chaos 16 - battling moriya

It's no surprise they were bound to meet.

Considering just how much the Adjudicator truly roams the land, it was bound to happen eventually, that he would encounter Moriya on his way. Surprisingly, the Dawn's leader is alone, with no one to guard him or defend him - not that he needed such, anyway, and most of the time he preferred it to be that way.

It's almost poetic, to some degree. To meet him amidst the wilderness, amidst nothing but the green grass and blooming flowers, except all of it was bound to be covered in crimson soon enough. Both of them knew that such interaction would not go without bloodshed.

"Moriya. Didn't expect you here."

"You impressed me as the type to be busy with the undesirables like Astaria. Do tell, how valiant and how heroic she made herself look in your eyes? Did she tell you how bad and evil her dear ex-friends are?"

"Or perhaps she actually admitted to some of her crimes, out of many?"

It wells up as a sense of bitterness and resentment. Perhaps it was a secret to him as to what exactly Astaria has been doing in Dawn, but Adjudicator knows it all too well - which made this betrayal only sting a whole lot more. Combined with just how much he was keen to spew different words?

There's hardly any room for forgiveness.

"But I don't really blame you."

"You're just a slave to what you were born as, after all. You have no freedom of thought, and if it does not fit the vision that was instilled upon you, you fall apart."

"It's quite pitiful. Perhaps, though, one day I'll even fix you... break the chains that shackle you."

The lightning surged. The clouds above them roared with thunder, and it's become clear that Adjudicator is summoning the Storm itself.

"Until then, impress me."
(Arthur Rowan)

A patrol out into the east - the Illuminated Qilin was accompanied by several Fourfold soldiers as he made his way across the border, a routine mission that often led to some kind of conflict given how tense the state of affairs were. But regardless of the day, time, or weather, Moriya would never expect to stumble upon the Adjucator himself, on his lonesome, no less.

There he was, surrounded by wild grass that grew in tussocks and was flattened in waves with each gust of wind, only to spring up as fresh as a bunch of flowers right after. This place was unfamiliar, unchartered - it was nothing like the uniform green of the meadow back home that almost looked combed. The soldiers that flanked Moriya moved outwards when the group made there way closer, cautious, but he soon raised his hand when they were nearby, "Head back. This isn't someone that any of you will survive if you engage with me," he whispers, making the order...

Step, step.

The soldiers break off, retreating to Huangzhou, and the Illuminated Qilin slowly closed the distance - until he was just meters from Arthur. His expression and posturing was especially calm; golden eyes stared forward as he took in and listened to each word with an expression of trained neutrality. "We welcome all that wish to redeem. Even you could walk in the light if you so wished it with your heart," his voice was soft, quiet yet clear, "It is never too late, Arthur Rowan. Do not give your life away to the devil. Do not forsake your soul..."

The slightest smile tugged at his lips; kind, almost concerned, a curve that was barely there. Then there's a flash of pink that ignites around Moriya, twisting against him - a benevolent light that pours out and lifts up the ends of his silky black hair.

It seems to pierce directly up - parting a small hole in the black thunderclouds that the Adjucator conjured, creating a tunnel between Moriya and the light of the sun itself, his goddess, the avatar of dawn, Jiuweihu.
(Moriya Ukitake)

We welcome all that wish to redeem.

In his mind, nothing but noble lies. There's no redemption in losing everything you are, everything that you worked for - he imagines that if he were to end up in their arms, the least that would happen to him is losing everything he is, and everything he's aspired for during all those years.

A renowned Necromancer, a Chaos mage, a known researcher.

Everything, every single piece of him would be ripped away with no hesitation. It's not something that he can allow- the moment these soldiers retreat, all to ensure that nothing gets in his way, he lunges at the Qilin - it's a killer intent, much like what Leland has been shown, and a strike follows; with whippings of water and blood, with shards of ice, with shredding winds.

As expected, the Storm mage is quick in his fighting style, and hard to keep a track of. Even despite Moriya's usage of impressive defensive techniques, it hardly helps him at all, save for the time when he deflects Arthur's assault successfully just once - and when he could assume that he's wearing Arthur down--

-- he attacks again, and again, until the Qilin is caught.

"Forsake my soul? Oh, you poor little thing. You misunderstand."

With the winds that shredded his cloak and his skin, he was brought up in the air- conjuring the chain of lightning, it was looming over Moriya's head, with icy shards appearing all around him.

"I never forsake anything. I became much greater than most could boast, and I achieved heights that no one else on Agartha did."

"And what did you achieve? Sheltering a bunch of traitors?"

And then, it strikes upon him. A prison of Storm, one that both intended to kill him and torture him at once- the Adjudicator sustains it for a while, enough to immobilize the Qilin, and then his hands drop - the relief comes in lightning promptly disappearing, before he speaks.

"Unimpressive. Just as I thought."

Perhaps if it weren't for Moriya's backup, he would've died here and there- but the moment Adjudicator sees the incoming squadron of troops, he elevates himself from the ground, flying off upon the winds.

Back to his domain of Storm.
(Arthur Rowan)

It's a style of combat he's painfully inexperienced in dealing with, and Moriya is very much taken by surprise as they engage - early on into the battle the Adjucator manages to land a blow that decided the course of the fight. Shredding whips slammed against him and bled the Illuminated, making him stumble and falter...

An open target. Caught in the storm, in a swirling tornado that lifted up and left its mark, the Qilin find himself with no choice but to retreat.

Back to the drawing board. This was a threat he couldn't take lightly - but one he also had not used her light against. A taster of the challenge the Illuminated Qilin had to come.
(Moriya Ukitake)