School House Rumbles 3: Act 3. Warriors and Liberators.

[KingofPie]

Boss, having de-Dreadnoughted and stored the beast in one of his leyline channels merely scratched his chin at the events that unfolded around Volkov. "Geeeeeeze, Bale. You, uh, you aren't all too bright, are you? Maybe your eye is Khal'ud's. Or a Dreadnought's...Or maybe the eye IS a Dreadnought, eh? Either way, putting a creepy eye in your eyesocket just 'cause it looks cool? Takes a severe lack of common sense..." Boss mocked.

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

"Come on Volkov, what's wrong? Can't handle the memories of a man you thought was dead?"

Casimir grunted. He was much younger than he should be... But his power was still there, and weakened as Volkov was by the memories his chance to break free had come.

He put every shred of willpower he had left into accessing it.

"The power isn't yours! Your lying to yourself if you think your controlling it. Your not, its' controlling you!" Rivia put as much force of will behind her words as she could.

Bale straightened up, glaring about him even as the right eye throbs noticeably. He kicks the dead body of Canis as hard as he can, snarling at it.


"Damn old fool! You tricked me. Your power, it is far more wild than I realized, and it bucks at the old names. Old memories. I can't harness it just yet. Not properly. It will take time, and I can't waste that in using it on these fools. I just have to let the leylines absorb it more before I use it again on the city. Lesson well learned, Canis."

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

[Cthulhu_of_R'yleh]

Bale straightened up, glaring about him even as the right eye throbs noticeably. He kicks the dead body of Canis as hard as he can, snarling at it.


"Damn old fool! You tricked me. Your power, it is far more wild than I realized, and it bucks at the old names. Old memories. I can't harness it just yet. Not properly. It will take time, and I can't waste that in using it on these fools. I just have to let the leylines absorb it more before I use it again on the city. Lesson well learned, Canis."

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

Pain. Casimir grit his teeth and suffered it as well he could, after all it was just pain. He'd experienced more than most, on a level that would have killed some.

But this still hurt more than he could've imagined.

"Really... gotta try harder... than that, Volkov." Casimir managed to squeeze out the words in between his labored breathing.

He had no use of his powers yet.. But he was still messing with his memories.

Something he'd gained an intimate understanding of, and as Volkov tore through his, he attempted to force his memories of the Old World into the forefront.

Specifically the memory of the video recorded by Owen John Vatta, they'd all watched in the Xanatos building all those months ago.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

The bracelet apparently does nothing to protect her from Volkov's invading mind. The feeling of him tearing through her mind is the most vile, putrid feeling she has ever felt in her life.

No! Why is Matthew's bracelet not working?! It is supposed prevent these very things from happening, dammit!

She can hear Ramilia's pained grunts through what sounds like gritted teeth. She herself screams. Memories of her childhood, family, and worst yet, Casimir begin to melt away. Tears stary streaming down her face. "N…NO! STOP IT!"

[Rhyvurg]

Bale straightened up, glaring about him even as the right eye throbs noticeably. He kicks the dead body of Canis as hard as he can, snarling at it.


"Damn old fool! You tricked me. Your power, it is far more wild than I realized, and it bucks at the old names. Old memories. I can't harness it just yet. Not properly. It will take time, and I can't waste that in using it on these fools. I just have to let the leylines absorb it more before I use it again on the city. Lesson well learned, Canis."

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

Precious memories. He finds few. Just anger, pain, rejection. Memories of his sifu are filled with the pain of training and the anguish of his mother's madness. His time with Irie is tainted by fear and self-loathing. His fantasies are of horrible things, not joyous. Tearing Gulliver's limbs off, burning out Carmen's eyes, flaying Volkov to the bone, a centimeter at a time.

[Tami]

Bale straightened up, glaring about him even as the right eye throbs noticeably. He kicks the dead body of Canis as hard as he can, snarling at it.


"Damn old fool! You tricked me. Your power, it is far more wild than I realized, and it bucks at the old names. Old memories. I can't harness it just yet. Not properly. It will take time, and I can't waste that in using it on these fools. I just have to let the leylines absorb it more before I use it again on the city. Lesson well learned, Canis."

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

Rivia's psychic defenses were being blown apart, but she didn't stop fighting against it.

OOC: Rivia's psychic power is around 44 now, still not strong enough but she is trying anyway.

[Hazard]

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

Pain hits Robert. He can't see. He can't hear. His blood is on fire.

Damn... when was... when was the last time..?

Memories flash through his eyes. Some twisted. Some tainted. Some painfully true.

Gone. Gone. Why didn't they talk? Why wouldn't anyone talk? Gone. Like it wasn't... like he hadn't... gone...

