End of Infinity IC

Mallis rolled his eyes. "Why do you dragons have to make everything so perverted? Everything is about boyfriends and girlfriends, and babies, and eggs, and BLEHEHEHEHEH!!! I MEANT YOU ARE MINE TO KILL!" Mallis growled. He returned he began to reform into his usual shape, but still in a gaseous state. He smiled at the Eradicators.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you. DADDY'S HOME!!!" he shot a large blast of purple light at Sairei which trapped her in a bubble that deflected anything that would hit her and making her rise above the city.

He noticed the other creature, Zal-Tek and shot a bubble at that thing too.

"Now, time for some magic" he said. His claws lengthened, his lower body split into a mass of tentacles and writhing snakes. His neck lengthened and a screeching black and purple aura coated the air around him. It would not harm Sairei or Zal-Tek, but it would make them want to vomit from the horrid smell.

Mallis shot a ray of purple into the ground where the crumbling was and the melting transformed into fire that rose high into the air and creating a flaming swirling vortex that consumed the city, heat going everywhere.

"I must be the one to kill Sairei..." Mallis said darkly to the robots.

Zal-Tek nodded, still highly amused by Mallis' efforts. "One second," he whispered to Sairei, before turning to address Mallis.

"You say you want to kill Sairei," he began, "but you know what else? Already from your display of power I can tell that you have to feed to use your magic, isn't that right?"
He raised his eyebrows, "what do you expect to eat if these robots destroy it all?" He asked, "surely you don't think you can take them on your own..."

Mallis made a scowl at Sairei. "Really? The one time I'm nice to you and even allow you to use one of my special orbs that promises zero damage and you REJECT IT? You're an idiot Sairei! Go on. We'll see how long you and your friend last without me on your side!" he yelled. "You know you need me! You've seen my power!"

He then looked to Zal-Tek. "Even if a realm is left empty, it still has the same fibers and netting. I can still eat it even if there's nothing IN it! Even if it's destroyed, the only way to render it uneatable is if a magic source powerful enough to damage its physical form and its magical form does so! Something like the Darkness. Understand? Now if you're leaving, get out of here!"

Zal-Tek rolled his eyes.
"But still you say we know we need your help," he said flatly, "do you want an alliance or not? You act like we're refusing your help, when you have yet to do anything but attack us!" He laughed, "make up your mind."

Mallis rolled his eyes. "Fine! Come on Sairei!" He said. His tentacles grew back into a long snaky trail of smoke and wings sprouted from his back. He began flying next to Sairei, and just to show off her went faster than her. I need something else to do with my life. He thought. Have a family? No. Tried that. Uhm...

Zal-Tek chuckled quietly and whispered back.
"Don't worry...  he can't trust me either."

Zal-Tek had spent plenty of time sparring with his brother, both in words and in melee.  It was hard for him to fight Shallno directly due to his lack of ranged attacks, but it worked, and another thing it had done was get him accustomed to doing battle with dark creatures, to the point that he had a small amount of physical resistance to shadow magic.  Here's hoping this was the same kind of magic.

Besides, it had worked hadn't it? But no, Sairei was probably right. It wasn't as if Zal-Tek was one to trust people anyway. He would be keeping a close eye on Mallis...

"I seem to sense it. The source... I can feel it somewhere in there, but it's too hard to make out" Mallis said. "But if we're going to go attack it, can we at least stop somewhere first? I need to absorb things before I attack something else. I assume you both could use some rest as well?" Mallis said. "I've gotta get something else in my blood, I need more magical essence. That last spell drained me pretty good. Plus it was a total waste! Protecting you two... what was I thinking? Ungrateful little... Ugh, where to?"

"You want my help or not little princess?" Mallis mocked her. "You wanted me to come,  I came and I'm not going to betray you like I did Tharan, Phaedra, Lethor, Madness, Ariana, Camo-namo, and whoever else was in Insanity's ship that day. We have a common enemy I guess. I mean, I COULD just go back to Keros and look for a different place to eat. But since I'm a great guy and all, I've decided to come and hang out with you--the person I absolutely hate the most!" Mallis said in a mockingly cheerful way.

