ooc: I must say, I am impressed. Most would have attempted some weak dodge, or stat to cry ooc at this point. You however take your licks and roll with things nice. I will have a post up tomorrow, or later tonight, depending on my internet...wait a fucking week for them to finish installing it..pfft. I just had to post this ooc note, after reading your post.

The human endured pain quite well, Nox smirked, that blast would have crippled if not outright killed a lesser man. The suit helped, but Kevlin did not let his situation turn to despair. It was a good quality to have in most cases, yet in a fight it was good to know when you were outclassed. The sword was drawn again, and it was all as it should be; beast against sword. The same fight was repeated on infinite worlds, a man placing his life behind a sharp blade.

Ripping it's foot free of the small hole, having absorbed what it could from the discarded mass, Nox widens it's stance. It was done playing games, time to end this. With a sudden burst of speed, pushing off of the cracked blacktop with an audible snap, Nox surged at Kelvin's position. In the blink of an eye, due to it's fluidlike nature, Nox had closed the gap to about three feet. A single lash snaps out, to the side, anchoring into the ground to allow a quick turn. Using the lash as a swing point Nox sweeps in an "L" shape, releasing the lash to snap it again into the ground further on, swinging again, all the while keeping up it's speed, gaining more with each swing. This swing bringing it alongside Kelvin's left side.

Just as Nox would be passing Kelvin's rear most portion of his left side a lash would be snapped outward, towards his form, as a second would be launched as before as an anchor. Weather the attack hit or not Nox was still moving. This point carrying him past Kelvin's back to a point behind and to the right of the man. The speed of the movements would be increased with each new lash anchor as they would 'slingshot' Nox towards the next point.

Using the boost in speed as well as the fluid nature of the lash's mass the single strike against Kelvin would have an incredible impact velocity. The exact point where the lash would reach it's full extension, where it would 'crack' as all whips do, would become super-heated due to the friction against the air. The end result would be a small scale sonic boom, as cooler air vacates the area surrounding the super-heated point. Should the lash strike Kelvin the result would be catastrophic to say the least, and with his legs as badly damaged as they are..well a dodge would be quite hard to execute.

By keeping a nice three foot window between the two Nox had removed the threat of the sword becoming in anyway a problem. The only way Kelvin could use it as an interruption would be to move into that three foot gap, there by leaving himself open to an even more extreme counter. Kelvin was now at a significant disadvantage in the speed category.

OOC: I have included a MS Paint version of this post, to clear up any questions.

((Appreciate both the praise and the diagram!))

The calm resolve that had settled upon him, and the immediacy of the pain in his legs, filled Kelvin with a certainty of movement, keenness of sense, and deliberation of action hereto unseen in the battle. Until now, he had been scrambling to maintain an advantage that had never truly existed in the first place, and it was now clear that his opponent outclassed him in almost every aspect. But while most people would have panicked and fled, Kelvin was now committed to seeing this horror eradicated by his hand, even if it meant his death. He knew he would reappear, as he always did, in a different world, if he passed away, and thus he felt no fear or uncertainty. His grip tightened on the hilt of his sword as the creature surged towards him.

The beast was fast, incredibly so, but time and physics were on Kelvin's side, in this case. Though his legs were brutally injured, making any sort of fancy dodge out of the question, he realized he didn't need to move. As the beast slingshotted itself towards, and then alongside him, Kelvin spun on his left heel to follow it's movement. It had to complete a wider arc of travel to maintain the 3-foot distance and to suddenly shift direction, making Kelvin's reaction time more than adequate to simply turn to face it, presenting his best frontal armor to the attack that followed.

The lash struck out with incredible speed, a combined thrust of centrifugal force and simple elasticity. However, it's own elasticity and fluid nature was simultaneously its greatest strength and biggest weakness. It struck Kelvin in the chest, where the plating was thickest. The tungsten carbide plates, designed to withstand and absorb impacts from small-caliber arms to sniper rounds, absorbed the kinetic energy of the strike, fracturing and splintering along its surface near the point of impact, spreading the impact force laterally instead of linearly into Kelvin's torso. The result was a nearly entirely elastic collision, the lash coming to a complete halt and rebounding off like a rubber ball, it's energy spread across a wide surface area and rendered impotent. It lacked sufficient mass, and therefore momentum to outright break through the armor where it was strongest.

Reflexively, Kelvin swung the sword at the slowed pseudopod, the rebound shock having slowed and thrown its fluid return awry. As he did so, a cold, rapid, computerized voice spoke into his ear.

*Analysis of hostile entity completed. Threat level: Overwhelming. Likelihood of survival estimated at 18.35 percent. Recommended action: Engage LANCE fire support systems. Query: Engage LANCE?*

As Kelvin followed through on the swing, his eyes lit up with a surge of newfound confidence, where there had been only calm anticipation a few moments ago. "Engage, for the love of God, engage!" he half-yelled in response, dimly aware that the creature would hear him saying it. The computer continued.

