Can You Hear My Statues' Screaming?

[Denzein]

LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU BABY, RUN RABBIT RUN. WE'LL SET THE GALAXY ON YOU, LEDO, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND HAVE A CUP OF TEARS?

LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU BABY, RUN RABBIT RUN. WE'LL SET THE GALAXY ON YOU, LEDO, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND HAVE A CUP OF TEARS?

The beacon had been keeping this dirge up for days, now. It was fashioned from chiselled marble, in the shape of an angel with wings spread and arms stretched to the heavens. The face was grimacing, mouth wide open as if screaming in torment at being forced to speak these words over and over, never relenting in its repetitions.

It had been placed on the roof of a deserted, derelict and destroyed skyscraper, the better to observe the sky above. It was on the planet Elom, in a city that had never finished being built and had never truly been lived in. Nature had begun reclaiming it, and it made a fitting playground for the Great Destroyer. It was closer to his dream than many places in the galaxy, after all.

He crouched on the corner of a nearby rooftop, observing his beacon calmly. He was utterly hidden in the force and in reality, as was his way so often. He knew that his companion through the dark had done likewise, he could not sense that familiar pungent scent. He knew he would feel it when his prey arrived, as embedded in the angel was a tiny gamma radiation emitter. It wasn't strong enough to cause any harm or side effects to the beacon itself, but was powerful enough to register when anything even slightly electronic entered its field. Such things included metal, ions in the flesh, bone, blood. No amount of force trickery would be able to fool its vigil.

The sun was falling below the skyline, although it was obscured by darkening clouds that seemed to be coalescing about the beacon itself, as if it was drawing them to it somehow. Nothing smiled beneath its mask of non-existence. it would not be long now...

LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU BABY, RUN RABBIT RUN. WE'LL SET THE GALAXY ON YOU, LEDO, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND HAVE A CUP OF TEARS?

LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. LEDO YOU EXIST, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU BABY, RUN RABBIT RUN. WE'LL SET THE GALAXY ON YOU, LEDO, WHY DON'T YOU COME AND HAVE A CUP OF TEARS?​

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Long hours, even days, had passed since message's transmission reached the ears of one not so enthusiastic of its sound nor eager to make haste. To toy with such powers was a message not well received, yet only such little amounts of information gave much cause to ignore it. Efforts had been in play for decades to send a message to those who would die at the cause and 'hands' of a madman, who's vengeance would see past his days for all that he had invested. Yet for its beginnings, vision had but scratched the surface.

...A sound came into pitch, yet no feeling accompanied it. Something had already entered the atmosphere. Seeming an empty vessel, a medium sized but capable weapons-hot carrier hovered in over the lit skyscraper. Sitting there for a time, it made no attempts of aggression or fear. Yet for the technology unknown to this new investigator, he was detected in silhouette: long charred and tattered robes, hood over head and face, and very interested in the statue reaching to the sky after having dropped from the belly of the vessel unseen by eye or sense.

Poor was this judgment by any who had installed such an eyesore to stain the city that welcomed death absent destruction, but for its nature to call forth such an end. Theories were all that had been made, assumptions of what was to come and who dared involve a busy man; the very same theories of whom stood before such flawed technology, probing in the dark.

The hands of this man seemed a capable and intelligent sort, feeling along all the right points to better understanding of its make and structure; yet all the while keeping secrecy as perfected as those who call it Master. Tools of his own were used, and soon it would be realized that his intentions were not so expected; as harnesses and hijacking equipment lowered from the hovering ship. The hauler was preparing to take away the beacon for its own thoughts and plans, to sound this eerie message closer to those who should be hearing its spoken name of such importance. The outer-rim was no place for revered promises lacking as empty threats. This man would see to it, ignoring any conversation or attention from those who made it. He would quickly yet skillfully relocate the statuesque device, precisely and scientifically seeing into every detail that was to be hoisted away with more than science as his tool; as now others new of its specificity, what he saw was what others saw.

No doubts of being interrupted, this man was as well equipped for such circumstances. Yet as his being was as a shadow, so too was it all that was focused upon; being the only thing to happen in this abandoned city for weeks, and years before then since the interruption of decay upon setting of the device by its original hands. The sonic boom of entry upon first arrival, the hovering of the ship and its dealings, and further still to the feared outcome as his careful and penetrating hands reached deeper in the Force and switched off the device...

 

[Jake]

The cold, stabbing light of ancient suns shafted through the gathering storm like dawn's rays on gossamer. Dark-bellied clouds swirled in slow, gorged blossoms. The streets were littered with squandered slug rounds and scorch marks. For many years, the abandoned city had been the subject of many turf wars by rivaling gangs. Artificial parks were strewn throughout the area, a welcomed change to the unforgiving wastes that made up Elom's untamed wilds. The place was only hospitable because of dormant reactors spotting the outskirts, residual heat offering warmth to the lonely derelicts that populated the city.

More than one Elom corpse rotted on the asphalt. Their migration underground had been undertaken during the town's construction, when water became a commodity not to be wasted. A handful of homeless and dying Elomin were the only sapient life left in the gale-wrecked industrial desert, their cheap fires sending columns of oily smoke high into the clouds. Atop one of the half-finished skyscrapers a mock angel stood, tear marks sculpted down the sides of its face, mouth a rictus of marble teeth wide with fear and torment.

