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Battle Theme Song: Rebirth

The fight seemed to have finally finished, and Rosalia was glad to sheathe her weapon at last. But she didn't feel like they were safe just yet... Whatever was beginning to make her veins scream was hurting like hell. At first she tried to ignore it, and had looked to the others. The guy from before was trying to talk to one of the demons here, which was odd because talking should be normal. As she tried to ask, her throat seemed to have closed up on her and she clutched at her neck, feeling the burn of the pain flare even more. She was used to pain and injuries, sure, but this... this was torture as it intensified. And as this continued to burn like a firestorm, she heard the dark voice laugh insanely, as though it was fun! "Such pain to go through, isn't it? Even I am starting to feel its scorch," the demon inside said as she continued to laugh. Rosalia wanted to tell her to go to hell, but from the burning of her blood and how she couldn't remain standing as she held her arms to herself as though trying to block out the pain, she was already there.

"G-goddess, it hurts," she said through clenched teeth, trying not to scream. Her eyes watered as the pain seemed to have spread from her blood to her very bones, and she dug her claws into her arms. She couldn't even feel them tearing at her flesh! And still the demon inside laughed, though it was more faded. Rosalia dimly thought that it was fair that the demon had to share the pain if she was to 'share' her body. After all, the demons' essence was what created Rosalia as she was... Her eyes bled to red just as she squeezed them shut, not aware of anyone else around her anymore. All there was, was the pain and her very soul burning. Or more technically, her ki energy. "M-makes me wish... that I.. had given my... body up to.. you, demon..." she murmured to herself, which was to the demon within her. But she wouldn't give up that fight, ever.

Hedoro had lashed out with her attack, and several others had managed to join in the effort. After all, now that all of those Drones were out of the way, there was nothing stopping everyone from banding together to take out the real threat. And miraculously enough, that seemed to be all that was needed. No sooner had the attacks fallen, then so too did the beast. It practically exploded, it's demise seemed assured. But only a moment later, before she even had a chance to get back her weapon from the Android, she felt a strange numbness begin to spread through her body. Odd, what was this? ?the numbness circulated quickly, and on it's footsteps followed pain, a pain stronger than any she had experienced before. If her mouth still worked, she would have shouted out at the pain. But no, her body wasn't responding. What had happened? Had she been poisoned, was simply touching the Drones what had caused this? It hurt! She felt the ground rise up to smack into her, but compared to the internal pain, she didn't even feel the impact. The pain inside, though? Oh, she felt that! The pain grew and grew, it felt like she had been stuffed with red-hot coals, her insides twisted and writhed as the pain grew even stronger. Even if she didn't have internal organs or blood or anything, this still felt like she did, and they were all under a horrible assault. She managed to curl up into somewhat of a fetal position. Not out of ability, but simply because her body was instinctively contracting itself, until she was in a form almost like a sphere. The misguided hope that such a form would alleviate the pain was quickly proven false, however, but she was in no shape to return to her normal shape. She had lost almost all