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Ruien stood looking down at the grounds of the city in silence, his perch, the rooftop of the highest intact building he could find had kept him in this state of half death more than once, it allowed him to Gage the surroundings and see when anything was heading in his direction. Drawing in a deep breath Ruien cast his gaze up to the crimson sky, the intensity of the blood red hue only adding to the intimidating infernos that still raged on around this realm, never increasing nor decreasing in size and ferocity, in a way Ruien was thankful for them, since they made seeing through this constantly crimson day a slight bit easier, if it were not for them he would not have been able to Gage the behaviors and tactics of the creatures in this place.
He folded his arms over his chest and let out a heavy sigh, he had lost all sense of time since his stay here had started, and that alone was the sole reason he hated it here. The creatures were never ending, so he was never out of practice when it came to combat, and what was more in this state of half-death he needed a lot less sleep and no sustenance in order to keep going, here he was nigh on unstoppable. Well, when compared to that of the other beings that were half dead at least. To the many creatures roaming about he was nothing more than another source of their food, he had, had to fight his way out of a pack of them numerous times. Ruien, however, had never seen that as a bad thing, no, quite the opposite. It was an amazing way to make sure that his reflexes and control over the VII Flame were still as strong as they were when his stay here had begun. And often times Ruien felt that he had actually ascended past his previous abilities.
As things normally were here when he stood merely watching, things were uneventful. Creatures on the hunt, half-dead beings hiding or otherwise running. He stood at the edge of his perch, bored. A scream sounded. A woman, fairly young in age was being chased by a large pack of what Ruien had thought of as reptilian dogs, the only real difference being that their head was a narrow thing with the rough shape of a triangle to it, they were eyeless and their mouths began where their neck did and were full of razor-sharp teeth. Ruien smirked watching as she ran, he had killed many of these things and knew exactly how they hunted. In a few seconds the four or so of these creatures that had separated from the rest of the pack would pincer her between themselves and the ones still behind her. It was almost an ingenious tactic, however, it had constantly failed to get anywhere when they were chasing Ruien.
There was a slight lull in the chase and then the woman turned and jumped over the creatures chasing her and then darted around the nearest corner. Ruien ran his hands through his hair and allowed his gaze to follow the woman.
"Interesting, so she sees this place as I do." He mumbled to himself, he watched as the creatures composed themselves and turned to continue the chase. The womans speed and skills at acrobatics were impressive to say the very least, she was out running the creatures, however, in the end it would prove to be a futile effort, these creatures did not tire, and when she did they would take advantage. Again there was another lull in the chase and then quite suddenly the woman turned back to face the creatures and charged into them head first. She then appeared to allow herself to fall and then slide under one of the creatures, a burst of fire flew from one of her palms and sent the creature a short distance into the air. It hit the ground hard and then lie still.
"So, she's not so defenceless after all. This could get interesting." Ruien muttered, taking note of the various directions this woman was running in. It was then and only then that he noticed something, every time this woman seemed to change direction it was because one of those creatures forced her to, they were leading her to a dead end to which Ruien once again smiled. He had underestimated these things, they were a slight bit more intelligent than he had originally taken them for, he yawned widely, his jaw cracking in the process. He was bored enough so this would provide him with at least some excitement for the next few minutes, and with that final thought he took a calm step off of the edge of his perch.
He knew the reaction would be instant, but this was ridiculous, a small group of these creatures were already gathered at the base of his building. He sighed and summoned his weapon, imbued it with the strength of the VII Flame and then created a rough circular formation around his body as he fell. He landed on the ground softly, however, his presence was announced by the sound of the VII Flame piercing the bodies of these creatures and then giving off a small explosion while the beads of his weapon entered their bodies. Ruien stood up, and then, with a dismissive wave of his hand he gathered up his weapon and once again created a circular formation around himself. He already knew his direction, anything that tried to attack him on the way there was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
The trip there was uneventful, with only 2 attempts on his life by these creatures, that was unusual, Ruien had known that they were intelligent but now they were showing him just how intelligent they were, they had obviously learned something from him the last few times they had tried to hunt him down. This knowledge unnerved Ruien somewhat, if they were intelligent enough to learn just how powerless they were when compared to Ruien then they could very well be intelligent enough to come up with methods for actually taking his life. as unlikely as that sounded to Ruien it was a possibility, he would have to keep a sharp eye on them.
