Match of the Millennium

Description: Assassination Arts meet Magecraft as the Lin Kuei Assassin Cyrax meets Chaos Mage Sorcha in a fight that makes it harder to tell who's on Earthrealm's Side and who's on Outworld's side...

[SORCHA]
When the great sorcerer had 'invited' his guests, some with paper and pen and others with less cordial methods, the massive fortress of stone and mortar that towered high over the rest of the forgotten island had been a thing of wonder and mystery. It's hand-crafted walls spoke of untold hours poured into the perfection of every detail. No brick was out of place, no surface cracked or weathered from the countless years that must have passed since it's creation, almost as if it had been built only recently.

Vast winding mazes of halls and arches filled the interior of the grand structure, every twist and turn seemingly leading to another stretch of rooms. The decorations were palatial and opulent, great banners of woven silk and gold portraying symbols and scenes from history long forgotten. Statues chiseled from the dark stone of the island itself loomed overhead, great warriors of old staring standing as towering guardians and monuments to battles past.

But it was all a ruse. Much like the old wizard himself, the ostentatious displays of wealth and civility were little more than brittle shells over something far darker. Now that the truth of the ancient tournament has been revealed and its terrible fate unleashed upon the poor fools unwittingly brought to face the greatest challenge of their lives there is a much different atmosphere surrounding the castle.

The walls look darker than before, more sinister somehow. What once might have been mistaken for prideful craftsmanship is now little more than the exacting demands of an unforgiving master, every mistake and mishap paid for with the bloody lash of a whip. The elegant banners and their esoteric sigils have taken on a much more forboding meaning, claws and teeth and blades promising a brutal and unpleasant end, while the statues of the former guardians stare with cold impassive eyes upon the slaughter.

All in all, it's a pretty awesome place, if you're into the whole systemic evil and murder thing. The young chaos mage known as Sorcha would likely be considered by many to fit that particular description at first glance. So far, she's met only one person who has managed to look past her appearance and question her motives. Ofcourse, her answer was to turn a good football field-sized chunk of the ancient forest into a twisted chaotic mockery of life. So, yeah, even a second glance probably isn't going to persuade most people that the little four-armed mutant is possessed of anything particularly resembling an inclination for 'good'.

That suits her just fine though. Not everyone has the insight or the stomach to understand the true driving force behind her actions. Let them run and cower as she unleashes the raw power of Chaos upon the world! It's so much more fun that way.

Oddly, her experience here on the island thus far has been quite the opposite of what she's used to seeing. Instead of running away, people tend to run /at/ her. It's an interesting change of pace and one that has been the source of great amusement for her, particularly in regards to the masked monks that seem to serve as this cozy little island kingdom of murder's law enforcement. The last time she had been selected to fight, they'd spent the good part of three days chasing her down. The only reason she'd been caught is because she wasn't all that familiar with the castle. She'd wised up since then and mostly stuck to the outdoors, playing a wonderful game of hide-and-seek among the various tourist destinations on the island while scouring the land with little pockets of Chaos to keep them on their toes.

The most recent attempt to capture her had seen her lead the detactment of guards off into the forest. She'd lost them almost immediately and circled around back to the castle, intending to taunt them upon their return. The girl lies sprawled out in a lazy posture atop the great statue of Buddha, her slender body resting neatly inside the large bowl resting in the lap of the ancient prophet. Two of her hands rest behind her head, creating a pillow against the hard surface of the carved stone, while her other set of limbs gesture aimlessly in the air while she hums off-tune to herself as if she is directing the music of an orchestra that only she can hear.

As has been the case since she arrived on the island, Sorcha is without clothing of any sort, her pitch-black skin glistening in the warm light of the torches scattered throughout the garden of statues. Only a large white shroud adorns her body, tied about her neck like a cloak, though it offers no protection to her modesty with her stretched out on her back at the moment.

[CYRAX]
Some are clearly uncomfortable with the decor and atmosphere along this island. It's no surprise, there is the foreboding specter of death seemingly soaked into every inch of the island, from the stone foundations to the trees to the air itself. Not quite the finality of a graveyard, but more of the brutality of a coloseum: a place where lives end for glory.