recognition of the outside world, even if her eyes would have been open, she wouldn't really be able to see. Not with the pain blinding her to everything around her. She fervently hoped that the beast wasn't dead, she wouldn't really mind being killed now, if it meant the pain might finally end. It had only been a few moments, but to her, it felt like it had already been days. The chronic, unceasing, unrelenting pain made each second feel like an hour, each moment feel like an eternity. In her mind, she raged, tried to will herself to ignore the pain, to lash out at whatever it was that was making her hurt so badly. But it was to no avail, whatever was doing this to her had full control, the pain wouldn't stop, at least not by her own initiative. It would only stop when whatever criteria the pain itself was confined to. Whatever it was, she hoped that it happened soon. If it didn't, she didn't think she could maintain her sanity, not in the wake of such pain. The pain lit up her senses in agony, made her feel like death was welcome, made her feel like she had swallowed a ravenous beast that was gnawing away at her sanity, at her insides. Whatever it was, it was definitely more harmful than the beast could have possibly been. Was this, then, the beast's final vengeance? Truly, a sadistic and powerful final attack! She didn't have the strength of mind to hypothesize, but if she had, she might have realized what the trigger had been. There had to be something in the air, some form of contaminant. After all, she wouldn't be the only one affected by this cruel treatment, but she had been one of the only ones to actually touch the Drones or the beast itself. So there had to be a different factor for how they were infected. Airborne contaminant would be the most likely, but how? There had been nothing, she hadn't seen a smoke, or smelled a strange odor, or even sensed a virulent Ki. There had been no sign of it, no indication that there was anything hostile. Other than the Drones and the beast itself, of course. But yet it's effect was impossible to deny. This pain was unnatural, she knew that without a doubt. It was such an intense pain, something beyond anything one would feel from an injury, no matter how severe. Normally, the mind would be able to mitigate truly horrendous pain to avoid shutting down completely from shock. But this? This was something beyond the scope of simple pain, this was something else entirely. Something that couldn't readily be understood. By the time she was in any shape to try to understand it, the pain would be long gone. Either because it had gone away, or because she wasn't able to feel pain any longer. Either situation would make finding the truth much more difficult. Though if it meant an end to the pain, she was perfectly fine with not understanding what the pain really was. Ignorance would truly be bliss, in such an event. The pain was her only companion now, one more reason why she had preferred the life she had lived before the pain. A life of mostly solitude. Living by herself, that meant there was no one around to cause her trouble. Back before she had come to her epiphany, she had told herself that living alone would help her resist that hunger that she was so familiar with. But now? Now, she just knew pain. While the loss of her eternal hunger was something new and unusual, if it came at the cost of this intense pain, it wasn't worth it. This pain, it was much worse than anything she had ever experienced before, enough that all she could do was try to endure, try to outlast it, try to survive. And pray for it to end with every fiber of her amorphous being. Pray for an end to the pain that didn't involve her being dead, preferably.

