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A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane pulled his arm back quickly and began circling Zios from below, slowly, keeping his eyes on the man as he floated.
"You are mistaken by the very pride that you criticize to be unjust- The hypocrisy of the mortal mind is profoundly idiotic." With his stance still strong, his fists began to glow with speckles of green light. Spores began to emerge from his hands, and float around his knuckles like little fireflies, dancing erratically, but never leaving his 'grasp' for more than a moment. "Ponder it for a moment, if you would humor your own notions as nothing more than those of an arrogant fool- The same preface you place upon Yzeira and myself- My family- With little regard for our history or principals." Zelriane angled his upper body towards Zios slightly. "Principals. That is all you speak from, but what are they worth? Are you not imposing your ideals on me, yours, ideas born from a life no older than a young oak, with your power at the ready? Forcing, forcing, forcing yourself into the wall that we've built in your way, unawares, ignorant, stupid- What have you to say of fulfillment? What is that to you? What does that mean? Why would it mean such a thing? Why would you care? Why should we care? Who's to say who's right and who's wrong? Is it God?" Zelriane launched his left fist towards Zios, and followed it with his right, pulling back his initial thrust. The sparkles that surrounded his hands spat forth like start, and spun through the air towards him.

'Itai Hikari'

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane cascaded around the beam like an low-orbiting stream of energy, narrowly avoiding direct contact while running up its length towards Zios with his fist drawn back. "Let your power speak-" Zelriane started quickly, arriving at Zios' feet, "-For your claims!" Zelriane brought his mossy fist upwards, aiming for Zios' outstretched wrist with a heft uppercut. The move was compact and precise. Zios only had one arm left, still, making it a priority above all else. Of course, disarming him completely was an obvious ploy. One would expect as much. Zelriane hoped as much would hold through the upcoming engagements.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane clenched his jaw angrily. "Preposterous," He grunted, "The outcome will not change with your new form. I will subjugate you all the same." Zelriane tightened his stance even more, bringing his arms close to his body. "But not like this-" In a flare of energy, his entire body was engulfed by a mossy smoke that cycled around him like a miniature storm. Parts of his body were barely visible through the smoke for moments at a time. He bare feet, his eyes... But the display was short lived. Much like a settling storm, the smoke faded and revealed Zelriane, unchanged. At least, that's what it seemed like at first.

"Your services will not be needed," Zelriane gasped while lowering himself to the ground, "We already have access to a very simple remedy to this... All encompassing disease." His skin began to moss over with a green substance. Small patches covered his legs and arms at first, but quickly grew until he was a completely green blur. Zelriane reache down and loosened his belt, ripping his cloak off in one fluid motion. He stood unencumbered, with a tightly fitting pair of black shorts covering his midsection, all the way up to right below his chest. "Chaos."

"Agony Flare"

The green moss that covered his body began to glow brightly in short pulses. Zelriane's body emitted a loud hum with each pulse, but he still stood his ground, reassuring his stance. His eyes tittered uncomfortably in their sockets, but he was as focused as he could manage.

Then he moved, visibly this time, towards Oz with a great deal of weight beneath his steps. His speed seemed inhibited, but he still retained a great deal of agility, and now pulsed with an unknown power. But it was slightly clearer to the educated eye, that his latent Ki, his agony release, was surrounding his body like a dense mist. A deathly aura of sheer pain exuded beyond his moss-covered pores, and along with it, something new began to surface in his body. He was charging Zios head on, with reckless abandon.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane's posture tightened. "The void pulses within you even stronger still. This isn't possible." He breathed slower, shifting his weight slightly, into a new stance. A cautious stance, his feet poised to brace or retreat, but not in any position to advance. For once, he was totally on the defensive. Then he noticed it. The transformation was no mere power up. Whatever new abilities came with it may have been overshadowed by the real danger he was facing. "Your eyes are different," Zelriane rasped, "No man can change so radically over such a short period of time. This manner of transformation, this energy..." He realized it. "I thought that would-be god deceased. This explains quite a bit... This explains your sudden mastery of Meta energy... This is..." He grunted and shook his head and abandoned his thought process, meeting Oz's eyes with his own.

