruising impact. His lungs seized, chest tight as the air from them was stolen from him and for a moment there was only the iron taste of blood and the echo of her scream still rattling through his body. He lay there, still, the faint tremor of the ground beneath him reminding him that he had underestimated her

With his hand he began etching in Ur-Kittat with lighting into the ground beneath him. He was to bait his prey and if she came near him as he recovered she would be met with a quick ritual that would send lightning and trapping pressure down unto them. He needed to gather himself but would not be defenseless. If she took the time to stand and mock him, all the better.

Hraelga Nacht

 

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil


She huffed, her breathing haggard as she could feel the strain of her banshee's wail washing over her body. Even while she had been gifted this strange power, Hraelga was far from properly trained with it beyond the most basic of applications, but this battle...yes, any battle with these pink meatbags who seem to have large numbers of people controlling this same power. Any battle with meatbags like this one would surely grant her a better understanding...

Reaching down for her blade, her senses told her it wasn't over yet, far from it even. A sensation like her instincts, but finer, more sharp seemed to penetrate her musings, as if this pink meatbag posed some sort of threat. "Ridiculous..."

As soon as she pulled the Shard of Heresy out of the brittle earth, spilling more sulferous smoke into the air, hraelga leaned slightly forward, launching herself with reckless abandon towards her target. A few cracks in the ground, a silent "woosh" through the air and the monster was already closing in on the Diarch, unaware of the trap he was creating, all the while having some sense, some instinct in her mind telling her that something was amiss, a sense she ignored... to her own detriment, as she aimed to simply run her massive sword through the Diarch's gut.

ALL WILL BE ONE​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

The sound of her charge came before the sight of it, stone cracking under inhuman weight, the air displaced in short, violent gusts.
He didn't rise. Didn't move. His fingers continued their work, tracing each sharp angle of the glyphs into the rock, the scent of ozone curling up from the glowing lines.

Her blade point lowered for the gut, her momentum a wall of muscle and steel aimed to tear him in two. Rellik's palm flattened against the final mark.
The ur-Kittât flared in blinding arcs of violet-white, lightning crawling out in branching veins that leapt from symbol to symbol before surging upward. Pressure slammed down from above, a heavy, invisible hand that threatened both combatants now.

Her blade still came forward, but now against the drag of weight and light. The impact in the air around her was enough to rattle Rellik's teeth, the heat of his own lightning snapping along. With his hand still on the ground as the monster came in for its attack Rellik pushed with the force and moved himself to the side.

The strength of the attack though launched him down the nearby cliff face. Sending him reeling to the lava pit below.

Hraelga Nacht

 

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil

Almost like an unavoidable freight train, all her strength positioned in her run, in her legs and arms, her muscles tightening and rippling like durasteel chords, her tendons flexing and retracting like arachsilk. Her plated protection gleaming like alabaster bone. She was closing in on her opponent, her prey, with each stride she took, with each breath escaping her mouth filled with razorsharp, metallic teeth, the edge of her mighty blade closed in on the Diarch.

She would have her pound of flesh, she would have her victory and she would roar like any apex predator when she'd achieve this goal, but while she ran, while her legs carried her along the distance, her mind, her instincts...nay her very blood wailed in defiance within her, screaming in fear and despair against the predatory desires which overwhelmed Hraelga's mind.

yet when she would finally deign to listen to the very instincts trying to warn her, it was already too late. Lightning, seemingly coming out of nowhere, struck violently upon the exiled Draelvasier's form, surging through her muscles and tendons, ricocheting and reverberating upon the bone-like armor that covered part of her body. While she still moved forward; slower and as if dredging through thick oil, a final push broke her stride and allowed momentum to be the remaining element, as both she and her blade smahed forwards into the ground, making parts of the cliff crumble and shatter, a hollow scream of pure agony escaped the Draelvasier's mouth, an overwhelming roar of rage and pain filled the air as she was pinned down to the ground under an unnatural pressure, flesh and bone searing under the violent influence of the crackling lightning.

Cuts and lashes formed within the beast's flesh, strange, black blood dripping out of said wounds like thick, glimmering oil, slowly seeping into the crevaces at the edge of the cliff and beginning to drip down below...

ALL WILL BE ONE​

 

[Diarch Rellik]

The cliff face rushed past him in a blur of jagged stone and sulfur smoke, the roar of the lava pit below rising to meet him. Instinct snapped his arm forward. The Spear of the Star-Fallen King bit into the wall with a teeth-rattling jolt, sparks and shards of stone spitting outward as the haft locked against his weight. Rellik's body swung hard, slamming against the cliffside, ribs screaming. The momentum nearly tore the weapon from his grasp, but his fingers clenched white, refusing to let go.

He hung there for a long, breathless moment suspended above the molten abyss, cloak whipping in the furnace wind. Each exhale burned. Each inhale tasted of ash. Above him, he could still hear her roar. See the drip of black, glimmering ichor streaking over the cliff's edge, spattering into the molten rock below where it hissed but did not burn away.

Grinding his boots against a narrow outcropping, Rellik shifted his weight and wrenched the spear deeper into the stone to anchor himself. The weapon held, humming faintly as the Warden within shared his defiance.

He spared a glance down at the bubbling lake of lava only a few meters below. The ichor sustained, he looked up to see more of it dripping down the cliff face. It was not natural, in fact it appeared to be coming directly for him on purpose. As if it was living, wanting.

With a grunt, he began hauling himself sideways along the cliff face, leaping with momentum - calling his spear back to him to stab back into the rock and so on in repeat. He was trying to regain position and stay away from this hungry liquid.

Hraelga Nacht

 

[Hraelga Nacht]

Location: Eol Sha
Tag: Diarch Rellik
Extra: Shard of Heresy | Skittral Glider | Hunting Pack | Glimmering Oil

Within her anger and rage, the former Marauder of the Bryn'adûl let out a bellowing shriek, slamming her fist upon the ground with wild abandon, and as the lightning seemingly subsided, she growled and huffed. Wheezing as she got back to her feet, yet still crouching as if she lacked the strength to stand up, Hraelga let her hands slide across the damaged parts of her carapace, feeling the cracks, the jagged edges. The her fingers slid across the exposed flesh, feeling the strange liquid pool upon her fingers and hands, her wounds were quite severe, that much was certain. It seemed that among the pinkskins there were a few whose connection to this force was enough to overpower even her. Unlike others of her former kin, she did not have the heavy armors and full plate body carapaces, not anymore at least.

Yet she still had enough strength and energy to continue, for now at least. Gritting her teeth, she dug her hands in the volcanic ground, grabbing a handful of seering crust, cautterizing her wounds with the heated earth, burning her free hand in the process. Standing up, she slid her unburnt hand over the hilt of her blade, lifting up the Shard of Heresy with a deep grunt, before slowly walking towards the edge where she'd seen her opponent fall over.

"Yield, Pinkskin..." Her voice low and gravely, yet not mocking nor arrogant. She had accepted that this was a battle where she would need to utilize everything and wouldn't get out of unhurt. However, she also knew this one could best her and that was...dangerous. "I am born in blood and war, pain does not stop me and death does not scare me...I have seen and experienced things much worse than such a faith."

ALL WILL BE ONE​