With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[ForeverShogo]

How is he going to assimilate the Cyberdemon? Demon magic is still shutting down the use of his ring. Pretty sure they have to beat this boss battle the conventional way.

===

And to continue the Specter stuff, I guess my follow up would be . . . Even if it was the actions of Buer that made it happen, the First was in fact still restored to his full power. Would it not be possible for the angels to do something similar for the Specter? I mean, I guess it's possible they all think he's a massive dick or something. But he's still an aspect of the Source/Presence, so I figure they'd be inclined to do so regardless.

Though I don't see the Presence doing it any time soon, if at all. From what I remember/understand, he stopped caring about Creation at some point. I think it was an entire plot point that he knew he was going to stop caring and wanted to be replaced. The original plan being that Michael and Lucifer would do it, but Michael was too loyal to ever do it and Lucifer was too rebellious. So much so that the moment Lucifer learned the Presence wanted Lucifer to succeed him, he rejected it out of pure contrariness.

 

[Darko]

And to continue the Specter stuff, I guess my follow up would be . . . Even if it was the actions of Buer that made it happen, the First was in fact still restored to his full power. Would it not be possible for the angels to do something similar for the Specter? I mean, I guess it's possible they all think he's a massive dick or something. But he's still an aspect of the Source/Presence, so I figure they'd be inclined to do so regardless.

Click to shrink...

They might not know about his condition or don't care about him.

He's been trapped for thousands of years and they didn't cone to free him, so they may not help him now.

This means they either dislike him, or didn't think there was anything wrong with him.

Angels are billions of years old, so someone being gone for a few millenia would be their equivalent of being gone for a few hours or minutes.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

At the glowing orange shield covering what looks like some kind of giant cyborg Baron of Hell. Its left arm has been replaced with some sort of giant multi-barrelled-.

Pshumm!

It's a rocket launcher!

Click to shrink...

PROTIP: To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies.

General reminder that the Presence created the Spectre pretty much immediately upon his predecessor turning evil.

Click to shrink...

No he didn't. Eclipso was God's wrath before the Spectre, so obviously Eclipso must have been created before The Spectre.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2022
15:14 GMT

I grab Mazikeen and trigger my flight system, flying right as a rocket flies towards-.

Taggart sprints past us as one rocket hits the pillar he was hiding behind and the two others detonate behind it on either side-.

Brrrrrrt!

Down!

Only one hit this time, and in the thickest part of my cuirass. I guess that given how it's having to grip onto the roof it can't track as easily as it could if it was on level ground.

"Maz-?"

"Not hit."

I land and fiddle with-. Good, radio's still working-.

"How tough is that magic shield?"

"Endymion, don't charge it."

"I'm moving to flank. I'm not a fool."

Mazikeen darts off and takes cover behind another pillar, while I dart closer to the central tower to get out of the New One's arc of fire.

"It's an environmental shield. The strength is dependent on how in touch the demon is with its desires."

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

"Fuck!" A near miss knocks Taggart off his feet, and he rolls back to his feet with visible shrapnel in the shredded armour on the left side of his body. "Short version!"

"It's constant damage reduction. You can hurt the demon through it, but we need to shut it down. Can you see a glowing orange ring anywhere on its body?"

"Not on his horns, nose, or hand."

Pshumm!

Mazikeen fires a rocket, which slams into the large demon's left side.

"Hehahahaha!"

It doesn't even move-. These aren't anti-armour rockets, they're high explosive. They don't have what it takes to harm it through even a basic environmental shield! Not unless we trick it into swallowing the things!

Brrrrrrt!

That wasn't aimed at me, but it's effectively pinning us down. The big things doesn't appear to be fast or agile-.

"Okay, plan. Avoid the demon with the missile launcher-"

"No shit!"

"-and fire at the thing on the roof. I'll move around to the far side and fly up. I'll either finish it off or disrupt the ritual."

Endymion huffs. "I'm no use on the ground. Can you carry me up?"

Pshumm!

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

"Ah!" I glance at Mazikeen-. She threw herself towards the central tower as the rockets flew past her.

"It prefers to shoot Taggart. That doesn't mean it only shoots Taggart. Can you do this?"

WoomCRACK!

"RAAAAGH!"

"Yeah, I got this. No force field there."

Brrrrrrt!

"I'm heading around now." I turn around and start running. "Fifteen seconds. Endymion?"