Even gods had reason to fear the triumvirate that had gathered in the ruins that day. Belial stood atop a circular device beside Shade's toy that lit his body up with bluish flare, turning his dark skin a pale sapphire-grey almost indistinguishable from the chrome city and its stormy sky. His subtle translucency was positively eerie, like a ghost amidst the rubble. But the phantom Kiffar wielded a power far more fearsome than any child's bedtime ghouls; he was a living, breathing nightmare.

And now he had come to breathe motion into the immobile city, to light its streets with the glow of a lightsaber. When Ledo appeared Belial's head flicked up to meet him. When he reached into the Force to deactivate Shade's gift, Belial's pale lips spread out into a devious grin. His stare was almost baleful as he appraised Ledo's vessel, and then through the tinted glass another pair of eyes entirely saw the man himself. The rumors were true. He was beautiful, in just the right way. Perfect for Belial's purposes.

"Hello, Ledo. I do not believe we have been acquainted before now, but if I may be so bold... Would you care to step out for a dance? Though I feel obligated to warn you, there is a third wheel lurking around, if you can find him." He kept his voice careful and elegant, echoing out from every direction in perfect unison. The hollow bowels of the empty monument rattled and shook with the heavy vibration of Ledo's craft, unaccustomed to the shift away from total inertia.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

"HE IS LEDO! PSEUDON OF THE ANIMUS MANIFESTO!!!" The voice trembled in unaccustomed hate, as his head turned to reveal what was beneath the hood. The face, unknown to Bellail, was not of Ledo's; yet could he know this fact and discern it for his own uses? But with every motion that this male in similar robes made, one thing was for certain - that another was watching through his eyes!

The customs were the same, as Ledo was always the same. His beliefs were in numbers over all else, and in this he would not risk such a trapping circumstance and step foot on a planet without first sending one of his 'children' to deal with the device in his place. Yet... his ship made the same sound as this hauler when it broke atmosphere. His ship, similar to a one maned fighter, had landed out of sight and even out of the city limits whilst all eyes were on his distraction at the very point that those who awaited him were glued to. The timing was right, and he had made his first move simultaneous to his pupil's. Ledo could not be seen, felt, technologically depicted, or heard from where he was. But his presence here was for certain, as it was in this 'hand' of his.

It was clear that this Force Adept Engineer was skilled in the ways of the Force, but no match for Belail in the slightest. Even this translucent blue representation would deal with Ledo's pupil with haste if it so chose to. Yet as Belail's image was what met this figure, it might seem easy to fool from afar or even up close as he had never seen Ledo's face. Even most of Ledo's closest had never seen his true features devoid of alteration of the Force, and his robes were forged easily enough. The pupil sent by Ledo whipped out his red lightsaber before him and spat at their feet.

...Ledo's mouth curled in pleasure of what was to come. He had expected Shade to be the hand in this, having been the ONLY one to deny his recruitment and the ONLY one who would dare challenge his secrecy in such a manner. Yet those who had set this up obviously wanted more than confrontation, as the setting of such a meeting was most secretive. He was given quite the introduction. Ledo did not realize himself so worthy by those he had yet to meet. Seemed Shade brought friends... or perhaps sent them in his stead?

 

[Denzein]

It wasn't him. Last time Ledo's force energy had not been on show, yet he had demonstrated power rivalling his own. This one was merely shining brightly, hardly burning with the intensity of Belial or Shade. This was not the one they had come to seek. Not entirely naive, then. But where was he? He must be close, Shade knew he wouldn't risk the knowledge of his existence in the world by just sending an underling. The fact that he had sent one though suggested much, scintillating hints of what Nothing stood to gain this evening if he played his cards right.

He stood, casting Belial a brief feeling of disappointment through the force. It wasn't a full message but he could not afford to send one, to do so would advertise to the hidden Ledo that he was here. A slight tinge of upset, however, was much more difficult to track.

He trusted Belial to deal with this imposter without any trouble. The true Ledo would have to be found quickly before he had a chance to steal the initiative. Unfortunately Nothing could only sense nothing, at lead in the immediate vicinity. Ledo was on Elom, probably not far from where they were, perhaps the outskirts? Time would tell. For now it had to be made clear that Ledo's hosts would lot tolerate being deceived. Education was such a wonderful thing...

He reached out through the force, still utterly invisible to all. The storm clouds began o intensify, thunder rolling through the heavens as if the gods were displeased wih Ledo's cowardice. He also began to inject a sense of fear into the very air, permeating the city with dread, force induced terror. It would throw Let's little friend off, disturbing him while telling Leo himself that his rudeness was not going to be tolerated.

The first of many obese raindrops spattered over Shade's building. The rain was just the beginning, soon the clouds would descend in a boiling, seething mass. The more Ledo held them at area length the angrier the heavens would become, until the poor acolyte found hikself consumed as payment for Nothing's displeasure.

 

[Jake]

The sparse light from the heavens crisscrossed around Belial as quick and silent as a knife wound, flowing around him like the starlines in hyperspace, bending around his body as his face contorted in rage. A dozen more of his holographic twins appeared around the Ledo's emissary, hands caressing his robes, brushing towards the stubble on his face, eyes bright and livid with curiosity and the dim beginnings of anger. His mouth was open to reveal teeth made of exploding sparks as the translucent ghosts wavered and vanished.

"To think," the Kiffar said, voice quiet and brooding, "I mistook this peon for you, ma petit. This filth..." The air behind the acolyte transmuted into a wall of dark flesh; the sweet snap-hiss of lightsaber ignition sizzled in his eardrums as it chewed away at the ozone. Something exhaled a pillar of amethyst fire that dissipated instantly, as did the dark-skinned phantom that had summoned it it. Whether or not the acolyte had a smoking, charred hole through his torso remained to be seen.