(1000+ words, Hedoro's part complete.)

Kawari rushed toward the monster, calculating the best path to grant her success in her attack. She assumed it was aware of her presence, but it seemed too preoccupied with laying more eggs, creating more of it's brood. She'd have to make sure that every last one of the eggs was destroyed, alongside the mother. She was close now, and both weapons were at the ready. The large scythe was held up and back, ready to lash out and carve a line of destruction through the monstrosity, it's crescent blade sharp enough to sunder flesh, no matter it's origin. Her other hand held her pilebunker, ready for another use. It was a powerful weapon, the compression that held it in check more than sufficient to break rock or metal. How much more could it do to simple flesh? The beast wouldn't stand a chance, hopefully. And then it was over. She had made her attack, both weapons flashing out in an instant and striking true, both weapons hitting the target and inflicting grievous damage. Damage enough to cause the beast to seemingly instantly be destroyed. There were others involved in the multitude of attacks that hit the beast, it seemed that the others had finally gained the insight that she had been given. That Ki attacks were useless, that they were doing nothing but damaging the already ravaged landscape. But now, now they knew. Now they knew what to do to make the beast halt in it's offense against the planet. Now the beast was dead, and disintegrating before her very eyes. Was that it, then? No more transformations, no more surprises? No more reanimation of the dead? It seemed no to all of those questions. She retracted her pilebunker once more, to be ready should a new foe present itself. But though there was a new foe, it was not one that could be attacked. It began with a small anomaly in her settings, a faint flicker in her capacity. Somehow, she was losing her senses, she was going numb. Curious. Was this then the final attack by the beast? Or was it something completely different? Impossible to say, not without more data. so she attempted to obtain more data. She ran a self diagnosis, a system-wide analysis of her components and programs. She knew her system well, as well as anyone knew anything. The settings had been permanently logged so she could compare at a moment's notice. and yes, there it was again. The anomaly seemed to be growing, as if she was affected by a virus or something. She launched a basic anti-virus program, with any luck it would confine and destroy the infection, whatever it was. Luck wasn't on her side, however. Silent alarms began sounding within her head, urgent attention as notices of compromised programs were listed, one after another. And then the real effects began. Pain, a sudden and shocking pain, inexplicable in it's sudden appearance. She hadn't sustained any injury, what was the pain caused from? She attempted to cut the connections to her senses, to simply kill the pain until an answer could be found. But it was no use, her body was beginning to refuse to function. This wasn't good. Her body was failing, yet more and more pain was heaped upon her senses. As an Android, she couldn't feel pain. Not in the way that an organic could. Yet even so, she could feel this, feel every excruciating moment. She didn't scream, though, the loss of response in her frame made sure of that. Neither was she moving, she was simply standing there. the only real indicator of what she was enduring would be found if one were to scan her electronic signature. Her brain waves, ifs he were an organic. they were as lit up as a Christmas tree, artificial neurons and synapses firing impotently as frenzied signals tried to make sense of the ever-increasing pain. She had no clue how much time was passing, she had no idea just what was happening in the world around her. For all that she was unaware, the world could have been sundered and even now drawing closer and closer to a cataclysmic eruption. Of course, that wasn't actually happening, but she had no idea of that/ She only had her pain, and a body frozen into inaction. A horrible punishment, something like this would likely be intense enough to rehabilitate all but the most sadistic of criminals. Or the masochists, of course. But this was no more than a passing flurry of electrons composing a random thought, she had no semblance of order in her normally organized mind. For an Android, order was everything. All that she had no, was chaos. Truly unfortunate. The pain just grew and grew, making her wonder if it would manage to wipe her systems, destroy her personality, rewrite her code. Would she die, from an unseen pain that had no source? While the RRA would likely be interested in studying such an unusual occurrence, she was in no great hurry to experience being dissected. She just wanted the pain to stop, so she could try to fix whatever went wrong, and make sure that it never happened again. The pain was horrible, yet each second it seemed to grow worse. Each time she thought she could experience no greater pain, it reached a new plateau, a new threshold. It was ever increasing, an infinite loop of truly awful potential. Whoever, or whatever, had created such an occurrence was a genius. Twisted and likely thoroughly insane, but a genius nonetheless. This was something that would be able to stop virtually anyone, seemingly making no distinction of what breed of being they were. Android, Majin, Human, Changeling or anything else. All seemed susceptible. At some level, she was aware that she wasn't the only one suffering, but she didn't really care. Her own predicament was all she cared about. Only after her own situation improved would she even consider trying to help anyone else.
(1000+ words, Kawari's part complete.)

