The Eye of Terror: End of Terror

[Cameron]

Abbadon allows herself a moment to reflect. Time seems to slow down as she focuses on what’s around her.

She knows all their names now. Without the soul and personality that originally went with this body, the data left behind in the brain is a horribly scrambled mess of uncompiled information, but names are easy. Jharm is attacking her head on. Kitharsis hasn’t made it back up the tower yet, but she can feel him coming. Gulgrim is in the sky above her, seconds from making his presence known. Both Soul Reaver and Danyael have chosen to prepare magical attacks rather than attack head on. Cameron, the idiot who started this whole mess, hasn’t moved. The lack of any kind of energy buildup from his direction indicates that he has no plans to. Mary, another of these supposedly extinct but apparently not nearly extinct enough Ahrment’il, is building up energy but seems to be content standing in defense of Cameron for now.

Even as the seraphim launches himself towards her, Abbadon takes another moment to regard her current form. Taking in the amount of energy she did so quickly has warped it to an irreparable degree, and it won’t be able to fight off all of the Companions in its current state without any power armor to rely on. She will have to push it even further beyond its capacity to win this fight, and it will likely be unusable afterwards. But by then it shouldn’t matter. With the companions felled, she will have her pick of new hosts. Soul Reaver seems like the obvious choice, but Mary’s body, with it’s high capacity for elemental energy and it’s attunement to the warp, might also be a very good candidate to swap to. The thought of Mary’s form in full chaos plate, striding into battle with Drach’nyen in one hand and Blooddrinker in the other, causes her unnatural grin to widen.

“It’s nice to have a plan again.”

She pushes these thoughts from her mind as she takes in the battlefield once more. With a strategy in place, she throws her corrupted form into action. Her body seems to grow taller, absorbing warp energy from the air and using it to generate new, corrupted flesh. Now towering at least nine feet tall, she produces two additional arms that burst from her side and unfold in a chaotic latticework of flesh and bone. Hands form on each end and two blazing great-swords, made entirely of chaos fire and warp energy, burst into existence. She crosses these in front of her just in time to block both of Jharm’s hammer swings. She swings one of the blades in a mighty counter-attack meant to cleave Jharm in two. Kitharsis arrives and a Fighta Bomma screams overhead as Soul Reaver launches a lightning bolt in Abbadon’s direction. She dodges this not so much by moving as by simply contorting her flesh away from it, re-configuring bone and muscle on the fly. She is still scorched as it passes by but this damage seems to begin regenerating almost immediately. One of her original arms, still holding Drach’nyen, swings into position to parry any attacks that may be forthcoming from Blooddrinker. Her other new arm swings the massive fiery great-sword down on Kitharsis’s position.

Danyael acts, but his magic seems to move every which way except towards Abbadon herself. Abbadon keeps an eye on this, but seeing nothing that can be done immediately, does not yet prepare a counter. He also ignores Cameron, who predictably still has not moved, or Mary, who has turned to look at him with a mixture of frustration and worry on her face. She instead focuses her attention on the impossible to ignore screaming ork that is now in free fall towards her.

Abbadon pushes herself to absorb even more warp energy, growing even taller. Now standing over 10 feet tall, she swings her only remaining empty hand skyward. It stretches and extends, growing and twisting, into a massive claw that slams into Gulgrim’s power klaw, stopping his descent in midair and holding him aloft. The WAAGH energy burns through her constantly regenerating flesh, but neither this nor the gunfire blowing chunks from her form seem to have any real effect on her.

“I have met your Gork and Mork. They are nothing, and you are the Avatar of nothing. You will be torn asunder by the Avatar of Chaos that now stands before you.”

The clawed arm shifts and contorts as it attempts to close around the ork, crushing him to death.

Mary is still supporting one of Cameron’s shoulders, while Danyael supports the other. She shakes him, trying to get his attention.

“Cameron! Get the hell on your feet! You’re holding us back!”

[Soul Reaver]

Soul Reaver curses inwardly as the flesh of Abaddon's stolen form warps and twists out of the way of the Lightning Bolt spell.  It was clear that Abaddon was extremely fast, and his body capable of reshaping almost at will.  He would have to remain wary.