Right. After that. He had laughed. Laughed. Laughed! Dared to laugh!

Cold. So cold.

Had he died back then?

[Guy Smiley]

Bale straightened up, glaring about him even as the right eye throbs noticeably. He kicks the dead body of Canis as hard as he can, snarling at it.


"Damn old fool! You tricked me. Your power, it is far more wild than I realized, and it bucks at the old names. Old memories. I can't harness it just yet. Not properly. It will take time, and I can't waste that in using it on these fools. I just have to let the leylines absorb it more before I use it again on the city. Lesson well learned, Canis."

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

Mack found himself crouched on a barren plain, the overcast sky intermittently flashing with obscured lightning within the clouds. Surrounding him were the shadowy figures of the other cadets. Ignoring him, they began to turn and walk away.

"Wait, where are ya going?" Mack yelled.

We don't need you, Mack, the reply came, so we're leaving you behind.

"Wait, whaddya mean ya don't need me? Ain't I bin damned awesome this whole time?"

You must be joking, smirked Shadow Iriesia. What can you possibly do that one of us can't do ten times better?

"Hey! I got more speed than most o' ya!"

Oh, really? Shadow Sloane leered, while Shadow Robert gave a condescending smile.

"I c'n do mirages an' disappear an' sneaky stuff like that!"

Shadow Rivia shook her head pityingly at this, while Shadow Irie raised a single eyebrow and Shadow Skye tapped a nodule on her suit pointedly.

Face it Mack, you have nothing we don't have in spades. Casimir's a better teleporter. Robert can walk through walls. Eisen's better with machinery. You're redundant, Mack, came the voices of the others.

And you smell, Shadow Sloane added, nostrils flaring in disgust.

Face it Mack, nobody wants you around, tittered Shadow Maxana, leaning against Shadow Casimir.

What do you expect? Shadow Cammy asked. Not even your own father wanted you. Why should anybody else?

"Who... How didja know about that?" Mack asked in horror. "I didn't say nothin' 'bout him to any o' ya!"

I told them, sneered Shadow Takeshi. Did you forget about me? You told me about it way back then. So of course I told the others. We needed a good laugh.

It was terribly funny, added Shadow Maxana. A lowlife like yourself thinking he could lead any kind of worthwhile existence.

I can see why you didn't want me to see what was in your mind, Shadow Rivia jeered. You didn't want anyone to see what a pathetic child you are, still crying for your daddy inside.

You really are a slug, Mack, Shadow Sloane added, twisting the knife. Even Takeshi's mother came back for him. But nobody's coming back for you, you worthless piece of gutter slime.

We're done with you, Mack, chorused the cadets as they began to disperse. Don't come looking for us. You won't find any welcome.

The cadets began to fade away, one by one, until only Mack remained, sunk to his knees in the middle of the empty wasteland, tears tracking down his face.

In the real world, Mack shuddered and gasped under Volkov's relentless psychic assault.

[Tami]

Rivia's psychic defenses were being blown apart, but she didn't stop fighting against it.

OOC: Rivia's psychic power is around 44 now, still not strong enough but she is trying anyway.

Reaching out with her mind, Rivia tries to help the others fight back.

[Yun Lao]

While she may have not the knowledge needed to trigger this breakdown or the power to release herself, Rosemary found that her mind provided some degree of protection from Volkov's assault, or at least, a tiny bit. Delving within, she imagined the interior of her mind as a hall way within the dreamscape castle, which each memory being behind a closed door and Bale's psychic rot a twisted mass of shadows that slowly crept up towards her. Reaching the first pair of doors, dark tendrils grabbed hold of the handles and yanked back, causing visible damage to the doorframes and walls.

All that power and he chooses such a cowardly way to attack...

Materializing beside her came Mitchuqulei, her voice a hiss like water droplets hitting a hot skillet.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Bale straightened up, glaring about him even as the right eye throbs noticeably. He kicks the dead body of Canis as hard as he can, snarling at it.

"Damn old fool! You tricked me. Your power, it is far more wild than I realized, and it bucks at the old names. Old memories. I can't harness it just yet. Not properly. It will take time, and I can't waste that in using it on these fools. I just have to let the leylines absorb it more before I use it again on the city. Lesson well learned, Canis."

He looks at them and bares his teeth.

"I may not be able to kill you with Canis's temporal capabilities just yet, but that's just one aspect of my power. I'm still an Ether Lord, and you're still trapped. Lets see how much you enjoy having your minds ripped apart."

His eye flares, and a hideous feeling erupts through all their minds. Like something vile and putrid ripping through their minds, leaving desolation in its wake. Precious memories started to become tainted as he viciously tore at their psyches.

