{ THE TREASURE ROOM } BATTLEGROUNDS CONCLUSION P 31

[Eight]

Her ghoulfriend? Candace chuckled. "Jerry, sweetie! Look! They're ghoulfriends! Isn't that just precious?" She leaned over to press a kiss against the man's cheek, grinning even as he tried to shoot at the zombie. It was okay that he missed this time. "And do you hear that? I can't touch her. But there's one problem..." Candace turned narrowed eyes toward Sammy in time to realize there was a glowing fist headed her way. She gasped and raised an arm to block it, wincing and hissing in pain at the cold chill that traveled through her bones. ********! That hurt! Zombie girl really packed a punch.

"Good luck, kid. But zombies have never been something I was scared of. I find them quite lame, actually." Candace forced a yawn of boredom as she reached for Siddie and making a grab for one of her long pigtails, giving her hand a twirl to wrap the hair around her hand for a more secure grip and pulling. Hard. "But this little b***h and I have some talking to do." She was not going to let a shadow near Jerry. She promised.

But there was no time to really do what she had intended, which was to take Atropos and shove her blade into the girl. Instead she felt heavier, and her knees buckled. She forced Atropos to desummon herself and released Siddie to fall on her hands and knees with a grunt, struggling and trying desperately to get up. NO! Not this again! It was like on the island with that horse--

"All those who seek conquest, kneel before its presence."

Those were familiar words.

She didn't pay any attention to what happened next. How could she? She felt like she was being crushed to death. Candace closed her eyes and hit the ground, still struggling to get up. Oh god! It hurt so bad! She nearly screamed it hurt so much, curling up half on her back and half on her side and writhing on the ground. Make it stop! Stop it! Just..just ******** end it! There was a loud crack and she finally shrieked in pain, whimpering and crying on the ground. She hated this. She hated feeling weak especially in front of these...freaks!

Candace couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. Was she dead? She couldn't remember how it'd felt when her golem had died as Epsilon Ten. Was this death?

When she was about to give in to whatever this feeling was...it was suddenly gone. She gasped for air and sat up, rubbing her eyes and turning over to gag and heave. She wanted to throw up, it'd hurt so bad. Oh god! Were her ears bleeding?! ********! They were!

"Trainees are disposable."

Candace's head whipped around to look to Caelius, frowning. Disposable. That's all they were? No...no, she refused to be disposable. Her, Harrison, Jerry...even Molly and Jordan and Gale. She refused to accept any of them could just be tossed aside and thrown away like a child's toy. She watched him walk around like nothing was happening. What was he doing? Why was he just--s**t!

Someone was yelling. Who was yelling!? She gasped, grabbing Jerry's arm. A glare was cast toward Siddie and Sammy before she ran and dragged Jerry along through the portal.

This was not over.

Prolixity

Bilious

Miliardo Kason

 

[Kaiyumi]

Xiu didn't even try to protect herself--she knew that it would be futile either way, that all of them would dissipate. Her expression was solemn as she watched the trainees flee, though she wasn't particularly upset. Considering the damage they had taken...well, it made sense for them to want to preserve their lives.

Unfortunately, the students had no choice but to remain, to bear that agony as they were forced to dissipate once again. Even though she expected it, the pain that filled her was excruciating, the pressure crushing her...

And then she was gone.

-----

Up until this point, Eva could never have claimed to have been badly hurt.Sure, she had gotten some pretty nasty bruises and cuts, but never had she broken this many bone from one attack. The cracks sent shocks of pain through her arms and legs, and--was that blood? There was something warm and sticky flowing down her face. She tried to gasp for breath, but she found that even this action alone was incredibly painful. And when Caelius called them disposible...

That...goddamn...a**... The only reason she thought it instead of saying it aloud was because she simply couldn't do the latter. The moment the pressure was eased up and they were given the order, Eva immediately tried to push herself up to her feet, flinching at the electricity that jolted up her leg. Was it broken? Maybe. That wasn't the point--she still had one..."okay" leg, and using that, she painfully limped her way towards the portal.  

[LP]

Willow had somehow finally found her way back to the haunted house having been lost in the fog. It didn't seem to be the same fog that Bul had mentioned the first time they were at the haunted house. Her tail flickered as she stood there watching the hunters fight eyes searching for the one that had fled. The tiger had no real interest in the others, the one with the scythe had been the cause of red's death not these.

However something caught her off guard, the crushing pressure of fear Willow had been fighting the gravity before she found herself hitting the ground. Knees first then the rest of her. "I-is this what they call..... proving our worth?"

