[Arc] Apex

Blitz led his pursuers on a merry chase, taking out a few here and there, until he ran out of pursuers, which concerned him - he had been doing a decent job of thinning out the herd, but the number he'd felled didn't match up with the number he'd seen original give chase to him. With a curse under his breath, Blitz ran off in the direction he'd briefly heard Leo and Eris running off in. After a few minutes of running, he came across a scene that was better than the worst-case scenario, but not as good as he'd hoped - a row of archers trained on the duo while a larger one who appeared to be better equipped was taking Leo to task with sword slashes. From his gear and attitude, I'm guessing that's the leader, Blitz thought, circling around the outskirts as he listened to their banter. A quick molotov isn't going to be enough to sway this guy off his target like the others, and they can't move with archers on them. After thinking his options over for a moment, Blitz nodded to himself before proceeding with his impromptu rescue.

The archers and the captain both would notice around the same moment that Leo and Eris did - a wall of metal, 3 meters in height and width, popping up between the duo and the captain, a moment before a large metal fist erupted out of the brush to the side of where the fight was occurring, plowing into and through the line of archers like a line of bowling pins, but Blitz only wanted to clear them off of the duo, he wasn't focused on them for the moment. Blitz shot out of the trees, already in Double Knuckle Form, launching his remaining fist at the captain with the wall behind him and the fist in front of him.

One second, two, he was counting under his breath yet the words came out as bouts of half-spoken snarls, at least they were barely audible though they sounded more like repeated screams in his head. Would they provoke further conflict, would they accept his half-beaten surrender with open arms, chaining on the manacles he saw dangling at one of the hunter's belts? His dismayed queries would remain unanswered for the moment, as the flickering of metal in the background caught Leo's attention, along with something more intangible, all the same signaling that Blitz had not run off, not entirely. Thus did he take a step back as the man pounced, all the same glancing down at his sword, kicked away by the enemy.

Yet Leo's gaze was soon cut off by the emergence of a sheet of steel, all the same his grip quickly moving back to the injury he had sustained. A few of the men and women wielding crossbows were caught off guard by Blitz's rocketing fist, but the vast majority ducked out of the way of its path; as did their leader in response to Blitz, merely sidestepping his attack with ease before bringing down his own offense with the broad of his blade. After all, while the metal mage certainly had brute force on his side, Leo had just managed to outpace the leader himself, and they had quite different areas of prowess when it came to physical capacities. Seeing Blitz attack were several of the crossbows trained on him, their shots still lit up with divine energy but beneath it was actual ammunition laid, and nothing to be trifled with at that. Others fired at the wall that had been hastily constructed, a barrage that tore it down just as fast.

Seeing the silver splinters in the air did Leo dart forward, with the leader of the assault momentarily distracted he picked up Dualist in his left hand, offering a stab at the nearest hunter. A quick parry did they deliver with a blade of their own, but it left open a gap in their guard, which he quickly took advantage of, plunging his sword into their stomach. Another shot was fired, this time Leo leapt out of the way, still grimacing as its essence reverberated against his being. There was no time to pause, however, no gap in the action to allow for respite. He spun about in response to another closing in, yet they were dispatched by a familiar spear in the chest, quickly pulled back to its source above by a flowering branch of thorns. He chuckled, glancing up at Eris for a split second as she offered a sloppy salute, before plunging back into the fray.

Blitz's attacks, while successful in taking the heat off the duo for a few precious moments, weren't as initially successful as the metal mage would have hoped. For one thing, more of the archers managed to avoid the metal fist, to Blitz's irritation. He had been hoping they'd just supplemented their numbers someplace and were trying to beat quality with quantity - minus the captain, who seemed capable to a degree - but the archers hadn't been so focused on their targets that they'd lost track of their surroundings. As for the captain himself, he sidestepped the fist and brought the flat of his blade down on the metal hand as it passed, knocking it into the dirt at his feet. Experienced indeed, Blitz thought. He used the flat side to avoid chipping the edge and damaging the blade, and reduce the risk of it slipping to one side and getting grazed.

