"Why should I believe you, on what merit should I believe you?"
"This merit," he smirked, spreading out his left palm, in which an illusive glimmer of green passed over it. Now, this sorcerer had spent ages learning to effectively wield the magics present throughout the universe. He'd delved into the unknown, made clear that which was ambiguous, seen the unseen. What he saw now? The remnants of the astral force used to sway the Sorceress to another's cause, to the Knight's. Perhaps lessened, perhaps diminished, but nonetheless present within her instability.
He clenched and unclenched his fist, eyes narrowed in focus, brows creased. With a gesture, he attempted to draw out the False Shaytan's the very same way they'd first entered Maya; a white river of astral wisps and particles flowing out of her nose, mouth, and eyes. If successful in grasping these energies and pulling them out of her, he sought to utterly obliterate them, to free the Sorceress Supreme from his influence (excluding her dagger).
Maya's eyes briefly fixed on the visiting Sorcerer with indifference. Plagued by the persuasive power of the cosmic force, differentiating how much pull the False Shaytan had over her would prove to be cumbersome.
"I won't lie to you, I don't feel any different" She admitted, taking a slight hover to meet on eye-level with her three headed hound, as she did so darkness seep through the pores on her body signifying The Grey Sage's manipulation on her was indeed gone.
"Hm, I suppose there was some truth to what you spoke. But now, why?" She asks tilting her head back down toward the seated Sorcerer , her lithe frame floating effortlessly above him with the hellish winds of Apokolips pushing through the room. "What made you travel here to do this? I do not know you. What is it you want from me?"
"As I said, I want to help you, Maya. Alleviating Fake al Shaytan's influence merely eliminated a symptom to deeper ailment." He stood to his feet, straightening his tie. As he did so, a verdant glimmer washed over the plate of steak, the circular table, and the office chair. They'd vanished into nothingness moments later; illusions, or perhaps, projections.
"You, my friend, are one worthy of appraisal! Far more than the rest of your family. You've got power, ambition, even a dash of edge!"
His smile apologetically thinned.
"What concerns me is that you are like a queen in a game of chess. You can take out the rest of the pawns no problem, but in the end, you're still a piece that someone's moving around a board. Be it your family, the Shaytan's, even... whatever force I sense within you. Does that not bother you? That your will has never really been your own?"
The 5'11 Cardinal Goddess could only smirk, his anology of her as the Queen on a chess board provided a brief moment of hilarity. It was not the first time she'd been called that. "My time with Y-intercept has taught me a few things." She started, still levitating slightly above him. "We're all chess pieces in this Universe. Even us Gods. Sometimes the moves you believe are yours aren't yours at all." Maya returned to the surface with her hands concealed by the innards of her crimson cowl.
"As evidence of the Phoenix resting within me, Y Intercept and The Grey Sage's manipulation, One could tell my mental fortitude isn't opportune, but these experiences have made me wiser. I say that because, It seems to me like I have something you want. So I will ask again. What is it that you want from me?"
The Jester God adjusted his blazer, his projected form growing more and more transparent with each passing moment. He didn't answer Maya's question; in his mind, he'd already done so, and there was no need to dwell on it here. Instead, he flashed another devilish little smirk, his eyes hungry with unknown ambition.
"We'll meet again soon, Maya. Keep on your guard; certain things are bound to come to pass. That's not a threat either, my dear curious Liafador; be careful."
As his form was engulfed in verdant light, he waved. Then, he too vanished just as his steak, table, and chair had.
In his departure, he'd left something behind (intentionally, of course). T'was a model, small, about the size of a queen chess piece. Its design and shape, however, were in the form of a human; garbed in red and wearing a cowl, the figure was none other than Maya herself... in the form of a chess piece. Beneath it was a bit of parchment that read;
This piece can move as many paces as the player wants it to, in any direction the player desires. However, the piece is owned by neither player, and instead both sides are able to use it at their turn.
He was fast. A red and blue blur that scorched the air and left sonic booms rippling and quaking in his wake as he left the mountains of Jackson for the town itself. The air underwent a rapid thermal expansion, the clouds parted and the sky was torn asunder by the loud and sharp crack of nature's most primal scream; thunder. Thunder that ran rampant in the air, that saw the neighborhood's pedestrian cast their gazes skyward in curiosity. And among those pedestrians was Alexis, watching his son's arrival with a father's smile. He'd been doing some yard work, doing his best to make his suburban home's garden as colorful and lively as that of the Liafador Palace of old. It was a surprise he'd been preparing for when Tassiana and Ziccarra moved back in with him, or he with them. They hadn't discussed it yet.