She growled managing to remove her nose from the dirt. She couldn't move but her eyes had found the horseman speaking to Inviticus. Her eyes searched for the other heirs. Her fur bristled when the pressure suddenly stopped, her head popped up ears twitched back.

The hunter was here, he stopped the pressure. However, they were busy fighting, conquest and the hunter, suddenly thee was a pain, Willow hated this. It was the same as last time, the pressure there goes another respawn time. The second one since she had been attending Amity.  

[prolixity]

Siddie recoiled from the human with a little noise of disgust, but not in time to prevent her hair being grabbed - and then the woman yanked, and Siddie shrieked with pain and outrage. She swiped her claws at the Hunter's face, leaving a set of shallow, bleeding scratches. "Talking," she hissed. "That's a nice euphemism."

And then suddenly she was crumpling to the ground, forced down by the relentless weight pressing down on her. She managed a faint hiss, but no words. Sammy! Where was Sammy? She couldn't reach for her ghoulfriend or even call for her. The pressure held her down against the ground, and all she could do was watch helplessly as Conquest spoke.

Unexpected anger flared in a burst in her gut. They had - how were they expected to know that the scarelings weren't little reapers? She'd protected one because she hadn't wanted to see scarelings hurt! Conquest expected too much.

Or - or maybe he was right. Maybe they were still weak. Siddie swallowed painfully. Invictus - young as he was, he was still a Horseman - stood humbled before his parent, promising to do better. The sight put a sympathetic ache in Siddie's chest. She hadn't imagined, somehow, that the heirs, proud and powerful as they were, might still feel inadequate before their parents. She understood that feeling all too well.

The Master-hunter's attack released them all from the weight of Conquest's gravity, and Siddie got to her feet. Maybe she could still do something. But the next few moments unfolded too fast, barely slow enough to follow the sequence of events, and then the black hole was swirling out of control, pulling them all in with its inexorable drag, and Siddie could see the Hunters escaping.

She thought she screamed as the forces of Conquest's power tore her apart and folded her into an impossibly small place, but perhaps the gravity had eaten even the sound.

Eight

 

[medigel]

There were three things Mort learned within the span of ten seconds:

One being that living in a mostly one parent household had made him forget just how scary dads were. Especially full fledged horsemen ones. Oh Jack, what was Eris's like . . . ?!

Another being the grass tasted funny. He'd never understand how someone could enjoy being a vegetarian when meat (especially gray matter) was so delicious? Mort'd still eaten it nonetheless once the gravity field had been put up.

Third? He really, really was detesting what it felt like to die. The zomboil's last moment of action was to grasp the heir's hand like a lifeline before it went black.  

[Bloodlust Dante]

All Leon heard was the sounds of a dog barking his head off as he went to clean out his ear with his pinkie nonchalantly. "Shut your trap before you get crated mutt." can the indignant reply of the life hunter. blood went as cold as ice when the zombie and jiminy cricket bean to talk about eating flesh, his and Cass's. that was going too far.

With a show of bravado he swung the chainsaw from left to right, he wasn't afraid to do all left for dead2 melee on their asses. "I don't give a crap who started it, this symbiotic relation you have with humans has got to stop." he growled out.

there was no chance to follow up the thought as the whining in his ears began to grow in pitch. getting louder and louder and all he saw before his body met the ground was the cocky appearance of one who he could only describe as "Elegant death" the power he exerted was for more superior than that of a heavyweight fighter, in a more unassuming form. the words of Nid could no longer be heard over the high pitch tone in his ears. and his own screams as the chainsaw clattered to the ground because fingers no longer could hold them upright.

having metacarpals being shattered like that can do that to a person. snap.snap snap. the pain was unimaginable, not the physical but the emotional pain.

the pain in ones hearts when they figured this was the time to die and it wasn't accepted yet. he didn't want to go. it was either fight or flight, and he really wished he had wings.
The only sense he had left to use was sight and the light blue glow that almost promised salvation.
there was still a chance to fly, but he had to crawl first to do it. The bones in his legs felt heavy and groaned at the muscles that begged it to move, but they did not crack. It just felt like a heavy block resting on them. The threat of losing his legs was in the air.

even after the slow inch by inch progress of movement into the safe zone, and back into the haven that was deus ex.

He was still shaking like a leaf. he understood firsthand how powerful Fear could be.

------------------------------

Demi was still bumbling around in the fog, but the sensation of powerful was enough to make his unfurry skin crawl. But the tell tale sensation of dissipating was quickly becoming normal. even as it crushed him bit by bit. he at least knew that it was only temporary now.

It still hurt, but it was indeed better than being locked up in a cage.  

