Urien - A Speedo Assassination
[Toggle Names]Description: A flashback to the past: Alma, early in the King of Fighters, before Mt. Fuji is no more and war echoes in the background. The Sacred Knight's location is discovered, and Urien personally goes to crush the head of his defiance. Alma stands, after a lifetime of preparation, against the epitome of evil and injustice he cannot abide. Will it be enough...?
[ALMA]
Justice has not yet struck Mt. Fuji. The diplomatic relationship between the United Nations and Japan has not yet completely collapsed. And the internal struggle within the UN among the secret societies manipulating it has not yet come to a head. King of Fighters proceeds apace, and the contest between Team Balance and the Hungry Wolves yet looms. This peace will prove to be merely the eye of the storm.
Alma cannot foresee this future. Yet as he floats in his hotel's heated pool, some floors down from the opulent lodgings courtesy of the tournament's sponsors, he finds that the silence crackles with a hidden tension. Somewhere a faucet steadily drips, the tapping of the water on tile echoing. It gives the impression of a steadily increasing weight upon a brittle world, as though the tile were not clay but glass, inevitably to crack. He can find no tranquility here, only an inarticulable fearful anticipation of what is to come, and of the perverse relief one feels when what is brittle finally breaks.
The psychic opens his eyes and exhales slowly. He spreads his arms across the tile, lifting his lightly bronzed body out of the water, steadying himself, only partially floating. His encounter with Fei Rutherford continues to trouble him as he struggles to formulate a coherent plan of action. He believes in the magnate's words: the United Nations is responsible for the very technology that Violet Systems is exploiting, designed to be a weapon. Is the Sacred Order implicated in this scheme, and if so, are his obligations to his allies on Team Balance and to the organization in tension? If not, who else is influencing the United Nations and is the Sacred Order being manipulated by them? And the question lurking behind it all: Who was behind the mysterious transport -- that monstrous aura -- which he and Ayame joined forces to assault? To say nothing of the persistent mystery of Ayame's own agenda.
At last he rises from the pool, reaching for a towel to tousle his red-tinged hair. Right now, the ones he believes he can trust most are, perhaps oddly, the ninjas: Hayabusa and Kasumi. Not because he knows them well, but because he is fully convinced of their shared purposes. If he turns to them for advice, together, as a team, they may be able to get to the heart of this conspiracy -- and maybe even thereby resolve the international tensions which it has produced.
He smiles to himself as he begins to wrap the towel about his waist, partially obscuring the sleek red speedo beneath. It's a high bar to set for a small team, but if anyone can accomplish it, Hayabusa and Kasumi can.
[URIEN]
Within the grand power structure of the Illuminati, there are three people of note. At the apex is Gill, the wise and benevolent ruler, titled the Emperor. He has been consolidating power carefully, taking minds not to overtly affect the visible structure of the world and politics.
Beneath it is the Illuminati Senate. A coalition of damnable brains in jars, who with unanimous agreement had power on the same level as Gill. They had been the machinators for countless decades, transcending their body with dubious technology of the time and now restricted to a life of scheming.
And then there is Urien, the Treacherous Disciple. The president of the Illuminati, and third in command. Many consider him the face of the organization, as he executes the orders of Gill and the brains, yet his title indicates his own ambitions. Ruthlessly intelligent and the head of the extensive research and development hand beyond genetic bloodlines, such doesn't entirely waylay that he wants Gill's job, to be above the brains, and acknowledged as the ruler of the entire organization. And has no requirement for this to be in any way subtle.
When he was given word that the Sacred Order's leader and King of Fighter participant Alma was finally located, he swallowed his aggravation at the brains trying to order him around. He feels like breaking something in this lull before the storm, and he will make a good vehicle for such aggravation. He's going to be heading the United Nation's diplomatic efforts soon, after all... the first step towards the Illuminati's final invasion of the world's last bastion of united freedom.
Suddenly the great door leading to the pool proper erupts open. Two men in black suits flank left and right, beginning to ward people backwards or allowing them to leave at their leisure. Many choose the latter. Heavy footsteps thump as a great, tall figure enters, wearing a great white robe. Billowing sleeves flirt around his fingers, and the bottom is well past the chin. Mink-like puffs of soft fur are about the neck, sleeves and base, but the tanned figure beneath it remains clear. Handsome, in the more classical manner of power.
