Fifth Leg - You And What Army? Oh...That One.
(It'd taken them a while to find it, because during the time they had been looking for secret passages and hidden trapdoors in this dark mausoleum...neither of them had expected this organization to have such a cliche-seeming flair for the dramatics. As in what? As in the old coffin with the false bottom trick. But once the thing had been found, Canti began to cheer up. Black Skull had mentioned before something about a store of equipment taken from slain characters somehow. Assuming he wasn't bluffing, there would be a large cache of things that they could just haul away and sell, or keep all the fine bits to themselves. Either way, it would be-)
Canti: Heh heh heh...whoa.
(Let us take you into the POV of the Twin Blade for a moment. He dropped through the coffin, feet first. He stepped aside so that the overwhelming canine didn't land on him. But as these things occurred, he looked ahead...at the
overwhelming deathtrap hallyway before him. Let's see what we've got here... Spikes, spears, axes, giant stone hammers, fire, buzzsaws, arrows, grinders, and...a giant foot. Someone's been on a Monty Python kick. All of these things were operating in a series, though. They were all a perilous path to prance through at your own risk. Obviously, whoever went down
this corridor had to have...rhythm.)
Canti: Fortunately, I have plenty of that to spare, but uhh...you wanna test the waters first?
Shadow: You think I'll be fine?
Canti: I think Resurrects will work on you.
Shadow: That does not inspire confidence...
Canti: Well, I don't have much. So, let's screw up some of our own with some tunes.
(Didn't we say he had rhythm? Canti reached out and put his hand on the appearing track selector, and put on something
highly-appropriate to the situation. Ap Do and a Speed Charm were activated in unison, and the two of them dashed off into the hallway of doom! Here, the reaction of a split second was king, and while Canti and Shadow did get nicked several times by the traps, they were quickly adapting, as they went between spears and right past big hammers. The Twin Blade went right through fire with no effect and Shadow breathed Dark Breath at incoming arrows to halt their progress. He caught up with his master during a bit of a fight with the giant foot, trying to knock it out of the way. The incoming buzzsaws tore it apart and they had to dive out of the way as several stone mashers also tried to clobber them. Canti ended up kicking Shadow ahead while he got re-asserted into the pattern he'd seen, but he was only just ahead of alot of spears at this point. The Bogie leapt over grinders and took a flamethrower to the face before the winged Twin Blade flew through, grabbing him on the way as they pounded through the double doors at the end and shut them behind, leaving several knives, spearheads, and an axe to punch partway through in an almost comical manner.)
Canti: This reminds me of another little quest...
Shadow: Did it become progressively worse by the moment?
Canti: Yeah it did, actually.
Shadow: So, like right now, then?
Canti: Hmmm? Oh, I dunno...
(He looked out towards the room of black stone and crevices of lava, a stinking volcanic pit no doubt used as Neros' layer. It had to be his inner-sanctum, since he'd been in charge. Heh, what a shame he wasn't around to stop them
now. Much like Dun Loireag, this was a high cliff-face area with bridges one one section to another, though this had a high ceiling and appeared to have devilish spires of stone in places. There appeared to be an area further on that led to a throne as well. There was also a small chest beside it. Small chest? Well...these were only programs, after all. Small did not have to automatically mean it contained little. Before proceeding any further, though, Canti pulled out a few Health Drinks and a couple of Mage's Souls, placing some of them before Shadow while looking the place over.)
Canti: Come on, gotta recover from that mess.
(The hallway of traps and hazards had indeed taken a toll on their health. Canti even got a dot on his tattoo from the fire. He started to drink up, with Shadow having a hard time opening the bottles. No thumbs, you see. YOU try it, sometime, all while not standing up straight and needing your hands for balance purposes.)
Shadow: Do you...anticipate trouble?
Canti: In this place, after all that mess? I'm worried it'll
explode.
Shadow: Or maybe there are monsters? This
is a hacker server.
Canti: Or that, sure. Still worried about anyone who's on the outside...
(There was a series of loud crunching sounds coming from the devil dog now. Canti looked down and flinched as he saw Shadow eating the potions, bottle and all! Finishing off his own recovery, he chanced to ask...)
Canti: Uhhh, what does that taste like?
Shadow: Glass.
Canti: Just glass?
Shadow: And NyQuil.
