Enmity of Atlas

Clever, so very clever. In that last moment, the moment when Kullisates collided with the boat, Walibeld didn’t just make one choice; he made two. Somehow, he managed to both teleport the kids to safety, probably somewhere near the shore, while also teleporting himself in a completely different direction–straight up. The moment that the boat was destroyed, Walibeld appeared before the 5th veil, holding his legendary weapon, his face twisted with a look of deep seated hatred. Both of them stood atop Kullisates’s bulbous head, facing each other down as Kullisates continued to barrel along the Liafer, using its great body to plow through water and stone. The winds raged around them, the scenery blurring mindlessly together, but neither seemed to mind. They were both focused on the opponent before them, locked into the mindset of a hardened warrior, fight to kill. Even as Kullisates plowed through the southern pass, neither Walibeld nor the 5th veil flinched in the slightest.

“I’ll give you credit. You’re a lot quicker than I thought you’d be, what with your age. Figured I’d deal with the lot of you in one fell swoop, but I guess I was a fool to think you’d go down so easily. 2’s intuition was right as always. I’d sock the bastard in the face if I could,” 5th said, putting on faux arrogance.

He knew very well how strong Walibeld was. Even disregarding the stories, which painted him as some sort of demi-god, 2 had dragged him through the mud to really drive in the point that Walibeld was not to be trifled with lightly. Even putting that adult adiathan in the harbor barely slowed him. When 5 went to recover the body, he found barely anything left of it, unnatural wounds like he’d never seen before. To some degree, it was like staring down a myth face to face. So even though he wanted to appear confident, he began to sweat a little, his hands shakier than he’d like them to be. He had to remind himself what he was here for, why he was even doing this. So long as he could figure out exactly how Walibeld’s aspect worked, then he’d leave this fight the winner, if he would even leave this fight at all.

“What exactly is Trenton? You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t know,” Walibeld said, his voice calm and level.

“And what if I do? Do you think I’d answer you because you asked nicely?”

“If you won’t answer me, then I’ll simply have to move up the chain. The problem is dealt with one way or another.”

“You’re awfully confident. Are you really so sure you can kill me? What about 2? What about 1? You haven't the slightest clue what we are, nor what we’re capable of. But I know you. I know you very well. You’ve been slowing, haven't you? The years haven’t been kind to you. The longer you’re alive, the weaker you get. But I am fresh, full of youth and vigor! It’s only a matter of time until we surpass you,” 5 paused, letting the words simmer before driving the point home, “only a matter of time before we kill you, once and for all,” Walibeld looked at him unimpressed. It seemed that his psyche wasn’t fragile enough to shatter from a couple piercing words. It would have to be broken manually, something 5 was rather adept at.

“You will know eternity, the sweet touch of Aardrieith’s embrace. I demand it,” Walibeld said, his blade limp at his side. Walibeld could hoist his blade in less than a fraction of a fraction of a second. He had no fear of being outsped. But he should’ve feared. They’d been watching him closely for years now, and little by little, he had slowed down. He simply couldn’t compete with them anymore. The two of them stood there, breath bated, the world spinning around in vapid circles. Suddenly, responding to some cue only to them, they struck, both blades clashing atop the great rampaging beast in a flurry of whirlwind blows.

Battles between archmages typically had one absolute outcome–complete and utter destruction. Because of how mighty their attacks were, they’d often leave battlefields torn up and

sundered, no indication remaining of the many bright valleys and gorgeous they’d obliterated over the many years. This battle, a fight between two of the most talented fighters alive, was no exception. When their blades met, a deafening clang would ring out from metal striking metal. They struck at eachother again and again, hundreds of times a second, their bodies moving impossibly quick, the wind picking up to a hurricane’s tempo. Any normal man watching this fight wouldn’t have had the slightest clue what was happening, both fighters moving far quicker than any normal eye could see, but they knew. They both knew exactly what was happening, their presence infused bodies performing on a scale miles beyond what most anyone else was capable of.