"I'll go around the opposite direction."

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

"Duh."

"Endymion?"

"Shrapnel, my armour took it. Taggart, does this berserk pack heal?"

"Fuck no. You just don't notice."

"I've got a healing ray. It just doesn't work at the moment."

"Spider-boy's getting curious! Maz!"

WoomCRACK! / Pshumm!

Brrrrrrt! Brrrrrrt!

"Oh, he big mad!"

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

Brrrrrrt!

I stop. I'm in position, but Endymion-. There is he. Shotgun in right hand, actuators too busted to fire it one-handed without breaking and dropping it, pat my back with my left-.

He grabs on and up we go. More leering demon-faced blocks of stone and there's the-. The rim.

And there's Angelica Blaze, crucified against the rear wall.

The demon faces on the stone are shimmering, so I assume that they're something to do with whatever spell they're using her to run. But that could be anything from homing in on our home parallel to countering our magic. Attachment-. There's a metal ring around her neck fused with the stone, and crude tent peg-like nails through her wrists and ankles. She doesn't appear to be conscious, though I don't know if that's merciful or just means that they're torturing her soul directly.

I could take out the nails with shotgun rounds, but the neck ring is a problem. I don't have a good cutting tool. Endymion-.

"Endymion, can you-?"

He slams the black plunger into his neck, then shudders.

And then his pupils dilate and his mouth turns into a rictus grin.

"Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop bop bodda bope!"

"Ah."

"I'm the Stabman!"

He runs around the parapet, towards where the Krang-demon presumably is.

Alright. Ah. Can't get Angelica free. But given that we could see inside the skull-shape, that central part can't be solid. There must be a way to get inside. None of us would fit through the hole in the front, so maybe…

I start feeling along the brickwork, trying to-

"RAAAAGH!"

Brrt! Brrt! Brrt!

"I want to feel clever! Share your brains!"

-find the switch I can only hope is-.

The wall rotates, spinning Angelica and me inside.

Okay, good. Now-.

The central plinth is enveloped in orange mist, pooling at the base and being drawn into a column heading upwards towards the ceiling.

And on the plinth…

I'm staring at my own severed head, its eyes twitching as it stares back at me.

 

[Darko]

Endymion huffs. "I'm not use on the ground

Click to shrink...

"I'm no use"

 

[Bigreader]

Okay, we've confirmed the theme. It seems like every one of these worlds is a world where Paul got killed. And failed in some way, it's kind of like the dark multiverse from a few years ago. In d c comics same events from the main d c universe, but in that version they failed in some way and bad things happened

 

[CrazyNoVa]

YES! FINALLY! SOMEONE FINALLY USED THE BERSERKER PACK! Granted, I'd never expect that it would have been Tuxedo Mask of all people, but still! You have no idea how long I've been waiting to use this!

STAB THOSE BITCHES, ENDYMION! THEY ARE HUGE! THAT MEANS THEY GOT LOTSA FLESHY SHIT THAT CAN BE STABBED!

 

[Odysseus2099]

Quick look for an illusory wall hiding a hole that has OL's head impaled on a spike hidden inside it.

Click to shrink...

Looks like you called it. Congratulations.

 

[Duke Long]

"Fuck!" A near miss knocks Taggart off his feet, and he rolls back to his feet with visible shrapnel is the shredded armour on the left side of his body. "Short version!"

Click to shrink...

'in'

I stop. I'm in position, but Endymion-. There is he. Shotgun in right hand, actuators too busted to fire it one-handed without breaking dropping it, pat my back with my left-.

Click to shrink...

'breaking or'?

The central plinth is enveloped in orange mist, pooling at the base and being drawn into a column heading upwards towards the ceiling.

And on the plinth…

I'm staring at my own severed head, its eyes twitching as it stares back at me.

Click to shrink...

I'd been thinking the cyberdemon had implanted the ring along with its cybernetics, but now I'm guessing the environmental shield is being rerouted from this head to the cyberdemon.

Hadn't considered that Angelica might be used to attack Earth 16, I assumed they were attacking Doom Earth, but it would make sense. If there's a portal open right now that means they don't have to faff about at all with getting home. Would also be amusing if the demons went to all this effort to invade another world, and when we get back we find that the invaders got massacred wholesale by the GPA.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

10th December 2022
15:14 GMT

I grab Mazikeen and trigger my flight system, flying right as a rocket flies towards-.