Canti: Glass...and NyQuil.
Shadow:
Yes.
(Okay, either he was doing that on purpose or Reyome was looking for new and creative ways to make this dog seem creepy. Either way, the Twin Blade just shook and moved on. This place was...hellishly ominous, and gave off the atmosphere of dark foreboding. It would've been more effective, though, had its master been around. Moving from section to section, Canti had this sensation in mind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, even though he had expected it to have done so already. However, about halfway to the throne, Canti heard movement behind them and Shadow barked. He turned and, with a surprised look on his face, knocked someone off of the bridge he'd been on with a swift motion.)
Canti: What the hell?!
(It was Neros! Wait, no it wasn't...was it? The player fell into the lava, his character expiring instantly. Ah yes, so the lava wasn't just there for show. Goody... The Twin Blade looked ahead again and found that...the vampire was seated in his throne and
waving at him!)
Canti: I KNEW IT!! I don't know
how I knew it, but I am the champion and king of 'knowing it'! How are you even
doing that?
"Well, I suppose I could just lie and say my character's immortal, able to resurrect at will, but there's no reason to conceal the truth. Would the knowledge somehow make a difference in Yamiyo? It's very simple. The order buys hacked and customized items from time to time, as many do in Mercanaries. Deathblade's little toy prevents the removal of dead characters or monsters in an area and resurrects them as his pawns. In fact, it keeps his character from dying too while it's...on his person. Black Skull's, I believe you're familiar with. Those daggers are easy to make and his mask was an item to increase his speed and performance. And then, there's me and my itty bitty ring..."
(He raised his hand so that Canti could see - from that distance - the ring on his hand with an evil eye on it.)
"It copies the player pointed at as an NPC doppelganger. You thought I dashed right at you back there, huh? No such thing."
(He pointed the ring at himself and two doubles of Neros flew out of him, each indistinguishable from the original.)
"Of course, they all have their limitations. Deathblade has to be in an area full of the dead to get ANY benefit, and Black Skull's items were finite and limited to a few measily hack jobs. As for me, these copies are only half my level and it chews up alot of SP...but fair Yamiyo saw fit to create a solution to that problem. In my time of need, I became rather fond of the High Priestess..."
(He held up a card. No,
quite a few cards, all of them the same. He had saved up quite a number of the Yamiyo tarot card that prevents SP loss, meaning that he could just spawn...an army! Kind of like
now, actually. About twenty-something guys just like Neros popped out of him, a small army of Fist Fighters. Canti tensed as the vampiric player sat back in his throne to watch...and the numerous doppelgangers pressed forward in a battle charge!)
"You kids have fun now!"
Shadow: We're in trouble now, aren't we?
Canti: We came in here in trouble.
Now, it just gets fun. Maestro...
(Flipping his options to
something at random, he pulled out his blades in preparation to attack and...flew
right over their heads. Yeah right, like he'd really just play this game their way when he had only one life and they had...almost thirty in total. Besides, it was much more fun to pull a fast one. Canti pointed his hands and Shadow focused on the area in which he indicated. Here, their Overdrive activated. The nature of Catastrophe was that the surroundings, the forces, and indeed the air of The World implode on a target...and then explodes. 'Surroundings' would include others who were not outside of its influence. Thus, the copy in the middle was crushed into by others, and then an explosion of force knocked them all out, sending a good bunch of them falling to their deaths while the middle one was just
plain dead. Some remained intact, though.)
Canti: They're all yours, Shadow.
(The Bogie took to attacking the remaining copies while Canti turned to the master of the place. But as he did so, a sharp pain entered his body and he was knocked right out of the sky by a swift force, landing at the end of the nearest bridge. Somehow, Neros had tackled him, and was now pointing these wicked-looking blades at him! He was momentarily pinned down by the vampire's weight, but that wouldn't last. Seems he wanted a personal touch in this.)
Canti: Wait, you can
fly?
Necros:
No, jump good!
(Neros made to stab him in the face and fell forwards from his quarry suddenly lurching him off with the power OF his flight. Canti flipped to his feet and leapt forwards to strike with Terror Cyclone, but was intercepted by a clone who punched at him even as it died in the process. Neros jumped right up onto a spire and dropped down copies of himself, one of whom dropped down to deck the Twin Blade in the process. He struck out wildly at the surrounding vampiric warriors, but then failed to see the original come down at him and take a slash at his back from above before kicking him - and one of his doubled - over the edge. This...was actually a pointless move, as Canti flew up to glare at him.)
