The Sunken City [Darksea] [COMPLETE]

"You're right." Sirius followed after his brother, Rover hot on his heels. "Green Zoras are omnivores in the most literal meaning of the word. They'll eat anything they can get their hands on. If they were so emaciated... well, I think we can safely clear their names as far as the disappearances go. If they were responsible, they would have devoured their victims."

As they wandered the streets, Sirius explaining his deductions to Silas, the younger Sheikah had the distinct feeling that he was being watched by something. It was not a pleasant feeling, to be sure, and he fiddled with his sword nervously, finally putting it away so he wouldn't betray his anxiety to the elder. "My hunch is that when we find what's been causing the disappearances, we can clear up a lot of the issues Onox's forces are dealing with right now. Eliminating this threat may calm the people and restore their faith in the military. It's of utmost importance that we find it and--" he interrupted himself, suppressing a cry of disgust. "What in all the hells of the Golden Goddesses is THAT?!"

Sirius dived to a side along with Silas, the hairs on his bare arm closest to the creature standing on end as the electricity fizzled past them. Silas cried out in disgust, wondering why they hadn't been alerted to its existence by Onox, but Sirius raised his hand as he saw the second one appear. "There's a good chance we may be the first to encounter them," he said. "Either that, or no one who's seen them has lived to tell the tale..." He made a face. "That is beyond a doubt the most disgusting thing I've seen in a long time, though. Don't get between it and me for a moment." With those words, he launched a Shadow Ball towards the nearest one.

The ChuChu-like leech leapt just as Sirius cast his spell, and the ball of magic disappeared into the monster's mouth. For a moment, a dark shape could be observed moving through the yellow jelly-like substance that its body consisted of, before impacting the tail end and disappearing. As the Shadow Ball impacted though, the leech recoiled and dove into a small ball, as though it were terrified. "They can feel fear," Sirius said, amazed. Before he could do anything else, though, he had to step aside and arch his torso backwards to dodge the second one, which had tried to bite his chest.

He took a few steps back and drew his sword with one hand, rapidly switching a few times between his normal grip and an icepick grip before settling on the latter and pushing the pommel against the palm of his other hand. "Wait until they're stunned if you want to attack up close," he told Silas as he gathered magic in both hands. "I can only use either of these spells every once in a while, so you may want to rely on distance attacks. Something tells me we don't want to let them bite us."

With that, he shut his eyes to focus on the final phase of the enchantment, his sword blade turning pitch black and dimming the light in maybe an inch's radius around it. He found himself mildly unsettled by both these effects and the evil power radiating from the blade, but swallowed and told himself it was a side effect of the magic and not a sentient being trying to harm him. When the second monster leapt again, he switched grips so he held the sword normally in one hand, and met it with a downward arc.

The sword impacted the monster violently, the evil radiating from it moving from blade to monster and sending it to the ground, where it cringed. Apparently, the effect was much stronger on a weapon than it was in a projectile. Sirius switched back to his icepick grip and stepped back, raising his other hand to conjure up needles. "I need a minute to repeat the enchantment, and another ten seconds for Shadow Ball," he said to Silas. "I'll warn you when I'm about to use either."

Knowing of his brother's defensive powers, Sirius went along with Silas's movements, putting their backs against each other as the electric wall was put up. It had happened in a matter of seconds, but he wanted to be absolutely certain his spells were ready for use once more. Thus, he waited, spending his time observing the field outside the wall. Silas killed the first of the creatures, revealing that their centres were extremely vulnerable. To Sirius's relief, the beast did not split into two like Chus did. Another trait they don't share, his scholar's mind thought, so they really are a different species altogether...

While he looked, an angry bark sounded, following by the noise of four paws thudding on the ground very quickly. Sirius hurried to toss his needles to the ground in front of the dog. "DOWN, Rover!" he called. The Rottweiler didn't know about the electricity coursing through the monsters, and even if he did, he wouldn't realise that meant he could very well die if he bit them. Point of fact was that Rover was useless in this battle. As per usual, Rover came to an abrupt halt behind the needles, sat down, and stayed there, although his head stayed low and he kept growling at the remaining monster.

"Silas!" Sirius called, sheathing his blade and extending one hand, "I'm taking out the last one! Drop the wall!" He was barely finished speaking when the electricity around him dissipated. The moment it did, he sent a Shadow Ball soaring towards the remaining monster. It had redirected its attention to Rover and turned away from Sirius and Silas, exposing its middle to the younger Sheikah's spell. The ball of pure darkness collided with the electric beast, which snapped into two and shrivelled into little seaweed-like pieces, with an ear-piercing shriek of fear.