Taggart sprints past us as one rocket hits the pillar he was hiding behind and the two others detonate behind it on either side-.

Click to shrink...

Never underestimate the speed of a Player at full sprint. Especially if he's strafe-running (Moving at a sort of sideways run, because that's somehow even faster.) Even faster than a standard rocket in flight in fact, by a hundred units/second or more...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Brrrrrrt!

Down!

Only one hit this time, and in the thickest part of my cuirass. I guess that given how it's having to grip onto the roof it can't track as easily as it could if it was on level ground.

Click to shrink...

And even enemies have to deal with a slight scatter pattern deflection.

"Maz-?"

"Not hit."

I land and fiddle with-. Good, radio's still working-.

Click to shrink...

Good, since firefights in Doom can get loud, especially when explosive weapons are involved.

"How tough is that magic shield?"

"Endymion, don't charge it."

"I'm moving to flank. I'm not a fool."

Click to shrink...

After all, he's not suicidal. One melee blow from that thing would hurt a lot. Though I don't remember if the game version was ever programmed to melee things, this one definitely would.

Makizeen darts off and takes cover behind another pillar, while I dart closer to the central tower to get out of the New One's arc of fire.

"It's an environmental shield. The strength is dependent on how in touch the demon is with its desires."

Click to shrink...

And I get the feeling it's pretty much so. Or the anti-'magical' field is reducing the Ring's power contamination even as it limits it to minimum functions.

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

"Fuck!" A near miss knocks Taggart off his feet, and he rolls back to his feet with visible shrapnel in the shredded armour on the left side of his body. "Short version!"

Click to shrink...

Because Rockets have splash damage... Which the big one is immune to, not that the rockets will do much anyway right now...

"It's constant damage reduction. You can hurt the demon through it, but we need to shut it down. Can you see a glowing orange ring anywhere on its body?"

"Not on his horns, nose, or hand."

Click to shrink...

So either in the cyberarm or inside his... Someone's going to have to go and rip and tear, aren't they?

Pshumm!

Mazikeen fires a rocket, which slams into the large demon's left side.

Click to shrink...

Good thing about the Doom rocket launcher: No backblast danger. Either because no backblast at all or it was too complex to code that.

"Hehahahaha!"

It doesn't even move-. These aren't anti-armour rockets, they're high explosive. They don't have what it takes to harm it through even a basic environmental shield! Not unless we trick it into swallowing the things!

Click to shrink...

Plasma might do better. It's generally recommended in most guides, in fact. At least when players don't have a BFG...

Brrrrrrt!

That wasn't aimed at me, but it's effectively pinning us down. The big things doesn't appear to be fast or agile-.

Click to shrink...

But they also have very low pain chance. So no flinching from hits even if they could damage them.

"Okay, plan. Avoid the demon with the missile launcher-"

"No shit!"

"-and fire at the thing on the roof. I'll move around to the far side and fly up. I'll either finish it off or disrupt the ritual."

Click to shrink...

And then OL gets to play his favourite role: Heavy Air Support.

Endymion huffs. "I'm no use on the ground. Can you carry me up?"

Pshumm!

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

Click to shrink...

At least Mazi is serving as a distraction?

"Ah!" I glance at Mazikeen-. She threw herself towards the central tower as the rockets flew past her.

"It prefers to shoot Taggart. That doesn't mean it only shoots Taggart. Can you do this?"

Click to shrink...

And sadly, he's not the best tank in the team. Unless he can keep running fast enough to hold the big guy's attention without getting hit, this could get messy real fast.

WoomCRACK!

"RAAAAGH!"

"Yeah, I got this. No force field there."

Click to shrink...

It has about 3/4 the hit points of the big guy, but would normally be a tougher fight because of map layout and hitscan weapon. Here? No problem...

Brrrrrrt!

"I'm heading around now." I turn around and start running. "Fifteen seconds. Endymion?"

"I'll go around the opposite direction."

Click to shrink...

Just watch out for more boney pigeons...

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

"Duh."

Click to shrink...

Oh, he better not get blown up here. Sailor Moon is gonna be pissed if you get her man killed...

"Endymion?"

"Shrapnel, my armour took it. Taggart, does this berserk pack heal?"

"Fuck no. You just don't notice."

Click to shrink...

