Arachnis: Rift Discovery

Abandoned by all but the final Arachnean soldier that refused to back down, Arachnis allowed his body to rest easy in the tight grasp that was the Infernus' fist. He released tensions with a final exhale, falling limp at the teeth grew closer, the shouts of the defiant warrior on the sidelines were nullified under the rumbling of the Yokai's stomach.

<i><font color = 'green'>"All of this strife, all of the blatant effort. Only to be made mere luncheon by the very entities that once learned to fear me. How pathetic."</i> <font color = 'red'>He thought to himself. He turned his weak gaze over the final Arachnean soldier, crossbow drawn, in preparation to attempt saving the magi's life.
<i>"Idiotic... Human." </i>

A metallic bolt slung from the bow, bouncing the bloody-pink hued flesh on impact. It sunk right through the thick skin, however, far to small to commit to real damage. Unfortunately, It took only one to the abdomen to catch the creature's attention, failing to draw blood in the process.Battle efforts were futile, granted with a near-deafening roar in retaliation. To the man's surprise, the Infernus did not charge for him!

Instead, it turned what appeared to be it's club-arm for the man. It turned out, that the 'club' was in fact, -not- mean't solely for blunt assault, but to reinforce the definition of this specific Yokai's affinity. From it's end, akin to a toppled bottle of mead, flames poured out with extraordinary force, searing the sands with a hissing crackle as it took the shape of a wall; A wall that roared across the desert dunes, flattening all to carve out a wonderland of glass and reflection. 'Enlightenment', was given a new twist, as the final Arachnean soldier came to learn of an Infernus' pyromantic mastery.

The man's screams were only answered by the caw of circling vultures overhead, having caught the whiff of fresh corpses littering the sands. The Yokai's shoulders bounced moderately, as though to imitate a brief chortle of enjoyment, finally settling it's gaze on the final one of them all, Arachnis. The poor old man was risen once more, oddly never dropped nor strained any longer, leaving his body to carried up to it's opening maws.

"Perhaps, the delay in all of this holds further purpose than I've realized." He spoke out clearly, without hindrance of his current condition. "Perhaps. . . There is an opportunity, I failed to note."
Arachnis' head was half-way into the beast's mouth, it's maws now closing shut with great speed. Darkness prevailed over sight... And soon... The snap of flesh!

Blood was everywhere, airborne and scattering about to paint in all directions.

The man's body tensed up for only an instant, only to go limp... Relaxed for once. The Yokai on the other hand retracted his face, leaving blood to spout from his lips. It yelped! Turning away and spitting out blood, tossing his captive off to the side... Or at-least, attempting to. The yelps evolved into an extended squeal in anguish, turned eyes set upon what once was food, now-turned into a... Human-porcupine?

Arachnis had taken the risk of oblivion, having manifested Lyperion Utovex once more to his aide. It protruded from various positions, skewering the clamped fists enough to lock it in place. Naturally, it's contact sapped at the flesh, leaving the large hand to shrivel with time. As the hand eroded away, Arachnis seemed to only grow in comparison; The shading of his hair darkened slightly, and the flesh of his figure climbed up the exposed skeletal regions of his body. No matter the growth, his muscularity did not find itself being restored in the slightest. Absorption was underway, restoring the Harukean occultist and tipping the odds into his favor.

The Infernus' rage bubbled from beneath the surface. Directly against the Harukean's skin, the withering hand tightened it's grip, allowing the fabric of reality to blur, quivering in an endless dance. The manifested lances began to curl, to discourage attempts to break their hold, however, the heat denied their movement. The tentacles were baked, damned to only incineration. Arachnis was swallowed in the wrath that was the Infernus' masterful pyromancy, bringing him to exercise an excruciating scream. The smell of burning meat stained the air, for the flames blackened the old man's flesh, and le-

A pulse of gravitational energy reduced the hand into a crimson mist, shattering the confrontation with a hail of charcoal. The burn't flesh scattered from Arachnis' body, leaving him skinned and malleable for the moment. Crimson static riddled up his form, jolting about to almost tug at the remaining skin. In time, new flesh covered him like bed sheets, tightening to latch to the muscular and skeletal systems beneath.The Harukean had freed himself, at the cost of shattering Lyperion Utovex's hold on the Yokai's fist. The lances crafted of Lyperion Utovex were shattered in the flames and although he could simply manifest more from his body, it was clearly evident of a new weakness...