Tossing his gardening tools aside, Alexis' smile widened, his arms folded across his chest as he admired how well Thee Champion Battlesuit seemed to fit Leonel. He couldn't help but gaze upon his son with pride. "Here to visit your old man, huh?", Alexis asked, watching as the Prince of Power descended from the sky above, the soft cut grass crunching beneath the soles of his boots. "Old man? Maybe if you actually aged", Leonel chuckled, "Of course I'm here to visit you. But", Leonel paused, his archangel features growing more earnest, more serious, "I'm also here to tell you about the next person I intend to visit". For a moment, Alexis fell silent, though it hardly took the proud father any amount of time to understand what his son meant. "I'll come with you", he implored, "I-", his words halted by Leonel's raised his hand, the Prince of Power's protest to his father's suggestion as clear as day. "You shouldn't", Leonel began.
"If what we've heard about Maya is true, if any of this is true, then you don't want to see this. You don't want to see what she's become. It'll only break your heart", Leonel warned, his voice and gaze echoing nothing but good intentions. "And haven't you had enough heartache already? Catalina's death, the divorce and the entire shit-storm that nearly tore our family apart.. it's a lot to go through, dad. Let me handle this", Leonel implored. Sighing, the sadness all too clear on his face, Alexis seated himself on the grass, his head shaking, lamenting what had become of his family. "I'm just... I'm just tired of it all, Leo. It seems like every month something has to go wrong to turn someone from the family against us, to blacken their heart until they either die or... something", he sighed once more. "And I'm just tired. I can't even remember the last time there wasn't something wrong with someone from the family".
"If it's not Catalina, it's your mother, and now.. now it's Maya. A part of me wonders when.. if this'll ever stop. If we'll ever have at least one, just one day with everyone not corrupted or under some unknown force's control. And a part of me wonders who'll be next? Will it be Tassi? You... me?", Alexis lamented, almost slumping his shoulders. "I'm just tired. I just want my family back", the former Champion confessed. Watching his father pour his heart out and admit to the root of his emotional exhaustion, the Prince of Power couldn't help but feel his heart sink into the pit of his gut. To see his father, to see someone capable of destroying entire planets, to see someone so powerful feel so... powerless, Leonel could hardly watch. "I know", was all the Prince of Power could muster. "I know".
Apokolips, Edge of the Universe
As he inched closer and closer to the edge, Leonel felt the cosmos grow colder. The stars seemed fade into the blackness of space, to be seen no more, as did the nebulae and clouds of colorful dust and gas. The only source of light? Leonel. His bio-electric field, powerful and otherworldly, roared as he accelerated more and more, the ion beam humming behind him pushing forward with greater force as he, the Posthuman God commanded his great power to forge a magnetic monopole, inspiring a flux of energy that exploded in front of him. Gritting his teeth, the Prince of Power absorbed the energy behind him, the energy from the ion beam that whipped wildly behind him like a comet's tail.
And now, now the Posthuman God commanded gravitons, warping the space around him more than before, overcoming the speed of light beyond what he'd managed in the past. He was tearing through space, like a bullet through air as the cosmos' barriers collapsed and he entered a realm where speed knew no limits. He broke down the remaining barriers that stood, his frame flickered in and out of visibility until space swallowed him whole... and spat him out elsewhere. Spat him out in the bizarro space of an oversized planet of fire and brimstone. Mankind had heard of hell on Earth before. Here, now, Leonel was witness to hell in space. Was this Maya's doing? Was this the extent of her powers? She was now creating worlds plucked from the nightmares of hellspawn? Planets too large to remain rocky and should instead be gas giants? Had Maya's power grown beyond the laws and boundaries of the universe? It seemed so.
