Pantaos[Sanity Immersion]

[Shattered Redemption]

'The sun rose above the city, and glittered through a gap in the thick acidic clouds, basking the world in its usual greenish glow. A jet trail had already pierced its path.'

'Something about too much ash and micro filaments in the air, had shifted the colors of the heavens, over the centuries of persistent air pollution.

Plumes of overheated air rose from the Nuclear stations, on the sides of the city's central core, vibrating and shimmering in sunlight.

An ever-present, mushroom like cloud of thick, juicy smog reminiscent of the nuclear wars, overshadowed the Core and engulfed it in constant darkness.'

More or less, this was what Siegfried Schtauffen saw as he stood a top a sky scraper structure that inverse to what he saw below, the street lined with those whom were flesh infected, the wide street had erupted into chaos is seconds, and the noise was nearly deafening. From up where he was the figures in the street were small, and he could only make out the movement of those fighting, but it was more than enough to know that anyone down there was in for a fight of their life if they did not wield the appropriate amount of power.

"It seems that I will just have to take care of this small problem. I have not seen an outbreak of this many in a few months, yet those below are weak." He raised Soul Calibur, looking back down below and sighed. "Here goes." Siegfried jumped off the top of the building, the wind already feeling easy against his face.........

[Sora_Rox_My_Sox]

Shay lazilly waltzed down the streets of the Pantaos slums, taking care to avoid the water filled potholes. "Actually, most of Pantaos is the slums..." She said in an amusing tone, contradicting her own thoughts. Ever since the first outbreaks, the world had been tossed into a constant state of paranioa, always on its toes, waiting for the next bad thing to happen...anticipating the end.

She stopped her thinking and looked down, only to notice her left foot was shin deep in a pothole. "Damn" She muttered on the tip of her breath, and pulled her sopping boot out of the water. She shook the outer water off, but of course, it had already seeped through into the boot itself. She began to walk again, her left foot making a squelch noise everytime she placed it down upon the dirty, cracked ground. Over her own noisy antics, she could make out screaming in the distance.

It sounded like pandemonium had broken out, and even from a few blocks away, the piercing wails were still clear and sharp, almost like she was right there with them. "It cant be another outbreak...Already?" She asked herself as she began to jog towards the nearest building. She found an isolated hotel, reaching about 5 stories high, high enough to get a good look at the panic without getting too close. She walked to the buildings side, and began to climb the emergency ladder, all the way to the top.

[Grimmjow Jaggerjack]

Pantaos. An utopia. Ha! An Utopia for sure...endless years ago. A safe haven for every soul, every living being. A bright, shining place where everyone is equal and loved...whatever. History has shown over and over again that a Utopia does not exist, and Pantaos is no exception. People long for chaos, people long for war. They long for fighting, and taking pride in their gain through the pain of others. Desctruction is their life's work. Greed is their drive. Greed, which brought humanity to the highest point they would ever be able to. Greed, which took it all away.

Again, an Utopia was ruined. The greatest city of history, the largest haven known to men...failed miserably before the eyes of infected humanity. Or no, better said, it didn't fail. Humanity was what failed. That greed was what made them fail. And there pride fed that greed even so. A downward spiral of murder and desctruction, plunging the city into utter chaos.

It was in that ruined city, that known Utopia, where he lived. Æsir, a creature who couldn't have lived anywhere else, as he was exactly the same as that city. Once human; flourishing, great in every way, loving, powerfull. But now; ...infected. Despicably excuse of a living being, feeding off others to keep alive. Living amongst the shadows, unknowing who or what he is, or who or what he was. Searching for answers. Searching for life. A life of meaning, a life...like never before.

Water dripped from the ceiling. Cold wind blew through holes and crackes in the wall, creating piercing howles. Darkness layed in the corners of the decayed house, and in that darkness...a figure was visable. A shivering human being, trying to keep out the cold by gripping his legs, which where pulled up to his chin, tightly with his arms, concentrating his body warmth. Scattered around him lay pieces of bone, and even some meat. He was already full, he didn't want to eat anymore. Or so he told himself. Fact was that he was still rumbling due hunger. The lack of food was horrible to the man, and had forced him to prey on the other living. Well, they could hardly be called 'living', but that was not the point. Æsir saw it as a sin. A weakness, and he couldn't have that. In order to survive, in order to escape death in this city, he needed to show not even a single sign of weakness whatsoever.

He needed to be strong, like his name suggested. He needed to be respected, like his name demanded. He needed not to fear anything, like his name requested. He needed to be Æsir, a deity among all these infected, miserable people. Being a deity...just to survive.

[Shattered Redemption]

Siegfried sped down towards the ground, Soul Calibur outstretched, and as he reached the ground, numerous flesh infected noticed his descent, and flocked towards him to feed. His blade connected with one up front, ripping into its flesh and spewing blood before the monster had any chance to use its abilities. This batch of flesh infected must not have fed in weeks, because they were in a complete frenzy, ripping and trying to destroy one another, which made Siegfired's job even simpler. "My, this isn't what I had expected, but maybe I ma speaking too soon."

He certainly was. Though weakened, All of the flesh infected there could tell that Soul Calibur and Siegfried had massive levels of energy and they all wanted to eat it. which sent a majority of the infected towards him, crowding around, and killing each other yet again to get to him. "I don't have time to be playing around with you creatures."

He spun completely around, severing multiple bodies in one blow, them falling in half, and coating the ground with a splash of blood that filled random pot holes in the street. From Siegfried's hand a blast of light slammed into the ground, pushing back the horde of creatures. Soul Calibur glistened with energy and a pulse of soul plasma erupted from the blade, carving a path through the flesh infected....