Mostly Accurate. It heals you up to 100 if you're below that. The main benefit is multiplying your melee damage by 10 (mainly the Doomguy's fists, not a Chainsaw.) Said enhancement lasts a lot longer than the red haze, apparently.

"I've got a healing ray. It just doesn't work at the moment."

"Spider-boy's getting curious! Maz!"

WoomCRACK! / Pshumm!

Click to shrink...

The joy of playing distraction for both bosses: Having to keep them interested.

Brrrrrrt! Brrrrrrt!

"Oh, he big mad!"

Click to shrink...

Seems like they're managing it, though.

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

Brrrrrrt!

I stop. I'm in position, but Endymion-. There is he. Shotgun in right hand, actuators too busted to fire it one-handed without breaking or dropping it, pat my back with my left-.

Click to shrink...

I'm sure that won't be a problem in a few minutes...

He grabs on and up we go. More leering demon-faced blocks of stone and there's the-. The rim.

And there's Angelica Blaze, crucified against the rear wall.

Click to shrink...

Score! ...Kind of.

The demon faces on the stone are shimmering, so I assume that they're something to do with whatever spell they're using her to run. But that could be anything from homing in on our home parallel to countering our magic. Attachment-. There's a metal ring around her neck fused with the stone, and crude tent peg-like nails through her wrists and ankles. She doesn't appear to be conscious, though I don't know if that's merciful or just means that they're torturing her soul directly.

Click to shrink...

At least they got that right. See, most popular depictions put the nails in the hands, but that's no good - the weight of the human body just drags them through the meat between the phalange bones. Messy, bloody but not great at holding a person's weight on a crux. Also applies to stigmata, too...

I could take out the nails with shotgun rounds, but the neck ring is a problem. I don't have a good cutting tool. Endymion-.

"Endymion, can you-?"

Click to shrink...

Don't expect his sword to be able to magically slice that band. Especially with that normalising effect in place.

He slams the black plunger into his neck, then shudders.

And then his pupils dilate and his mouth turns into a rictus grin.

Click to shrink...

...And too late for that anyway. Oh boy, here we go...

"Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop bop bodda bope!"

"Ah."

"I'm the Stabman!"

Click to shrink...

Oh god, he's a comedian too...

He runs around the parapet, towards where the Krang-demon presumably is.

Alright. Ah. Can't get Angelica free. But given that we could see inside the skull-shape, that central part can't be solid. There must be a way to get inside. None of us would fit through the hole in the front, so maybe…

Click to shrink...

So best option is to find out if something else is involved in the ritual and undo that, or how Angelica is tied to it.

I start feeling along the brickwork, trying to-

"RAAAAGH!"

Brrt! Brrt! Brrt!

Click to shrink...

Well, sounds like Endymion is getting to it.

"I want to feel clever! Share your brains!"

-find the switch I can only hope is-.

The wall rotates, spinning Angelica and me inside.

Click to shrink...

Not a standard wall movement, though some games built off the Doom engine introduce such things...

Okay, good. Now-.

The central plinth is enveloped in orange mist, pooling at the base and being drawn into a column heading upwards towards the ceiling.

Click to shrink...

Oh. Well, that's not good.

And on the plinth…

I'm staring at my own severed head, its eyes twitching as it stares back at me.

Click to shrink...

On the upside, he seems to be mostly alive? If you an get a ring to him and end that dampening field, he might be able to reassemble himself?

Well, that's confirmed, unpleasant as it is to see. So, then. Will OL actually take the unpleasant route of killing his alternate, or look for some other way to dismiss the ritual depowering them? Also, that's three for three of realities where an alternate Paul 'died', for various forms of dying (Dead in HoMM6, youmafied in Sailor Moon and now zombie-decapitated here...)

 

[B00ki5h]

"Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop bop bodda bope!"

"Ah."

"I'm the Stabman!"

Click to shrink...

Nice to see someone else remembers Scatman John.

 

[Vaermina]

The central plinth is enveloped in orange mist, pooling at the base and being drawn into a column heading upwards towards the ceiling.

And on the plinth…

I'm staring at my own severed head, its eyes twitching as it stares back at me.

Click to shrink...

You know... You wouldn't think someone could make Doom of all places worse, but here we are.

 

[Mr Zoat]

"I'm no use"

Click to shrink...

'in'
'breaking or'?

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

Nice to see someone else remembers Scatman John.

Click to shrink...

