#last early access set wooo!

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

...How It's Going [2/2]

[btp-yami]

Pre-Written Incarnate Jazz~

Hey, actually-edited and written ahead of time Incarnate Jazz! lol I was inspired so I wrote this down over the last week and added to it, but I have an idea of an ending now, wooo~

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It was a single, harsh pulse of energy that woke Noah; it was still fairly early in the morning, the sun having risen but not yet high enough to cast rays. They were all still bunking in Catherine’s apartment, and based on the stillness, Noah could see he was the only one awake.

Carefully, without waking Jessie, Noah slipped from the bed and walked to the window. He felt much more energized, but there was a wariness in actually accessing the Items.

And right outside the window, about three buildings away, was Madji Qadir. Sitting on the rooftop, corrupt as ever, staring directly at Noah. The swagger was present again, despite the man looking near-emancipated. Tendrils still crept around his body, itching to attack.

“Damn…” Noah half-hissed at himself as he closed the curtains on the window.

He sent out the least-powerful pulse of energy he could—to two in the apartment, specifically—with the intent of Wake Up.

Not too long after he left the bedroom, Catherine and Atem met him in the living room, her in her nightgown and robe, him in his sleep wear.

“What? What’s wrong?” Catherine questioned first.

Noah gave a jerk of his head to the window. The two peeked out the closed curtains, each surprised to see Madji waiting.

Catherine gave him a quiet snarl. “The bastard, he’s waiting for us…!”

“What do we do now…?” Atem grumbled, before looking to Noah. “We can’t keep evading him.”

“So we won’t.” Noah agreed, before sighing and nodding. “It’s time. He won’t leave us be; we can’t keep running, he’ll follow us wherever we go. So now, we fight.”

“Hell yes~!” Catherine grinned, her eyes flashing pink.

“Wait a minute,” Atem frowned, “I agree, but how do we go about this? Madji’s clearly lost it, and only one of us going against him is far too dangerous.”

“Right,” Noah smirked, “So we go two on one.” He looked over. “Catherine, I need you to get the kids and women back to the Shop. My energy is still there, Madji shouldn’t be able to sense you. It’s crucial we keep Ozzie as far from him as possible. Can I trust you to keep him safe–?”

Catherine was momentarily shocked, but then quickly righted herself and nodded sternly. “Of course, Pretty Boy.”

“And we stay to fight off Madji…?” Atem’s brow furrowed, unsure. “Noah, that didn’t work that well the last time.”

“Last time, I was half-energy.” Noah pointed out, before smirking again. “Besides, the more insane Madji gets, the more sporadic he gets. We just need to wear him down.”

Atem brought his shoulders back, nodding in agreement. “All right…”

“Okay…” Noah glanced out the window. “The two of us will need to go out first—once we do,” He looked to Catherine, “You take the others and start for the Shop. It’s early enough, there shouldn’t be too many people on the streets.”

“Aye-Aye.” Catherine gave him a small salute, before hurrying over to the side bedroom to wake everyone.

Noah gave Atem a small smile. “Awake enough, or do you need coffee…?”

“I’m awake enough for this.” Atem rolled his eyes, but rolled his shoulders in preparation.

Noah gave a nod in reply, shrugging his robe off and opening the roof entrance, only going a couple steps up the ladder before he hefted himself up onto the roof. Atem followed soon after, the two giving Madji glares in return.

As soon as Madji saw them, he rose up, snarling and not even saying a word. He shot over the distance, despite seeming to tumble with being so close to both Noah and Catherine’s shields.

“What? No rhymes today?” Noah went ahead and questioned, before dodging the first tendril.

Madji hissed, eyes still sunken-in and now carrying a red glow. All he did was thrust his tendrils at them, said appendages looking much more stable than the previous day.

“Take that as a no…” Noah frowned. Taking only a second to think about it, he accessed the energy of the Items, and Noanour gave Madji a glare in return. Drawing on the Rod, he fired off a couple blasts of light to fry some of the tendrils.

Similarly, Atem drew out his claws to slice through several tendrils, eyes flashing with gold while fire licked at his heels.

“You’ve sent them to your wretched shop.”

Noanour was surprised when Madji spoke; the latter’s voice sounded scratchy and distorted, and the inside of his mouth looked corrupted with black.

But, there was some undertone to Madji’s voice that had immediately sent an old shiver up Noah’s spine.

Noanour’s eyes were wide, and his face paled for a moment. “…No…Th-That’s not possible…!”

Madji gave him a smirk. “I knew you’d recognize my new partner quickly…!”

Atem stiffened. “New partner–?”