Before Soul Reaver was even upon her, Abaddon has grown much larger, now over half as tall again as the raven-haired warrior.  She was growing stronger by the moment and regenerating faster than the companions could harm her.  Soul Reaver could feel the energy that Abaddon was soaking up from all around him.  Without slowing his pace, Soul Reaver begins to speak words of magic, weaving the mana in his body and giving it form.

Abaddon reaches up and his arm pulses and writhes as it seeks to envelop Gulgrim.  Having fought Gulgrim before, Soul Reaver knew that the Ork could, given enough opportunity to fight, turn into a juggernaut.  He had to make sure the warboss would not be unduly delayed this early in the battle.

Soul Reaver feints to one side, making it seem he intends to attack Abaddon from one direction, but with catlike footwork changes his momentum at the last moment.  Instead, he somersaults to one side, sending a precision slash to sever the arm Abaddon was using against Gulgrim.

[Veldanya Venalla]

The Seraphim grunts in annoyance as his attacks are deflected by two greatswords that Abaddon suddenly "sprouts" into existence.  As one of the large weapons suddenly swings around in an attempt to cleave him in two, Jharm simply lets out a growl and swings his left hammer towards the blade.  The two weapons collide in a great shower of white and red sparks.  At the moment that the two weapons collide a large pulse of light seems to erupt from the Seraphims figure as those around him can clearly sense the power within him growing even more.  As Abaddons twisted form expands in size the angelic warrior seems to grow as well.  Those that have traveled with Jharm the longest can tell that his power is currently well beyond anything he has shown before.

"You think that will be enough to stop Vengeance?  Too many lives have been taken....too many lives have been twisted!  Blood for blood!"

The molten form of the Seraphim seems to shimmer as the glow radiating from within him seems to increase in strength.  The angelic warrior grips his hammers tightly as he smiles at Abaddon, the expression seeming almost....maniacal.

"You only delay....the inevitable."

Another pulse of light erupts from the Seraphims form as he charges at Abaddon once more.  As he does this, brilliant orbs of light begin to streak down from the Warp-twisted sky, screaming downwards in an almost unerring path for the Chaos Lord.

 

[Kitharsis]

The others have already started attacking Abbadon's new huge form.  It seems that she was able to absorb a great deal of energy from the rune, even with their success in stopping her inside the cocoon.  With one last flash of white, the skeleton mage finishes healing him.  It hops off onto the floor as Kitharsis lunges forward to meet the fiery great-sword in a parry.

He can feel the heat radiating from the blade as it bears down on the shaft of his pick above his head.  In a burst of crimson, the pick explodes with a burst of energy as he swings it to the side.  This should be plenty of force to deflect the burning great-sword out of his way.

Kitharsis follows up by advancing on Abbadon, tilting his pick so that the sharp, menacing spike faces outward.  He swings for her midsection, the pick once again glowing fiercely crimson.  Should he connect, the energy will explode outward into Abbadon's side in a devastating blow.

Meanwhile, the tiny skeleton positions itself behind Kitharsis to hide its movements.  It begins to weave a spell together to assist Kitharsis in battle.

[Danyael]

The small orbs continued rebounding and orbiting the area, in some instances bouncing off of each other and in others, bouncing off nothing at all. Blips of imagery flashed through Danyael's mind and, in some fragments, his true sight. He watched from multiple angles as Abbadon grew. And while she must have thought the harmless balls of energy as just that, they caught bits and pieces of sound as the Despoiler spoke under her breath, mentioning a plan. What plan? It was hard to tell, but if he had to guess, it was aimed at one of the companions. As the seconds ticked by, theories and stratagems flashed through the Nephilim Lord's thoughts. Maybe Soul Reaver? Perhaps. Maybe Cameron? More than likely. Maybe Mary? Why? What would that accomplish?

Instinctively, he inched a bit closer to Mary, eyes still locked on Abbadon, though his hand was still firmly clasped over Cameron's shoulder, as if holding him up by that one hand alone. And in a sense, he was. The orbs, clicking and clacking harmlessly through about, caught wind of the coming attacks by Soul Reaver and Jharm. His true sight taking in the spectacle of lights as energies howled into the forefront against their enemy, gargantuan as the Despoiler now was - standing several heads taller than the Nephilim Lord now. But that grin... Danyael couldn't shake that grin from his thoughts. A grin when Abbadon's sights were aimed toward Mary. And that's when it hit him. His free hand then went to Mary, moving her behind him as his other hand continued to hold Cameron to his feet. "That smirk was a bit too bright when she looked at you. At you."