Beatrice hadn't done much in the battle. Aside from distracting some of the Drones, and giving some advice to some of the warriors. That was fine, she wasn't able to do anything else. Not really, or at least not without a lot of work, and energy reserves she didn't possess. But nonetheless she had tried. And she felt she had given a decent showing of herself, she felt she had made a difference. Now, as she looked around, she saw that the tide had turned, the warriors seemed to have made some headway. The Drones all seemed to be destroyed, every last one. That left just the Space Lamprey and it's children. She supposed she should think of names for them. Though why was rapidly becoming a valid question. After all, the eggs would all be destroyed before having a chance to hatch. So naming the unborn seemed a little pointless. Nonetheless, she still watched, watched as the warriors rushed to take on the Space Lamprey, and finally try a new tactic. Ki techniques of any kind seemed to bounce right off of it, she had noticed that right away. And she had told the others. Now, it seemed they had finally begun to listen. And just in time, if they had waited much longer the eggs would have more than likely begun to hatch. And that would have meant she would have had to name them all after all. that was a task she had not been looking forward to. So seeing the space Lamprey felled was a positive thing. The beast was mauled by an overwhelming number of attacks, enough that she thought even a single attack would have been sufficient to the task. Better too much than not enough, though, so she didn't make any comments. The deed was done, the day was saved. Right? Why then did she feel like she was forgetting something, forgetting something vitally important? It felt like whatever it was was really, really important, and that bothered her. She floated in place as she tried to figure out just what was wrong. Whatever it was proved as elusive as she herself was. Though not for long, she felt a tremor pass through her, it almost felt like her heart had skipped a beat. A faint numbness spread through her form. That was odd, the only place where she could be affected was in the World of Dreams, right? then why was she feeling like it was something in the prime material plane that was causing this uncomfortable sensation? Uncomfortable, but ultimately forgettable compared to what came next. Pain began to well up within her. She had felt pain before, of course. She was not the only denizen of the World of Dreams, there were countless other inhabitants. Quite a few weren't particularly friendly. She was strong there, but they were cruel, and had more experience than her. Several times she had been hurt, and pretty badly at that. Each time she had survived, each time she had seemed to become stronger for it. Over time, she had learned to master her surroundings, to make every fight a fight on her own home field. Thus the advantage had been hers, and she had quickly claimed a large portion of the likely infinite World of Dreams for her own. she had still faced battles, from those wandering dreamers who wanted to fight those who were strong, and thus make a name for themselves. Some of those times she had barely managed to triumph, but still triumph she had. Some of those battles had left her injured, seriously too. Recovery was quick, in the World of Dreams, so she was generally always fresh for the next challenge that would come along. But that pain, those injuries, she always remembered them. She knew pain, knew how to use it, use it to focus herself, to gain new resolve when in a pinch. But this pain? This was something else entirely. It was more intense than any injury she had sustained before, and it lingered despite her best efforts. She had no injuries, yet it was there. It was impossible to argue that something shouldn't exist when it's effects were so very, very real. The pain seemed to consume her, making her feel wretched, worn and abused. The pain was all, she was merely a fragment of it, just as she was a fragment of the World of Dreams. Maybe the World of Dreams itself had become the World of Pain? Maybe the Mistress of Pain had come calling, and found the World of Dreams to her liking? that... that was a horrible thought. Though if that was truly what had happened, this pain that was her welcome would have to pass, and then perhaps she could go and kick out the usurper from her home. But only after this unending pain ended! She couldn't even think straight, she couldn't move, she could barely exist. the pain was stronger now, she was sure. It seemed like that would mean that would have to mean that the pain from before wasn't quite as horribly strong, right? Yet at that time, she had thought it was the worst pain she had ever experienced. Though now, it almost seemed a pleasant memory compared to the new strongest pain she had ever experienced. The pain seemed to, impossible as that might be, grow stronger with each passing moment. when would it end? Could she keep herself through this ordeal, would she still be herself when it ended? If it ended? How could such horrible, horrible pain exist? It seemed impossible. Yet it was very real, she couldn't disbelieve it when it was wreaking such havoc on her. It was real, no matter how much she wished otherwise. The pain was hers, and hers alone. She couldn't be rid of it, no matter what she might do. She was at it's mercy, and she would have to wait, wait until it went away on it's own. She had to believe that it would go away, the alternative was too horrible to consider. And she had witnessed some pretty horrible nightmares in her day, too!
(1000+ words, Beatrice's part complete.)

Razlo finally let his hand down as he watched the fight start to end. A sad smile appeared on his face when he watched the creature die from the fatal wounds that the fighters have given it. It was an almost a romantic scene to him as the sun was starting to set and the creature was dying. He was a bit disappointed in him self. The male did not fight much for he was badly wounded in the middle of the fight due to his lack of exspirence in battle. he knew that it would be a risk coming here however it sure was fun. The male hadn't had this much fun in years. Even being a demon was boring no matter what humans said. He didn't care to watch the fighters only to turn his attention to his own wounds. Blood was slowly trickaling down his torso, yet he couldn't feel it. he guessed that his body was still in shock mode. The claw wounds where still bleeding, for he could only use one hand to put presser on one of the deeper wounds. His breathing was a bit rough however so far it was nothing compaired to the feeling of losing his arm in the past, nor the pain of being shot. As he took another breath the male scooted backwards to lean on a broken part of the dojo building. He took out a electronic cigarette and started to puff the smoke out. As he did this he started to finally watch the fighters. They all seemed to be in pain as if they them selfs where slowly dying.