Hovering in Apokolips' orbit, Leonel's features wore a brooding intensity. He didn't like what he saw. He was certain he'd like seeing what Maya'd become much less. From the planet's orbit, the Prince of Power descended, entering it's burning skies were fire flared across the atmosphere. Soaring from above, Leonel cast his gaze to the ground, and what he saw sent a drop of cold sweat running down his spine. Slaves, chained and soulless, doing as they were told, building monuments and offering their lives for entertainment as men wearing his father's 'S' symbol whipped and brutalized them. He saw hellhounds and all manner of beasts. Leonel had seen enough. He was right to warn his father against visiting Maya. This... this was too much. Yet as he glided through the hot air, Leonel came upon... home? Or what had once been his home. The Liafador Palace, restored to it's prime. Maya would be there.
He descended, the palace doors parting as he strode inside, his posture global, and his eyes full of conviction. The palace was identical to the one he'd grown familiar with in Madrid during his mother's rule. But something was amiss. There was a presence in the air, one whose quality was sinister. Finally, as another set of doors parted before him, the Prince of Power had reached the throne room, and there on a throne fit for a queen of oblivion, sat Maya. Leonel hardly recognized her. "I almost didn't want to believe what was being said about you. But I can see it's all true now. More than true", he began, striding forward, edging closer and closer to Maya's throne. "There was a time I'd have come here, raged out upon seeing this and succeed or die, I'd have put everything into trying to destroy this place and everything nearby. But I've changed since then. We both have".
"The only difference is, I'm doing dad proud. You're breaking his heart. But looking at you now, I can tell that doesn't mean anything to you anymore. He doesn't mean anything to you anymore. The entire family doesn't mean anything to you more. Because you're not my sister anymore. You've simply become another mistake that I have to correct", the Prince of Power declared, both fists clenching, his eyes glowing hot with an exotic power. He was ready. Maya had spiraled as deep into the pit of darkness as one could. For too long, he and Alexis had ignored what had become of Maya. This... this was a long time coming.
Maya's eyes rolled in boredom, to anyone currently present in the throne room it would seem as if the 5'11 Liafador Goddess was growing tired of her mother and Zeon's antics in Reality M; events that were in rotation via portal hovering the room.
But this wasn't the case, what spurred such a powerful feeling of tedium within the Queen of Apokolips was; the feeling of hoping moving swiftly toward her current position. Out here in the vast emptiness of space, a place so cold, so remote that not even the sun's natrual rays could reach; hope was something that could be felt by all.
She knew of few people that could make that trek all one their own, without some form of teleportation; the last having been sent to reside in her new M. This one was far more annoyingly resilent, and his very presence on the surface of her world could and wold inspire false hope in her servants.
She felt him getting closer, just as sure she knew he could sense her; but Maya maintained her stoic posture on her throne awaiting for the final doors to her dwelling to swing open. Her three headed hell hound sat quietly along the small stream running vertically through the room playing host to the souls. Finally the doors burst open revealing "Leonel..." She whispered, taking note to his homage to their father's Champion uniform. The hound's growl was powerful enough to send a minor tremor through the palace, not that Leo would've minded it, he stormed in judging her immediatly.
"A mistake you have to correct. YOU. DARE?!" Maya snapped incensed at her brother, making little effort to move from her seated position. "You failed to save Reality M" She said, before pointing toward one of them many portals showing their mother and Zeon's battle with Society forces. "I saved it." she proclaimed loudly. "You failed to stop Catalina from destroying Malaga, you failed to stop the Talmuts. You failed to stop our mother; and look what she's done to us. But you, heh. You're doing dad proud." Maya's sarcastic scoff was instantly met with an optical crimson discharge of energy.
"You can't fix anything. You don't even know what the consequences of you coming here are. You don't know if you'll leave. You don't know if you'll die." Maya rose still perfectly seated as if she were still in a chair. "But I do. Man's greatest ambitions have lead them to believe they can emulate the gods. But very few gods can emulate the universe."
Feel My Force.
With each word she spoke, the fiery characteristics of the cosmic entity resting within her bosom release from her mouth in the form of steam. "I came out here to save you from it. To be so far away that It's hunger could be quelled. But I see now that's not what you want.
She took note to his manifesting energy and balled fist. "Tell me Nu God. How will you kill something. When all the dimensions of reality and probability are mines to command." She taunted with the fabrics of the dwelling around them shifted to various locations in cadence with her sentence.
What she was actually doing was giving herself enough time to employ measures needed to decrease the probablity of his most powerful attacks landing with maximum potency. She'd fought Leonel before in spars, he was well aware of her weakness, but with all her powers now at her disposal the Crimson Queen was prepared to fight her brother on all levels of combat if her tactic worked of course.