A shadow loomed over Madji’s head, a fuzzy blur at first, before it sharpened into a more recognizable demon; red eyes split open, with a hiss-like chuckle echoing alongside Madji’s.

With a tilt of his head, Madji heaved and spat a wad of black tar to the ground before Noanour.

“Your old FRIEND decided the incarnate of Set would be just as good as the incarnate of Ma’at.” Madji’s eyes gained a red glow as he grinned crazily. “I grew tired of your antics…He desired vengeance…! And what better vengeance than killing you and the Pharaoh’s offspring in one go…!!”

Atem’s eyes were wide with realization. “The—Pharaoh…?!”

Noanour’s eyes narrowed with a white glow and a deathly glare. “Zorc…!”

The shadow cackled, and spoke separately from Madji. “Yes…! After decades, a way back into your putrid realm has opened to me…The gods are still fools, even after much millenia!”

Noanour summoned his staff, switching it to his other hand in a spin. “All right.” He aimed a glare at Zorc. “This just grew personal. Let Madji go, Zorc, your fight is with me.”

“Oh-ho—Is that a THREAT?” Zorc drew himself up, narrowing his red eyes. “Such bravado…You haven’t changed at all from what I MADE you…”

“Get bent,” Noanour snarled with a flinch, “I am not your weapon anymore.”

“No, I suppose not…” Zorc replied—only for his words to flow from Madji’s mouth, the latter mimicking the movements the shadow made. “However, THIS whelp proved far more desolate of a target. Much easier to wrestle control from. The moment he came here, I’d been tracking his movements, his emotions, his thoughts, waiting for my moment to propose a DEAL…” Madji chuckled. “He leapt at the offer like a spoiled child~. It reminded me a lot of you, when YOU were a child…”

Noanour gave him a small snarl.

Madji then turned around to Atem, who was glaring just as intently, claws at the ready. “As for YOU…and your infant…That’ll just be a bonus for me. Set here is the one who needs Horus out of the way. Frankly, I don’t give a damn.”

“I knew you wouldn’t…” Atem grumbled, remaining at the ready.

After chuckling again, Madji looked back around to Noanour with a discomforting-looking tilt of his head. “As I said…You sent them to the shop, right…? You’re STILL predictable…” He turned to face Noanour directly. “But, no matter. Once you two are out of the way, offing the offspring will be a SNAP.”

“You’re not touching the kids…!” Noanour snarled, eyes glowing in his glare. “Dealing with Qadir was one thing, but you?” He readied energy in his hands. “I’m going to enjoy this…!”

With a mighty blast, he fired off— “FORCE OF JUSTICE!”

The blast made direct contact; Atem flinched behind Madji and ducked down, watching carefully as the ray of light sped over his head.

As soon as Noanour had reached his limit, the ray faded, and he heaved to catch his breath. Except, he left out a small gasp and grew pale at seeing the light had done nothing.

Nothing more than a few burns, and Madji simply crack his neck before smirking back at Noanour. “Temper, temper~… That barely felt like a tickle. You must be EXHAUSTED…” Madji’s eyes glowed with red light. “Perhaps you should take a moment to sit DOWN–!”

And with sudden speed, Madji released his own pulse of dark energy; while it didn’t physically harm Noanour, it was enough that it sent him off his feet, half-bouncing against the roof of the next building before he caught himself in a crouch.

“Noah–!” Atem flinched and got to his feet, drawing out his claws. He aimed a glare at Zorc’s shadow, but it was one of Madji’s tendrils that shoved him to the ground.

“Don’t get involved this time…!” Zorc threatened, keeping Atem held to the ground.

Noanour got himself back up, though a small tremble had entered his system. “Th-That’s not possible…! H-How did you—m-my magic–!”

“You don’t even remember your own limits, do you?” Madji crept closer, and Zorc cackled overhead. “Your light magic only affects SHADOWS. If I were to fully materialize, perhaps more damage would’ve been done…” Madji extended his arms out. “But THIS whelp is an incarnate, just like you…! Your powers mean NOTHING. He had been afraid of you for NOTHING, isn’t that HILARIOUS–!?”

Noanour stared with horror, gulping around a sudden lump of fear, but quickly clenched his teeth and made a lunge. For a time, Madji was thrown by the attack, taking a couple punches from Noanour before deflecting several blows; Noanour had let his staff fade away, feeling much more up to using physical strength anyway. Besides—after all Madji had done thus far, being able to land a couple blows to his face probably felt a little too good at the moment. Still, he received several punches in return.

Madji did try firing a blast of shadow energy at one point; seeing how his light magic had no effect, Noanour had flinched when the energy hit his chest. But still, it did nothing, and Noanour felt no different as he returned something of a smug grin to Zorc.