Of course, not evweryone is completely ill at ease in a place like this. There are the natives, of course, those whose way of life is clearly reflected here. But then again, there are some others who find themselves well comfortable with it simply due to other rapports. Such is the Lin Kuei, a clan of Earthrealm, but soaked in the traditions of Mortal Kombat. THey know what it is to live and die by the edge of a sword, not for individual glory, but for the clan.

So such is the figure watching the statue from the top of one of the archways near the top of the stone stairs. Cloaked in traditional camouflage cover to blend in, the Lin Kuei known as Cyrax watched the four-armed mage carefully. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if the woman had relation to the Shokan...but that was beside the point. He was on surveillance, for reasons that were obvious: she was to be his next target, on the orders of Shang Tsung.

He was careful to move only minimally, the scope he used to watch Sorcha as she lounged in the bowl of the Buddha statue the only thing that dare peek out from his cover...before he made the quick movement to try and make to a close arch.

[SORCHA]
At nearly the same instant that the ninja choses to leap from his hidden perch to gain better ground against the chaos mage, she suddenly sits up. Did she see? Four arms stretch out into the air in various directions, long clawed fingers splaying out at the ends of her spindly limbs. Several loud pops fill the air as her joints protest the long delay in their use, followed by an even louder crunch as she twists her head from side to side to work the kinks out of her neck. Unlike another jolly old fat man, Buddha's lap does not make for a great place to rest.

"Earghhhh... man, starting to wonder if those faceless jerks are even coming back."

She glances idly around while continuing to stretch, bending her torso in various ways that create further disturbing pops and cracks which echo through the empty expanse of the garden. That gives her pause. It's awful quiet lately. Not that this place is exactly a hopping party scene but there's usually /something/ going on. Guard patrols passing through, servants carrying odds and ends, other members of the lucky contestants making their way to some place or another.

Sorcha's chaotic glowing eye narrows as she arches her eyebrow, her scrutiny of the area growing much more intense and suspicious. Maybe the guards have gotten some idea of being sneaky into their heads and are trying to ambush her. That could be amusing. So far, none of them have actually tried to harm her, which has left them in a rather poor position when it comes to taking her into custody. Probably some rule against it, which is hilarious. Since when have the rules ever been on her side?

"Hey. Heeeeeey! I know you're out there, you robe-wearing pansies! First one to catch me gets a kiiiiss~!"

[CYRAX]
For a moment, Cyrax wonders if his cover had been blown. Sorcha managed to get up before he had completely settled in on his spot on the nearer arch. Training comes into play, stilling his breath and body and trying to make as little movement possible as he lays flat. Even as the joints pop, and Sorcha thinks outloud, he doesn't move.

He can't see, not under the cover of camouflage, but he can almost feel her gaze scanning the area just around the gates. It's only when she calls out the guards that Cyrax relaxes a little. His cover is still intact...and that means he has the element of surprise.

And surprise is one of the best weapons a Lin Kuei can have. He needn't use absolute discretion for this one, sure, but being able to take a target off guard is the best way to win a fight as well after all.

Peeling his cover off in the blindside of the gate, Cyrax readies one of the explosive casks that hang at his hip. With a mindful consideration of the wind on his skin, he prepares...and launches, trying to fling the explosive present right into the bowl of the statue and perhaps launch Sorcha clean out of.

COMBATSYS: Cyrax has started a fight here.

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Cyrax            0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Sorcha has joined the fight here.

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Cyrax            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Sorcha equips a warm Red Soul Shard.

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Cyrax            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Sorcha blocks Cyrax's Bomb.

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Cyrax            0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
The movements of the ninja are precise and calculated, his motions silent and deadly. There is no noise as the explosive is removed from its holster, no warning given to the young victim as the volatile projectile arcs through the air towards her resting spot. It is only by chance, or the appearance thereof, that she choses that moment to push herself free from the curved surface of the offering bowl, dropping to the cold stone dias below the Buddha just as the grenade drops into the container and detonates.

