The Sundering of Faith (Open to all)

[Ericnox]

One would be surprised at how easy it really was to get into the largest city in the kingdom... Even if you are a wanted criminal. And yet, walking down the street was one Ericnox Shattersoul, wearing his normal garb under a heavy cloak. His swords once more rested under his cloak, hidden away from prying eyes by the material. His eye patch rested over that gemstone, hiding it from sight for the moment.

He continued forward in the city, taking a rather round about way through the city. He didn't want to attract too many people and raise an alarm, not yet atleast. Finally making his way to the church, he stepped inside, the heavy door closing behind him. Empty, save for a few of the lone priests. Perfect. Simply perfect.

Walking towards one of the priests, Eric carefully drew a normal dagger, keeping it hidden under his cloak. As the man turned, he smiled ar Ericnox.

"Blessings upon you child." He spoke on a friendly tone, one that would help people to trust him, to respect him. But Eric knew the truth.

Opening his arm to embrace the man, he stepped forward without fear, without hesitation. That was until the blade pressed into his heart, he slumped against Ericnox, dead as dust. Carefully laying the man down, Eric baited his trap.

"Father? Father are you all right?" He called out, remaining hunched over the man as the othet priests came rushing over...

From here it was simply too easy. The men had no idead what they had been up against nor how it lurked among them. He wasn't going to burn this place down, but he was going to use it as a statement. He desicrated the alters, leaving profane blood sigils on them, the bodies had been left hung upside from the ceiling, a petverted statement that we are but animals, and the final straw was his personal sigil, carved into the body of the main statue.

The entire process took less than an hour, but when he was done and stepping into the city, he didn't leave, not yet at least. He wanted to know how the reactions would be, what terror would be sewn, and best of all, to listen as they added this to his so called crimes.

[TheHighwayman]

Soevak Ret hadn't intended to go hunting that day. He'd not been given a job, he'd not been offered any sort of bounty, and in fact his only goal had been to go for a nice walk in between bouts of personal training. But then he came upon the church, a crowd already gathered outside and a single word spreading like wildfire among them. "Shattersoul." Vak had heard plenty of stories about the fallen paladin, and he'd often thought about what it would be like to test himself against such a foe. Now was his chance. Keeping his eyes on the devastation before him, he scanned the crowd out of the corners of his vision, the very image of an appalled and disgusted bystander. He was dressed much like one would expect of a wealthy merchant, with a feathered cap and a nice, buttoned shirt. Underneath, however, was an assortment of blades and other implements of killing.

The key to dispatching someone like Shattersoul would be surprise. He couldn't let on that he was anything more than he appeared until the last moment. Now, if Shattersoul were in the crowd, where would he be? The rumors claimed he was tall- especially compared to Connlaothians- and had white hair. The hair would be covered if Shattersoul had half a brain, but height was harder to disguise. Now, who in the crowd stood above the rest? No, not him, nor her. Nope, not them... Ah, there. That had to be him- not only was he taller than the rest of the crowd, but there was something ominous about him. One wouldn't notice unless they were looking, but Vak had a keen eye for such matters. After all, he was similar, in his way.

Vak's fingers slipped underneath his long sleeves for the hilt of his dagger. Now wasn't the time to make his move, but it was best to be ready. He kept his eye on the murderer, waiting to see where he'd go, but still seemed to be fixated in horror on the sight of the church. Though he had to admit he had little reason to go after the man- he wasn't a devout follower of Angsar nor anything resembling a paragon of moral strength- that slaughter was just so unprofessional. Besides, Shattersoul was said to have some sort of magic, and the thought of killing a mage almost forced a sadistic grin to crack the assassin's facade. Soon, he told himself. When a chance presented itself.

[Ericnox]

The whispers of the crowd, the hushed way people spoke his name, and to make things even better, how the church was trying so hard already to suppress this as much as possible. A smirk formed on his lips as he shifted in his armor. It was simply stunning how people could be so blind when something was in front of them.