Belial's specter remained enthralled as it stepped off its podium, shadow replaced by followed it to its technological limits. Across the city, scores of Belials flickered into existence, probing the duracrete sidewalks and burnished darkness of the alleyways for Ledo. They appeared in the hollowed out shells of office buildings, sitting upright on desks wiped clean of rubbish that had once been flimsi documents. The ghosts spread out from the city's center toward its outskirts, each looking for-- what had the neophyte said?-- for the Pseudon of the Animus Manifesto.

The beauty of his latest acquisition brought a tear to Belial's eye.

Telepathically, he called out to Shade, Where has our prey made his nest? Unless Ledo was nearby enough to be spotted by Belial's holographic ghosts, even he would be hard-pressed to listen in on the Kiffar's conversation with the Destroyer.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

...Just as 'ghosts' filled the heavens, popping up in offices and streets all over; so the dead rose again, lifting from gutters and sewer openings. The bodies of Elom's gang wars soon filled the streets, all walking with a zombie-like purpose. Slowly they made way towards the one tower, that skyscraper in the midst of the city which shown towering over the rest. Starving creatures of the sands, half rotted corpses, as well as other forms of black tattered and charred robed figures stepped with the same beat; paying no attention to the drops that cried from the broken skies. Soon they would begin to climb the rails, stretch up from the streets, and make way towards the top of that skyscraper and all of its unfinished and rusted beams of metal and stone. All the while, one figure felt no such wetness.

The young 'acquisition' that Ledo first sent was done for, if not by Belail's doing then by heart related spasm from the stress of such power before him. Yet what was done to him by Belail was nothing compared to what then his pain became, as he cried out with the seriousness of the situation; Ledo could not be, was incapable of being, forced into fear of what dare threaten him into meeting! The poor messenger, for all intents and purposes, was then riddled with snaps and cracks in his body as veins opened and spattered at random; his bones were breaking, and faced total death as his ribcage crunched down upon the hole that had formed. The body bent backwards to morph into a cage of a skeletal structure around the Belail that had impaled this messenger sent by Ledo.

Ledo's pressence would not be hidden... no. Instead it was broadcast throughout the entire city in every location and every feeling that filled the heavens and earth. To have been looking for Ledo in a dual sense of the physical world with technology and eyesight as well as the metaphysical sense of the Force and other powers like infrared, now Ledo had filled their vision with total red as an overabundance of Ledo's presence. Just as they were an invisible entity to Ledo's knowledge, so was Ledo an infinite presence undetectable to its origins to them. As countless tangible Ledos as well as rotting corpses and rodents stepped and climbed towards the staute's height, Ledo (unlike those who sought to be still and silent in keeping little to no trace of their position) was free to move without worry of detection even if he were in plain sight. As the machine within the statue had faced a total shutdown and no attempt was made to turn it back on, if such an attempt were to be made - one would find its systems quite violated and difficult to repair. It is much simpler to squeeze a piece of paper into a perfect ball than it is to unravel that ball without ripping or damaging that paper back into its former shape, having utilized the Force in such a manner.

Now it was but a matter of finding those who sought to have audience with Ledo, as they themselves acted with the settings of a trap instead of just greeting their 'guest'. Perhaps Ledo would just show himself, as this back and forth could go as long as either side wished it to. Instead, two sets of objectives were set for every summoned body in the city; one was to form a grid by standing perfectly still throughout the entire city, and another was to reach the top of the skyscraper. Ledo would be felt in every figure. Each creature summoned to the purpose of reaching the statue would form another totally enclosed layer upon the top of the building. A perfectly symmetrical and similar addition would look as a new floor or level to the building made entirely of the summoned creatures and beings. ...Perhaps Ledo would show himself in such a setting?

 

[Denzein]

Nothing frowned at the chaos about him. The multiple Belials, the animated corpses, the storm, it was all so busy. He allowed the building tempest to dissipate, melting himself into existence by merely stopping to focus on being invisible. He wondered if the corpses would round on him, guessing they probably would. Ledo would be wasting his pawns if he disctracted from building the strange stage from their bones, Shade was more than up to the task of annihilating every last one.

Thunder rolled through the sky once more, less angered now Shade had stopped amplifying the effects of the storm. What had been there originally had now been left, grey clouds and distant rumblings. The rain stopped on demand but the sun remained obscurred, the city keeping its gloomy grey light.

Shade gazed upon the corpses with disdain, wondering why Ledo was bothering with them. They wouldn't help in a fight, weren't scaring him or Belial and used up vast amounts of Ledo's energy to maintain. To prove his point, Shade began to draw in force of his own. Ledo had seen him do this before, perhaps he would remember what happened last time...

He sent a message to Belial, no longer caring whether or not Ledo heard. He had revealed himself, Ledo was sure to know it was him. Despite this, he knew that if Belial had sent him one first the odds of Ledo being able to hear were low, providing Belial cared too.

Nowhere I can see. I will offer him a rendezvous...

He then turned his attentions to Ledo, casting a message through the force at the top of his mental voice, the energy pulsing through all things for miles around. It would not be loud inside the mind, but it would be utterly captivating. Ignoring the Destroyer was not an option.