[Trira]

Moure had apparently missed out on all the actual fighting while he'd been attempting to find that blasted Hunter in the fog. For the entire time Hunters were attacking Students, Students attacking Hunters, Moure was running around in the fog. How he didn't manage to run into any of the fighting parties was a miracle in itself. Eventually he managed to get back to the actual lawn on which everyone was conversing and attacking, and found out he was just in time for something big to go down.

And something did in fact happen. Someone who looked suspiciously like Invictus had arrived, and there was pressure, so much pressure, forcing everyone down. Moure found himself sprawled across the ground, barely able to force his head up enough to watch the events unfold. Moure's mind flashed back to the fight with those fake-students, when everyone got destroyed by fire, so much fire. Panic flared through him, eyes widening, as he realized that, you know, they were all probably going to die again.

Moure learned several things while he was stuck to the ground. He didn't much like the smell of earth pressed so close to him, for one thing. For another thing, he witnessed a meeting between both the heir and the true Conquest. He sucked in his breath slightly, realizing just how much of an honor it was for all of them to meet one of these legendary figures. He found himself wishing that they didn't have to meet him in this particular circumstance though. 'It's nice to meet all of you, students of Amity, and oh, you're all probably going to die.' That's what it seemed like to Moure, anyway. At least they were going to destroy those Hunters.

Or at least that had been the plan until that Lead Hunter got in the way. It seemed he hadn't become a leader for nothing; he did seem to have a very annoying ability to save himself and his, what did he call them, 'trainees'? They all seemed very, very resilient for humans. It was actually kind of infuriating. They looked to be in extreme agony now though. It's what they deserved after everything they had done.

In any case, as the fight between the two leaders broke out, Moure chilled slightly, the realization coming again. They were all going to die. At least they could take the humans down with them, though.

Or apparently not. Moure felt infinitely gipped when the humans got to bail out via the huge blue glowing portal thing, and he and the rest of the students got to die. He felt the blinding, ripping pain of his Fear being distorted, shredded, and probably screamed. How many times did he and his fellow Halloweeners have to die because of these Hunters? How many times would he die here? Apparently as many times as he had to.