Throwing her hands forward Maya's hexing energy ignited in a blaze tearing a hole in the fabric of space creating a portal. Retrieving a familar soul, one she was slightly familar with, a person she teamed with back when she served Nikadaemus. @vinicius_corvo
"Come Friend. And Feel My Force. The Force of The Phoenix. The Dark Sorceress sought to teleport the first of her many bearers to Apokolips to recieve his gift of the Phoenix. Leonel was to understand how things worked on Apokolips, whatever Maya wanted she got.
Oh he dared. And as cliché as it was, he dared because he cared. About her. About their family. Eyes glowing red as every fiber of his being hummed and echoed the tunes of a god's energy. Head shaking, brow scowling, Leonel could hardly believe it. Even as his eyes held her in view, he simply could not believe it. How was this... stranger, Maya? "I failed to do this. I failed to do that. I failed to do this and that. Those are a lot of things I failed to do", the Prince of Power began, his cape fluttering in the scorched air of Apokolips, "Those are a lot of things that went south. A lot of things that went left instead of right. And yet, I'm still here. Unbroken. Unbowed. Unbent. Wearing my father's symbol on my chest and his cape on my shoulders".
"Because what kind of pussy gives up on everything and everyone the moment things don't go their way? What kind of weak-willed bum would I be if I lost it and became twisted the moment things went bad? Heh.. I'd actually be you", he almost grinned, his pores oozing a presence of brash confidence, one more fitting of the arrogance of the Azure Son than the pride of Thee Champion. "That's why I'm doing dad proud. Because when things went bad, I didn't go crazy, lose my mind, turn evil, or whatever excuse you have for being this way, and come to the goddamn edge of the universe to bring hell to space. I simply looked at life dead in the eye and said 'Is that all you got, bitch?'. And life looked me dead in the eye and turned my sister, my best friend, into a complete stranger".
"What do I have to say to that? Is that all you got, bitch?", the Prince of Power challenged, rolling his neck, dismissing Maya's hellhound with a glance of indifference and setting his eyes solely on his sister. He watched as the steam from her mouth singed the air. "What I want? The real Maya'd know what I want. The real Maya'd know that I just want my sister, my best friend back. But you're not the real Maya because the real Maya might as well be dead. You're just a stranger wearing her face. And as for the dimensions of reality and probability and how I'm going to stop you?... Talk is cheap", he shrugged, his body igniting like a lit flame, his aura as golden as it was violent, it's energies whipping all about, in tandem with the hexing energy Maya tore through the fabric of space with. And from that tear, his sister had plucked an ally, a resource, a crony.
Leonel attacked, reaching deep into the pools of his own cells, commanding their stored radiant energy (energy from electromagnetic radiation and gravitational waves) and expelling them in an omni-directional burst, an explosive wave that cast a violent storm of energetic particles the likes of which was seen only from the Sun itself. The kind of storm the Earth prayed it'd never encounter. The kind of storm that'd threaten to turn Vinicius and every single one of Maya's cronies to ionized dust. And in the wake of a storm, the Prince of Power'd attack once more as crimson beams barreled from his eyes towards.. Maya. Beams not of energy. Beams that generated no heat, radiation, electrical or magnetic fields. Beams that were not part of the electromagnetic spectrum at all.
Beams that were instead, streams of exotic matter. Matter comprised of only one 'color' of gluon, a trait that made possible their strange and unique qualities. Beams whose exotic matter was ultra-dense and extremely. Beams that could punch a hole through anything save for true adamantium. Beams that threatened to leave Maya's chest agape and bleeding. Only then would the Prince of Power burst forward, ready to pounce. This needed to end.
"Come Friend. And Feel My Force. The Force of The Phoenix."
Her voice was ethereal, emanating from every corner of Vinicius' universe all at once. Gripping his otherworldly battle-axe tightly, the Red Son stepped through the portal and was immediately overcome with a power unlike any he had ever felt.
It burned, but with this smoldering pain came something else, something that the Wayward Warrior sorely needed: purification.
The Phoenix's might melted away Corvo's every doubt, his every fear, his every hesitation, unleashing the Cosmic Combatant within. "Arrrggghhh!" he cried out as an arm began to grow out of his limbless stump, blood spraying out in every direction as tendons and muscles were stretched to their very limits. The arm glimmered in the Apokoloptian light, revealing the fact that it was metallic, summoned and refined from the very minerals that made up the demonic world.
