Ruins of Pictone

Cortosis grinned, as he stepped on a steaming rock, seeing the prize of a charred human corpse under him. gnawing eagerly on the corpse, he idly wondered just what chaos expected him to do here. She found it more entertaining to let him figure it out on his own most of the time, so, save if it suited her to do otherwise, she'd just teleport him somewhere and let him figure it out on his own, regardless of the purpose of the mission. In any case, he's noticed something blue and shiny near here, and since blue and shiny things are almost always of interest to cortosis, he'd taken off after it himself.
Movement nearby sparked his interest. Reapers of exitium. He'd show them for... doing whatever it is they were doing.

Hayle stood at the top of a precipice, kind of balancing as he walked along the jagged ridge. The rocks under his feet and some crumbled and fell into the abyss. "New beginnings, heh... This isn't what I thought dad meant when he said I'd have to be leaving home soon." he looked down to the earth with anger. Some leftovers from the attack were charging at him. "Come at me, as if you would attack your doom, such fools." he exclaimed at them. they kept coming, "good, wouldn't want to pass up an opportunity to slaughter more of you bastards." One knocked him off the cliff's edge as they ran, the rest fell in with him and their friend as he easily dismembered the closest one. Then, in a lightning motion he stabbed his sword into the wall and slowed to a manageable speed before releasing three dead-eyed shots into the heads of the remaining three creatures with his pistol. "Great, now I have to climb ALL the way back up..."

sniffing in the air, Cortosis inclined his head to one side. "that's an odd smell... smells like... horse crap...oh, wait, no, that's human I'm smelling... is it human? Kinda 50/50..." Cortosis says, unfolding his wings, before flying in hayle's general direction. "hmmm... I think that is the smell of horse crap after all... I am totally throwing it in the face of those reapers when I come back.

Hayle punctured the cliff face with each stab of his swords. He climbed fast, "just like that golemn" he thought, a tear falling from his cheek from the memory of his lost friends. Another thrust and he was a couple feet higher. Another, another, and another until he was nearing the top and noticed something. He could feel it in his back, the stare of someone he had known before.

And here I thought I smelled horse-[censored]... well, I guess I was half-right, since I'm tracking you of all people. How'd losing to a golem feel, by the way? I wouldn't know myself, ya see. of course, I think your other two friends know even more on that subject than you do, am I right? Not that I can ask them... Not without finding a more-or-less competent necromancer anyways." Cortosis taunted, hovering in the air behind Hayle, a grin on his face. "So, tell me what you've been up to lately, crown prince of Hayldrig."

Hayle pulled with strength reserves he knew he held back, a mere fraction of what he could call upon. He flew up to the ground and landed elegantly. "I defeated that golemn by relieving it of it's head. you just had to come after us didn't you?! It's like you've been watching us all along, nobody else. You just wanted US to suffer and nobody else." Hayle stood poised to strike Lifestealer in his off hand and Longsword novae in his right. "You have loyalty at the very least, not straying from your chosen god. And neither shall I"

My chosen god is chaos, silly. Or is it that her chosen demon is me? Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter. Regardless, it's not unnatural for a demon to temporarily lose his senses... And seeing how you wasted the chance dear Chaos gave you to escape with your lives, and even lost two assets... well, so long as noone's looking, why don't I just make the mission a complete failure." Cortosis says, licking his lips. "You're smelling more delicious every moment, after all."

"Face me now and I shall redefine your illusion of pain. Only I survived from my crew for a reason. They were so weak. I could not have saved them." Hayles words turned to growls. His foot flew into the ground, releasing a chunk of rock 8 feet wide into the abyss. His armour was massive, gleaming dull light from the sun, yet he moved as easily as if he were unburdened. "Our god needs us now, more than ever. This planet is destroyed, we will need to cut our losses. Friends among them."

....Hahaha!" Cortosis laughed, seeming to have fallen over in laughter. The fact he was in the air proved no obstable to him doing so. " Can't believe you fell for that drivel. I'm not going to fight you of all people! you'd taste terrible in all that armor, and besides, chaos's taken some liking to you. Besides, I'm supposed to be busy doing.... something. Not really sure what, now I think of it. She didn't bother explaining to me. I think it might have to do with that blue thing I found in that old castle ruins next to the corpse I ate, though. Anyways, reapers are searching the place, and you smelll like horse poop, so I was hoping to drop you on them in order to piss em off... To be fair, sending an armored warrior might make the same effect, however."

