There was an absence of gravity once within the portal, and Thanacheir could see Space IkaDevil moving with great agility in this environment. The spear she threw at his way whizzed past the side of his head, barely grazing him as he managed to move aside at the last moment upon noticing it.

"Ku...! Persistent little brat!" the squid being remarked as he moved towards a newly-opened hole to lead the pursuing woman to, arriving in what appeared to be a city already in ruins. Space IkaDevil would land amidst a number of unusual life forms that resembled humanoid insects in their pupa form. These creatures stopped whatever they were doing upon seeing the two, moving to surround Thanacheir with their numbers.

"Don't just stand there! Finish her off!" the Grand Shocker general exclaimed angrily as he motioned his tentacles, pointing at the woman that pursued him. The insect creatures started running at Thanacheir, prominent arm raised with sharp claws that looked to be capable of tearing through hard material.

Keeping up her pursuit, Thanacheir found herself landing in the middle of what felt like a giant ant colony, and one that oddly enough seemed to obey IkaDevil's commands. As they ran towards her, she jumped at the nearest one as it lunged at her, briefly making a handspring on its head. The creature froze as she touched it, and soon after a gooey substance resembling blood erupted from every orifice of its head as its skull seemingly imploded into its brain. Counting on the shock value to grant her an element of surprise, she went after IkaDevil again, a brief shimmer in the air between her hands returning her halberd to her again even as she began to twirl it between her fingers to pick up momentum for what was no doubt going to be a powerful strike if it connected.

With one of their kind taken out without even a sign of damage inflicted, something odd occurred among the other insectlike creatures. Their shells cracked open to reveal a more mature form of insect bodies resembling various large beetles, bees, and even arachnids. What was even more unusual was how they suddenly disappeared from where they stood. The last thing Thanacheir could feel was countless strikes successively making contact on her from everywhere. They reappeared just as quickly with one taking the blow for Space IkaDevil before falling to the ground and deteriorating together with the twenty others.

"Tsk, seems like you're really too dangerous to touch," Space IkaDevil remarked at the vanishing bodies before him, "Your common, run-of-the-mill Worms won't cut it. Maybe we could do something about that?"

A sickening grin formed on the squid monster's face (despite the lack of an apparent mouth) as one of its tentacles produced a glowing stone that was emanating a mixture of azure and crimson lights. Raising the stone overhead, the so-called Worms started to convulse violent as they molted from their shells into drastically different forms from the first batch. These ones carried weapons that looked to possess an otherworldly sheen to them.

Overhead, an audible cracking noise resounded as the sky started to fracture. It started with a hairline crack that rapidly traveled until it went all the way to the horizon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:50, Fri 29 June 2018.

Thanacheir felt the impact of several strikes all over her body, though she kept going for IkaDevil. Her armor could handle most of the blows, and so all she needed to do was focus on maintaining both her balance and her forward momentum -- her powers, armor and regeneration might be enough to deal with whatever attacked her, but that did not mean she was immune to impact and momentum.

As the... Worms deteriorated after making contact with her, she grinned at IkaDevil. The creatures that died here would go on to Vi, marked by their death at her hands, and her God would be able to piece together more about this Grand Shocker based on their accumulated knowledge. Still, IkaDevil would know a great deal more.

More interestingly, there was that artifact he was holding, and one that was obviously destabilizing this World. Going by the effect it was having on his troops, she guessed he was drawing power from it to feed to them, and enhance their weaponry with it. But even as she considered these things, she was not stupid enough to let IkaDevil finish whatever preparations he was making in order to make it easier for his men to stop her, and so her axe sliced through the air again, intending to sever the tentacle holding the glowing stone aloft, and taking the device for her own. It would be destroyed upon contact like any other, of course, but considering how dangerous it was to the stability of the Worlds, denying such a device to her enemy was definitely a goal for her to focus on as much as seeing IkaDevil dead.

The powered-up Worms vanished from sight as soon as Thanacheir threw her axe at Space IkaDevil's way. The thrown weapon was deflected by an unseen force - specifically by one of the Worms that was moving at speeds faster than the eye could perceive. Now granted with powers from another world imbued into weapons, they struck with much greater force without losing out on speed.

"So you're just like that man, an agent of destruction," Space IkaDevil remarked as he figured out a bit of what Thanacheir was capable of, "But your methods are different. Regardless both are a pain to deal with."

