Combat
Summoner's Chamber, The Institute of War
Isaac had no idea what was going on. Every muscle in his body screamed with protest every time he moved. Every system in his suit was going haywire. Every little thing that was happening right now at this moment seemed totally FUCKED UP to him. But Isaac had only one question that needed answering.
"WHERE THE HELL AM I?!" He shouted at the robed man that he had just slammed to the ground. However, the man simply rolled his head to the side, revealing his rolled up eyes.
Oh great, the one guy who could answer that question is the one guy I just HAPPEN to knock out! Isaac would've chuckled if he saw this on a movie screen. Only that this wasn't a movie. It was real life! The last thing he remembered was suffering excruciating pain and then being zapped by that strange thing Firewall had called a rift, and then BAM! He was lying on the floor of a strange room with purple walls and seven robed men staring at him. And before he knew it his self-preservation training kicked in and he had grabbed the first man by the throat and slammed him to the ground.
If he isn't dead, he's going to have a nasty concussion. Isaac thought, slowly rising to his feet.
That's when he felt a chill go down his spine. There was someone else here. Without a second thought Isaac dropped to his stomach again, just in time for a bullet to go whizzing over his head. Only that it wasn't a bullet as Isaac had initially thought it was. A crossbow bolt? He only saw it quarter of a second, but he recognized it. It was small, maybe it wasn't a crossbow bolt, but it was defiantly a bolt of some kind.
Isaac paid it no further thought, what only mattered was that someone had just tried to punch his ticket. He rolled over, hearing the sounds of additional crossbow bolts hitting the floor where he was lying half a second ago. He kept on rolling for a few feet, listening for the sound of whoever was firing those bolts. Got him! Using the momentum he had gained he leapt up, landed on one knee and drew his pistol. His entire body groaned in stress form the movement, but Isaac didn't let that stop him. He just started shooting in the general direction of wherever those shots had come from, attempting to suppress his attacker.
That's when Isaac saw his attacker; a slender figure had been grappled to the roof in the corner of the room. It leapt to the side, launching itself from the corner down to the floor.
Damn it! Isaac snarled, trying to track his enemy but his vision was slightly blurry and unsteady from whatever that rift did to him that sent him to... wherever the hell he was now. But he still saw the figure hit the ground and roll to his feet.
Correction, her feet; Isaac could see his attacker more clearly now. She had a very long, thick black ponytail, and was dressed all in black with a large black cape that draped down to the floor (even more so since she was in a crouching position. Her glasses had a faint red glow; she had a massive crossbow slung over her back. But what caught Isaac's eye the most was the smaller crossbow that was seemingly strapped to her arm.
And it was aimed right at him.
Isaac pulled the trigger on his sidearm, only for it to do nothing. Clip's empty? He mentally cursed just as he saw another crossbow bolt zooming at him. Shit! He cursed and rolled out of the way, the bolt hitting the wall behind him. His opponent kept moving, tumbling to the side but continued to fire at him while she did so. Isaac grimaced as he rolled again, and then dove forward onto his stomach, and then rolled again to the side, dodging her barrage of bolts.
As the fight continued, Isaac saw and heard the six other men run out of the room, screaming.
How fast can that thing fire?! From what Isaac knew, crossbows didn't reload that quickly. Not even close! So what kind of crossbow was that?
Isaac rolled to his feet and took aim at his target again. But just before he could fire, she rolled again... and vanished.
Like, outright, vanished. What the fuck? Isaac didn't move. He was honestly stunned. Never seen that before. He cautiously rose to his feet. "Mute, track her!" He ordered his partner as he ejected the empty clip from his gun and slammed a fresh one in.
No response.
"Mute?" Isaac looked at the top right corner where Mute's face should have appeared; the screen had the words "AI OFFLINE" instead of her snarky grinning face. Of course, that's why she hadn't said anything! Better reboot her.
"Reboot -" Isaac started the voice command to bring Mute back online, but he felt that chill down his spine again. Shit! He tried to spin around as fast as he could, pistol at the ready. But he wasn't fast enough. Something slammed into his chest and sent him flying into a wall, causing him to drop his pistol in the process.