"That sounds like a good idea... I guess" Hayle mused "Can you lift me? I'm pretty heavy in all this" Hayle walked away from the cliffs edge. "Not so wide" he thought as he began running toward it. He built speed quickly, as if the wind were on his side and vaulted over the chasm. "Alright, where's this place?"

"that's okay. that talking rock that was beating the hell out of everyone last time I saw you was way heavier than that." Cortosis responds, gingerly scooping Hayle up. "ouch, your armor's pointy though. Bad Hayle!" Cortosis says with some authority in his tone. "quit being prickly." Cortosis says. "and don't even think you're getting any reaper corpses this time. I'm eating em all myself now. To think I was gonna share some with ya."

Soon, they approached the ruins of hayldrig, the area of the castle now covered with exitium forces. As they approached, a black ray of light suddenly shot out from the ruins. "oh good, I think the reapers found it. It's so much more fun to steal than just to find. Gives me this warm feeling inside just thinking about it..." Cortosis said, before belching. "nevermind. Just gas." He commented, coming down and dropping Hayle off while around five feet above the ground, before flying up into the sky again - though still towards Hayldrig.

Hayle landed and followed up with a combat roll, his blades shining in the light as he ran toward the rubble that used to be his home.

A trio of fire demons appeared in Hayle's path, followed by a group of exitium reapers, while a few reapers spread their wings and went into the sky, attacking Cortosis. One quickly falls to Cortosis's blade, Cortosis's superior speed allowing to appear behind the reaper and cut him, before blasting another nearing him with demonic hellfire, his face disapppearing in a gout of green flame. turning to use his wing to block away a sword from a third opponent, he yells "Okay, this is too much fun for me to care for the mission. Go on ahead and get the artifact, I wanna get better acquainted with these guys."

Hayle tore through the demons with his blades. His swords were flashes of lightning during the high noon sun, and they were dead far quicker than he had anticipated. His forehead flew forward into the nose of one of the reapers as his swords hacked through the surrounding foes and his foot impacted the gut of his first target. His feet fleet on their path toward the ruins of his old home were not going to be slowed easily.

Another group of reapers, and even a pair of Judges, appeared to impede Hayle further, as one of the fire demons managed to survive the swathe of blades and regenerate behind him, but all were stopped by a single command of "Hold." A black gloved hand came up to stop them, the glove connected to an overall lanky figure, pale as death and just as expressionless. "This foe is beyond you. Continue to occupy the demonic one for now. I will fight this opponent.
Efah looked much as he had the last time he and Hayle had met, on Umbra. The only difference was the black armor that he wore, not as bulky as Hayle's, but with a quiet terror all it's own, chainmail and skull-adorned steel guards, colored a chilling black. "I'd seen your face once, long before now - no, not your face, but one who had once borne you. It seems the descendant of a tyrant is now trying to prove himself a hero. Yet, you've no right to take from me what I've gained, despite the fallen mage Skaer's attempts to conceal it." Efah said, holding a thick, black handle, seemingly glowing with a fire all it's own, and meant for an incredibly large blade, but the blade was broken off almost at the hilt. "Hiding it in pieces - Clever, Skaer, but it will ultimately only futilely buy time. I will reclaim Erebus, and with it and my help my master will finally bring the sweet embrace of death to this universe." Efah said, looking at the blade with a look that bordered on affection. "Nonetheless, I respect the sacrifices of yourself and your friends - Angus was like a brother to me, and Skaer had helped us both when the way had seemed lost, long ago. Out of respect for them, and the fighting skills of your sire, I'm inclined to allow you to simply leave without incident now, so long as you don't report on my activities... is my offer not generous?" Efah asked, putting the blade into a dark wood-and-leather sheath. "It would certainly be better than the alternative for you..."

"The orders of my god compel me to do so, but I am no mindless fool driven by request. Your offer would sway any lesser man, but you have made this too personal." Hayle's massive armour shifted as he stood proudly, his long red beard stood ironically from his otherwise short haired scalp. The plates on his armour mesmerically clinked and clanged with his every motion. "You stand on my land, and I have no intention of taking Erebus, twas weak in comparison to Elysium anyway." he said, drawing it from his hip sheath. "You didn't even follow a god did you? Just that magma golemn." he said "good choice, independence was king back then. Anyway, nothing stands between me and my objective for long."

OOC: wanna do a collab on how Skaer and Efah did that stuff?