Sirius ran his hand over his bad leg, concluding that he only felt a dull ache and could still walk on it, and walked over to his hound. "Good job, Rover. Heel." With that, Rover got up and followed behind Sirius as he intended to inspect the remnants of the monsters. As he did so, though, he noticed that Rover had something in his mouth. An iron bar, about the size of a thin tree branch. "I thought I'd taught you not to pick up every little thing you see laying about," he said, reaching for it. "Where did you find that?" To his surprise, when he took hold of it, not only was he given a brief static shock, but Rover growled and pulled on it. Sirius shook his head. "I don't have time to play with you. Silas, thoughts? On the monsters, not on Rover."

"Don't talk to him like that," Sirius said, irritated, "You'll get him excited." He looked at the shrivelled piece of -thing- that his brother held out to him, but finally sighed and took it from him between thumb and index finger himself. "I think I'll take it, actually. If it's a new type of monster recently evolved, chances are Ganon's influence has had a hand in it. Researching it could give us some good insights..." he grimaced. "The things I won't do for the good of Hyrule." He put the thing away, turning back to Rover and using his element of surprise to take the iron rod from him. This time, he didn't get shocked, and he held the bar out in front of him, frowning. Something was radiating from it, but he couldn't place it...

"I agree, though," he said, gesturing with the rod. "It definitely has something to do with the current situation, and we should press on. The sooner we find Nihil, the better it will be." He lowered his hand, leading towards the edge of town and keeping an eye out for any sorts of monsters, either familiar or unfamiliar.

Sirius pulled on Rover's collar, pulling him behind the wall next to himself and Silas. He gestured to Silas that he had to be quiet, while he observed the... being... that had yet to spot them. Miraculously, Rover kept from growling and snarling. Sirius put a hand on the wall and peeked over it, ready to dive back into cover if the thing turned around.

What he had already inferred from Silas's words was only confirmed by the sight of Nihil's armour. The general was no more, reduced to a shadow of his former self by... whatever means that thing on his head employed. Wait... of course! "They're electricity-based creatures," he hissed to Silas, "but not only in their attacks. Look." He waited until Silas was looking at the thing too, pointing at what was left of Nihil's face. "Do you see that? His head is exposed, and the thing bit into it. I suspect it's now sending electric signals to Sir Nihil's brain, controlling his corpse that way." If it was a corpse they were looking at, at least. Sirius shuddered at the alternative.

He lowered himself back behind the wall and looked at Silas. "You're smart enough to have figured that out yourself, of course. Silas, I don't think I strictly need to say this." He gave his brother a pointed stare. "Whatever happens, do not let one of those things bite into any of your exposed skin. And if push comes to shove and one gets me, kill me before..." he gestured with his hand. "I turn into that." More importantly, though, how were they going to make him stop moving? "We have to help him out of his misery, brother. If the people see him like this, the panic will only spread."

"Silas!" It was inevitable that Nihil had noticed the elder Sheikah, with the noise that had heralded his falling down into the sewers, and Sirius lept out of his cover, wincing as he landed on his bad leg, and gestured his companion over. "Rover!" he called, "Get down there with him and keep an eye on him!" Rover barked as if voicing his understanding and followed his orders, not hesitating longer than a second before jumping down into the sewage, landing with a splash and giving himself a good shake before padding over to Silas.

"And now you..." Sirius muttered, turning around to face the slowly approaching Nihil. He didn't know Silas's situation, but chances were that his movement was restricted, allowing Nihil to corner him if he were allowed to give chase. Sirius, on the other hand, knew part of the city from where they had walked to get here, and had basically unrestricted movement in all directions. He had to lure the monster behind him, instead... Conjuring up a handful of needles, he gave a sharp whistle and threw the projectiles at it. "Over here!" he called, before turning around and bracing himself.

This was going to hurt.

....this had been a bad idea. And yet, Sirius noted as he cautiously opened one eye, he wasn't dead. He was standing on his good leg, having turned his body to one side when Nihil had brought his enormous sword down on where he had been standing. In his dedication to not letting the general corner Silas, running away hadn't been an option for the younger Sheikah, and so waiting for the very last moment to dodge had been his only chance at successfully distracting him. At least Nihil was focused on him now.

The thing on top of Nihil's head seemed to get frustrated with him and lurched at him with its free end, attempting to shock him. In a reflex, Sirius held up both hands as he stepped back, to parry what he didn't dodge, but to his surprise, none of the electricity made it to his skin. Confused, he looked at his hand and realised he was still holding the small, metal rod that Rover had brought him before. Except now, it was crackling with a surge of power... had it absorbed the electricity? Sirius's mind raced. If it had absorbed but not neutralised the energy, chances were it could shoot back. He took another step back, luring Nihil after him, and took the metal rod in one hand much like some of his students held their wands.

