[h1]Parooz Vs Zane[/h1] [h3][b]Parooz[/b][/h3] Ō-yoroi-clad warriors, many horsebacks, marched upon a valley to war. Their battle was a long one, outlining an end of an era. Their battle littered the pasture with a generation's worth of soldiers, involuntarily issuing a scene that'd bring a smile to the devil's face. Such a scene warranted an omen; by the slay, these grounds merged into Yomi. Known as a desolate land of the dead, portrayal or not, a sinister spirit like Parooz should spawn here. It was apropos. To the average soul, this is hell. In times of war, it's commonplace for soldiers to be desensitized to death, seasoned by their losses and wounds of the flesh. Their fates were scripted under feuding regimes but loyal they remained. Honor burked any qualms of futility. In their society, it was second to nothing, but when faced with the unknown, like any variable, things change. In the face of this unknown, the well of valor ran dry. "Y-Y-Yokai!!!" One warrior butt-planted, failing to wield his already bloodstained nodachi which fell by his waistline. Parooz overlooked him, veiling them both in a fog of smoke that naturally permeated out of his bodily exits. The mobster seemed unamused. He wasn't buying the stock sold to him about this nexus mumbo-jumbo. At first, he believed Ealdorman, the mafia's head put him up to the task. But this tournament was an awfully inefficient way to gain souls. What good was it to take souls from individuals soon fated to meet the reaper anyway? He had to get out of here and perhaps the only way was to win. "Yokai? I hate those guys!" An angry Parooz planted his boot's heel into the ass of the fleeing warrior who mistook his identity. Efficaciously, he punted him through the battlefield subsequently dropping him before a peculiar boy brandishing a golden aura. An abundance of unnatural smoke billowed off the armored warrior's arse and began to blend in and influence the scattered fire's fumes throughout the theater. "I assume that's my opponent?" Parooz placed his hand on his chin. He was the only individual colored as he was. Curious about the boy, an eye sprouted from the samurai's left cheek, and a mouth followed. He got an up close and personal look. The soul was beamy, bright like his own but for an entirely different cause. This devil's soul was brightened with hell flame. He flipped his baphomet embossed coin. It was face up. "This is just an observation, but I think we're fated to fight. No hard feelings." The spawned mouth on the man's opposing cheek spoke out to the boy, subsequently saying "ahhhh," like it was at the dentist. It revealed a pristine stiletto knife smothered in energy that felt like the devil himself. It was kind of overkill considering the black forked tongue fondling and tongue kissing the blade was an elongating razor in itself. The stiletto's edge hummed pink till it was fuchsine, emphasizing an overload of nefarious energy and heat that'd liquefy carbon nanotube. It was practically a fancy stick of dynamite with all its potential energy adding to its natural cleaving ability to holy or magical barriers. To be frank, he considered both the same. Parooz knifes worked. That's all he cared about. While all this played out, more and more samurai fled with some collapsing from the sweltering heat. One stood oddly close to Parooz, paralyzed by the disbelief, ignoring the devil entirely. Intrigued, the mafia underboss placed his arm around the shoulder of the warrior whose uchigatana, stood firmly in the cindering sward. "What exactly are you guys fighting for again? You wouldn't believe what I'm fighting for." Like an annoying coworker, Parooz attempted to strike up a conversation. [h3][b]Zane[/b][/h3] [indent][indent][indent][indent]Zane just gave a quizzical look to the demon mobster, even though only his eyes were visible as glowing dots with the mask. He couldn’t really tell if he thought this guy was boring or not, although he didn’t particularly feel like dealing with it at the moment. “Please leave him alone.” He said, after a brief pause, “Also, does it count as being ‘fated to fight’ if we were literally paired up in a tournament? Like, it’s not that clandestine.” As he talked, he interrupted himself with a brief snigger, and then a bout of spontaneous laughter, as if to relieve himself from the awkwardness of the situation. He, like the man and his knife, prepared his own weapons, as, without warning, a flat disk of golden electricity, only about two feet in diameter, manifested in the air. It seemed to almost ‘open’ as it appeared, expanding from empty air until it reached its desired size, its flat end facing the straight forward in front of Zane, which was also Parooz’s general direction at this time. Then another appeared. And another, and another. Soon a wall of these disks, numbering about thirty, floated, suspended in the air behind Zane. These were called Gates. If Parooz would wield a knife, Zane would wield these constructs. “Making threats is boring. But please don’t