The brief pause did allow the duo to resume where they had left off, however, striking down another pair of hunters as they approached after a barrage of arrows tore down Blitz's iron wall with concerning speed. Figured it wouldn't hold out long with that many archers, but those aren't normal arrows, Blitz thought. Blitz cursed and put up another wall in front of himself as the archers took aim - Blitz could already hear the sounds of arrows chipping away at the wall from the other side, and would no doubt break through in a matter of seconds, given the number of archers they had.

What neither party seemed to realize, however, was that the fists weren't one-and-done - they were remote controlled. So as Blitz hunkered down behind the rapidly-diminishing wall he'd put up, the fist that had initially missed most of the archers did a quick 180 and blasted back into their midst directly from behind, as they were all facing Blitz now. The one the captain had smacked down, meanwhile, flicked one finger through the dirt to hurt dust at the captain's eyes before clenching into a fist and soaring at him from point-blank.

While the fist flicked what little dust had accumulated on the forest floor, the leader of the group had already turned away, and upon it rocketing back toward him he slapped it away with his sword again, the consistency of its mechanisms falling to the ground inert and reduced to nothing easily salvageable. "You're foolish, taking their side," he declared to Blitz, although no longer facing him in any way, shape, or form. Instead, his focus had returned to Leo, a few hand gestures made at the others in the party. Leo recognized them as some form of Signal, likely corrupted or coded in more ways than one, yet before he could warn Blitz in any way the man charged again. He was just able to knock the greatsword away, being thrown off balance in the process as he retreated. Leo cursed under his breath, barely able to even move his right hand and certainly not capable of shifting his grip to a more suitable stance for combating such a weapon. Blood dripped down it in greater intensity now, aggravated by the man's blade that dared to cross his path, the liquid spilling out onto the once sanctified grounds. He jerked away again as sailing from the tree above came another lunge of Eris's spear, just in time to offer a distraction from the dangers at play.

Except that the man saw it coming. Grabbing the shaft of Benediction in one hand, he twisted and carried the momentum to right where Blitz's barrier lay. The impact shattered the sheet of metal all the same, its integrity already severely hampered by the onslaught of bolts. And thus did a group of hunters, those that had been effected by neither the first turnabout of the metal mage's fist nor the second, charge, their armaments of choice contrasting the majority of crossbows. A pike, a flail, and a flamethrower with a vicious bayonet, it was clear that the three men and women were some of the more elite of the Ebony Hunters. Working in coordination, they would attempt to surround Blitz, keeping him from interfering with their leader's righteous task, if not eliminating him altogether.

In the moment that the man had glanced away in aim, Leo had charged. Ten feet, five, normally it wouldn't have been hard for him to close the difference even with his injuries. Again came the throbbing, though, its sheer vigor dripping in some cruel zeal, his consciousness wanting to tear into two. The jab of his blade was abruptly halted, not by flesh but by the searing of it, the sickening crunch of a heavy weight on bone, his knee dropping as Dualist clattered upon stone. "As always, they kneel," the man pronounced, and at once was his figure alight in white flame, forcing Leo to look down, eyes burning with the brightness. At once he felt the shifting of the man's greatsword, its position lifting from where it had dug deep into his shoulder before, no doubt shattering his clavicle although that particular source of pain was masked by the overwhelming repulsiveness of the sickeningly holy presence. From behind him Leo heard the words of Eris yet failed to comprehend their denotation; it was all the same though.

Before there was a final stroke, his hands grasped the blanched blade. Rivulets of crimson outpoured, at once the shade turning to pitch, hue juxtaposed against even the black night. A wicked grin was displayed upon his visage as with a thundering crack the greatsword fragmented, wedges of it sinking into both his own and the owner's flesh. "Sorry, what was that?" Leo spoke all the same, not before rising to his feet and driving a kick into the man's chest, sanguine dribbling from his own mouth although he didn't care in the slightest.

