Chapter
CCCXVII: Mind Versus Metal – Clash of Titans ~Markior/Multehx
Heavy footsteps
made the ground tremble as Nonth made his way to the
village center. With the festivities abruptly ended,
shrieks of suddenly wide awake children pierced the night sky, as the villagers
scuttled away.
Markior could sense its evil. He turned towards the metallic colossus, his eyes widening. This certainly wasn't part of the festivities. His Yoshian shape turned towards Nonth, as it approached the village centre. The spirit motioned the villagers away or to the side. He looked up at the great metal being, his arms crossed. "By what right do you disturb this Feast? Who are you?"
Nonth folded his arms in indifference. He stood motionless for a moment and looked over the group...
The villagers,
young and old, sought shelter far away from the metal creature. Lich and
Markior, already aggravated by the metal giant, hovered up to the robot's face. Staring into the blue gem, he rumbled, "State thy name!"
Nonth ignored the irate Markior, simply batting him aside with a deft hand. The Guardian of the Yoshi Race crashed quite unceremoniously into one of the huts on the edge of the village. The metal abomination rubbed where a chin would be, if he had such a thing, muttering, "Your stench hangs over them all...where are you, Malachai.."
Markior, sent flying, rammed into one of the huts, the small home of brimstone and wood collapsing atop of him. Inside, he opened his eyes, which illuminated the dark.
"What by the mind of Khas..." he rumbled, "Malachai? Still here..?"
A blazing white light began to emit from the cracks and cervices from the pile of rubble, shining into Nonth's blue gem, which in turn reflected the light as blue.
Nonth growled under his breath. He contemplated what to do for a moment, abruptly turning to one of the elders of the tribe. Pointing a finger, cold as steel and unwavering, at him, he demanded, "You, tell me, where is the demon Malachai. Make the reply worth your life, 'cause it is."
Rising from the
rubble as it burnt away around him, the Archonic
shape of Markior turned towards Nonth, his old hand
clenched and pupiless white eyes narrowed. He moved a
hand to
”I don't know WHO you are...or WHOM you serve...but no-one threatens my people," the Archon rumbled. "Your deal with Malachai does not concern me or them. Prepare yourself for battle, ye who dealt the first blow."
The villagers, aghast to see Markior in any other form then described as in scrolls or tomes of the past, looked at their new Chieftain. Lich calmed them, while keeping an eye on Nonth as well. There was no telling what to expect from this encounter.
Nonth turned, seeming to stare at Markior for a brief moment. He then raised a boot and brought it down upon the ground with
enough force to jar loose a rock that bounces off Markior's face.
"Silence, Windbag."
Markior narrowed his eyes some more, clenching his other hand as the rock fell down again. "You may call me Markior. And I will thoroughly enjoy ripping out the part of your programming which gives you your vocabulary. And then everything else..."
His form moved forwards, clenched fists and eyes ablaze with light.
"PSIONIC PUNCH!"
With clenched fist, he jetted forwards, turning, and slamming his psychically empowered fist into the robot’s upper torso, sending the metal creature flying out of the exit of the village. The Archon, nearly matching its height by a few feet difference, followed him slowly.
Nonth made a thunderous impact into something quite massive in the distance. It was obviously the forest as the sound of crashing trees ensued. Nothing was heard for a moment. Then, steady, metallic footsteps could be heard drawing closer and closer. Finally, the one making them walked back into the village. Even through lack of a head, he seemed of such manner to bear a sneer upon his face.
He stopped a few feet away from Markior, snickering, “You know, that won't be easy to get out.”
Markior crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed and white energy brightening for a moment, as if inhaling a deep breath of air. "You've got more than stains to worry about, robot. I've not have had a good battle in a fairly long while."
Nonth did not move as strange computerized sounds were heard from within him. He simply chuckled as they stop. "My defence protocol is now active, I will retaliate."
Markiors eyes narrowed as he took on a fighting pose. "I hope so. I don't feel like fighting a sandbag."