mind if I don’t kill you, I’m not really a fan of that.” [/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [h3][b]Parooz[/b][/h3] "He thinks I only threatened him. Get a load of this guy." The samurai cranked his head a few degrees, finally making eye contact with Parooz's radiant leer. The demon grinned, anticipating the Japanese warrior's reply. The mafioso's right horn crept terrifyingly close to the soldier's ear making him feel at knifepoint. The soldier's survival instincts flipped on, slowly opening his mouth to go along with whatever the red-skinned demon befriending him was trying to suggest. However, before he uttered a word, the unspeakable took place. The enigmatic golden boy, the only one who could potentially save him, exploded. A knife whimsically waved directly in front of the child by a tongue overloaded with the malignant energies it unambiguously accrued. It was a miracle for the boy not to notice how volatile the object humming with virulent forces was. The demon, genuinely bewildered by the light child's actions, winced a little. His opponent failed to move an inch from the proverbial time bomb at his doorstep. Sure, his opponent had an electrical aura around him but nothing about that screamed ample defense to his flame. He detected that much, connecting his senses to the plumes of smoke and haze that filled the domain with his corruption. Hazardous firework displays of magenta and crimson hues engulfed the boy and his constructs entirely in an eruption sponsored by the flames of hell. These weapons, which the boy was so proud of that he took the time to make thirty with a charging bomb in his face, bolted behind him, zagging in distant directions via the blast. They became an electrical arrow storm of projectiles killing even more of the fleeing Japanese combatants he was perhaps attempting to save. "Look who's the bad guy now." Aside from burning at seemingly inconceivable degrees, the force behind the point-blank blast surely blew off the lower limbs of the child and probably more. This baptism of fire and brimstone burned with a malefic force that couldn't be conventionally extinguished. Much separated it from common flame. Overwhelmed in Parooz's hell, the light child probably felt his electrical energies openly in a struggle with the demon's. It probably felt like his own energy was being burned and reduced to ashes. This was the result of the gangster’s malign flames damning his intended target's aura. It actively attempted to limit the amount of power the boy could feasibly conjure in this injured state. Parooz wanted nothing more than to incinerate all traces of his adversary to insignificant ashes. With his free hand, Parooz's oversized golden cufflinks jangled with his finger wag, taunting the living firewood. "No no no. How can he say threats are boring and then threaten me with such ridiculous toys." There was something poetic about the eccentric Parooz commenting about how absurd his opponent was. The Japanese warrior took a long, nervous swallow, looked at the mauve-suited demon, and tittered "yeah, what a hypocrite." [h3][b]Zane[/b][/h3] [indent][indent][indent][indent]The boy was, in an instant, consumed by a conflagration of flame, not even graced with the ability to make a reply as he was immediately overtaken by burning heat and light. If only that were the end. “That’s not what I meant.” His voice responded through the smoke and fire, before through the haze came a dense torrent of brightly shining thunderbolts, gushing like a waterfall as a dense barrage. Dozens, hundreds of electrical arrows flying straight through the air in Parooz’s general direction. Although many would pierce the hapless samurai in their path, he would not experience harm; as the bolts of lightning made contact with his armor, instead of going deeper, they would deliberately snake around the outside of the man’s body before re-emerging out the other side to continue their flight path. These arrows, the thirty Gates acting as their turrets, Zane’s danmaku. As if lightning could be blown away with explosive force, especially with Zane’s own power keeping them suspended in the air effortlessly. As the continuous rain of thunderbolts shot ahead, aiming to fill the demon with holes in as many non-vital spots as Zane could think of, as he walked forward out of the dust cloud. “I meant,” he said, “That I wouldn’t waste time trying to make threats. My name is Zane. I’m lightning. Let’s do this.” The boy was still visibly on fire, but he remedied that by simply, for an instant, transforming his body into a silhouette of pure electricity, expelling it all outwards with a single electron remaining in the middle. That singular electron would then instantly become two, and then four, and in the span of an instant, Zane was reformed, completely not-on fire. The bomb, which admittedly, Zane had literally never noticed, an embarrassing failure on his part, did not really damage Zane in the slightest. It was no matter of physical durability, but