King Me

Warcry

They were there before Yancey could prepare. To be fair, how can you actually prepare for the end of a death match of unholy proportions? Rounds of energy-based shots ripped through the trees at Faust, followed closely behind by speedsters. Five went straight for Faust, but one diverted, heading for Conner. He raised his rifle, taking one shot that was surprisingly wide of the target.

The cyborg, the young one that had confronted Conner in the city, came to a skidding halt, kicking up dirt and rocks, leaving a trench behind as it slid a dozen feet in front of the king of tanks. It wasn't wearing its armor again, its synthetic glowing eyes focusing on him, "Would you like to settle this hear, or at another location?" It called, and Conner shrugged.

"It's all the same," Conner replied disheartened, and the cyborg didn't give it any more thought. It flitted away in a storm of dust that had picked up with the swarm circling Faust, and Conner raised his rifle back up. The second wave of slower enemies flattened the forest as one of them shot a rocket out at Faust's tree. The tree formed a barrier made from the hair, or tentacles, whatever they were. The explosion died, and the hairs shot out, snatching up speedsters and slinging them into the tree's mouth. Yancey recognized one of the figures, Lecharda, the teleporter who'd met with them before the official start of the tournament. The humanoid, made up by a colony of worms, was the only one able to escape the hair.

Lecharda broke down into individual worms to slither free of the hair, and with a pop, vanished from sight, reappearing at Faust's back. Before Lecharda could strike, or even move for that matter, a net of hair came down on the teleporter, slicing the colony of worms into goo. Faust sat lazily upon his scythe, all the while his tree was absolutely crushing the onslaught of enemies that continued to erupt from the shattered forest. And then Yancey saw her own foe. A massive creature, tall and slender, dressed in camouflage to blend with the forest that was now flattened, dashed at her.

The first thing she realized, was that it resembled the muscular creature she'd blown the head off of, with a crazed face made of bone, and tendons. Perhaps, like Conner, she'd created a vendetta for her own life. It slowed to a stop, its eyes twisting around in its skull at psychotic speed, muttering to itself. "This one? Yes, the coward. Not to be underestimated. Yes, this one is strong," Like the other, it seemed to be having a conversation in different voices with itself. 

"Yancey," Aurelia's voice called from her back, terrified, foreshadowing the monstrosity that was behind her. Yancey turned carefully, not giving her vendetta something easy to strike at, checking what was making the sloshing noise. Some giant slug but long, tail snaking through the trees far behind itself, some sort of oily secretion dripping from its hide. It opened its mouth, revealing row upon row of teeth that formed circles.

And then, the oily secretion began to bubble off of it, creating clouds that billowed across the area. "Give me your pistol!" Aurelia barked, and Yancey pulled it out of her pocket, pressing it into her hand. Aurelia began ringing shots off into the mist, and Yancey saw why she'd opted to not take a firing weapon. She wasn't aiming, not that she could, but her shots were either hitting straight into the dirt, or going high into the air. And then, Aurelia seemed to lose her footing, collapsing to the ground.

It hit Yancey. This wasn't a fog, this was some sort of disorienting cloud, some toxin. Yancey's vision was what was clouded, not the surroundings, and it twisted further, into she could hardly see. As hard as it had suddenly become to see anything, it wasn't hard to see the earth coming up to meet her face. She slammed down beside Aurelia, the two facing each other. Aurelia didn't appear scared, and she struggled to reach a hand over to Yancey's face, "If this be our final moments, I am honored to spend them with you, Yancey Clairvo,"

Yancey grunted with frustration, her mouth going numb, unable to sputter out a response. She could hear the slug sloshing closer, grunting, probably about to eat them. Aurelia continued, "Despite your horrible selection in kings," she finished, giving Yancey a mocking little wink. Even in death, Aurelia was mocking her.

"Thou' it wa' a gam'" Yancey struggled out, feeling blood running from her mouth. Probably bit her own tongue. The hellish screams from her sickle gave her an idea. Purple energy pulsed out from her sickle, stabbing into her body, painful, unpracticed, but she gave herself a command, "Ge' up, ise, no ime' or' demine," her song, broken, still seemed as effective as ever. She stood, unwobbling, numb, staring down at the slug. Get your weapon up, dammit. And amazingly, her hands brought up her sickle. 