He found the woman as she had just reached the location that the creatures had intended for her to reach, her hands were both enveloped with lightning, a look of determination in her eyes. Ruien made sure that he walked into her field of vision, a small smirk twisting its way across his lips.
"Admirable. Go down fighting. Just try to stay out of my way and I'll have these dealt with swiftly." Ruien said calmly, and at first it seemed as though it would be as such, he dispatched several of the creatures before they so much as had a chance to react, however, he soon also found himself trapped between a pincer attack. Well, his suspicions were confirmed at least.
"Hmph. Clever bastards." He said calmly, this was going to become a whole lot more interesting, he readied himself. then a bolt of lightning fried a further 2 of these creatures as they prepared to pounce at Ruien. he cast a half a glance back to see the woman already dealing with the first wave of creatures.
"A challenge indeed." Ruien said, hoping that the woman could hear him, He ignited the beads with the VII Flame as the creatures pounced, and in less time than it should have taken the creatures were dispatched. Ruien turned to see the woman polishing off the final few creatures and stand up straight.
"Seems as though this is your first time here. I suggest you hide. That is what even I am forced to do." Ruien advised her, while her facial expression did not give away any hint of gratitude nor hatred she merely nodded and slipped away to go elsewhere, Ruien yawned once again and turned his back to the dead-ended alleyway, well that was not as exciting as he had hoped with would have been.
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[OOC: Just to clarify, Ruien only killed them with such ease because they are very primal, against other more sentient creatures he would obviously struggle. Don't want anyone thinking he is overpowered.]
It wasn't long after you had saved the girl that more monsters appeared, However these monsters emered from the shadows, grasping at the girl and avoiding the demon warrior completely. There were screams announcing your wasted effort on behalf of the girl. The creatures looked over their shoulders at you, wolf like in appearance with glowing yellow eyes and fur as dark as the shadows which they had dwelt in.One took a step forward towards you, but then almost seemed to rethink this move and stepped back.
" Ruien".
A voice echoing through the empty corridors of this place. " A name that seems to echo in power, growing stronger by the second....worlds fear your name boy....does that make you happy?...". A flash of light and you saw yourself standing at the top of a black tower. Three at your side. A blue haired woman. A dark man who seemed to radiate malicious intent. And a white haired witch. However despite being in their company you stood alone. The tower got further away, looking outwards towards the wasteland that grew.
" That was one you, one fate that could still be.....but know if that fate does come to be....your death will follow...".
Once more, images of your own demise, a figure standing next to you. " You don't belong here....and neither do I.....But my fate is already sealed....as is that of my clan.....we dwindle in number....but my seed still lives....". The wolf creatures growled, they seem to have gained their courage.....they ran at you.
The sudden appearance from the wolf-like creatures had been unexpected. Ruien could only bring himself to shrug as she was dragged away, she had been the one careless enough to get herself caught, so she had ultimately paid the price for her carelessness. Ruien turned and looked upon the features of these creatures. He could tell almost instantly that they did not belong here, this had been his first sighting of them. They way they moved toward him gave Ruien the feeling that another fight was inevitable. he readied himself, endowing his weapon with the power of the VII Flame.
The creature spoke. Ruien lost his composure for a mere second, but managed to right himself a moment or so thereafter. These wolf-like creatures were sentient, Ruien could tell just by looking into those eyes, that a fierce intelligence was lain behind that almost feral appearance. He listened as the creature spoke his name, and of how it was feared throughout many "worlds", Ruien allowed his lips to twist into a small smirk.
"Fear is a primal reaction to something misunderstood. I have no desire for people to fear me. I merely wish that people worship me." Ruien said calmly, folding his arms over his chest he looked down at the creature only for the flash of white light to blind him for only the briefest of time. However, when his vision did clear he found himself overlooking another realm entirely, there he saw four people. The one one he truly knew was himself. No. That being was not entirely him. yet they were completely the same. The implications made Ruiens' head spin yet he managed to hide his confusion and stood with a look of boredom etched upon his face.
