A Battle of Wills [8/7]

[17:31] Artemis Task says, "Valero."
[17:31] Valero Task says, "Artemis."
[17:31] Artemis Task asks, "You wished to speak?"
[17:31] Valero Task says, "Ya'. C'mon, lets go somewhere more private."
[17:31] Valero Task says, "Shouldn't take that long."
[17:37] "This'll work."

The Overlord of Theria stated plainly enough as he made his way into the headquarter of the Authority. Specifically the library? Well, that's what he assumed the room to be.

"So, first of all. I hope you've been well, but I'll skip any further pleasantries, and get straight to the point."

A slow nod of his head follows.

"Word is ya' wanna be the one to put our brother down, ya?" He asks, knowing full well what the answer is. Though he still gives her a moment to respond before saying this.

"It ain't gonna happen. Revan is my kill. Got it?"
(Valero Task)
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[17:39] He was Theria's Overlord. Her elder brother beyond that, but in the face of his suggestion she folds her arms over her chest and stares him down.

"Yes. That word is correct."

He gives his explanation and she stiffens.

"No. Pachua is the one to be fighting him soon. It is already set. If he bests him, I've been promised satisfaction, and I plan to take it."

She's grown since being free to roam off the mountain, but some things have not. There is still, perhaps, a bit too much spoiled brat in her even still.
(Artemis Task)
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[17:44] "Wrong."

The moment his youngest sibling had finished speaking, the Overlord of Theria had spoke up. There isn't an ounce of hesitation from the man, as his glares at Artemis with his one good eye.

"Tell me. What is your reasoning for wanting to end his life? Because I can tell you right here. Right now, that mine is greater."

"Far greater."

He folds his arms across his chest.

"So go on. Explain yourself."
(Valero Task)
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[17:47] One imperious brow arches above its twin. The youngest Task stubbornly holds her ground. Two headstrong walls stand in stark opposition.

"I can tell you. But why would it matter?

I don't care if your want is supposedly greater. If you can beat me to it, then the prize is yours. Or if you get Pachua to go back on his word."

There had often been friction between the two. Pride made explaining her reasonings difficult.

"...It's funny. He told me he expected you and Hades to follow him on his little crusade."
(Artemis Task)
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[17:50] Valero's would roll his one eye.

"You misunderstand something, Artemis." The ground beneath the Warlord's feet began to crack, as he began to exude a small portion of his lateen mana. "Pachua's word is rather important, but there is one person in Theria who's word matters more."

"Mine."

The horrible sensation of the occult began to radiate further from his body, spreading throughout the room, as the whispers that plagued away at his mind would aim to make their way into Artemis' mind.

"If you get in my way. I'll kill you too."

He says plainly enough.

"So get to where you belong. The back of the line."

The Overlord would not be budging here.
(Valero Task)
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[17:55] The occult seeps off of her, filtering into her mind, her very thoughts. It makes her brain squirm. All her hair stands on end. Her jaw clenches, enough that her bones damn near creak.

"That is not where I belong. Nor will it ever be. And if you try to put me there, you are going to sorely regret it."

It is absolutely brash, completely and wholly idiotic, but between those little whispers and her natural tendencies it pushes her to recklessness.
(Artemis Task)
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[18:00] "Then prove it."

The Warlord's body found itself engulfed by the taint of the occult, the pulsing seemed to intensify, as the Overlord's body was warped by the horrid magic the lay dormant within him.

"Theria is ruled by strength."

His claw-like hand would reach towards the hilt of his Ill-Mannered Revolution, as the eyepatch the covered his eye was sent soaring away; revealing his strange clockwork eye, which was quickly engulfed by occultic flames.

"Show me right here. Right now that you don't belong at the end of the line."

He wouldn't even wait for her response. Shadows began to twist around his hand, forming a claw of sorts, before it would move to strike at his sibling.
(Valero Task)
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[18:05] Artemis is many things. Many of them are not nice things, but a coward is not one of them. That terrible occultic energy rises off of him. Raw, primal mana of her own is there to meet it, even if less honed and focused.

The time for words and civility was over. Was it even ever the time for that? Maybe for a little while, when pleasantries were still being exchanged and niceties observed.

Nope. No more. As soon as he forms his claws and goes into strike, the youngest Task meets him in the confines of this library with tooth and claw.
(Artemis Task)
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[18:18] With his energy flaring around him, Valero's claw would strike true! The poor Ookami would be sent sliding back across the floor of the library. Yet, she was a Task so he was going to have to do a lot more to keep her down.