At that moment, Mary felt two different hands at her shoulders as two echoes stood at her side now. No action, other than the defensive positions were taken. He'd learned too often that a full ahead strike was inferior to defensive tactics. Especially when attacking is exactly what was usually expected - even if it was effective. This would require a tactful mind on all fronts. And so, Danyael maintained his defensive stance, the only additional moves made being the summoning of two echoes. The balls of light continued to move about the area, neither attacking nor defending. Just bouncing and gliding, giving him a full view of the battle - building up momentum as they did so. But nothing else.

 

[Cameron]

As Soul Reaver moves in, Abbadon swings Drach’nyen to parry. But unlike her other weapons, Drach’nyen is still it’s normal size. She is unable to keep up with Soul Reaver’s feint. His slash is on target and Blooddrinker tears through the arm, rendering it useless. Gulgrim had been pushing against the claw at the end of it to prevent it from crushing him. As it goes slack, he leaps to the top of it and uses it to break his own fall, firing another salvo of gun and rokkit fire into Abbadon’s face as he falls. This seems to only annoy Abbadon but is enough to distract her from parrying Jharm’s second charge. The Seraphim drives Abbadon a few steps backwards before he is able to stop his momentum by sprouting two extra legs. Even more arms sprout from her ever expanding torso, reaching for the Seraphim and ripping him away from her.

“Ugh. Persistent. Like an annoying insect. Or a half muttered prayer.”

Abbadon throws Jharm at Gulgrim and thus directly into the hail of gunfire. She then looks to the sky. Bolts of warp energy divert from the cyclone above and smash into the holy orbs, knocking them off target. She turns her attention back down to the ground just as Kitkarsis strikes one of her greatswords away. Cursing, she swings Drach’nyen away from Soul Reaver and barely manages to get it in between herself and Kitharsis’s pick. The explosion of energy still strikes her but is also partially nullified by the daemon blade, which she then swings in Kitharsis’s direction.

Mary takes this all in, planning her next move. She can see all of the Warp energy pouring into Abbadon’s form. It’s the only way she is able to maintain herself under this near constant assault. She turns to Danyael.

“I think that I can interfere with the warp energy. Make it harder, or even impossible for Abbadon to absorb. I just need an opening an-”

Mary is cut off and almost knocked off balance as Cameron suddenly returns to his feet. He turns his back to Abbadon, looking out at the far edge of the Spire.

“It’s him.”

As Cameron speaks, chains fly up over the wall and find purchase in the ruined tile. The wounded but still mobile form of peterson hauls himself over the wall, landing in a heap before lurching into a standing position.

“Hey gang. Miss me?”

[Soul Reaver]

Jharm was growing ever stronger in a way that Soul Reaver could sense even with how occupied he was.  But just as the his ally was growing stronger, so was his foe, seemingly unchecked.  But Soul Reaver was already in the process of trying to address that issue.

Soul Reaver lands on the ground and rolls clear as Gulgrim's gunfire barrage slams into Abaddon.  Rather than pressing the attack, Soul Reaver leaps backward, putting distance between himself and the ever-growing warmaster.

He was still chanting when Peterson's form slams to the ground behind him.  Though he curses inwardly, he could not stop casting now - his spell was almost complete.

Speaking the last syllables, Soul Reaver raises his left hand high, fingers spread.  A blue glow blazes around his gauntlet, which he proceeds to slam palm-down onto the ground.

There is a sound like a muted boom as a pulse of carefully woven mana flows outward, followed shortly afterwards by a sharp, high-pitched glassy tone as the spell solidifies into a spherical barrier seal completely encapsulating Abaddon.

The surface of the barrier coruscates with blue energy, cutting Abaddon off from the Warp energy flowing from the broken seal.  Soul Reaver's brow is furrowed in concentration as he raises his left hand again.  He glances both at Peterson and Abaddon at both sides while raising Blooddrinker defensively, knowing this would buy only a temporary opportunity at best.

[Veldanya Venalla]

The Seraphim is sent flying through the air, some of the Ork Warbosses bullets slamming into his body before the warrior rights himself and avoids further friendly fire.  Drips of glowing blood flow down to the ground as Jharm lands once more.  He glances over his body at the bullet wounds and simply chuckles as the Orkish projectiles embedded in him are forced out of the holes as the wounds seal up.  The Seraphim glances over at Peterson upon his arrival and scowls slightly before returning his gaze to Abaddon even as he responds to the twisted marines words.