You will not harm Aurelia, Yancey thought, "You will not harm Aurelia," her mouth repeated, and Yancey realized she was able to give commands with her mind. I need a plan, I can't take them both. If I can kill one, I can control it, and kill the other. I don't know how tough the slug will be. The other one, I've killed one of its race before, and just like humans, they die when you crush their skull. So turn around. Yancey did, facing the other creature. It simply stood a few yards away, watching. It probably didn't want to get affected by the dizzying secretions, maybe thought the slug was enough to kill them both.

It was wrong. Yancey focused her mind, not seeing it as a living creature, but as a puppet. Purple energy erupted from her sickle, and she gave them meaning, Stab it in the head, drill out its eyes. Show no mercy, its simply time to die. Perhaps the creature was already affected by the slug. It was slow to react to the incoming assault, and one of the purple beams of energy struck it straight through the eye. It howled with pain, rocking to the side, barely avoiding the rest of Yancey's assault. It bent down on its legs, like it was loading them with power, muscles flexing with power. And then, before Yancey could have her own chance to react, it came. With one single burst of speed, it was flying at her. It was by mere chance that her legs were barely held up by the purple energy, and she fell back as it flew overtop.

Get up! She commanded, visualizing her arms pushing her up, her legs regaining their balance, and she was up just in time to see it circling back, coming around for another strike. The creature was quite similar to its brethren, unable to take sharp turns. It also seemed to have lost its depth perception with its second eye, crashing straight into the side of a felled tree. It struggled to regain its own legs now, hobbling up, wretching with pain, screaming, crying. Yancey wanted to cry for it.

Her second thoughts about killing it never made it into her thoughts, the screams of hell growing defining. It staggered to its feet, wobbly eyes focusing on her, and came again. Yancey raised her sickle, watching, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, I will not die. She watched, forcing her eyes into a focus, probably supplemented by purple energy because they burned with pain, waiting. I will survive. I'm a survivor, and I'm going to use you as my puppet.

A scream, Aurelia's scream, broke her focus. Yancey's head snapped towards the source of the noise, and realized the slug was nearly too them, a long tongue unspooling from its mouth to lick Aurelia's face. It must have been some sort of acidic liquid, as Aurelia's face was melting where it touched. LOOK OUT! Purple energy screamed through her head, and she twisted back towards her own foe just in time to see that it was feet away. DOWN! She half fell, half flew towards the ground, but not fast enough. The thing's long, muscular arm, caught her in the side, sending her spinning through the air.

Pain exploded through her side, she was sure she'd broken some ribs, hoping only that she hadn't ruptured any organs. She landed, hard, on top of a bed of leaves, and the pain actually helped her. The pain sent tendrils of feeling spreading through her body, and she screamed with pain as she turned to watch Aurelia. The slug was coming down upon her, the rows of teeth reaching for her melting face. "NO!" Yancey roared, disregarding her stalking vendetta once again, and raising her sickle towards the slug.

She was too far, she knew that. Her purple energy wasn't like Faust's; not quick, not powerful. Even as the streams of purple left her sickle she knew they would never reach the slug in time, but she hoped they would, she willed them too. They crept out of the blade, slower than usual, weak, just as helpless as the very kings she'd forced into this situation. The creature screamed as it came down towards Aurelia, a cacophony of noises erupting through the area... and Aurelia responded.

Releasing a monstrous warcry like the one she'd bellowed at Yancey, it froze everybody for a moment, every waring creature, of all the worlds. The slug, in the direct path of the wave, froze, a meer foot from Aurelia's face. And then, in one glorious moment, she pulled her sword from her back, and it spun to life, glowing with energy. She drove it straight down into the slug's gaping mouth, giving it a taste of exactly what it had been searching for: death. Aurelia, king of strategy, had just been waiting for the best chance to strike. Maybe a little luck had been involved, but just like with the elementals, Aurelia stood before the terrors from the deepest parts of the universe, and all 4'8 of her had been up to the challenge.