Arachnis hovered with gravity mastery's aid, observing the infuriated Yokai's tantrum over the pained loss, rejuvenated and ready for round two. "I must admit, I've forgotten how invigorating it is, to feed on the flesh and circuit."

The Yokai's attention turned to the magi, devoid of all plausible emotion aside from savagery.
"Perhaps... That is just what I need to get back in the game." He simpered at the thought, only to be replied to with a vexed roar, charging for his victim. The sands were forced to spout about, scattering before him as he closed the distance. The Harukean brought rise to his right hand just as the Yokai rose it's only arm left, the club hand, sending it down like a hammer for Arachnis.

It seemed to move so much faster than one would predict for something so big! There was no time for words, for the beast was already before him. The man's eyes opened up for once, pupils dilating with shock.

"Get back!" The sands around him departed from their rest, flowing for the air and taking shape between himself and the descending 'club' in what seemed to be a moment in time.
"COMPRESS!"
The yokai's arm pounded into the sand, simultaneous to the gravitational press that compacted the sandy mass into a sheild of sorts, repelling the Yokai's arm with a violent explosion of dust and sand. The impact forced Arachnis back a few feet, as it did to the Yokai, already recovered and making it's sprint, blindly through the fog of sand. It's gleaming red eyes pierced through it's ambiguous haze, the pounding of his feet against the sand left the magi stumbling backwards to some sort of leverage in this confrontation.

Then, it hit him! The thing he tripped over! It was a rock!
It turned out to be his lucky day after-all. He extended his right arm out for it, bringing it to levitate slowly for his gri-

A loud slap of wet meat sounded off, and the world went mute! The man's head shifted to something greater, imposing it's own his own. The Yokai's 'hammer' had struck true, forcing his telekinetic grasp upon the rock to tear away. The harukean went airborne, arching mid-flight and effectively leaving the miniature dust bowl. He plopped unto the ground some distance away, groaning at the pain cursed unto him by such biologically blunt weaponry.

The booms of it's footsteps were slower now, for the battle was coming to an end. Arachnis began to strain himself unto his hands and knees, head down to pant in fatigue, forced to endure a feeling of doom to the fate that accompanied that shadow that crawled over him; He reached his arm out for the distance, attempting to feel out for the rock in the distance utilizing magus sense for a vague sense of the alien affinity. The predatory gurgle of the Infernus rattled from his throat, with a hissing inhale crackling in it's undertone. It's 'club' ascended as mirror of this, prepared to finish what it had started.

Arachnis tensed for a moment, showing teeth that would take on the shape of a grin. "I'm not-" The sands in the distance poofed up-some, unearthing a small object that soared low, close to the dunes in a bee-line for the magi's palm. It clapped on contact, crunching down as he bared pressure unto it utilizing the same telekinetic abilities he wielded to carry it over.
In the same instant, he pivoted his focus for the Yokai's head, "-Done yet!". He hurled the rock with all his might.

Magus strength and Cosmic energy turned it into a bullet of earth! A spray of blood clung to the air, and the creature's head turned over. He missed his target! All he managed to do was graze it, enough to force some distance between himself and the Yokai. It backpedaled, long enough for him to get to his feet. Time was of the essence, and thus, the next move would decide whom would be walking away from this!

The man extended both of his arms out, snarling his teeth at the halting monstrosity. His mind fluttered off to Jade on that fateful day, still plaguing his mind by a scene he knew all too well. Every last detail, from physical perception to the very essence of mana down to the last blade of grass. What he longed for, more than anything else in this land was for Jade back, but more importantly to achieve her dream. All of this, made him think so strongly of home in a time such as this.

It felt as though he'd never come to see the manor again. Then again, the Melym Clan had evicted him from such a place, meaning it was hopeless at this point. All he could do was dream...
Yet, he felt the connection to such a place to be so potent... So strong, that he actually began envisioning it in a time such as this.