"No...not really.  Perhaps once your mistress has been crushed I will care about you and your pathetic mews."

He grins at Abaddon as more power begins to course through him, his already large figure beginning to grow as if to match the Chaos Lord[Lady?] in size.

"The Lights vengeance shall not be stopped.  No matter how much you try....no matter how much power you siphon from around you.  Your victims scream out for justice and their cries shall be answered!"

The glow radiating from within him increases in brightness.  At this point the glow is so brilliant its almost as if a sun resides within the Seraphims form.  With a deep roar, the veritable juggernaut charges at Abaddon once more.

[Shadow Chorus]

Gulgrim's dakka is consistently proving ineffective against Abaddon's hide. Time was coming to do something about that, though. Green lightning crackled around Gulgrim with increasing intensity as his WAAAGH!!! Energy continued to build. Gulgrim stomped both of his feet methodically, lightning sparking from each slam of his boot as he began to focus, beating a rhythm into the dirt as he began to direct the building energy swirling around him.

"Feh. You'z ken make fun o' Gork n' Mork all ye'z want, ya little spikey grot. But in de end, dere's only two godz wot can't ever be beat!"

Iridescent Emerald lightning danced cross Gulgrim's guns and suffused into his weaponry, his cybork eye flashing green for a moment before returning to its malevolent red gleam.

"Lemme Showz ya." Gulgrim bellowed, turning the arm that had the majority of his kustom shootas on it toward where Peterson had arrived.

The brakka brakka brakka of Gulgrim's typical armaments was replaced with a bellowing FWOOM FWOOM FWOOM as instead of ballistic projectiles Gulgrim's numerous shootas began to spew rapid-fire salvos of WAAAGH!!! Energy. Like a machine-gun of warpfire, green projectiles rocketed across the distance between the Warboss and Abaddon's lackey, each screaming with destructive energy ready to explode on whatever surface they might come into contact with.

"Whevver it's Kunnin' Brutality or Brutal Kunnin', dere ain't nobody dat ken stand up ta da power o' Gork an' Mork! An I'z dere instrument ta bring ya pain! So square up, spikey grot, an' come get yer pummelin'!"

Gulgrim had seemingly begun to siphon the building WAAAGH!!! Energy into his equipment and his form, augmenting himself and his weapons to even greater heights of lethality.

[Kitharsis]

Abbadon parries the charged horseman's pick, partially nullifying the blast.  To no surprise, she swings the daemon blade at him in retaliation, but he was prepared.

The speed rune on his shoulder illuminates as if a light switch was flicked on.  In the blink of an eye Kitharsis vaults backwards.  He should be well out of reach by the time the swing of the daemon blade would have reached him.

As Kitharsis vaults backwards, the tiny mage hiding behind his back unleashes its spell.  It is a simple incantation.  Strands of magic appear around Abbadon's legs and lazily slither up around her body.  The spell drains her speed and pulls down on her body.  A rune symbolizing "Slow" appears between the skeleton mage's hands as it focuses on channeling the spell.

When Kitharsis lands, he scoops up the tiny mage to keep it out of harms way.  They are aware that a simple slow spell won't have a drastic effect on one such as Abbadon.  But if it gives the others any sort of a edge, it is worth it.  One missed parry, one late reaction is all it takes to turn the tide.

The tattoos on his arms start to glow faintly, as Kitharsis prepares his next strike.

[Danyael]

Watching the tactics unfold to take on Abbadon, Danyael still elected to maintain a defensive stance. When Cameron regained his footing, the nephilim lord took his hand off almost instinctively, where he his echoes turned to look upon the returning Peterson. In the same instance, Danyael kept his own sights on Abbadon and the attacking Companions. His focus was split in several places, but nonetheless well attuned enough to maintain awareness of the battlefront. Taking stock of numbers, now with the return of Peterson, Danyael's echoes flanked Cameron while the nephilim lord himself flanked Mary.

He did not attack, however, knowing that the attacks themselves would come. And he would act accordingly when that time came. But not before. The orbs, however, now began to spin, whistling close and far as they encircled the area. But no attacks came. They kept out of the way just enough to maintain little more than the soft, subtle whispering of their movement, building momentum and energy all the while.