Arms are spread wide, almost invitingly, as bare feet slap upon the warm tiles surrounding the pool. "Alma Towazu... you are a difficult man to track down. I'd almost think you wanted to be left alone...!"
[ALMA]
A premonitory twinge turns Alma's head and gaze toward the pool room doors a split-second before Urien's entourage bursts through. The psychic is still, expression characteristically contemplative -- always faintly out of place in evidently tense situations -- but eyes alert.
Maybe he's just contemplating where this massive man got his outfit.
"I have multiple professions," Alma replies mildly, "all of which require travel." He slowly finishes tucking his towel to affix it around his waist, stepping around the pool's edge so that he faces this intruder, not many meters between them. Even straightened to his full height, Alma finds this man towers over him. "Pardon my unintentional elusiveness."
His first assumption is that this person represents the organization with whom Alma, with Ayame's help, interfered in Appalachia. But it is too soon to know for certain. So many powers appear to be at play behind the scenes that all assumptions are unsafe.
"How may I be of service, Mr. ...?"
And who, pray tell, is your stylist?
[URIEN]
The aura of the two suits is wary. Subservient. It doesn't seem to be aimed at Alma; they are uncomfortable being in the presence of the man with the impressive bath robe. It seems to have no tag or identifier, and is something that could not be bought in Southtown even were money no object. Footsteps continue to carry Urien closer, resting a few meters off. A few females in bikinis are still present, having herded into the corner out of the way rather than trying to flee. All, of course, distractingly attractive.
"You may call me Urien...!" The translation of that name is certainly interesting. He draws his arms inwards abruptly, through his sleeves. Forearms cross and then sweep, causing the robe to slough off and drop behind. His form is impossibly sculpted; tanned flesh seemingly etched at every spot in the visage of Adonic beauty. Muscles ripple and flow, tanned skin clinging to it in a way that accents the masculine beauty. There seems no fat anywhere upon him, yet Urien lacks the gaunt unhealthiness generally associated with that. His oiled form gleams in the light, causing a momentary blinding sparkle.
The females gasp and blush.
"I've come here for one simple reason..." Fingers slowly close into fists, and then Urien assumes a loose fighting stance. "To crush you...!!"
COMBATSYS: Urien has started a fight here as a boss!
URIEN
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COMBATSYS: Alma has joined the fight here.
URIEN
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COMBATSYS: Urien takes no action.
URIEN
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[ALMA]
What audience wouldn't gasp and blush?
That said, Alma does appear unmoved. This is deceptive: his sharpened gaze subtly indicates that he has already reacted to Urien's magisterial presence. Attuned more to auras than to appearance, he has experienced the awe of the attending viewers in advance. It is for Alma as though Urien had already disrobed before entering the room.
Aura sense is like X-ray vision, is what I'm saying. But *spiritual*.
Moreover, what Urien has said isn't surprising either. Alma's question was an honest one. He was just, you know, hoping for some context. If he thought this encounter arose from some offense he had given, he would apologize. But it does not take a psychic to know that such words would be pointless. So Alma does not speak.
Instead, eyes resolute and posture poised, he reaches down and whips his towel away, sending it soaring through the air, floating like a white eagle upon delicate winds. Svelte and sylvan, Alma's alluring androgyny contrasts with Urien's masculine glory. Tilting his hand elegantly, ethereal white flame begins to lick about his fingertips, flashing glimmers of pink and purple.
'So be it'? 'Do your best'? No, there's no need.
Alma answers with fire, light reflected in his determined eyes, a dart of Soul Power cresting like a wave released from his hand with a sweep of that outstretched arm, surging toward Urien's sculpted chest.
COMBATSYS: Alma successfully hits Urien with Sacred Wave.
URIEN
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[URIEN]
Urien's aura is interesting. He has a powerful spirit, although not blessed with many things that might be considered beneficial. Fierce pride, ego, confidence, to the point these are crushingly negatives. Lurking in the shadows, envy and inferiority. And he's clearly not fighting at his strongest. Within him, shackled, is an incredible power. He has not tapped into it yet... for that reason, Alma is not currently much weaker, but that would rapidly change if he were to unleash the beast...
Urien's white thong leaves little to the imagination, and if one considered beauty merely in terms of mass, then Alma has no chance. The most basic of male confidence he has in spades, after all. "Good...! You are fighting for your life, insect! Don't forget that!!"