rather the nature of the explosion itself. Due to the Light within Zane’s body, the explosion would not be able to hurt him, only decrease his Light and get him that much closer to becoming a one-hit-point wonder (buffs provided by the Nexus notwithstanding), but the very light released from the explosion itself would immediately refill his reserves, leaving him less than unaffected. Furthermore, Zane’s power over lightning was entirely physical in nature. He could transform into lightning, split it off from himself and control it, or create more of it, but none of these things would logically be inhibited by any sort of aura-based interference. Furthermore, destruction of his own lightning via fire, even from hell? Disintegrating it into dust? Electrons were elementary particles—they could not be broken down, they could not be destroyed in the sense that flames could burn them. And even if they did, Zane could produce more with less than a thought. Just to make even more sure though, what he had just done was take all of the afflicted parts of his physical body, turned them into unburnable electrons, and then detach those afflicted parts from his body before reconstructing himself, leaving him burn-free. Maybe Zane couldn’t extinguish the fire, but there was more he could do in spite of that. “You’re too fixated on trying to look clever. Be prepared.” As for the bullet shower itself, it would be but the most simple of attacks for Zane. His Gates were like an army of Gatling guns, firing Zeus-style thunderbolt after thunderbolt. If even a single thunderbolt made contact, its electricity would travel inside the devil’s body, spreading out and traveling throughout their limbs and spine in an attempt to disrupt the electrical signals operating their body. In this way, Zane could induce paralysis by preventing Parooz’s limbs from following the brain’s instructions, restraining without killing them. Since these bullets came out as a continuous shower of hundreds of projectiles, even with high speed it should be frankly absurd to try and dodge them all, especially with the massively wide area they covered as they fired. It wasn’t focused, and it wasn’t meant to be. That would come later, if they could handle this move first. Meanwhile, Zane studied Parooz carefully, fully prepared this time to attack in an instant should anything change. [b]Zane Post Redo[/b] The boy was, in an instant, consumed by a conflagration of flame, not even graced with the ability to make a reply as he was immediately overtaken by burning heat and light. If only that were the end. “That’s not what I meant.” His voice responded through the smoke and fire, before through the haze came a dense torrent of brightly shining thunderbolts, gushing like a waterfall as a dense barrage. Dozens, hundreds of electrical arrows flying straight through the air in Parooz’s general direction. Although many would pierce the hapless samurai in their path, he would not experience harm; as the bolts of lightning made contact with his armor, instead of going deeper, they would deliberately snake around the outside of the man’s body before re-emerging out the other side to continue their flight path. These arrows, the thirty Gates acting as their turrets, were Zane’s danmaku. Although a the Gates Zane had created were momentarily frazzled by the electromagnetic disturbance created by the explosion, it wouldn’t be enough to prevent them from firing their projectiles and retaliating against the explosive attack. As the continuous rain of thunderbolts shot ahead, aiming to fill the demon with holes in as many non-vital spots as Zane could think of, as he walked forward out of the dust cloud. He seemed visibly pained, even with his body not having a scratch on it, his face red as he panted a bit. Wait, hot? He was feeling hot? Burning, even? “I meant,” he said, “That I wouldn’t waste time trying to make threats. My name is Zane. I’m lightning. Let’s do this.” The boy was still visibly on fire, but he tried to remedy that by simply, for an instant, transforming his body into a silhouette of pure electricity, expelling it all outwards with a single electron remaining in the middle. Though, when that one electron attempted to multiply and reform Zane’s body, there was some sort of strange….something holding it back. It was like every fiber of his being was scorching, molten hot, exhausting him by the minute. After a moment of struggling try and generate more electrons, he gave up, recalling the burning electricity back to himself before it degraded completely under this strange fire. With their combined numbers, multiplying back into enough electrons to reform Zane’s body was possible, and he did so, but he was still on fire. A fire that could burn electricity—no, him? That was the only explanation for how he was still somehow feeling pain and corrosion even as intangible lightning. The bomb, which admittedly, Zane had literally never noticed, an embarrassing failure on his part, did not technically damage Zane