They were moving with such incredible vigor and speed, that they weren't even holding one solid position as they fought. Their gale of closely engaged blows would keep them interlocked as they danced around each other, ducking, weaving, parrying, and blocking with supreme efficiency. They wove themselves around Kullisates’s head, the entirety of its half dozen mile long head, their playground. Whenever one of them would be backed into a corner, they’d expertly change directions, spinning around the other to keep their back towards the center of the beast's great skull, neither able to land a clean blow against the other.

Neither of them seemed inclined to use their magic in any way, an early cast potentially revealing their hand before they knew how best to use it. They were feeling eachother out, conserving their energy until they were certain they could win. Very likely the first spell would determine who would win this fight, the caster almost assuredly confident in their magic in that moment.

Pressing the 5th towards the edge of Kullisates’s head, Walibeld burst forward, slipping under a strike and thrusting his blade forward, striking clean past the 5th’s guard. But this was exactly what 5 had been waiting for. 5 doubled stepped back, forcing Walibeld to whiff, slamming his blade down against Walibeld’s so as to trap his blade against the oddly durable flesh of Kullisates’s head. With his blade trapped, Walibeld had no more means of direct defense. 5 lunged forward, leveraging all his strength and magical potency into one strike of his fist. All he needed was one contact, and it was over. The 5th had gotten his moment. He was victorious.

In this moment, this very moment, Walibeld opened his left eye, revealing the full splendor of the hand he was hiding up until now to the 5th veil. His eye socket was an ever swirling mass of black and gold light, twisting together back into his skull in mystical, unknowable patterns. It was beautiful, entrancing, a sight 5 found both confusing and enthralling. The 5th knew intuitively that there was something special about Walibeld’s left eye, something he had been hiding from them, something that even 3 wasn’t able to figure out, but this just confused him even more. What the hell was it? At the exact moment of contact, Walibeld spoke a single word, one which reverberated through the air with unknowable power, something the 5th had never before seen.

“Change.”

The 5th veil pierced through Walibeld’s gut, channeling his spell into Walibeld’s skull and sundering every synapse in his skull…but it was all wrong. It felt hollow, the world around him muted and dull, like he was seeing everything through another person’s eyes. Then, all of a sudden, Walibeld’s form disappeared, and the world righted itself, everything seemingly back the way it was, but now without Walibeld. He was simply gone, 5th’s hand still extended into where he was certain Walibeld was a moment ago.

“Push.”

The 5th felt a hand against his back pressing into his flesh, his reeling mind not quite comprehending what the hell had just happened. In less than a second, 5 felt an ungodly force from behind strike him, the likeness of a god's palm slamming into his body, pushing him astray with unyielding might. His body flew through the air, tumbling across the surface of the squid’s head at hundreds of miles per hour, his flesh splitting and tearing every time he bounced along the ground. He was going too fast. He was going to fall off. Quickly twisting himself around, 5 plunged his blade into Kullisates’s head, bringing himself to a stop hanging nearly off the side of the great beast.

To his left, somehow already hanging there, was Walibeld, his own blade plunged deep into the beast's flesh. 5 tried to lean away, but he didn’t have nearly the maneuverability he needed. As they smashed through the trees and hills, the rocks and branches slicing into the both of them, they laid into each other, exchanging hundreds of blows, Walibeld far outspeeding the 5th. Strike after strike was placed into the man’s torso, kidney, and skull, the 5th with no escape option. Somehow, Walibeld had gotten even faster, his movements blinding now even to the 5th.

Walibeld spun around, dislodging his blade and driving it into the 5th’s torso in one clean movement. Searing pain burrowed into 5, a torture he was more than familiar with. He attempted to retaliate, slam his palm into Walibeld’s head, snapping his neck, but Walibeld was even quicker now. Walibeld dug his right hand into Kullisates’s head, still holding onto his sword with his left, and flipped his body upwards, driving his foot into the 5th’s chin with enough force to send him flying upwards, Walibeld’s blade carving it’s way out of the 5th’s torso as he went.

