Lux Locus: Fractured Family
The one who hides

The immense shockwave created by Ysmo caused the foundations of the factory to shift slightly. This almost insignificant change in weight disposition caused the land beneath the building to collapse on one side and cause everything to tilt down to Zenith's left. The prosecutor's aim was thrown off and his bullet deflected off of Kormsin's armor and hit one of the cables holding down several crates stuck in the conveyor on the ceiling.

The bile from the weapon spilled around, corroding the metal holding everything in place, causing cables to snap and platforms to give in. The massive containers plummeted and crashed through the floor, taking some cultists and regimentaries with it. The law enforcers, regimentaries, and cultists all found themselves being thrown about like toys from the shift. Several regimentary ships outside converged onto the location of the factory, the occupants of the mighty vessels fully expecting some form of oni to emerge from the tilting rubble.

"You might think this to be disadvantageous," Kormsin started. "But this just makes it all the more exciting."

The man jumped onto his feet and adjusted himself to the movement of the factory, allowing him to slide across the ground and raise his sword to stab the prosecutor on his way down. A stray crate interrupted his attempt, the side of the metal box clipping the warrior's torso and pushing him away. Tzinma's spell was deflected by Kormsin's sword, hitting one of the immense doors and causing it to collapse in on itself briefly before exploding outward in a cloud of shrapnel.

"You idiots!" Zenith shouted. "Stop attacking each other! We'll all die if you keep this up!"

"No," Tzinma replied. "YOU will all die."

One regimentary sliding down the floor held out a knife, taking advantage of the opportunity and stabbing Tzinma in the left leg with it. Luckily for the woman, she managed to direct herself to one of the walls leading to a hangar door and rolled outside of Tzinma's line of sight, saving her, for a time.

"A knife of a sanctified one?!" the magus howled. "How?!" He collapsed to a knee, and what magic he was using to slow his descent was interrupted even further. "Zenith," he cried out. "Tell me where our sister is, before I may be forced to leave."

Zenith snickered. "Who said she's still alive?" he responded with a smirk on his face.

Unfortunately, his demeanor was poorly timed, and both Kormsin and Tzinma flew into a rage by what should have been a benign comment. Kormsin punched away a crate sliding his way, causing it to almost fully fold onto his arm whilst tendrils of mana jolted out of Tzinma like electricity.

Zenith did his best to stand and fight, deflecting Kormsin's attacks with his arm and using his pistol to try and shoot Tzinma, but the warrior's constant, powerful strikes and the magus' mana barrier prevented any proper countering. As such, the prosecutor was easily overwhelmed, worsened by his already present wounds, and impaled on his brother's blade.

Kormsin swung his blade away, throwing Zenith off of it and against a pallet rack. The warrior nodded at his exploit and stretched out an arm to claim the soul of his prey. However, Tzinma had other thoughts about that and thrust his own sword forward, nearly cutting off the warrior's arm.

"His soul is not yours to claim, brother," Tzinma spat like venom. He swung his sword downwards. "His is mine!"

Kormsin pointed to his chest. "I was the one who killed him, therefore I will claim his soul." He turned his to his brother and once more tried to claim Zenith's soul.

"You think honor is still in play in these circumstances?" Tzinma forced out a laugh. "Nonsense. How about I kill you, and then I'll have both of your souls."

The warrior glared at the magus from the corner of his eyes. "And how do you plan on doing that?" he asked with a low and threatening voice.

The magus channeled mana through his armor and into his hands. "Through the easiest way," Tzinma replied in a similar manner.

Remaining regimentaries and law enforcers unburdened by cultists or demons opened fire on the two figureheads of their respective deity, creating irritation rather than actual damage. They would have ignored the source, had they not been hit in the face by such tremendous force that the world went white briefly for them. Kormsin was thrust into a container that had only partway traversed the floor and uplifted it into the air and further away. Tzinma had his helmet caved in and his body thrust into the ceiling to fall back down with rubble.

Kormsin stumbled to his feet and pulled metal shards from his left arm. "Sucker punching, huh?" he chuckled. "What's wrong with you then, afol anda? Angry that I killed your comrades?"

"Ha!" Tzinma mocked as he pushed against his knees to straighten himself up. "The only way you could have killed afol anda is if they were the runt of the litter."

The afol anda looked to the side, seeing the prosecutor slouched against the packet rack and clinging to life by a weak thread. Zenith's mechanical body was sparking and choking on chunks of broken gears and liquid spilling within its interior. Any attempt to move was met with loud whirring created by the disapproval of said gears. His view of the afol anda in question disturbed the man. Tzinma, raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"What is this? A white glow surrounds her," he noted out loud.

Kormsin gripped his blade tighter, and his blood started racing through his body. "She's been blessed by whatever deity they follow." He smiled. "But her's is temporary."

"Unlike ours," Tzinma added.

"I am CQ, and I will be retrieving that prosecutor," she said as she pointed towards the wounded man.

The warrior scoffed. "No you won't," he stated. "Now bring out your weapon so that we can have a fun tussle."

The woman reached to an outstretched rod on her back and slowly pulled it from over her head. She slammed the weapon downwards, creating white shockwaves that threw the two enemies off their feet and caving in the already fragile floor further. The weapon CQ held was a massive warhammer with a spiked head so large it could hold two human skulls within its confines.

The warrior stumbled to his feet while staring at the weapon in awe. "I've never seen a weapon like that," Kormsin complained. "Is that some new thing you hollow dolls made on your spare time?"

"It's imbued with the energies of their deity," Tzinma explained. "It's an entirely new weapon."

Kormsin cracked his neck and readjusted his shoulders. "Then it looks like we'll just have to keep her from using it while the 'blessing' drains out!"

CQ blocked the sword strikes of the warrior using the metallic handle of the two-handed weapon, her enhanced body allowing her to easily brace for the impact force bleeding through and to counter with her own overwhelming power. She thrust the handle upwards, throwing the warrior off balance, allowing her to adjust Kormsin's position to be struck by Tzinma's spell. Mana surged through his body and created light through his eyes and mouth whilst it tried to destroy him through his greed and want.

CQ took the opportunity to punch him hard in the stomach, making him keel over. She then grabbed his face in one hand, threw him up, then wound up her warhammer behind her and thrust it down as hard as she could, taking the head with the broken man and collapsing the floor through the power of the impact and deific energies coursing through her and her weapon. Tzinma followed by shooting a few more blasts of ma,a at her, measuring her abilities. The weak spells were deflected by the white energy surrounding her body, confirming the magus' suspicions.

Magic chains erupted from the ground and pierced through the woman's arms by phasing through her arm and attempt to hold her down, but she would not have it. Instead, with a large build up of strength, she pulled out a chunk of the ground and swung it at the magus who braced himself with his arm and an undulating barrier of mana. He jumped away after the impact subsided and struck forward with his sword after pooling mana within it. Luckily, his barrier held just enough to allow him to get out of the way of the warhammer's impact, but its strength shattered the mana and created another wave of cleansing energy that burned his hands through his armor.

The two faced each other down, their concentration drowning out the sounds of combat and gunfire nearby and the muffled explosions coming from the city and the vehicles within. With some difficulty, Kormsin plucked himself from the hole and stomped back to his feet, thankful for the gifts Blumarak had bestowed upon him, but the damage was not minor.

There was now a fight between three figures empowered both metaphorically and literally waging a war against each other, and Zenith had no way to fight. He could fight a lesser demon with some help, and all the cultists in the universe, but this was another level.

"Gods forbid that a demon of the apocalypse is summoned as well," he thought to himself.

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