Isaac felt his whole body shake as he slammed into the wall. His muscles screamed in pain yet again. Oh that hurt. Isaac snarled. Why hadn't his shield blocked it? He threw a quick glance at the bar in the bottom left corner of his HUD that should've been displaying his shields simply had showed the words "SHIELDS OFFLINE" instead.
Of course... why would they BE WORKING?! Isaac grumbled and tried to move; only he couldn't. What? He tried to move his head, but he couldn't. But he did see his foe in her seemingly usual one-knee stance with her larger crossbow shouldered. Oh for the love of! She smashed me into the wall with a goddamn crossbow bolt?! Isaac struggled to move again, and felt the wall give a little, but not enough to let him go.
He kept his eyes on her though. He had a better look at her face now. Younger than I thought... Isaac thought, slightly surprised.
He also noticed that she had a little smirk, as if she had him right where she wanted him. Well... she kind of did after all.
Oh great...
Isaac pushed himself forward with everything he had, freeing himself from the wall and stumbling forward. She fired her large crossbow again, but she didn't stop there. She moved her wrist crossbow into position quickly and fired that too. Then she quickly took aim with her larger crossbow, which she now held with one hand, and fired it a second time.
And it was all done in a second.
But a second was all Isaac needed.
He focused hard, activating his time-slow. Sure enough, the bolts suddenly slowed down, but there were still coming fast.
Gotta move quickly! Isaac, still stumbling forward from freeing himself from where his foe had pinned him, let himself fall to the ground. That'll put the first bolt just over my head. He reassured himself and instead focused on the other two, which were aimed lower. And of course she predicted this... she's good I'll give her that. Isaac narrowed his eyes, but I'm better!
Keeping his time-slow up, and drew one his swords that was sheathed over his back. Although time slowed for him in this power, he didn't move much faster... in fact, he likely moved at the same speed he would've if everything was flowing in real time. But his thoughts, his mind, it all moved as if he was going three times as fast as anyone else.
Isaac lowered his back, putting a strain on his spine, as the first bolt flew over head. Praying that he was low enough to dodge the second on, Isaac swung upwards and to the side with the blade as he drew it from its scabbard. He felt it hit something, and that was all the assurance he needed.
Good thing too, since he felt his vision fade as he did. Out of time. He relaxed himself, and returned to normal time. And just like before everything sped back up.
He vaulted forward and rolled, landing on one knee a matter of meters away from his enemy. He heard two bolts hit the wall behind him, and the pieces of the bolt he cut in half hit the ground. But what satisfied Isaac the most was the slightly surprised look on his attackers face. The expression lasted only a second, before her face turned into a snarl.
She gripped her large crossbow with both hands, trying to aim at Isaac again, all while leaping backwards to increase the distance between them.
Too slow! Isaac held his left arm, clutching his sword, at his side, bringing his right arm out front and across to the left side of his body. He narrowed his eyes, focused on the darkness inside him, and swung his right arm back across to the right side of his body.
As he did, his hand cleaved a purple-black streak of visible dark matter in the air. The streak lasted for only half a second before fading, but as it did so three bolts fired out towards his foe.
If Isaac could see her eyes, he was sure they would be wide open in surprise. Being in mid-air there was no way she get away.
And she didn't. The bolts all stuck her, causing her body to shake as purple sparks emitted around her body as she got launched backwards hard from the force, crashing into the wall and sending dust and smoke outwards.
And that's what happens when you get overconfident, bitch! Isaac felt his mouth form a slight grin, as he quickly drew his last remaining pistol with his now burning left hand and took aim. Another shot should make sure she's dead... can't be too careful.
Just then, Isaac felt another shiver down his spine. He narrowed his eyes and once again realized that they were no longer alone.
The Sinister Blade
Got him! Katarina brought both her swords down in a stabbing motion behind the black armored figure's back. But just as she thought that, her prey tumbled forward, causing her to stab the ground with both blades, sending a quick jolt of pain up both her arms. Damn it! She cursed, but didn't let up.
