Art of Artifacts (Sectos)

[Sectos Barker]

He'd scratch them a bit. Being itchy wasn't unusual, but no one else was itchy? Sectos would look at the other people around.

[The Guardian]

He'd see a few people here and there scratching their arms, but no one seemed to think much of it. He'd feel the itch moving up his arms toward his shoulders, growing in intensity.

[Sectos Barker]

Sectos was now not liking this... One thing in here reacted to Qi already, maybe it will happen again. He'd reach out with his Qi to see if he could feel any kind of energy. He really wanted to stop scratching though.

[The Guardian]

He'd see the runes from the book crawling along his arms and up his body. The runes spreading outward infecting other people as well, as they casually itched. He would also feel a Qi resonance in other chambers too.

[Sectos Barker]

"Damnit."

Sectos would frown as he followed the resonance, but trying to also read the runes now. He was intent on making his way back to the tome.

[The Guardian]

He'd see the scrawling runes spreading through the rooms. The crystal display was lit up, activating under it's magic. And the paintings had runes digging into them.

Trying to read the runes on himself while doing all of this only gave him a piece, as the runes continued to move up his body and cover him. What he could gather is it was some kind of summoning spell. But what or how he did not know.

What he did know is that more people were itching, a few even dropping to the floor as they tried desperately to scratch the itch. He felt his own itch spreading up his neck to his face. And the book, well the book was the only thing without runes or any sense of Qi at this point in the whole building.

[Sectos Barker]

Sectos would bypass whatever he needed, break whatever he needed to grab the Tome from it's place and flip it open. He would increase his Qi energy flow a bit and see if he could slow the runes by over powering the spell.

[The Guardian]

He'd hear screams from other chambers and the squelching of flesh from the room with the paintings. The glass shattered easily, though it cut his hands. Black ink dripping from the small wound as he opened up the tome only to find the well-worn parchment was blank. Every page blank.

The itching spread downward over his torso, and he'd start to feel pain, like something inside of him, was moving.

[Sectos Barker]

Sectos would drop the tome gripping at his stomach... It was time for a desperation move. Sectos would move as quickly as he could for the Crystal room. He needed to get a Crystal, but he wondered if he could grab some on the way to the one activating from the resonance.

[The Guardian]

He'd feel it bubbling inside of him, pushing against his stomach as he stumbled toward the crystal chamber. A man in front of him on the ground between him and the crystals convulsed on the ground, his stomach and neck bulging as two monsters"]https://imgur.com/08Kvo0q]monsters bust from his stomach and neck in a shower of ink and blood.

[Sectos Barker]

~Ink?~

His confusion though he had to ignore it, he needed to get passed this, so he would create his magic circle which would wash over him, taking on the form of the Horror Fiend to jump over or otherwise get passed these things to get to the crystal.

SPOILER: Click to show

Horror Fiend Physiology: Sectos can create a magic circle which passes over him showing a whole new form with horns, wings, hooves, and red skin. This form adds half his energy stat to his Atk and Def stats, but primarily allows him to levitate if need be. He can however summon a Horror Fiend which can do combat, move around and fly as needed. The Horror Fiend has an Atk, Def, and Spd stat of the user plus half the users energy. To do this he must stand in one spot to concentrate.

[The Guardian]

Sectos is able to make it over the fiends, their bodies stretching upward to lunge at him. Screams filling the building as more people likely fell victim to whatever was going on. His fingers were inches from the crystal when time would stop and he found himself suspended in the air.

"And so it was that a desperate measure was enacted. When hope was all but lost, like any cornered beast he grasped at any possible salvation. I wonder, will you be the man grasping at the grass on a cliff, holding on to the vain hope that their roots will hold you? Or will you see another way?"

[Sectos Barker]

Sectos didn't like being stuck like that, especially in the Horror Fiend form, it was uncomfortable. The voice however, it was speaking, but it wasn't addressing him until the end he felt, the rest seemed more... Narration. The ink finally seemed to make sense in a way. He would try to move his eyes or head to see who was speaking, and he would try to speak himself if he could.

"Depends on the story. If it's reality, I was taught that there were always other ways."

[The Guardian]

"But are they ways you are capable of reaching in the here and now? That is what you must ask yourself."

He could move his eyes, but not his head. He got the sense of a physical presence behind him, but he couldn't see who it was.

"You don't have long. Save yourself, or don't and find that other way. Tick tock 'Demon Spawn'".

The last bit was said with strained amusement before time resumed and he'd grasp the crystal in his hand!

His stomach and neck began to bulge out however, he could feel the things inside of him about to rip out.

He could hear the sounds of chaos and death tearing through the museum as well, with the sickening snapping of bones and rupturing of flesh amplified.

He was out of time.

[Sectos Barker]

Sectos didn't like that at all. Very ominous, but it seemed the entity did not wish to discuss things, and it was growing close to his own eruption of oddity. He would release his Horrow Form holding the Crystal with both hands he would push his Qi into it as quickly as he could, taking some of his ink and blood to rub on the crystal a bit as he attempted to use the crystal, he was trying to force his will on it, or reshape it to absorb these creatures spawned of the inc. Either way this was his choice.

It was desperate, but he wasn't trying to save himself, he was trying to end this now before it got out of hand, if that meant trapping everyone currently infected, including himself inside the crystal in his hand until someone else figured this out, then so be it.