"That's a bit strange " He muttered while watching each one. He could see them all very clearly from where he sat however he had a feeling that no one could see him. That was just fine to him. He didn't really want others to be around him in this state. As far as he was concerned he was usless once again. A wounded cowboy.

As he took another puff of the cigarette an intense pain shot threw his body. When feeling it he arched his back aginst the building, biting down on his lower lip to not scream out from the pain. ' Is this why they are all in so much pain?..' He said while glancing back towards the fighters. They all seeemed to be looking fairly tired. he also noticed something very off about their bodies. Their veins where an off color. He would have checked his own skin however taking off the suit he wore would be far too annoying at this point. As he layed there he noticed that his heart was beating faster and that his body was heating up. it must have ment that his body was fighting off something. His vision was growing dizzy which forced him to close his eyes, He did not wish to get motion sickness. It would be a horrible fate if that had happened. A cold smile appeared on his face as the mental image came in to this mind. He then brought back up the cigarette to his mouth and left it between his lips so he could now put pressure with both of his hands on his wound. ' Aint this just a crule fate..' He thought as the pain seemed to get worse for his body. Mentally he did not wish to dye here however he knew the limits of his body and this the wound he recived from the creatures and now this odd virus in side him, he wasn't sure any more. If fate was kind then he would live threw this however in the past he very well that fate was never kind, espcially for fighters. " Fate is crule and beutiful just as a women. Once again the females get the last laugh." He said to himself, smiling as if it was a joke. As a few more moments passed he started to feel tired. Maybe sleep was the option for him yet something in the back of his mind told him that if he did fall asleep he would not be granted dreams but nightmares. Nightmares that even the king of hell would shutter in his sleep. ' Hmm.. What am I scared of?' He thought while struggeling to open his eyes. He didn't want to sleep now. He knew very well what his worst fear was and no intention of living it in his head. Another horrible feeling of pain shot threw his body, making him bit down the the electronice cigarette.

" Damn it." He muttered while taking another puff of his cigarette. Life was sure annoying at this point. Sure the monster was dead which ment everyone would be save however now they where all going to die. He guessed it would be alright though. Death was after all just sleep. A nice long nap. He then tilted his head up to look up at the sky. He swore he could hear music however it might have just been his mind playing tricks on it. It was fairly commen for that that happen.Apart of him wished that they where not in the middle of the broken down dojo. He wished they could be in the middle of the dessert. Sure everyones skin would be cracking and they would all die from either heat exhaustion or lack of water but he still would have loved it. The poor male really was born in the wrong century. His goggles make the world seem happier as they where the shade of orange, his favorite color in the world. If he did die then at least he could see everything on last time in his favorite color. His vison was bluring again as the pain ran threw his spin. It was getting to the point that he couldn't help but to think he would start sleeping with his eyes open soon.

Echo watched as the others wnet down. He looked confused for a moment as he thought that he could block the pathogens from entering his body. But what he didn't know was that it was already inside of him. Echo looked away and his body went under attack. Echo held his sides and he doubled over and he fell to the ground almost clenching the ground and he yelled out in pain almost growing in an almost rage like state. hE was going primal. He tried to heal himself. However he couldn't he then tried to contact Boop. He bit his lip as he wentinside of his mind. He had to figure out what was wrong. The guard of his body that was Boop or at least he thought it was Boop. Since he let himself get absorbed by him. They had been sharing this body since they first met. ALmost purging Echo from a lot of his evil intentions. Maybe that is why he took a shining to the Rage Demon. Maybe it wasn't him maybe it was Boop trying to find himself another pupil.

"The hell i going on Boop. Where have you been! How come I havn't been able to find you this is Ridicioulus."

Boop looked and he only started to whistle. He was kind of pissed off as he looked at Echo as he stared at Echo. He pointed around to the worms/ bug creature invading the body destroying everything. Eating the very fibers of his soul. It was akward. Echo looked at Boop and he threw his hands up at Boop.