[Cameron]

Abbadon utters what could best be described as a snarl as a powerful magic field snaps into place around her. She is keenly aware of the sudden lack of fresh warp energy. Jharm is still speaking to her but she allows his words to pass without registering, instead choosing to focus on both the fight and the nature of this spell.

Whatever the Seraphim was saying to her, it culminates in yet another straight forward charge. Despite his growing power, the repetitive nature of his attacks makes this somewhat simple for Abbadon to deal with. She slams two of the great swords together, causing a shock-wave of energy that first halts Jharm’s progress before again sending him flying in the opposite direction. As she does this, her gaze swiftly shifts to Gulgrim, who appears to be trying to get her attention. She braces for more gunfire only to see him turn his suddenly more powerful guns on the newly arrived Peterson.

Peterson himself recoils, caught completely off guard. He was certainly not expecting anyone to turn their attention to him so quickly. He swings a number of chains in front of him to block the first volley but they are completely destroyed in the process. Cursing, he flings himself into the air and out of the range of the gunfire.

“Seriously? Huge fucking threat right in front of you and you’re going to focus on me? That’s pretty fucking stup-urk”

Peterson’s words are cut short as Cameron slams into him at full speed. Both men continue into the sky before Cameron stops himself and grabs a handful of chains in each hand. He swings Peterson back towards the Spire with all of his available strength. The half-dead monstrosity tries to right himself in midair but fails, and smashes into the Spire head first. He lands in a tangled lump of metal limbs. Cameron drops to the ground hard just ahead of him. His elemental blades are ripped from the floor by an unseen force and return to his hands.

“Don’t worry about Peterson. He’s mine. Focus on Kal-”

Cameron cuts himself off, pausing for a split second.

“Focus on Abbadon.”

Cameron trudges towards the fallen marine, who is already starting to stir.

Mary watches this all unfold. She was about to leap in to help Cameron but pauses when he waves everyone off. She silently consults a checklist in her head, decides that the next entry doesn’t apply yet, and turns back to Abbadon.

Abbadon is using the brief period provided her by Peterson’s distraction to begin crafting a counter-spell against the force field currently surrounding her. But as she does so, she finds her movements slowed. Sudden;y her actions are sluggish and no longer immediate. At first she wonders if Danyael has finally made a move, but his spheres are still swirling in her peripheral vision and have not moved towards her. She then turns to Kitharsis, noticing the skeletal mage under his protection.

“Amusing.”

Abbadon takes one step towards Kitharsis but it is at this moment that Mary makes her move. She feints a head on attack, causing Abbadon to hesitate and swing Drach’nyen in her direction. She then swiftly changes direction, darting away only to come back in and strike at her side. Her reaction is too slow and Mary is able to score a number of deep wounds before Abbadon drives her away with one of the great swords. She snarls in pain and frustration.

“Enough games. You think the warp is my only source of power?”

Abbadon focuses and a wave of sickly pink energy swirls around her, causing the outline of her body to blur before solidifying again. She shrugs off the effect of the slow spell and swings her weapons around in a defensive posture. She is now drawing energy from the vast number of souls she absorbed from the broken rune, and prepares herself for another onslaught from her foes even as her mouth begins to form the words of power that will certainly break her out of Soul Reaver’s makeshift bubble.

[Veldanya Venalla]

The Seraphim growls as he is staggered and then launched backwards yet again.  He stops the backwards momentum easily as he rights himself in the air and floats high above, watching with amusement as Peterson is first attacked by Gulgrim and then Cameron.

"Bah...you're pathetic Peterson."

Returning his gaze to Abaddon once more he scowls deeply.

"You though...not so much.  It matters little though.  In the end...your death is certain."

Jharm releases his grip on his weapons, the hammers simply remaining floating in the air as the Seraphim extends his right hand out, palm aimed at Abaddon.

"Behold...the voices of the millions you have silenced return once more."

It is as if the entire area is suddenly filled with millions of people all speaking at once.  Pleas for mercy, howls of pain, curses and wails seem to come from everywhere, though to anyone other then Abaddon not a single syllable is heard.  Jharm drops down to the ground before suddenly he grunts, his figure seeming to shimmer and pulse almost erratic for a brief moment.

"N...no...not yet...must...hold on."