The creature spoke again, confirming that he had just seen an otherworldly existence of himself, however, he continued to speak, telling Ruien how this otherworldly existence could still become a reality for this world. Ruien stood in silence as again the white flash of light blinded him and once again he found himself looking upon an unseen place that for some reason he recognised. This time, however, the vision was not once that Ruien had expected to see, his death. Again Ruien stood in silence as he found himself back in the realm he had been dwelling in for an incomprehensible amount of time. The creature spoke once again, most of what he said Ruien had to admit he did not understand, however, it must have had some significance if the creature was telling it.
That was when he noticed that the number of these creatures had grown during the short conversation Ruien had, had with the first, he did not claim to know how many there were, just that their intention was obvious. Whey they started running at Ruien he was not surprised, nor was he afraid, these things were merely more targets to hit. He laid the chain of beads across the floor in front of himself and then increased the intensity of the VII Flame. A wall of black flames erupted before him, shielding him from the initial charge. However, if these creatures were all intelligent enough to speak then Ruien highly doubted that this would have hit any of them. Sure enough a few seconds later one of the creatures emerged from the edge of the wall to Ruiens left, while another emerged to Ruiens right.
"Hmph, impressive, but not unexpected." He muttered, more to himself, he set another line of beads both to his left and right and created a further two walls of black fire, defending his flank, this time, however, he set some beads on the ground to the only unprotected area and wheeled about when two of them emerged behind him. He feigned surprise and they both ran at him, he waited until they were directly over his preset trap and then created a fourth wall. The both of them were dead before they hit the floor. A single finger snap later the walls were cleared and Ruien found himself still facing an ever increasing number of these wolf-like creatures. For a second they looked past him, at their slain brethren and stood still for the briefest of moments before working themselves into a more tactical formation.
"Hmph. Same trick won't work twice." Ruien mumbled, once more to himself. Ruien studied his foes, right now there were ten of them, five in a semi-circle formation from right to left were slowly prowling their way in his direction, while the other four created a slightly wider semi-circle formation behind the first five.
"Four?" Ruien had not noticed one of them sneak away and soon found himself trapped in an almost-circular formation. Their strategic prowess was indeed impressive, however, Ruien was not about to concede to them, quite the opposite. Ruien lined his forearm with his weapon and turned suddenly, summoning up his power over the VII Flame as he did, creating the illusion of the flaming uppercut. His timing was perfect and he caught the creature under the chin as it pounced toward him. That was all Ruien needed, he coated the creatures body with the VII Flame and willed it to burn fiercely. The creature let out some kind of strange yowl and then died shortly afterward. Ruien then smirked lightly and quickly fell to the ground and landed on his back.
Once again, his timing could not have been better, as two of the creatures missed him and landed on the ground a short distance away from him, he planted a bead beneath each of them as they landed uncertainly and then quickly ignited the VII Flame, once more the two of them were dead before they hit the floor. In a single motion Ruien placed his hands next to his head and brought his legs up into the air, a second later he kicked his feet up and out whilst pushing himself up wards with his hands and landed softly on his feet a moment later. That was three of them within seconds, not a bad number at all.
"You'll have to do much better than that." Ruien said calmly to the remaining seven creatures. of course they had altered their placing, Ruien could only focus on two at a time right now since they had spaced themselves out. Ruien gave a silent curse. They were adapting to his style, if he could not see them all at once then he could not dispatch them as easily as he had done up until this point. There was a lull and Ruien quickly took a large leap backward, kicking out with both of his feet, his effort was rewarded with his striking something in the face and sending it to the ground just as another wolf-like creature pounced at him from his left, the creature missed but had corrected itself very quickly and was already pouncing at Ruien by the time he had gotten back to his feet. However, Ruiens' reflexes served him well and jumped over the creatures head and planted a bead on the back of its neck. He summoned the VII Flame before he had landed, just to make sure that this one did not have the chance to shake off his efforts.
He dared to cast a half a glance back to the creature he had kicked in the face, it was still incapacitated, which gave Ruien the time to round on the single creature to his left. This time he was the one to initiate the attack and ran toward the creature. The creature did a bad job at hiding its surprise and had no time to react before Ruien had killed it by throwing two beads in its eyes and igniting them with the VII Flame. By this time the remaining four tried their best to encircle Ruien, but their dwindling number made the effort futile, besides, Ruien was not going to give them that chance. He slammed his palms into the ground, forcing one of the beads through it, he controlled it right up to one of the creatures and created a thin laser-esque beam of the VII Flame which shot right through the creature, killing it.