"The hell are you doing Boop..arn't you suppossed to be like the firewire of my brain or something like that defending my brain from attacks like this."

Boop only sighed.

"You are a big boy now. I was helping you gain your confedence..Now I can sort of rest. You are just taking me for the ride now. You are almost as strong as I was when I was your age. OR at least you are when I was at this time of my life. Except that I won the tournament. I didn't get beat by some android. Anyways. That Worm that you were fighting. It did some sort of damaged to your body and I am not exactly sure if we can fight it.But whatever it is it infected everybody. I been trying to fight these scum warriors with all my might. But they are taking over. So it's sort of up to you big boy."

Echo slightly staired at Boop.

"What about the Rage boy. Did you give him to me..Did I like him or was that all you? How far are you controlling me BOop. Can you take over my body whenver you like and influence my mind like that? I liek Echo but do I really. He is pretty good. Why would someone like that interest me. I Would have killed him in any other circumstance."

Boop laughed at Echo.

"You think every good act you do is because me? Admittly I can influence you..but that's it. ANythign Good you do is because you wanted to do it. Any bad...you wanted to do it. You are not this terrible person you make yourself out to be. Try not to be so evil all the time. You might like it."

Boop said as he adjusted his headband. He started to walk back off into the mind. IT was once full of birds, and it looked like a lush jungle. Now his body felt like an destroyed city after the bomb went off. HE walked around as he was drawn out of his mind due to the pain he started to feel again. HE fell to his knees.

"What is this pain."

Echo said slowly. He wasn't used to feeling pain. Quickly regenerating himself. Destroying the pain nerves. No sensation in battle but to destroy the other opponent. However now his ruby skin cracked and destroyed. LEaving nothing but the black husk of Echo. HE stood up as he saw RAge standing tall. He saw that new form of RAge. That as actually quite amazing. The boy had a transformation in him. He knew that he made the right choice by finding him. They could take over the world together. Those two..or at least run Satan City. Echo had to get up. He just had too. He went through to much to let some worm kill him. Ech ostarted to try and stand tall. However he felt the death of his soul starting to weigh on him. HE spit up a little bit of blood causing him to feel like death even worse. He felt closer to that gate of hell. Some where he didn't want to go back too. That little demon was terrible. She even scared him. He started to stand up and let his true power show. Allowing himself to live a bit longer.
"Kid if you can make it throug hthis so can I.."

Echo mumbled as he stood up and he started to let his body defend him from this attack. Even though he felt like he was dying. He wasn't dead yet. So he could still fight for his right to live. Plus he wanted to Eat that majin girl. She looked tasty. He could get stronger just like he did by eating Boop..but he would have to introduce a new personality to his body. He wasn't to sure about how he liked that idea. Not yet anyways. He pointed towards the Majin and those cold blank eyes as he started to glide towards her.

"I think I want to eat you. MAke you a part of my collective and we can be called Legion. What do you say? We can be all powerful and eat this world. Once we are done here we can eat the universe. All you have to do is say yes and accept my offer to become part of my legion. OR you can live this duel life where I will eventually eat you by force and not by choice."

Echo laughed silently.
(1030)

A large piece of rubble shifted, dust falling off of it as it was shifted after the first time in months. There was something under it that was alive, and had been alive since before the large shelf of fallen stone had crushed it. What in the world could live through such an injury, and more, survive for so long afterward without moving, without being able to go out, seek food or water? As the stone finally tipped over in the opposite direction, cracking as it dropped to the ground with an ear-deafening THUD, the answer became clear. A Majin. Or rather, something that was more or less a Majin, yet different in a few key ways. The pearlescent substance had been crushed down into a shallow depression, looking like a spilled puddle of glue or possibly uncolored taffy. But now that it had finally been freed from it's latest source of captivity, it was able to rise up, and take the form it had adopted as it's own. That being a more or less human form, though the proportions shifted fluidly from one moment to the next. As well, rather than the set of two eyes that most beings possessed, this Majin had a third eye, perched on a stalk that sprouted from their forehead, where some of their substance gave the appearance of hair. This Majin had yet to really make a name for herself, yet there were a few who knew of her. Her name, Hedoro. Her hunger guided her to consume, especially upon the living. And she had not had a decent meal in such a long time...