Blitz attempted to block the leader's vision - however briefly - by flicking dust at his eyes, but he'd already turned away by the time the flick happened - unfortunately, this meant that when the fist did go roaring towards the leader, his vision was unobstructed, and he was able to slap it down again, this time with enough force to smash it apart, the remains crashing back to earth in a mangled heap of metal. Blitz made a 'tsk' noise as the hand faded away, a new one popping out of his wrist to replace the one he'd lost. "If joining their side is wrong, perhaps you'd care to explain why you think your side is right?" Blitz asked. Eris and Leo had been rather tight-lipped about their past, but this group clearly knew something about them - enough to try and hunt them down and label them for it, at the very least. Who knows, maybe I can get a workout in and learn something at the same time, Blitz thought.

Blitz raised his arms to guard as arrows began sailing through the widening gaps in what was left of the protective metal wall, along with three bearing melee weapons - they didn't look as problematic as the leader, but they seemed less like cannon fodder than the ones back at the ship. More trouble, Blitz thought, backing up slightly as they approached, the occasional arrow pinging off his giant fists - his metal body protected him from permanent harm, but the magic in the arrows still stung. A vein pulsed briefly in Blitz's forehead behind he reeled back with one giant fist, yelling "Would you piss off with the bloody arrows already?!" and slamming it forward, unleashing a cone of destructive energy in the direction of the group of archers and the melee weapon-wielding elites that had been advancing towards him.

Though the arrows were annoying him, he did notice that Leo wasn't doing so good - but that he didn't seem to mind, as he kicked over the leader without being bothered much by the blood dripping from his chin. I'd wager he's closer to having another one of his 'episodes', Blitz thought. Or at least, closer than when he was on the ship. Normally that would be bad, but given the situation, can't say it's a bad time for it.

The man offered no response to Blitz, clearly not caring about his opinion enough for anything more than a scolding. However, as the elites charged one seemed particularly intent on educating the metal mage, or at least he would have been, if it were not for Blitz's sudden offensive in response. A gout of flames was produced from a nozzle pointed directly at him, its blaze expanding as the woman who wielded the weapon twisted a knob on its side. Some quantity of his attack was thus ablated, although the shockwave still carried to the majority of those who brandished crossbows, their numbers considerably depleted now as a result of Blitz's multitude of attempts at doing so. However, as the blast subsided so too did the two elites carrying a pike and flail respectively advance, their speed and power not to be merely trifled with. As a matter of fact, it was clear that they had nearly the same physicality of their leader himself, only lacking in more occult qualities.

The pain, it festered into hatred. Black smoke curled from the corners of Leo's mouth, although it was not truly fumes but something far more disturbing, the breath of his lungs replaced by a raspy snarl. The revulsion displayed on the leader's visage was clear, masking his stupor with broad strokes. Having staggered at his boot did he swing back with a divine fist, Leo's grasp enclosing around the strike as the void ripped through the light present within the man's being. His nails, tipped in obsidian, raked against cheek, although they sought further purchase embedded into his trachea. At that did the man manage a broken howl, drawing back suddenly as his fingers clutched his throat in agony, the luminescence spreading over his vision. He would have been executed within a moment's notice, his injuries already nearing lethality, if it were not for the sudden staccato of gunfire from above.

Two starships, their presences having been previously forgotten. It had been the call of one lone hunter, begging through a comm link for some form of support while he lay on the ground bleeding out. Yet the crew paid no mind to their own, rather whoever piloted the vessels had one goal in mind, and that was extermination. Artillery rained down upon the ground, spattering mud and blood in its wakes yet with a precision that managed to mitigate collateral damage, after all with their leader having temporarily retreated not one of his allies dared to turn their sights upon Leo, and neither were the boughs of a pine the best place to engage an opponent who had the whims of nature on her side.

From the assault did he duck and weave, streaks of energy firing in tandem although they were nothing more than that, certainly not tearing away at his sanity as others previously. And yet witnessing the direction of fire of its companion was the same accomplished anyway, vitae of two dissimilar hues dripping down his arm even as it was wreathed in torrential shadows that consumed the skies. The wrenching apart of a steel hull, a vortex created that set the other off its path of destruction and into a much deeper maw, he relished in the beauty even as the man he had previously entertained mouth hung agape, before charging with renewed vigor, a shimmering, semi-corporeal blade formed in his hand. At that did Leo offer a glance with a grin, pointing his index finger lazily in his direction as a bolt of blackened light was produced from it, soon erupting into a sphere of identical matter upon its impact into his abdomen even as the creak and crash of metal resounded all around him.