Sorcha let's loose a shrill cry of surprise as the powerful blast shatters the ancient stone bowl, sprawling forward onto her face. Massive chunks of broken stone shrapnel fly in all directions showering the area around the statue with dozens of rocky daggers, several of which bite into her back. Fortunately, the shroud of white cloth seems to act like some sort of armor, blunting the worst of what could have been a life-ending attack had one of those shards puncutured something vital. Even without a direct hit, simply being near the blast is a deadly proposition, something that many often forget.

The abruptness of the attack combined with having her face slammed into the pavement is enough to daze the little mutant for a few long seconds. Vision swimming and ears ringing, it takes her some effort to push back to her feet, though a skilled killer such as the Lin Kuei would realize that her recovery from such a close-range bombardment is far too swift to be normal. Sorcha shakes her body from top to bottom like a dog that just finished a bath, her long ponytails flopping back and forth instead of big floppy ears. That simple reaction seems to be enough to free her mind from the haze and she whirls around, mismatched eyes searching for the source of the attack.

"Ahahaha! And here I didn't think you losers had the cohones to actually try and kill me! Good attempt, by the way! But you need a lot more BANG in your BOOM if you wanna take /this/ girl on!"

She cackles loudly, her arms lifting up into a looming pose as arcane energy begins to flow through her body. Even here, wherever this bizzare island of murder might be, the Void is present and ready to deliver power unto its chosen avatar. It's Chaos time!

COMBATSYS: Sorcha gathers her will.

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Cyrax            0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
Cyrax fights the temptation to immediately survey the aftermath of the bomb, knowing that he still should maintain as much of the element of surprise as possible. However, he can hear the scattering of stone, telling him of the damage to the statue already. THat's something he knows he'll have to keep in mind.

When he finally hears Sorcha's shouting and cackling, the Lin Kuei lets a curse cross his thoughts, though not verbally. He still has some element of surprise though, judging by the fact that the four-armed girl still seems to be talking of whatever enemies she had been jabbering about before.

Slowly peeling his cover off from the top of the arch, the Motswana warrior looked down...and glowered at the girl with her arms in the air, as if she was pulling down energy from the very sky. Frowning, he carefully threw his cover into the air, in Sorcha's direction. Not carelessly, of course, but as a means of misdirection, leaping high above where the cloth flies to try and land behind her, hoping to take her off guard and sweep her legs out from beneath her.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha blocks Cyrax's Sweep.

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Cyrax            0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
Unfortunately for Cryax, it would appear that he has exhausted his opportunities to take the multi-armed mutant by surprise. She whirls around to face him the moment that he takes to the air, whatever senses she might possess beyond human kin picking up on his presence with ease now that she has been alerted to it. Her gaze darts to the falling cloth momentarily but she quickly recognizes it for the distraction that it is, turning her baleful eye upon the assassin. The figure that launches himself at her is not the one that the little witch was expecting and this curiosity earns a brief look of surprise.

"Who the...?"

The speed of the assault leaves her no room to finish the question, atleast not immediately. She spins around yet again to face the acrobatic aggressor and drops into a crouch, closing her lower arms around her shins in a defensive barrier against the low kick. Rather than attempt to simply nullify the impact with brute force, something that she rather lacks, the mage rolls backwards as the sweep strikes against her and launches nimbly into a reverse handspring that puts several feet of distance between herself and the assassin.

"...hell are you?", she finishes, as if the brief bit of foot work had been little more than a momentary distraction. Her hands continue to glow with chaotic energy, the pulsating sickly pink mixing with the golden orange of the torchlight, casting the shark-like grin she gives him into a bizzare tint.

"Ah, like I care. Die in a fire! Kyahahaaaa!"

Sorcha whips two of her hands forward and a billowing cloud of black fire explodes from the grotesque eyes embedded into her palms. It pours forth in a thick stream, like some sort of arcane flamethrower, and she sweeps it across the courtyard with sadistic glee as she lets loose another shrill laugh.

COMBATSYS: Cyrax equips a warm Aquamarine Soul Shard.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Cyrax blocks Sorcha's Chaos Magick!.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
The sweep meets magical barrier, as Cyrax realizes he no longer has the element of surprise anymore. Another mental curse crosses his thoughts as he watches Sorcha backspring away, standing up as the distance is created.