"It's time to go... You need to leave here before someone notices you..." The voice in his mind called out as Eric turned. He was near the back of the crowd anyways, so leaving them was easy enough. A smile formed on his lips, no doubt assassins would be after him not too long from now.

The smell of blood was still fresh in his mind, the yelling and screaming as each was cut down by his blades, they had no way to really prepare themselves. The church never accounted for someone stepping up and using a twisted mockery of their own weapons against them, protected by armor that they had crafted and then twisted against their abilities and skills.

His blades rattled as he walked, as if talking to him in their own right as he passed into a wide alleyway. This would be the perfect location for an ambush or confrontation, but Eric didn't care, reaching up to adjust his eye patch, even though he didn't need it, it did help to mask his presence and hide this greatest weapon against the world, the church, and anyone who dared to stand against him.

[TheHighwayman]

The assassin waited a moment after his target started off; it would be rather obvious if he started following immediately, and Ericnox couldn't exactly escape by disappearing into a crowd, so it was  best to take his time. Slowly slipping his way out of the crowd and tracking his quarry from a short distance, Vak's thoughts turned to how best to confront him. He didn't have the sort of specialized tools he'd ideally employ against an opponent like this, the sort of thing that would let him kill without ever being drawn into a confrontation, and he didn't like the idea of taking on Shattersoul directly. This was strengthened by the man's turning into an alley; he was expecting a confrontation no doubt, and had chosen to push it forward than to let it fall at a less convenient time. Well, Vak supposed there was nothing for it- besides, it wasn't often that he got a chance to really push himself in a fight, so risk or not it would have been tempting.

Turning into the alley, he spoke up. "Well now, what brings the honorable paladin to this fine city, may I ask? It couldn't perhaps have anything to do with that unfortunate mess back there, now would it?" The assassin's voice dripped with sarcasm, he wasn't even going to try being subtle about this. "I have to say, you've got really bad luck my friend. I've not even been paid to come after you, which means you'll probably have a slew of others after you before long even if you somehow escape me." The assassin leaned against the side of the alley, a dagger openly displayed in his right hand and a small vial concealed in his left. It wasn't his most effective poison, but the burning it caused only required contact with the skin to work, whereas most needed to be ingested or injected into the blood in some other manner. If Shattersoul proved too dangerous an opponent in a straight fight, Vak decided the poison should level the playing field. Of course, he had plenty more tricks hidden in his sleeves...

[Ericnox]

Eric's gemstone caught his focus as the person started to talk. Stopping in the alley way, he smirked a bit at the words being spoken to him by this would be assassin. "Not even getting paid to die? Poor man. And if this, plus your death  causes more ripples to follow me, then so be it. It was my goal anyways."

He turned to see the dagger in the man's hand, his eye patch on display as he pulled back his hood. Eric was armored from neck to toe in a suit of armor that looked like a twisted mockery of what the paladin's normally wore. His smirk spread as the man leaned against the wall. Eric wasn't going to close the gap, he didn't need to right now.

"Escape and kill are two very different things my good sir. I'm going to be kind today, you aren't my target, leave here and you can see another sunrise. Continue to stand there and we will have problems."

He draws both his blades, his bastard sword in his left hand and the short sword in his right. He tilted his head, trying to keep up the dance that he was blind on one side. If he attacked, it would no doubt be on his blind side, his left side. With this, Eric would be in prime position to deal some serious damage to him. "Well boy? What's your choice?"

[TheHighwayman]

"Boy?" The man raised an eyebrow at that. "You don't look one bit my elder. Though I suppose it doesn't really matter. I doubt more than one of us will be walking away." Now, how best to attack? Vak knew the obvious answer was to strike at the man's blind side, but something didn't seem right... He had to be expecting that, for one thing, and for another it was odd for a warrior to wield a larger weapon on his unfavorable side. Soevak decided it was best to stick to what would likely surprise his opponent.