She staggered forward out of the depression, arms hanging slack at her sides, head seemingly bent at an unnatural angle, looking at the world at a steep incline. She continued to set one foot slowly in front of the other, her substance still cohesive enough that she wasn't leaving a trail of herself in her wake. What was she walking toward? Nobody knew, not even her. She certainly didn;t seem in her right mind, not just yet. Her substance rippled in spasms, causing her height, dimensions and speed to shift abruptly with every couple of steps she took. It almost looked like there were several different minds guiding her actions, telling her what form to take, and none of them could agree. This continued for some time, as the Majin slowly made her way out of the wreckage. Only a portion of the Dojo had been destroyed so long ago, there were still parts of it that were functional, and it was to those parts that she found herself drawn. The scent of life was irresistible to her now, with her hunger a burning core at the basis of her very being. Before, she had fought to resist that dark hunger, and all it represented. But now, after having held herself back from eating anything at all, for so long, the hunger was far greater than anything she could resist. She didn;t even try, she gave in to it as it's insistence overwhelmed her fragile defenses like a tidal wave. As the sound of living beings practicing reached her, her awkward movements sped up, until she was lurching forward and almost running toward them.

She crashed through a thin rice paper wall, and stopped in confusion as it took her a moment to make sense of the sheer number of movements around her. There were so many, she could barely process it. But eventually order came out of the chaos, and as it did, her focus locked on one, the closest. And, in fact, the instructor to the large group that had assembled for the day's first lesson. The instructor was a large man, tanned, with tattoos like black flames covering either arm. He hadn't noticed her approach, but when she had crashed through the thin wall, he had instantly turned to face her, ready for an attack which didn't come. When he saw that this newest face was no Dojo crasher, he just shrugged, and raised a hand to wave her off. "Go away, we're in the middle of lessons. If you have a reason for being here, I'll deal with it later." His eyes narrowed when he moved his hand to avoid the clumsy blow that the white Majin threw at him. "So it's a fight you want, eh? You don't seem very prepared, but alright. Don't complain when you're dead!" With that, he shifted into a real combat stance and let his Ki gather, manifesting around him in a pitch-black cloud of miasma. Normally, this display was enough to discourage all but the most foolhardy of opponents, but this one didn't even seem to notice it, and that infuriated him. He let out a battle cry as he rushed in with a savage thrust punch aimed to do nothing less than pulp his foe's head, or even knock it clean off. His fists were strong enough to shatter stone with a single punch, a skull was nothing in comparison.

Even when he rushed in with a raised fist, this interloper made no move. Were they that oblivious to his attack, or had his utter power terrified them so thoroughly that they had become paralyzed? Either way, it would make a good display for his students, teach them about the utter power they could tap into once they were welcomed into the unhallowed halls of the dark side. He let his battle shout reach a fever pitch as he closed the distance to this white target, his fist rushing toward them with destructive force. Even then, the Majin made no efort to dodge, block or counter, utterly sloppy. A failure worthy of death. His fist hit with a satisfying sensation of sundering flesh. He grinned arrogantly, a cruel smirk present on his face, as he stared down at where his fist had literally caved in the target's skull, sank in and very nearly burst through the other side. He was sure that the only thing keeping his victim upright now was his own arm, once he pulled it out, they would slump to the floor of the dojo, dead.