*Engaging.*
*GPS satellite uplink established, acquiring targeting parameters.*
*Target acquired, remote weapon systems booting up. Standby.*

------------------

In space, above the lonely pair engaged in combat on the planet's surface, at an altitude of roughly 36,000 km, three long-dormant geosynchronous satellites silently flared to life, establishing a signal link with the combat armor's computer. In less than a second, they locked onto the broadcasted target, and began triangulating its exact position, their inner computers performing millions of calculations every clock pulse. Roughly two seconds later they had acquired the precise location of Nox, to an error margin of 0.25 meters, and began actively tracking it.

The sword bit through the lash, severing it about halfway down it's length. Searing pain shot through Nox's brain. This monkey, this flesh-covered piece of filth, again it had caused Nox pain. The loss of half a lash wasn't that bad, there was still plenty of mass left to stretch out, healing was easy. But that weapon hurt. The pain however was useful.

Pain brought a spike of adreniline, or whatever served that function in Nox's mass, which leant speed and strength to the next actions. As any point of pain, the loss of the lash caused a 'knee-jerk' response, a single snap of action resulting from the sharp pain of the burn. In most cases it would be a pull back, a retreat from what had hurt it. In Nox's case, as a fighter, it was a swift pin-point strike.

As soon as the sword struck, the pain searing through Nox, lash numbers three and four would strike Kelvin's unprotected body. The swing of his sword leaving him open now, as his guard would need to be lowered in order to strike outward at the lash. In that instant, while Kelvin's arms would be extended for the downward stroke, before he had time to raise them again in defence, the lashed would strike.

One lash high, the other low, timed to strike simultaniously. The high one would strike at the vulnerable neck-seal of the armor, once again exploiting the fact that to be flexable was to be both thinner and weaker in armor, while the lower would strike towards the ruined armor sections of the groin. However, as the lashes close in, a third erupts from the lower's mid point to strike at the weakened chest section. The end result is a three-pronged strike at Kelvin's most vulnerable spots while he is still recovering from the sword strike.

OOC: As stated in PM begining with the next post I'll be raising Nox's power level to match the implied threat of an orbital weapon system. Seeing as this has risen above simple powered melee I will elevate Nox to Low Powered, allowing for minor psionic strikes and defences.

EDIT: Nevermind, I will not be raising my power level. This was stated as a melee type fight, it will stay that way.

To Kelvin, it seemed like the very shadows around him were going to envelop him. Even as his sword arm finished his slice through the rebounding pseudopod... the remaining three attacked him at once... Above, below, and in the center. It was something he had been counting on.... Knew it was going to happen. But he was powerless to stop it. Out of effective striking range for his sword, and caught in the vulnerable phase of his attack, he was completely at the mercy of the beast.

Praying and hoping with every fiber of his being that whatever LANCE was, it would somehow end this battle of attrition that he was clearly losing, Kelvin launched himself forward into the oncoming attack, sweeping the sword back around in a finishing arc to strike from above at Nox's main body in a vertical slash, bringing his other hand around to grasp the hilt for a sure strike. He felt muscles in his legs tearing and the fresh agony of his wounds opening despite the foam, as the armor servos amplified his lunge into a powerful strike. Mere fractions of a second later the lashes connected with him, and although they did not stop his amplified forward momentum, two out of three pierced through his armor and into flesh, opening wounds that the armor would scramble to remedy, but it would be too little, too late. The first aid sub membrane was nearly depleted of it's antiseptic sealant, having lost much of it to treating Kelvin's leg wounds and to leakage from the various damaged parts of the armor. The pressure hydraulics were also showing signs of heavy strain, venting hot oil and steam in various damaged areas.

The upper lash connected with the overhanging edge of Kelvin's helmet that protected his neck. It carved into the metal, splitting and tearing it before the force of impact directed it downward and into Kelvin's torso, stabbing into his upper chest and fracturing his collarbone. The bone kept the lash from penetrating further but it had done it's damage, and blood began to seep from the wound, soaking his torso underneath the armor. The center lash struck his abdomen, and rebounded, shattering the other major plate in the frontal armor, but for now, Kelvin's intestines and other major organs were yet intact. The third ripped through the mangled remains of his leg armor with ease, puncturing down clear to the upper femur of his right leg, fracturing it. The combined onslaught of pain blinded Kelvin, his eyes losing focus and his vision browning out. Stars danced in his vision instead.

But the strike was sure, the angle of attack powerful, the momentum undeniable, the terrible cutting power of his sword irrefutable. Kelvin knew his time left on this world was to be measured in seconds, but his final moments would be spent in this final attack, locked in the jaws of horror and death. With all of its lashes committed to the attack, Kelvin's assault would be all the more difficult to avoid or ward off. It would have to be enough.