Clenching his fists once more, his warpblades around his wrists appeared into view, the glowing blueish blades of energy appearing with a hum.
Nonth cracked each finger single-handedly. He drew back a fist, winded up, and unleashed a decimating blow to Markior's cheek. The force of the wind behind it made several nearby stumble about.
Markior’s form remained standing; though his upper body turned down and to the side in the split second after impact, face to the side, his eyes closed. He slowly rose again, his eyes flicking open.
"Ah…pain,” he rumbled. “I hope you're programmed to feel the same; there's gonna be a lot of it."
Lich, from the distance, gathered the villagers and moved them even further away. Listening to Markior speak, he blinked. His words were less calm and silent with the passing of each second.
Hovering back with a dash, Markior took to the air, jetting forwards his right wrist, the warpblade going for the robot's chest, leaving a trail of blue light, painting the black sky.
Nonth raised a hand defensively in front of himself. He growled in pain as the blade penetrated his arm and pierced through it slightly. Internal fluids of cleaning nature mixed with battery acid sprayed out violently from where the wound was made.
Markior narrowed his eyes, and ripped the blade out to the side ruthlessly. Not waiting for the metal giant to retaliate, he turned around and got ready to slice the creature again, this time his left blade swinging low towards Nonth's side, again leaving a streak of blue light in its wake.
Nonth seemed to exhale a violent burst of steam from the vents in between his plates in anger. As quick as he possibly could, he took hold of Markior's wrist. The blade began to slice into him, but he stopped it from going far. He chortled evilly. He began tightening his grip to maddening forcefulness.
Markior rumbled loudly, his eyes wide at the increased strength of the grip. Rising up his free arm, he jammed it forwards into the robot's wrist, inches away from his own. Mentally roaring in pain, he fazed out into ethereal form for a second, long enough to slip his wrist and blades out of the robot's body, hovering to the side with a short, slow-paced dash. His blades disappearing as he tended to his wrist, he looked up at Nonth's gem, and took to the sky.
Nonth seemed a bit confused by
Markior's sudden escape. Rubbing the wounds on his arm and wrist, he ignored
the slight one on his side.
Markior rumbled,
"How does a creature like this dare
to threaten my people, or attack
Holding his hands in front of him, white energy started pouring into his palms. "Psionic BLAST!" he roared, sending the column of raw psio-kinetic energy soaring towards the robot.
Nonth reacted as best he could, throwing up the classic "X" defence position as the blast engulfed him. In its wake, smoke wafted off his body and some burn marks were apparent. He quite quickly shook this off and retaliated with a punch that would break a few ribs on connection.
Markior, seeing the fist coming, moved to the side, and got hit as such, sending him twirling five, six times before stopping himself, holding his black chest in pain. Rumbling loudly, he shook off the daze, looking back down at Nonth. “Strength and mind of a prehistoric brute...”
Nonth laughed to the heavens, snickering as his he retracted his expanded arms. "My punches are quite potent on you disgustingly pathetic bio-forms. You're dense enough in molecular structure to demonstrate my superiority on."
Markior seemed to grin. "Superiority? Bio-forms? Sounds to me like you're late for your annual check-up, robot. So many mistakes, which will cost you dearly."
Narrowing his eyes, he held out his hands.
"Ethereal form..." his mind audibly whispered, his form fazing into the starlit sky before reappearing. Hovering down, he crosses his arms.
"Your best shot, metal man. Reveal this so-called superiority of yours."
Nonth smirked. "With pleasure."
He leapt to the heavens (as far as his weight would allow), drew back a fist and the entire top half of his body, then released a thunderous attack by throwing the punch forward and down. He rocketed to earth, his fist splintering the ground in a massive quake. Nonth stood tall after a moment, chuckling.
"Now...what were you saying again? If you can still talk."
Markior stood still in place, his arms still crossed, and eyes opening again. "You heard me... my mind speaks words even to a mindless one like you."