He grips his hands tightly for a second before glaring at Abaddon once more, the volume of the voices increasing further until it is as if now they are all shouting and wailing right into Abaddons ears.

"Millions have died by your hand.  Their voices silenced for all eternity.  Silenced....no more though."

[Soul Reaver]

For a moment Soul Reaver is undecided on if he should take out Peterson or continue battling Abaddon.  But when Gulgrim and Cameron both turn on Peterson, with Cameron explicitly claiming that battle for his own, Soul Reaver's mind is made up for him.

He can discern Abaddon already working on a counterspell.  While he could actively oppose such efforts for a while, it wasn't guaranteed it would hold.

Since Blooddrinker's earlier attempt at possession, Soul Reaver had been holding back.  He had been so drained by the experience that he had needed time to replenish his exhausted stores of strength and mana.

But now was no longer the time to hold back.  Now it was time to strike, before the enemy had time to find their footing again.

Soul Reaver's sweat-streaked muscles tense as spirit energy suddenly surges through him.  His eyes flare red and crimson lightning arcs from his body, earthing itself nearby with audible crackling.

Soul Reaver leaps straight toward Abaddon, the stone flagstones cracking where he had been standing moments before, a sonic boom in his wake.  Blooddrinker's  edges shimmer yellow as it sharpens itself to the point where it cuts the air into plasma.

As he streaks past Jharm, his frontal assault begins not with a sword swing, but with a massive Shockwave spell, spoken in a echoing voice.  He unleashes a conical blast of glowing power with enough kinetic force to shred through solid steel and hopefully sufficient to momentarily break Abaddon's defense.  In its immediate wake, Soul Reaver follows through with a precision thrust from Blooddrinker with the weight and force of his entire body behind it.  His goal was to embed the sword in Abaddon - he would not give the abomination the focus and time she would need to complete her counterspell.

[Danyael]

The echoes prepared to flank-dash Cameron, suddenly halting stock still, about facing toward Danyael instead. The Nephilim Lord let Mary attack, choosing to keep his distance. Cowardice didn’t fuel his decision, but rather tactfulness. He spun the Yamato through his fingers as the wheeling blade was then thrust into the ground at his feet.

The Yamato plunged deep, but not deep enough to conceal the blade – the weapon quivering with the after effect force of the thrust. Upon impact, the orbiting spheres stopped frozen in the air. Peculiarly, the sword’s blade rung with an identical frequency comparable with the spheres. In the same instant, the whispy formed echoes snapped back into Danyael as he, without missing a beat, took five steps forward, arms and hands only slightly outstretched. And then his form began to change as he – having been directly in front of the Yamato – also began to ring with the same frequency as the sword and spheres. And yet still, the spheres made no such motion toward Abbadon. And then they began to quiver, then quivered faster and faster still. All within the same instant, they began to shake themselves into duplicates of themselves. 4 spheres became 8 and the frequency doubled with intensity. Then 8 became 16 and the frequency quadrupled.
His warp-aligned sight perceived the energies around him as a clashing maelstrom of furies, ramming and bashing and crashing against each other. Another fragment of focus mirrored his appearance with the very energies he saw that the others couldn’t descry. To the corporeal senses, he was flashing between multiple forms of himself, of ice and water, air and mist, light and darkness, form and formlessness. The frequency kept at a constant, as did his form continue its unending flux.

His voice spoke in a language alien to all but himself, guttural and feral. And then another voice identical to his. And another and another, numbering in the same amount as the 16 miniature spheres, devolving into a barking chorus of phantom voices. Their boom and bass came in patterns and waves, so intense in fact that they practically pushed at Abbadon herself. But this was no attack. He made no motion to attack, still. In the formlessness, the Nephilim continued the second stage of his tactic, which still kept him at a good enough distance to observe, survey and put together his next strategy while his comrades kept up the assault. He had the highest faith in them, just like he had the highest faith that, when it was his turn, they’d let him have his turn.

[Kitharsis]

The rune shimmering between the tiny skeleton mage's hands is erased with a "Pop!" as Abbadon merely shrugs off the effects of the slow spell.  Luckily, Mary was able to score a few hits in before the spell was nullified.

The tattoos on Kitharsis's arms are glowing fiercely by now, ready to strike out.  The tiny mage clambers up onto his shoulders as the stony warrior prepares his onslaught. 