Phoenix Force and Darkforce did battle within the Sicilian Psychopath's being, aggrandizing his hidden potential, noticeably shifting the way Vinicius' earthly body operated and interacted with the ambient energy around him. With only a few words, Maya had granted the disciple something that many a lifeform had futilely traversed entirely galaxies to find; true godhood.
Yet just as soon as the feeling of nigh-invincibility surged into his mind, the newest bearer of the Phoenix Force was struck down by a barrage of energy unleashed from within the @azure_son.
Crashing back to the planet's alien soil, another wave of pain radiating throughout his body, Corvo watched as the blue-and-red blur moved towards his once and future ally, Maya Liafador.
Anger welled up in Vinicius' heart, but unlike in the past where emotions dictated his every move, the Darkforce Warrior now found complete mastery over his tumultuous psyche, channeling every bit of his emotions and adding its energy to his already exponentially increasing power. And with that power, the Darkforce Dominator reached out, sending a telekinetic tendril in the direction of the Caped Nuisance. He aimed to grip him tightly and envelop the hero in an impregnable prison of powerful telekinetic energy in hopes of either stopping his momentum completely, or crushing him altogether.
He was wrong, she was the good one; she'd always been the good one. She always saw the righteousness in people even when they went out of their way to prove they had none. The old Maya didn't kill, but Leonel did, Catalina did, Selene would, Their mother did. She spent a lifetime living up to the brand of heroism Alexis Pettis produced, he was the fabricated one. She was the true Herald of Hope, The New Champion of Peace.
He was a phony, a flake. A man who made many promises but ultimatly blamed others for his inability to act, In his words, she saw her--Ziccarra Liafador. Hovering with her hands folded, her brother's devestating attack shook the very foundation of the palace, but atlas his omni directional display of energy fell short on Maya's negation shield. Powerful enough to forcefully repel the Crimson Sorceress, but not potent enough to penetrate the defenses of the "3rd Societies greatest export." It was quite often forgot that while a Liafador; Maya was not birthed she was crafted by the Society to be the perfect Liafador. Her mind was like that of Zedora's able to process several hundred outcomes in a matter of moments. In the time spent of Apokolips, The Sorceress Supreme found subtle ways to improve her offensive and defensive maneuvers, the first was lowering the chances of an accurate strike. Second was utilizing her negation shield to activate her reactive adaption ability, meaning the moment she recieved damage from his storm, she could dish out any of her own attacks with the same force.
Dust rose from the point of impact showing the Reality Warping model with a chastizing grin on her pristine face. "I thought I was the one with the vagina." She teased, quickly allowing her eyes to burn with the Phoenix's fire to repel Leonel's optical assualt with her own forceful hexing energies. Within close proximity to them both their powerful energies swirled cataclysmically in the space between them.
Struggling to repel her brother's massive beam, Maya receded allowing the energy to come full force; just as the massive attack made impact with her sternum. The Cardinal Sorceress went limp, she knew he saw it; it was something that only people with the fastest relexes could see.
On the ground, Maya's dilapidated body lay, burning with a searing hole steaming from her bosom. "Well Done" Her words were still present, the ever elusive Queen of Apokolips transported her consciouness, before his beam of energy made impact.
I am a Universe.
"You criticize the strength of a girl who gave so much, you held her to your standards. Her touch could've saved the world, but now my kiss will burn it to the ground. She was just flesh and blood. But I..."
As the wildfires of of Apokolips burned behind her, Maya's summons was answered in the form of Corvo, a one time ally of hers that'd accepted the call of the Phoenix.
It lived in Maya, waiting for the right moment when It could truly over take the young Liafador, not even Tassi or Zeon angered Maya enough to pull the cosmic entity from the deepest depths of Maya's soul, but Leonel? He provided the right amount of agitation, pushed a number of buttons that caused the thin veil, Maya used to shield herself from the true force of the Phoenix; to shatter. Now it wanted to reproduce and it succeeded once already.
"Leonel you will join me, or I will end you..." The bird commanded, thrusting her hands outward toward her Azure brother with the intent on draining his lifeforce. Not a power Maya was natrually accustomed to but this bird...was the Catalyst for both life and death.