in the slightest. It was no matter of physical durability, but rather the nature of the explosion itself. Due to the Light within Zane’s body, the explosion would not be able to hurt him, only decrease his Light and get him that much closer to becoming a one-hit-point wonder (buffs provided by the Nexus notwithstanding), but the very light released from the explosion itself would immediately refill his reserves, leaving him less than unaffected. But, something was wrong. How did it still hurt? How did it still burn? He wasn’t wounded he was just….burning. Like acid reflux inside his very bones. Furthermore, Zane’s power over lightning was entirely physical in nature. He could transform into lightning, split it off from himself and control it, or create more of it, but none of these things would logically be inhibited by any sort of aura-based interference. As such, the curse inflicted by these demonic flames wouldn’t necessarily impact his ability to control his lightning, but Zane had to devote more resources to constantly generating electricity in an attempt to stave off this mysterious flame’s attempts to consume him “You’re too fixated on trying to look clever. Be prepared.” He said, breathlessly. As for the bullet shower itself, it would be but the most simple of attacks for Zane. His Gates were like an army of Gatling guns, firing Zeus-style thunderbolt after thunderbolt. If even a single thunderbolt made contact, its electricity would travel inside the devil’s body, spreading out and traveling throughout their limbs and spine in an attempt to disrupt the electrical signals operating their body. In this way, Zane could induce paralysis by preventing Parooz’s limbs from following the brain’s instructions, restraining without killing them. Since these bullets came out as a continuous shower of hundreds of projectiles, even with high speed it should be frankly absurd to try and dodge them all, especially with the massively wide area they covered as they fired. It wasn’t focused, and it wasn’t meant to be. That would come later, if they could handle this move first. Meanwhile, Zane studied Parooz carefully, fully prepared this time to attack in an instant should anything change. At this point, he could easily guess that nothing about this flame was natural. Burning electricity? Making him feel as if he was burning, when heat was usually easily repelled? He couldn’t even risk transforming into lightning, lest he accidentally be incinerated attempting to come back. Looks like I’ll have to end this quickly, he thought. Here we go. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [h3][b]Parooz[/b][/h3] That's it, get on my good side. Perhaps you'll realize that I'm the only one here who can give you what you want. A deal perhaps? Visibly salivating, just that quick, the demon devised a nefarious scheme to steal the man's soul. Any immediate plans came to a screeching halt however, as the haze alerted the mobster of the torrential bullet storm homing in. At this point, sources of smoke polluted the battlefield. The degrees to which this added to the mobster's reaction time could not be understated, as he'd link his senses to each plume of corrupted haze. He figured fogging up the space between could aid him, so he did just enough so Zane could see his projectiles slowly vanish in the distance like descending rocks in the ocean's murky abyss. Because of how obstructing the view between the fighters became, Zane wouldn't see the mafioso's latest trick which involved sabbatical goat horns erupting from the feet of Parooz winding in the shape of a hulking hand. Serving as a barrier between the light child's projectiles and Parooz. The lighting bolts distilled on impact, giving off a boisterous thunder colliding with the powerful presence of his shield clad in dark energy. Before too many of the arrows could collide with the claw Parooz was long gone. "I'll be right back." The samurai fell to his knees, eased by the notion of the devil leaving but frightened by the claw inadvertently sheltering him from the onslaught of arrows had no idea would purposely evade him. The suited devil plunged deep into the earth like an Olympic diver away from the currents, wriggling his body like a worm to escape the deluge of arrows projected at him. He effectively gave them the slips, coating his body in an aura that increased his ability to burn through the soil. While his opponent was attempting to make out what happened, like a jack in the box, Parooz erupted from the charred soil behind the gates, momentarily springing his body towards the light child swinging a cartoonishly large hammer above the boy's head. The head of the hammer, more like a beer keg than a traditional mallet, threatened to squash the boy like an ant under the weight of its dripping glowing barrel boldly embossed 666 Proof - Real Devil’s Moonshine. “Peek-a-boo!!!” To not be forgotten, though it was charred to a crisp, a butcher cut of samurai thighs still remained in Zane's wheelhouse. It was the