"I'm Cyrax of the Lin Kuei, and Shang Tsung sent me to face you in Kombat!" he shouts. He doesn't make any other proclamations...especially as Sorcha's palms light up and send out that stream of fire that he's forced to back away from, He crosses his arms, letting his gauntlet take the brunt for anything at face level, and using his speed to dart away from the rest. He's by no means unsinged afterwards, though, gauntlets scorched and clothes blackened further. The heat was enough to singe him through the silk easily.

"You think magic will be enough to save you?" Charging in, Cyrax gets the momentum to feint a kick, before trying to fling a hook toward Sorcha's jaw. Even if she avoids that one, the surprise of a circular saw extending out from his gauntlet might be enough to get him get in several slashes with it across her chest.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha dodges Cyrax's Saw Enough.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
"Well, hey there, buddy!"

Sorcha's voice shifts in pitch and tone completely, almost as if it is a different person speaking. Her words becomes laced with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm and yet the emotion feels flat and fake, as if she were some late night salesman on a marketing TV show.

"Welcome to Casa-de-Sorcha! It's just so nice of you to drop by, I love having company! Oh, but where are my manners," she says with an embarrassed look, clapping a pair of hands against her cheeks. "I haven't even offered you any refreshments!"

Cyrax's taunting cry as he lunges in to unleash his feint is ignored by the scrawny mage and she begins to hop around in various directions, weaving in and out of his range, making his carefully planned tactic practically useless. The chainsaw was something that she most certainly did not see coming but even that surprise fails to provide the edge he needs to catch the nimble little mutant.

"Here, I baked you some scREECHing paaaain!"

Just after ducking away from the deadly saw, Sorcha takes her own opportunity to bring things in nice and close. She hunkers down and lunges directly at the Lin Kuei, her arms opening wide to encircle the assassin in a four-pronged bear hug. Ofcourse, her strength isn't enough to cause harm in this manner. Oh, she might scratch and claw him a bit with those nasty fingernails of hers but the real threat is that the little witch's mouth full of jagged teeth will be perfectly lined up to get a nice chomp on his tasty neckmeats!

COMBATSYS: Cyrax dodges Sorcha's Gimme Yer Neck!.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
As Sorcha backs away from his punches and manages to get away from the surprise of his saws, Cyrax allows clear annoyance to reach his features. Especially with the mutant's sudden taunting demeanor. The fact that this wasn't being taken seriously was a definitely peeve of the Lin Kuei.

But it wasn't going to be something that would completely take him off his game. Retracting his saw, he recognizes her hunching down for a charge, and rolls off to the side away from her dash in. With some distance again, the assassin is forced to rethink his approach. Scowling, he keeps away for now, knowing better than to advance recklessly at this rate.

Reaching for his side, he narrowed his eyes toward the mage...before unclasping another device from his hip, tossing out something that expands into a metallic net, one with clear arcs of electricity coursing over it as it flies toward Sorcha in an attempt to ensnare and electrify her.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha dodges Cyrax's Electro Net.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
Sorcha sails past her intended target like a black missile, her arms snatching at the air where the stealthy warrior once stood even as he rolls away to safety. She snarls in frustration as she hits the ground and rolls herself, digging her claws into the pavement and using them as traction to spin back around to face her opponent. It's a good thing too, because her quick recovery gives her enough time to get a read on what the assassin is plotting next.

Still low to the ground in a crouch, the mage skitters sideways with alarming speed as the electrified net explodes into the air, avoiding the painful looking snare like some kind of hellish spider. The net instead slams into one of the many statues surrounding them, sputtering and hissing as it sears a criss-cross pattern into the ancient stone.

Sorcha's growl quickly dies out into more of her shrill cackling, her mouth split open into a Chesire Cat grin. An aura of searing pink chaotic energy flares up around her entire body, lighting the small teenage up like a demonic Christmas tree for a few seconds, and then just as quickly the energy sputters out and fades away. What was that all about? Whatever it was, she looks just as confused as the next person, but there will be time to ponder that later. Assuming she remembers or cares. Spoilers - nope.