Canti: Seriously?
Neros:
Oh, you're no fun anymore...
(There came a long string of Neros clones out of him, shot out like a cannon blast with Canti forced to stab the first one and push just so the force wasn't so overwhelming. As it stands, he was still pushed back a great deal...until gravity took over and a a load of minions started falling into the pit. He focused a good amount of energy now and fired a condensed gunshot of darkness at Neros, which he blocked with a couple of bodies, but...the attack fly right through them and knocked him back into a spire! Swooping towards him, the two pointed daggers and began slashing and blocking each other...right up until Canti realized that he didn't
have to. Several spikes came out of his body that Neros' blades were not prepared for while facing against the Twin Blade this close. Neros started to take damage. And then, when the vampire launched some clones to knock his adversary away - towards the throne - there was an impact from behind as Shadow rammed him, then spewed Dark Breath while he was still recovering, and then fell over
again as the explosion came from the darkness flame blast Canti used to get rid of the clones.)
Canti: This is getting old, really fast. You might have my level, but you're nowhere near as good. So, unless you've got something more clever than a trick like that...
"Oh, you're bluffing. You're not that strong, or else we'd have eliminated you."
Canti: Heh, sorry, but here in Yamiyo, the right items can make me go nuclear, and I have a good set. You have these copies, but do you have the kinds of abilities I'm knocking around?
(The vampire began to laugh.)
"I will in a moment."
(What. No, seriously. What did he just say? The color drained out of Canti's face as Neros pointed the ring at him. Suddenly, several forms flew out of the Twin Blade's body. Even
Shadow was surprised to find ten of the same master suddenly appear. Oh yes, the ring DID work that way. He could make minions from his enemies too! However, during this moment, two things happened. One, the ring sparked unnaturally and refused to function any further. Two, the flying Twin Blade doppelgangers all looked at Neros with his more demonic visage, and they were grinning...)
Canti: This may be a good time to tell you that my data is exceptionally corrupt. The last time I used something to create and simulate violent NPC monsters - a hacker tool - the thing began to corrupt itself because of my character. And it looks like the same happens to other hacker tools as well.
"Ah...well...that is...ummm..."
(One of them roared and attacked straight away, forcing the Fist Fighter to defend himself, but instead of managing to defeat the thing...enough hits made it divide into TWO of the Twin Blade! They both suddenly grabbed Neros by the arms and a third one knocked the blades out of the man's hands. A kick TO that third and HE divided. Others were just starting to do that on their own, which left a problem... Realizing the scope of the situation, Neros ran...even though there would be
no hiding place. Taking advantage of the moment, Canti himself went over and picked up the discarded weapon. Apparently, the vampire couldn't copy it...and no wonder! These things were rare as hell!)
Canti: Vampire Blades, eh? Very nice...
Shadow: Errr...master? We have a problem.
Canti: Now what?
(Shadow was indicating the fact that after having run, looking for an escapse from a group of restless demonic killing machines...he'd jumped off of a cliff and let himself die out normally. That was when they all started looking at Canti himself, and that there was dark energy running along their bodies as if unstable forces were welling up.)
Canti: Oh shit...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
(They had managed to force their way in with a higher-ranking passcode and stormed the base like an army of wraiths, all intent upon getting at the Twin Blade that made a mockery of things down here. They came to the mausoleum, which Black Skull and Deathblade Mysterios were all-too-eager to direct them to. But as the group assembled there to undo the secret passage, the coffin flew open and out came...one flying Canti with Shadow under one arm and a couple of daggers on the other arm!)
Canti: Uhh, hi guys! Bye guys!
(He flew off in a hurry...and was immediately followed by a slew of unstable demonic clones that all began to explode once they were in the room! Back up on the surface at Mercenaries, there would be the sight of something very fast leaving a tent ant NOT looking back! Not until he was back at the Bizarre, at least. Canti sat down with the Bogie and caught his breath. Then, he saw... Well, it was a regular dude and a regular walk, a caricature of humanity with weirdly dancing limbs that exploded soon after.)
Canti:
That was for getting me into this mess!
Fin'