Staaaaare...
...
Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaare...
...
Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare...
...
The cloaked man turned abruptly and walked away without a word.
...
Marisa blinked.
...
There was a loud thud as the witch abruptly and inexplicably fell on her face.
...
"EEEEEH?!" The Witch exclaimed, as though unable to believe her circumstances. Which was... exactly the case, actually. While to a normal person it might have seemed the obvious decision to flee from the massive army of doom coming to take your head, to a resident of Gensokyo it just seemed like another opportunity to beautifully blow things up with powerful magic, steal precious things, and generally amuse oneself. Consequently, it was entirely unexpected to have a whole group of so-called magicians turn and flee from a fight in such a manner.
Leaping to her feet in an instant, Marisa had crossed the distance between herself and the slowly-walking cloaked man in the blink of an eye, moving at such a ridiculous speed that it seemed she had teleported. Gesticulating wildly in a completely unnesecary but hilariously over the top manner, Marisa quickly set about negotiations, also known as the passive-aggressive pleading/threatening routine.
"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait just a second!" Marisa cried, skidding around Sabrac fast enough to leave a dust cloud as she stopped abruptly right in front of him and held up her hands to frantically flag him down. "Don't tell me you're trying to run away too! Come on, dontcha wanna see what sorts of spells and magic items they have? Those armor suits have especially powerful enchantments, I'm sure we could collect all sorts of great stuff if we just blew them up and stole it! Besides, with spells like yours, it should be easy, right!"
...
The cloaked man's glowing red eyes did not so much as flicker as he sidestepped the witch and carried on his way, unperturbed by her existence.
...
Another loud thud rang out through the air as the witch fell on her face once again for no explicable reason.
...
"Oh, come on!" Marisa yelled after the retreating form of the cloaked man, who continued along his path without even so much as turning around to face her. "Don't tell me you have some sort of silly weakness, or you used up all your power so soon showing off like that! Do you want me to shoot you and take those flashy spells of yours for myself? Because I'm totally fine with that!" Marisa now rose with fire in her eyes, raising her Mini-Hakkero and broomstick menacingly as she rushed to catch up.
...
The cloaked man did not so much as stop, and continued walking.
...
Marisa set her face grimly and raised the reactor. She had met her fair share of rude people - herself included - and usually, it didn't bother her. But this time, it was different. She was missing the opportunity of a lifetime to get precious magical treasures here, all because these cowards and this bigheaded idiot decided to wander off and leave her to do all the dirty work! Honestly, were these people even actual magicians? Either way, it didn't matter. If this guy wouldn't help her to her loot, then she would help herself to his magic, and those weird swords of his as well, while she was at it. She steeled herself, then prepared to fire.
She was, however, cut off by a loud screech from behind her, followed by a clattering of metal-clad feet as one of the knights came rushing for her. Ah, damn, they'd already caught up?! Spinning about, she charged up her power and prepared to fire a Green Spread to finish off the target, but before she could, she was cut off by a vast swelling of power beneath her, and an explosion of madder light...
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BGM: Two Steps From Hell-The Last Stand
Sabrac, of course, knew that the knight was approaching, no matter how much noise the absurd witch made. He didn't even pause in his step as the witch whirled, the only change in his slow, steady gait being the small amount of extra force that he put into a single footfall. There was a tiny spark of red at the toe of his boot, and almost at the same time, a wave of concentrated flame tore from the ground to the knight's right side and slammed into him with the force of a bullet train. Of course, the power was reflected, and the wave of flames as tall as a man was violently redirected up and away before dissipating into the cave air. However, physics struck again, and the knight, off balance as he had prepared to bound forward, was hurled through the air like a ragdoll, slamming into the jagged debris that now filled half the cave with a violent outpouring of decaying bodily fluids.
It's time to leave this place before my troublesome adversaries become more insistent. Sabrac's mind spread out, through dirt and stone, expanding his call ever outward. Return...my power.
"Hmmph." Sabrac stopped moving with an unsatisfied sound. "Normally, I would not do this, but since it would be too much of a bother dealing with you at the moment, I suggest you jump."
"Ehh?" The witch turned to observe him with a look of confusion. He didn't feel like explaining himself to the foolish girl, however, so he put things in a way that she would understand. "What do you-" At that moment a massive, violent surge of power shot upward from deep below, and the witch instinctively leaped into the air, mounting her broom and hovering about ten feet above the ground as the entire floor burst into flames.