Her target rolled back to one knee, taking aim with his pistol. Katarina darted her right foot out and kicked the firearm out of his hand, sending it flying across the room. Trying to seize the opening she made she took a horizontal swing at his head with her left blade. To her annoyance the ebony armored man leaned back and cartwheeled out of the way.
No you don't! She snarled and leapt after him, swinging at him again as he landed. He parried the blow with his sword arm, and Katarina took another slice at him with her second blade. However, the black armored man drew another sword with his own free hand and parried that one again.
He's quick. Katarina took a step back, as did her foe. She took her favorite fighting stance: one blade over her head, the other in front of her at its side. Her opponent paused for a moment, before mirroring her own stance.
Katarina grinned. Maybe this would be fun after all. She didn't know what to expect when she entered the room, having heard several screaming summoners coming running down the halls in the Institute. She had entered just in time to see Vayne get launched into a wall, with a black armored figure down on one knee, taking aim with a pistol. She was still annoyed that she didn't get him when she used her shunpo to get behind him.
But maybe that was for the better. Now, she could have some sport.
She moved first, throwing the sword she held above her head at him. The attack must've caught him off guard, as he took a second longer then Katarina thought he would to react, given how quick he had been thus far. With a quick motion he brought one blade down and deflected the thrown sword, but by then Kat had drawn another sword to replace it.
She launched herself forward, swinging down at him. He brought his blades up to block her own, and their swords clashed together loudly. As she landed back on the floor on two feet, she didn't let up. She kept on swinging at him, and he kept on blocking them. Every now and then, her foe would take a swing or stab at her, but she skillfully dodged each one.
Not bad. Katarina thought with a mental grin as they continued to dance. However, just when she thought she was getting the upper hand, he lunged forward after parrying one of her many blows. His torso slammed into hers, causing her to grunt, and wrapped an arm around her body.
Damn! Kat tried to drive her knee into his crouch, only to hit hard metal. She grimaced at the sudden pain. But she still saw the motion he made with his free arm. A stab!
With her own free arm, she twisted her sword in her hand and around just in time to knock his blade off his intended target, her stomach. Instead, he clumsily moved his free arm around her, causing him to almost hug her. Katarina returned the gesture, wrapping both arms around him and pushed forward with all her might, bringing them both crashing to the ground.
As they fell, she quickly withdrew her hands so he wouldn't fall onto them. As he hit the ground with a loud thud, she vaulted herself off his chest armor and up into the air. As she became airborne, Katarina performed a midair spin, sheathed one of her swords, and drew a set of throwing knives.
"Catch!" She shouted, throwing them back down to the armored man, who was still lying on the ground. He rolled to the side, attempting to dodge them. But she had expected this, that's why she threw the knives in a fan formation. He rolled out of the way of one, but into the path of another.
The knife hit him square in the back, lodging itself into his armor. Her prey let out quick growl, confirming that it had punctured his armor.
Katarina landed on both feet, keeping her eyes on her target as he quickly got to his own feet. She didn't let him get any farther than that, and she threw another wave of three knives at him.
Her target moved so fast it was almost like a blur to Kat. He ducked down, dodging two knives, but instead of rolling to the side again, he charged forward, causing the third knife to miss completely. But what shocked Kat the most was not that he dodged the knives, but how fast he responded, let alone moved. Not even Garen had been able to react that fast during her many fights with him
Damn! Katarina cursed as her target closed the gap quickly, bringing the distance to nothing in a matter of a second. She did the only thing she could've, she jumped backwards and focused.
Now! The world around Katarina flashed, and she found herself behind her target, still in the middle of her backwards motion. Seizing the opportunity of being behind her prey, she threw six knives in quick succession. Each knife planted itself into her target's back, bringing his momentum to a halt. He fell to his knees and slid forward, dropping both his swords and letting out a quick cry of pain.
Katarina landed on both her feet, as she always did, and sheathed both her own swords, taking up a stance to throw more knives. He wasn't too bad, I'll give him that! She thought. The fight was a bit satisfying, he did have her on edge for a moment, but that was all.
