Vex twirled his blade, ripping the ground in two as a great chasm began to break through the already crumbling plaza.
"Seriously?" He asked, turning his gaze towards the incoming Hans... Who reeled his fist back and hurled forth a great swirling vortex of broken up stone.
Vex raised an eyebrow, tapping the back of his foot against the ground and immediately appearing with a devastating shockwave behind Hans before he could even finish his initial motion.
As Vex brought his blade down, his lips twitched... And he ceased only seconds before the ground itself bore spikes and nearly would have taken his head off had he not stopped in his tracks.
Hans turned, chuckling quietly as his green eye pierced into Vex's own pair.
Suddenly... The image of the previous nights battle took form in Vex's mind, causing him to quickly retreat out of the radius only moments before a colossal explosion took root where Hans stood.
Shaking his head violently, Veximus came to a sliding stop while still on his feet.
He looked down at his hands, dropping his sword with an ear shattering ring.
'What... What am I doing?' He asked himself, only before feeling a sudden surge of pain run through his spine.
It truly made Vex ask if it was worth this curse to become a Paladin... Especially when seeing such adaptation take place from those who stood so far below the rank of a Paladin...
"Completely infuriating..." Vex spat, turning back towards the center of the Plaza and grinning ear to ear as energy began to ripple around him.
Quickly, a humming rhythm began to sound from the artifact around Vex's neck.
Vex made sure to remind gravity... That space was under his control...
As Hans advanced, he felt his body grow heavier by the second... Only to drive his fists into the ground and began to charge on all fours like an animal...
The stone from below his rapid figure had begun to lift up with every pounce, unravelling from its place of origin and wrapping itself around Hans's body with incredible pace.
Vex tilted his head, watching slowly as Hans had already appeared before him... Now armored in his own element and attacking with full force.
With the flick of his wrist, another sword formed... And along with it, a grand slash of blue energy that drove straight into Hans' chest, hurling him back while Vex's attention instantly switched to the bug flying around his ear.
His eyes darted around the Plaza for a singular second, before a sudden jerk ran through his body and grasped within his fingers... Was the throat of the speedster...
Jacob clawed at Vex's grip, struggling and straining as Vex chuckled before throwing him in Hans's direction.
Vex's eyebrow perked, and he vanished from his place as spears of blood drove into the ground where he stood, and as he soared to the other side of the plaza, a gust of wind began to blow throughout the air, just barely knocking his momentum off track as his blade soared a foot away from Justin's throat.
"Ehh?" Vex snarled, coming to a stop and staring at the ground below him before vanishing once again, leaving a colossal crater in the ground where he had once been.
Justin called forth his Axis, twitching as far as possible and continuously dashing as he could feel Vex approaching rapidly behind him.
He turned with several hexes forming behind him and launching an attack... Only for it to break apart the ground even more. And behind Justin...
A chuckle escaped Vex's lips, as his shoulder drove into the back of Justin, launching him into the ground with a terrible explosion of its own.
"Let it be done... Begone... I don't care what your reasons are for being here... Just leave." Vex demanded, sheathing his blade and beginning to leave.
BOOM!
Hans' imbued fist slammed into Vex, barely staggering him before he turned on wielder of Earth...
A crazed gaze peered down upon Vex, and once again reminding him of the gap between this Paladin... And the entirety of Unity combined...
'It... It's not impossible...' Hans' vision wavered, and Vex's blade crashed down upon his braced fists...
His rocky gauntlets shattered, revealing a trail of blood that ran down from his forearms.
He stumbled back, his eyes wide as Vex began to laugh and mutter to himself of incomprehensible concepts...
Then a bright light had begun to engulf the sky above...
A shadow appeared over a confused Veximus, and with the off guard glances upwards... The silhouette of an armored bard had donned the sky...
Soaring straight down at Vex, Griffin pointed his rapier down at the executioner with glee.
Vex sighed, shattering the ground below him and launching himself towards the sky with blade in hand.
Blue energy ran in his trail, as he readied an attack having read the bard's movements perfectly... Considering it was a bard after all...
However, as the two forces closed in on each other, Griffin outstretched his arms, as a pair of elemental wings flapped from the force, pulling him upwards as a new silhouette took his place...
Andrew fell forth, pointing his finger at Vex with a completely deadpanned expression.