Ledo... Leedoooo... You're here, I'm here. It's like a date, really, a date with Nothing. Don't fear Belial, he's my friend of friends. Why don't you come and have a cup of tears with us? We only killed your acolyte because we wanted to be with you. Meet us on my tower, wherever you are... I have so much to tell you about...

 

[Jake]

It seemed like Ledo was trying to steal Belial's thunder. Corpses? Their stench reached Belial's nostrils even from his present vantage point. But these were not the fine, willing creations that he devised with his recently learned technique; from what he could detect, the unliving beasts that clawed their way up the skyscraper were merely puppets to Ledo's will.

The Kiffar shrugged off his invisibility.

"I came here to kill or be killed, Ledo. Come and show me the beauty of the universe in death."

Belial stared down into the streets, ignoring the vermin that crawled towards Shade's throne. The hints of a grimace tugged at his lips; strands of his hair fell like black gold around his neck. His eyes swirled like smoking charcoal, burning across the city, sweeping through it in search of one addict, one whore, one beautiful abomination that attracted his hungry stare.

Ledo was a part of one of the holopuzzles that children loved to contemplate in their spare time. He was a piece that lent greater clarity to the image as a whole - not the last piece, but an important one all the same. Whispers in the Force and murmurs in crowds told him things. Information flowed through him just as sure as did the power that coursed undeniably through his veins.

"Ledo, you're going to be a part of something beautiful."

Spoiler: Belial's Inner Monologue explaining the depths of his goals and personality

The dark prince smiled. Ledo, Shade, Aiden, the Pentacle Athame and its trio of puppet rulers. They were all tributaries feeding into the vast and powerful river that was Belial; Kai Finreaj and Nuka Methoataske had once been counted among their number, but those waters had dried up and vanished as Belial plundered and drank greedily from them. Now their souls were forever bound to his legacy; where he went, their corpses were a bridge into immortality. Belial was God and the blood of his prey were the ambrosia that strengthened his mighty heart... A vision played out before his eyes.

Of all the titles that a man can bear, there are few that equate to "slayer". A king may rule a nation, having conquered it with no wit other than his own; a lord, prince, duke or earl can possess treasures and wealth whose trail begins in the Core and slithers into the cold depths of the Unknown Regions. A master craftsman can create things gilded and glittering with the sweat of their labor, items so precious that they eyes and hearts from every culture crave and covet them.

Jedi and Bogan wield the very fabric of space and time, able to bend nature and fate on a whim to their will, capable of creation and destruction with the same fickle demeanor as the gods and the Force itself. Priests and their clergy who demand the respect of worlds mortal and otherwise, including those beyond our comprehension - their power is one of words, less than physical presence. Their hands are steeped far and deep into the realm of faith, where many of us have become so entrenched as to never escape. It is in that lot that Ledo's children lie; it is in that purgatory that they will forever smolder as but ashes of what they could have been.

To all of these great people, only one man lifts his chin, refusing to accept inferior status. No one bows to him and no crown sits shining on his head. Minor deities such as Shade respect and fear him, unable to replicate his feats with the same level of valor. Grandmasters and greater failures give him their blessings freely, placing at times a higher burden on his shoulders than onto the Force itself.

When the cities burn, they come to him. When the oceans boil over and the fortress crumbles, it is him their call goes out to. When blood stains the fields scarlet and ash chokes out the stars, they search out him and him alone. Of all the creatures of land, sea, sky, space and the incorporeal, he hunts the great and the meager both. His sword is that which has been whet with ten thousand lives and will continue to be gorged on many more. He does not do true battle with man, monster, or god, for they shrivel in his shadow; he chooses to lock blades with the single creation that inspires fear in all beings.

No one can claim to be his kindred. His body may be covered in the scars of his destiny, but with lost flesh he has bought strength incomparable and legendary status. He is a hero and a champion, a villain and devil. He is the slayer, the man who supports the sky as it falls and pushes back the sea with his breath, whose feet stifle earthquakes and whose mind lends space to the galaxy itself.

Belial's goal, his dream, would not stop until he became the slayer. He would not be humbled by Shade or by Ledo. His bridge across the tides of fate had been built on a foundation of carcasses, men whose hopes had been cruelly ripped away from them in pursuit of glory. Belial's dream swallowed those of who fell beneath him. All philosophy filled his body with the strength to continue, and the hum of his lightsaber was the song that would start as he pushed open the doors into the land where gods play.

To that end, he would not stop to save any being trampled underfoot while he chased his destiny. Aiden Dekker had fallen, as would any who dared interfere. Ledo's memories would be sucked under the black tar of Belial's goals. Eventually, Shade too would be swallowed into the dark oblivion that waited once Belial reached sweet salvation.

These streets, this empty city on Elom were but a stepping stone. A duel with Ledo would be decided by will, and Belial, who had already traversed a hundred systems and whose place it was to venture across many more, had no intention of faltering.

"Bring on your corpses, your apprentices. Bring me your children and the fruits of your labor. They will crash against me like waves into a cliff. Even you, Ledo, are merely a ripple in the waters that make me."

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Chaos. It is an ever renewing cycle of ferocious hate, and one that fed this creature of still presence. All at one timed instant, every single body and possessed figure fell lifeless as an extinguishing of hundreds of candles gave view to one; that singular named fire that had burned up all the rest. So would Ledo's black figure rise into sight devoid of all the rest, as seeming collection of all evil in the atmosphere into a single mass of gravity and density through cloud and streaming shadow; so would appear to the others as either a drawing of life force into a renewed dark being, or simply the illusions of his unfaltering influence. The very sound to the air had stopped within the cloaked Death, incarnate, as if to speak what words would otherwise shout much needed silence to an over-sized and outspoken ego.