Zorc spoke above Madji’s head while the latter snarled. “So it IS true; you ARE immune to shadow energy…Ah well.” Madji readied a couple tendrils. “You are not immune to DYING.”

Noanour managed to parry off a few tendrils, but two managed to make contact, plunging into his left hip, and his right shoulder, and shoved him to the ground.

“Noah–!” Atem diced through the tendril holding him down, claws out as he sped at Madji in a lunge.

Madji ducked around Atem’s claws, receiving a few scratches in the process, but he eventually summoned more shadowy tendrils to fend Atem off.

“Meddlesome GHOUL…!” Zorc snarled, before he and Madji shouted— “I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU GETTING IN MY W A Y!!”

And with a harsh punch, Madji knocked the wind out of Atem, landing a hit right to the latter’s gut. It was not only a hit, though—whatever dark energy flowed through Madji, it was expelled in the hit, slamming into Atem with full force. It numbed and shocked all at once, making Atem immobile as he crumpled to the ground, trembling all over. The dark energy spread under his skin like a virus, showing through his veins growing black from his stomach outward.

“No–!” Noanour struggled in getting up, severing the tendrils holding him with a flash of light, forcing himself up despite his injuries. “Atem–!”

“Leave him.” Madji grabbed hold of Noanour by the ponytail, drawing out a yell as he tugged him off the ground. “And as for YOU…! I’ve long since grown tired of your games…! You should’ve left well-enough alone when you had the chance!”

Noanour heaved a cough (meant to be a scoff), before managing a small smirk. “N-Not my style…!”

“Oh is it not…?” Madji rolled his eyes in the midst of his snarl, before rearing back. “Then, let’s see if THIS IS MORE YOUR S T Y L E –!”

And in quick succession, Madji’s tendrils slammed Noanour down to the roof, dragged him across and threw him against a nearby brick wall, then against the building’s cement wall, sent him through a nearby window, and then threw him from twenty feet up down to the roof before him.

Once the dust had cleared, Noanour struggled in moving, managing to get himself sitting up, and despite bleeding in some areas—including from his forehead—he managed to give Madji and Zorc. “…I-I’m not…g-giving up…!”

“I’m quite aware.” Madji grinned while Zorc chuckle. “But my goal is no longer to force you to comply; it’s far easier just to KILL YOU.”

And the tendrils once again lifted Noanour up, but then threw him off to the side, down the five-story drop to the street below—which he hit with such force that the asphalt cracked underneath him. That, or the cracking had been bones breaking. It was a wonder he wasn’t dead, though Noah had lost feeling in all his limbs. His neck had probably snapped.

His form has reverted back in the process, trembling wide-eyed on the ground as he tried desperately to move and failed to do so.

Madji heaved a scoff. “Easier than I thought…” He looked into the distance. “Now for the offspring…!”

While he started making his way over towards the shop, Atem flinched and tried to get up—only to collapse and curl into himself from the dark energy. Still, he looked off towards the roof’s edge. “N-No…Noah…!” 

While he desperately hefted himself over to the edge to look down, he gasped tersely at seeing Noah immobile. “N-Noah…! Noah–! Noah, get up! Noah!”

Whether it was his own damned willpower or Atem’s calls or the desperate thoughts sent over from Atticus inquiring for his safety—whatever it was that triggered it, Noah had no clear way of telling.

But a split second after Atem had started calling for him, Noah’s eyes shot even wider, and were filled with a white glow. He still felt numb in all his limbs, but every Item felt triggered by his anger. There was a consensus thought and feeling of a desire to stop Madji—and to kill if needed.

That absolute, overcoming rage surged through Noah, bringing him off the cracked ground, and coating his form in white light. So bright of light that the details of Noah’s form were lost, so that he was nothing except a glowing white silhouette with only the Items’ markings and his eyes visible on him. His hair flowed freely, hairline lost into the silhouette. 

Atem’s eyes widened, recognizing the form, only having seen it once before when Noah’s subconscious delved into the Ring in order to purify it.

And this white-light Noah shot into the air, hovering midair. He had been looking in Madji’s direction, but upon seeing Atem, he turned in a snap to face him directly. Atem felt no danger, but flinched anyway from the abruptness of movement.

Noah sent a single beam of white light at Atem’s body, said light coating him only briefly and burning him for a moment, drawing out a groan. But, the white light seemed to eat away at the darkness until it was nothing, the dark energy Madji had infected him with gone the next second.

Able to move, Atem hurried onto his feet and looked over the white silhouette with worry. “Noah…!”

Without another word, Noah sped at lightspeed after Madji.

“Wait–!” Atem hurried after him, as quickly as he could manage it.