The pain was unlike anything any of them had ever felt.

Pain. Excruciatingly unbearable pain that Ramilia has never felt before. Her head is filled with the red hot flames that are fanned by the putrid, ugly power invading her head. She wants to curl up in a ball and cry until it goes away; but she has to strong. Not just for herself, but for Max.

"N…NO! STOP IT!"

The pain numbs her hearing to the point that she barely hears someone scream out, even though she is standing right next to her.

Her precious memories, the ones she thought about the entire month she was with Tabia, roll across her mind's eye one by one. Her intimate moments with her loved one's, her six championship matches, nearly everything having to do with Max, all wilt into a bubbling, steaming goop as the black mass that is Bale Volkov and his massive psychic energy invades each of them and renders them unrecognizable. Some of the more distant ones from her childhood actually crack and shatter, gone forever to never be remembered again.

On the outside, she shudders and lets out a feeble groan, not able to put up any defense against the psychic assault.

[WickedElphaba]

Skye agonizes along with the others.

/got nothin.

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

Editted!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

For a moment, in all their minds, there flashes a single light in the darkness.

A memory, faint now due to Volkov's assault, but a memory nonetheless of Tabia, the elf queen.

Perhaps the only person they met who had no ulterior motive for them, and had honestly and truthfully wanted to help them not only survive, but thrive.

She appears in their tormented minds and smiles, her face sad at their pain. She gestures, arms wide, as if inviting them in.

'Be at peace. Let your troubles fall on me, not your minds. Push through the pain, place it on me, and fight through it. You can win.'

She fades away, and Hunter Snow takes her place. The gynoid is as battered and scarred looking as she was in the fight against Bardic, but she nods confidently at them.

'Fight, do not ever stop fighting. For in defeat can be found victory so long as you never, ever, stop fighting.'

Hunter Snow fades away and is replaced by the hologram of Mithisar. The computer A.I. smiles and salutes at them, her Xanatos uniform pristine.

'The old Guards have fallen. All those who came before are gone, and only you remain now. You must rise up. Stay strong.'

The image shifts once more, and Matthew LaMat stands before them. The head of Mars Prime nods knowing at them.

'You're strong. Stronger than this. You proved that against Rana, and you can prove that now. He holds the cards, but when the house is stacked against you, cheat. You can win.'

Matthew fades and is replaced with the image of Father Jacob.

'Do not fear. I know it hurts, but you must not fear. Rage, rage against him. Rage against the dying of the light. Let it fill you and let it lash out at him. All your sorrow, anger, love, and pain, cast it into his teeth.'

The images fade, and the pain of Volkov's onslaught returns, twice as bad.

Yet in the haze of the pain, there is a small tunnel of light off to the side in their minds. A tunnel Volkov cannot see.

[Tami]

For a moment, in all their minds, there flashes a single light in the darkness.

A memory, faint now due to Volkov's assault, but a memory nonetheless of Tabia, the elf queen.

Perhaps the only person they met who had no ulterior motive for them, and had honestly and truthfully wanted to help them not only survive, but thrive.

She appears in their tormented minds and smiles, her face sad at their pain. She gestures, arms wide, as if inviting them in.

'Be at peace. Let your troubles fall on me, not your minds. Push through the pain, place it on me, and fight through it. You can win.'

She fades away, and Hunter Snow takes her place. The gynoid is as battered and scarred looking as she was in the fight against Bardic, but she nods confidently at them.

'Fight, do not ever stop fighting. For in defeat can be found victory so long as you never, ever, stop fighting.'

Hunter Snow fades away and is replaced by the hologram of Mithisar. The computer A.I. smiles and salutes at them, her Xanatos uniform pristine.

'The old Guards have fallen. All those who came before are gone, and only you remain now. You must rise up. Stay strong.'

The image shifts once more, and Matthew LaMat stands before them. The head of Mars Prime nods knowing at them.

'You're strong. Stronger than this. You proved that against Rana, and you can prove that now. He holds the cards, but when the house is stacked against you, cheat. You can win.'

Matthew fades and is replaced with the image of Father Jacob.

'Do not fear. I know it hurts, but you must not fear. Rage, rage against him. Rage against the dying of the light. Let it fill you and let it lash out at him. All your sorrow, anger, love, and pain, cast it into his teeth.'

The images fade, and the pain of Volkov's onslaught returns, twice as bad.

Yet in the haze of the pain, there is a small tunnel of light off to the side in their minds. A tunnel Volkov cannot see.

Rivia races towards the light, running to grab hold of it and make it her own, running away from the pain and looking for the strength to fight.