PEWWWWWWWWWWW-BOOOOOM!
A beam of light crashed into Veximus' stalled figure, driving him into the ground below.
Andrew summoned a golden rope of light, hurling it towards a broken light post and using it to launch himself upwards and onto the edge of the first layer of the fortress.
Meanwhile, Griffin came to a gliding landing.
He quickly pointed his blade to the sky, closing his eyes as words began to echo throughout the plaza.
"Unity... I grant you... A SECOND WIND!" golden sigils began to light up the sky, and healing energy began to instill into the fallen members of Unity...
Hans immediately glanced down at his bloody forearms, grinning as the wounds slowly closed.
Then without warning, he shot towards Vex's new crater, driving his fist into the ground and hurling him upwards further as he began to use parts of his armor to form a blade of his own...
Vex looked up, already bracing his sword for an attack.
Hans grinned, spinning once more with his momentum and hurling the jagged blade of stone at Vex... Who widened his eyes, turning to his backfoot and slashing the attack away easily.
However...
Hans appeared at his side, driving his fist forth...
Only for Vex to block awkwardly with the flat of his blade.
Hans backed up, preparing to defend... Only for Justin to appear behind the executioner, hurling an entire arsenal of blood at the Paladin.
Vex quickly shifted his footing, and then fluidly entering a state of perfect defense... His movement shot forth, rushing through the attacks with perfect timing...
With nearly twenty consecutive parries... He turned on Justin, launching an arc of energy at the ex-general.
"OUT OF THE WAY!" Brody screamed, shoving Justin and forming a cracked rectangular shield with his brass knuckles... Blocking the attack but getting launched back about a hundred feet from the sheer force...
Veximus turned, easily side-stepping Griffin's first series of attacks... The Paladin danced with the lightning-quick thrusts and jabs of the rapier.
He grinned, grabbing the blade of Griffin between the two fingers of his off-hand, and throwing it aside... Disarming the foolish bard with ease.
With a quick spin, Vex attacked only for a wall of light to form between Griffin and Veximus, while a loud ring ran through the air shortly after the impact.
Andrew patted Griffin on the back and instantly returned to his improvised spot in the rotation.
Griffin took a deep breath, eyeing down the incoming Hans in the distance.
'Play around him, let Jacob and Andrew play defense... And finally... Trust that Chase and Equan are enough to kill that undeserving king...' A smile took place on Griffin's lips as a loud strum rippled through the air of the entire plaza... And suddenly with a powerful gust of wind... The entire plaza cleared of its clouds of horrid smoke... Revealing the sight of countless injured civilians... And crowds of people cowered into corners of ruined structures...
Griffin froze...
Vex glanced around from his retreat towards the center, all while the ground below him had began to crack, breaking apart as something below began to radiate with immense power.
"What is this?" Vex asked, studying his new battlefield.
Griffin took a shaky breath, his fists tightening around his re-summoned weapon.
Before Griffin could truly prepare himself, Hans let out a ear-piercing roar as the ground itself began to rip apart and take new shape...
Griffin twitched forth, running low along the un-breaking trail being left by Hans as he himself launched into the air, siphoning the air-born Earth behind him... His fist began to glisten with dark green energy... And a pillar of rock began to form in the sky above...
Vex grinned, gazing up at the complete chaos taking shape around him.
"Is this a joke?" He asked, launching with a horrifying shockwave that shattered the entire fortress behind him into two...
Hans screamed, pulling the pillar down with all of his might onto the incoming Veximus...
With sinister laughter, blue energy began to torrent along his incredible speed... And as the rocky pillar crashed down atop him, Veximus glimmered, and thousands of blue lines took instant shape in the moving pillar...
BOOOOOOOM!
Clawing his way through the shattered debris of Earth, Vex grabbed at Hans... Only for a collection of chains to launch forth, wrapping around Vex's ankles from below leaving Hans only an inch away from his claws.
"Yeah right!" Vex laughed, jerking forth and dislocating his arm... Grabbing Hans by the collar and dragging the Panda down towards Luke with him.
BOOM!
The two crashed into the ground, tangling together as they rolled and slammed across the plaza several times... Only for Vex to grapple Hans with his leg, and drive him into the ground with another explosion... reeling his fist back and slamming it down onto Hans' new helmet before instantly launching back towards the one-armed Luke...
