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Each hit struck home, causing his body to shudder, and move every which way with the blows, grunts and blood flying as Vahn was slowly pushed back with each hit.

It wasn't till after several of the rapid punches that both arms were raised and he actually started blocking, lessening the amount of impact by evenly distributing the energy throughout his right arm.

While Vahn was indeed 'human', and Viper apparently nothing but a walking cesspool of energy, it wasn't going to be that easy to batter his (Vahn's) flesh.

Sliding his left foot back, a smile spilled across his face, even as his blood covered face was lowered."Yea... just what I wanted."

His right hand would suddenly be jutting forward, to clamp right onto Viper's left should with a deathgrip, talons digging in as the left arm was used to parry and deflect any strikes incoming-- but it was doubtful at this close of range.

The grab would be disguised by the fact that Vahn came in for a vicious headbutt at the same time.

When Efreet's Hand came in contact with Viper himself... a noticeably more intense effect was felt than from when just its extensions (the chains) had been on Viper.

So far Vahn had noticed Viper to create and expend a great deal of energy all on his own. He had not seen one drop of blood spilled from his enemy let alone anyone that could take a One Inch cannon point blank and still walk normally.

The Eye of Efreet glew a deep hue, and Viper would begin to feel the very essence that fueled him drained from his 'shell'. If he was indeed nothing but pure energy.. chaos in form and substance.. a literal walking flame... then he would find himself devoured by the nigh vampiric nature of the artifact.

If Viper was still human somehow, somewhere-- then he would just find himself rendered powerless as all the heat and 'flame energy' he commanded was taken away.

Holy s**t....

How intense. This match was enough to make his own blood boil, seething through his veins like liquid fire. Each fighter was all he'd been cracked up to be and more, the style of one and the other unmistakable.

((Oi, I'm dumb. I forgot Viper still has his jacket on. =/ That kinda invalidates the whole talons piercing skin bit. (But not the draining attempt) *sighs* Ah well, my fault. I can run with it, doesn't really change anything for you but I need to rethink this post now. -_-))

Don't die.

Were Viper's first words as the smoke cleared. At a normal volume, his voice had changed too. It was... sweeter now, more seductive. As if he wanted what was going to happen.

Hey now, don't die on me, I need you.

His eyes still burned with insanity, and the play of muscles under the skin of his face and neck twitched and spasmed wildly.

I need to feel you... I need to relish the delicate symphony of that exquiste body.

He raises his hands to his face, grinning madly at the sparks and gouts of flame that run along them under his gloves. Slowly he leans his head forwards to like the knuckles of the right glove, shivering at the taste.

I need to taste you, taste each and every motion and movement as it dances on the winds. You've given a hint, a morsel, to a starving man it would be a feast but to a greedy man it only makes him desire more! Can you feel it? My desire is red hot, I want to be in you... Vahn...

He clentches his fists and begins a silent, gasping cackle that shows way too many of his unearthly perfect human teeth. After a moment he shakes it away, chews on his tongue and begins to shutter again.

I want to carress you from the inside, to squeeze the breath out of your lungs. To feel the waning rush of your blood. To listen to your heart's sweet melody as your mind searches your life for the answers... to questions never asked. Can you imagine it? The quicking beat as it revves up, and then the slow fall as the truth sets in.

Viper locks his gaze on that single black eye.

So please, don't die on me now. There's still so much joy to be found.

Viper begins a fit of breathless chuckling again, clearly glad to see his opponent alive. His voice had changed again, flicking from "homo-erotic sadist" to "Admonishing Parent."

Come on now, I can see what you want. You're like a child yes? Grasping out to take the pretty, even though you don't know what it is. If anything, that just makes you want it more. Fruits of the forbidden tree ne? Of course, everyone else knows the touching and grabbing isn't a good idea, but how else can one learn unless one experiences for oneself? Here, I'll even help you out. Have a taste of what you wanted.

The world begins to scream...

Centered in Viper's hand is a baseball sized sphere of swirling red energy, and from it comes the awful howling. The Destruction Sphere was destroying all the gases occupying the space cupped by Viper's fingers, then more would rush into that void only to be destroyed instantly as well. Nothing survived inside those red boundaries, even Viper's own hand would not make direct contact.

Fastball straight down the center, but there wouldn't be a free walk if this beanball struck.

Viper cackles, completelly and totally amused. His laughter booms deeply across the arena, and his voice is similarily bass.

Oh, this IS rich! You're a credit to your race young man, whatever it may be. Though I wonder what the limits of keeping that under control are for ya. These Destruction Darts are difficult even for me to maintain in this form, not so much because of the power but because of the concentration required to keep them all together. Remind me to thank him for that if you live through this... Do remember not to die will you?

Viper raises his hands in front of himself, plams facing Vahn, and wiggles his fingers. If the screaming was loud before, it was a whole lot worse now. Little darts, spines with wings really, appear on his fingertips. The five remaining white pinpoints disappear into his hands and they grow a bit more intense. He grins, staring raptly at the Darts.

((Charge: 2 (1+1 for Points)))

This man impressed him more and more with every passing moment. It was a pity that the most likely outcome of this match was the death of one of them.

Because he refused to let it end in such a way as this. The problem was... he had no idea how to beat this particular attack. His opponent had been right in assuming that such an attack would not be enough to defeat him, but this was certainly a problem. His main loadout was entirely offensive and ill-equiped for dealing with problems of this nature. Additionally, despite his perspective on such all the time in the world to think wasn't nearly enough to take action and shed this guise. The process was simply too involved, and while his rational mind held sway in this nearly timeless moment, the part of him that screamed for blood, death, and destruction still held sway over his actions.

