Man Or Monster?

Ludan laughs as Kyro downs a sliver of a Rage Stone. After a moment, the Epoch calms, shaking his head with a smirk, "Look at you," he says, narrow silver eyes settling on Kyro, "You believe yourself to be free, yet you are still a slave to your own impulses."

Kyro winces as he feels the tiny shards scratch his throat. He takes a deep breath, the world taking on a clearer shade, his muscles begging to be used. The Ex-Collector meets the Epoch's gaze with hard eyes, "Not for long," Kyro growls.

"Not for long," Ludan echoes, his smirk only widening. He looks at Ingen, who stands with his Warhammer held across his body. The Epoch stares at him for a moment, then raises his brows, "Ah, you are not as weak as I assumed, then? I would congratulate you, but dead men deserve no such privilege. Only dead soldiers."

"I don't need your congratulations," Ingen responds, bushy silver brows drew in, grey eyes narrowed to slits, "We will see if you are truly immortal today."

Ludan chuckles, "So you'll help me answer my lifelong question? I'm thankful for the gesture, but you won't get that far," he says. Then, he looks past the two men, brows furrowing at that large black bubble. Small tendrils of darkness whip out from it and then disappear, like solar flares on the surface of a star. Ludan hums, "Tell me, what are the extent of that boy's powers?" he asks.

"You think we'll tell you?" Kyro says, raising his sword and pointing the tip directly at Ludan, "He's one of us. You'll die before you touch him."

"One... of you?" Ludan raises a brow, "That's almost amusing... almost."

Suddenly, the ground beneath Kyro's feet rumbles. The sound of crashing stone can be heard from the other side of the wall. Cage and the dog, Kyro assumes. But even if he could see over the wall, he will not look back to see. Taking his eyes off Ludan would be a costly mistake.

"Like old times?" Ingen glances sidelong at Kyro, his lips curling ever so slightly.

Kyro raises a brow, eyes forward. Then, he reveals his own grin, "Like old times."

Ludan looks between Kyro and Ingen, his smirk nowhere to be seen. He raises his hands with fingers outstretched, both fully healed now, "I see. If neither of you will tell, then I'll find out for myself," Ludan says coldly. The rings glow, and every lantern along the rough wall of the tower snuffs out, leaving the massive structure dark.

The air above Ludan shifts and vibrates. The flames explode from the rings, vibrant green as they roll forward relentlessly. Kyro dashes to the right, Ingen to the left, leaving the volley of flames to continue its path toward that black bubble. The column of green fire shrinks, then as if caught in the vacuum of a black hole, flows into the endless darkness of the bubble, and disappears.

Kyro looks at Ingen over the still-flowing flames, and they exchange nods. Nothing is getting inside that bubble, Kyro knows this all too well. They can fight without worrying about Yoru.

For a short moment, a realization sends a spike of utter incomprehension through Kyro's mind. Ludan couldn't have known that his flames would be absorbed by the bubble. Yet he sent his flames toward it without hesitation, fully conscious of the fact that his son is inside of it.

A man that puts his own son in danger is no man at all. And a man that tries to kill them? He doesn't deserve to live.

Kyro and Ingen both set into fast, long strides along either side of the column of flames, and as they near Ludan, the flames suddenly stop. The Epoch stares at that bubble of blackness with a flat expression, seeming unbothered by the blade and hammer raising to smash and slice him, "I see," Ludan mutters.

Ludan steps back and to the side casually, burnt hands down by his sides. Kyro's thrust sword, covered in white mist, stretches until it sinks into the wall of the tower, and Ingen's warhammer crashes into the ground where Ludan once stood, sending chunks of stone flying across the courtyard.

Both men pull their weapons back and charge for another attack, each meeting empty air, and vacant ground. Again and again, they attack the fleeting figure of the Epoch.

This goes on for a full minute, sword and warhammer being dodged easily by Ludan. The evasions are so laughably easy that the Epoch seems to be lost in thought, and the subject swirling in his mind is not the two men attacking him relentlessly, nor the steel that flies toward him relentlessly.

Another minute later, Ludan stands still, silver eyes glazed over. He raises both hands—now healed completely—and with two fingers each, he redirects the sword and hammer. Again, blade meets empty space, and the hammer meets the ground beside Ludan's feet. In a flash, his hands wrap around Ingen and Kyro's throats.

All movement stops. Ludan stares forward, one of the two sets of bracelets on each wrist glowing. The two men in his clutches slump, eyes wide as they find their limbs useless. It takes all of their strength just to hold on to their weapons. The thin hoop earrings hanging from the Epoch's lobes also begin to glow, and all three pairs of feet leave the ground.

