Before the wrath of the dragon slayer, Toguro stood undaunted, purple lightning focusing itself around his body. Even as the flames billowed around him, and the ice evaporated, leaving only a platform of melting metal to stand on, he simply charged forward. In this sea of heat, he formed an oasis around himself, flames hissing past him, his sides slowly turning to lava. Fearless, painless, lifeless, the golem kept moving, his body reforming even as it started to melt, pressing towards Creed. The purple sparks that served as Toguro's eyes could even now be seen through the walls of radiant flame, his fist outstretched.

As Clarent struck towards Toguro, it's very movement a dance of macabre beauty, the golem punched towards it. Fist struck steel, as the flames seemed, for a moment, to extinguish themselves. Then, with an explosive rush, all of the Fire Dragon's power pounded down upon Toguro, a great wall of flame held at bay only by an equal wall of sheer force. The ground shook beneath them, as the combatants were surrounded in an aura of their own arcane force, lifting into midair, unstoppable force and immovable object. Great chasms opened up beneath them, and the sky seemed to shatter, as if it could no longer bear to hold them in. Frozen clouds the size of cities began melting, beaten with blows of kinetic energy, blocks of ice raining from the sky.

Toguro screamed, not in fear, but in anticipation. Slowly, the hate-filled blade moved downwards, Toguro's fist beign split into two sides, lava running downwards. Purple energy crackled over Creed's skin, veins bursting, body trembling, inner organs being smashed around by the direct application of strength. And yet, nothing stopped the descent of the blade, as Toguro's enetire arm was dissolved. A white flame, an orb of plasma, forming in that single moment.

Time seemed to stand still, as layer upon layer of black rock evaporated. And beneath it all, a single core, an orb of arcane power, which Creed instinctively knew was Toguro's central 'being'. Through what remained of his torso, Clarent slowly sliced. Trembling, bursting, inches from the core, Creed could feel his philosopher's stone bringing him back, time and time again, his heart shattering only to be rebuilt, his neck snapping only to be reset, his lungs collapsing only to once more fill with the next, agonizing breath.






White light. An explosion of force, as a great wave of purple energy was unleashed, battering all that stood in the area. A crater, the size of a small city. Those combatants with the least bit of sense had already fled from the area of Toguro and Creed's confrontation. Those that remained, lay now somewhere among the shattered ground below, at the bottom of this great chasm. And yet, it was there for everyone to feel, as if a veil had been lifted.

Toguro was no more in this world.

Like a fledgeling meteor, Creed struck the ground. His short flight, propelled by the explosion of Toguro's death, ended abruptly as he struck the ground. Already, his blood was pooling around, him. Moments later, Clarent struck the ground not far away, snapped straight in two, still glowing white hot.

The valiant Dragon Slayer did not get up.