"Those blades have been tested against one another, in another age, and Erebus proved the swifter, taking your ancestor's life with a stab to the heart."
Efah says, drawing his dragon-tooth blade as Hayle
approaches, a wailing sound seeming to come from the blade as some ghostly substance seems to surround it, a light blue energy, seeming almost like mist, with the appearance of skulls being shown within. "I will grant you single combat nonetheless, as I'm sure you wanted since this confrontation began, but I warn you - I am not as I was, and what I am cannot be defeated by the skills of a mere warrior. You've only yourself to rely on in this battle, while I - I have the entirety of the underworld to draw upon." Efah remarks, before charging towards Hayle. Coming close with a quick slash of remarkable speed, a thin spike extends from Efah's shadow and stabs upwards at Hayle's stomach at the same time. Wordlessly, Efah then pulls back from his attack and enters a defensive stance, his scimitar at the ready.

Hayle deftly dodges the first strike while his armour easily recoils the second. "Magic within me" Hayle flies into a controlled rage at the mention of his friends, striking with several precision attacks while never removing his eyes from Efah. "This was not my choice you fool!" He unleashes a hail of bullets toward Efah's head.

OOC: the aim, type of strike, and the like would be useful with the sword slashes. it's hard to know exactly what I'm blocking when all you give me is a single metaphor to go on. also, how Hayle dodged, exactly, might be neat to know for positioning and the like.
also, I have no problem collabing on a piece of that sort. If I didn't like collabing, I wouldn't RP.

Efah stops the first strike with his blade, before jumping backwards, and handspringing back out of reach of the other strikes. Seeing Hayle then go for his gun, he merely smiles sadly, and then holds out his hand as Hayle fires, moving it to block all of the balls, as each sinks deep into his hand.
"Sorry, Hayle, but weapons such as that can't really hurt me anymore." Efah says, his tone sounding genuinely apologetic. immediately after, he uses the hand to grab out a knife, throwing it not at Hayle, but beside him, bouncing the knife off the rubble to then knock it to another piece of rubble behind him, before then coming on a trajectory putting it at Hayle's back, as Efah readies to sidestep the enchanted blade should Hayle manage to dodge it.

Hayle attempts to catch the knife and retrieves it by the handle, he then proceeds to throw it back directly at Efah's head. "If my bullets can't hurt you, then maybe your projectiles can!" he shouts, sprinting directly behind the knife as it flies through the air to break Efah's defence with Elysium. When the knife reaches his position, Hayle will be swinging his sword toward Efah's midsection.

OOC: because of inhuman dexterity, and big trouble little china knife throw

OOC: Efah merely sidesteps both attacks, before countering with a swift overhand chop with his scimitar at Hayle's side, quickly adding a slash to the left and the right at hayle's midsection afterwards, "Fast... but nothing I can't match..." Efah comments, a ghostly aura around him and his attacks. "At least, with the power I have now."

"Fast to you too old friend" He said while blocking the first attack with a quick motion upward, then the second and third with two quick motions left and right. His hands moved quickly and he tried to grab the arm of Efah to bring him in for a headbutt.

Efah sidesteps the knife, expecting the attack, before blocking Hayle's slice with his scimitar, pushing the weapon down with his own, before stabbing outwards at Hayle's midsection. "Give up and run while you can. This is pointless.". Efah said, his face and voice expressionless. "What meaning is there to fightin me right now. You have no motive, no sense of purpose, and it weakens you."

"Oh but it does not weaken me, have no illusions" Hayle stated bluntly, his eyes raged fiercely as he flicked the attack away, his rage bursting at his mind as he forced himself toward Efah, this time not accepting a failure to ram his forehead into his nose. Hayle now moved unbelievably fast as he closed the small distance between him and Efah, his sword flew toward Efahs, just to send it away from defence as his hand lay upon his shoulder his forehead flew directly toward Efah's soft, nosey flesh.

"Fool." Efah says, Accepting his blade's being knocked back. Moving his own forehead forward, he blocked the headbutt, being knocked back but seeming unaffected by it, before striking forward, a spearpoint coming up from his own shadow for a second hit to the knee joint in his armor as he did so.
"You don't even know why you're fighting, do you? That blade cannot touch me." Efah says, stepping back, as his own blade is filled with a pale aura, as he brings it down towards Hayle's chest, filled with powerful energy. "Not when the man behind it is so bereft of real resolve."