"Tough luck pal, but your time is up!" She said to her prey. He target, still on his knees, turned around to face her before dropping to his hands.
Kat grinned. "What? You gonna beg?" She smiled. "Hah!"
"Not a chance..." The man growled; his voice gave a clear indication that he was in pain. That and the fact blood was now dripping from his back onto the floor.
Kat shrugged at his response. "Didn't think you would, you don't seem the type." She smiled again, "So DIE!" She threw all six blades. They soared in a prefect line towards him. It was over.
Or so Katarina thought, until all six blades came to a halt in mid air. She couldn't stop her surprise from showing on her face. The knives had just stopped feet from his head and torso; one looked like it was almost inches from his neck.
"What?" Katarina blinked, still surprised. Even more so when she noticed that there was a purplish glow surrounding each blade.
"Not... yet..." The man grunted two words out, and the blades turned around, facing Katarina.
"Shit!" Katarina drew both her swords again. How is he doing that?! He's going to launch them back at me!
"Eat... this!" The man threw both his hands outwards towards her, and with that motion, her knives launched back at her. Katarina somersaulted backwards, feeling her own knives zoom over her head. She felt one or two of them go clean through her hair, her nice long red hair!
Damn it! Better the hair then my face! She growled as she hand-springed herself into the air and landed on her feet, taking up her usual fighting stance again. I better make sure he's down next time!
He target was back up on both feet, but he hadn't moved much. Instead of charging forward, he launched one arm out towards her with a shout. A purple-black light shot out from his hand and curved around towards Kat.
What the? Kat rolled to the side to dodge it and the bolt of purple-black... whatever, flew over her head. She scrambled back to her feet and snarled. Full of surprises isn't he? The purple-black lighting, light, energy, whatever was still shooting outwards. But then the black armored man twisted his hand and grabbed onto it, and yanked.
Now what? Katarina brought her own arm back to throw another sword at him.
But something hit her square in the back of the neck. WHAT?! She didn't have time to resister what hit her, since she could feel whatever it was coil around her neck and tighten. She dropped both swords and grabbed onto whatever it was with both hands, only to feel an intense shock go through both arms.
She tried to look at her enemy, to see what was happening. That's when she saw it: The purple-black energy had formed into a glowing black chain whip with purple sparks coming off it. It had come back around after she dodged it and was now wrapped around her neck.
And the ebony man had the other end of it wrapped around his right arm and hand, and he gave it tug.
Katarina felt the effect instantly, and it pulled her forward off her feet. She also felt it choke her as she sailed through the air. She hit the floor on her stomach and let out a grunt. Damn, this isn't good! She tried to reach for the knives on her waist, but before she could she got thrown to the side.
She hit the ground again, feeling the pain from the impact throughout her entire body. I have to get out of this! She grunted from the pain and grabbed the energy whip at her neck, feeling the pain shoot through her arms as they came into contact with the whip. Katarina tried to ignore the pain and pulled hard on it, trying to stop it from choking her.
However her foe didn't let up and she felt it tighten around her throat again and launch her to the side again. She closed her eyes as she landed on her side, feeling her skin bruise from the impact. Katarina clenched her jaw, trying not to let anymore noise out that showed that she was in pain. Opening her eyes she saw her enemy spin around and bring his arm downwards.
She felt the whiplash instantly, and Katarina couldn't stop the yelp from leaving her mouth as she went airborne. The world turned around her, the only things she managed to make out as she spun through the air was Vayne still on the ground and the black armored man as she flew over him. She crashed into the ground on her back, her head slamming against the ground.
Katarina let out a scream of pain, both her hands grasping her head as her ears rang. As she did, the energy chained whip tightened around her throat. She felt her vision fade as she began to lose conscious.
Can't... She forced her eyes open and tried to get up, glaring at her enemy. But instead of just her enemy, there was now someone else behind him, someone much taller with a massive sword. It's about damn time! Katarina thought, still in pain. Her foe was so focused on her right now with this whip that there was no way could see Garen behind him. If he hadn't thrown her across to the other side of the room, he would've seen Garen enter. Tough for him, now Garen had the element of surprise.