A tendril ensnared him, a telekinetic barrier encased him. Though as the energies of the Phoenix and the Prince of Power ran rampant all about them, tearing the palace asunder, flinging debris in every direction and setting all ablaze for Apokolips to see, the Posthuman God roared and a beam of exotic matter, it's particles holding only one 'color' of gluon, were ultra-dense and heavy, like the stuff of which neutron stars are made. And under the beam's might, the barrier shattered, broke down, and a yank of the leg ripped the tendril of it's grip. In the scorched air, Leonel hovered, his features wincing and bruised from the telekinetic barriers that'd threatened to crush him. "That hurt", he thought. Maya's disciple was powerful. Powered by a fragment of the Phoenix, the man was a force.
"But there are levels to these things", Leonel reminded himself in thought, "And I'm just a level higher". For now. Ah but then, then his sister's command over all things made her wrath known. The air rippled and cried out in pain as the force and power of his electromagnetic storm... was reflected unto him. Leonel, the Posthuman God who'd flown into the hearts of stars and emerged unscathed.. that was at the height of his power. Here, now, his own attack wounded him. It bruised him but the energy-absorption faculties of his battlesuit and his cells' unique ability to absorb and store the energy of electromagnetic and gravitational radiation came together to lessen the attack.. and reinvigorate him. And so he was blown back, sent crashing into a pillar, but he emerged from the rubble ready and willing to continue.
"Heh", the Prince of Power grinned, cracking his neck as he strode forward, his red cape mildly torn and singed, "What strength?", he taunted, "The imaginary strength of the girl who couldn't handle the fact that life isn't all sunshine and rainbows? That things go left more often than they do right? And here I thought Tassi was the gullible baby", he paused, glancing now at Maya's disciple; Corvo. He could see it, the Phoenix Force, it's energy coursing through his veins. Arm outstretched and his palm facing Corvo, Leonel teased some sort of energy blast. But instead... instead his energy-absorbing powers now worked in tandem with the energy-absorbing quantum-mechanical technology of his battlesuit, to seize and siphon every last drop of the Phoenix's energy that rested in his foe.
The energy behind the Phoenix's fire, the energy of it's thermal radiation would be absorbed into his cells, the Phoenix's fire brought into him, and the rest of it would be stored in his battlesuit. He'd suck Corvo dry of that which brought him closest to godhood. But... was it wise? Because as he turned round to meet his sister's gaze, the Prince of Power scowled, realizing a truth that none in his family knew of. This wasn't Maya. Maya was last seen suffering, distraught over that which tore her family apart, it was then that the Phoenix entered her, exploited her emotional turmoil to claim her. He'd never spoken to Maya since his arrival, he didn't believe so. This... this was all the Phoenix corrupting it's host.
Though in his moment of realization, of distraction, Leonel was ensnared. By Maya, by the Phoenix as it's scorched fingers dug deep into his being and began draining his very life force. "I was ready to kill you", he began, his voice growing softer, his muscles losing their fullness, his skin losing it's color. He was growing weaker. Dropping to a single knee, palm braced against the cracked palace floor, Leonel panted, his vision blurring as Maya threatened to drain him entirely, to strip him of the intangible qualities that kept him alive. "And I was going to. I really was. It took a lot of thinking... a lot for me to keep it together to kill my own sister. But I can see now. I was never speaking to Maya".
"I can do this all day"
"All this time. It was you. The Phoenix. I was... was speaking to a f****** bird", he chuckled, defiantly in the face of what appeared to be certain death. "But I'm not gonna die like this", Leonel promised, his body waning. All about him, the Phoenix's fire raged and ran rampant. With what remained of his powers, Leonel seized them, seized the fires and called into his body the energy of their thermal radiation to power him. To possess, even if temporarily, a fragment of the Phoenix itself as he stood to his feet, reinvigorated once more, fists brought to his face, "Cause I can do this all day".
"Do you understand how a day is measured in eternity child?" The cosmic force retort at Leonel's defiant proclaimation. But what really was a day in the face of eternity? Leonel was a being that boast immeasureable endurance and stamina, but like Y-intercept; the Phoenix was an entity that could live and destroy forever, there were contingencies in it's physical makeup, that'd allow it to continue it's cycle of destruction. She could feel him, he was getting stronger, but this fight between the two forces was limited. Now that It finally eclipsed Maya, mind, body and soul; It was time to push plans further. She had one, she needed three more vessels in order to execute her plan. Unknown to any of the current players, but this force was actually split from the jump. When It decended to Earth, during the Battle of Asgard, It initially took on two host, Maya Liafador, and Valerie Huntingon. Providing both with 50% of it's full power.
