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Diamus chuckled lightly at Antholon.

"First off sir if you wish to know my intentions you cease calling me Slavadon for that is not my name, my true name being Diamus. Secondly if what you say is true i shall ask her that myself upon my return to her palace for which she may be pleased that the General of her Army has returned to his home after a long stay away."

He sheathed his sword and dusted off his uniform. Then returned his gaze back to Antholon.
"As for Inferno, i know him well and I'm sure he'll learn of my return eventually which i anticipate another fight with him and this time will be excellent for I have fought this man several times through my long life. But as for serving her my only reason is honor. I swore an oath to protect and serve Lady Kikyo upon achieving the title and i keep those types of oaths. So if you'll just point me in the direction of m'Lady's palace i shall venture there."

Diamus got a smile on his face and walked up close to Antholon

"If you sir think i wish to fully embrace the identity of a soul i took, you are sorely mistaken. They are merely tools that i use in battle and nothing more. Slavadon being only one of them, I have legions of them absorbed within my being."

Then he unsheathed the sword "Here allow me to show you a mere fraction of them. For i have the time before i can return to the palace" Diamus then drove the blade into the ground nearly to the hilt and a dark blue dome started to form around the two whilst the sound of the souls Diamus started to wail.

Shiroyasha Yōko

I... I can't back down, no matter how strong my opponents are, for any conceivable reason.
If I retreated, and took even a single step back, then everything I did; every journey I made, every opponent I defeated, every ideal I stand for... it'd be gone! Everything! Nothing is worse to me than throwing away my families honor, and letting the Gitsune Legacy be forgotten or tarnished. Nothing at all.

It would be a fate worse than death, to live with such a tarnished pride. This is my motive, and nothing will deter me from it. Not even death
All I want is to give those who betrayed and defiled the name of Gitsune a taste of the humiliation and pain . . . that my dear sister and I suffered.

-----------------

Ren stood within the Forest, looking towards the trees, the way the leaves swayed gently back and forth in the wind, the way the silence seemed to be a deafening sound. It was all an ominous omen. She knew beyond a shadow of doubt that this forest was not one to be taken too lightly, as she had been here before when she was collecting and several times after that and had encountered things that even an demoness like her wouldn't have thought existed. She wasn't particularly afraid of anything this forest had to throw at her, but she was cautious of her surroundings, ready for anything that might be about to leap out at her from their place of hiding. As If on cue, a giant rhinoceros/bear crossbreed emerged from beyond the shrubs and charged after her. Ren was faster though, jumping high into the air and landing flat on the branch of a tree after a single flip. She knelt down and looked at the thing as it kept going on. By the way it was moving she was almost sure it hadn't even seen her in its rampage, almost as if... The thought had come to her in the nick of time, and she had been correct in his assumption. The rhinoceros/bear thing had been running away from something else, something much bigger than itself. The branch that Ren was perched atop didn't compare to the height of the new creature that reared its ugly head, a cross between what she thought was a moth and a wolf, impossible as that combination may sound in and of itself. Ren knew there was no escaping this creature without a fight, and how annoyed she felt about it. She didn't want to fight, but she had come here for the sole purpose of training and fighting was naturally entailed. Besides, it was already too late to run away since the creature had already caught her in its sights and was now flapping double overtime to accost her. Ren began to act.

The woman flipped backwards and pressed her feet against the trunk of the tree just as the moth wolf flung its body at the branch she was on just moments ago. Without warning she pushed himself off the trunk and sped through the air directly at the moth wolf. She spun once to gain downward momentum and brought her right leg down on the head of the hybrid, a hard, hollow sound heard emanating. She was sure that the kick alone would be enough, but life was never that simple. The moth flapped its wings wildly and whipped up a whirlwind that blew her away with force, but she managed to regain hee balance and press the soles of her feet to the same tree trunk as before. Simple tactic's didn't seem asto work against the creature, so she figured she might as well utilize her flames. They were always best against enemies that didn't appear to have an evident weakness, as flames burned all and didn't differentiate. Flashing her hands to either side of herself, she enclosed her palms and exerted the needed energy . Two long whips formed that extended to around five feet in length, roaring with focused azure flames that did not seem to affect him in the least. Ren flicked her wrist and cracked the whips, the sound pervading the air and creating an echo through the silent forest. With another flick of her wrists she brought the whips upward and then waved her hands outwards, slashing in an 'X' formation with the whips aimed directly at the moth wolf's mid section. The hit connected and in its wake was a deep black scorch mark that formed and 'X' to mimic the motif she had intended from the start. The moth wolf flailed about wildly, making a strange screeching howling sound. It knocked over several trees, the last being the one that Ren was still perched on. She fled without hesitation, hopping onto the branch of another tree and kept going so as not to be caught off guard by the rampaging moth wolf creature.