"Have at thee!" She heard Garen bellow.
And he just blew the element of surprise.
The Might of Demacia
Garen brought his blade down hard with both his hands at the back of the black armored man's head. Instead of hitting him, the man rolled out of the way, his boots barely missing the edge of Garen's sword.
Curses! Garen felt the impact from his sword hitting the ground through his arms. But it gave him no pause, he charged at his enemy as he tried to stumble to his feet. Garen swung at him with all his might with a horizontal slash. The armored man brought both his arms up to block it and the blade connected with the back of his foe's forearms with a loud clang.
The man staggered back and grunted, trying to reach for the two swords that sprouted from the scabbards on his back.
"Too slow!" Garen shouted and grabbed the man by the throat. He flung the man to the side with all his might. He was much lighter than he had at first anticipated, given that he was fully clad in metallic armor. He threw him a good six feet before he hit the ground and rolled for even farther, groaning in pain as he went.
Garen threw a quick glance over his shoulder, whatever that strange whip had been that had been holding Katarina by the throat was gone, and she was slowly rising to her feet. Garen then quickly glanced over his other shoulder, and felt reassured that Vayne too was getting up.
He defeated both of them... the Sinister Blade and the Night Hunter. Garen looked back at the black armored man, who was a slowly rising to his feet, but clearly struggling to do so. Would that I could've faced him first... Garen thought solemnly before charging at him again.
"DEMACIA!" Garen let out his battle cry, swinging downwards at him again. The man tumbled to the side, barely getting out of the way yet again. But Garen knew he could not let up, and raced after him. He grabbed the man by the back of the neck with his free hand and pulled him; as he did so, Garen got a better look at the knives that were lodged in the back of his armor. How many knives was he hit with? Garen noticed the blood dripping down from all of them. He won't last much longer... he can't, not with those wounds.
Garen threw him back to the ground, causing another loud crash and a moan of pain from the man. He pinned him down with one foot on his back and brought his sword down towards the back of his foe's neck, just stopping as it touched to his foe know the blade was there. "Yield!" He shouted.
His foe responded by making a gargling sound. "Ne... nev..." He couldn't finish and started to cough. Garen couldn't see it since the man was wearing a helmet, but he knew he was coughing up blood.
"You have been defeated! Yield now!" He shouted again, pushing down on the man's back with his foot, causing him to loudly grunt in pain. The man responded by coughing some more. After a good three seconds of that, he turned his head slightly as if he was trying to look up at Garen. After he realized he couldn't, he tried to talk again.
"Just... go to... hell..." Was he managed to say between cough, before the man's body went limp and Garen felt all resistance from his leg stop. He gave the man a few good nudges with his foot to make sure he was really out.
He's done, he lost too much blood. Garen let out a humph, satisfied that their foe was truly unconscious.
"What the hell took you so long?!" He heard Katarina growl at him. Garen turned around, only to see Katarina standing wobbly on her feet, one hand clutching the back of her head. Slightly off to her right, Vayne walked up, seemingly unfazed.
Ignoring Katarina, Garen turned his attention to the Night Hunter. "Where did this man come from?"
"Humph." Vayne responded, walking up next to Garen and looking down at the defeated man. "Those idiot summoners summoned him from somewhere."
Garen furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
"The High Council claimed that there was something strange going on in the Void, so they had a couple of summoners investigate." She gave the man a quick kick with her high heel, and waited a moment before speaking again. "Looks like he's out for good."
"Is he even alive?" Katarina walked up beside Vayne, opposite of Garen, looking down at him.
"Maybe," Vayne drew the crossbow on her back and shouldered it, "I don't like maybes." She said and took aim at the back of the man's head.
Garen moved quickly, bringing his sword up to push her crossbow upwards. He did so just in time, and Vayne lost her aim and the bolt flew off towards the wall out of harm's way.
"No!" Garen said. "We need to find out where he came from, he's of no use to us dead."
