[center][img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjEyOC4zYmY3OGMuV0dseWNHaHAuMA,,/vtks-simplizinha.regular.png[/img][/center] [hr] Vegetables, that was the one thing that was torturing Xirphi and keeping her tethered down, it was absolutely disgusting. Just the leafy texture, the… the… it’s hard to describe bad things about vegetables really, bad Xirphi just doesn’t like them. However, she could eventually begin the throw up her corrosive acid and dissolve the despicable substance that had been choking her. Eventually she could split her mouth open and snap the vegetation, her strength having come back to her as well as her hunger. Xirphi eventually unclogged her system and destroyed the plants that dared enter her mouth. The lizard turned to the parasol next, it couldn’t be that hard to move. She gripped it and tugged at it, applying more force as she realized that it was likely not going to be moved by brute force alone. With a light growl she simply raised her tail up the parasol before jumping up, ripping her tail free of the confinement that had literally pierced it. Xirphi let out another growl, before walking away her tongues singling out a lingering demon that had chosen to stay in the area. She quickly gulped the soul down before sighing, she had embarrassed herself with how she acted but it did allow her to keep the souls that she had consumed. Her eyes went up to the palace, tempted to run up there and devour every single one of them and show them the true power of Xirphi the Devourer. However, it seemed the Nexus’ Hell was not the same one she had grown up in, with actual powerful players running the place. She turned away and retreated back to the bar that she had started the slaughter at, it would be her place of rest for the time being. Of course she had to clear out any who decided to stay, which she did, a few imps scrounging the dead for some good loot. Weakling demons never tasted all that great, nor were they a fulfilling meal. However, they did provide her with power and she need more power. Xirphi began to think, it was unlikely that she’d be able to find a god to actually train her so she would need to do things herself. Instead she began look to her past, back to the times where those Norse men would try to fight her, constantly going on about how their shamans said that it was their power within that would defeat her. They never did but those words, “the power within”, that was likely where she would have to start. The lizard sat herself down on one of the couches and began to meditate, she didn’t know exactly what she was looking for but it was whatever this “power within” was. Perhaps it was just some mental thing the Norse came up with to encourage their people simply so they would have some meager defense against her. There was nothing. And she was hungry. Her thoughts went to souls once more, but she did not want to risk being attacked by a being more powerful than her again. However, she felt the souls that were inside her as she began to focus more on them. It was a very gradual focus, yet, it was done. While she could not feel an individual soul, she could feel the collective sea that they made within her. Xirphi’s connection to them was primitive, crude, only able to draw out a fraction of the power hidden away in them. She had a clue of the power hidden away within them given that she expends their power in some of her attacks, such as the energy concentration she is able to do. That was merely a discharge of the energy, though, not an actual use for her if she wanted to become stronger. And yet, she remembers many, many years ago when she first came up with the move in her old hell. [hr] [i]”Tell me, Xirphi. What do you gain out of betraying your own kind?” A familiar voice stated, Ajax the King Slayer. [color=a2d39c]”An end to a curse,”[/color] Xirphi replied in the memory, a field of corpses around the two. Ajax pointed his sword at her before letting out what sounded like a frustrated sigh at the lizard. She had been a problem then. A very big problem and Ajax needed to kill her, or drive her off, whichever came first. The hungry one continued [color=a2d39c]”I am hungry. These souls are the only thing that make it go away.”[/color] “That is a lie. Your hunger is not one of food or sustenance, but simply for your own power gain. Regardless, I will end you now,” Ajax commented, charging with his mountainous sword at the ready. He swung down when he was within range and Xirphi simply raised her hands to catch it, the child that she was was holding her own in terms of brute strength. Yet, she lacked martial training. Ajax’s heel collided with her abdomen and, while it didn’t move her, it did hurt. Xirphi’s mouth opened, her tongues going for Ajax’s chest, but he dodged out of the way and cut off the tongue which only grew back after being withdrawn. The tendrils came from the sides and above while Xirphi rushed down the middle. Ajax cleaved the right one and the top one but he felt the left stab into his side while he managed to block a pouncing Xirphi, catching her on the flat of his sword. He threw her off before cleaving the tongue as well, pulling the remnant out. The demon lord raised his arm and a ball of energy formed in the center of his palm, a massive beam fired off without interruption in Xirphi’s direction. She hadn’t a chance to dodge, death seemed inevitable. And yet, a bright white light was fired back in defiance. The power of the souls she consumed were being released in a beam, the power of a full connection to Xirphi which would ultimately drain them of their power rapidly.[/i] [hr] It was this connection Xirphi wanted, however, not some temporary connection that would ultimately burn them out, but a more permanent and powerful connection that would allow her to be even stronger than before. Her crimson blood eyes opened, now she knew what she needed, a better connection. The question now was; how was this connection to be gained? Desperation and the will of survival is what drove her to establish that first connection in the battle against Ajax, but she was at a loss to know how to get a more permanent and effective connection with the souls she has consumed. Perhaps she needed the feeling of desperation once more? No, if that were the case then she would have developed a stronger connection against Bonesword. Xirphi would need to find what would increase that connection. It was either the less boring violent way or she would have to actually look into herself and refine her inner focus on those souls. Yet, there are many ways to go about these things, yes?