Vex's blade formed again, as he landed with a perfect low sprint, dodging and swaying around countless chains that Luke needed to land at all costs...
Vex lowered to a slide, fluidly going underneath the remainder of the attacks, and with a quick tap from his knee... He launched himself into the air and spun with fury... Launching several terrible arcs of energy down at Luke... Who stood motionless, gazing up in horror at the sheer increase of Vex's power...
"Come on!" Jacob screamed, grabbing Luke and dashing through the plaza as the ground behind him was riddled with explosions and the very destruction of the stability of the ground...
His feet tripped up on debris and jagged rocks ripping from the ground several times, and yet he kept his momentum forward...
Although messy, Jacob had gotten Luke out of combat...
"Gods help us all..." He panted, resting his hands on his knees.
Behind him...
A cloud of dust shifted in an instant... And Vex's bright blue blade glistened to life in the smoke...
Jacob's eyes widened.
And spears of blood drove towards him forcing him to drop the ground in a panic.
Vex launched his attack, only to meet the bloody blade of Justin... Who barely held strength in the clash... Losing in a near instant and being brough to his knees...
The sword shattered...
And slowly... Justin watched as Vex's blade slowly creeped towards his sternum...
Hans roared with rage, crashing into Vex with his shoulder first, and grabbing him by arm in the air while they both soared only a foot off the ground.
Hans twitched mid-air, driving his foot into the ground and turning with a ton of Axis along with all of his body weight...
BOOM!
Vex's eyes widened as his back bounced off the ground and debris and the force of the attack lifted him back into the air.
Hans' raised his fist with a terrifying grin...
Only for Vex to grin himself, twisting his body and kicking Hans in the face, and instantly bracing for an attack from Griffin... Who's rapier shattered against his blade.
Andrew appeared, launching a beam of light at Vex, who turned his body again... Spinning his blade feverishly for the incoming attack of immense potency...
In a collision of energy... Vex roared with laughter as his blade deflected the energy back towards Andrew who gasped in panic.
With no hesitation and automatic assumption, Vex's eyes shifted towards a nearby Kaylynn...
BOOM!
Gideon clashed with the Paladin only a foot in front of a completely stunned Kaylynn.
His body radiated with violet energy... Shaking and vibrating under the influence of his affinity...
"Using gravity on your own body...? Impressive... BUT CAN IT DO THIS!?" Vex screamed, as Gideon began to lift into the air in sync with the glowing necklace of Veximus...
Kaylynn followed panicking as her body betrayed her and an unseeable law began to lift them upwards.
Vex smiled, looking up with glee at his completely immobilized opponents.
"A perfect spell... That is guaranteed to kill..." Vex smiled, pointing his finger towards the sun above.
"For this influence of gravity... Has never been undone..." Vex had now escaped into a fit of laughter, mocking the reality of the situation back at the Gods themselves.
Hans' fist drove into the ground, breaking apart the entire battlefield as everyone on foot began to fall downwards.
Vex sighed, switching to a floating form as his body slowly glid to the new battlefield below...
However... Jacob had attacked first this time, sending several daggers hurling towards his floating form.
Vex shrugged, moving so fast that it could be considered a form of teleportation as he appeared behind Hans before Hans even knew he was in next in line for the rotation...
Andrew appeared, covered in static energy and several wounds... He came to a sliding stop, outstretching his bloody arm with a subtle smile on his face...
Hans lashed out, letting the Earth around them be taken aback by complete chaos... Ripping apart and launching in completely random directions.
"YOU WISH TO GAMBLE!" Veximus laughed, flicking his blade into a tightened grip as his eyes lowered to the ground...
Hans backed away, letting Andrew step in front while the ruins began to cave in on themselves...
Andrew took a shaky breath, letting the light began to collect above his palm...
A low hum began to radiate beyond the loud self-invoked destruction of the ruins.
A grin flashed for but a second... Meeting the now visible blue gears shifting in Vex's un-wavering eyes...
In the span of ten seconds... Everything happened at once... Several giant chunks of rock drove down on the radius of all three of them...
And Vex lit up with blue energy as his sword began to glimmer in shades of blue Andrew had never even seen before...
In a cacophony of slashes... The ruins were no more... Leaving Andrew and Hans encased in bubbles of light as they began to descend into an enormous crater...