Magic was simple once one understood the basics. And with a conduct like this rod, which stored and readied the energy on its own, using it was pathetically easy for a practiced mage. All he had to do was visualise the electricity leaving the rod and jumping to Nihil. He jabbed it forward to facilitate the jump, and sure enough, the electricity jumped, giving Nihil a nasty shock and making him stagger backwards a bit. Sirius wasted no time following up with a Shadow Ball aimed at the blob on his head. Just like the ones from before, the blob was affected by the shadow magic, and afraid as it suddenly was, it made Nihil step back continuously.

Sirius approached, drawing his sword with his free hand and switching hands so that he held it in his dominant hand and the lightning rod in the other. He enchanted his sword, knowing that fear would be a powerful weapon against this monster.

Nihil was almost on the edge of the sewage now. Smelling the approach of something unnatural, Rover stopped panting and tilting his head at Silas and turned to the edge, growling angrily.

Incoming... dog? "Wooooof!"

Sirius fought the very strong urge to bury his face in his hands when Rover was launched out of the sewers and into Nihil's back. The enormous hound bowled him over and he broke Rover's fall, so that was something, he guessed, but he needed a good few seconds to both recover from the shock and regain his composure and restraint. "And here I thought the older brother was supposed to be the more mature of the two." Sighing and gesturing with the hand in which he held the lightning rod, he summoned Rover back to his side. "Here, boy. Careful. He stings." Rover barked, but didn't attack. Sirius decided not to wait for Silas to show up.

At some point, he'd have to learn to rely on his own wit to keep him alive in these situations, rather than that of someone who wasn't injured. Nihil started to get back to his feet, prompting Rover to growl at him as a warning. Sirius considered his options. He couldn't count on the blob on Nihil's head to keep using electricity, so he dropped the lightning rod, telling himself he'd pick it up later, and instead took his sword in two hands. If he could find an opportunity to cut that thing loose from the general's head... that would work, right?

As Nihil got to his feet, Sirius leapt forward, stabbing the blade of his enchanted sword into the crackling blob. It was a mistake- the impact, the shadow enchantment, and the subsequent barrage of electric signals to the long-dead brain resulted in Nihil lashing out with a large, greaved foot. Sirius soon realised where that foot was going, and lost his balance, his leg painfully reminded of the wound he had taken so long ago. Screaming in pain, he fell to the ground in front of Nihil, his sword falling next to him.

Rover barked, snarled, and began to run over to where they were, determined to protect his master in this vulnerable state.

"Yeah," Sirius said through gritted teeth. "Don't think I have much of a choice." Silas let go of him, but Sirius grabbed hold of the elder's arm to stabilise himself until he had both feet firmly on the ground, and took a deep breath before letting go. Wait. Silas's Wall of Hazards... it was charged with electricity! "The Lightning Rod!" Sirius gasped, looking around for the metal rod, and picked it up to point it in the direction of the wall. "We have to somehow fight fire with fire," he explained to Silas, "Or rather, electric impulses with electric impulses. He gets spastic when attacked with electricity. Cover me, I'll see if I can get his brain." Overloading the brain so it would shut down? He didn't know if it would work. Still, it was worth a shot.

The Wall of Hazards fell away, leaving Sirius's crackling and sparking lightning rod as the only source of electricity. "No promises on the brain thing though... We still have to avoid that thing on top of him." He felt the colour drain from his face as he imagined the thing being sapient and realising that either of the two intact, fully (or at least largely) unscathed and well-functioning bodies might be more efficient than the wrecked one it currently had. Still, he shook the thought and took the lightning rod in one hand so he could maneuvre it better.

He couldn't blindly jab at Nihil. His sources of electricity were very limited.

"Do not stand between him and me," Sirius said dryly, "this stuff is stronger than you think. If you could distract him though, so I could get to the brain without that... thing... interfering, that'd be great." He started to move, strafing away from Silas. Nihil's head turned to follow him. This wouldn't do at all... he needed a clear shot. Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to open with a different kind of attack, just to create an opening. He didn't think tiring the monster out would work, since it wasn't using its body.

He stepped forward, jabbing the lightningrod at Nihil's neck. Predictably, the general twisted out of the way, causing Sirius to miss and the charge to be lost to the metal armour and harmlessly disappearing into the earth. At the same time, Nihil brought down his sword, forcing Sirius to step aside just enough that he could get the rod within reach. Sure enough, part of the charge jumped between weapons, giving Sirius a second shot. Again, he jabbed at the general's exposed neck, and this time, Sirius was fortunate. While he missed again, having to strike at an awkward angle so he could avoid being punched by the general's free hand, this time the rod was close enough for the electricity to make contact with the skin.

Nihil shuddered, locked in place for a second as the signals sent by the monster on his head were interrupted. "That's it!" Sirius called, "Silas! Once I have a new charge, try to lure him towards you and then give him a shock in the neck if possible! I think I can have him if you do that!"