only remains of the samurai Parooz kicked earlier and the eyes and mouth opened back up to greet Zane from the front who was very much a human torch. The light child put up a visible front but the mafia underboss knew he was in pain. He had to give the boy some credit as many would have perished by and become unholy pieces of white charcoal. The burn was consistent, unyielding, in line with the feeling of hell itself. Despite partaking in Parooz's powerful explosion of hell flames, The devil noticed still that the boy had not moved far from his initial spot. In fact, Zane lightly walked in a mini amphitheater of ashen land cursed by the gangster's flames. The same eye and mouth on the samurai's keister greeted him, coughing up ashes and gravel. It's tongue coiled like a chameleon’s, spitting with every syllable as it spoke out. “Better rid yourself of that flame, bucko. Left unchecked and well…" [h3][b]Zane[/b][/h3] [indent][indent][indent][indent]Zane honestly didn’t have a clue how this mysterious flame worked. So many theories, but no room to experiment with then, and that was before he sensed the bioelectricity of the strange demon dive underground, digging around beneath the earth, likely firing some kind of attack. Honestly, that wasn’t especially concerning to Zane at the moment given that he can’t fight at full strength with this flame eating at him. Who knows how long he had with this? Even if he could produce enough lightning to keep it at bay, this insufferable burning in his chest was likely something he couldn’t dispel as easily. Maybe the flame was the key? But then…The ground ruptured, and suddenly Parooz was trying to strike from behind, but Zane knew he couldn’t turn in time to stop it. So maybe…another approach was needed. With that, Zane’s body from the eyes down turned into lightning, save only for his scalp and Hat, which proceeded to get literally pounded into the dirt, specifically as Zane’s Hat was crushed by the hammer and his head shoved into the ground, his scalp only transforming at the last minute to allow Zane’s body to become fully submerged. Like a game of Whack-A-Mole, Zane was shoved into the ground below, leaving only his crushed Hat. This was Zane’s next attempt to circumvent the flames. By passing through a physical substance such as the ground, hopefully the gaseous flames on his body would not follow. If the demonic magic took the form of flames, even if they didn’t share the same behaviors, they were still physical in nature and couldn’t pass through substances in the same way electricity could. Like water passing through a sieve when the pasta could not do the same, maybe Zane could purify himself in this way. Zane’s next action would be dictated by whether or not this attempt succeeded, which he could tell instantly based on whether the sensation of his soul burning would vanish or not. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [h3][b]Parooz[/b][/h3] Though mafias operated on a strict rule of code, underhanded fighting, especially in a syndicate of demons, was never off the table. Parooz had a documented history of blindsiding individuals whether they'd consider it honorable or not. The idea of fairness never rent a square inch of space in his shrewd mind. This mentality he adopted out of the necessity to survive rubbed many the wrong way. Sepias' abrasive upbringing polished him into the cold piece of obsidian he was always meant to be. This latest trick was a prime example. Considering the boy had yet to shake his flames, the suited demon assumed they were starting to wear down his opponent. Now was as good of a time as ever to attempt a deceitful haymaker. After revealing his gigantic hammer, the actual danger was curtained behind the physical absurdity of the attack. His opponent tried to escape the physical consequences of the assault by turning the majority of his body into lighting save for his scalp. This was, by all means, a logical counter, as who would want to get flattened by a hammer that size? There were two layers to the attack, however. Aside from it already being risky for Zane to morph his body into lighting because of the devil’s flame, allowing the face of the hammer, the bottom of a glowing keg to touch any part of him with its dripping exterior gaveled his demise. Embossed “666”, proof of liquor like that shouldn't even be possible. Alcohol maintains a consistent flame when lit at eighty, making it fairly obvious why it was brought out. Considering the child was still on fire, it was a costly idea to allow himself to make contact with Parooz’s maul. The instant the fiend’s hell flame connected with the hammer sopping with mysterious alcohol, the makeshift mallet's face burst into a relentless azure cylindrical inferno. It completely overtook the electrical form of the boy, trapping, and obliterating everything in its down-facing vortex. Left in its wake, a very miniature kola well, molten hot, emanating the same malicious energies that plagued Zane's body. The mafioso accelerated