"You can just play with whoever else is here," the squid being heckled as he continued to keep his distance from the avatar of destruction's approach. The Worms' strikes were instantly delivered on Thanacheir's person, inflicting serious wounds that were contesting against her regenerative powers. The Worms, however, have no need to fear contact with Thanacheir with their unusual weapons and incredible speeds, making them an increasingly growing nuisance against her plans as Space IkaDevil slipped through a portal on his left.

Thanacheir winced as the otherworldly weapons struck her. She knew all weapons known to Vi could not survive contact with her for long, but the speed at which wounds were inflicted upon her was troublesome enough on its own, and to make matters worse, IkaDevil was escaping.

Still, a positive for every negative she supposed. While these 'Worms' IkaDevil was referring to felt more confident about striking her now that they had -- arguably chipping -- weapons, that also meant they were far less inclined to try and grab her, which in turn gave her the opportunity to follow IkaDevil through his own portal once again to wherever he was headed next. And with the Worms obviously not intended to follow, that solved two issues at once. And so, with all the speed she could muster, she dove for IkaDevil's portal, intended on following him through it -- halberd first, of course. That stone was important, and she wasn't the type to give up easily!

The most unusual thing occurred as Thanacheir was about to enter the portal Space IkaDevil left behind - she felt something come out through it at high speeds that forced her back. When the avatar of destruction managed to regain her footing, she saw the Worms that died earlier from contact with her standing there and garbed in unusual armor glowing in the same manner as the weapons the Shocker general created for the Worms that were attacking Thanacheir all this time.

The portal shrank away at this point as the Worms started to attack and pile up on Thanacheir to impede her advance. Deafening cracks echoed overhead as more cracks appeared throughout the world they were in, some even claiming the Worms where the crack passed when they were charging at Thanacheir.

The world soon collapsed on itself, falling down on the Thanacheir and the Worms around her. Due to Thanacheir's power, she was relatively unharmed. Still, several mysteries have presented themselves to her during her encounter with this Space IkaDevil.

Thanacheir kept fighting -- in her case attempting to block blows too fast for her to see while waiting for the enemy weapons to deteriorate -- when the cracks widened, causing the World to collapse around them. As she floated around in the vastness of the void, she reflected on the past events as her body began to dissipate. This was a normal thing for her, though commonly one that would take place once her task had been completed and Vi opened a portal to itself for her to step through: Her host body no longer being anchored to a World meant that whatever immunity to her powers she had now no longer included it.

Nevertheless, there were numerous Worms for Vi to collect data from even if space IkaDevil had not been among them, that strange gem had obviously been what destabilized the World, and IkaDevil had some way to shift from one World to another. All facts that were as interesting as they were concerning, but she had managed to force them to take out one of their power bases along with numerous troops, so that would have set them back some. Taking a deep breath of Nothing into lungs that were no longer there, she closed her eyes, surrendering to her surroundings as she waited for her next mission to begin in her next rebirth.

"Yo, looks like you had a rough time there!" a youthful voice remarked somewhere beside Thanacheir after she closed her eyes, "And looked like you were pretty much stumped by that squid-thing too!"

When Thanacheir decided to open her eyes, she would be greeted by what appeared to be a young man in his early teens and garbed in robes akin to an ancient scholar. He was lying on his side amidst the nothingness, with one armored hand holding on to a metal tablet while the other was propping up his head.

Thanacheir opened her eyes when she heard a voice, something odd considering the voice of her God usually manifested itself as thoughts within her mind. She looked the man's form, ignoring his apparent age -- looks could be deceiving, especially here -- and stuck her arm out enough for her to look at her body from her peripheral vision. Her body was still shimmering and partially translucent, but was being kept in this state, signaling that whatever was going on, Vi wished it to be so. She tilted her head.

- "Not exactly stumped, i had him on the run the entire time. The only reason he managed to escape was by stuffing all the enhanced troops he could through the portal to keep me from following from press of bodies alone, before bringing the entire World-shard down on everyone's heads, including his own troops. It would be more accurate to say that he was stumped by me."

She then gave the man a simple shrug. If he had truly watched the entire battle then that told her one of two things: Either he could watch, but not intervene, or he could watch and intervene, but did not want to, making him likely allied with this Grand Shocker that IkaDevil followed. More importantly, he said 'too', meaning either him or others he had watched had been met with a similar outcome. The question was, which of the two was he?

- "Anyway, that was that, and this is this... Who might you be?"