It didn't take long for the moth wolf to shrug off the burning sensation down to a minor throb and continue its assault in earnest. Ren found herself tree hopping like a frog in the heat. One minute she was here and the next minute she was there. Finally finding an opening she flung her whip forward, making it extend to the appropriate length so it would catch the tree she had just left, slicing a clean path through the trunk. All that could be seen in the whip's wake was a deep red path that appeared like the lava inside a volcano. The tree was cut in two without effort and the head started to topple over onto the moth wolf that was now heading towards her current location for yet another assault. Ren didn't stay to watch the fruits of her labor, jumping from the tree she stood on the side of to head onto another out of the creature's way. Call it being over cautious, but she wasn't about to take chances, never have been one to for that matter. Her initial tactic seemed to have taken effect though, as the massive head of the tree fell down on the moth wolf and was now crushing it to the ground, rendering it flightless due to the wings being crushed under the weight. To be on the safe side, Ren jumped down from the tree and walked closer to the moth wolf, retracting the length of the whip back to its initial five feet, allowing the second one to dissipate into the vacuum. She cracked the whip forward, aimed towards the moth wolf's wing, slicing a clean path through it and severing it from the original structure. Now she knew for sure the creature wouldn't be able to fly, and she had done it all without having to kill it. That was some serious progress right there. Usually if something tried to kill her there would be nothing holding her back from answering in kind, but now it had been established that in this instance there was no need for such extremities. Dispersing the whip of fire and taking a few samples, Ren continued even deeper into the forest, counting her victory against the moth wolf as the first of many she intended to have. This was to be her training, dangerous as it might be. What was a arrancar who was too afraid to get their hands a little dirty in the name of bettering themselves? It personally gave her a feeling of accomplishment.

The next area she entered was a moderately sized clearing that loomed with darkness, only a little light shining through between the leaves of the trees. Ren wasn't afraid of the dark or anything ,but other than that she sensed something close by, as if someone or something was watching her. She walked along nonchalantly, wearing her serious face as she always did when she wanted to betray none of her emotions. Those could always be used to tell what one was thinking and in battle situations it could mean either life or death. How one utilized their face could give them either the upper hand or lead to their demise. Mukuro wasn't about to be just another casualty, especially not in a forest such as this against deadly animals. Her natural instincts proved true as she came to a halt and slid to the side on one foot, dragging the other close by to keep pace. It was all just in time too. A small crater had been formed in the position that she was just at, and the one that had created the crater was none other than bipedal fox-wolf- like creature. It's fur is mainly grayish-brown in coloration with crimson and black accents.It sports a pointed snout and ears, the insides of which have red coloration as well as a large, voluminous mane, primarily red in coloration but with more profound black tips. The mane somewhat resembles a ponytail, as a teal bangle down its length separates a mass of the mane from the lower portion. A black
ruff on can be seen on the upper body, pointed at the shoulders from which the arms extend. The creatures upper arms are thin, whereas its lower arms, while still slim, are bulkier. The arms have spiky extensions of fur at the elbows, and it's three claws, as well as the claws on its feet, are red in coloration. What was with this forest and hybrids anyway? There must be some unknown experimentation. When the dust finally cleared and the creature stood to its full height looking down at her, Ren shuddered, taking a few more steps away as she appraised the size of the thing. It stood a perfect two feet taller than her with bulging muscles and a wide breadth. It was one thing Ren disliked the most, anything living that stood taller or was essentially bigger than she was;would mean she was being looked down on. The werewolf was close enough to human for her to consider it as one, and that it stood a perfect two feet over her and was so much... larger than her did not sit well with the young woman. But despite this she knew from the strength that the fox creature had shown before that this would be a battle of skill, utilizing her physical training. Now Ren did not boast to being a master at physical combat or any such thing. In fact, she was more lacking than most demons when it came to offense . The main thing that made her so much weaker in close combat was that she was smaller and less muscular physically . She was agile and swift on her feet, but he was no master, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Mentally prepared, Ren waited for the creature to make the first move, and as if reading into her approval that it may have the first go the creature sprang into action. It was poised to strike as it seemingly blurred a bit and vanished from sight, catching Ren slightly off guard. But she was ready for the full frontal assault, bringing her hand up to block the clawed stab. It was much more powerful than she originally gauged, as she felt a stinging pain in her arm as she pulled away, gaining some distance between herself and the wolf. She eyed the place where she had been hit and took note of the bruise that was there. This was definitely going to be harder than the moth wolf. Ren sprang into action, this time being the instigator of their little dance. She used her swiftness to blur herself in much the same manner that the creature had just done a moment ago, appearing suddenly behind it in a round house kick position. The creature was quick to react, bringing its powerful arms up about to block the hit and push Ren off itself and send her flying. The woman slid along the ground and then used the backward momentum to push herself into the air and back onto a tree at the far end of a clearing, pressing the soles of her feet into its trunk and pushing herself off at a start once more. This time she did a quick spin in mid air as she torpedoed towards the hybrid , bringing her foot around to connect with the creature's midsection. It wasn't so much a wasted attempt as it was an attempt made too fervently. The hybrid snatched her leg out of mid air, spun her around a few times and then flung her away as if she was yesterday's garbage. It was all Ren could do to not form some handsigns and start blowing stuff up , her frustration towards the creature growing in intensity with each passing second. She managed to keep the urge under wraps however, trying again with a full frontal assault. Nothing seemed to be working. The creature either parried the blow, took it in stride and knocked her away, or it caught her attack and met it with one of its own. It was frustrating; losing to an animal and the faint echos of animal laughter snickering in her the forest wasn't helping at all. Then a thought came to her. Yes she had made it clear to herself that she wouldn't use powers that allowed her to decimate the creature right away, but what about the type of effect that targeted yourself? She stood her ground as the creature was inclined to simply watching and waiting while she made the first move;Its intelligence and adaptability was impressive. Ren was building up energy all over her body, her form assuming a crimson glow as her fire coursed through her body entirety. Soon enough her body had become completely searing to the touch.