Blitz asked the leader why he seemed so certain that he was in the right on this one, but he failed to answer, merely turning his attention back to the duo. Well, not like I thought he would terribly willing to sit down and talk it out, Blitz thought to himself with an internal sigh. He'd have to find his answers elsewhere, hopefully when the battle was done and over with.

Besides, Blitz still had troubles of his own to deal with - while his brief snap of anger had blasted away most of the archers and one of the elites, two of them were still approaching Blitz, seemingly unfazed by the display of strength he'd just shown them with his magic. They're ballsy, I'll give 'em that, Blitz thought. And to top it off, they're not moving much slower than their leader, but I suppose that gap does help a bit. Blitz sidestepped, narrowing dodging a thrust from the pike of one elite, then raising a fist up to block the swing of a mace from the other, grunting as the spikes screeched against the back of his metallic hand, before using his remaining hand to slug the mace-wielder in the gut.

He spared a briefly glance to the side when he heard a noise that was half-gurgle, half-growl of frustration - Leo had turned the tables on the leader, it seemed, as he had him by the throat, though he looked more furious than Blitz recalled. And while Blitz wasn't in the greatest of moods himself after all the archer fire, it occurred to him that he never did see what exactly triggered the transformation in the base last time. I couldn't see well from my own cage back at the time, and Leo basically went from unconscious straight into his 'other mode', Blitz thought. Plus side, these guys aren't likely to just bolt if that side of him is the reason they have it out for him.

Unfortunately, neither party predicted that the remaining ships would close in and start opening fire on both groups, being indiscriminate in their effort to slay the twins. Blitz cursed and jumped back from the elites, dropping his Double Knuckle form as he raised his Digital Barrier around himself and nearing the closest tree, the hail-fire of shots bouncing off his shield at first, but leaving faint cracks where bullets hit the places the previous ones had already struck.

Around him, the fires of broken machinery raged. Smoke was caught upon the night, as the hunters that had managed to avoid gunfire and the crash alike now choked on its fumes. Yet he stood in solidarity amongst the wreckage, a gleeful smile present on his visage even as the man he had struck doubled over in pain, light vanished from his figure. Yes, yes, so too had the agony been vanquished, two pieces of his identity once again united under serenity. A calm washed over him even amidst the screams of chaos, no, because of it. Yet still did that man croak out oh so righteous words, barely audible but still enough to downturn Leo's grin into a scowl.

He could not help himself. A step, two, his nails tapped against the side of his leg, their contact tearing holes in the fabric above his skin as they were dipped in onyx and crimson. The man cowered even as Leo approached, admiring the wounds he had inflicted, for it was evident his life force was already fading from him. He knelt before the hunter, right hand catching his head even as it had begun to slump forward, forcing eye contact between lime and scarlet. The terror, he was addicted to it. The man struggled to speak, gurgling on his own blood, but Leo knew the mouthing of the singular word all too well. At it did he smirk, a noise approximating a laugh produced from his throat though it was caught in the edge of a snarl. "You know, a long time ago I used to be a good person. Want to know what happened?"

The choking continued as his claws moved down to where they had previously impaled the man. He caressed the neck even as he spoke again, cheerful tone morphing into the epitome of fury. "It was righteous men like you, who tore me apart for the monster I was, tortured, experimented, tortured again. What do you expect someone to do, eh, when faced with a living hell for nothing more than existing? Oh wait, you wouldn't know, human." At that did his touch plunge into the man's throat, tearing out his windpipe even as he at last collapsed entirely, nothing more than a pool of vitae on the charred forest floor.

Leo rose to his feet, not bothering to wipe the gore off his body. At their leader's death had the few hunters that had still remained begin to flee, what cowards they were. His arm was raised in their direction yet aruptly did it cover his mouth, as a cough was produced, then another, his own blood spilling onto the already drenched hand as his vision swam with reds and grays.