what was becoming a slow roast of Zane in which he was not patient enough to see through. Parooz threw lighting fluid to morph his flames into an exponentially more powerful beam of concentrated hell energy bent on extinguishing the boy outright. Because of how resilient Zane's inner light shone, Parooz required the extra fuel to burn out his aura. It rarely happened but Parooz had the sense that the boy had enough vigor to starve off what he dubbed the flames of damnation. Had the demon allowed him to meander longer, the light child may have stumbled upon a solution. The fact that Zane could operate his gates and even taunt the demon after his initial attack gave signs that he was special. True to character, Parooz wouldn't admit this, standing over the trench looking as blasé as ever. Though, in the back of his mind, he knew… Suddenly gritting his teeth with an alligator's force, a bulging vein protruded from his red-tinted forehead. A terrifying mouth formed on the left side of his face and his horns became more pronounced under his messy ashen hair. "You fucked up." The mouth chastised him. Somewhere, if not still here, Zane was still fucking alive and that ate at his core. [h3][b]Zane[/b][/h3] [indent][indent][indent][indent] Burning. Burning. Burning. Zane couldn’t call this the worst pain he had felt in his life. Although maybe that was just relative. However, he’d never felt such an invasive pain, something felt in every fiber, every skin cell, and yet a part of him also didn’t think he was on fire, and that contradiction only added to the maddening burning sensation. The scalp consumed by the flames was undamaged due to Zane’s own Light defenses, but right now he was experiencing absolute hell, in every sense of the word considering that this was literal hellfire. Still, deep within the pit of madness and absolute sensation of unending pain that encircled Zane’s mind, his body and his very being, there burned something else still. The memory of death upon death, bludgeoned to a bleeding pulp and turned to stone in a storm that sought to consume him. Again. And again. And again. A sacrifice, performed for the sake of his people, his love, but the pain never stopped. It never stopped hurting, no matter how many times Zane ritualistically resigned himself to it as he tore that very Light inside it to shreds with his own two hands. The experience of dying again and again in an abyss without hope…it had brought him one thing. More than his power, the experience of death strengthened one thing beyond anything else. His will to live. Summoning the last of the strength his battered and burnt soul could muster, Zane reached an immaterial hand out…and grasped. The demonic flame, burning with incredible heat, concentrated into a single immensely powerful blast to pierce the Earth itself…with a blast this power, rather than resist it, Zane would try to make some of it his own, and escape it. With immense sources of heat came an appropriately large amount of electrical charge as the heat’s energy ionized surrounding atoms, such as the air and the earth around it. Furthermore, even if electrons were destroyed by the heat, that would only leave positively charged ions which Zane could also take control of. Even if these sources, now becoming a part of Zane, would begin to be targeted by the flames for annihilation, the sheer amount of electrical energy that Zane would now have access to, which now began to exponentially multiply in an attempt to preserve itself, quickly gathered as the electricity composing Zane coalesced into a single point. Due to the high amounts of heat in the area, there would be little to no electrical resistance, allowing it to move much more easily and further improve its chances of survival. Once the mass of electricity desperately clinging to life gathered, it threw its full force against the wall of the flaming vortex, attempting to make its escape through the ground by basically condensing all of its energy and trying to break through the mystic forces trying to keep him contained, if there were any. Either way, the ultimate goal was to finally escape into the ground itself, from there it would move as fast as it could through the earth in order to finally and fully become free of the flames and recuperate while Parooz still thought Zane was dead. He could still sense Parooz’s bioelectricity, so he knew where he was, plus he was ready to detect any possible fire attacks by exploiting the electromagnetic interference caused by the immense heat and energy radiating from it, similar to how the explosion caused a disruption to his Gates at the start of the fight. Once he was far away enough, about 50-60 feet where the chaos do the battlefield could assist in concealing his location, he would emerge out of the ground, finally back in physical from, panting hard from the shock of the past few events. “…enough.”