Flicking his dagger forward and sending it spiraling through the air towards Ericnox, the assassin made his move. The vial- specially crafted for the sort of fragility that would allow it to shatter on impact- would follow soon after. In an instant the assassin had two more blades at hand and darted forward, aiming for the weakest spot he could see on the man's right flank. The first step would be to test the resilience of the man's armor; it was rare the craftsmanship that his dirks couldn't punch through, but if this were one of those rare cases- and he had the unfortunate feeling it probably was- he'd have to score a blow to the head if he wanted any hope of victory.

[Ericnox]

"It's a feint!" The voice called within Eric's mind, causing him to grit his teeth as he stepped forward. The magic enhanced his armor, and when the blade that was tossed connected, it did little more than dance off the metal plate covering.

The vial however was something different, and the motion Eric used was something trained, a reflex for batting things from the air when you are quick enough. His left hand shot forward and across his chest, the blade swinging in a wide arc. The flat of the blade connected with the vial, causing it to shatter across his blade and armored forearm, coating the end of the blade in the sickly mixture.

Eric was no slouch in and of himself, and his equipment made it all that more dangerous to even try to attack him. Eric's saving grace at the moment was his heavy cloak that wrapped around him. The blades did indeed catch metal, but Eric had already been in a step to swing around, trying to slash the man with the smaller, faster blade and his right arm. All the blade of the dirk found was cold steel and air due to this action. If this assassin was worth merit, he would dodge out of the way... If he wasn't, Eric was already trying to move in for a killing strike.

[TheHighwayman]

Any competent assassin would have dodged the incoming blow, but Soevak Ret was more than competent. As his blade failed to penetrate the man's armor, he was more certain than ever that he'd need to land a blow to the head if he wanted to walk away from this victorious. His opponent wouldn't be stupid enough to let him get close enough to do any real damage if he backed away now, and as long as he stayed close the larger blade would be much less effective. All this ran through his head in an instant.

Vak didn't attempt to dodge the incoming blade. Instead, he swung around and attempted to deflect the short sword enough that it wouldn't cause damage to anything vital. At the same time he lunged forward, aiming his other knife at the bridge of the man's nose. The assassin moved quickly, but his intent was not to land this hit. No, Shattersoul had shown himself capable enough to dodge this strike as he had the other. Instead Vak's goal was to keep him moving and prevent him from having the chance to bring his bastard sword to bear and to force him back towards the wall where he'd have no room to evade.

((By the way, I noticed some of the interesting side effects of being stabbed by the short sword on Eric's character sheet. If Vak survives the encounter, would you mind messaging me about it in more detail for the purpose of his future threads?))

[Aeytrious]

Viewing each world from both sides of the moral spectrum was an important part of the process. More often it was the goodness of a place that was the reason for saving it, but there had been exceptions. There were places so uniquely evil, that they had to be spared from galactic destruction. Here on this world, he had learned of an interesting case. Ericnox Shattersoul was a twisted man that had once lived in the light. Ritousaey was reminded of an old nemesis, Capstan, who had made his first mortal existence a true struggle. That was one of the few times he had forgotten he existed outside of time. It wasn't difficult to lose touch when you spent millions of years talking to yourself. How much like Capstan would this Shattersoul be. Was this evil forced upon him, or did he fall from the light through his own choices. Rit would observe him to add his story to the decision making process.

Rit made far scry portal to watch him through. He saw him arrive in the city. He watched as he entered the church and plunged his hidden blade into the priest. He looked on with sadness as Ericnox desecrated the beautiful and holy place. Each death weighed on Rit, and he felt pity for Shattersoul as the blood of his victims splashed across the ground. He was filled with regret as the murderer walked out of the church without looking back. Soon a crowd gathered, and news of the sigil Ericnox had left to claim the slaughter spread like wildfire. Ritousaey could see townsfolk looking around in fear and suspicion. A few were obviously assassins searching for a new quarry to claim, but none seemed to catch sight of Ericnox. Rit watched as he walked away from the crowd and gained a wealthy merchant as a shadow. This assassin had been a bit more cunning in his scan of the crowd and had been clever enough to spot the fallen Paladin.