Whereas Maya was concerned, the force needed to assume full control, because the Power Princess wasn't able (and still isn't) to harness It's energy. Tapping into Maya's natural warping abilities, the cosmic entity opened a wormhole in front of them displaying the eventual fate of his beloved sister.
...Leonel...
"She too will be a cosmic force of destruction, with her powers she will collapse whole realities. Together we will raze the worlds and begin anew. Such is the way" The Bird revealed, which was evident in the rebirth of M; whether he knew it or not M was back. It was a true test of Maya's powers to reforge a Reality, a Reality that her alternative self created in the first place.
A cold course whisper crept from the howling portal as the former power princess called out to her brother. "Leonel...h....e..." before she could finish the portal closed, and the Psionic Goddess turned it's attention back to the task at hand.
Once again utlizing Maya's reality warping skills, The woman opened a portal on the ground, and from it a champion rose.
Plucked from Reality M along with Chance, Zeon and Tassi, The Champion of Raxus Prime rose in confusion, her psionic abilities over-powered by the cosmic force. "You came here prepared to kill a family member. Kill your mother." Levitating, The bird moved forcefully out the palace and out to Apokolips where it would begin to drain the life force of the inhabitants.
Not wasting any time, Ziccarra's sprint shook the very foundation of the palace leaving cracks where she once stood. Running toward Leonel shield forward, The Psionically control Goddess sought to squat jump sending her knee's toward her son's chin, and supplement that with a powerful strike form her newly strengthen Raxus Shield.
It was hot. Under the Phoenix's scorching heat, the palace floor cracked and expanded, the air sizzled and the smell of burnt oxygen hung thick all about. The Prince of Power stood, defiant, the red shade of his fluttering cape mirroring the color of flames so hot they left the skin tightened around bone. Bruised and lightly wounded, Leonel would not relent. His eyes glowed red, and his cells did their damnest, absorbing the heat energy from the fires that ran rampant around him, drawing what they could of the Phoenix's power into the Posthuman God. Beneath the soles of his boots, the ground seemed sunk under his weight, his fists closing tight as his muscles swelled and swelled, their fibers vibrating with an alien power; the Phoenix's.
It's energy coursed through his veins and left his skin glowing a fiery hue of red. It was intoxicating. And as Leonel absorbed more of the heat energy around him, his veins surfaced and the rapid thermal expansion of the air from the heat energy saw a shock-wave ripple through the air, screaming with the low and deep rumble of thunder. And in it's wake? Leonel, eyes glowing, pulsating with an energy that wasn't his as a violent outward flailing aura of cosmic fire radiated from his pores. Teeth gritted, he struggled... to control it. He'd absorbed energy before, the energy of entire stars... but nothing like this, nothing of the Phoenix's caliber. And while he now commanded more power than he could have imagined, the Posthuman God was losing himself.
".... I'm... ggnn... not here to talk about.. about eternity with you", Leonel growled, red flames escaping from the edges of his mouth, "I'm... I'm here to kill you!", he roared, his voice ripping the ground apart and crumbling the walls around him. And yet... he fell to his knees, his palms braced against what little remained of the ground, as though an overwhelming force sought to pull him into the planet's heart. It was the Phoenix. It was Maya. Wearily, his eyes gazed upon the Phoenix, upon the shell his sister had become for it. The wormhole bore a series of images; his sister's future. And as a voice echoed his name from the portal, pleading for help... the Posthuman God felt his eyes widen and his heart skip a beat. "Maya...", he tried to utter but no words were heard, only flames escaped his mouth.
And from the ground, a portal was torn open. From it, his mother, Ziccarra emerged. He couldn't move. He didn't dare to. Not then. The thought of having to take his mother's life hung over his head and sent a drop of of cold sweat trickling down his spine, cold enough to ignore the flames radiating from his body. Speechless, frozen, Leonel saw his mother, watched her sprint towards him. He saw the flying knee, it was telegraphed, he knew how to counter it, he knew to pop up to his feet, hop off his front foot, hop onto his rear foot and pivot out the path of the flying knee, his eyes firing off the Prince of Power's counter-jab at an angle; beams of exotic matter. But he did none of those things.