"Your guts are mine!"

Still crawling across the ground on all of her limbs, she closes the gap between them rather quickly and hurls herself once more at Cyrax. This time instead of a power hug, the mage swings her arms wildly in a flailing assault of fists and claws. It isn't an elegant attack or even really a good one. But can the ninja deal with that many arms at once?

COMBATSYS: Sorcha successfully hits Cyrax with Strong Strike.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
As the net flies over Sorcha as she skitters belot, Cyrax finds himself realizing that this is going to be a difficult foe to pin down at this rate.

Backing up, the Lin Kuei tries to get some extra distance, but the flailing of the claws and fists by the four-armed girl manages to catch him down still, the extra limbs clearly enough to make up for his speed at this rate.

He finally curses out loud, albeit under his breath, taking a leap back to find some extra space. Narrowing his eyes, he doesn't advance...in fact, he doesn't move at all, stilling his breath and trying to summon on his warrior training to ease his blood as well as focus his senses.

COMBATSYS: Cyrax focuses on his next action.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
Sadly, the mutant's wild flailing was not enough to outright eviscerate her opponent and make good on her declaration of claiming possession of his entrails. But the fight is still young, let's not dismiss that particular outcome just yet! The assault from multiple angles does serve the purpose for which she had intended it, atleast, which is to drive her opponent onto the back foot and keep him from throwing any more of his weird gadgets at her for a few seconds. Whatever kung-fu centering-the-chi nonsense he's up to right now is fine with her, it gives her enough time to do what she does best.

As before, her hands begin to glow with the raw stuff of the Void, the energy that exists between the layers of reality. It crackles and surges about her hands in the form of black flame and lightning, dancing between her twisted fingers as she weaves them together into intricate and arcane patterns of spellcraft.

"Oooooho ho ho ho! This is gonna SUCK for you!"

COMBATSYS: Sorcha gathers her will.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
The centering was hardly nonsense, it was something from centuries of Lin Kuei training and experience, passed through the generations of the clan. And those who have mocked it openly usually didn't live long enough to do it a second time. Thankfully, Cyrax wasn't privy to such, keeping himself centered enough to rise properly and stare down SOrcha.

As she starts to channel her own energy, Cyrax scowls...and presses forward. He dashes in, seemingly headlong...but a strange green glow from the gem in the center of the Lin Kuei crest on his outfit comes and suddenly, he seems to have closed the distance far faster than before, snapping out instantly with another hook punch if he can get in close enough. Then a following uppercut, and...wait...when did he get another bomb out? The first hand is suddenly armed, and rather than toss it, the assassin would try to slam the bomb into Sorcha's chest and blow her away with it point-blank.

COMBATSYS: Cyrax channels the glare of the vicious eye.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the fortress of the steel will.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Cyrax successfully hits Sorcha with Mustard.

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Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
The chaos mage watches with a wide smirk over the bridge of her hands as they come together, palms pressed against one another, fingers twisted into a strange shape. The assassin has shown that he has atleast a few tricks he can pull from afar but each of them has cost him a few precious seconds and given her enough time to react. Surely, whatever else he might have up his sleeve, the situation would be the same.

She's ready for him when Cyrax leaps from his meditative stance and lunges into action - or she thought she was. The sudden glow of the gem fills the man with such speed that she can hardly track his movements for the few brief instants that it takes for him to close the gap and those moments are all it takes to overwhelm the little mutant.

The hands snap out in a brutal series of blows, the first catching her square in the side of the head. Sorcha squeals in surprise and staggers sideways, her arms flailing out and away from her body leaving her exposed for the driving uppercut that takes her under the chin. The blow connects with enough force to lift her off the ground and with almost inhuman speed the bomb is slammed into her chest before she has risen more than a few inches.

Sorcha's eyes go wide as she realizes what is about to happen and in that instant the chaotic pink glow of her mutated eye shifts hue becoming a deeper crimson red. The light seeps outwards into her body, covering her in a shimmering shield of faint transluscent energy so fast that it beats the explosion by a few fractions of a second, but the bomb still detonates violently and the scrawny girl goes sailing backwards in a cloud of fire.

