Icon of Sin vs Oryx
The last Guardian gasped for breath, holding his side as he scanned the skies for his pursuer. His eyes moved up the skyscrapers of long forgotten ruins, its name lost to time long ago as nature was well on its way to reclaiming the towering buildings above. Seeing no sign of his hunter, his pace slowed, meandering cautiously through the fissured ground that once passed for heavily traversed roads.
"I do not think this is a good plan," the Guardian's small, robotic companion, Ghost, flitted around his head. "Humanity has not been back to this city for hundreds of years for a reason."
"He's our only hope now, Ghost," the Guardian mantled a pile of wrecked, rusted cars, the bright light of his Ghost flying above to give him a goal to reach.
"Look, I know Oryx is bad and all, but can we talk about this?" Ghost asked. Guardian clambered over the top of the box truck acting as the cherry on top of this roadblock, looking over what used to be a public square surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers. In what used to be the garden in the center of the square laid the fleshy corpse of a beast, long since felled.
"Because to be honest, I think demonic resurrection is kind of the last thing the Earth needs at the moment. They say the longer this thing is on Earth, the stronger it will become," Ghost echoed. The Guardian, undeterred, made his way down the pile of rusted out cars and made his way to the feet of the creature.
It was vaguely humanoid with two of each limb attached to the torso, though the legs of the creature up to its pelvis were encased in ivory-white mechanical armor. The legs, however, were the most in-tact part of the beast as gore met the Guardian's vision the further up he looked. As the creature had fallen, its upper half had come to rest leaning against an old church, what was left of his torso leaning vertically with its head slumped close to its chest. The creature's belly was torn out, its red flesh still thrumming with energy. Its two pectoral muscles had been obliterated as well, splintered ribs exposed matching its arms which had similarly been stripped of the majority of their flesh, though leathery strips of pale skin stretched to hold some structures together.
The head topping the creature was elongated like that of a goat, lips peeled to show rows of sharpened, jagged teeth. Its face had been seemingly blackened by char, the embers still smoldering where bone was not fully exposed. Between its two demonic goat horns the creature's forehead had been cracked or torn open, exposing a hole large enough for two humans to have easily passed through, a squirming mass of brain visible. Between the lobes of the brain, a glowing red object was planted in the wound, periodically sending out a blue energy pulse that coursed through the creature's entire body.
"The Icon of Sin…" Ghost whispered, falling behind as the Guardian walked closer to the beast. "That thing has been dead for hundreds of years, but it looks like it was torn apart hours ago."
The Guardian grabbed ahold of the leg armor, finding a sturdy handhold before he began climbing the creature. Ghost meandered to the ripped out stomach, cautiously flying into the cavity to scan the exposed spine. The flesh throbbed between the blue pulses being sent out from above.
"This thing… it's not dead!" Ghost chirped, turning to see his Guardian beginning to climb the fleshy mass.
"That's what we were counting on," the Guardian responded, keeping his eyes on the glowing red object lodged in the Icon's brain. He dug his hands into the flesh wrapped around the ladder of a ribcage, climbing ever higher.
Ghost was about to make another comment, turning to observe his Guardian's footsteps when his pupil shrank at what he saw entering the square.
"G… Guardian, I've changed my mind. Whatever you're about to do you'd better do it fast!" Ghost shouted. The Guardian turned his head to see the source of his newfound panic, and nearly lost his grip.
Where the Guardian had entered the square now hovered the creature he was running from. Though it was midday, an aura of darkness surrounded the being, his dark crimson robes only barely visible through the inky black. Three glowing green eyes pierced through the darkness in the center of the being's insectoid-like face, two broad horns jutting from either side of his head. Two leathery wings flapped lazily as Oryx, the Taken King, emerged from his dark veil, his sword's deadly edge gleaming.
"You… are the last hope of the Light?" Oryx's voice boomed as he floated into the square, gesturing with his free-hand to the clambering Guardian. The Guardian's pace quickened, leaping from rib to rib as he rushed to reach the Icon's head. "Come for me, warrior of the Light. I will finish what my son began!"