Rushing forward, a palm attempted to intercept the blast of psychic power, but it slips beneath and impacts him dead in the chest. Eyes bulge slightly from the wash of oddly non-painful spiritual assault, but doesn't interrupt him rearing back his left arm... striking out a brutal closed fist in an attempt to impact Alma in his own chest, growling heavily in return!!
COMBATSYS: Alma blocks Urien's Aggressive Strike.
URIEN
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[ALMA]
The brief delay caused by the impact of Alma's flame against Urien's chest gives the psychic just enough time to return his arm to a guarding position. He deflects the powerful forward strike to his left, but the mass and power behind the blow still threatens to destabilize the psychic, who winces slightly and almost loses his footing upon the tile.
Yet he refuses to give ground. Instead, he seeks to use Urien's forward momentum and the slippery floor to his advantage. His blocking arms slip, his left sliding along Urien's striking arm and the other toward the man's chiseled side, Alma's flowing motion resembling a caress. Should he slip past Urien's defenses, Alma will twist gracefully and, with seemingly no force at all -- in fact invisibly enhanced by telekinesis -- flip his bethonged adversary head over heels upon the tile, leaving himself poised like a dancer.
Fighting for your life is no excuse not to look good.
It is strange to Alma, though, this sensation that behind Urien's will lurks a kind of hidden presence, something within the bubble of his opponent's ego, like the shadow of an object left within an inflated balloon. He finds contact with Urien's aura unsettling. Would it be risky to strike too hard with his own manifested will? Would cracking that veneer unleash a yet mightier power? Or will Urien eventually unleash it in the effort to 'crush' him? Either way, Alma may not have a choice in the matter.
COMBATSYS: Urien blocks Alma's Light Touch.
URIEN
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[URIEN]
There's a raw, unrefined strength behind Urien. Although his techniques are well-honed, they lack true passion or inherent mastery, like someone who showcases a prime display of the basics. Yet there's a savageness to the motions that still make them far from harmless. Hands settle upon his impressive form, sliding and gripping gently with intent of flipping him over. His response is rather simple.
A flex.
This somewhat undersells what takes place. Just as Alma began lifting and inverting him with psychic power, every muscle clenched and then expanded at once. The shimmer of telekinetic power was shattered, and Alma's mundane strength was not quite sufficient to throw him as desired. Crouching down thereafter, Urien then hurtles forward, shattering the tile behind to stay on Alma's toes... and then snap down his head in a brutal manner, air billowing behind in the primal onslaught of perfected strength!!
COMBATSYS: Alma interrupts Dangerous Headbutt from Urien with Divine Intervention EX.
URIEN
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[ALMA]
Alma's fey features contort briefly into a grimace, out of place with the still-poised posture and movements, at an unexpected result: even his mind is not mighty enough to heft Urien. Converting mental strength into physical force renders it possible to counter Alma's telekenesis on a raw physical level, so long as one possesses Urien's instincts and ability and glistening bod. But though speedo-clad psychic was aware of the possibility of such a defense, he did not anticipate it, and wrestles with the mental backlash.
This struggle does not interfere with his intuition's guidance. Alma withdraws quickly as Urien crouches down, creating the space required to intercept Urien's attacks given the imbalance of strength and speed. It is prudent not to meet the force that his adversary employs head-on. And Alma is not reckless.
"Haa!"
But he is also unafraid.
The moment that Urien hurls himself forward, Alma's spirit surges in synchronicity, triggering a flare-up of power upon his palm. Thrusting out his hand, a veritable spear of light blazes forth, appearing to pierce through his muscular assailant. Yet while the impact does manage to blast Urien back, Alma's arm buckles with the strain of his own attack, clearly absorbing much of the force with which Urien charged. The impact sends the psychic sliding back so forcefully that he crashes into the wall next to where their bikini-adorned audience huddles, eliciting shrieks of dismay.
After a moment, Alma pulls himself from the tile, dust and debris falling from his shoulders, blinking a few times before nodding politely toward the ladies.
"Pardon me."