She hits the ground hard and bounces a few times as her momentum slowly bleeds away until she comes to rest with another grunt of pain at the base of a massive lion statue. "That does it!" She half screams and half wheezes as she pushes back to her feet. Her eye glows with fresh hate and power in equal measure as she turns around to glare at the assassin, lips pulled back into a nightmarish crescent of jagged teeth. "I am going to eat EVERY finger you have!"

With a yell of manic glee, Sorcha thrusts all of her arms out towards her opponent. The black fire surrounding her arms explodes with fresh fury and begins to expand around her body, consuming her outline until she is a pyre of eldritch power. The air all around the garden begins to grow darker and more ominous as if some invisible hand had pulled a great blanket over the area blotting out the light. Shimmering shapes begin to take form within the inky blackness around Cyrax as the mage gestures and with every slashing motion of her fingers a fresh wound rips into the fabric of reality. The very air around him becomes a mass of gnashing mouths filled with forked tongues and twisted hellish teeth, each possessing a great eye within their gaping maws as some eldritch horror gazes through the wounds creating by Sorcha's sorcery and the assassin would be aware beyond the shadow of a doubt that those fiendish presences had their attention focused entirely on him.

"I am inside your skull! AaaahahaHAhahaHA!"

With a grand sweep of her arms, Sorcha clasps all of her hands together into a large ball and the disembodied mouths all follow suit, condensing down upon the killer warrior from all directions. They bite and tear and scream at him as the baleful gaze of the eyes wither at his soul. The horrorific assault seems to drag on forever but in reality it takes but a few seconds. The ending is no more pleasant than the experience itself, however, for as the magics finally fade and reality snaps back into place the mouths all let loose a single piercing shriek in unison before exploding into a blazing pillar of acrid black flame!

COMBATSYS: Sorcha successfully hits Cyrax with Nightmare Fuel.
? Strange Hit! ?

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Cyrax [E]        1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
With the power of the soul shard, Cyrax is able to get in fast enough for his first flush blow of this fight. He's sure the point-blank blow would be more than enough to give Sorcha a second thought as she's blown away, but he's not going to take any chances. He wants to press the advantage as he can....

Unfortunately, as he tries to surge forward, Sorcha's power hits a peak, and consumes her...as well as the air around him. "What sorcery..." he snaps out as he watches the darkness undulate around him, turning into unnatural maws around him.

He doesn't have much time to mull over them when the mouths all descend on him, the pain agonizing and unnatural...and when they relent, the Lin Kuel looks like he got mauled by a wolf or something.

But yet, he still stands, ragged, haunted, but he still stands. Tatters of his uniform remain on him, but his eyes refocus soon enough and glower straight back at the chaos mage. "You...."

He doesn't say any more, as his eyes glower, and the gem glows again. His arms are a blur as he reaches down for his belt again. He seems to be going for a bomb again...until his arms flash out and a rocket propelled kunai or something similar flies out instead. Of course, one closer look would show yet another bomb hanging off of it, along with a mechanism to shatter the casing once it attaches to something...that something Cyrax is hoping is the four-armed creature.

COMBATSYS: Cyrax channels the glare of the vicious eye.

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Cyrax [E]        1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the fortress of the steel will.

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Cyrax [E]        1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Cyrax successfully hits Sorcha with Short Circuit.

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Cyrax [E]        1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
The look on Sorcha's face when the hellish energies fade is not dissimilar to the mouths which had surrounded the assassin - wide, hungry, and inhuman. She chortles at his tattered appearance, reveling in the suffering caused by her magical onslaught. Few weathered a direct attack from the touch of Chaos and walked away whole and none did so unscathed. Whatever the outcome of this fight, she had left a mark that would linger on his soul, eating at him from the inside until its corruption takes hold should he fail to fight it off.

That's, ofcourse, assuming he survives the fight and doesn't just get eaten! It's been quite a while since she had a good fresh meal. Her mouth waters a little with the thought of the juicy muscles and the coppery taste of lifeblood.