"You seem to think yourself enlightened. Truly, you've become a creature worthy of acknowledgement, but what of it?" Zelriane cleared his throat. "What of your blathering? Who are you to speak such things in the wake of your assured failure?" He paused and narrowed his eyes again. "What exactly do you think you have become?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 203 ~

_{Void To Void: Agony's Burning Flare}

As Oz's consciousness returned, Zelriane hardened himself, panting heavily with his left hand clasping the opposite shoulder. His legs tightened, and he lowered his left hand back down, while only raising his right hand slightly. It was clear there was a persisting injuring somewhere along his right limb. His shoulder, the epicenter of where Oz's body landed on top of him, was cracked in several places. Fortunately for Zelriane, his abnormally durable skeleton made it very difficult to inflict heavy damage with blunt force. Without a knife, killing Zelriane outright wouldn't be as easy for Oz as it might've been for Bruce. But why hadn't he attacked while Oz was down for the count? Perhaps it had something to do with his honor. That, or he was genuinely recovering from Oz's earlier strike.

"That you would take such a risk befuddles me... The fact that you're still breathing comes as quite the surprise as well." He narrowed his eyes and exhaled loudly. "Such durability is unheard of, outside of Rajaka's regeneration. What kind of monster are you?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Rajaka rose his free arm and braced with his left, unable to dodge. Without a barrier of Ki, he would take the hit head on. The first strike sliced right through his forearm, redirecting it ever so slightly towards his chest. A wide slice opened him up like a cadaver. An explosive wave of energy erupted from his cut, but was not nearly enough to stop the next four strikes. One after another, cuts opened up across his body. They sealed quickly, but not quickly enough to keep up with the series of injuries that Jeff laid into him. "FUCK-" He cried out, swatting at one of the attacks with his left arm, only to be hit again and pushed against the ground, "-OFF!" The series went on, and on. Rajaka couldn't move, be he just wouldn't die. No matter how many times his limbs were cut, or his neck was slit, or his abdomen was opened, he just wouldn't die.

But as long as Jeff could keep up his assault, he wouldn't be moving, either.

---

~ End Of Chapter 202 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Rajaka was struck by the first grenade. His body was flung off to the side, through the air and down into the ground. The man tossed and tumbled through the dirt until he finally stopped. His muscles, like balloons, enlarged, and his entire body popped back to its original size. But he didn't say anything. As the next grenade came, he crossed his hands to brace himself, but couldn't move his legs with the literal gap in his spine. "Little punk.." The grenades hit him dead on, one after another, but with each strike, his body was unharmed. He'd regained his earlier resilience, but with it, came a wave of anger. "I' gon'a crush Yoo'.." He propped himself up on one of his arms and slowly rose his hand towards Jeff. But no energy came out. He flailed his arm around angrily, impatiently waiting for his Ki to respond, but he'd lost the composure that allowed him such great Ki control in the first place. The energy in his body began to build, but it dropped again, like tidal waves. Truth be told, all his energy was being diverted to repairing his injuries from earlier. The cut in his side was still bleed, despite scabbing over, and his spine was damaged to a critical point. But it wouldn't be long before he recovered from his injuries. When that happened, who knew what would follow. His anger was starting to bubble to an extreme, inflamed by his frustration at being unable to move. If he was allowed to recover, the planet might not be able to cope with his next tantrum.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The initial explosion only burned the length of Rajaka's arm, pushing it back slightly as Jeff was launched back towards the ground. "Mother fuck-" He managed to grunt, about to chase after Jeff, when he clasped onto his ears tightly, shielding them from the sound around him. "MOTHER FUCK-" His back rumbled and bubbled and he lurched forwards. Although the explosions from inside of his body didn't break his skin, there was something going on inside of him. He suddenly began to lose altitude, and his body rapidly fell towards the ground. "Mother... Fucker..."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Rajaka furrowed his brow and scoffed as Jeff's silhouette neared him from one side. At the first slash came out, he was barely able to react in time, pulling himself away and raising his arm to let the blade pass near his armpit. His followup was fast enough to catch the somewhat frustrated Lok'Sha off guard. His immediate reaction wasn't defensive, however. Rajaka didn't care about traps or tricks, and immediately rushed towards Jeff to finally unleash a physical counter. But as he flung his fist forwards, Jeff brought his cannon up quickly. He knew the brunt force of Jeff's wimpy little attack wouldn't hurt, and that there would be just enough of a delay on any of his ranged attacks to land a hit first. But it wasn't his cannon.

