He turned around in an instant, his manic grin faltering. Time to get serious.
The ant had its hand raised-which was still smoking. It raised its other hand, more spears condensing around them.
Kyran disappeared from his position, which promptly got bombarded by the spears and burst into an explosion of flames. He was focused after seeing that sword, and nothing would stop him from taking it.
He started counting
One.
When he reappeared, he jumped for a kick to its head, but the flaming insect's hand reached up to block it.
[War Path]
His leg, rather than colliding with it, hooked around the massive appendage, which he swung off to land a kick with his other leg. He used the force of that kick to push himself downward.
Two.
His hand was covered in an icy claw and he raked it down it's chest, creating 5 massive gashes.
He landed and crouched, spinning out with one leg, sweeping it of its feet. As it was falling, he used the spin's momentum to kick upwards and send it flying.
Three.
He crouched lower and jumped.
He reappeared on the ceiling-which nearly entirely shattered-, molten blood raining upwards with the force of his strike, boiling gold rivulets running across his body.
It took all of four seconds.
He dug his hands and feet into the newly cracked stone and looked downwards, surveying for any other threats. When he saw none, he dropped back down to the ground and walked up to Raven.
"....You're covered in blood, you know." She calmly commented.
"I know. It matches the cracks, don't you think?" He responded with a flourish that flicked blood everywhere.
"Agh! Yeah.. hahaha.. it does.. hahaha." She managed to say through her laughter at her now bloody face.
After they had calmed down, Kyran refusing to clean off the blood, they decided to get the last part of their plan underway.
"Can you guys hear me?" He asked as he opened up a channel.
Affirmations rang around him, as well as a sound of serious battle in the background of Cedric's channel.
"Oh. Don't mind that, they'll be dead soon enough. Yeah Kyran conti- Hey! an Ant is getting through route 12, collapse it!" the sound of a jet turbine and slicing wind "Haha! Bullseye! Oh yeah, lemme turn it down. You can continue now, Kyran."
"Are we in position to cripple the circulation?" He said while rolling his eyes.
"Y-yeah, but will happen to Ina- what will happen to him?" Jason queried, the tremble not yet out of his voice.
"I don't know, just keep it safe, okay?" Kyran responded, his voice breaking a bit on the last word.
"Haaaaaa.... Prepare yourselves. If we're off by even seconds, everything would be for naught" He warned, his body already tensing in anticipation,
"Well then, let's get this show on the road." He said.
"3" His heart pounded, and the rest got ready.
"2" He felt off, but that was probably just the nerves.
"1" A sharp spiking sensation erupted in his head as he shouted "0!" and ripped the katana out of the pillar.
The Aether levels fluctuated wildly, turning the comms into static and making him dizzy, before leveling out.
He held his head as he reopened the communications, "Are you guys alright?"
"All good here"
"The body's alright"
"Okay, that's good." He slurred, as he turned to check the transmission progress.
It read: 13 Mins Remaining.
How the hell is it still progressing? And my head.... ugh. What the hell is happening? He thought. Vessie?
[It's the sword. It's using you as a conduit instead. In 13 minutes, you're either going to die, go braindead, or become a thrall of the Queen. Whichever one happens, the transmission gets sent.]
Can't I just fucking let go?
[Why don't you try it?] Vessie replied sardonically.
He did, the reward for his troubles being a front row view to a gruesome display of body horror starring his hand, as it grew new flesh, bones, and muscle to form almost 20 new fingers, which extended down to catch the sword before it hit the ground. He had no control over any of it, and watched in morbid curiosity as the fingers placed the sword back in his actual hand and retracted.
He looked up at Raven, to see if she saw what just happened. It seemed she did, because if not, what was that mix of disgust, awe, and concern doing on her face?
"Still me," Kyran clarified. "Just with a new appreciation for how stupid I am. Of course the incredible sword that called me to it wouldn't turn me into a conduit, nor would it bind itself to me, those assumptions are downright comical!" He was slightly hysterical now, trying to calm down.
Raven quickly told him, "Calm the hell down, okay? If you break down now then we fail, and you die without having a chance to fight back."
His breaths came even faster after that. Until Raven threw a white capsule at him and he caught it out of instinct.
It was an anti-anxiety pill.
He was confused for a moment on why she had given it to him, until he realized.
He was a liability as long as he couldn't control himself, and he was still too drained to make any lasting effects on his mental state through a runic sentence or spell.
He took a deep breath and downed it.
He immediately noticed the difference. His sense grew sharper as his emotions dulled in return. He was calm and tranquil, but that serenity came with the price of destroying all his emotions, and he dully thought about how it could be seen as him destroying his sense of self.
Raven on the other hand, saw the eyes in the cracks on his skin become lethargic in their movement, before closing, as if in slumber. Same for the mouths, as their eternal stream of blasphemous gibberish slowed to a halt. The glow from the cracks dimmed, same with the color of his eyes.
Those weren't effects of the pill. She could understand the cracks since they were magical in nature and could respond to his emotions-which just died- but he had been heterochromatic since birth.
Kyran's breaths took a slow, steady rhythm, and his grip on the sword grew tighter.
"Thank you, Raven. I needed that." He contemplated the dark monotone his voice had taken, and shifted it to the side.
He reopened the transmission.
"Hey Asuras. We're about to make some noise."
His manic grin had absolutely no emotion behind it.