towerofanimus | Critical error

Characters: Natsu and anyone unfortunate to cross his path
Setting: Any corridor on the way to processing
Format: I'll start in third but you are free to choose whatever you wish.
Summary: Natsu is acting like one of the retrieval units. Stop him if you dare.
Warnings: MALFUNCTION IN PROGRESS so expect violence.

He didn't remember when it happened but the dreams he'd had were too vivid. More vivid than anything he'd ever experienced. It was always the same, a table, those emotionless faces staring back at him and the faint prick of pain at the back of his head. Still Natsu wasn't able to make any sense of those dreams nor did he have the energy to really pursue that matter.

In several occasions he had found himself several floors away from where he was before that momentary blackout. Thankfully those instances didn't end up in harm to anyone or Natsu might have locked himself in his room. If only he'd done that. If only he'd done that, he wouldn't be walking down the corridor with the slow constant gait of a drone. His skin was warped and charred and it made his potentially charming features warp grotesquely as boils sizzle and pop all over his body. Even so the blood he left behind was not his. It belonged to the mangled corpse of a resident who went too far off the beaten track and got completely ravaged by one of the many monsters of the tower.

A disgusting scent of burning flesh filled the surrounding area he passed through. His cheeks were almost entirely burned away revealing the razor like canines and the rest of his teeth to the world. His eyes carried no life or recognition as he trudged along. His flames burned constantly, enveloping Natsu and even burning the wrist and hand of the body he dragged behind him. By the point anyone came across him that hand was reduced to mere bone and even that looked ready to crumble into ashes at any second.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pesky slippery meat target. The wall behind Enoch exploded violently as the flames around Natsu's fist detonated with more force than usual. Natsu was never one to practice restraint to begin with but he never fought to kill. AS such most of his collateral damages involved buildings and not people. But in his malfunctioning state, that self imposed limiter was nonexistent. If Enoch would stay within his range then he was interfering with his work.

In the resulting cloud of dust, Natsu jumped back and out of sight. Though the heat emanating from his body would be more than telling of his position. He gathered flames in both hands and clenched his fists before joining hands above his head. A giant sphere of fire formed there and Natsu flung his joined hands in Enoch's direction, launching his combined attack at the scribe's feet.

With the metal walls, the heat seemed to be coming from nearly everywhere. He didn't see the fireball until it came at him, and he lunged forward to try and dodge it. He wasn't expecting the detonation, though, and it sent him rolling forward, leaving a trail of pure white armor shards.

Through the smoke, the right side of his chest and his right arm were completely bare save a piece of pauldron that seemed glued to his shoulder, though he still somehow kept his grip on his weapon, and his neck guards had broken away. The man himself, however, seemed in pain, but undamaged.

His ears still ringing from the explosion, he turned to find the movement in the dust and rushed the first sign of it, borrowing a technique from one of his enemies back home - he rushed forward with the Arch's beam out, and if it connected something, he swung upwards and leapt back.

Metal and Natsu didn't go well together even when he was still in control. In his unlocked state however that elemental conflict was even more potent. Still a ghastly grin stretched across his disfigured face, a remnant of his former self, the one that enjoyed a good fight.

The attack connected but no howl of pain came, even though judging from the weight of the impact the target of the attack had been a substantial one, namely Natsu's left arm from the shoulder down. the detached limb was sent flying out of the smoke and steam. But that was not going to stop Natsu. Instead a burning hand suddenly lunged to grab Enoch's face with the intent to melt it away with intense heat.

Enoch was momentarily distracted by the limb that flew out of the curtain of smoke, the blazing figure he'd hit visible through it vaguely. But even with that much, his hand simply moved too fast.

He'd find, however, that, while Enoch screamed in pain, his face wasn't melting. It would actually be over much quicker if it was. Instead, he was treated to the pain it would bring as his armor cracked and shattered. Once, twice, as he tried to reorient the Arch in his hands...

Finally, he got a suitable angle and swung it down at the arm attached to it, trying to pull away at the same time. His armor was still intact, but barely - some of his breastplate still clung to him, and he had his left greave in two pieces on his leg, but cracks already crossed all of these...

His normal self probably would have noticed. However in this deranged form, all he knew was that the moment Enoch stopped struggling and screaming would mean the interference had been eliminated.

Again Natsu didn't scream though this time instead of his entire arm coming off, only his forearm was sliced through. The hand gripping his face fell limply to the floor and for a moment Natsu regarded his stump with a flat look of confusion. Well that was the end of it right? Wrong. There was now lightning crackling with the flames and the two energies could be seen forming in front of Natsu's mouth into a growing cluster of fire and lightning that would be launched at the enemy. It was a final stand attack meant to completely destroy the interference. If it hit or if Enoch chose to not use that brief charging time to make his hopeful escape.

Edited 2013-04-27 13:10 (UTC)

Enoch saw the light of the attack charging, and did the only thing he could think to do: He made a mad dash for the space between Natsu and the wall, trying to dodge by getting behind him. The heat of the modified man's body nearly overwhelmed him; his body throbbed in pain, his ears still rang...despite the lack of physical damage to his body, he'd felt every bit of what Natsu's attack should have done.

If he managed to get through, he'd whirl to attack him from behind with his Arch, aiming for his midsection.

Enoch was good. Natsu would remember that after getting over the guilt of attacking him in the first place. Still right now he was focused on snuffing out the scribe once and for all.

So he fired his attack. His precision was fortunately off by a few inches so instead of blasting Enoch straight out which allowed him to get behind Natsu.

He had three hundred years of practice with this weapon, and had honed his instinctive, adrenaline-fueled, self defense-motivated combat into a style all its own through sheer repetition and his own quick intuition. Where its reliability faltered, his armor generally covered until he readjusted, provided he had the willpower to recover it in time.

When some part of him realized he was behind his attacker, he turned to attack, the Arch leading the spin, going for his torso.

Critical error

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sob I'm sorry I'm so slow...

No problem. We've all been fairly slow this month.

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