"I'm glad you asked!" the young man said as he then realigned himself amidst the Void, managing to come upright as if standing before Thanacheir to greet with a bow, "Altair of the Void Quartet, at your service!"

"As for those Grand Shocker things, they are really persistent," Altair then proceeded to explain as he seemed to settle back down on an invisible recliner, orbiting to settle beside Thanacheir, "Somehow they just won't stay dead regardless of means, and can be revived by an external source!"

"That's more or less fine with their minions of course, but the leaders like that squid-thingie..." Altair remarked with a hand motion to vaguely resemble a squid's tentacles while his tablet floated beside him, "It requires more effort for them to revive, so it's more like he can't afford to be offed anytime soon!"

"By the way, what is your name?" Altair said as he then moved back to stand (float?) before her, smiling in a carefree manner as he tucked his metal tablet underneath one arm.

Thanacheir suppressed the urge to rub her chin. Whatever the case, this man seemed to have a great deal of insider knowledge, and more than that, she felt wary at Grand Shocker being referred to in plural, as one would refer to an army. That made it several grades worse than a rogue organization. Regardless, at Altair's introduction, she gave a small polite bow in return.

- "Thanacheir Ashuancourux, Envoy of Vi."

she did not state whether she represented Destruction or Creation, or explain who Vi was, partially as a test. In fact, had Altair not mentioned his rank in this 'Void Quartet' she would have omitted that as well, but as far as greetings went it covered the basic necessities. for now, she was content to let him dictate the pace of the conversation.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:16, Wed 18 July 2018.

"Oh, oh...! You're that envoy that goes about doing clean up, aren't you?" Altair's eyes literally lit up when he heard who Thanacheir was, circling around eagerly to get a better look of her person, "It must be really hard with all the mess those Grand Shocker guys did, wasn't it?"

"Oh, sorry! Just excited at being actually able to meet with you!" the youth said with a quick bow of his head on catching his sudden prying into another's business, "But what now? It's hard for us to get involved personally with matters going on in the worlds, and Grand Shocker will probably give you hell of a time once they figure a way to get around your abilities."

Thanacheir looked around, before taking a deep breath.

- "More or less... I just tend to keep the shard intact. I usually don't trade an extreme for an extreme."

She then turned back to Altair.

- "Not too worried about Grand Shocker though. There are some workarounds, though i actually need to get my hands on a few to try them out."

She did, of course, mean that in the most literal way, though she was unsure just how aware this Altair was of her specific abilities.

- "So, you seem to know a great deal about everything, what's your relation to this Grand Shocker, anyway?"

"Well, since you're not with Grand Shocker, let me tell you what we're doing!" Altair said as he looked around, making sure no one else was around to listen, "The thing is, we couldn't enter worlds, but could totally do things outside worlds. We're hoping to find people who can enter worlds and fix things for us, guiding them to solve problems caused by Grand Shocker!"

Thanacheir shrugged and grinned.

- "Exact opposite for me... I can do my thing inside worlds, but i can't just hop from one to the other without a connection between the two."

She tilted her head. It was pretty clear that the Void Quartet and Vi had aligning interests in this case, but still...

- "One moment, this is -- as people would say -- way over my pay grade. I'll have to confer for a moment."

She then adopted a kneeling stance, despite there really being no up or down as they drifted along, and she prayed to Vi for insight, and to manifest part of himself within her for the negotiations should he deem them necessary.

"No hurry here, take all the time you need!" Altair replied cheerfully as he let Thanacheir do her thing. It wasn't a big problem for them if she couldn't help out, it just took a lot of effort to find people that would wander off their world and assist them in such a venture.

Thanacheir silently mumbled something, until her body suddenly went limp, her hands that she had previously folded in prayer falling to her side. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes again, though now, her pupils had turned into a solid gold, whereas her sclera had turned into a blackness so deep it seemed near infinite. Her body was surrounded in an aura where black and gold swirled freely as well, opposites yet flowing as parts of a greater whole.

- "Speak. I listen."

The voice was hers and not hers, her own voice was among those that came out of her mouth, but there were numerous others as well, the more prominent one a rich bass that seemed to reverberate in the air -- if there existed any in the space between worlds. The voices spoke in perfect unison and, as such, sounded like it came from one person, which was backed by the being addressing itself in the singular. Regardless, it was clear that it waited for a response.

"Vi, I take it?" Altair inquired before introducing himself, settling into a standing position to bow formally in greeting, "Altair of the Void Quartet, I suppose your avatar has already mentioned the details of the situation?"