The Guardian paid the Taken King no mind as he reached the jaw of the creature, reaching high to find handhold in the vacant eye cavity above. He had to reach the pulsing red object in the Icon's forehead if he were to have any chance of diverting Oryx's attention.
"Oh, Crota was your son?" Ghost taunted, flying closer to the ground to draw Oryx's attention away from his Guardian. "I thought that was just a thrall that got too big for their britches." Then, under his breath, "Guardian, do it quickly. He's got that murdery look in his eyes."
"Putrid insect," Oryx sneered, throwing an absentminded backhand at the flying light. Ghost quickly moved out of the way, but Oryx did not let his attention be pulled away as he gave a mighty flap of his wings shooting himself into the sky.
The Guardian found himself standing on the remnants of the Icon's exposed braincase, his hands outstretched to the red, glowing, handleless blade. The blade sparked with energy, hurting the Guardian simply with its arcing power. He knew he had to fight through the pain, however, as he placed both hand on the object.
"At last, I will have vengeance!" the Guardian heard behind him as he threw all of his force into pulling the blade free. He looked through the corner of his eye as he saw Oryx, his sword cocked and ready to swing.
"C'mon, damnit!" the Guardian heaved until the glowing red blade finally relented, freeing itself from the Icon's brain. Crimson blood gushed from the wound as the Guardian lost his footing, falling from the head of the creature. This lost footing, however, saved his life as Oryx's blade swiped at the air the Guardian had once been.
The Guardian struck hard pavement, he could hear his armor audibly cracking at the fall as the wind was knocked out of him. Ghost flew over his body quickly, giving him a quick healing scan before disappearing to merge with his Guardian.
Oryx high above turned to look at the grounded Guardian with a snarl.
"You are not worthy to face me. I have taken entire worlds! I will take whatever ounce of hope that remains in your soul," Oryx growled through clenched teeth. As he spoke, however, Oryx did not see the effects the removal of the blade did to the Icon of Sin just beside him.
The skull of the creature reformed first with a glowing orange light, the strings of muscles shooting across the wound gaps to bind them back together. The beast regenerated quickly, extremely pale skin weaving itself back onto the muscly frame within seconds, the creature's new eye formed nerve by nerve flitted within its socket focusing on the flying creature just beyond its nose.
Oryx's wings flapped once more as he prepared to rush the downed Guardian, but the sudden sound of crumbling earth and brick halted him in his tracks. He turned to see the Icon of Sin's clawed hand reach upward and, before Oryx could react, collide with the Taken King with a force unlike any the Guardian had ever seen. Oryx's body flew into the third floor of a skyscraper on the edge of the square, collapsing multiple crumbling, aging floors on top of him.
"Uh, we might want to move," Ghost suggested in the Guardian's head as the massive hand began to shadow over them. The Guardian leapt and rolled out of the way just in time as the hand planted itself into the ground with a dust cloud. Despite this, the Icon did not seem focused on the Guardian on the ground, its attention pulled toward Oryx that he had just smacked.
Just as the Guardian had wanted.
The Guardian rushed to cover behind an old box truck, his Ghost reappearing to witness what was happening.
With a burst of rubble, Oryx emerged from the skyscraper, his sword trailing behind him as he flew directly at the towering demon.
"You, creature! I have taken worlds, conquered countless systems! You will bow before me!" Oryx shouted, dragging his blade across the Icon's chest. The wound drew steaming hot blood, but the Icon was not phased as he continued to swipe recklessly at his agile opponent.
The Guardian stood in awe as Oryx's wings beat furiously, flying just out of reach of the massive demon's clawed swipes. He continued to slash at the massive beast, able to lop off the pinky digit at the knuckle with a single swing of his blade as the Icon tried to slam an open hand into the King, spraying even more blood across the increasingly red ruined square.
"Not that I don't want to see the end of this, but we should probably leave… so we don't have to kill a god… again," Ghost whispered in the Guardian's ear. The Guardian waited for a moment longer, before nodding, retreating further into the city.