[URIEN]
Urien still throws out his massive headbutt, despite the gleaming flash of light piercing his torso. Landing heavily on both bare feet, crouching forward and bowing forward, it gleams afterwards with a low hiss before shattering and dispersing the psychic power around. "Hfff... I see... you're stronger than I thought." he grunts in pain. His physical form remains flawless and unhurt, but within the turmoil of energy is another matter instead. His head aches, his mind is fuzzy, and the growing passion between them flares brighter.
"Let me show you my TRUE magnificence...!"
Suddenly there's a great bolt of lightning from above, impacting him and rippling across his frame. His tan skin ripples into a deep metallic bronze. From his feet and fingers his skin rapidly transforms. It converges on his chest and groin, running up his neck and turning his blonde hair vivid white. A great ruby appears in the midst of his forehead, shining as the conduit of chi is fully unlocked.
The tiles beneath him suddenly break, the increased weight unable to bear his form condensed in such a matter. The air is heavy with a static feel and dense gravity. "Now... can you still play with me, worm?!" He then lashes out, bringing out his right arm in a standing clothesline, intent on striking his throat and spiraling him a few times in the air before falling to the moist ground!!
COMBATSYS: Urien manifests bronze skin and white hair, unleashing his true power!!
URIEN
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COMBATSYS: Urien successfully hits Alma with Fierce Punch.
URIEN
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[ALMA]
Alma knew something was coming, but--
"A Darkstalker? Or ..."
--there's no way he could have anticipated this.
The elfin psychic's brow furrows as he steps forward from the fractured wall. He cannot pin down why, but his opponent does not seem to him to be among the typical enemies of the Sacred Order, those supernatural beings who lurk in the margins of mortal existence. This awakened entity appears altogether different, but his origins elude Alma.
"Whom do you represent?" Alma calls out, no longer willing to accept this contest in silence. "Are you behind the mission in Appalachia?" He will offer no more details if Urien shows no signs of recognition. "I-- ghaahh!"
Such speed despite his weight. Alma's arms move up instinctively, not of his own volition, as Urien rushes forward in his metallic form, but they are not swift enough to protect him. Alma flips backward rapidly at a speed no human body should travel, beset with G-forces both from his rapid motion and the heightened ambient gravity. The floor shatters beneath him as he lands front-first, arms barely protecting his face from the ground. Silenced by the strike, Alma can only quietly gasp for breath, struggling to lift his head, the only thought remaining that he must not leave himself exposed to another attack.
To clear his mind, to banish the mind, the psychic looses the floodgates of his soul, psychic flame bursting into being all along his bared body. Wreathes of fire rippling without heat, Alma slowly rises to a crouch, eyes fields of light, a terrible bruise already spreading across his throat. He concentrates his power, throwing off Urien's yoke with an oppressive force all his own, every sense singing with the gathering intensity, forgetting all but the fight.
COMBATSYS: Alma gathers his will.
URIEN
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[URIEN]
"I represent the will of humanity's greatest. I represent the proper path of evolution, as a species and as a society. And I represent those who will lead, at the pinnacle of strength, chi, and intelligence!!" He doesn't say the Illuminati directly, but Alma would know. This sort of grandiose proclaimations without daring to state the name. And Alma would know about the incredible mastery they have of elemental chi; it seems Urien is unique, as he has both air and earth within him. Having two is unbelievable in the first place, yet to also have opposites...! It must be due to the powerful contrast within his own soul, allowing such to prosper and grow.
His body still shimmers and crackles as Alma begins to build up his power, as Urien thrusts forward both arms, fists closed. Suddenly, he manifests a deep gravity well of earthen chi, before infusing it with the power of electricity, wind and storms. It whirls and condenses; collapsing denser and denser, starting to draw in the surroundings. The women shriek, as debris, broken tiles and glass flutter up to vanish in a crackle within the move. And then he suddenly lets loose, firing a slow, whirling ball of sheer power... building up into even greater density and strength as it encroaches on Alma, before exploding with a huge roar of thunder from above that annihilates the ceiling, blows the civilians into the wall, and sends the entire pool sloshing and hissing, partially evaporating.
"CATCH!!"
COMBATSYS: Alma blocks Urien's Temporal Thunder.
URIEN
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[ALMA]
Alma grits his teeth, clinging to his composure as his own power rages within and Urien's storm of energy rages without. He could unleash his gathered energy and strike directly at the heavy sphere of chi forming before him, banishing it and perhaps reducing the damage to his environs. But he can barely maintain his footing as it is. Any false move, any error in judgment, would leave him crushed among the dust. He must bide his time as the storm surges.
