Wrath

[Liar]

The worm flinched and writhed for its wounds; it felt them, painful and raw, but it was forced to pull its simple mind on only one source of them. The thrown debris was nothing compared to the flying blades, and those also seemed negligible in the face of the man who dug deep into its flesh with lakan and scimitar. It bent toward Alderache, but its giant bones would not grant the flexibility to grab hold of the pest. Uphis saw its distraction and took advantage of it. His own daggers, infinitely sharp, rang on the air as they joined the others in flight toward the worm. Each of them hit, slicing hot red gashes into its fleshy gums. “You will die, this day!” Uphis thundered, furious, all but ignoring his followers’ words and gestures in favor of the battle’s glory. He observed them well, and noted the valor of the souls that stood around Him, but he would not stand for pause. It screamed, and the shrieking, scraping, wailing noise seemed to pierce through stone and flesh alike, filling the world with its agony. It shuddered and convulsed wildly, and only stilled when the akalak was thrown. Luckily, he had not climbed high enough to take any incredible damage from the fall. Like the stone of Nyka from which its hard flesh seemed to be borne, it persisted. There was a whole body beneath the surface, anchoring it, fueling it. And while its apparent weak point glistened red between gnashing rows of teeth, could that be the only one? With its secluded opponent dispatched, it turned instantly to the creatures before it. Maybe it was more selfish than Malavos realized, and more like to destroy those creatures that would harm it than those that seemed easier prey. Its attention settled on the Alvina and Kassan beside Him, the souls who were shouting their rage. The other monks seemed to notice its preference and began to cry out as well, but it did not seemed moved by their noise, without ears. Still it saw them, or some of them, somehow. Perhaps it sensed them like an aurist could, or perhaps it smelled them with some unseen receptor. How did it see? How did it perceive the world, and choose who deserved its wrath? Was it sheer instinct? Or did this creature, risen up from the womb of the Mother City, have some other, terrible motivation?

[Etrius]

The worm writhed and thrashed around in anger and pain. Its violent movements shook off the Akalak that had tried to climb up the behemoth. What a foolish move on his part. The worm was thrashing event more violently, almost crashing into the low buildings that surrounded the area. Its terrible scream rent the air once more, seeming to shatter the very skies above again. This made Etrius drop his scythe and bring his hands to his ears yet again, screaming in pain. Damn this thing! Gods damn this petching thing to oblivion!

Etrius picked up his scythe, ready to attack the monster. He looked up at the thing's mouth. The red spot that seemed to be a weak point almost glowed and resonated with light. He could still feel the strange feeling of res being manipulated. Why? From where? It did not feel like it was coming from all around him. It felt like it was coming from one singular point. No, could it be? It felt like the power was coming from the mouth of the monster. No, he was just disoriented, delusional, He was playing a trick on Etrius, right?

Etrius was getting fed up with this battle very quickly. Something needed to be done. The worm could not reach Alderache when he was that close to it. Maybe if... 

Etrius threw caution to the wind once again and ran forward. Surely the worm would not be able to reach him if he was that close to its body. Now that it was distracted with its writhing in pain, he could get close. He held his scythe by the blade, not swinging it, but simply charging forward with the blade facing the worm. He plunged the blade into the worm's fleshy body. Its hide was tougher than he at first thought and his scythe blade only went in a few inches. He needed to cause more damage. He kicked the back of the blade, forcing it deeper into the worm. He then grabbed the handle and pulled to the side, trying to gouge out a chunk of the worm's body. Due to his inexperience with his weapon, his plan was not working very well. Harder! he ordered himself. He needed to cause the worm enough pain to where it would try to reach down at him, hopefully being unable to get him, thereby bringing it's mouth back into range. Etrius winced. His wounds received from previous battles were burning in pain, but he fought through it. As hard as he could.

[Kassan]

Kassan's lungs burned with the exertion, his throat cloying at his deep voice, all shouts and panics. One of the other men lunged for the thing with his scythe, but the strikes seemed to do nothing. Though they caused wounds, the beast was impenetrable. Was this guise an outer shell, concealing a myriad of internal workings? Kassan breathed hard and fast, standing beside his Lord and watching the worm carefully. It writhed, screamed, then pulled up to look at them. It just watched for a moment, as if it understood something, or it viewed the reason for its wrath. The Benshiran monk wondered if this was truly an amalgamation of the storm, or whether it was something worse, something deep seated that had writhed and grown beneath the Mother City. "It is an honour," Kassan said quietely, "to fight by your side." And with that, he left Uphis behind, rushing towards the beast. He moved to one side as he ran, hoping to avoid being slammed to the floor by the worms enormous body. He held his glaive out, and joined the scythe wielder, striking at the beasts flesh, crying out as he did so.