The assassin followed Ericnox into the secluded spot. It was as if Shattersoul was challenging the world to strike him down. He boldly faced the assassin as he first threw words and then daggers at his armored chest. Then he stepped forward in his odd style, to engage the assassin directly. The speed of the encounter, gave Rit the impression that it probably would be over quickly. He wanted to see more of what Shattersoul could do, and this assassin seemed interesting as well. Perhaps he could liven things up, make it a bit more interesting.

As the two men were coming into close combat with each other, Rit did a number of things all at once. He caused an short but intense earthquake originating from under the men, if they kept their footing it would be surprising. Above the rooftops he created a large explosion that would easily engulf a horse cart, the sound of which would be heard all across the city. On each of the walls to either side of the men he made three small window sized portals to the middle of a nearby lake, that water began to pour through immediately, with an occasional fish, until he closed them a quick moment later. To the men directly he wrapped them in a magical aura that would last just less than an hour. All of this he did making sure that anyone that could sense magic use in any way would be sure to feel this. It wouldn't be long before all this magic would draw a lot of the wrong kind of attention.

Rit was curious to see how they would handle it. Perhaps he would even get physically involved.

[Ericnox]

This man was good, very good in fact. Being as light on his feet as he was had already saved his life once, but Eric was in the lead now. His armor was only slightly dented, thanks to the magic was encased within it, and now, his blade had bit into the warrior's flesh. His face showed his pleasure at finally scoring a cut on the agile warrior.

The twin effects wouldn't show right away, but soon enough they would be there and if this man survived the encounter, he would have a really, really bad time from that point onwards. The nightmares would reduce his ability to sleep, crushing his bodies natural resistance to the poison that would eat away at this body slowly.

With the blade lancing inward, Eric did his best to move his head out the way, the blade grazing the skin and causing him to bleed, but having an interesting side effect as well... The eye patch was torn away, allowing the red light of the eye to spill forth, probably enough to make the man slower, to unhinge him for the smallest of moments, allowing Eric a counter attack...

At least it would have if the earth didn't suddenly rubble under his feet. Sliding his leg back and bracing his foot against the wall, he took a quick, low stance to keep his center of gravity close, making sure he didn't topple over, the sudden loud noise however, caused him to look up... Much to his surprise, seeing not a ball of fire, but suddenly water, and indeed! A fish!

Rolling away and towards the edge of the alleyway, his eyes locked upon the assassin, the glare of the ruby eye only getting brighter now, as his anger seemed to mount. If the man was still standing, it would be a real fight now... But he didn't think one could do such a thing in the middle of a blade battle.

"Surprises all around, aren't you Death Minister?"

[TheHighwayman]

A graze- that was all he managed to score, but it might also be all he needed for now. He doubted the relatively weak poison he kept his second set of daggers coated in would do more than inconvenience this opponent, but against an opponent like Soevak Ret, inconvenience could very well mean defeat. The striking dagger darted backwards to defend against the inevitable counter-attack, while his other knife flashed forward to press in for the kill. The assassin seemed hardly deterred by the sight of the eye at all- instinct kept him moving through any initial surprise, and far from hesitating from fright his mouth widened into a grin at the thought of killing a magic user.

Then the... interference... began. Vak hurriedly dove further into the alleyway, rolling and ending up in a defensive crouch. He'd underestimated his opponent- he'd not prepared for that sort of magic, and now he'd have to adjust his tactics. A thousand plans flew through his mind, from the fact that his retreat was now cut off to the likely weight of his adversary's armor. He needed to get the upper hand once more. He needed to... "Wait, you didn't do that?" Vak's defenses were as keen as ever, but a momentary expression of surprise flitted across his face. This... hadn't been accounted for.