A serious buildup of energy alerts him to Soul Reaver beginning his own attack.  The immortal warrior streaks forward with a head on charge.  Wouldn't it be convenient if Abbadon couldn't dodge out of the way...

Kitharsis swings both of his arms like a breast stroke, the tattoos scrawling down them flare even brighter as tendrils of crimson energy burst out of them.  The tendrils scream toward Abbadon.  They attempt to wrap around her limbs and her torso, grabbing purchase on whatever they can.  This isn't just a dumb rope either,  Kitharsis is controlling each tendril.  If they miss their mark they will attempt to grab at Abbadon again and again until they are either destroyed or Kitharsis is unable to maintain the effort.

Should his attack succeed and grab Abbadon's body, he will do his damnedest to keep her in one place so that Soul Reaver's attack succeeds. 

In the meantime, the tiny mage weaves threads of magic into another spell.

[Cameron]

Abbadon is trying to concentrate on her counter spell, but there is just so much NOISE. The cacophony of voices coming from both Jharm and Danyael is almost overwhelming to the senses. Thus, she only has the spell partially complete before Soul Reaver's attack comes.

Seeing no other solution, she unleashes the spell she was preparing before it is ready. This is not enough to dispel or even disrupt the shield around her, but it does protect her from the majority of the shockwave spell, leaving her enough time to sidestep Soul Reaver's next attack.

Or so she thinks, cause just as she goes to move, she finds herself barred by tentacles that burn into her flesh and hold her fast. Roaring in pain, and with only moments before Soul Reaver strikes, she sacrifices two of her arms in defense, allowing the chaos born great swords to dissipate back into nothing as a result.

The two arms grasp the tentacles targeting her, causing them to begin to disintegrate. But as they do, she swings them to the left with all of her strength, ripping Kitharsis off his feet and colliding him with Soul Reaver just as his frontal assault was to land. Abbadon's extra arms burn to ash at this point but she has enough time to leap backwards and give herself some distance.

"TIme. I just need time. And space."

Without warning, an obsidian shell begins to encase Abbadon. Within moments, she can no longer be seen. It is clear that she is going to use this to try and repair some of the damage that has been done to her. But before anyone has a chance to try and prevent this, they are waylaid by an unexpected attack.

Tenebrous tentacles burst forth from the ground underneath each of the companions. For Kitharsis, these move to intercept each of his own tendrils, seeming to seep energy out of them as they make contact. For everyone else, the tendrils look to grab each warrior and tear them asunder. Anyone the tentacles get near can feel their energy being drained away as a malaise overtakes them. Throughout it all, a horrible chorus of screams echoes from inside the obsidian shell, drowning out both Jharm's and Danyael's voices. These are the screams of the millions of souls Abbadon has absorbed. A chorus that will only aid in her concentration and drown out all other voices.

[Veldanya Venalla]

The Seraphim growls with anger as Abaddon manages to once avoid any real damage from the Companions attacks as she retreats into the obsidian shell.

"Enough.  I am tired of you running and hiding and fleeing from the punishment that is due for you Abaddon!"

Jharm swings his hammers at the tentacles, his weapons smashing into the appendages to keep them at bay as the glow from within him brightens further until suddenly he just stops.

"Enough is enough then....so be it."

His hands open up, his weapons crashing to the floor as he suddenly charges towards the shell and launches himself at it.

"Burn!  Burn in the righteous flames of the Light!!"

As his figure reaches the shell he opens his arms wide and the glow from within him suddenly seems to pull back inside before the entire area is bathed in brilliant white light.  It is almost the same as when Abaddon created their detonation earlier, but instead of fire and destruction this explosion seems to be different.  Waves of concentrated Light radiate out from where the Seraphim was.  The glow is so large and brilliant it can be seen from all around, as Seraphs down amidst the city pause and gaze up at it, Nethanya and Drayvon specifically.

D: "By the Light....he's done it.  Wrath of the Light.  I hope either it was enough...or that his friends will be able to finish it..."

As the blinding light subsides, the figure of the Seraphim can be seen laying near the edge of the platform, once more in his normal form, his large hammer resting next to him...and while it seems as if he still draws breathe, there is little other movement from the angelic warrior.

[Shadow Chorus]

"Quit hidin' ya spikey git! i'z startin ta fink you'z just a little grot, cowerin' like dat in yer little 'ole!"

