[img]http://i.imgur.com/2uDBgEK.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/SRQefYG.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/4x7ExiI.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/Wzt5AsZ.png[/img] [b][u]Los Paraisos: The Grande Diamonde: Ground Floor: Storage Room[/u][/b] “Nnn!” “Ah!!” Both Estelle and Josette crumpeled to the floor in front of Neil, the pair having been laid low within seconds and dealt painful injuries before they could even scarcely comprehend what had happened. Was it in part due to the effects of the hangover they were still recovering from, or was this guy really that tough? He couldn’t be. She had been through, and defeated worse. This was just another cackling who needed to be taught a lesson! But Estelle hacked and coughed. The jab to her stomach had knocked the wind out of her, and it was hard to even stand again. She continued to sputter, hacking and retching. Damn… him… “You… prick!” Josette was the first to move, swinging her leg in the air, aimed towards Neil’s face. As much as her arm screamed with agony, there was no way she’d sit down and take something like this. As her foot swung through the air, Neil’s eyes turned to see the approaching attack. And this time, he didn’t even need to use his magic. With his free hand, he casually gripped Josette at her ankle, and lifted her into the air. Before then violently slamming her back down onto the ground. “What did I say?” Neil shook his head from side to side. “I said it’s game over. You ladies… you’re all coming with me. Even you two little brats. You’ve definitely helped to make yourselves more valuable, y’know.” “Eat… shit… mother… fucker…” “And you definitely need a gag again.” Neil’s foot swung out, booting Josette in the stomach and forcing her to collapse onto the ground again. His foot trod upon the azure haired woman’s back, pushing her down, forcing her to submit, as his katana hung dangerously close towards Estelle, ready to strike should she too show the idiocy to try and keep fighting. Women… they needed to learn their place. As Neil bent down to grab Josette’s arm, yanking her up to be the first dragged to his truck, he was suddenly stopped in his tracks. The entire room shook once again, hit by a violent tremor. A tremor that Estelle and Josette also noticed and felt, whereas Selan – the sensation didn’t even faze her. Her mind was elsewhere. In his pause, Neil looked around him. What was with this place and all of these reverberations- And then another. This time louder, closer, rocking the entire room with greater force and frenetic horror than before. And then a long, and lingering pause. Neil shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He lifted Josette to her feet with one hand, whilst the other scabbarded his katana into a vortex. With that one’s diminishing, his other hand looked over to grab Estelle by her hair, as another, larger vortex appeared before him, leading to the back of the truck. And then there it was again. Another quake. This time bigger then the first two. Neil stopped but for a fraction of a second, before continuing his work. It really didn’t matte- And then another. This time much louder, much closer then before. “Okay,” Another explosive quake. “What the fuck is going on?!” It was as if the ceiling above suddenly exploded. Vast chunks of masonry and debris was sent raining down to the ground, pieces of stone, brickwork and tiles clattering and rebounding off the floor into small, cracked pieces amongst the heavier pieces of debris, mere inches away from Neil, Estelle and Josette. The two girls shrieked, snapping their eyes shut to protect themselves from the dust, as Neil dropped his hold off Estelle in order to shield his eyes. This… again? It couldn’t be! He dropped his hands, gingerly opening his eyes, before they snapped wide to attention. Standing directly in front of them, mere centimetres away, from the newly created hole in the wall… “What the hell… I… I killed you!” [hider=Live to Win][center][youtube]doFnCzUxLU8[/youtube][/center] [center][img] http://i.imgur.com/CpfbCG4.png [/img][/center][/hider] He said nothing, his form and posture perfectly still and silent. He simply stared at Neil, as Neil stared at his own startled reflection shining in the visor, his jaw dropping. Impossible! Selan’s eyes looked up, unable to believe or process what she was seeing amidst the tears. He… he had…! [i][center]Frustrated, degraded, down before you're done Rejection, depression, can't get what you want[/center][/i] His head turned, the visor looking towards Neil’s struggling captives. First to Estelle, who looked up amidst sputtering coughs. Then to Josette, bruised and wincing, struggling vainly for freedom. And then, past the pair of them to a little further away. To Selan, hunched on the floor, drenched in tears. His head tilted its angle back to Neil. The pebbles on the ground started to clatter and shake, some even rising into the air. [i][center]You ask me how I make my way You ask me everywhere and why[/center][/i] Sparks shot across his body. The smoke grew more bulbous in volume, pouring from his body. [i][center]You hang on every word I say But the truth sounds like a lie[/center][/i] His fist swung out. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/PWQ936V.png[/img][/center] [i][center]Live to win, 'till you die, 'till the light dies in your eyes Live to win, take it all, just keep fighting till you fall[/center][/i] Neil’s body was suddenly hurtled backwards, careening through the room at frightening speed, pain enveloping his whole body, his whole being. He was able to just barely summon a vortex on the wall behind him to slip through instead of crash, with another summoned on the floor, for him to rise through, and with his momentum slowed by gravity, land back on his feet. His eyes snapping up to him. He should have been dead. He WILL be dead. Estelle and Josette fell to the floor, left in shock and disbelief at what just happened, as their saviour strode forwards. “D… Don…?” “What… [i]the fuck[/i]… is he wearing…?” [i][center]Obsessive, compulsive, suffocates your mind Confusion, delusions, kill your dreams in time[/center][/i] He continued to walk forwards, towards Neil, and to Selan who sat on the floor inbetween. Her eyes were transfixed on him approaching, unable to believe the impossible. She couldn’t register it. Couldn’t understand. She looked at his chest, at the dark stain atop his crimson and white ensemble. There was no doubt. It had happened. But? His hands brushed her shoulder as he passed, onwards towards Neil. By now the bandit had summoned his strength and prepared himself again, one hand holding his katana, the other throbbing and pulsing with violet energies crackling about, ready to summon a vortex when needed. The only times he had been hit was when he’d been caught off guard. No more. [i][center]You ask me how I took the pain Crawled up from my lowest low Step by step and day by day 'Till there's one last breath to go[/center][/i] A fiercesome standoff. And then! [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/RLtQcLN.png[/img][/center] [i][center]Live to win, 'till you die, 'till the light dies in your eyes Live to win, take it all, just keep fighting till you fall Day by day, kickin' all the way, I'm not cavin' in Let another round begin, live to win Yeah, live, yeah, win[/center][/i] He was upon him before Neil could react. The bandit was left speechless. Even with a gaping wound through his chest, he was somehow faster then ever before, and so it was he was graced with another kick to his face! But even despite the hit, Neil was able to bear it. The brunt of that impact felt… weak. Pitiful. For all the fierce determination his adversary had, Neil had taken the measure of it… and survived. He could win. The katana swung out, ready to dismember his foe in one clean slice, but he had dodged. The katana swung out again, this time accompanied with Neil’s vortexes, the blade dancing in the air in every direction. Impossible to predict. Impossible to dodge. And yet he did. Narrowly avoiding the tip of the blade to slice along his side, the hero then reached in, through the portal and grabbed Neil’s wrist, clenching it tightly, with strength Neil did not know he could possess. His hold on the katana faultered, and his grip was released. But that wasn’t it. He was being pulled, tugged straight through the vortex, and thrown across the length of the room, directly towards the truck. He managed to see it just in time, summoning another two portals on either side of the truck, to pass through one and out the other, avoiding a crushing impact on the heavy vehicle. But as he skidded out of the other portal, turning around to gain his bearings and renew his assault on this absurd hero, his breath was caught stifled in his throat, as the truck itself was thrown through the air, directly at him. Behind it, that man having punched it with all his might to strike him. Neil ducked through another vortex just in time to avoid the automobile sailing overhead, to crash into, and through, the far off wall. “What… the hell?” Neil popped out of his vortex onto solid ground. He glared towards the smoking man, anger racing through his body. Disarmed, hurt, injured, insulted like this… and all from a man who should be dead! His body shifted, his fists rising up. If he wanted this, then come on! Come on! “BRING IT ON THEN!” Neil yelled. [i][center]Live to win, 'till you die, 'till the light dies in your eyes Live to win, take it all, just keep fighting 'till you fall Day by day, kickin' all the way, I'm not cavin' in Let another round begin, live to win[/center][/i] As if on cue, the crimson man burst forwards, his body broiling in yellow, white and red flame. Estelle, Josette and Selan could do nothing but stare in disbelief, as the hero surged forwards, his right leg bursting with energy and swinging forwards at Neil’s head. The bandit roared, and a vortex appeared in the leg’s path, its opposite aimed for the hero’s chest, and the wound with which he’d been cut through. But at the last second Crimson Justice’s foot stopped, all momentum halting before it passed through the vortex. His body shifted, spinning, and his foot swung out in a flip, roundhouse kicking over the vortex and into the back of Neil’s head. Pushing him forwards, into his own portal, and stumbling out the other side in a confused daze. The tables had turned, and this was the end. He spun, unwilling to let that be it. He could still fight. Still win! But he was there! Clutching Neil’s forearms in his hands, his legs pushing against his chest and forcing him to topple back. He was too close… too close for his vortexes to possibly work… to fight free! And being this close to him, to that infernal man, he could see his reflection in that visor again… and knew. Knew that he could do nothing. And that he’d made an impossible… awful mistake. [i][center]Live to win Live to win[/center][/i] His head reared back, enveloped in a white light of passion. It swung forwards at Neil’s own. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Qpm2xsQ.png[/img][/center] [i][b][center]Yeah,[/center][/b][/i] Cracks emerged from the point of impact across his helmet. [i][b][center]Live,[/center][/b][/i] The metal and plastic shifted, breaking. [i][b][center]Yeah,[/center][/b][/i] It shattered. [i][b][u][center]Win!![/center][/u][/b][/i] Neil's body crashed to the ground, his head slamming into the floor and his body lying motionless, as Don fell to his knees beside him, huffing and puffing, staring down at his fallen enemy, and making sure he didn't get up again. He didn't. Don took a deep breath and exhaled, the smoke and light surrounding his body fading into nothing. Upon his tired and wearisome face, the baldness that had gripped his head head earlier in the day had already begun to grow back. [img]http://i.imgur.com/QLodCtj.png[/img] He looked up, across the room, to Estelle, Josette and Selan. The three most important women in his life. Estelle reached for Selan, to help her to his feet as Josette started dashing towards her brother. He smiled. They were safe. His body fell to the ground, consciousness departing his body.