----------

Up in orbit, the main LANCE battery finished it's powering sequence, and it's focusing filters slid into place over its particle accelerator. Linked in a slowly rotating ring around the central structure, eight nuclear fusion reactors flared and funneled their combined awesome power into the central accelerator. In that helical tokamak, ions of hydrogen and resultant helium collided in a frenzy of particle creation and annihilation, generating lethal gamma radiation and an almost unfathomable amount of supercharged electrons and protons. It would be only a matter of a second or two before the ray was unleashed in all its destructive fury.

Already in a semi-liquid state, as Nox had been weakening his mollecular state since about mid-battle (about five of my posts in) the next actions were already prepped and ready. The lashes impacted, and while one was once again stopped..two made contact. And it was all downhill for Kelvin from there. With a wet sound Nox's mass would come apart, about half falling back to the ground to soak into the damaged blacktop, while the other half sould surge up the lashes, flowing into Kelvin's body through the holes in both armor and flesh, exploiting the open wounds and the penetration depth..all the way to the bone in both cases.

Once inside the man's body it was a simple act to enter his blood, allowing the small 'teeth' that edge the lashes to glide along through him as well. The real prize was upon entering the femur, it was known by Nox that over 30% of the human body's blood passed through those bones. It was like an open and waiting floodgate. From there it was a swift trip, sped along by the human's heartbeat, to the major organ groups. And all along the way..teeth ripped, miniture lashes tore...and half of Nox played Alien inside Kelvin's body. The pain would be unimaginable.

The other half of Nox, the half that had dropped off as a plume of liquid, simply fell to the ground, not even noticing the sword passing through it's mass. About half of the black liquid was turned into steam, simply vaporized by the intense heat of the blade. The remaning bit splashed onto the ground and was soaked down through cracks to be united with the web-like streamers left behind by Nox's passing below the ground.

In total, Nox had lost some of his mass today, but it was well worth it. It would heal; ripping through the nightmares of another world until whole again, then the slaughter would repeat again. But for Kelvin it was over, as soon as he let his guard down and allowed Nox to land those killing blows. If he was still alive...it would only be moments before the jagged mass of blackness reached his brain and ended his pain.


OOC: As I said in PM, that satalite weapon does not fit into the set rule of Melee. It would be better used in a Powered battle. By allowing the lashes to penetrate the armor and flesh of Kelvin you allowed them to land killing blows. I had been waiting to poke a hole in your armor for quite a while. If there is issue with my post, please PM me. I did not auto-hit you in any way. You stated the penetration and puncture of flesh yourself, I simply exploited the holes..as entry.

Already on the verge of passing out, Kelvin could not muster any more strength from his battered and mangled body. As the lashes tore into his innards, he couldn't scream, he couldn't move or writhe in agony. He simply lay there, face down on the broken blacktop as the lashes turned his insides into a meaningless pulp and his lifeblood poured from every orifice. It was such a terrible death that he was simultaneously drowning in his own blood, his insides were being shredded, his heart was about to burst, and he was bleeding out.

With a reflexive heave, Kelvin coughed out enough of the blood in his lungs to gasp a final retort to his already disappearing murderer. "I... cannot.... die...." Around him, the ground, the air, everything... began to shine with a strange, almost heavenly blue glow. He could swear he heard a choir of angels surrounding him. Beautiful... he thought, and then... LANCE fired.

The colossal focused power of the core of eight suns roared out of the heavens at the speed of light, unerringly straight at what it determined was the hostile target... part of which was inside Kelvin himself. The faintly bluish-tinged beam instantly polarized, then tore asunder the air molecules in the atmosphere as it fired, generating a spontaneous lightning storm several miles across. The meter-wide beam of gamma radiation and ionized particles hit Kelvin and the embedded lashes and simply ended him without a trace. His body, his armor, the pavement and everything around him for several yards was ripped apart at the atomic level, absorbed into the beam itself. It bored down half a mile into the ground before the beam finally petered out and ceased. All this happened in about a quarter of a second... immediately afterward a tremendous peal of thunder cracked across the entire lot and surrounding area, causing the blacktop to ripple and buck from the force of the sound shockwave. A nearby building complex collapsed.

With arcs of static lightning still jumping about, all that was left was a smoking half-mile hole with a quarter-mile wide sound crater around it, flooding with groundwater that was instantly vaporized by the seething heat of the superheated soil. No trace remained of Kelvin, or anything related to his existence. LANCE had spoken.

---------

The midday sun beat down on a desolate road winding through the dry plains of some agrarian world, a light breeze tossing leaves and small grasses here and there. Squinting, Kelvin opened his eyes, lifting his arm to shield them from the rays of the sun. He blinked, and looked at his arms. A familiar fabric adorned it. Lifting his other hand to his head, he found his signature plumed hat, crooked but intact. He smiled broadly as he stood, taking silent inventory of his familiar clothing and arms.

"I see... that I have managed to die. Again."


OOC: Noxize wins! Well fought.