[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [h3][b]Parooz[/b][/h3] It was true, to escape, Zane made some of the demon's energy his but at what cost? In the aftermath of the spiraling vortex of energy, Parooz and his Japanese friend stood there in an awkward showdown to determine what was the next step. In the samurai's eyes, Parooz vanquished his foe, but then he noticed his captor's body language. The demon angrily shook the empty keg before dumping it down the not-so-bottomless pit. Much heat still existed within the deep pocket, charring the lands even more. It enforced his existing control of the ashen lands of his immediate area. He could feel the light child escape and a multitude of voices let him hear it. "He's escaping you idiot." "Why have you not stolen his soul already." "It's right for the taking." "Screw that, take both their souls!" "What if you really can't kill him?" "You're losing your touch…" The mafioso's fist clenched as he collectively pulled the annoying extra facial extremities back into his skin. Like a drop of blood flowing down the asymmetrical nostrils of a coke user, they were snorted away for now. He appeared as normal as the word could be applied to a rouge like him. His jaded eyes observed the boy as he pulled his figure above the soil. He could do so simply because the boy emerged within the veil of his corrupted haze. Much of him was the same but Parooz noticed something that endangered the boy far more severely than his bout with the suited demon. His inner light was not the same. As someone who introduced themselves as lighting, it wasn't far-fetched for the demon to assume light was a crucial part of the child’s existence. With that most likely being true, for the boy's purity, it made more sense for him to die honorably than do what he did to escape. By taking in the very energy that sought to destroy him, the same dreadful aura that attempted to extinguish his light and countless others, Zane rolled dice on his destiny. "How reckless…" The demon sneered, knowing from this day the boy would never be the same. No matter how bright he shone, there would always be a layer of darkness within, calling him, effectively endangering his connection to whomever high power he leaned to. Like a dose of heroin, you can't simply forget how it made you feel. In Zane's heart, he could feel the souls of hell tugging at his existence, pleading, begging, burning. But now, much like the demon cross him, there was something about that suffering that felt…satisfying. Forever, Zane would be in search of that first high. The first time he welcomed the malefic hell force into his already withering spirit. The first time he acknowledged he needed the power of hell and not his own prowess to endure. The first time he heard Ealdorman Sarcoen speak to him… Like a lobotomy, a gravelly disembodied voice drilled into Zane's consciousness. "I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but I am not to be mistaken for either. I come from a place of eternal suffering and vigor, not God's agape love. This power you have felt is a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal to your spirit which progressively will strengthen with each feeble exercise of your abilities. So far, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. However, Hell is relentless. You will be tempted beyond your moral means, as I am prophetic. You will be tempted by the agony of your soul. You will be tempted to explore the power which will eternally cause you pain. With that temptation, I will also provide a means of escape, that way you'll be able to endure. May death eat away at your soul, body, and mind until you accept your latent power… Should you lean towards it again, which you will. Your soul is mine." The conviction in his tone was alarming. With a knife drawn, Parooz stood unsure of whether to attack his foe or give him insight into the ultimatum he had been dealt. He of all people knew when Ealdorman spoke into your being for the first time, it was often from a place of mercy. A merciful malice that entailed giving a part of yourself to stay a resemblance of who you were prior to that point. Brow up, the red-skinned demon stood frozen. “The boss doesn't just speak to anyone you know.” Parooz taunted him, but in a way that had him probably questioning was the demon he inside his mind. It was worse, In a way, they were linked as most devil-like were naturally. If Zane was able to see, he’d notice Parooz never even opened his mouth but communicated directly into his mind… [h3][b]Zane[/b][/h3] [indent][indent][indent][indent] Zane looked directly at Parooz, his gaze steely as he properly righted his posture. Demons, Hell…of course. This was a strange feeling, but not an unfamiliar sort of presence, it reminded him of… It reminded him of… “…boss, huh? I see how it is.” He cracked his knuckles, popping his neck to either side as a new surge of electrical power surrounded his body, the sudden expansion of air and clap of Thunder as the lightning erupted from him causing a shockwave to blow away the surrounded cursed haze. “…I never really cared for Hell, as