[Malavos]

Ignored but very much relieved as he was so close to the worm at that time, Malavos stopped as the monster's attention was elsewhere. Right on all the humans ready to devour them and why should he stop it? At the beginning it was his desire to watch it have its way with them was it not? But with the way they were all fighting against something which was larger, unified it stirred a longing in the kelvic, a desire to belong to something greater.

The desire however was nothing compared to the possibility of dying. It was very much real. The red human after attacking the worm suddenly disappeared and to Malavos what happened to him was no mystery. Being so big Malavos could only focus on one point which was the head with those huge teeth that lead the rest of that destructive body behind it. Even if the tail was behind all that the worm could still do things with it if it wanted to just like he used his legs.

And the tail was there...smaller and less threatening to everyone else, it went ignored...

Which made it a very nice target in the kelvic's eyes. Once the worm moved forward towards its targets and Malavos was sure that he was not one of them, he leaped towards the next building and then another. Bringing himself closer until he could position himself at the edge. Waiting so that when the worm moved towards its meal at the front, his target would follow.

With his sword held above his head, it was only a matter of time until Malavos can bring it down on the worm's tail with the full weight of a gorilla behind it.

[Liar]

Blades pierced at the beast’s flesh with some difficulty, but when they managed to pass its thick exterior, they reached that font of hot red blood that every true animal shared. Though it seemed hard as rock, this was no yukman; there was no weak spot except for that which steel and muscle could carve. The worm flailed and shook, pouring a thick film of blood over the men who stood too near. More were approaching by then, surrounding the thing, obeying their leader’s command to follow Kassan’s lead. Screaming, the worm lurched up defensively. As it tried to raise its new wounds out of reach, half a dozen swords and polearms rose with it, guided by the Alvina’s power and embedded deep. “Again!” Uphis shouted, staying behind to observe the scene, aiming his remaining knives at the flailing head. It was hard to tell whether he was driven by fury or simply the passions of battle. “Get beneath the skin, and make it bleed!” Though the worm was rooted deep in the earth beneath Nyka, the unheeded kelvic was granted the luck of anonymity in his search for another weakness. Just as the monks ignored him, so did the monster. And he had found its other end, wriggling out of the hard stone face of the Aperture’s steep wall; his sword plummeted down on it, his body wrapped around the edge of the giant crevice. With the strength of his weight and his momentum, he entrenched the blade through the rock-hard flesh there. As the worm tried to rise even further, it found that it could not, and the horde of Nyka’s defenders were allowed to whittle away at the pinned creature. And throughout it all, the res that Etrius had sensed was building... but whose was it, and how would it manifest?

[Kassan]

Kassan restrained his own recoil as warm, thickened blood burst forth from the beasts wall of flesh. The great worm rose, as if defending its new wounds. He pressed against the beasts hide, working the muscles in his upper arm to stab the glaive higher. He tried hard to keep the same force going, but it required much more discipline. With Uphis calling behind him, he garnered the strength he needed to tear into more of the things outer surface. Something wild had consumed him, here in the heat of battle. It wasn't just Uphis, as much as he wished it were. It was everyone, gathered, like some great raucous feast. Twenty men fighting for the same cut of meat. How many men would it take to fell this particular prey?

[Etrius]

Etrius yanked his scythe from the tough hide of the beast and a wave of blood washed over him and anyone else who was standing in the way. It did not taste like human's blood. It was bitter and thick, like spoiled milk or cheese. Dropping the scythe, he drew back his gauntlet hand and positioned his fingers straight, making a shovel shape with his hand. He thrust it into the wound he had made, burying most of his arm in the worm's flesh. He reached around inside the wound, feeling for something he could grab. His hand closed around something and he pulled, ripping whatever he had grabbed from inside the worm.

Realizing what he had pulled out was only a hunk of torn flesh, he began clawing at the wound again, tearing away with muscle and steel. He looked over to see how Uphis and the other monks were faring at the front of the worm, when he noticed the worm's mouth. He could not see into it, but even from his angle he could see that the inside of its mouth was... glowing. One could almost see the gears turning in the not-too-bright mercenary's head as he put two and two together. A chill went down his spine as the pieces pf the puzzle all began to fit together.

"GET BACK!" he screamed. "GET AWAY FROM ITS MOUTH!" The fear and panic was evident in his voice as he repeated his warning several times, picking up his scythe and running towards the worm's tail. He winced in pain every time his left foot hit the ground, the scars on his calf still hurting him, but the pain was nothing compared to what he thought was going to happen next.

