Akashic Records III [Mod]

[Layla Amare]

Although Layla had managed to survive several fights in a row in the floating castle, the last one had forced her to turn back. But now she was back, recovered, and ready to continue where she left off. She easily found her way back to the massive library The more time she spent there, the more she doubted the already unlikely idea that it was the Akashic Records. But even so, she was still fascinated by it all. A gigantic library, in a gigantic castle that had appeared out of nowhere. Filled with shadows. Possibly owned by shadows in the first place. Even if its contents were ordinary, the library was far from it on that alone.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

An ominous noise is heard as a powerful foe approaches!

The Reaper

Skills
Primal Force
Gigantic Fist
Brave Blade
Ragnarok
Bufudyne
Charming Bolt
Garudyne
Hell's Judgment
Heaven Purge
Makarakarn
Tetrakarn

[Layla Amare]

There was something very, very off about the library this time. Before, it had been a new, unknown, and fascinating place. But now, Layla couldn't shake a feeling she almost never experienced. Certainly not when fighting shadows anymore. The experience was much like the first time she had ever encountered one, before Yamantaka awakened or anything like that. Or failing that, the first time a shadow had appeared on the night of a full moon. It was a feeling of pure dread. The sound of rattling chains soon accompanied the sensation, drawing Layla's attention to their every movement. It was in the distance at first, but drew closer at an alarmingly fast rate, coming up behind her. Layla ran down the aisle, then turned and went straight down the next one once she reached the end of the first row of bookshelves. She felt and heard the source of her feelings of dread change course with her, moving back down the aisle she had just left to cut it off. Layla turned again, back towards the end of the row she had just come from, but the shadow moved with her. She stopped, turning towards the opposite row. Lined with books as it was, it would be difficult to climb, but not impossible. Resigning herself to that, she hoisted herself up from the ground onto the lowest shelf, then started climbing towards the top.

The sound of chains stopped.

Layla stopped mid-climb, turning back to look toward the ground below. The silence was broken by the sound of a gunshot, and a massive beam punched through the bookshelves. Layla was just high enough to avoid getting hit by the beam, but not high enough to avoid revealing herself to the shadow that had fired it. As the bookcase separating her from it crumbled away, the massive shadow floated through. It was a floating, humanoid shadow clad in black and surrounded by massive chains. White bandages covered its entire head, leaving only a single white eye exposed. In its hands, it carried a pair of revolvers with barrels as long as its arms. The shadow was unlike any Layla had ever seen, but now that she saw it directly, she realized she already knew what it was. This was death. Drawn in part from the iconic image of the grim reaper, but twisted into something new and different.

Death had finally come for her.

"No..." Layla said softly, letting go of the bookcase with one hand to reach for her otta. "I'm not going yet. Not here. Not now. I still have too much to do. Too many regrets I'd be leaving behind. I will not leave this world yet! Not by your doing, Yama's, or anyone else's!" She dropped from the bookshelf, snapping the otta's steel tip straight into the base of the shadow's neck.

The Reaper pulled back, recoiling from the sudden retaliation and smashing through what remained of the bookshelves behind it. It raised its revolvers high, then pointed them down at Layla. Layla saw the chamber on one of them turn and snap back into place, loading another round. She turned, moving quickly to put some distance between herself and the Reaper. The gun went off, and a familiar column of light dropped out of the sky, striking the ground in front of her right as Layla collided with it. The light washed over her, but did nothing to harm her. She turned around, willing for her Persona to appear. With the sound of breaking glass, Vajrabhairava Yamantaka materialized in front of her. The Terminator of Death took a low stance, facing off with the incarnation of death. Its arms spread wide, then came together all at once. A circle of light appeared on the ground, beneath the Reaper. Then another, split into two halves, outside of it. Then a third, split into six parts. In each of the six sections appeared the words "Deva, Asura, Manusya, Tiryagyoni, Preta, Naraka" in Sanskrit. Then, outside of that, a fourth circle, split into twelve sections. "Avijja, Sankhara, Vinnana, Namarupa, Salayatana, Phassa, Vedana, Tanha, Upadana, Bhava, Jati." Panels of light emerged from the divisions of six and twelve, enclosing the Reaper within them. The light built up, then exploded outward in a brilliant flare, burning through the Reaper's garments with the raw power of life and death.