Prior to looking it up to write that, I assumed that he was black. I now know how the first black Americans to see Tom Jones felt.

 

[Radiant Knight]

Nice to see someone else remembers Scatman John.

Click to shrink...

He was extremely popular in Japan, so it makes total sense as a reference from a guy who was from Japan and also went to college in America.

 

[Silveraith]

Makizeen darts off and takes cover behind another pillar

Click to shrink...

Mazikeen?

 

[Mr Zoat]

He was extremely popular in Japan, so it makes total sense as a reference from a guy who was from Japan and also went to college in America.

Click to shrink...

He was?

...

I mean, he was, of course. Yes, I knew that.

Mazikeen?

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Radiant Knight]

He was?

...

I mean, he was, of course. Yes, I knew that.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Scatman's World sold over a million copies in Japan, and is the 9th most successful overseas album in world history. He toured there a lot and wrote a few of jos songs for Japanese audiences.

He was so succesful, Ultraman did a tribute to him

 

[Steelplaza]

So I didn't think of it yesterday, but how come the demon's orange light power can work when the SI's rings remain shut down? The reason they shut down was that the local reality bubble was changed so it doesn't work, right?

That must mean the demon is carrying a bubble of "power rings work here" reality around itself to allow the environmental shield to function. So theoretically if Paul charged it and got into contact with the shield, then his rings would work and he could contest its mastery over orange light and crush it directly. If he could do so before it killed him, of course.

Doesn't seem like the way things went, but that would have been another viable solution.

 

[PDV]

So I didn't think of it yesterday, but how come the demon's orange light power can world when the SI's rings remain shut down? The reason they shut down was that the local reality bubble was changed so it doesn't work, right?

Click to shrink...

Possible, but also possible that they've done a You cannot use Our light trick with a ritual, an artificial Larfleeze. Hell setting rules so only demons can use power seems like they could do it.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

The Scatman song is just.....Zoat you have taken the calm serine measure of my day and shattered it like a lead pipe to the shins.....Kudos and Bravo.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

You know... You wouldn't think someone could make Doom of all places worse, but here we are.

Click to shrink...

In this instance, you are correct. Still, if the severed head is any indication, I don't think this Paul is doing it of his own free will.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2022
15:16 GMT

I-. Remember… When I was in Secondary School, and… Somehow, the issue of assisted suicide came up. I… Think I said that while I didn't particularly object to other people killing themselves there was no situation in which I could see myself opting for it. Given how good I am at healing myself with orange power rings, and how relieved I was to find out that afterlives are real…

When I said that I'd rather be a brain in a jar rather than allow myself to die, I didn't think I'd ever be confronted with proof that I was telling the truth.

So the King of Hell out there is controlling the spell. And because he's controlling the spell, he gets an environmental shield? But no constructs or flight, because he's not actually wearing the ring.

Is the head wearing the ring? I can't see it-.

I hold my right hand out and move it back and forth. The eyes follow it.

Damn it. Yes, that would have let me off the hook too easily.

"Can you talk? Where's the ring?"

His jaw moves weakly… Right, no lungs, even if the magic wasn't preventing him from talking.

Tkssshhh!

I wince slightly as a missile hits the outside of the tower. I have no idea how things are going and I can't hear the outside.

Okay. I don't want to kill… Myself, but Sandro should be able to turn him into an intelligent undead so it's not a total catastrophe. Unless that requires a soul-. He's been marinated in Hell magic, he should have acquired something-.

I briefly consider the x-ionised knife attached to my armour, and decide to try something else first. Still got my rings on my fingers and tattoos on my body, so if that's a combination of orange light and magic then I should be able to drain it just by touching-.

"YAARRGGGHHH!"

I can't collapse because my armour locks in place and holds me up, but it's a near thing. It-. it was like I had every foreign desire of every demon in Hell channelled through me, becoming mine in a way that enlightenment made me painfully aware of.

Right. Next non-suicidal idea.

I take a medical pack out of a pouch, prepare the injector and stab it into Angelica's carotid artery. Have to go into her head due to the location of the collar, but the safety instructions made it clear that any injection was a good injection. And… While that's percolating through her system, try pulling out a nail with my armour's power assistance. Not… Really a good gripping surface with gauntlets like this… Gah!

Can't get it.