Vayne turned on Garen, fuming behind her red glasses. But she didn't say a word, and after a few seconds, she strapped her crossbow behind her back again and looked down at the man.
"What the hell is going on in here?!"
Garen turned around, only to see the Minster of Valoran Security, Kasubel, enter the room with a hand full of other summoners. Along with them were the rock creature Malphite and the angel Kayle, both of whom were looking around at the damaged room.
Vayne spoke first.
"This is going to suck." She mumbled.
The Questions with no Answers
Kasubel held his head in his hands, elbows resting on his desk, trying to piece everything together in his mind. Not even four hours ago had he heard the sounds of fighting, heard summoners running in the hallways. He had gone down to the Summoner's Chamber to investigate with Kayle, Malphite, and a team of senior summoners, only to see a devastated room, and three champions standing over a strange black armored figure. Getting the story out of them was easy. Getting answers from the High Council on the other hand, was not.
But now he had what he was given, and now he was trying to piece it all together. And so far all he had was this:
The High Council had noticed strange activity coming from the Void; how they found out was beyond Kasubel's reasoning (he suspected that one of the champions from the Void may have tipped them off). So they had a team of summoners try to investigative, and during that investigation they had ripped something that was apparently passing through the Void to Valoran from the other side of the Void out. The result was the carnage in the Summoner's Chamber.
Fools! They didn't realize the dangers they took with Nocturne, and look how that ended up? Four dead summoners! Now they try it again, sure they were much more careful, but now we have a senior summoner in a comma, a hostile injured armored being, and even more questions!
Kasubel gripped his head even harder. He didn't even know there was something beyond the Void. It was impossible! There's nothing beyond the Void! Yet the black armored figure and the six testimonies (seven if Vayne's was to be included, eight if Senior Summoner Arcal was conscious) proved otherwise. Hell, the black armored figure alone was proof enough. His armor, his firearms, they were far beyond anything Kasubel had ever seen. The damn armor that the man wore was on such a higher technological level that even an hour after they began to try and remove the armor, they had to give up. The only way to take it off was outright ripping it apart, and the Minister of Science claimed he would have none of that. He would have it delivered to Heimerdinger intact, or not at all. They had to resort to healing the man while he was still encased; that meant they had no idea if he was still alive at that point.
It was perfectly clear when he woke up. Kasubel sighed. It took himself, the Minister of Science, Malphite, Kayle, and another five summoners to restrain the man again. Thankfully they managed to do it and locked him up inside a mana-prison being maintained by five senior summoners, with a 30 minute rotation time. Kasubel was taking no chances. He wanted to make absolute sure that that man wasn't getting out again.
We don't know if he's even human! It could be a humanoid voidling behind that damn helmet for all we know, laughing at us. Kasubel bit his lower lip. He needed answers. But what answers, aside from this man's identity did he want?
Damn it, I know damn well what answers I want. He stood up from his desk and looked out the window of his tower. In the distance, the sun was setting, giving off a peaceful set of sunset colors.
I want answers to the mystery of missing people of Valoran. I want answers to this damn man's identity. I want damn well know what lies beyond the Void!
Kasubel let out a sigh. He would like nothing more than to push this off onto someone else, but since he had inquired from the High Council, they had decided that perhaps he head the whole investigation. And that his current investigations into the missing peoples across the land might be tied to this one.
That is if the man has knows anything about the missing people. The only thing we DO know is that he isn't from this world. Kasubel paused after that thought. Never mind, we don't even know that!
What he needed was an interview with the man. He needed answers. So far, every attempt to speak to the man had failed, with nothing but silence, and at one point in time, a middle finger. Wherever he comes from, some of the customs are the same... he knows how to fling insults. The fact that he also spoke the same language furthered the mystery.
Still, he needed an interview with the man. But how?
Wait... an interview... A smile grew across Kasubel's face. I know a man.
He returned to his desk and took a seat, grabbing both paper and ink. I indeed know a man... and he would jump at such a chance.
He made sure the paper was flat out and free of crinkles before he began.
Dear Mr. Ram Steed...