A moment later, his cocky grin melted into a look of confusion, why wasn't his fist coming out? He pulled harder, but it was no use. He grumbled to himself about the stupid 'tar baby' and pulled harder. But even then, his arm seemed as solid and immovable as a meter-thick wall of solid steel. The veins on his well-muscled arm popped out from the strain, but even then, his arm was stuck fast. He stopped pulling for a moment, to attempt to prepare a Ki blast. If he couldn't pull free, he would instead settle for simply blowing the Majin to pieces. But before he could do so, he was pulled off balance as a sudden yank on his arm pulled him closer. What the? He tried to pull away, but it was no use. What made it worse, was that now that he had been pulled closer, the pulling continued, he could feel the same force almost seeming to draw him in entirely, like the same force of gravity that nominally kept him attached to the ground. He growled in anger and finally gathered up his reserves to fire off a Ki blast with his trapped hand. It went right through the Majin's still misshapen head, coming out the back and passing through the ruined rice paper wall to vanish into the distance. But even that seemed to have no effect. In his anger, he lashed out with his other fist, trying to rip the Majin off of his hand. Predictably, that only made it worse, his other hand was now caught as well. Though he'd never admit it, a small lump of fear began rising up in the pit of his stomach, it's cold caress freezing his innards with an implacable dread.

But still, he was the master of this Dojo, he was strong, he wouldn't lose to whatever this Majin was! He yelled out in anger, and his pitch-black Ki rose up even further, causing bits of dust and scraps of rice paper to actually rise up in the air. The gravity around him even seemed to distort somewhat, as energy pulsed and coalesced around him. It gathered at his fists, making them more powerful, gathering more and more brute force to his extremities. Normally, this made his punches and kicks lethal, but for now, it was for the sole task of ripping himself fre from this Majin, who had yet to speak a word, or really, take any overt action against him. That, perhaps, was the worst insult of all, that he was losing against someone who hadn't even thought him worthy of attacking! He shouted out again, but this was no battle shout. This was a command to his students, ordering them to help him. Instead, they all remained locked in place, clearly stunned by what they were seeing. To them, the master had seemed invincible, yet here he was, stuck like a fly in honey? As well, they took a certain morbid fascination in what was happening to him, they wanted to see him suffer just as he had made all of them suffer in their training. So not even one of them offered to help, they just watched, and waited.

The master continued to writhe and thrash. He longed to punch this Majin over and over, rip it to shreds, pulp it, leave it scattered on the floor like so much blood after a particularly violent match. Yet try as he might, he couldn't. And with every passing moment, a little more of each armw as sucked into the white mass in front of him. Already, his hands felt numb, and the edges of panic were starting to rise up in him. His anger was faltering, he tried to stir it up in rasge over the indignity of what was happening to him. But it was no use, the cold finger of death had run up his spine, leaving his feeling weak and vulnerable. Not a good place to be in, considering just what was happening. He felt his legs go weak and nerveless as he stumbled, sinking to his knees. When he fell forward, he couldn;t even bring himself to fight against it, he was falling directly toward the white Majin. Only when he had almost hit them, only when he was a mere inch from colliding face-first with it's substance, only then did he see it's face, and in so doing, see the face of his doom. The red eyes that had before seemed lifeless and unfocused now seemed to almost glow daemoniacally and were looking right at him, into him. At the scared boy he had been as a child, the one that had cried into their pillow every night. He broke then, and in those final moments, he was that same little boy once more. "I'm sorry Mommy, please don't make me go into the basement again, it's dark Mommy I'm scaredithurtstheressomethingdownhereitslookingatmeicanfeelititsgettingcloseridontlikethismommyhelpmeimscaredthishurtsicantbreathemommyhelpme-" And then he went silent. For a long moment, the only sound was the almost gentle slurping as the rest of the formerly feared master was sucked into the Majin. The crowd of students seemed rooted in place, unable to move or even look away. Only when the body had entirely vanished, and the Majin raised it's head, glowing red eyes locking onto the crowd of young flesh, then panic broke out. Nobody knew who screamed first, but at that signal, they all began screaming. Training forgotten, they all turned to try and run away, scrabbling over and around each other. Elbowing one another to try to get ahead of them, each desperate in their intense desire to get away, to get far away from this hideously calm Majin that had come to take them all.

----------Will continue----------


(848 plus 1154 plus 5383 is 7385 out of ???)