Her daydreaming is interrupted by another blur of motion and her arms lift up to create another magical ward infront of her body, red light seeping out of her eye to intermingle with the complex circle of arcane sigils that takes shape in the air. The kunai slams into the magical barrier with little effect, it's point thudding into empty space as if striking a solid piece of wood or stone. Once again, however, his ingenuity proves greater than her ability to anticipate the tricks at his disposal. The bomb slips past her notice and she lowers the barrier just as it sheds its casing and detonates right in her face. The half formed shield sputters with lingering power as it wards off the worst of the blast but Sorcha is again hurled aside like a sack of potatoes as the powerful explosive catches her dead on.

This time she hits the statue behind her before actually falling to the ground and it acts as a backstop, both preventing her from falling and smashing the back of her head with a resounding crack. Her vision swims a little but the power flowing through her body at the moment is too strong for such minor inconveniences to matter. She has to act but not just yet. Her next push has to be final and decisive.

"Oooohoohahahaha! I can't /wait/ to taste your entrails! But you need to go back in the oven! I prefer my food well done!"

Pushing herself off the statue, Sorcha takes a few steps forward but keeps her distance. Once more she begins to weave her hands into arcane sigils of magical spellcraft but this time the energy that begins to build is somewhat different, more focused and present in reality. Waves of raw power radiate from the girl in a palpable aura and it becomes difficult to focus on her location. Looking at her is painful, hearing the arcane words that she intones grating upon the mind. These are things that mortals were not meant to experience and whatever she intends to do with this gift cannot be good!

COMBATSYS: Sorcha charges her next attack!

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Cyrax [E]        1/---====/=======|=======\=======\1       [E] Sorcha

[CYRAX]
The bombs that Cyrax took so much pride in are doing their job, though as much falls on the unorhodox use of them as much as their power. And he's giving Sorcha well enough payback for her earlier, mentally scarring (among other scars) attack. But she still stands, and he knows that allowing her any more time to try and prepare another attack like the first is folly.

So when she gets upright again, he knows he can't let her breath, can't give her the time to keep up whatever preparations she has readied.

Charging in, he doesn't go straight forward...no, instead, he tries to leap above, toward the statue she had ran into before. Leaping onto it, he immediately tries to leap toward SOrcha's immediate blindside before his saw extends out of his gauntlet again. WIth no time wasted, he slashes, trying to carve across, then diagnonally down, then diagonally the other way, befire finishing off a vertical slash, with an extra thrusting front kick to boot at the epicenter of his slashes. It's no magic circle, but this Lin Kuei tries to rely only on the personal skills he has, rather than sorcery.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the spread of the lightning nerves.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-------|=======\=======\1       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Cyrax successfully hits Sorcha with Buzz Kill.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-------|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2       [E] Sorcha

[SORCHA]
For once it seems that all of the fancy manuevering that Cyrax has attempted to use to counter the frustratingly agile little mage's scampering about proves fruitful. She is too wound up in her casting to do much in the way of dodging, too focused on channeling the volatile energies of Chaos to divert her full attention to the threat that the assassin poses, and he takes advantage of this situation masterfully.

The flying leap takes him up and over the mage and she has no time to react properly as the wrist-mounted saw slashes out at her from the side. The glow in her eye flares to life briefly as the gift of the Elder Gods attempts to correct for her weakness but even its power is not enough to save her. The blade tears into her body with unmolested fury, slashing a deep red gash across her torso. Black acrid ichor explodes from the wound and spatters across the stones with a hot sizzling hiss, burning and eating into the pathway and the statues and anything unfortunate enough to get covered in the mutated blood. Sorcha lets out a deep growling screech as the saw continues to carve across her body, staggering backwards in an attempt to escape the deadly weapon but failing miserably as he unleashes the lightning fast assault. One of her arms flops to the ground, severed clean off at the elbow. The limb ignites before it even hits the ground, consumed by the arcane energies now running rampant and uncontrolled within its grasp. Black fire spews forth in a torrent of liquid flame from the ruined stump alongside the sprays of burning blood and even as Cyrax lands the final blow of his attack the area all around him becomes a blazing hellscape in response to his foolish interruption of her channeling.

"Aaaaaagh! Haha...HAhaHA! What's this?! I /can't/ die! I've got overdue library books!"