Ren dashed forward one final time to meet with the creature where it stood. Her form was a blur as she suddenly appeared in front of the creature, aiming a rapid round house kick to its leg. The creature stood its ground, positive it could take the hit, but the minute Ren's foot made contact with the leg an imprint was left behind, scorching the creatures flesh. It howled in pain and attempted to grab Ren around the neck, but the movement was clumsy and it ended up snatching at the air as Ren feinted to the right, swinging her fist around to connect with the creature's stomach. That too left an imprint and the creature howled again, feeling the burning effect. Ren knew that the moisture in the air was slowly being sucked away by the body heat she was emitting, and the hybrid was feeling the effects of it, barely being able to breathe properly much less stand. The arrancar continued her assault without pause, sending a flurry of kicks and punches all over her opponents form, the heated imprints and the lack of moisture rendering it all but dead. It found it difficult to retaliate,and Ren used the flow of battle to her advantage, as she had the upper hand. To finish things off she took off at a jump high into their air, then flipped her way back down, extending a hot leg forward to have it land directly onto the head of the already half creature. The connected strike was so powerful that the heat only served to amplify and already perfect form, rendering the creature unconscious before it even hit the floor. Ren landed on her feet and stood over the creature, watching it through squinted eyes. The woman wasn't even breathing heavy yet, which was a good thing seeing as she had a lot more of these creatures to do battle with, or just one more since she was hungry. The true purpose of this little exercise was to hone his skills to perfection at their current level and see just how far she could go.She dispelled her flames and sat on a tree brach above the creature. After a few moments of catching her breath she notice the creature stir. It looked at her and for that brief moment Ren felt like they were destined to meet again.She watched as it shook itself off and rushed deeper into the forest.

The next apparent destination inside the forest's entirety was yet unknown, but Ren just kept going in spite of his lack of foresight, still having a lot more training to do. Mukuro was so far gone in thought that it was at the last minute that the noticed that she was being followed. The eerie presence had just made itself known to her, but even so she didn't pay it any excess attention, as that would only give it cause to strike right away. She wanted to lead whatever it was in a clearing where she would be better able to utilize her Azure fire techniques to incinerate it and whatever else came her way. Using it in this forest would only start a forest fire, and she did not want to have to deal with any shinobi. Despite her efforts to take the fight elsewhere, the creature that was stalking her seemed to have other things on its mind, deciding to jump her there and then. Ren had to roll out of the way, going forward and then getting back to her feet to turn and look at the thing. It was massive, and it had almost crushed her under its weight. It was a giant spider, features contorted into rage and body poised to strike again. Ren hated spiders mostly out of all the insects in the world, simply because of the way they looked. This one though would go down in history as the most grotesque of the lot.