He was still in the same place, slightly above the crater Nonth's punch made, half of his body inside of the robot's arm. His ethereal form was simply untouched by the physical fist of steel.
Nonth stumbled backwards, pretty near shocked at this development. It took him a moment before he regained his composure, enough to seemingly glower at Markior. "Don't think this act will thwart ME."
Markior opens his hand in front of Nonth's gem...the palm of his hand glowing. "Thwart? Hardly. Perish, instead," He rumbled, another blast of crackling, kinetic energy engulfing the robot's upper torso.
The white light of the blast lit up the Archon’s face as he moved backwards again, his eyes' light leaving trails of white as he moved.
Nonth twitched as the blast subsided. The blue gem burnt to a crisp and fell to ash. Its owner snarled fiercely. "That took quite awhile to design so PERFECTLY! Now I'll have to work on ANOTHER after I trash you!!"
In response, Nonth threw out his fist, pointing it at Markior. His wrist reconfigured a bit and a small device popped out, complete with a stocked set of three missiles. He snickers again, firing off one at Markior.
Markior narrowed his eyes. "Mindless robots have no need for jewe.."
His eyes widened, and he jetted to the side, the missile flying through him and hitting the ground. The blast radius of the explosion knocked him in the back, making him stumble forwards. Roaring in anger, he created a small missile-like orb of energy inside his hand between his fingertips. "Curse you! LOCKDOWN!" he rumbled, throwing the orb at the robot's arm.
Nonth reacted to the orb in precisely the fashion he specialized in; by promptly firing a second missile into it.
The lockdown did exactly what it was supposed to, but in the wrong fashion. Engulfing the missile in a transparent globe, it locked its mechanics down, the missile slowing down and hitting the ground on the side with a thud.
Markior, holding his hand above his head, gathered enough mental energy for another blast. "Don't be a fool, mechanic freak... Nothing of your physical arsenal can harm me right now, yet I will not stop tearing you apart!"
Nonth considered this for a moment. After a moment's self-debate, he withdrew the launcher unit on his wrist, and quickly scanned his gaze over the mass of bystanders, in sight and hidden. In a split second, he made his choice.
Markior ‘leapt’ back to the air, and turned around, throwing the gathered energy towards the robot with great speed, the mental grey energy crackling in its wake. "GREY PSIONIC BLAST!" he roared.
Nonth rose up, seeing the blast soaring at him. “Not a chance!”
He barrelled past the blast, which tore along his arm and exploded a few feet away from him, moving as swift as his mass would allow, shoving aside several Yoshies violently until he found whom he was looking for. Not skipping a beat, he grabbed up Ark in a deft movement. He restrained the struggling captive, shaking a fist. "This may be over, but, as it's not, I'll be back! You'll be seeing me again, make no doubts!"
Markior's eyes went wide. "You would not dare flee with a hostage! Release him, cowardly construction!"
“This one is exactly what I need. He has the air of one who works with machines all about him. He will be quite helpful to me. So, upon considering your request, I'm sorry to say, but, no.” Nonth smirked.
Markior jetted
forward towards Nonth, his warpblade
appearing around his wrist again as he raised his hand. Lich, in panic, threw
his Boomerang towards the wrist of the hand holding his brother. But all was to
no avail...Nonth de-pieced into an abstract mass of
an energy-like substance and metallic plates, surrounding
”NO! Get back here, foul dishonourable COWARD!”
“AAARRKK!!”
* * *
The villagers slowly started reappearing from their respective hiding spots. Lich fell to his knees.
Markior shifted back to corporeal, Yoshian form, cursing under his breath. “I should’ve finished that metallic monstrosity when I…had the chance…”
The sounds of the villagers arose as their confusion of what just happened grew. Who was the great beast of shining stone? Why did The Great Spirit change how he looked? Where was the Hunter being taken? Was this part of the prophecy?
Markior looked
to the side... seeing a familiar figure lay motionless where Lich was knocked
off his feet. The one he saw he had not seen since Zolott’s
final hour. “By Adun...it’s...Multehx...”