His eyes watered, reddening at the thought of his lost spouse. The thought of leaving Jasper in these hostile lands alone felt that much more unbearable. "I... I can't die here. . . I have a purpose to fulfill. Jade couldn't have been extinguished in vain."
The moment's period of stagnant time accelerated to catch up to reality. The beast turned it's biological cannon over to the magi, apparently losing faith in taking him in as a meal.

"Jasper has much more to learn, and requires protection from the world we sustain within. Not to mention, -She- would never forgive me, even in the afterlife for losing myself here!"
From the spout, fired forth a jet of flames, slamming into the earth and towering up to form a wall. It's objective was simple, consume, and eradicate... To find fuel, and exist; That was the fire's sole purpose. In this instance, Arachnis was fuel for the fire that would end this scuffle once and for all.

Before Arachnis, the air bent in on itself, compacting to pop a hole in on itself. The power of gravity was unleashed in an instant,  imploding to manifest an absence of existence. A black hole, consumed at the flames, catching the incoming walls at their core and reeling them in. The roaring wave caved in, slamming down with force akin to a tsunami, concentrated on the hole.
Bullets of sweat pooled upon his forehead, streaking down his face to portray his discomfort at the close fires. Thankfully, it wouldn't last long, before the wall was extinguished, siphoned from the plane of plausible existence.

The Yokai lowered it's 'cannon', to make a single step forward, as though to inspect the remains. To it's surprise, Arachnis was still standing, defying it's death wish.

"Come and get it." taunted the Harukean, snarling as it gladly obliged.
His arms? Extended.
Palms? Open.
Aim? Locked.

The boom of bass filled the air, signs of invisible cannon-fire of sorts. Pillars of the air were near solidified, pushed like massive lances heaved from his hands. They hit like hammers, denting into the Yokai's chest region and forcing him back once, every two steps. It delayed him down, but was far from providing victory. Never before had he thought of home so much... The old Granite manor, for this felt like the last time he'd ever be granted the chance to do so, before all was lost.

With every shot fired, his arms nudged back in recoil, one after the other. The occasional flair of cosmic magic granted him with the excess energy, providing him with the will to fight till the very end.
Finally, that end was upon the conflicting duo. Arachnis stopped the gravitational 'bullet-fire', for the Yokai was standing but yards away. He was only delaying the inevitable at this point. He didn't have the time to charge back to full power, and even had he done so, he hadn't absorbed enough to provide results.

He defied the thought, giving in to mortal rage. Open palms closed into tight fists, unveiling the last he had unto the Infernus. He laced the vast majority of mana that remained for it's figure, far too fatigued to effective use gravity magic with the mastery he had honed for years. The degree, in which the mana laced through, coincided with the space within and about it's body as well, capturing it and the space it stood within as whole in his telekinetic grasp for what would judge the outcome of this confrontation!

"I'M GOING TO END THIS, ONCE AND FOR ALL!" He croaked ferociously, whipping his arms out to his sides. The Yokai's body was put under immense strain, being pulled apart from the inside... A level that parted space, leaving a tear that rivaled the implosion of a black hole. It was thin, but visible as a slice through the Infernus. However, Arachnis wasn't done, not until he was sure this was over!

A prolonged scream for the heavens sounded off the parting of sands, conjuration of winds, and finally-
The beast succumbed to the outgoing pressure with a withering attempt to moan, bursting into a fine mist that whisked for the halves on either side of Arachnis.

Oddly enough, what came after was... Nothing short of phenomenal. If only he knew what it was...
Where he cleaved space in two, a hole in reality surfaced, idling within generated winds to consume all that remained near like a black hole, nor spewing randomly akin to a white hole's properties. It was just... There...
The only abilities he came to know, that wasn't up to par with Valmasian standards was his innate Mana sensing abilities... This... This was strange.

Seconds passed, and he started his approach, getting closer yet, not making an effort to do anything rash. In that instant! It began to shrivel up, clamping shut to... Vanish?
Perhaps it was a fluke of gravity magic... The thought didn't hang around too long, for he knew gravity magic far too well to come to such a conclusion.

A few more moments of pondering and then... His body began to ache... He fell over, face-planting the sands, falling asleep shortly after.