"...to falter under weight of your own power." Ledo chuckled.

As each risen dead fell knee to cheek with the driest of lifeless force smacking on stone, the shadows sunk into the reaches of Ledo's own image and soulless eye sockets. He had felt nothing in connection with the student he willingly sent to his death, as Ledo long ago severed himself from the pain of loss in such bonds. It was his day to day lifestyle to waste what he would in the name of his greater ambitions, to one day be rid of those who so wronged Ledo and further continue to wrong those under their lies and false teachings. It seemed, interestingly, that he had gained some attention of his own. ...His plans would not be delayed. Ledo's time would be utilized wisely or loose audience.

The hooded Fallanassi's chin lifted with a wrench of his neck, standing just off side of the now internally crunched and disabled statue. His deceased student was technologically skilled and had reached into it seeing nothing but a transmitting device, now nearly irreparable.

"So... 'Nothing', who yet fills the entity of something." His voice streamlined back to the respective origins that had broadcasted to him, both in the Force and in the range of propagating sound waves. "You obviously have not changed your theories of belief, and have brought a friend. ...Did I scare you in our last meeting so, to feel the need and presence of one so ready to serve Death?" Taunting at Shade, Ledo referred to the once multiplying blue hued antagonist. The implications were more than enough to learn of Shade's intentions, and call him on it. "I offer you freedom and truth... and you spit in my face..."

Feeling challenged and veering towards agrivated assault, Ledo already pulsed with a condensed power in and around his hands since his appearance. Though such reserved power felt minuscule as compared with the intensity when animating nearly the entire city, Ledo did not care how he so offended Shade with his preparedness for battle. Yet, it was already made clear of how easily he could make his leave, as he was so easily able to move under their gaze. But Ledo also knew the manner in which this coward left his places of occupation without confrontation. So Ledo already knew that he held fear within Shade's subconscious, whether he'd admit it to himself or not. Ledo almost outright expected Shade to 'destroy' the city without so much as facing Ledo in matched combat. The way things were, Ledo most believed the situation to be safe for Shade as he would send his mad dog after Ledo whilst ensuring his own success. Whether that success was the end of Ledo or the end of both Ledo and this Kiffar, he yet knew of no solid answer.

Ledo was fully in tune with his surroundings, as already displayed, and would not be crept up on; however, Ledo suspected more of a trap in their environment than anything else. Perhaps, Ledo wondered, if while Ledo was so graced with Shade or his friend's company, that there need be no concern for what would so harm them as well?

 

[Denzein]

Manic laughter burst from Shade's lips. He was simply unable to contain himself, joy had bubbled over the black iron cauldron that contained his emotions, spilling over the sides in an uncharacteristic open display of feeling. Ledo had shown himself, they could play now.

The angel had fulfilled its purpose admirably. He'd reward it when the time came, feed it what it so clearly desired. Only he could feel its hunger, know what the trapped soul inside of the stonework dragged from Hinzer Haus itself craved above all else. He wasn't going to tell anyone.

Continuing to suck power from the cosmos, he eyed the dark robed figure standing next to his toy, silver eyes passing over him as a God surveys his disciple. That was what Shade believed, after all. Ledo was him, a few years back. The obsession with death was what came before enlightenment to Nothing's way, Shade had seen it before. He'd seen it in himself. He decided to speak, deigning to bless Ledo with the sound of his voice. He didn't shout to cover the distance, or to battle for audibility with the thunder in the heavens. Both distance and rumbling might dying away to allow Nothing through.

"Your words are Nothing, Ledo, just like you will be soon. Accept it, you know it to be true. You can feel the metamorphosis warping your being even now... I can sense it."

He spread his arms wide, cylinders of silver and brass appearing in each. He laughed again. It sounded unnatural, as if he were unused to it. It was the laughter of the diabolical. The laughter of the one who had surpassed even the reaper himself. It was the laughter of Nothing.

"You offered me truth, yes. Truth that I already had, what need have I of multiple affirmations of the same belief? We are one, Pseudon of the Animus... If you but knew it."

The storm began to pick up once more, thunder increasing in volume and intensity, lightning striking the skyscrapers around the trio, scorching concrete and steel with its fury. It was a window into Shade's delight, if any present were privy to such knowledge. It was also a sign that the amount of force energy he had drawn in was nearing critical mass; if he didn't want to implode, he'd have to do something now. The storm was his pawn, he'd use it well.

With no warning, he made the opening move. He blasted a pulse of force energy directly at Ledo, his intention to smash the pupa from his perch into Nothing's waiting arms. He knew where Belial was, and was counting on the God to capitalise on Shade's attack. Nothing knew that since he was on a different building he was out of the saber duel, for now at least. He fully intended to remedy that.

His laughter rang through the dead streets of Elom, harmonised by the storm, the symbol of his judgement. The force rippled through its chosen, yearning to be unleashed again. Nothing would grant its wish.

 

[Jake]

Belial regarded the Fallanassi's presence beside the machine with a certain dispassion. He had his private monologues, yes, but now that he had baited his prey into what was hopefully a lucrative position, he did not speak. The shallow rise and fall of his chest belied the weight of his thoughts as he gestured with the mind, plucking and pulling at the machine Shade had created. It was incorrigible for its original purpose, so why not put it to greater use?

"You talk too much," he murmured half to himself.