Next, x-ionised blade on the collar. I draw it and bring the point to bear very carefully… And it doesn't go in. X-ionised weapons aren't weak against magic exactly, but they can't necessarily cut through magic-strengthened objects in the same way they can mundane ones. Edge of the collar? No. Rock slab? No, that's not giving either. Ah… God… Can it cut the floor? No. Alright, this whole room is the focus of the spell and… Whatever it's doing is fortifying the physical aspect of the structure.

"I'm…" I meet my eyes for a moment. It doesn't help; it wouldn't help me… But it's the human thing to say. "Sorry."

I swing the knife down, aiming at the-.

And orange shield appears and blocks my swing. And I can't complain, because it's what I'd do.

"Right. The woman behind me is a powerful magician, and we also brought a necromancer. If I turn this spell off, there's a good chance that we can stick you back together. But I have to turn this ritual off first, and that means removing your ring. There's no gentle way to do this. I'm sorry."

I swing, and-. Orange shield.

I sigh quietly. No, I wouldn't believe me either. What else..?

"Alright… The only alternative I've got is that I… I've been using magic runes to absorb magic. I might be able to replicate them on you. Maybe. It should be simpler because you've got fewer parts, but I don't know."

The alternative is firing at him until I run out of shotgun shells, and then I've got nothing.

"H-aaa…"

"This is going to be very rough and ready."

I lean forwards carefully, trying to avoid getting in the thicker parts of the orange vapour. The tip of my knife can just about reach. Right… Ah…

"To be clear, I don't know-"

'Sacrifice' on the middle of the forehead, 'demon magic' to the left and 'transfer' to the right. 'Suffering' in the left cheek…

Uh…

"- what this will do to you. But it-"

'Desire' over the left eye. The orange sigil around the right. 'Feeding' over the mouth. Thin slits along nerves-. He doesn't have any blood, do the veins and arteries as well. 'Control' on the back of the neck-.

"-might not involve dying-"

The column of orange mist wafts inexplicably.

"-immediately, even if it's only-"

'Blood' on the left of the neck. 'Power' on the right.

"-temporarily."

I give my work a quick check. That… Should all work, but I'm not a wizard. With my rings not working I can't even really fake it. This is pure ritual work, and it needs-.

RRRWWWOPH!

Doof! I'm thrown back against the wall next to Angelica as the column of orange light goes haywire, spraying all-

"YAARRGGGHHH!"

-around as the flesh covering local me's skull is disintegrated, the runes and ritual wounds glowing orange and… Floating in the air next to him. Once all the… Flesh is gone they… They're pulled inwards, sticking to the skull and covering it in orange flame. There's one last pulse from the mist and then-. Then it cuts out.

The burning skull me floats free of confinement, staring at me. I can… Just about see his power ring in his cranial cavity, flickering and flaring.

"I did warn-."

He twists in the air and blasts forwards, smashing through the stone wall-

"-Stabman can do it, so can you!"

Endymion is… Hanging off his sword, which is wedged… In? Under? The Krang-part of Krang, while Krang tried to grab him with its arms and writhe around to throw him off.

Brrt!

It fires more in frustration than anything else-.

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

Three missiles smash into its side, two detonating right next to Endymion! He ragdolls immediately, and I-.

There's a slight sensation of feedback which suggests that my rings are working, but I've got no environmental shield. No charge, and no time to call out my personal lantern.

I run, jumping off the tower and aiming for Endymion-.

"Get some!"

 

[CrazyNoVa]

-around as the flesh covering local me's skull is disintegrated, the runes and ritual wounds glowing orange and… Floating in the air next to him. Once all the… Flesh is gone they… They're pulled inwards, sticking to the skull and covering it in orange flame. There's one last pulse from the mist and then-. Then it cuts out.

The burning skull me floats free of confinement, staring at me. I can… Just about see his power ring in his cranial cavity, flickering and flaring.

"I did warn-."

He twists in the air and blasts forwards, smashing through the stone wall-

Click to shrink...

I guess you could say Paul got a-HEAD of himself.

If other Paul needs to get around, he can always just put construct helicopter blades on himself and become a SKELLY-copter.

 

[Darko]

rather by a brain in a jar

Click to shrink...

"be a brain"

. This is pure ritual work, and it needs-.

RRRWWWOPH!

Doof

Click to shrink...

I don't know how Heinz Doofenshmirtz can help, but okay.

 

[Mr Zoat]

"be a brain"

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

I don't know how Heinz Doofenshmirtz can help, but okay.