"Three more" Ruien said calmly. The most they had been able to manage was a rough triangle formation, which amused Ruien. He turned and faced the two at the bottom of the formation. They were brave he would give them that. Well. Brave. or moronic, he was unable to decide. Ruien gathered a line of beads at his fingertips and endowed them with the VII Flame once more. This time, however, he willed it to freeze, them he rapidly span the beads and sent them flying in the direction of the two he was looking at. They tried their best to dodge, however, the VII Flame got them, and mere seconds later the two of them had frozen completely, A split second later Ruien sent two beads moving toward the incapacitated creatures and a furious speed and shattered them on the spot.
"Heh." Ruien turned just in time to get knocked to the ground. The creature wasted no time and went straight for his throat, Ruien, however, sent a single bead into the open mouth of the creature and forced it to stick in the things throat, it struggled to breathe and when it became apparent that it could not do anything it tried once more to go for Ruiens throat in a last ditch effort to kill him, that was when Ruien set the VII Flame in motion and burned the creature from the inside out.
Ruien drew in a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh, well that had certainly been fun. He snapped his fingers, calling back every bead he had sent out from his weapon, in that once instant they all rushed back toward him and vanished from view. He cast a glance back to the final creature and calmly made his way over to it as it was getting groggily back to its feet.
"I know you're as intelligent as the one that spoke to me earlier, perhaps even more so. I care not for the details. But consider this to be an unusual act of mercy upon my part you can either run in defeat now or I'll kill you where you stand, it's your choice." Ruien said calmly, a small smirk twisting its way across his features. He turned his back to the creature and began to walk away, once more he dared to take a half a glance back to it and saw it retreating. A good choice, Ruien thought, he would have made the death so painfully slow if the creature would have chosen to spit Ruiens' mercy back at his face. even if it was only retreating so that it could turn up with reinforcements later Ruien did not care. For now he was alone. And unusually drained after that encounter, maybe he would take a small nap when he got back to his perch.
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[OOC: Took a tad longer to get out than I had anticipated, but here it is nevertheless]
" Don't think you can be rid of me that easily". The voice of the wolf echoed in the dark corridors of this place. However it seemed that it wasn't quite the voice of the wolf. " True those creatures are intellegent...sentient....however that only gave my mind a foothold in which to take control". A twitch in the shadows as the torn body of the woman began to get up. It was a mess of gore, covered in blood, the neck twisted at an akward angle.
" I am a voice long forgotten...an exile from the tribe of the ancients.....".
Another flash, this time it wasn't something of yours, rather of this voice. Men and women gathered in a circle around a large campfire. Sharing bread and meat, laughing and singing. Animals gathered around them in strange ways, wolves laying down with sheep. It was an unnatural display of peace. Almost as if the planet itself was in harmony with these people. " We were the cetrans...an ancient people beloved by the planet....would it sound strange to you if we told you that the wolves defended our flocks from raiders?". The voice laughed. Then something about the image changed, a woman pointed up at the sky, a streaking red light and then an explosion which lit up the whole sky.
" The calamity came....and wounded the land....I..a warrior of our tribe was sent with others to see how great the wound was in the land, and help the planet to heal it...."
The voice went silent for a moment. " However the wound was great....but even then...perhaps in a year...or two...it would have healed with our aid....but...its what festered within that wound that made it a scar upon the land...a woman emerged from the flames....came to us spoke to us in our langauge, we expected her to be one of another tribe come to see the wound like we were...so we shared our food...told stories.....but that night...she placed her blight upon us...". There was a tinge of anger along with sorrow in this voice. " We awakened to find her gone....most men began to feel the symptoms on the way back to the village....and then they turned...turned into monsters....".
" I began to feel the symptoms...and because of this was cast out so that I could infect no one....before leaving I made sure my wife and child left the village...then I cast myself out.....the rest of my memory is little more than a blurr....".