Oryx gritted his teeth as he flew closer to the giant's face, a well of dark energy in his hand ready to fire.
"You have cost me my quarry and my vengeance!" Oryx shouted, throwing his hand forward sending a flurry of darkness energy blasts into the face of the Icon. "After this is finished, I will Take you…"
The blasts of darkness glanced off of the Icon's angular face, searing away flesh but it did not flinch. On the demon's forehead manifested a glowing red circle, a pentagram being drawn in demonic energy within it as it glowed bright. Oryx flapped quickly, but the summoning circle was too quick as it unleashed a meteor shower of fireballs. Oryx spun out of the way of the first, using his blade to deflect the second, but the third caught him in the chest sending the Taken King crashing into a skyscraper. The fireballs did not cease as they continued to pound into the hole in the skyscraper that Oryx had been blasted into, exploding as they made impact tearing the building apart from the inside.
The pentagram on the Icon's head dimmed as the fireballs ceased, the demonic creature looking at the few wounds it sustained during the short bout begin mending themselves back together before he turned to escape the square.
"Where my son fell, I will not!" Oryx burst from the ruins of the skyscraper like a bat out of hell, the dusty remains trailing him as he sliced his sword at the back of the Icon's neck. Following him was a flock of a half-dozen shades, all in the Taken King's image. These shades were semi-transparent, an aura of dark energy enveloping their translucent bodies with bright blue eyes being the only light that was able to catch the specters.
The Icon roared, turning lightning fast to face Oryx once more, only to be blasted by the shades simultaneously hurling darkness into its face and torso. The Icon of Sin swiped at the shades, dispersing one at a time, but could not locate the prime Oryx, each dusted shadow clone re-emerging to continue the onslaught.
The pentagram glowed bright on the Icon's head once more as he muttered something in an ancient, incomprehensible language and the sky grew dark. Clouds materialized from seemingly nowhere, bathing the square in darkness before a meteor pierced the cloud cover. The celestial body struck a shade, sending the shadow into the cracked concrete below. The meteors showered onto the battlefield as the shades began to fall.
A red blur passed before the Icon's eyes as Oryx flew from up high, slashing his sword down the center of the Icon's face, causing blood to flow down both sides of his head. The massive clawed hand of the Icon shot up lightning quick and grabbed the Taken King, squeezing the monarch tightly as it raised him to the Icon's open maw.
Oryx did not resist, however, as he raised his hand to form a singularity of shadowy black energy.
"Let my will set you free!" Oryx shouted, hurling the dark ball of energy into the mouth of the Icon. The blast impacted the back of the Icon's throat and in an instant the giant creature imploded into the singularity along with the Hive god in its grasp.
[Ascendant Plane, Threshold, Dreadnaught]
It seemed as if the giant demon had only blinked its eyes before now finding itself in a vast throne room, large metal pillars lining three sides of the room in a peninsular-like arrangement, showing the vastness of space beyond them with the large tan planet of Saturn visible in the distance. The floor was smooth obsidian, many cylindrical platforms spread across the room with bony debris piled against each corner the platforms created.
The Icon looked at its hand where his winged enemy once was, now finding the hand clutching nothing but air. It looked around curiously, not finding a way to easily escape the room he was now in, but mechanically began walking to the far end of the room to overlook the massive planet in the distance.
As the Icon approached the edge of the room, an enormous visage of Oryx rose, two massive hands clutching onto the edge to pull the king into the throne room. Oryx pulled himself into the throne room, his newfound size allowing him to now stand eye to eye with the gigantic demon.
"You are insignificant to the Sword Logic!" Oryx shouted, reaching his hand forward to grip the face of the Icon of Sin. "You will submit!"
Oryx flung the Icon into the ground, spider-webbing the obsidian ground below as large shards of the floor jabbed themselves into the Icon's neck. The Icon of Sin pushed itself off of the ground, overpowering the force of Oryx's arm, and grabbed ahold of the King's wrist, crushing it with his enormous strength.