But...would the power of life and death do anything to an avatar of death? Layla shielded her eyes as the light erupted from the symbol on the ground, then slowly peeked out as it began to fade. Sure enough, while the Reaper seemed to have been damaged at least, it was still standing strong. It tilted its head to one side for a second, then raised its other revolver and fired again. This time, a massive sphere of darkness came crashing down on Layla. Her Persona took the worst of the blow, and even then, she managed to shrug it off. It was a dark attack on par with what the moon-like shadow had used at the shopping center, but she had a natural resistance to darkness. She would be fine. The Reaper again tilted its head, appearing almost confused by the result. Layla took advantage of the opening to switch things up. Vajrabhairava stretched its arms towards the sky, with one carrying a vajra rising the highest. The sky rumbled, and lighting flashed across what may or may not have been the ceiling of the library. Then, in a series of bolts, lightning came crashing down on the Reaper. Layla again had to shield her eyes from the series of flashes that resulted, but as she managed to get a good look at it again, she realized that it was still standing, damaged but not severely so.

She immediately had to move again as the Reaper's revolver went off and a blast of wind came her way, but she failed to get away in time and the wind slammed her into the nearest bookcase. Vajrabhairava drifted back with her, then resumed its protective stance as though nothing had happened. Layla quickly recovered as well. But with her recovery came a realization. It had used light, and it hadn't worked. So it immediately used darkness next. When that hadn't worked, it used the opposite element of Layla's subsequent lightning attack: wind. This thing was consciously searching for weaknesses, in much the same way that Layla usually did it. While some shadows occasionally happened on a weakness and started exploiting it, this one was actively seeking one out. The fact that it hadn't found one yet was probably the only reason why Layla was still standing.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to defeat you before then," Layla said, grinning. What had started as determination soon became excitement. Here she was fighting off her own death, quite literally. Fights with shadows didn't get much more dramatic than that. She pushed Vajrabhairava to attack again, adding more symbolism to the mix by creating the Wheel of Life on the ground again, which exploded in a brilliant flash of light and further damaged the Reaper. It remained floating, though, and while it was starting to take noticeable damage, it was clearly still far from being finished. The shadow drew back one of its revolvers, then, instead of firing it, swung it directly at Layla. A shadowy blade momentarily appeared at the edge of the barrel, cutting Layla as it hit. She stumbled back under the force of the attack, but managed to stay standing, and soon went for another casting of Samsara. The wheel reappeared, and a blinding light erupted from it. But before it even faded, the shadow lunged forward, out of the confines of the wheel, and fired off its revolver at Layla. A force like a blunt object slammed into her, forcing her to one knee.

"Not yet...it may be cliche, but I'm still just getting started," Layla said, standing back up after a few seconds. Vajrabhairava raised a cup made from several skulls at her command, and a wave of healing energy washed over her. Although it wasn't enough to deal with all of her wounds, it would keep her out of serious danger for the time being.

Instead of pressing the attack, the reaper drifted back, crossing the barrels of its revolvers over its chest. A shimmering barrier appeared around it. Layla had seen it enough times to recognize it: a barrier that repelled either physical or magical attacks. But which ones? She couldn't tell at a glance, and the only way she could find out was by testing it. Going for the element that would be harmless if bounced back, Layla called forth the Wheel again, and an explosion of light from it. The explosion was immediately blown away, bombarding Layla with pure light energy. But she stood strong in the face of it all, unharmed. The barrier vanished, but the shadow soon replenished it. "No way am I falling for the same trick twice," Layla said, rushing forward, past her Persona, to strike it again with her otta. Once more, she aimed for a vital point, going for its temple. The attack hit its target precisely, but while a human might have been downed by the attack, the shadow remained standing. However, the damage was noticeably starting to build up.

"Just a little more," Layla said. The shimmering barrier reappeared, but Layla could tell something was different this time. It was probably trying to lure her into attacking physically this time, hoping she'd assume that magical attacks would still not work. But, Layla had too much experience with these barriers for that. They wouldn't fool her. Another explosion erupted from what was starting to become a more permanent inscription of the Wheel of Life, and sure enough the barrier did nothing to stop it. The Reaper fell out of the brilliant flare that resulted, briefly falling to the ground. It rose back into the air again, but even more clearly than before the repeated attacks were having a noticeable effect. That, at least, was the good news.

The bad news was that the Reaper gave up on the barriers, and instead went back to seeking out a weakness. And this time, it hit its mark. The feeling of dread returned as the Reaper fired again, freezing the air around her solid. The ice shattered, and Layla was dropped to the ground by the attack. Her vision started fading in and out of focus, blurring and returning to normal only to blur again. She tried to stand, only for her every movement to be accompanied by pain. But, despite the agony, she slowly forced herself to her feet. Pain was fine. No, pain was good. Pain meant that she was still alive, and that the ice hadn't done her in just yet. She could stand a little more pain if it meant surviving this fight. That was what Layla told herself in her head, over and over. And with it, came the strength to attack yet again. The Wheel reappeared, and with it came the brilliant light, engulfing the Reaper. The attack was accompanied by an unearthly shriek from the creature. Layla heard something heavy and metallic clatter to the ground as the shriek faded.