So what was there, a course of action that was rational and applicable, but didn't involve breaking the rules of this tournament. Then of course there was a limit to what he could demand on himself. There was no way, that in the heat of battle he could drop all pretense of attack and focus on a stout defense. It wasn't... in him.

In... him...?

If the audience could see Viper's smile, their blood would run cold.

Savagery of this sort was an exquisite pleasure that he would have never suspected, to think that he would be the one to damage himself so.

His body structure was unique, a weapon crafted specifically for his continued existence preordained the moment his father had decided that the best way to accomplish his goal was to send his rogue son out into existence without a single breathe or span of help. Indestrucible and nearly impervious to all harm, he had become intimately familiar with its capacities in the years since he had acquired it. In that time, few had bested him, and all of those but one had been met in kind with swift judgment.

It is that sole case that occupied him now, a man whose wit and knowledge was only bested by his extraordinairy abilities that were beyond even Viper's comprehension. The only man who had breeched his aegis in a way that he could not recover from. And he had left something inside...

In truth he was lucky, he wasn't really an "Unpiercable Shield" to create a paradox with this "All-Piercing Spear."

His course of action decided, he lets his timeless introspection fade to action. This would have hurt no matter what his intention, but a little pain had never stopped him, nor would a vast mind shattering amount. The Destruction Darts on his fingers fade, condensing into a sheath for his right hand. Moving Destruction like that left horrific bloody trenches across his hands, but he planned on doing more than that. With that same manic grin, he shakes his sleeve down and plunges his right hand into his left wrist.

I'll spare you the details of what shoving one's hand into one's flesh and digging through the body does to a man, or what dragging the item he had been looking for back out would do. Needless to say Viper's shrieks of agony might even Vahn.

The weapon is a massive wave blade flamberge with a red bound hilt, with a snake's head pommel in what looks like gold with rubies for eyes, and a simple gold looking crossguard. The blade looks to be thousand fold blue steel with the image of a massive viper entwining a phoenix, sinking its fangs into the phoenix's neck while the flames consume them both. A familiar icon to anyone who had watched Viper's first fight.

In truth... he didn't know what would happen when he swung the blade. He had expended a vast amount of energy in simply drawing the damn thing and would be too hurt to pull off anything complicated until his body healed the damage he had inflicted upon it. Even holding the formidable weapon's two handed grip was sweet sweet excruciating pain.

But he had to trust, trust that this weapon made of his own being would draw up an answer from deep within. Trust that he had that answer as he swung the flamberge in a massive overhead swing at the on-coming wave of tendrils and energy.

Well, it wasn't what he had been expecting, but it would certainly get the job done.

As the tip of the sword screams downwards, a shockwave screams out. Instead of attempting to block the wave, it used the inherent Destruction within Viper's being, and thus the sword, to cut the bonds that the supernatural and the metaphysical held over an area. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, so too does Viper part his opponent's attack. The shockwave would pass Vahn over with no effect, save to normalize everything in its wake.

They would be left with a perfect strip of normal arena, nearly twenty feet wide and spanning the length of their appointed fighting space. This was their line drawn in the sand. On his side, Viper leans back and balances himself with the sword held in front of him. He speaks, voice sounding almost normal as he pants from excersion.

Hah... hah... hah... You..... are the first... fighter... ever, to push me to using Jormungandr.

No taunt, no pretense, the time for that had passed. He was just informing his opponent.

((Yes I know I didn't address the tendrils, they would likely get pushed to the side or whatever, you're the only one who knows how they work. Feel free to try again with em.))

((EDIT: On the issue of time, I wrote this post from Viper's perspective. It all happens in the short time between when Vahn uses his attack and when it would get close enough for Viper to hit with the sword.))

His opponent wasn't moving...

That was good.

Now that he had removed his hand from his arm, Viper could already feel the wound knitting itself together. It starts with the outermost layer, partially to keep anythiong else from getting in there, partially to make it look like he had healed from such a griveous wound in mere moments. In truth...

Mother ******** OW!

He had known that Jormungandr was a bother to use from past experience testing the thing, but to draw it in the middle of a battle was a huge difference. Still, his opponent looked worse for the wear so maybe he should, no, no, he was going to stand here for a few more moments. It hurt like none other just to think about moving that arm right now, let alone to actually move it.

Of course, his internal monologue was quiet different from his external dialogue with Vahn. On the surface, he simply waits, staring at Vahn with those burning red eyes that seem to see into his very core. His aura was pumping out a feeling of lethal awareness, a panther sitting like a coiled spring, waiting for the slightest of movements to give away its prey. If Vahn so much as twitched, Viper would tear him to shreds.

If Viper noticed the tendrils, he didn't do anything about them. They would bite into his clothing and slip right through, dig into his skin and down to his core only to be destroyed once they had slipped past the dermus. The molecules of his clothing would reform and the whole endeavor would be for nothing.

His arm well on the way to full working capacity, Viper begins. The sword flashes red, melting and molding itself into a weapon of the same size and length but with dozens of flame-shaped projections along the edge. It was a weapon of brilliant blues and greens, akin to what one would find in a titanium impurity.

He bursts forward, once again displaying great speed as he swings the weapon through the air almost half the distance between himself and Vahn.

If a single pinpoint fireball had been enough to melt the arena floor, this would incinerate everything and anything in its path. Natural fire, ranging from the lowliest of matches to brightest of forges flows out of the sword in a crest wave that roared its way towards Vahn.