Oryx recoiled, giving the demon time to rise, before a bright white glow began to manifest itself from the King's chest. As the glow grew stronger silhouettes of Taken beings formed out of darkness at his feet, scrambling, seemingly phasing in and out of existence as they rushed the Icon and began climbing the armored legs of the beast.
The Icon, not bothering to look at the pests crawling up his frame, charged the summoning circle on its head, the red pentagram flashing as red portals began forming around the feet of the demon. From the portals stepped repulsive beasts of all shapes and sizes, twisted forms of flesh and metal as its own army of demons brutally began peeling the Taken off of their master's legs.
"I will Take you all!" Oryx shouted, holding out his hand to materialize his jagged sword. He charged at the Icon, swinging his sword wide.
The Icon's hand shot up in an instant, catching the blade with his palm. Fiery hot blood poured from the impact, pouring down and drowning demons and Taken at their feet, but the blade was halted by the bones of the giant demon. Oryx looked perplexed. Was he not the strongest in his own Ascendant Realm? Had the Sword Logic finally come to claim him as he had claimed so many?
Oryx did not have much time to ponder the thought before the Icon raised its other hand in a fist, slamming it down into the Taken King's shoulder. A reverberating CRACK was heard as the dermal plate on Oryx's shoulder shattered. His eyes narrowed, focusing through the pain, as he gritted his teeth.
"My Darkness is a gift!" Oryx shouted, letting go of his sword still lodged in the demon's hand to reach up and grab its horns. "Accept it willingly or be consumed by it!"
Oryx reared his own head back before slamming it forward into the Icon's. The force of the impact created a shockwave, staggering all the lesser minions at the feet of the two behemoths as the Icon's skull gave way first. Its skin split and skull shattered, exposing a bit of fleshy brain that existed prior to its resurrection.
The Icon did not relent, however, as the pentagram formed once more over his new grievous wound, charging up with a loud hum. Oryx brought his forearms back to his face to block, ready for the attack, as a massive beam of molten hot energy shot from the pentagram. The energy beam flowed around the Taken King's arms as he blocked, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
The millisecond the beam stopped, Oryx made his move. He beat his wings, flying to the ceiling, giving him just enough room to soar over the Icon of Sin. As he flew over, he grabbed ahold of the demon's massive horns in each hand, throwing the demon to the ground but not letting go.
The Taken grunts ignored their matched combatants to leap upon the downed Icon, ripping flesh from its torso as Oryx laid both of his feet onto its chest. He yanked at the horns, the beast giving out pained howls as the Taken King could feel bones snapping and sinew reaching their tensile limits.
With one final pull, Oryx pulled the demon's goat-like head free from its body, the eyes of the creature looking deep into the Taken King's before glazing over into death.
Oryx threw the head to the ground, crushing a few stationary demons and looked over the quarry that was the small demon army at his feet. They all stood motionless, some taking a knee to the clearly dominant being before them. Oryx's mouth twisted in a toothy grin as he felt the Darkness flowing through him, regenerating his wounds.
"Darkness is the end of your evolution," Oryx snarled as a ball of dark energy formed in his hand. Motes of darkness floated out of the orb, enveloping the demons whole as Oryx began the transformation of these creatures into more Taken warriors.
[]
"Are you sure this is the place?" the Guardian asked, tapping away at a control panel. He found himself in a room with a myriad of occult objects, from ancient weapons to stone tablets written upon, their words illegible with the fading of time. In the center of the room lay a stone sarcophagus, strange runes written on its seal.
"So it is written," the Guardian's Ghost recited. "The Doomslayer will reawaken with the rise of the Icon of Sin. So… uh… find the big red button and push it?"
The Guardian nodded, tapping at the control panel until he saw a big red button with the same strange rune on it as the sarcophagus. He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the panel. The rune on the top of the sarcophagus glowed faintly and a THUMP was heard from within.
Winner: Oryx the Taken King