And with that sad thought, Moure was gone.

~~~

Vanessa had just returned from her unfortunate and rather pointless romp around in the fog to see that, oh look, their great leader was back again. And, oh look he was picking another fight. Then again, when wasn't Caelius picking a fight? And apparently this time it was with someone important.

Someone that could apparently control gravity. She felt herself starting to buckle as the force of pressure smashed down on her, as if she was in an airlock. She vaguely heard Volt yelling in her brain for her to summon him, and she did so, following his line of thought and gripping tightly to weapon as they were forced to the earth. At least now she had some kind of, well, 'pillar' of support to cling to, as Volt's pointed lattice-work of a barrel was forced down into the ground. The red-head was smashed to the grass, all but her hand gripping fiercely to the bar on the weapon.

The figure, the one speaking down at them as if he was so much better than her kind, reminded her of that heir/horseman/whatever they had captured not so long ago... She was also reminded, oh so painfully, of her meeting with the death pony back during her trials...the forcing to kneel...was this the one who had killed her, or was it their heir who had done that to her?

And then the effiable pain smashed against her again, Volt's voice faintly warning, mourningly, "I can't-- I can't hold it! I'm sorry!" The shield down, the full force crashed against her, and she felt as if her skin was being ripped off, her eyes burned, her lungs breathless. Then, the full horror dawned on her as she felt her bones starting to snap, as easy as a twig being broken between two bulky hands. She screamed, she knew that much. But there was so much pain, so, so much pain...

And then it was gone. How Caelius had ended up their savior for this battle, Vanessa didn't know, but she was thankful all the same. Of course, she didn't appreciate the comment about how they were disposable, but she knew it was true. There were always more humans waiting in the pods, a defense line that could not be broken.

And then, there was a portal home. Vanessa forced her broken body up, using Volt as a crutch, and attempted to scramble for the portal, pain racing up one arm. Oh no, her arm wasn't broken. It couldn't be broken. How could she shoot Volt if her arm was broken? She shoved those discouraging thoughts from her mind, and finally passed through the portal and towards the safe haven of Deus Ex.  

[Miliardo Kason]

The connection was ever so delicious, FEAR coursing through her as she landed the blow. "I told you not to touch her." She slid back arms raised to guard light on her feet, always ready to strike. "When I'm done with you, you won't ever say that again. Demons, humans, everyone writes us off. But I will always be here waiting to see you fall and die."

She would almost get her wish, even as she stepped forward to punch the hunter for grabbing Siddie, the weight of the world shifted. She stuttered trying to remain standing. Fighting meant nothing now, no cheap shots, shallow cuts or anything, when the world grew heavy. Candace, Jerry, Siddie. None of them could do a thing and neither could she as a figure moved into view.

Conquest. The realization was dull as she continued to fight it, she tried to stand, she wouldn't drop so easily. And the price she would pay would be dear. Her legs though dead and durable, able to tolerate abuse beyond normal simply cracked even before others felt fingers and toes break Sammy felt her left leg give way from simply fighting it, this was the cost for not taking a knee she wouldn't take one, no she simply crashed into the dirt eyes wide biting her bottom lip as she tried not to scream; which promptly failed as she let out one short shout of agony

She shivered, or was that the gravity crushing and grinding her into the ground?

"I...will never.... be weak..." Slowly as Caelius distracted Conquest she would stand dragging her broken leg behind her, FEAR burning in her eyes as she stared at Candace. Even as the world started to rip it's self apart, Sammy mouthed the words. Eyes locked on Candace.

I will kill you.

She turned looking towards Siddie, a boned hand would reach out towards her, eyes shifting looking softer now that the hunters where fleeing. She knew what would happen next. It would be terrible, it wasn't fire, it was different. She was being pulled apart in a way she never felt before and all she could do now was worry what would happen to Siddie as they where slowly crushed into one single point of mass and agony.  

[Frezir]

Genora nodded to Mort with a light smile. "Staying together is best." She noted then noticed that the death hunter and what looked to be a horseman were fighting. The fear was literally crushing her against the ground. She tried to use her strength to get up, but it was to powerful. She could feel her bones breaking from the pressure. She fingers, toes, and other smaller bones began to brake like toothpicks. She left out a shriek as her ribs broke along her back. Her legs broke from behind her knees and her wrists broke as well. She began to panic as she couldn't breathe. Everything became hazy and slowly everything went black. Genora was gone.  

[LP]

Aleister had been about to go after one of the monsters attacking his teammates, when suddenly the whole world screeched to a stop. He hit the ground hard, from the horseman's attack Aleister tried to twitch but he couldn't manage much of any sort of movement. <Ughhhh it feels like I'm being crushed.> Aleister whined as he tried get himself lose but the ground just pushed back harder.
He heard the horseman speak something but couldn't make out what; he was too busy kissing the ground. The sounds of bones crunching and Aleister could distinctly feel his ears starting to bleed, <Puccaaaa do something... please...>

<There's nothing I can do Aleister... he's too powerful.> The pooka answered sadly as Aleister was trying not to scream.

Suddenly the pressure lifted, quickly Aleister's eyes were blurry, almost ready to black out the release of pressure was, nothing short of a blessing. Violet eyes looked towards the horseman; there was a pause as his eyes moved towards Caelius. He was never happier to see that bag full of hate. Then it was ruined, Traniees are disposable; yeah no he never liked you either Caelius.

Of course there was something happening as his eyes followed the lead death hunter. There was something.... the faint blue. He started scrambling towards it, the quickest that he could. Oh thank lord there was a way out of his hell. There was no way Aleister was sticking around this place. His hands ached, his feet ache. He was sure he had some broken bones there was no way he couldn't everything ached, and by now he was having trouble hearing.

He paused watching Caelius fight the horseman for a second, <Do you think he'll be okay? I mean... that guy is kind of strong...> Aleister didn't quite like Caelius but well he didn't want anything to happen to the lead either.