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Lines of madder red shot from Sabrac's feet like lightning, moving in perfect lines to thousands of points all across the room. The flames reached their final destination: the blades which had remained impaled into the rock of the floor after Sabrac's first overwhelming assault. The blades were engulfed in miniature pillars of flame that pierced upwards, impaling the roof and melting the stone from their paths, then lancing out into the sky of the world above. Once again, the dim chamber was lit as though it was midday, and in the sudden light the knights stumbled to a momentary, confused halt. That was a mistake. Secondary beams of fire suddenly shot out of the original pillars, bridging the gap between towers in an instant and piercing through the brains of the knights he had tricked into position. In a single moment, almost a hundred fell, their brains erased as completely as the bodies of the six from before. The chamber became like a giant spider's web with flames crossing every which way.
Then the dragon came. It was enormous, even bigger than the ones from before, and carried a huge ornamental crest on it's armored head. It nimbly swung between the beams of flame, bearing down on Sabrac with a mighty roar, the force of which caused his mantle to flare wildly. Sabrac's eyes closed. Then, without moving, the ground behind him was utterly obliterated. It was not burned, not melted, it merely ceased to exist, it's connection to reality completely obliterated by the massive wall of concentrated, madder red power that exploded from miles below.
BGM: Keiichi Okabe-The Dark Colossus Destroys All
The dragon tried to wheel away, it's roar of triumph abruptly changing in to one of pure terror. It was far too late for that. Sabrac's eyes snapped open, flaring to a blinding light, and with a wordless shout of his own, the flames behind him twisted and writhed, as though gaining life of their own. For a moment, their shape was and indescribable whirling mass of ever shifting flames, and then they resolved into something far more terrifying. An enormous arm, with a hand alone enough to easily dwarf the fleeing dragon reached out from the maw of the fire, towering far above the petrified beast. For a moment, time seemed to freeze, and then the gigantic fingers swung down and wrapped around the creature, which screamed in agony as its skin almost immediately began to melt off. With an almost dismissive gesture, the fingers tightened ever so slightly, causing a horrifying cracking noise to rend the air as the dragon's bones were crushed like jelly. Almost casually, the hand tossed the corpse aside, where it slammed into the wall with enough force to pulverize it completely.
That was the moment that the hand began to rise into the air, obliterating the roof as it passed through it as though it didn't exist, and revealing for the first time, the truth of Sabrac...
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BGM: Judgement in the Sixtieth Year ~ Yama of Xanadu
Marisa watched in equal parts awe, envy, and shock as the world, quite simply, exploded, collapsed in upon itself, reformed into a sea of madder flames, and then exploded again several times over for good measure. The curt warning she had received from the faceless, red-eyed man was doubtless the only reason she was alive right now, for the instant after she had taken flight, the ground upon which she had stood had become a vast abyss of fire, the room turned in an instant into a scarlet ocean of absolute magical power. Marisa, watching with widened amber eyes as the entire front ranks of the army were literally turned to dust before her, could not help but remember the first real incident in which the spell card system had been utilized. The one who had caused that incident, Remilia Scarlet... hadn't she wielded a spellcard like this, also? Heaven's Punishment: "Star of David" was its name. It consisted of countless intersecting beams of pure magical energy, between which rained down a million uncountable bullets. And yet, that spell, perhaps one of the most visually striking spellcards Marisa had ever faced, completely and utterly paled in comparison to the pure, apocalyptic destruction before her eyes, like a candle paled in comparison to the flames of the sun. But it was only natural. Remilia, with all of her powers over fate, could never manage pure, unadulterated chaos on such a level as this, where a being vast beyond even the magician's comprehension appeared so suddenly and spared none of its might. The world itself shook. Existence trembled, and, at last, tore apart, madder flames splitting apart the very fabric of reality as the red-eyed swordsman of flames released enough energy to simply overwhelm the very being of the area around him, obliterating its existence and substituting his own. If anything, this power resembled more the "playing" of Remilia's younger sister. But even that comparison could not suffice to describe this perfect mayhem. It didn't seem possible, and yet... Somehow, this absolute strength went beyond even the power to obliterate the existence of anything at one's leisure. If anything, this power was the ability to erase and redefine the existence of everything at will! An Anti-Reality grade spell... Not even Flandre's most formidable creations could truly deserve that ranking, limited as they were by the spellcard system. But here, no such limitation existed. Not rules, not logic, not weakness, not even reality itself. The only thing that existed now was sheer, absolute power, and an equally vast intent to use that power to destroy anything and everything it could touch. And, compared to that wish of total annihilation, everything, ranging from the ambitions of the Nuclear Hell Raven to the killing intent of the joyfully murderous flower Youkai from before the spellcard system, simply could not compare.