The 5th, clinging desperately to his own sword, tumbling through the air, barely managed to land upright atop Kullisates, the pain and blood loss dulling his senses. They engaged again, a slower exchange, Walibeld landing dozens of small cuts through the 5th’s loosened guard. As they tussled, wrapping around each other in a violent flurry, Walibeld freely used his aspect, repeating the push spell from earlier using just a single finger, blowing the 5th back every time. It seemed that the spell he was using, for whatever reason, derived its power from the surface area he used to press against the air with, his hand glowing with a brilliant golden and shadowy energy whenever he was about to cast.

The 5th rolled to his feet, staggering now, hoisting his blade in front of him to keep fighting. Walibled, just like before, was upon him, but now the 5th’s resolve was redoubled, the pain clearing his mind of fog, a steady rage coursing through his veins. Walibeld thrust with his right arm, the 5th bracing against it with his left, holding it in an extended, vulnerable position, before twisting widely around, kicking Walibeld in the back, sending him sprawling several hundred feet across the surface of Kullisates’s skull.

Raising his blade high, the 5th commanded the aid of Kullisates for the first time this fight, demanding it assault Walibeld with every tentacle it could spare. In an instant, dozens of tentacles wrapped around over its body, launching at Walibeld who still tumbled from the momentum of the blow. Using the momentum to his advantage, Walbield kicked off of the ground, sliding along the first of the tentacles to reach him with his sword, slicing it all along its length. Pulling moves much akin to his dance back at Rema’s, Walibeld vaulted through the air, jumping and running across the tentacles weaving around to strike him, knocking stray blows he couldn’t dodge to the side. When he had ascended some hundred feet into the air, his purchase on the ground only supported by several stray tentacles, the ground beneath Walibeld dropped away, exactly as the 5th had commanded, and one massive writhing mass of flesh, the largest of the tentacles present, launched from below, colliding with Walibeld and sending both of the them straight up into the air. It was a clever decoy shot, one aimed directly at Walibeld’s center. Even someone like him should be stunned from a blow like that.

The 5th cooled himself, standing up straight as blood gushed out of his body. Even as injured as he was, he couldn’t afford to loosen his guard for even a moment. Walibeld was not to be trifled with. Suddenly, descending through the air, arms splayed wide, the tip of the tentacle nowhere in sight, was Walibeld, his entire body locked in the most peculiar falling pose directly above the 5th. 5 prepared himself for an attack, but realized what was happening far too late. Walibeld’s body pressed against the air, the space around him contorting and bending, his entire body being used to cast one ultimate spell, the highest form of magic.

-Zenith Cast: Full Press-

In an instant, Kullisates, a beast large enough to be considered a calamity in and of itself, which had been bulldozing its way up the river this entire fight, buckled, the entirety of its form suddenly pressed into the earth with colossal strength. The ground beneath it, the weak and fragile stone, crumbled, bowing and breaking before the might of Walibeld’s magic. In a 10 mile radius below Walibeld, a perfect circular formation, the earth yielded, a crater a mile deep forming in the blink of an eye. At the dead center of this cast, Kullisates and the 5th took the full weight of Walibeld’s magic, their bodies snapping like fragile twigs under its weight. The 5th could feel his bones snapping, his organs rupturing, his spine bending downwards like an accordion. It was chaos, agony, and torture, three things that the 5th was ever so intimately familiar with. He was broken, yes, but he had been broken before; and he did not yield then.

As the earth still crumbled around him, the river pouring into the crater from the sides, the 5th shakily rose to his feet, his vision blurry and fading, his mind foggy. Kullisates below him was wounded, but would heal given a little bit of time. It was an elder beast, after all. It couldn’t really be killed. Time, that’s all he needed. He could do that. He staggered forward, holding his blade in front of himself, his own blood pooling onto the ground in the handfuls. Across the way, Walibeld landed, his form obscured by the darkness surrounding them, the sunlight above poorly piercing the depth of their crater. He stood calm, heaving slightly, but calm. The 5th, now seething, placed his palm against his skull. He had been hoping to save this for his rematch against the 4th veil, but it seemed like that was no longer an option. Walibeld wasn't the only one with fancy tricks.

-Zenith Cast: Whirlwind of Madness-