He did nothing. He was frozen. Ziccarra's flying knee hit home, landing clean on Leonel's chin and dazing him. His vision was blurred, his chin rang with a pain that nearly left him limp. On his back, rocked and taking leave of his senses, the Posthuman God could hardly speak. Nearly knocked unconscious, Leonel had never felt such pain. Nothing stung harder than a mother's hand, a hand that one remembers as being loving and caring... now brought down a shield to smash through her son's skull. Instinct kicked in, and Leonel recovered with a warrior's heart, rolling out the shield's path before springing to his feet, his jaw swollen, his mind still dazed. Wobbly legs and struggling to remain conscious, Leonel brought his fists to his face and tucked his chin.
Finally, he answered the Phoenix, casting his gaze on his sister before she darted into the air. "I don't have to. I just have to kill you. And now... now I know how", he panted, returning his eyes to his mother, taunting her forward. He knew what to do. He just needed another reckless charge from his mother for his plan to be realized.
Despite currently being under the guide of the Phoenix, Ziccarra's Psionic Drain ability was beginning to come into effect. The foreign energies the Phoenix were using to manipulate the Goddess, was now being repurposed for the nurishment of Ziccarra's body--working in conjuction with Ziccarra's Cardinal Skills; the Brain washing was soon to wear off.
But the truth of the matter was this, The Phoenix was literally sucking the Life from Apokolips, soon this entire planet would be nothing more than a rock, whatever little life that thrived her would eventually become one with the devestating Phoenix Force.
As The Goddess struggled to break the mental strangle, Leonel's words were once again channeled toward the massive entity known as the Phoenix.
It was now, that she came face to face with the terror that she created; that the Goddess--Not Ziccarra, but the celestial entity leaving within the "graceful woman of Malaga" felt regret. Maya, Zoe, Tassi, Leonel, Catalina, Selene, Isis, Zeon and Alexis. She was the reason all of them were suffering. "It's time to end this..." She grunted eying her injured son, but before either of them could make their next move. The Phoenix was gone.
Gonna launch my rpg sometime next week. Finally bringing an end to this Maya/Phoenix story. I just realize I've been building this thing up for almost a year
Fists kept close to a tucked chin, the Prince of Power slowly felt his senses return to him. The wobbliness moved from his legs and his hearing was no longer muffled. Gradually, the scorching flame-like aura that'd set his body alight with a primordial cosmic power had dwindled. The swelling in his muscles had ceased, the reddened hue faded from his skin and his veins sank back to their domain, no longer graphic and surfaced at the skin. And as his aura disappeared, so did the flames that ran rampant through the palace. His cells had stored them, the heat energy of it all, a fragment of the Phoenix's power. He'd store it, allow his body to adapt to it, and when the time came, he'd do his damnest to rip the Phoenix from Maya and condemn himself to be it's host.
A steam began to ooze from his pores. Beneath him, Leonel felt the ground quake more violently than before. Apokolips was at it's end. The planet's lifeblood was being drained and soon all that'd be left will be an empty and lifeless shell. The Phoenix had departed, embarking on a rampage that'd see every soul on Apokolips scorched to ash and reborn anew as part of the Phoenix Force. Without the fires about them, the broken palace remains grew cold. The dry air whipping at the Prince of Power's tapered cape. His eyes set on his mother, Leonel stood his ground, her words reaching him. "Don't make me fight you", he panted, doing his best to paint a strong face. But he was struggling, internally begging her not to bring him to the point of battling her to the death.
Nobody'd win. A mother would lose her son... or a son his mother. But as the Phoenix took it's leave and Apokolips waned, Leonel addressed his mother once more, dropping his fists and abandoning his defensive stance. "I'm done here. Because the reason I came for isn't here anymore. It's out there, somewhere in the cosmos... my family's string of tragedies ends when I face the Phoenix". Bursting into the sky, the palace floor collapsing into the planet's core in the wake of his departure, Leonel was gone, tearing the sky asunder as space warped and he left the speed of light behind.
Wasnt the quote something more along the lines that they (the directors) werent saving him for the end? That could imply that he's actually woven into the story before the ending. Or so I hope
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