There was a great screech of metal on duracrete as it came free and hurtled towards Ledo, supported by Belial's power. If he tried to shrug it off, he would find himself staring down the barrel of a gun he might never look away from. Or, to put it more aptly, he would be in the very real danger of being flattened between Shade's blast and Belial's repurposed statue. Such an impact could shatter bones.

The Kiffar's consciousness expanded to encompass the entirety of the rooftop, encompassing its twenty-five by twenty-five meter square surface and beyond. There was a faint stirring in Belial's chest as he ignited his lightsaber, spreading down through his groin, coursing down his legs like an electric touch, into the ground below. Was it love? It felt stronger, and it was inching its way in every direction, waiting for a chance to show itself.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Having been standing so close to the statue already, it was of no weapon's use against him once it began to tip and screech in its movement; as Ledo easily sidestepped the statue to see Shade's attack more clearly. With this, Ledo lifted his igniting red lightsaber (that extended from his very sleeve) with a bent arm casually over his shoulder that cleaved the passing steel of screaming mechanism in two with a diagonally burned glow into the center of the now splitting pieces that flew back behind Ledo to clear out anyone behind him. Yet just as the statue separated into two projectiles behind him, so did Ledo split in two on either side of where the statue once stood and raised their left hands simultaneously. Within this millisecond's motion, the image of Ledos' raised hands looked to ripple with heat and glass as Shade's attack Deflected back at him.

Ledos' voices then echoed as two. “…And still you deny that your extension of “Nothing” is a false step made further from the Truth!?!” Shade was correct. He once was like Ledo, but now has lost his way; unable to see in such darkness where Ledo boiled with the raging fiery magma of a planet sized volcano.

The first and obvious move had been made to battle's beginning, now it would take a turn for the worse...

If any were to step on the same ground that both Ledo's now occupied, they'd unsuspectedly find their legs spontaneously gripped by dozens of undead hands all littering the rooftop from before. There was no way of preparing for it, only reacting to it; as each party had already made the conscious decision to head for the rooftop or was already upon it, and would not now change their decision based on this small distraction of a trap.

As well, the rooftop seemed to take on a new shape and form more comforting to Ledo's dying touch. This twenty-five by twenty-five meter square surface was now in Ledo's utter control and image distorting pleasure. And so it was broadcast as such, as beams and rods extended up and out with a new Gothic architecture. Metal and stone and a cold-pale limestone of stylized lining swirled into place. Even the surface upon which the Ledos stood eerily warped down in on itself to create a 'rib vault', what would normally stand as a ceiling but in this case formed the floor with pillars that stretched upwards until the continuous collapsing and breaking of its reach crumbled to be ever building and replacing in itself. The once trap of a roof had now become a riddle of Ledo's imagination; seen as a complex motion of dark growth, yet the simplest of tangible projections for Ledo's experience and constant use in Mastery. The reach of the new form and shape of the rooftop was not much higher than twice the reach of the statue that once stood there, yet what could happen within its welcome was greater than these two could imagine. Did they still wish to continue? Ledo hoped they did, as even the storm carried no weight within the illusion of the rooftop - a ludicrously more dense and more focused area than the widely spread stormy sky above, and therefore a much less draining easily harnessed power to be focused into use than the time consuming gathering of an atom based and nature made dispersing power of the storm above.

 

[Denzein]

A force duel, how quaint. With a deft swirl of his hand he dissipated Ledo's counter, thunder blasting through the atmosphere as the blast was consumed by the rampant energies alive within the Destroyer. He felt like a conductor, directing Elom's greatest symphony: The symphony of Destruction.

He watched Ledo and Belial trade blows, still laughing (although less raucously now, he was contemplating actually concentrating on the fight). He noted Ledo's castle building skills with interest. He guessed that it was some sort of attempt at convincing him of Ledo's strength, that he could form rock and steel from the very air. Shade knew it was nothing more than a bluff, an elaborate mirage constructed to confuse and ensnare the unwary. A foolish gesture, to Shade at least. He had seen Ledo's illusions before, he knew the man used falsehoods and lies. This was merely more of the same, how droll.

He knew the illusion was nothing, and so it held no power over his mind. It was visible only because he allowed it to be, it would be useful to know the playing field the other two were duelling on. The walls of Ledo's bastion would hold no secrets from the Destroyer, however. To his mind and body they were as insubstantial as the air itself. This was good, considering what he had in mind. One of his toys had been destroyed by Belial, the other was yet to be unleashed. The storm thundered its approval.

Reaching his mind into the nether regions of the force, Nothing called upon the powers of the heavens he held at his behest. There was lightning in the clouds, lightning as yet unused by the tempest. Shade had been storing it for a new technique, something he wanted to experiment with. He took hold of it with his soul, relishing the sheer volume of force now at his disposal. His eyes turned to the castle of smoke and mirrors before him. A grin cracked his face in two, hidden beneath Nothing's mask as always.

He focussed the lightning directly at Ledo, redirecting it from its nest in the clouds straight at the advocate of Death. His laughter began once more, his idea was working perfectly. The fact that he had not manufactured the lightning but instead merely redirected it meant that he had not used up nearly as much force energy as he would have done - he still felt invigorated, energetic. Power still coursed through his veins, litres, gallons, oceans of force energy flooding his system.

The energy saving hadn't been the only aspect of his attack that he had been counting on, however. Force lightning was not true lightning, it was merely a blast of electricity from a man's fingertips. Its voltage and current weren't nearly enough to sear a man from the inside out in milliseconds, and as such it could be blocked by a lightsaber if the defender knew how.