"Long story short, some organization has managed to get its hands on means to escape their world and started rampaging everywhere," Altair explained as he motioned to their surroundings, remains of one of the worlds recently laid waste by Grand Shocker, "While we have great powers, we were in agreement with the rest of the multiverse that we are not allowed to directly intervene in the affairs of the world. Therefore we need someone like your avatar to assist us in rounding up those troublemakers before things get any worse."

- "I am aware of this.. inconvenience. Still, that leaves a few questions unanswered."

Vi remained silent for a few seconds, before raising her index finger.

- "One. You yourself have the means to exist outside a world, one might wonder how Grand Shocker received both the means and the knowledge to do what he is doing."

She then raised a second finger to form a 'V', before motioning to the dissipating remains of the world floating around them.

- "Two. Grand Shocker means to destroy worlds, not conquer them. However, destroying them renders them useless to him and anyone else. What are his goals?"

She remained silent, frozen in the position she had taken as she waited for Altair's reply.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Sat 28 July 2018.

"Well, Grand Shocker came from a world that is known to have a great Distortion tolerance due to what they have been doing there..." Altair started to explain, bringing up a sample illustration of a world with several cracks on it but managing to become tougher because of it, "Given the organization's tendency to use various means of subjugation, they developed technologies that put a great amount of stress in their own world. This somehow unlocked the capability for them to travel towards other worlds and survive the stress of doing so."

"Actually, they intend to subjugate worlds, hoping to look for those that are as Distortion tolerant as their own world..." the youthful Ancient One added as the sample world before them was dissected to show the World Crystal inside, "They're looking for this - World Crystals of tolerant worlds are more potent and can grant them capabilities normally not found in their world."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:46, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

Vi nodded in response to the explanation.

- "Yes, not all the realities that spawned the worlds were stable. Sometimes its inhabitants chance upon one of the crystals and are affected by it. When it does, i catch notice of it and send in my faithful... Finding the origin merely takes time."

She paused for a moment, considering something. A few seconds later, she wove her hand through the space between them, and a dagger materialized from nothingness, shining a bright golden color.

- "Take this. My faithful will inhabit the body of the first one killed by it, and she will know it to be the proof of our contract. What body matters not, but be mindful that the knowledge and abilities she possesses after rebirth will be those of her new host, in addition to the powers of Destruction granted through me. For example, her latest body was chosen for being conveniently close to the disturbance caused by this... IkaDevil, which limited her combat potential to that of a simple resident of that world. In other words, the strength of the sacrifice chosen will mirror the trust you place in this alliance."

She began to dissipate further, fading away into the nothingness that surrounded them. If there was anything Altair wanted to ask or say, this might be the final opportunity to do so.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:47, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

"Ah, to give up something in exchange for one's services... That is indeed like you," Altair remarked as he graciously received the dagger with both hands and looked to Vi's dissipating proxy, "I take it once your avatar claims the sacrifice, that individual's body would be as good as null and void when things are done?"

- "Contrary to popular belief, i have no control over who dies and when they do. When it happens however, the dead person's soul passes through me -- i then use that gateway to insert her. The dagger merely acts as a... beacon of sorts. When her task is complete she will pray to me, and the fated transfer will be complete, much in the way you see happen now."

Vi motioned at Altair with an arm that was now only half-visible.

- "That i have you do it has several reasons. One, it shows your commitment to our alliance. Two, it ensures that the person my faithful will be inserted into is combat capable. And three, since you already have forces in combat with Grand Shocker's generals to know of their rebirths, it would provide you with a better opportunity to sacrifice an enemy general. Remember, until death the sacrifice's abilities and knowledge are added to hers, but not their disposition. Not to mention it would deny their rebirth, as they would not be truly dead until my faithful's return."

Vi half-shrugged, the skin of her head beginning to flake off and dissipate into nothing.

- "Choose wisely... the dagger only works once."

And with that, Vi was gone, and Altair once again alone.

"Ah, I guess that's how it is then..." Altair remarked with a shrug when Vi's representation finally vanished and left him by himself with the dagger. It looked like he had to find an appropriate vessel this time around to use for his avatar's body. It would be a challenge - especially finding a body that would suit Vi's needs.

They just needed one of their generals - but that would be a challenge to narrow down too.

"I'll have to see what the others can figure about this then..." Altair said to himself as he drifted back towards the Nexus.