Click to shrink...

"CURSE YOU, PERRY THE ICON OF SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

10th December 2022
15:16 GMT

I-. Remember… When I was in Secondary School, and… Somehow, the issue of assisted suicide came up. I… Think I said that while I didn't particularly object to other people killing themselves there was no situation in which I could see myself opting for it. Given how good I am at healing myself with orange power rings, and how relieved I was to find out that afterlives are real…

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The whole fear of death got buried, but it's still there, isn't it? And this Paul would also be suffering from it, only now he knows the afterlife is real and it's a shithole... I don't he's going to go easily.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

When I said that I'd rather by a brain in a jar rather than allow myself to die, I didn't think I'd ever be confronted with proof that I was telling the truth.

So the King of Hell out there is controlling the spell. And because he's controlling the spell, he gets an environmental shield? But no constructs or flight, because he's not actually wearing the ring.

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So it's effectively transferring the effects of wearing it to the big guy, but not the real fun toys. Thanks goodness for that.

Is the head wearing the ring? I can't see it-.

I hold my right hand out and move it back and forth. The eyes follow it.

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This is probably a Paul that embedded the ring under his skin. Most likely somewhere in his skull, hence the pike treatment.

Damn it. Yes, that would have let me off the hook too easily.

"Can you talk? Where's the ring?"

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Being kind of optimistic, even if he might have been the one speaking earlier.

His jaw moves weakly… Right, no lungs, even if the magic wasn't preventing him from talking.

Tkssshhh!

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Okay, try a simple code. "Look up and down for yes, left and right for no..."

I wince slightly as a missile hits the outside of the tower. I have no idea how things are going and I can't hear the outside.

Okay. I don't want to kill… Myself, but Sandro should be able to turn him into an intelligent undead so it's not a total catastrophe. Unless that requires a soul-. He's been marinated in Hell magic, he should have acquired something-.

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Best to double-check that, OL. He doesn't have your tattoos, most likely.

I briefly consider the x-ionised knife attached to my armour, and decide to try something else first. Still got my rings on my fingers and tattoos on my body, so if that's a combination of orange light and magic then I should be able to drain it just by touching-.

"YAARRGGGHHH!"

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And it turns out that was not a smart move. Akin to shoving his hands into a raging fire...

I can't collapse because my armour locks in place and holds me up, but it's a near thing. It-. it was like I had every foreign desire of every demon in Hell channelled through me, becoming mine in a way that enlightenment made me painfully aware of.

Right. Next non-suicidal idea.

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You're lucky it didn't instantly turn you into a demon like last time.

I take a medical pack out of a pouch, prepare the injector and stab it into Angelica's carotid artery. Have to go into her head due to the location of the collar, but the safety instructions made it clear that any injection was a good injection. And… While that's percolating through her system, try pulling out a nail with my armour's power assistance. Not… Really a good gripping surface with gauntlets like this… Gah!

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Gonna need something more precise than a fat-finger gauntlet, I suspect. Though I bet touching it with your bare hands would not be a good idea either...

Can't get it.

Next, x-ionised blade on the collar. I draw it and bring the point to bear very carefully… And it doesn't go in. X-ionised weapons aren't weak against magic exactly, but they can't necessarily cut through magic-strengthened objects in the same way they can mundane ones. Edge of the collar? No. Rock slab? No, that's not giving either. Ah… God… Can it cut the floor? No. Alright, this whole room is the focus of the spell and… Whatever it's doing is fortifying the physical aspect of the structure.

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Would not be surprised if the metal was magically enchanted to be utterly unbreakable while the ritual is in place.

"I'm…" I meet my eyes for a moment. It doesn't help; it wouldn't help me… But it's the human thing to say. "Sorry."

I swing the knife down, aiming at the-.

And orange shield appears and blocks my swing. And I can't complain, because it's what I'd do.

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But he has enough focus and desire to form the construct. Maybe if he can get enough power together, he can restore himself... You might have to take the big guy down after all to cut off the drain.

"Right. The woman behind me is a powerful magician, and we also brought a necromancer. If I turn this spell off, there's a good chance that we can stick you back together. But I have to turn this ritual off first, and that means removing your ring. There's no gentle way to do this. I'm sorry."

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Sadly, I don't think he's going to just lay back and accept that...

I swing, and-. Orange shield.