"You want my help? Your gonna go by my terms. I'm getting souls. Without them I'm as weak as a newborn child--that can't die, but still! I can't fight without them!"

He looked at her skeptically. "And don't worry, you won't have to let me in. I'll find my own way in. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER! Besides, I know about Dark Vortex Dragons. I'm sure you know all about my past as well. I'm sure you know who Amagus is, I'm sure you know about that stupid wolf guy that my daughter is dating..." Mallis growled in a teeth git fashion. "I'm sure you know about my parents, my siblings and their deaths, I'm sure you know about how I died, everything."

Their conversation was cut short by more energy beams from the Eradicators that came straight toward them with the unerring aim of a machine. The Eradicators began to approach from multiple directions as they converged on the trio that seemed to be causing them so much trouble and was making it difficult to complete their mission.

Mallis looked around. "We... we're in your home?" he glanced everywhere. He pulled out some sort of glowing black and purple stone tablet and wrote something into it with his finger. He folded the notebook into his body again and it disappeared.

He studied everything hard. "I knew I'd get to see this place one day..." Mallis told himself quietly he turned to Sairei. "So this is where you and Twilit live? Is this place like the Vault? What's it made of? How did you do that?" Mallis kept asking questions.

Zal-Tek clambered back up onto his feet and looked around.  Sure enough, they were back in Sairei's home.
And he didn't like it one bit.

Just because he was confident in his abilities to convince people to help him, didn't mean he was confident in their loyalty. Especially not Mallis. He grumbled slightly, but passed it off as annoyance towards their mode of transport. "I'm fine," he said quickly, not taking his eyes off Mallis. He wondered passively what the 'Vault' was, but decided that was a question for another time.

Mallis slipped in front of Sairei, ignoring her in every way possible. "Hello Twilit," he said narrowing his eyes and grinning. His body lengthened so he could meet the dragon at eye level. Mallis was very tall...

"I believe the last time we met, you knew me by the name of Arcelis." he stuck his hand out for some sort of "evil hand shake."

"So how'd you feel when you defeated all those Ancients and helped me nemesis Tharan kill the Guardian? Did you feel proud? I hope not. I planned the whole thing. I new Tharan would have won, especially with your help. Tell me, was it a good feat? Did you celebrate in any way?" Mallis grinned.

Zal-Tek narrowed his eyes. He could sense the situation getting out of hand, and almost felt it was his responsibility to stop it. He sensed Twilit sending a telepathic message to Mallis, but decided not to listen in. Not only was it unneeded, but it was also rude. Still, he couldn't help noticing how quietly intimidating Twilit was being, not to mention the fact that he could see Twilit visibly growing.

His golden eye glowed for a moment as he decided it would be much safer to keep a close watch on Mallis. His spell would alert him if Mallis gathered even the slightest bit of magic for any type of spell, and with a little more focus he could even guess what the spell might do. It was a simple, handy early warning system, and nothing more.

Meanwhile...

Deep in the blackest reaches of space, the darkness chuckled silently as it reviewed recent events. I wonder if that thing consumed more than just Mallis's soul Veriska thought to herself. He is an arrogant fool. Who blabs about being weak then proceeds to threaten not one, but two beings of unknown power?

The whole lot of them are entertainingly naive. They will have their eyes opened.

The stars became visible once again, as Veriska collected her shadows into her corporeal form. She waved her hand, and as she did so spectral energy arced from her fingertips creating a ghostly green disk before her. When it expanded to full size, Veriska's form stretched, then faded into it's glowing depths.

She emerged into a dark, dead realm and waited; knowing well that her patience would be rewarded.

In the realm, a dense dark grey fog billowed forward. Before Veriska, a figure appeared, shrouded in the fog. It's face was hidden beneath a long cloak that concealed its true form. "Back again Veriska?" it asked.

Veriska and stood her ground and replied. "Would you expect less of me?" Without waiting for a response she continued. "I have come here with a proposition that I think you'll find most enticing."

The figure's hood leaned forward some, indicating attention. "And what is this proposition?" the figure rasped. "I trust you remember the usual terms...." as the smoke engulfed them both and the everything went black.