Not so with true lightning.

Actual lightning was the weapon of choice of the ancient Gods themselves. It was vastly powerful, able to atomise buildings or electrocute hundreds at its height. Such was the strength of actual lightning that any attempt to block it with a lightsaber would simply cause the bolts to jump from plasma to flesh, producing exactly the same effect as if the defender had not blocked. True lightning was true power. The fact that Shade also knew the building to be non-existant meant that its stone walls would not stop it either, the energy would pass straight through and into its chosen target.

Shade's laughter tickled the cosmos entire.

 

[Jake]

Belial was impressed. He acknowledged the pale hands as they reached for him, appreciated the skein of their many twisting limbs as they sought to impede his progress towards their master. A pair of stubby fingers pulled at his white cloak, staining it with patches of dark blood. Were these ancient carcasses Ledo's only friends? His only subjects? Quite the king. However, the dark prince did acknowledge the man's stamina. To be able to transport dozens of corpses, manipulating their motor functions to the most acute detail. Then able to project castle-sized illusions and a doppelganger of himself, all the while managing to deflect Shade's concussive blast?

Impressive, but all things had their limit, and many things had their weaknesses as well. Belial laid one hand upon the false stone; his psychometry was active, as it always was. He waited for the familiar tingle of memories flowing into his mind, but there were none. The walls and floors of this prison were false, dead as the bodies that scrambled to claw at his regal attire.

"There's plenty of me to go around," the mad Kiffar said, throwing up his arms and swishing his head from side to side, splaying his black hair across his face in creeping strands like the shatterpoints of a heart. Concussive waves rippled out, blowing the corpses aside like ragdolls. His gold jewelry clanged and sang while he danced through the air, spilling through the blue miasma of the illusion.

Ledo was not going to last the day with cheap parlor tricks; he might as well try sleight-of-hand on a Jedi Master. One of Belial's dark eyes kept focused on the doppelganger while its counterpart continued to spy Ledo. The Pseudon would find a constricting force hindering his movements, tightening around his arms and legs like coils. Force Deflection could not disperse this, as it did not focus on his extremities. Instead, his appendages from ankle to groin and wrist to shoulder would feel the building pressure, holding him in place until climax. Belial would relish in the sickening snap of the Pseudon's bones -- if, of course, he could survive Shade's bolt of real lightning.

Trying to catch it on a lightsaber was suicidal. The Force could only protect from so much, as well, and unless Ledo's reaction times were on a tier for themselves there was no dodging something that moved at speeds comparable to light itself. The Pseudon would find the grip on his limbs steadily tightening, unless he had somehow evaded the Kiffar's imperceptible assault entirely. Despite his feats of stamina, Belial doubted Ledo was capable of focusing on two different beings simultaneously, and if he was caught in Belial's tightening web and didn't find a way to disrupt it, he would find all four of his limbs useless, as well.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

As Belail's concussive waves splashed Ledo's traps aside like slaps of water, he reacted immediately before Belail could get any closer or gain a gripping advantage over him. Though unexpected by Belail due to Ledo's still turned back, Ledo instantly threw back all the corpses and nearly dead bodies that he could handle in his state - like a larger wave of what Belail was beginning to splashing at. Even Ledo's copy was thrown, yet still adding to confusing chaos as Ledo's copy disipated in the attack. This would cause a lack of ability to correctly react to what was and what was not flying at Belail. Crashing over and around Ledo, the wave of rotting flesh unintentionally caught the lightning bolt hailed down from the heavens so skillfully by Shade; as Ledo had no way of reacting that fast in his current state, or even at his best.

The bodies flew overhead and straight at Belail, many of which burst and popped instantly from the contacting bolt fusing with lingering putrid methane. Those bodies pounded at Ledo's back, as he crouched to avoid the action of throwing them, like simple punches of fists; however, Ledo was completely safe from the danger of the lightning bolt.

Wasting no time in this moment, and suspecting the severity of Shade's last attack, Ledo thrust his lightsaber and punched into the 'unfinished' building with his momentum in crouching. Ledo easily plowed through the layer of architecture to levels below before Belail would even be able to react to the exploding bodies through the air; some of which did not explode, but even with the ones that did were all still in motion towards Belail and obstructing his vision in a cloud of reeking methane covering Ledo's downward dive of a disappearance.

And in one nightmarish flash, the illusion passed with nothing left but the building's actual structure.

From there, Ledo could not be seen. Yet in this stage of the battle, Ledo's anger boiled; and so it was vaguely felt below. Ledo concentrated on reserving his energy, still keeping his senses heightened and at the ready. A well conceived trap... Yet now they'd have to come to him, or see him slip away.

 

[Denzein]

Watching the bodies pop like rancid blisters, Shade knew his attack hadn't hit home. His mouth closed, his eyes narrowed. Ledo was trying his patience, and what's more had gone to ground in the building below him. The fool. Did he honestly believe Shade would be so naive as to actually follow him? The Destroyer growled a warning to the storm about him, the happiness of the carnage he had been wreaking had left him. He felt the familiar lance of hate skewering his belly, felt the fire blossom through his soul.

It consumed him, taking him back from joy's caress. The Great Destroyer was returned to his usual state. No more games.

Ledo had proven himself a worthy opponent. He had evaded more than Shade was sure many council members of the Jedi would have been able to survive, and had given almost as good as he had gotten. He had faltered now. He had erred. Destruction would make Death pay.