This was, without a doubt, the very meaning of pure chaos.
And then, order was brought to chaos, and the nothingness was given form, for in that instant, from the depths of the hellish inferno, a truly titanic shape rose, dwarfing even the unspeakable ocean of fire from whence it came. It was like a a chess piece that aspired to be a continent, a king that dwarfed even the power of gods. Marisa, having met and defeated several of the latter, could be considered a reliable source for this claim.
Even as the fabric of space-time groaned and quaked around it, the mammoth shape rose indefatigably, a yawing hole in existence itself left torn asunder beyond it, as the room began to collapse in upon this abyss and fall into nothingness as the colossus grew ever higher. The first thing to appear was its arm, as it spread it to the heavens and snatched up a comparatively puny dragon, crushing it as though it was a toothpick and scattering its matter into the absolute nothingness left in the wake of its passage. Knights gave inhuman howls as they melted and plummeted through the flames and into the void. Dragons screamed and melted away before the curiosity of the incomprehensibly cataclysmic assault. This had ceased being a battle. No, it had even long since gone beyond a massacre. This wasn't slaughter. This wasn't destruction - at least, not on any earthly scale. This was an apocalypse, the end of a fragment of existence itself. And, as the giant finally ceased in its heavenward ascension, there was absolutely no questioning who had won this battle, and who had lost, for even in the giant's retreat, the front ranks of the army had been decimated, halted in its tracks, and finally... consumed.
At last managing to avert her eyes from the unspeakable display of might before her, Marisa gazed down at the form of the cloaked man who stood amongst the flames, his body warping and writhing in time with the fire around him as he slowly turned, and looked up with eyes that gleamed like twin suns, blinding to behold, and yet transfixing to gaze upon: an image of absolute power one could neither bear watching nor fully bring oneself to turn away from.
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"You think that I have some sort of weakness?" The man asked slowly, his voice placid as ever. "That I have expended all of my power?" Had the swordsman a face, Marisa didn't doubt that a confident, sardonic smirk would be currently playing upon his lips.
"Could it be that you believe me to be afraid?" He asked sharply, his voice as piercing as the blades he wielded. Marisa gave a nervous but unshaken grin, and replied fearlessly, even in the face of this absolute cataclysm.
"Well, it seems to have convinced you to fight, no matter what I believe or don't believe," She replied boldly, her amber eyes locking with the blinding scarlet eyes of the inhuman being she faced. But he merely continued as though she had not spoken, his voice booming forth like the echoes of some divine proclamation.
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"Fight? I have no intention of fighting a battle without meaning or purpose. But I do not leave out of 'fear.' Remove such foolish thoughts from your mind. Allow me to explain. Fear is nothing more than a reaction of the weak when faced with something greater than themselves. I do not understand such a feeling, for there is nothing that is above me. That is no boast. It is merely the truth of my existence. There is no opponent I cannot defeat. There is no reason - nor should there be. This is merely the nature of my power."
With this, the cloaked man abruptly turned and strode into the inferno, its flames slowly drawing back from the battle lines they had consumed as their master moved to enter the portal. Marisa tried to reply, but found her voice entirely drowned out by the roaring fires, and she was quickly forced to pull away, lest she be consumed also as the giant slowly collapsed, rushing downward and spiraling in upon itself like an otherworldly maelstrom. The sheer force of its passage was enough to drag Marisa in also, and she found herself struggling to keep her broom aloft. But, at last, in an instant, the whirling mass finally collapsed, and vanished along with the red-eyed swordsman into the abyss, the witch following swiftly behind it as reality itself slowly broke apart in the absence of the vast power that had both severed it and held it together. And, as the darkness of the void consumed her vision, Marisa could see the knights slowly reassembling, the dragons rallying into place once more, and, at the center of it all, the man with red hair standing implacable, unmoved so much as an inch by the unspeakable blaze of hellish power...
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A rushing sound interrupted the conversation in the lobby, and a moment later the door through which the others had come slammed open once more. Out of it poured an endless, unspeakably large maelstrom of madder red hellfire which seemed like it would roll forward and engulf the entire lobby. However, even as it poured out of the gate, it seemed to vanish at an even faster rate into the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. With a last rush of power, the flames split down the middle, revealing Sabrac, his mantle whirling wildly for a moment before settling back around him as the final trails of flame faded from view. Marisa stood silently watching off to one side as Sabrac silently began to stride forward towards the main group at the same deliberate pace as before.
Finally, she spoke.
"That power...I don't care how... Someday, I'm going to replicate it!" Stars of glee shone in her eyes.