Sorcha spams on the ground, flopping about like a fish out of water, bleeding fire and acid in all directions like some kind of demonic turret. Suddenly seeming to remember that she still has a few arms left that are just BRIMMING with magical /death/ she lets loose another ear-piercing cackle and thrusts her palms in various directions.

"Buuuuuuuuuuuurn!!"

Orbs of fel black flame the size of beachballs explode from her hands like a geyser, hosing down everything indiscriminately - statues, assassins, stairs, those weird rip-off torii arches - nothing is spared! The garden quickly becomes home to a little slice of Hell itself. Stone shatters and melts and warps into nightmarish monstrosities in equal measure all around the mangled mage. Bits of the pathwath simply dissolve into puddles of smoldering tar while the statues looming overhead suddenly seem to become animated, their faces twisting and seething as they melt into wax-like lumps of slag. The closest of the arches begin to shift and change, their surfaces becoming less distinct and grainy until they fly apart into thousands of tiny insects that swirl around, gnashing and biting at whatever they can find.

"You done screwed up now, son! Kyaaaahahaha!"

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the glare of the vicious eye.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-------|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2       [E] Sorcha

COMBATSYS: Sorcha can no longer fight.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Cyrax blocks Sorcha's Empowered Let The Galaxy Burn!.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Cyrax [E]        0/-------/-----==|

[CYRAX]
The slashes that Cyrax cut out would have been fatal. /Should/ have been fatal, rather. With the lethality they normally promise not realized, Cyrax finds himself rather...confused. Sure, he cut off one of Sorcha's arms, but that's not quite the killer blow he had been looking for.

And that leaves her up to unleash the energy she had accumulated. The chaotic spawn around him suddenly brims to life in a way even more hellish than the surrounding maws that had taken him nearly apart before. With the world warping around him, the assassin is forced to take action, trying to fend off the locusts that seem to have burst to life from somewhere, as well as fighting the landscape itself. It seems like he would be easily overwhelmed...if not for the glow of before, the green encompassing that had saved him from Zabel's hand before...if Cyrax had been aware of it at the time, anyway. This...this is the first time he's seen it while waking. "What in the Grandmaster's name..." the Motswana muttered to himself...before cringing as if something hit him in the head. Something speaking to him, telling him to make haste now. Something he doesn't bother to ignore, not with the hell flying around him. He can't escape fully until his foe's fall is confirmed, but at the very least, he can use this to find SOME kind of safe shelter until the chaos finally reverts like the last time...

[SORCHA]
Sorcha's maddened spree of violence and destruction is as short-lived as it is terrifying. The chaotic black fires spewing from her hands die out after only a dozen seconds or so and the acid spraying from her ruined flesh begins to slow to merely a trickle of sizzling caustic fluid. There's just one problem though - nothing else changes.

The land continues to writhe under the influence of the corrupting magics. Statues howl with living fury as they melt and change, some slowly coming to full life and bounding off their pedestals while others merely give voice to the cries of a thousand tortured souls. The ground bubbles and heaves as the foul energies seep deep into the soil, rotting the already blood-stained ground with the mutating touch of Chaos. The clouds of insects are not so easily dissuaded and continue to hound the assassin as he flees for shelter from the storm of insanity.

At the center of it all, the conductor of this chaotic symphony continues to squeal with unbridled amusement. Sorcha rolls around on the ground as before, ignoring the pain of her missing arm and slashed flesh. She clutches at her sides to contain her mirth but fails miserably at stifling her laughter.

"AaaaaaHAhahahaaaHAha! Yay! Nightmares! I bet Steve is gonna love this, kyahahaha!"

Without warning, the ground underneath the mutant mage suddenly yawns open like a mouth. Her eyes go wide with surprise and she lets out a final shrill laugh as she disappearing into the gaping chasm before it slowly snaps shut once more leaving the Lin Quei to deal with the aftermath. Guess who gets to explain this mess to Shang Tsung~!

COMBATSYS: Cyrax has ended the fight here.

Log created on 18:42:52 10/07/2016 by Cyrax, and last modified on 22:56:36 10/08/2016.