So he braces himself as the walls and ceiling melt away, stretching out a glowing hand to rest against the whirling orb. As it turns, it seems to shear away at the flames around Alma's body, looking as though any moment now it will begin to carve at his flesh, all the while the room about him descending into chaos. Yet where his fire fades, it is replenished.
"Uuuahh...!"
Alma groans with the effort, body trembling, but he holds. The sphere slowly loses mass as it turns, fading at last, relieving the overwhelming pressure. The psychic gasps in relief, and he is not the only one. But he does not have the luxury of even a moment's more recovery. Being forced to hold his position has given Urien an advantage that Alma cannot afford. He must turn the tables.
"Haa!"
With a final cry, Alma vanishes from view, leaving sparkles in his wake. It's his only shot: a total repositioning that forces Urien to guess, or otherwise rely on his instincts to know, where Alma will appear. Behind, or--
The teleporting psychic, framed by the hallway of the floor above now exposed by the collapsing ceiling, descends upon Urien, seeking just to make contact with a single glowing fingertip upon the crown of the Illuminati leader's skull, concentrating a climactic wave of psychic energy into that single touch, to seek to rend asunder the will of this so-called greatest of humanity.
COMBATSYS: Urien blocks Alma's Absolution.
URIEN
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[URIEN]
The room quakes with the damage from the temporal thunder still; large chunks of ceiling are collapsing around the pair, great ornamental pillars rupturing and spouting sideways. The sexy females fled to a save spot and huddle against the walls, as the chi and psychic infused air crackles and sparkles violently from the conflict. Alma vanished, and his eyes begin to rove in the same direction. Only for that single finger to then press forward.
It touches the great jewel upon his forehead, the central lattice to his modified and enhanced chi. Energy surges within him, and his mind begins to reel. Alma starts drawing up his dark weaknesses, making the flaws of his strength loom higher, threatening to overcome his entire body. His will buckles and folds...
But then the jewel gleams bright, and there's a great eruption of power. His entire body seethes in a purplish pillar of lightning and crackling gravity, siphoning away the incredible condensed psychic power before it can rip into his mind, like a splash of dye in the raging current of a river.
But Alma won. This protection had nothing to do with Urien's superior mentality. And he knows it. Grasping his head, eyes wild and furious, he then spreads out his arms, summoning a great crackling window of power behind Alma, and then drawing it inwards -- intent on impacting the nudist psion and launching him like it were a trampoline right towards Urien's hulking thong-clad majesty.
"AEGIS REFLECTOR!!"
COMBATSYS: Alma dodges Urien's Aegis Reflector+.
URIEN
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[ALMA]
Alma's done it.
The psychic is certain he's succeeded. His power crashes against Urien's ego, finding its cracks and fissures and widening them, enough to crush the will to fight -- and then, all at once, contact is lost. Alma is momentarily bewildered. He must rely on his eyes to tell him what his empathic talents will not: some foreign artifice has intervened. The effects of the gem are beyond Alma's understanding, but he knows immediately their consequences. The full effects of his assault have been staved off.
The result is that Alma is, by any account, trapped. He is airborne. Behind him now, a wall of shimmering energy. Before him, the resplendent beauty of Urien's unbreakable form. It is physically impossible to escape.
So he must do the impossible. His eyes still glow with power, and widening, they flare up again. With a shattering burst, this time, he is gone, reappearing in a crouch behind Urien, at his feet. Alma is almost snarling with the effort, a highly unbecoming expression, but the difficulty of teleporting twice in rapid sequence in the presence of so much distorting power almost shatters his formidable resolve. He nevertheless does not hesitate.
The sound of his palm slapping against the debris-strewn floor rings out, only to soon be suppressed by the roar of a geyser of Soul Power blasting from the ground, aiming to slam into Urien's back and blow him up onto the upper floor. The geyser will fade at that height, its power concentrated at the base for maximum impact.
COMBATSYS: Urien interrupts Full Confession from Alma with Omega Aegis Reflector.
URIEN
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[URIEN]
That's surprising. Teleportation is a rare gift, that only the greatest masters of psychic power can manage. Even the likes of Vega couldn't be said to do it lightly. "Such tenacity... what a waste!!" Urien states. He's still in the pose that he was before. Perhaps Alma underestimated what that meant. For while the scantly clad scion can rapidly hop in space...