a concept or as a place. Mostly because I already despise gods. God’s love? Don’t make me laugh. It’s easy to love something when it can never hurt you. In my eyes, no matter how good a person I might be…if Hell existed, that was my only destination.” The power surrounding only grew, unrestrained by cursed fire, even with that nagging blight on his being, he held strong. He’d faced worse Hells than this. “A devil can understand, right?! The powerlessness, the hatred and anger of the weak! Cast out for pride, cast out for rejecting someone who could never understand you! Someone who has never struggled, never feared, never been anything but a God! And yet still, you enact His punishments for him, even subservient in your own rebellion! If God is infinite, so his sins must be without end as well!” “…that’s why I have power. To take that absolute control away from such a tyrant. Not to rule others, but to live without fear. If I fell to the darkness…” A portion of electrical aura surrounding the boy gathered in his hand, forming a brightly glowing ball that encompassed his entire fist. ”How could I possibly kill a God?!!” He threw the fist forward. Although he struck merely empty air, suddenly that air began to lurch. By ionizing the very air around him, granting it an electrical charge, he then mentally exerted control over it to make it vibrate with immense force. An invisible shockwave, traveling through the air from that very point, ruptured and blasted forwards at the speed of lightning, with the force of a devastating earthquake. Zane realized that if he exposed his electricity to that fire again, he wouldn’t be able to deal with it, so instead he used his electricity to perform an attack that didn’t let any of his electrons get near the demon—a powerful vibration, the air doing the work for him as it would smash and pulverize anything in its way. As a result though, Zane couldn’t focus it as well as if he used more lightning, but this meant the destruction would be more widespread and make it harder to avoid. Furthermore, Zane’s previous electric light display wasn’t for show—he had generated a protective magnetic field around himself, which would enable him to disrupt and repel energy attacks, such as fire, lasers or even radiation. It wasn’t as strong as it could be, but Zane couldn’t risk doing that just yet. Even after that beating, Zane had more tricks of his sleeve. Maybe his science couldn’t defend against magic…but it sure as hell could attack with the best of them. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] [hider=Judgement]Zane: Score- Characters: You're clearly familiar with the character, you're very descriptive of them and their bodily movements. Really solid characterization. 3.50 Introduction: Like the confusion, it shows the character's childish innocence. It's not a very strong intro, while it's good in characterization it's not very gripping. You did what quite a lot of players did and just got the post in and didn't put much effort into the reader's perspective. 2.00 Action: Ton of action in this fight. You both did really good, though it is noticeable you struggled more. 3.00 Attack/Conflict: Your offenses were your strongest suit. 3.00 Defense/Resolution: But your defenses struggled, I think you’re not as familiar with taking damage as you should be. Remember that the point of writing a fight is to write a good fight, not just to win. 1.50 Creativity: Throughout the fight you were trying to figure things out, but if you'd written a bit more naturally this score would be higher. You're creative, and you enjoy the character a lot. It shows in the writing. I'm comfortable giving this a 3.00 Sepias: Score- Characters: While I know for a fact this character is experimental, you smoothly slotted into them. You came up with really solid characteristics and personality, and even the manner of writing around the character is really good. 4.00 Introduction: Really really good intro, you used everything from your own character to the battlefield. You read and understood the assignment, easily the best intro score I’ve graded personally. 4.00 Action: Fun and solid, you made good use of powers and the battlefield as much as you reasonably could. Your movement was good, and was solidly descriptive. You did kind of bully your opponent, which isn’t negative, but you didn’t really have much defense since you were so aggressive. 3.00 Attack/Conflict: Incredible offense, you walked your opponent with ease. The difference in experience is clear. 3.00 Defense/Resolution: Not much to say, you chose offense as your defense. 2.00 Creativity: This one’s unquestionable, you used a bottle of alcohol as a catalyst for an explosion, that was fun and wild. You clearly know what you’re doing, love reading your fights. 3.50 Final Scores: Zane: 16.00 Parooz: 18.50 Parooz wins by points, @Lest advances to the next round. If you wish to coup de grace your opponent, you may. However if you wish to simply return to the Nexus that too is fine. [/hider]