<Most likely, he's stronger than the rest of you. Get out of here Aleister before you get your butt chewed by something else.>

Aleister didn't have to be told twice he finally managed to scuttle into the portal just before things went to s**t. He sighed as he collapsed on the other side, visiting doctor H would be unavoidable now.  

[Zyphiris]

“Welcome back, Frosty. Miss me?”

The frost demon emerged from the fog armed with another set of daggers and a seriously nothappyplz expression on her face. The unusual heaviness in the air had somewhat affected her attack, but the ghoul would love to make it very clear that she was in no way intending to hold back.

Before she could speak though, the gravity in the area had exponentially increased in magnitude, and the ghoul found herself sinking into the ground under a crushing pressure threatening to iron her flat. Resistance was futile and even just breathing was difficult. It soon became clear that the Horseman of Conquest was on neither side.

Frustration and annoyance swept throughout her once again as she lay there and listened to Conquest's lecture. Time and again they were told they were unworthy, slow, useless. It hadn't been just him, the heirs too and even Red. The fact that the clan of Conquest had disproved of the impending treaty with Amityville hit her too, but at the same time it all felt so inconsequential.

If he was going to take us all out now, then do it. It was all too apparent that she was about to die once again. Dissipate. Turn into free flowing, unmolded FEAR and reform back in Amityville. At least for the hunters, their death would be much more permanent. There was really no need to sympathize.

The interaction between the Conquest relatives provided an uncanny distraction amidst the pain. Edel had only just begun to realise that the four horsemen that dwelled amongst them in school were not the true leaders of each clan (something she should have figured out during that awkward assembly just a while back). They too, were being tested ... on their abilities on use them, the students. Use, not guide or lead – they have not shown any intention to gain their respect yet... to her at least. Yet for some reason she didn't seem to mind that they would be treated as livestock, insignificant beings, if they were to gain the favour of the Four Clans. As it is, there was no other viable alternative to the immense power the horsemen possessed. That, she would have to acknowledge.

Whatever happened next was a blur. The master hunter, with the undying persistent of a cockroach, had showed up once again and engaged the Horseman in battle. Arcs of blue light and ominous dark holes appeared across the field and the only tidbit there was in this entire fiasco was that the master hunter felt the same way about his trainees as the Horsemen did with regards to the students. What miserable lives they lead.

The hunters were escaping again. That barely came as a surprise. Persistent little cockroaches they were. The frost demon couldn't do anything else other than lie there and wait for what was to come. She closed her eyes and waited for the quick reprieve from the excruciating pain. She really didn't want to get used to dying again and again. But it came and Edel had died once again.  

[Huni Pi]

((entering and exiting))

The portal took its sweet time to spit out Before. By the time the hunter trainee emerged, everything was over. Throughout the entire affair, Before had kept a panicky head but managed to hold back tears.

Not anymore ;A;

"W-where did everybody goooooooooooooo?" he sobbed and hiccuped. Then he realized he was an adult again. D8 Oh. Well. This was embarrassing... And as quickly as he arrived, Before went and GTFO through the portal.  

[Bittiface]

Otto had never felt pain like this. It was easily 100x worse than his ill fated fight with Robert. Easily. He collapsed to the ground as Conquest's mere presence brought him way past to his knees. It was the worst, most helpless he'd ever felt. His bones felt like they were breaking. His toes, fingers and knees. He felt he was being imploded. Felt like his insides would be squeezed out his ears. Maybe they were. A warm liquid streamed down his cheek from his ear. He shut his eyes closed tightly, scared they'd soon pop right out of his skull. The worst of it all, of all the pain, was not being able to breathe. That scared Otto worse than anything.

His Hell seemed to last eternity, until finally it all began to ease. The moment he was able, the small blonde gasped for air as if he'd been deprived for a lifetime. He coughed and gagged, curling into a ball as he tried to regain composure. Not much, but enough had been scrounged up so that when the order was given, Otto managed to drag himself into the portal.

He wasn't surprised by Caelius's words to the Horsemen. He'd barely paid attention through the pain. He knew where they stood; the trainees were the grit between his toes, right?

Otto would never been anything more than that.

Why try to be more... right?

((Exiting))  

[Manda]

However, no one really had a chance to answer Tedan's question as quite suddenly he and everyone else was pressed flat to the floor by an unbearable, crushing weight. "What ...." the Sun trainee choked out, making a failed attempt to rise. "All those who seek conquest, kneel before its presence."



Tedan made a strangled sort of growling noise, still trying to move, to do something, anything against the one who was very obviously one of the enemy - and an extremely strong one at that. But the pressure just kept on increasing and suddenly there was no more air. As he tried in vain to just breathe now, his vision began to fade in and out, tunneling to black.

Snap

Snapsnapsnap

He would have screamed if he had air to do so, as first one then three more of his fingers cracked under the pressure, some sort of warm wetness trickling from his ears. Blood ... ********, he was going to die .... he was going to die for real this time. Couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think anymore ...

Then it all stopped, abruptly. Gasping as if he'd been drowning, Tedan somehow managed to focus his eyes - gaze drawn to Caelius as he and the newcomer talked. He didn't really understand all of it, fading in and out with each beat of his heart, every throb of ribs and the broken fingers. Until one line caught his attention, something Caelius said.

"Trainees are disposable."

And then while he was still trying to process that, there was a portal opening. A way out, a way home. With a noise not unlike a whining sort of wail, Tedan managed to somehow get onto his knees, dizziness threatening to drive him downwards again ... he didn't even try to attain the impossible. He didn't try to stand up. But he crawled, sobbing with each motion as he was forced to put hands on the floor to support his weight, broken fingers splayed out, bones grating against one another .....

Then he fell through the portal at last, and he knew he was safe.

(( Exit ))