He can also rapidly fire Aegis Reflectors.
"AEGIS REFLECTOR!!" His body is already infused with the technique's strength, arms already in the position to fire it, and after a split second of psychic power roaring upon Urien a great wall suddenly crackles, slamming into Alma and sending him hurtling in a sheathe of electricity towards the wall. Urien himself is spiraling head over heels into the air, the raw explosive force of the onset sufficient to body him even if he intercepted it near immediately. He doesn't quite make it to the second floor... his stomach impacts the side of it, before he falls like a broken doll to thump on his back a distance away.
[ALMA]
Alma is already at his limit. He cannot even sense the counterattack coming. His awareness returns to find himself slumped against the wall, every sinew afire with agony. It takes tremendous effort to stave off the darkness of unconsciousness, and all that he has left to draw breath. One breath after another. It is all he can manage at first. Then, at last, the memories of the last exchange return.
"... Illuminati ..."
Alma doesn't know if he can trust his own allies anymore. Perhaps the entire Order is compromised and has been from the beginning. But he does know that regardless, the Illuminati are his foes. Their exploitation of the supernatural, their heedless greed and recklessness toward the boundary between the fantastical and the mundane, will always oppose the peace and justice to which he aspires.
"... You ..."
Coughing, blood flecking his lips, Alma drags himself to his feet. One step, then two. Not away from his terrifying opponent, no.
"... You will ... never triumph!"
He must draw upon his power. But Alma, even as he stumbles into a staggering run, has nothing. Practically falling forward and catching himself to accelerate, he approaches his felled adversary, knowing Urien is far from finished. But the spirit will not come. His mind, reeling from pain and confusion, is unfocused. It looks as though Alma will simply plow into Urien with little to weight the blow.
Yet the well of his conviction never dries. It is his faith in that, as much as his determination itself, that summons another spark, that forces the flame from him again. With a glimmering, scorching light, Alma thrusts his hand down toward his opponent, doing everything he can to catch Urien before he fully recovers.
COMBATSYS: Urien barely endures Alma's Self Expression EX.
URIEN
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[URIEN]
In contrast, Urien almost immediately plants his hands on the ground, pulling his grandiose form up to his feet as the ceilings and walls finish collapsing. Water sloshes and boils violently in the pool still, and the sobbing females have fled through the back door. His entire head is roaring, and his aura feels strange and uncomfortable. He doesn't like it. Urien is not a masochist in the first place, and this sort of pain is unfamiliar...
"Don't say that word, Sacred Knight. Did you think we would never catch you? That we didn't care? This is your chance... I am the President! Third in command! Kill me, and you would deal a great blow to our organization!! A shame... you are TOO WEAK!!"
Urien literally ignores the assault. The blast of psychic power hits him dead on, but it is as if he threw a rock at an advancing train. Motion irrevocably roars forward, nude arm striking out to catch Alma by the throat and lift him into the air, crushing with all his power to strangle the man relentlessly. "Every last dog under your banner will be ground beneath my heel as well... you cannot protect anyone...!!"
COMBATSYS: Alma fails to interrupt Destroy Claw from Urien with Leap of Faith.
URIEN
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COMBATSYS: Alma prepares to take his last stand against Urien!
URIEN
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[ALMA]
It mustn't end like this.
Alma gasps but no air comes. He dangles from Urien's grip, paralyzed by the crushing pressure, by his own fatigue, by the refusal of his body to obey his will's commands. The Illuminati President's provocations meet no response. How can they?
(never)
But what can Alma do? By what means can he attack? When his mind wills, his body finds a way. But that synchronicity, formed by years of training, is broken, as though there is no way to be found.
Training. His years of training with his teacher, Rose. The mystery they sought to unravel together, of the missing fragments of his memories. The sight of that blond-haired boy only recently captured. Must all these questions go unanswered?
(Never)
Urien's grip closes tight--
~ Never! ~
--on nothing.
Alma does not vanish. It is more as though he blurs. He slips through Urien's fingers as though his flesh is vapor. Just for the briefest of moments, he phases out of physical space at some intermediary stage, still visible, image shimmering and oddly distorted, the sight of psychic power haywire but at work. Alma's limp body tumbles backwards, no attack forthcoming. Yet that word echoes, unspoken yet heard.
