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Joe watched in hungry fascination as Helmsborough took his true form. His cautious nature bubbled nervously below his flaming, cocky exterior. He shoved it down with a grin.
"Serious?" he said, his voice carrying well on the still air as the combatants observed each other. "And here I thought we were just having some fun together." The white flames that were licking his arms shot across his body in an eyeblink; his insane smile was the last to be consumed. When the brightness dimmed slightly, Joe was formed in fire alone, with the silhouette of spiked shoulders, deadly-looking gauntlets, and wicked horned boots. He reached into his own back and extracted one hell of a flaming sword, which he expertly hefted and stepped forward.
"You want serious?" he asked in his mad, shifting voice. "Then let's get serious."

The zombies began to close in, then halted.

Takeshi was, to say the least, confused.
Haru mused.


The zombies stood around Paul and began to escort him; three stood in a triangle around him, the fourth grabbed his items.

~~

Joe flew back from Abaddon's opening blow, a lightning-fast kinetic strike in the face. He then was lifted into the air and thrown down. Helmsborough remained cross-armed where he stood.

"I don't intend to have to approach you," he informed Joe. A perfectly conical spike of concrete was pulled from the street.

Leviathan thought for a moment. Muladhara is of the earth element. Not water, from whence the name Leviathan originates. Muladhara is red. Not blue, like her skin. However, it is also the elephant, whose strength she certainly embodied.
"Supremae," she said quietly, knowing this would take her remaining three minutes to do.
With that simple incantation, she flashed to a bright shade of magma. With her right arm, she momentarily held back Joe while she balled her left hand into a fist and slammed it into the earth, producing, as was probably anticipated, a minor earthquake. The ground reached up and grabbed back the spike Abaddon had loosed, glowing red as it reintegrated the lost portion. The earth around the avatar then surged up and over Helmsborough, trapping him in a chamber of magma. Leviathan still held no expression as she felt around for what was coming next. Forty-five seconds remaining. "Joe," she said, her voice like a far-off volcano, "Watch the air for him."

"Forgot nothing," Leviathan intoned without flinching as blood dripped from her wounds. "The earth remembers you, Helmsborough."
The spike the Avatar had raised out of the ground was being used to locate him. As he raised with his dastardly and misplaced smirk from the ground, it boiled around his form, fusing him to the ground before he was less than waist deep. "My shadow is the earth's shadow." The chains that had touched her melted where they came in contact with the soil, sealing Helmsborough in place. "Anywhere you go, Jonathan Helmsborough, the earth now remembers you. You would be well advised not to take from her again." And with that she faded, leaving Siber panting on the ground in her place, a wicked light in his eyes as he waited for the next move.

said Keldan as Siber flew lazily through the air.

Keldan rolled his eyes. Kind of.




"Reduced to parodying hyper-feminist songs, are we, Abaddon?"
Siber delved deep into his reserves of energy and pulled out the Rasulka from before. She wasn't too terribly mad about it. He also summoned the Vishuddha, which had never appeared, and the dragonfly Anahata once more, who was perfectly willing to fight.
The rasulka ascended on her rope from the pit behind Abaddon, dragging lava with her. The dragonfly swept itself into the ghost-horse Vishuddha, who faded into existence in a charge a foot before the Avatar. The three combined released the energy reserve Abaddon had so kindly given them access to as the dragonly set up a mirror shield around him, feeding far more power than he had intended to use into the system and overloading his charge. As an added bonus, Keldan cast a very simple inversion spell from within Siber, changing all the dæmonic energy into a holy element the instant the dæmons had gone their way again. And it all was possible because of the energy source over which the avatar stood. The avatar would not be able to stand the amplified and inverted power of his own weaponry. If it didn't kill him, it would stun him long enough for the two fighters to investigate the black hole Keldan had noticed.
Of course, Siber was falling, but he'd catch himself later.

Joe watched the exchange as he stood. He couldn't bleed, as he was composed of fire, but if he could, he'd be coughing up blood.
came Roland's voice, far away as it always was when Joe accessed Avatar state.
Deciding to try it, Joe waved a hand vaguely over himself. He felt an instant rush of energy, and all the pain flowed out of him. In fact, he felt as though he was bubbling with even mroe power!
He imitated the other Avatar, gathering his energy into his own two fists. His plan was to fire them on an intercept path to the Avatar's own, and knock them from the sky before they would damage Siber. However, Siber took matters into his own hands and countered the attack. With a shrug, Joe sent the energy he had gathered at the Avatar as well, hoping to at least increase the damage.
He slid his sword quickly back into his back and gathered his strength. With surprising ease, he lept upwards and caught Siber. Joe's hands and arms were no longer covered in fire, although the rest of his body still blazed brightly.
"Hang on," he growled. He angled their fall so that he would land feet first on the Avatar. Hopefully Siber could take the impact.

((Wait, let me get this straight; he opened up a portal to hell and is now walking into it? I just want to make sure I understood that correctly.))

wondered Keldan as the denizens of Hell fled from the portal to escape Abaddon.
Siber irritatedly disentangled himself from Joe. "Thanks, but there really was no need." He immediately began murmuring under his breath, angry that everything he had done, regardless of how it should have had Abaddon limping and panting by now especially with the previous injury Legion had inflicted, had apparently only made him angry. Apparently, the normal rules of power regulation and exchange didn't work in this plane of existence.
Svadhistana number seven, I could use your help right now. Please? To defeat Abaddon, or at the very least hurt him enough that we can bring in reinforcements and take him down?
Abaddon is one who does not belong in Hell, and yet I can see that there is a tear he has made. This must be remedied. Siber Terrian, I am yours.
I can help you- this is the form of the avatar's lover, whom he wishes not to harm. He sent her the image. May I ask your name?
Terpsichore.
The muse of dance. As the chakra of games. How cool.
She came forth in a frenzy of whirlpools and waterspouts, appearing just to vanish over and above the combatants and reappear again, finally settling between Abaddon and the portal he had opened. Her waters cooled the magma beneath him, turning to steam which blinded the two of them to Joe and Siber.
"Joe," Siber asked quietly, "I think what would be best here would be for you to be ready at any moment to release lightning into that area; she represents pure water and won't be affected. He, however does not."
The woman appeared briefly to Siber as a vague silhouette in the mist, her eyes glowing an electric blue. "That would indeed be best. I am pleased to work with the two of you in this endeavor."
Siber swept her the most elegant bow he could manage in his tattered clothing. "My lady, the honor is ours."
The instant the pleasantries had begun, Terpsichore had started channeling water into Abaddon's mouth and throat, blocking his air passages. It was not long before a sphere of water enveloped the avatar's head. The woman, more beautiful than any that any of them had seen, suddenly made a subtle change of shape, taking on the body of Helmsborough's lover. Softly, she said, "Now, Joe."