Gulgrim jolted away from the tentacles erupting beneath him, reappearing elsewhere on the battlefield. His augmented cannons opened fire on Abaddon's shell, blasting with furious bellowing WAAAGH!!!fire before repositioning again, warping himself to different angles throughout the battlefield to rain fire on Abaddon's shell from all sides and avoid any potential retribution from his tentacles.

"Yer little puppet boy'z got more spine den you do roight now, abby-don! Show me what colour yer insidez are!"

The warboss was growing somewhat annoyed with Abaddon's continued delaying and avoidance tactics, feeling like the warmaster of chaos was simply stalling the good fight. Gulgrim would see what he could do to change that, even if he had to chip away that shell one layer at a time.

[Soul Reaver]

The foul air whips through Soul Reaver's hair as he streaks through the air, his eyes focused on Abaddon.  Kitharsis' tendrils burst forth to try and restrain his target, but at the last moment, this aid is turned against him - the massive Kitharsis is pulled from his feet and thrown to intercept Soul Reaver.

Unable to change his trajectory so quickly in midair, Soul Reaver's twists his body to ensure Blooddrinker will not hit his companion.  With a jarring thud his back and shoulder impact on Kitharsis, and Soul Reaver is knocked aside.

Somewhat ungracefully Soul Reaver hits the ground and rolls a couple of times in a cloud of black dust, but he is swiftly back in a combat-ready crouch.  As he looks up, he sees Abaddon disappear into an obsidian shell.

Soul Reaver's face remains impassive as he rises, red lightning still crackling from his form.  He glances in the direction of the Tirthandara, but other than having been batted aside it didn't look like he was injured in any meaningful way.  He is about to speak more words of power when suddenly a roaring cacophony of souls emits from the obsidian barrier... and midnight tentacles burst from the ground to grab at him.

Soul Reaver sweeps Blooddrinker at the tendrils with a wide, glowing arc - whatever they may be, they are no match for the Daemonic blade, the severed pieces disintegrating like mist in a storm.  Though more tenatacles rise, he has bought enough time to complete his spell...

...and then Jharm unleashes a burst of light so intense it can be felt in the marrow of one's bones.  To Soul Reaver, the warmth is invigorating and uplifting, causing his powers to surge even more.  For those short moments, Bloodrinker's blade grows more dull as the Daemon Lord writhes and retreats further within the Vortex Blade - but its sharpness returns when the light has passed it by.

The tentacles attacking Soul Reaver however are hit hard by the blast, their blackness withering away in the face of its purity.  The light also slams into Abaddon's obsidian shield, though Soul Reaver is unable to tell immediately if it has indeed done damage to it, or to Abaddon within.

Nonetheless, his spell basically complete, Soul Reaver does not cancel it.  Channeling his emotions and rage into a burning heat, Soul Reaver invokes a Fire Shield with a violent gesture.  With a loud whoosh, his body is enveloped by intense blue flame - for him, it feels as though it were merely warm, but outside the heat is of blistering intensity.  Any tentacles that survived Jharm's powerful burst and are foolish enough to try and attack the warrior will be incinerated by the intense magical flames.

Soul Reaver does not intend to let up on Abaddon - he must maintain pressure on the warmaster.  Even now, Gulgrim was pummeling the obsidian cocoon from every direction - any effort to weaken it would only help his next assault.

More magic flows through Soul Reaver as in complicated fashion he weaves two spells together into one and once more throws himself toward Abaddon.  His left hand is suffused with glowing white power, while his right grips Blooddrinker's orange-rimmed blade.  With a loud chant, Soul Reaver slams his glowing palm onto the obsidian barrier.

It was fortunate that Abaddon chose obsidian to form his shield, for it was a material that Soul Reaver was very familiar with shaping on his Obsidian Island - as such, he almost instinctively knew where he needed to focus his efforts most.  White light flows from his hand and runs across the smooth blacksurface, flowing into and making visible every imperceptible crack, fracture and imperfection, forming a criss-crossing, spiderweb pattern.  Soul Reaver's chant intensifies to a shout as his two-as-one spells complete - a Shatter spell designed to blast the cocoon to shards, and if successful, an Implosion spell to launch the dagger-like shards of volcanic glass inwards... even as the flame-suffused Soul Reaver stands ready to parry, then thrust Blooddrinker into his foe.