~ I... ~
And, almost eeriely, Alma unfolds as he tumbles, landing poised, with precarious equilibrium, on his feet.
~ ...will protect them! ~
"...will protect them!"
The words from his lips are a rasp. But the words that join them, telepathically projected, remain resolute. Some link has been forged between them now, the two glistening men, a bond born of battle. And it holds strong, belying Alma's trembling form, their confrontation not yet concluded.
COMBATSYS: Alma issues a challenge!!
URIEN
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0|---------------|---------======
[ \\\\\ <
Alma 0/-------/-======|
[URIEN]
Urien's fingers continue to constrict. Alma has been in countless situations. Yet in this, there is no majesty. No grandier. The aura is murderous. The grip vicious. He is trying to kill him. Crush his windpipe, rupture his vertebrae. All those trials, tribulations, a long and storied history of perseverence and triumphs, threatened by a sadistical maniac in a dirtied thong.
But then Alma slithers free, landing in front of Urien and remaining upright. "...? Is that so? This fight bores me, now!! JUST DIE!" He then leans backwards, gathering up energy within his form once more. Before snapping forward with a blurring afterimage, an explosive deposit of lightning aimed to be unleashed at Alma's head. Gravity draws inwards, like the bruised man were magnetized, trying to make evasion all the harder. True ideals, and true will, before an almost childlike impatience, a man granted everything and acheived nothing with his own power...
COMBATSYS: Alma fails to interrupt Metallic Headbutt from Urien with Absolution.
URIEN
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0|---------------|-----==========
COMBATSYS: Alma can no longer fight.
URIEN
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|-----==========
[ALMA]
What has Alma been training for, all this time?
His talent, notable. His passion, inimitable. His heart, pure. Under Rose's tutelage, his abilities magnified, the might of his Soul Power rendering him a formidable fighter.
But in this world, Alma never sought out battle. His love of true selves revealed, of the beauty of the infinite hues of the spirit, took the form of another art. He has fought for peace. He has fought for justice. And he has known that an evil lurks in this world that he is destined to face. But all he had wanted, all he has sought, shifting through the fragments of his memory, was
to be whole
and now
he is broken.
Alma's will is true, but his power is simply not enough. He makes every effort, tearing at the fibers of his own muscles as he forces himself to move at maximum speed, offering everything up. The everything that is there cannot stop Urien's charge.
The explosive impact sends Alma flying back limply, his only garment shredding, and falling into the remains of the shattered pool. There he sinks beneath water clouded dark with dust and ash, hidden from the flickering lights above, and does not surface.
[URIEN]
Alma's body is broken. His form shattered. His very life essence seethes away, along with blood, within the chaotic pool. Still the air sings with the chorus of Alma's soothing energy, and Urien's primal, evocative suffusion. Footsteps pad through broken tiles and water, a room once full of peaceful beauty and self-reflection, now the tomb to a lifetime of ideals that could not quite stand up to the sheer power of irrevocable evil, face to face. Urien stands for everything Alma is against. Every injustice, every cruelty, every sadistic force of those who have against those who have not.
And in the end, at that deciding moment, it was not yet enough.
Urien is not satisfied. He struggled against the other man, who had the audacity to be just as attractive. His body is in pain, aura still bleeding painfully from the brutal internal wounds. And at the very end, when he felt the last shock of electricity stop Alma's heart, he had not given up. The man's dreams and ambition were not destroyed, even in the face of death.
"How irritating...!"
Twisting around, he marches over and leans down, grasping a huge chunk of stone. Fingers dig into it and then hurl it aside. Beneath is his rumpled and wet bathrobe. Spreading his arms, Urien unleashes his activated chi, and a great pillar of churning purple gravity and dazzling lightning soar into the heavens, his skin slowly losing the hardened bronze. When the last of it abates, he staggers, surprised at his own weakness. Pathetic. Pathetic...!
At least this insect will never rise against him again. Shakily plucking up the robe, he swings it around his body, slipping his arm into each sleeve and thumping back towards the exit as the two silent observers in black suits converge to follow him out. "Come. I'm done with him..."
COMBATSYS: Urien has ended the fight here.
Log created on 15:21:01 10/07/2017 by Urien, and last modified on 21:30:12 10/07/2017.