Violet mana clashed with cyan mana, and unsurprisingly, Valero's tainted mana was winning.

After all, he had fought through countless battles, and had honed himself to be a living, breathing weapon. Just like his father would have wanted. Yet, that's not to say this was a one sided slaughter.

It wasn't.

For every blow he landed, Artemis' fists managed to connect. They were going back, and forth, and were he not presently trying to beat his little sister to a pulp, he might've felt a small bit of pride at her strength.

Alas.

Another claw of shadows would sent the woman back, giving them a brief period of reprise within their brawl.

"Is that all you got?" He sucks his teeth. "Tch. You're going to need to do more to move up the line." With that, he would rush back in to resume the battle.
(Valero Task)
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[18:23] Sure, she might have still been a spoiled brat, but she was willful. The single claw swipe serves, mostly, to upset her. To push her.

There's that familiar rush of adrenaline, combat, and struggle that is bitter sweet. For someone like her, who has been handed so much in life, it is a heady draught all its own.

And she wants more, undeterred by being sent back and skidding across the library floor to crash into a bookshelf.

It's a far cry from matching Valero's, as borne from battle and bloodshed as it is, but her shroud of mana doesn't fade just yet. His words strike her where she's weakest. Right in her pride and ego.

"ENOUGH TALKING!" she yowls, running headlong to meet him again in a second clash.
(Artemis Task)
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[18:24] {Lost Dangerous RPB against Valero Task}
[18:42] So, the clash of the Tasks would continue.

The two energy magi fought in the middle of the Authorities headquarters, with little care of what got in-between them. Tables, bookshelves, and walls would find themselves torn asunder beneath the two energy magi's wrath.

Two stubborn jackasses, fighting to prove to the other that they were right. Artemis to prove that she was indeed worthy of being at the front of the line, and Valero to prove how much of a gap between then there really was.

Artemis who had been spoiled rotten.

Valero who had to earn everything he's gotten.

The plethora of scars that were littered across his body was proof enough of that. Each of those scars told a story of the many battles the Overlord had fought in. Each of them honing him further, and further.

That? That was the reason for his victory here.

"Artemis!" He in a tone that reeked of mockery. "Allow me to show you what thefront of the line looks like." A brief moment later, Valero disappeared, his entire body fading into the shadows, only to reappear behind his sibling. A moment later a shadowy claw would crash into her side, sending her spiraling through a table, and into a wall.

"You ain't anywhere near that." The man proclaims, before spitting on the ground besides him. Though if one were paying attention. It wasn't actually spit, it was blood. The horrid energy that had encompassed him swiftly faded away, as a hand move to rest on his hip.

"Revan is mine." There was nothing more to say on that matter, but-"I do hope you enjoy the end of the line. Where you belong."
(Valero Task)
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[18:57] And a part of her knew this, deep down. A distant, rational part of Artemis' mind was already sure of the outcome. Her few short years of training herself was nothing when compared to Valero's lifetime of scraping and fighting for every single little thing he had.

She was still yet soft. And she knew it.

That mocking tone makes her ears fold back as she snarls, whirling to find where her quarry's gone. He couldn't have vanished, he had to be here somewhere-

There he is, barreling right into her from behinds and sending her careening straight into one of the many bookcases.

Artemis falls, clutching her ribs. Were any of them broken? She can't tell in the spur of the moment. All she knows is that it hurts. Pockmarked in burns of occultic energy and shallow sword wounds, the Hyene glares ouat at him with nothing but malice and contempt.

"...Enjoy your time in the sun. While it lasts, dear brother."

A muttered declaration, a last attempt to save some of her tarnished pride, and a promise of reckoning.
(Artemis Task)
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[19:04] '...Enjoy your time in the sun. While it lasts, dear brother.'

Valero scoffs at his sister's words, as his head slowly shook from side, to side.

"I will." He repeats, as a smug grin spreads across his countenance. "Enjoy your time in the dirt."

With that, the Overlord slowly turns to depart from the now somewhat wrecked building of the Authority, but not before chiming in with one more comment.

"I'll be waiting for you at the front of the line. Don't take too long to get here, yeah?"

With that he was off.
(Valero Task)
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[19:06] And of course he was going to rub it in. That was Valero's way. Practically the Task way, in truth. Make the wounds, drive them deep, run salt in them.

As soon as he departs her ears and tail both droop. When he's out of line she looks down and her shoulders sag. The Hyene drags herself up to her feet, standing in the wreckage of the Authority library.

Alone.
(Artemis Task)