The spider creature hopped off all its eight legs and made an attempt to assault him once again. Ren stood her ground until the last minute before she jumped away, using the pull of gravity afterwards to help her descent where she then landed firmly on top of the spider's massive thorax with a powerful downward kick. The thing shrieked, a terrible sound that sounded almost human, then it flailed its thorax into the air and flung Ren off. Ren perched herself upside down on the branch of a nearby tree and then shoved herself off it downwards again, aiming another powerful kick this time to the head of the over sized spider. Strangely, the spider stood on its eight hind legs and used the four fore legs to shield against her assault, spreading them wide afterwards to send her flying. What was with these creatures and their affinity for the physical arts? If she didn't know any better she would have claimed that they be enrolled into a ninja academy and be taught in the ways of combat, if only for a sick joke of the scientific committee. Ren decided right then and there that using only close combat to fight these creatures was a complete waste of time and would get her nowhere fast, and so she formed the hand signs that she knew would bring her victory. From her position perched on the underside of the branch she blew a streaming jet of fire into the ground below, almost hitting the spider had it not moved away to evade. The jet tore through the ground and persisted downward, disappearing below the surface. To anyone that looked they might have thought to themselves that Ren had just missed her target completely, but she had in fact not missed and had gotten through with her intentions. The spider didn't seem to wait for him to make another move, raising its thorax into the air and spewing a large stream of webs that would have caught and bound Ren to the tree had she not been a master at fire techniques. She burned through the web with a simple ball of fire and then formed another set of handsigns that would bring about the destruction she intended. A massive pillar of fire emerged from the ground beneath the spider, bursting forth rapidly and catching it in its blaze before it even knew what hit it. The thing was reduced to a black scorching heap as it lay there, smoke rising off its form. The pillar of flame hadn't come about without repercussions in the dense forest however, and had caught on several trees and was burning a path to the next, which would start a chain reaction.Luckily she was skilled in flame manipulation and quickly dealt with the flames by suppressing them.

Once she got the fires out she went on to enter a massive clearing within the heart of the forest. There were no trees for yards around and the sun was shining clearly down at her. She looked up and embraced the light a little bit, savoring the feel of it before she began her trek to the closest exit of the forest. . The creatures she had just faced were quite fierce, and she knew that it would be simply too much to continue, enough to level half this forest, not to mention it would probably make her so weak and drained that she would probably have to stay in bed for the better part of the next few days. She fondled the pendent at her neck , the memory of her children coming to the fore. How she missed him, it was time to go back. She slowly turned away and began to leave the forest

After Daimus spoke, Antholon would slow down his banging before ultimately ceasing it. "I understand your fear of the unknown, Slavadon; however, I can assure you that what is coming is for the good of all!" Antholon could feel as the power of the Gods flowed through him - it always felt like an adrenaline kick, but only stronger. It made him feel like Hercules, but he had to keep his head - the power was intoxicating, and was known to make many men and women mad.

He could feel his breathing speed up and get deeper as his muscles demanded more from him. Within the blink of an eye, Antholon would charge into action at his new opponent, but kept at a speed where he would be nimble enough to defend himself from what Daimus may send his way.

Should it not be interrupted, Antholon would try to open up with a simple shield bash against Daimus - hopefully to set him off balance or even knock him over entirely.

The demon wouldn't try to dodge Kaldari's punch knowing that it would only anger him more. "What has your panties in a knot?" He knew that once he came face to face with Oni he was going to have to deal with his friends anger once he came clean about what he had done, but he didn't expect that type of reaction from Kal. Something was definitely wrong in Hell. From one problem to another. We have to do something to end all of this once and for all.....

"Hm. Good call, Kal. I do fancy Vodka Tonic."
He'd sip at his drink, listening to Kal. In fact he almost choked when hearing about Kikyo and Morik. He'd cough, wiping his mouth in thought. Certainly Lucas' troubles would not end. With Morik back that would make every member of Cruxis but one returned.

"What a mess..."
He'd comment, swirling his drink in his hand. He'd look to Arc after the comment of an 'odd pair". Yes, The King of Heaven and the Legendary Devil certainly wasn't an expected partnership. However it seemed to be destined given the circumstances. "Well, Kal. The Sins aren't a problem anymore. However some more issues arose in Heaven. I fear Hell might be dragged into it but we'll take care of it."

Admittedly, Lucas was hesitant to discuss everything in detail with Kal. The Nephilim could imagine that valuable information was bought and sold around here. He didn't particularly like the notion that Heaven's dismay could be gossip by tomorrow. Plus his concern for Oni had him wondering why he hadn't returned to Hell.

"I should pay Kikyo a visit. Morik as well..."

The demon was in mid drink as Kal mentioned that Kikyo was alive which caused Arc to choke on his drink. After a few moments of coughing Arc would finally speak up. "While normally I would welcome the return of Kikyo so she could clear my name, her return is sure to start a war. With Oni missing, I fear for those that support him. I do however agree that we should go and pay her a visit." Letting out a long sigh as the weight of the entire situation sank in.

Setting his drink down the demon would stand up. "Well Lucas, we don't have time to waste. With the current state of things in Heaven and the impending war in Hell we have our work cut out for us." It was clear that Arc didn't mind speaking freely in front of Kal like Lucas did, but Arc had known Kal for a long time and knew that idle gossip wasn't his game. Information on the state of Heaven would only be traded away for the most valuable information.