In jumping into the building Ledo had made one -potentially fatal- error. He had trapped himself within a structurally unsound skyscraper, and worsened the state of its supports by cutting his way through it to enter. The Destroyer shut his eyes, calling on his hate to show him the structural flaws of the tower, the shatterpoints, if you will.

The cobweb of cracks began to form in his minds eye, and he followed them to their sources, seeking out the origins of the fault lines that marked Ledo's tomb. There were many, and this was good. The building would collapse quickly once he struck these places, too quickly perhaps for an embattled tiring old master to escape from. Shade thought about Belial briefly: with the Kiffar on top of the building there was little chance of his accidental burial. Good. Perhaps he could even find a way to make the situation even worse for the doomed Ledo...

Calling on the force once more, reaching into its lap and stroking out yet another obscene orgasm of Destruction, Shade struck. Not Ledo, instead the shell of concrete and steel that he resided in. A powerful wave of force energy smashed into it, breaking as oceanic tide pounds the rickety, fragile old pier.

Shade had aimed for the Shatterpoints his mind had highlighted, and he had not missed. The building splintered like old wood, fault lines filling with the force and rupturing with speed the eye could hardly follow, thanks to the cracks Shade had sought out. He opened his eyes, watching as the building began to collapse, huge chunks of it falling inwards towards the Pseudon who was caught somewhere within.

The Destroyer did not smile. The Destroyer did not laugh. What had once been fun had morphed into a task, a job he had set himself and would complete to show Ledo the error of his ways.

Death was nothing compared to Nothing.

 

[Jake]

The hollow bowels of the empty monument rattled and shook with the heavy vibration of Ledo's craft, unaccustomed to the shift away from total inertia.

There was a faint stirring in Belial's chest as he ignited his lightsaber, spreading down through his groin, coursing down his legs like an electric touch, into the ground below. Was it love? It felt stronger, and it was inching its way in every direction, waiting for a chance to show itself.

Ledo thought he was quick, that was obvious. Unfortunately for him, he was not quick enough. The grotesque explosions danced across the roof, leaving suspended smoke-trails of gore as the lightning cracked and shot down from above. The Pseudon's subjects had saved him from a god's wrath, but only this once. Methane rippled and ignited in the air, streams of reeking fire licking at the duracrete on their way to the ground far, far below.

The noxious gas kept the Kiffar from simply hurtling a long shard of debris at him. That was much true, but the fancy parlor trick was not enough to disguise his act. The telltale snap-hiss of ignition, the sweet sparks of stone buckling under its heat, the pungent stench of burning ozone. Belial dismissed the incoming corpses with the Force, spreading them apart at the center of their loose wave. The lightning bolt had done away with most of them, and slowed their advance to the point that it was almost amusing to watch as they sailed slowly towards him, almost ponderously.

They were really just pathetic piles of loose sinew that had yet to come undone. When he touched them, even through the Force, they instinctively shriveled and parted for him, crashing to the sides on the duracrete and coming apart in greasy chunks. Meanwhile, Belial chuckled to himself.

Ledo was in freefall.

There was nothing for him to land on in the building (see first quote). It was hollow and unsound in its structure, barely able to withstand their battle as it was. Now that their opponent was plummeting to his unsightly demise, Belial moved with just a little haste in his step, turning and sprinting the short distance to the edge of the rooftop. Simultaneously, he triggered the threads of Force energy (see second quote) left dormant. As he had been steadily adding to their number, the impact on his stamina was considerably less than if he had attempted to ravage the rooftop all at once.

Massive chunks of meter-thick stone went down, toppling, sending sheets of grit down with them. As Belial took to the air and towards the building directly across from where he stood, Shade worked his magic on the skyscraper's flank. The vicious rumble shook the air itself as it imploded in showers of sediment that would soon become a rain of boulders. The entire edifice began to collapse piecemeal, the foundation beginning to give under the sudden absence of support, and that would send other walls crashing down as well.

Belial found himself loathing the task of picking Ledo's corpse out of the rubble, for that seemed to be in his near future. Exhaustion fell over him like a second skin, weighing him down like an anchor. If the battle wasn't over, then it should have been. The Kiffar doubted his ability to protect himself in Ledo's position even at pinnacle performance, much less while heavily fatigued as all three combatants were now. The Pseudon had thousands of pounds of rock coming down on top of him and three walls boxing him in, preventing any timely escape through miraculous applications of telekinesis.

It seemed an unwitting mistake would end the Pseudon Ledo's life...

For now.

((OOC: I think that's a wrap, isn't it?))

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Plummeting to his fate, Ledo's face rippled against the velocity of his free-fall. Having dove down into the building interior, his shoulder first contacted with the side wall thus sending him into the wild spiral of his descent. The tails of his robes fluttered, ripping at its edges already torn and charred, to leave a lingering trail of black squared material caught in the downpour of the crumbling building-top. Able to see his fate further down, as the walls snapped inwards below to greet him, Ledo growled a wild and hate-filled billow of a building roar to his dying end.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

It could not be measured if his raging voice added to the breaking walls around him, as it had already formed around him. And then... * poom *

The soft face-plant of Ledo's smack into the ground would barely make a sound, as the building's rubble destroyed itself and the area encompassing with a long drawn out rumbling that rivaled the sounds of the storm.

Ledo ...was dead.

 

[Jiang Winters]

ADMIN:

After reviewing this thread, I'm ruling that Ledo was killed by the collapsing building. That's all, folks.