She was done. She had to be.

But as the light faded, the Reaper was still standing. Still alive. One of its chains was broken. Its black cloak was torn through in several areas, and a black mist was leaking out of all the holes. It still held onto one of its revolvers, but the other had fallen to the ground and now had a hole burnt through it as well. For the first time in the whole fight, it looked like it was badly damaged.

But it was still alive.

It let out another shriek, this one sounding more like rage than agony. It grasped its broken chain and tore it off, throwing it aside and into the nearest undamaged bookcase. The chain smashed through it, becoming tangled in the splintered wood and scattered books it left in its wake. Then, the Reaper pointed its revolver down at Layla and hit her with another blast of ice. Again, the air around her dropped to painfully cold temperatures. Layla's vision went black, her body went numb, and all she could hear was the cracking sound of ice forming suddenly, then shattering just as fast.

She was on the ground again. Her vision was blurry, and wasn't coming back into focus. She couldn't feel anything in her arms or legs, but the rest of her body was in extreme pain. She couldn't move. She could barely breathe. She could think, but only through extreme effort. Her Persona's towering form remained by her side, but even through her blurred vision she could tell it was starting to fade.

Was this...it? Was this the limit of what she could do? Was she going to die here?

Treasure every day. It could be your last. Do what you enjoy. Enjoy what you do. Never live 'partially', putting off things because they will still be tomorrow. Live a life others would be proud of. Live a life you would be proud of. Never let anything stop you or slow you down. There is too much living left to do to let any of it go to waste.

Above all else

Live a life that leaves you with no regrets when you die.

So Layla had sworn to herself after her life had changed. So she would continue to live, whether she had more time to live or she was due to be killed here by this shadow. That was what she tried to tell herself. That was what went through her head every time she thought she was near death. Whether she had a few years or a few minutes left to live, she was going to do it on her terms. If she was going to die, she would keep on living right until the very end.

...No. That wasn't good enough anymore. She couldn't die. She was already dead. But even so, she wasn't going to leave the world of the living. Not by disease, or shadow, or anything else. Not until she was ready. To live or to die, that was her decision. She would not leave that up to some freakish shadow that looked like a damned Grim Reaper.

Her entire body screamed out in protest. Her arms couldn't feel the ground they were pushing against, nor could her legs feel what they were supposed to be standing on. But she pushed through it anyway. She pushed herself to her feet through sheer force of will, staring down the Reaper through blurred eyes. All she could see was a dark patch topped with a lighter patch. But that was enough. "My life..." she said through a weak, raspy voice. One, two, three, four concentric circles appeared on the ground beneath the reaper. "...and my death..." Panels of light began to rise from the circles and their dividers, encasing the Reaper in a brilliantly illuminated cage. "...are mine to control!" The light began to spread between the panels and build up. "I live...and die..." The light reached a breaking point... "...by my own choice!" ...and erupted into a massive explosion, consuming the Reaper. Another unearthly shriek followed, accompanied by the clank of another revolver and the clattering of a chain.

"Not anyone else's."

The light faded. The symbol of the Bhavacakra, the Wheel of Life, depicting the cycle of Samsara, remained burned into the ground from the repeated castings. Of the Reaper, however, only the tattered remains of a black cloak and discarded weapons remained. Layla took a deep breath...and then collapsed back onto the ground.

[Erithania]

Sometimes, it's better to just stay home.



Congratulations. You may now choose one item to take home. Please specify it in your following post!

[Layla Amare]

"Healing...healing now," Layla managed to get out, directing Vajrabhairava before it managed to disappear completely. It raised its skull cup again and poured out its contents, healing Layla enough that she could stand again. Barely. She was still in extreme pain. The feeling was returning to her extremities, and they were in pain too. But she was alive, and the Reaper wasn't.

As she approached the Wheel, now permanently burned into the floor of the library, she caught sight of something glowing brightly from beneath the edge of the tattered pieces of its cloak. Layla forced her way over and brushed it aside, to find a weapon shining from underneath. It was an urumi, but one better made and more brilliant-looking than any she had ever seen in her life. Why was the Reaper carrying an urumi? And why one of this quality? Who knew. But that would be her reward for surviving this encounter.

Declared reward: Legendary/L6 Slash weapon