[Malavos]

oocSorry, did not know the post order changed so I ended up waiting for no reason XD

The blade felt so strange when it pierced the creature. Very unlike the usual soft flesh of living creatures. Was this worm even living at all? It had to be if it was making a meal of everything else. Malavos had no problem with killing anything at all, it would not be the first time. However as soon as the sword stabbed and lodged itself into the hard, stone ground that thought was forgotten. Things were a lot simpler when he only needed to know what to hurt.

Or kill. Both of which Malavos cannot do without retrieving his sword or obtaining another weapon. Even if he had, he would not know what to do against this monster that has no visible weakness except the tail. Unable to think pf anything else he decided to continue his attack from there. Before even continuing, Malavos gripped his sword harder and pushed it in deeper. Deep enough to remind the worm that it was not as tough as it appeared to be. After that he twisted the sword in place to make sure he had the worm pinned.

One loud roar later and Malavos bought both his hands together into a ball for his attack. Warily looking at the worm's head and towards the wound in its tail, the kelvic started pounding down near the wound as hard as possible. Alternating between watching his target and its head. Hopefully for once in his life the humans would be good for something even if it was a distraction.

[Liar]

It was losing blood fast, more desperate now than angry. Those who stood beside the fount were drenched in its sticky odor, wading through a pool that had risen to their ankles. It painted their blades as it tried to shake them away, shuddering and convulsing where it could not escape. One or two fighters were flung from its spasms, and once they were far enough away they were destroyed by the gnashing teeth. Strangely, it did not consume them. It spat them out injured, but not dead. And then it rose up, glowing. Uphis, from the outskirts of the worm’s range, saw the same thing Etrius saw. Above the cries of men and the roar of crumbling buildings and the deafening shrieks of the dying monster, he bellowed, “Retreat! Retreat! It is destroyed! Nyka triumphs!” But for many, it was too late. The ominous light in its mouth grew until it filled the world, blinding the worm’s enemies for mere seconds. In those seconds, in its dying moments, shards of hard rock rose up in columns from the earth, rippling beneath them so suddenly and viciously that it sent bodies flying. Lives that had fought surely and bravely ended in the beast’s dying breath; its blood sprayed with them like revenge. In the next instant, the light disappeared. The monster gave one last scream, and then it collapsed. As it fell, it hardened and turned into the very stone it fell upon, cracking into a thousand pieces upon impact. Its thick blood soaked into the rock as if it were water in a sponge, sinking and sinking until the battered ground was dry. Even the stuff that dripped from their sleeves and wept from their feet sizzled and sank where it fell, until there was nothing left but destruction. At the center of the aftermath, the crater where it had emerged was filled again with the stone of the worm’s body. Something at the center of it squealed. It sounded like the shrieking of the beast, but much quieter, nearly silent beneath the ringing in the ears of the survivors. Anyone who cared to investigate would find a wriggling pink wad of flesh, the size of a human infant. It had no eyes or nose or ears, but one end opened to a little mouth full of rows and rows of sharp, tiny teeth.

[Kassan]

Kassan was sodden with the beast's blood. It clung to his flesh, and weighed his robes down. He could feel it between his toes -- the sandals he wore unfit for this horror. It dripped from his glaive, the metal slick. He heard cries around him, and witnessed one or two attackers thrown back and slammed hard against the ground. Kassan stumbled backwards himself as the wurm reared up again. It screamed, humanity in its dirgeful cry. Then the light came. Kassan turned at Uphis's call, obeying his masters wishes and moving further away from the thing. It was glowing vividly, and he wondered what was happening. His Lord said they had won -- had they? Suddenly, it screamed again, and the light engulfed everything. Kassan closed his eyes, and shook as the earth trembled. He could hear Uphis, somewhere. He was in the Aperture again, lost in the darkness, surrounded, only he could move towards the light of his Lord. He followed the voice. Everything rocked. Screams. Death. The crunching of bones. The crashing of reality. He still heard him; he still followed the voice. When the light died, he finally breathed, turning and gasped at the bodies. The wurm fell, crashing into rock and stone, segments of its bone dry body rolling and smashing. The blood seemed to drip through the ground, pulled downwards. It left Kassan's flesh and his robes. It was the retreat of death, fleeing Uphis and his blades. There was a crater, and after a moment, Kassan and others gingerly moved towards it to view the stoneheart within. There was a sound, much like a dulled scream of the slain beast. It came from the centre. Kassan stepped closer, turning back to Uphis as if for comfort. When his eyes finally fell upon the source, he frowned. It was like a baby, but lacking in the features that made a person... human. The only feature was teeth. A row of needles arrayed like a microcosm of chaos. He stared into its tiny maw with wonder and fear. A babe born from the dying chaos, shielded by stone, and surrounded by the fallen.