Kyro and Ingen clutch at Ludan's arms, trying to keep their weight off their throats as they rise in the air. The Epoch keeps his empty expression as he rises higher and higher in the air, however, his tone is something that is only heard with death is near, "Foolish..." Ludan's words, while spoken softly, boom in the ears of the other two like earthquakes in their brains.

Ludan finally loses the glaze in his eyes, and he looks between Kyro and Ingen, "You do not know the evil that is beside you. That boy will destroy us all, and you call him one of your own? The ignorance of you two is palpable," his voice almost seems to vibrate the surrounding air, "I suppose you want to leave Raj. But what will you do when there are no other planets to travel to? When there are no branches to float through?"

The glow of Ludan's bracelets flicker, and in that split second, Kyro regains the use of his limbs.

A blade severs both of the Epoch's arms, and Kyro kicks the man away before falling. He and Ingen drop to the ground with a thud. Kyro gasps, one hand to his throat, the other clutching his bloody sword as he kneels on the grass of the garden. He glances over at Ingen, who is in a similar state as him, "You okay?" Kyro asks.

Ingen coughs, slowly rising to his feet, "I'm fine," He responds, still catching his breath. Ingen looks up at the Epoch, who floats high above, arms severed at the elbows and pouring dark crimson blood. He looks down and sees the rest of Ludan's arms, and dashes over to them, crushing the fingers of the arm and the rings attached to them with his massive foot.

Metal and bone stab the bottom of Ingen's foot, but the small pain is worth not having to deal with those damned flames anymore.

Kyro rises a moment later, eyes trained on the Epoch as he slowly descends, "What do you speak of?" he asks, brows furrowed, "Before you call another evil, you should look inward."

"Say what you will," Ludan responds, tone just as foreboding as before. He lands several meters away, and his severed arms suddenly turn to ash on the ground. Then, the blood stops pouring from his elbows, and slowly, the flesh and bone begin to grow outward, forming his forearms.

"'Mountains, valleys, and cities... men, women, and children. Nothing is safe. Their touch is the end, a bridge connecting to a place far from the branches of the Praesi. I know not the location or ruler of this place, and I find that my curiosity is not strong enough to change that.' Gira's own words," Ludan says, "You were not alive to see the inescapable destruction spread by the Umbra, but I was. If it were not for Tiren, my son, and the others... Everything would have been taken by those creatures."

Kyro's mind vibrates with a deep, endless anxiety, and only grows stronger with every word spoken. He holds his breath, and though he does not notice it, Ingen does the same.

Ludan raises his arm to the side, and after a moment, the flesh grows until a pointed finger is revealed. A finger pointed directly at that black bubble, "These powers, they are that of the Umbra. It may be only a single boy, but the Praesi is in no less danger for it. He must die, now. The Saviors will not be here to deal with him if he grows too strong."

Silence. Kyro stares at the Epoch, lips parted, eyes wide. There can be no other conclusion. Cage is the vessel for an army of unstoppable, reality-shattering monsters. It's obvious now, painfully so. What kept Kyro from this revelation for so long? He's heard stories of the Umbra since he was a child, he may not have seen them himself, but he knows enough.

It has been screaming silently at him since that day on Kalar. Since he saw the carcass of a centipede engulfed in darkness before his very eyes. Kyro's fatherly instinct has kept him from hearing that scream. A pitiful fact, but one that he can't deny.

Why has Yoru not realized it? She has studied Gira's detailing of the Umbra more than any other, and she has never been one to miss even the smallest detail. Is she the same as Kyro? Was she so focused on having another son to take care of that she overlooked the obvious? Or was it something different?

A question better left for later, when all of this is over.

"Kyro," Ingen calls, earning the man's attention, "You need to make a decision, but before you do... do your brother a favor," Ingen says, "Think about it. We both know what kind of man he is."

Kyro nods slowly, eyes drifting to the ground. What kind of man is Cage? He is a strange one, that much is true. But he is also someone that protects and serves those around him. Cage experiences many things that Kyro is all too familiar with, anxiety, sadness, anger, and undying love for friends and family.

A monster has no need for friends, and would never work so tirelessly to find a brother that may not even be alive. Cage is no monster. He is a man that lost his home and family, and all he wants is to scrape together what remains. While many things are different between them, Kyro knows he and Cage are living for the same thing. Connection. Family.

Kyro looks up, eyes hardening as he looks at Ludan, "Cage will not destroy the Praesi," he says, half-squatting in a battle stance and raising his sword before him, "If I'm wrong, then I'll kill him myself. But that won't be today."

Ludan holds his gaze for a long moment, eyes growing darker with every passing moment, "Fine," He says, voice booming through the courtyard, "You will all die then. I will not allow that... thing to leave this planet."

With those words, the Epoch flashes from his position, and before he can even react, a fist sinks deep into Kyro's stomach, sending him sprawling through the air.