I sigh quietly. No, I wouldn't believe me either. What else..?

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The hard way it is, then.

"Alright… The only alternative I've got is that I… I've been using magic runes to absorb magic. I might be able to replicate them on you. Maybe. It should be simpler because you've got fewer parts, but I don't know."

The alternative is firing at him until I run out of shotgun shells, and then I've got nothing.

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And you know just how strong a shield like that will be, and I don't think a simple shotgun will do it.

"H-aaa…"

"This is going to be very rough and ready."

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Especially since you're not exactly a trained magician, previously rough attempts being a case in point.

I lean forwards carefully, trying to avoid getting in the thicker parts of the orange vapour. The tip of my knife can just about reach. Right… Ah…

"To be clear, I don't know-"

'Sacrifice' on the middle of the forehead, 'demon magic' to the left and 'transfer' to the right. 'Suffering' in the left cheek…

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And all without painkillers too. You can only hope the blade is so sharp the nerve aren't interpreting themselves as damaged...

Uh…

"- what this will do to you. But it-"

'Desire' over the left eye. The orange sigil around the right. 'Feeding' over the mouth. Thin slits along nerves-. He doesn't have any blood, do the veins and arteries as well. 'Control' on the back of the neck-.

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I would hope his own set is much more evenly distributed about his body than this...

"-might not involve dying-"

The column of orange mist wafts inexplicably.

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To be fair, I suspects he wants very much not to be in this position, and if this can fix that, he'll do everything he can to support that, initial fears aside.

"-immediately, even if it's only-"

'Blood' on the left of the neck. 'Power' on the right.

"-temporarily."

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Starting to run out of space there, I bet.

I give my work a quick check. That… Should all work, but I'm not a wizard. With my rings not working I can't even really fake it. This is pure ritual work, and it needs-.

RRRWWWOPH!

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Fortunately, it seems this is the kind of work that only needs the physical scriptwork to soak up ambient energies...

Doof! I'm thrown back against the wall next to Angelica as the column of orange light goes haywire, spraying all-

"YAARRGGGHHH!"

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And more demon desires slammed through his soul. He's better make sure he cleans that out before he gets too altered.

-around as the flesh covering local me's skull is disintegrated, the runes and ritual wounds glowing orange and… Floating in the air next to him. Once all the… Flesh is gone they… They're pulled inwards, sticking to the skull and covering it in orange flame. There's one last pulse from the mist and then-. Then it cuts out.

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I suppose with all the demonic energy round, he'd transform into a demon instantly. But what state is his mind in?

The burning skull me floats free of confinement, staring at me. I can… Just about see his power ring in his cranial cavity, flickering and flaring.

"I did warn-."

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And now I can't help but imagine him as some super-Lost Soul. Something visually akin to the Doom 64 version, basically.

He twists in the air and blasts forwards, smashing through the stone wall-

"-Stabman can do it, so can you!"

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I see Endymion is still going strong with the Berserker pack.

Endymion is… Hanging off his sword, which is wedged… In? Under? The Krang-part of Krang, while Krang tried to grab him with its arms and writhe around to throw him off.

Brrt!

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Fat chance of that with those stubby little things.

It fires more in frustration than anything else-.

Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!

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And I see the Cyberdemon is losing it's patience with the Spider Mastermind.

Three missiles smash into its side, two detonating right next to Endymion! He ragdolls immediately, and I-.

There's a slight sensation of feedback which suggests that my rings are working, but I've got no environmental shield. No charge, and no time to call out my personal lantern.

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So they're probably running on reserve power. 5% or less. Bet it got drained into the spell around other !Paul. Also, I thought his Subspace storage got borked by the spell that sent his into this situation? Or is he going to try and force one into existence, I wonder...

I run, jumping off the tower and aiming for Endymion-.

"Get some!"

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He sounds fine, regardless of what shape he's in...

Well, local!Paul is free of the binding, but seems to have gone full demon. The magic-blocker ritual seems to have collapsed, but Angelica is still strung up and the rest of them are drained dry. On the upside, the bosses are beat-up and starting to fight each other, and the Cyberdemon just lost his force-field. So the fight's winnable now.

 

[Vaermina]

There's a slight sensation of feedback which suggests that my rings are working, but I've got no environmental shield. No charge, and no time to call out my personal lantern.

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How soon Zoat forgets he shouldn't be able to access that since it's in subspace.