Rajaka's hand ended up clasped around Jeff's fist like a handcuff, stopping it from getting any further than it already had. A few drops of blood soaked through Rajaka's mask, but he was smiling ear-to-ear. Now that he had a hand on Jeff, in his mind, the fight was over.

Jeff's nano-blade was stuck inside of Rajaka's Chest, pierced through one of his hearts. Although the wound that cut in from his waist, all the way to the center of his abdomen was bleeding, a bright yellow light kept his blood loss to a minimum. It was like his body bled sheer Ki. He immediately crushed Jeff's wrist with his overbearing strength, shattering the bones and armor in an instant while he locked Jeff's body in place with a surge of weakened Ki. More blood surged up from his throat, forcing Rajaka to rip his mask off with his free hand, revealing his face, scarred to ribbons, with a distinct yellow tattoo under his right eye. One of his eyelids had been completely missing, his left cheek was torn open to reveal the tongue inside his mouth, and several lines traced through his flesh, filled in by the blood that welled up from his throat. The blood coming from his mouth was red, despite his aura, but he still smiled through it all, staring Jeff down face-to-face in the air.

"Gaw-chyea," He grunted, his voice slightly disoriented by the removal of his mask and the blood in his throat. Dropping the black fabric that he ripped away, he rose his free hand towards Jeff's face, amassing a great deal of energy in the center of his palm. Jeff, upon initially being grabbed by Rajaka, had his Ki flow and Arcane control utterly paralyzed. His body was now under the effects of Rajaka's Cataclysm Ki, disallowing most movement and control. He would be lucky if he could still talk. The only thing he had left, was the ability to think. "Goo' figh' Ki'doh. Aym gun'a Eraz' yoo' now." With energy gathered in the palm of his hand, Rajaka was about to finish Jeff off. Although the damage he'd just received was *Significant* and didn't heal immediately like his earlier wounds, it didn't stop him.

"Des' Iz' Wha' i' feels lie' to tay' a 'it!"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Rajaka's eyes drooped and his posture lightened slightly. "What." He rose a hand, and flicked his finger, sending a pair of pea-sized spheres of light-speed energy through the pair of clones, dispersing them immediately. "Do you think I'm a fuckin' toddler?" Rajaka grunted loudly, eyeing his surroundings. "Let me try an' guess what's next- 'you're nothin' but a muscle headed baby' -Damn, you suck ass at this." As the bullets neared him, Rajaka coated his fists in a thin layer of Ki, and began to destroy the shots that came towards him, one after another, with a series of pinpoint blocks while he moves his body around through the air. He straightened himself out and cracked his neck.

"I may not be able to find you, but thanks for puttin' a couple more of those stupid clones out on display." His hands stopped glowing, and his aura continued to flare. He raised a finger, and summoned a tiny orb of energy. "Good to know that this is all it takes to down 'em. Pfah! This is probably all it'll take to down your arrogant little ass." Rajaka began to float around the crater slowly, waiting patiently for Jeff to show himself. "Too bad your little bushido friend isn't here. Maybe you'd stand a chance then." Enraging Rajaka was no easy task after all. He had buttons, and they were easy to push. But treating him like a child was liable to get Jeff crushed, rather than set off the big lug.