As it had been speaking, the creature's voice seemed to change, becoming more and more like the womans whose body it inhabited. The womans face grinned. " You may not enjoy my story....but I'll tell you boy its one piece to the puzzle of leaving this place...."
Ruien had been shocked to hear the voice and wheeled, half expecting an attack from either the wolf-like creature he had just spared or from one of this realms more resident creatures, but no, the body of the woman Ruien had thought dead managed to get to her feet. Ruien took a step away from the reanimated corpse, the woman herself clearly was not alive, for her head still hung limp and her feet were positioned in a way which would cause them to break in any other situation. What was even stranger was that this was not even the voice of a woman, But of a man.
As the voice spoke Ruien witnessed the visions, the memories of people long since past their time. The ancients. as Ruien remembered, he had read a small amount of them during his studies in both combat and shortly before discovery what the VII Flame was. Ruien looked at the memories, very nearly awed by them, however, that was of a time long gone, these days Ruien imagined that war and turmoil were probably the norm on Gaia. The voice continued to speak and Ruien listened, partly out of interest and partly due to a sheer lack of anything better to do.
"The Calamity from the sky. JENOVA." Ruien said in a monotone. He fell silent once again as the voice continued, by the time the voice had finished its story Ruien stood in silence for a long while. As an ancient it would obviously have a lot to tell Ruien, and the promise of his words leading Ruien out of this realm seemed to be a fair trade-off. Ruien took a step forward: casting another half glance around the immediate area.
"The promise of an escape from here would normally have me faking an interest about everything you say. However, I cannot begin to compare the events of my life to yours, in terms of interest I could not hold a candle to you. And I am probably one of the very few still interested in what life had been like for you back in your time. Perhaps there are things I can learn from you, and maybe you from me, though I highly doubt the latter." Ruien said calmly, keeping his voice neutral. Not in an effort to avoid causing offence, merely because right now he had no desire to really make an effort, only those Ruien either knew personally or those that had shown they were worth his time were worth the effort.
"Very well, I shall listen to what you have to say, not only for the desire I have to leave this place and not look back. But because I think there may be something more I can take away from listening to you, regardless of however trivial it may be." Ruien folded his arms over his chest and drew in a deep breath, yes, this could be the beginning of something interesting in the very least, this way it would feel as though the time were passing faster, if anything Ruien hoped the end to his stay here was not going to last that much longer.
The voice started to laugh, and this laughter echoed throughout the entire area. " Now that is something I thought I would never hear from a man....no should I say...creature...such as yourself....interested in someone besides yourself?".The laughter stopped. And the area seemed to collapse. You found yourself standing in Zanarkand, bullets whizzing by your head. The middle of the war. A soldier jumped out from behind a corner and aimed his gun at you.
Just then, something came from above, a shadow at first, but then you saw that it was a partially armoured...humanoid. That was the only way to describe it....as this creature although looking partially human, looked more like a Lucavi than anything else. Fangs tore into the soldiers jugular and ripped out, a mist of blood shooting over a wall. It looked up at you, yellow eyes in the dark, just like the wolf demons from before. It then stood up in a hunched predatory stance. It grinned. And spoke in the voice of the man.
" This was my body...and part of my travels.....after hundreds of years....I remained alive...the virus in my body causing these...mutations....like my friends before I was becoming a monster...only more slowly....".
He gestured around him. " I was here in this war....its here that my family had immigrated to...despite being an exile...I always watched over my decendents.....they live on today because I protected them here and now......unfortunatly...I never made it past this point....later on I would be captured by a group of soldiers who decided I was an abomination and executed me...". He smirked. " But I never truely died...the jenova cells kept my body alive ....even though my mind had already passed on....by now my body has withered and rotted to dust....but my mind remains here..trapped forever in this place of memories...".He raised an eyebrow at Ruien.
Ruien cocked an eyebrow as the voice first laughed and then spoke. A small pang of irritation took hold but Ruien was fast able to brush it away, it was somewhat surprising that someone whom he had never met already had him pegged for the kind of man to be uninterested in anything other than his own affairs, that, however, was close to the truth and Ruien knew it.
"Hmph. I'm not quite that self-centered... Not yet anyway." Ruien said calmly with a small smirk.
He took a step back wards, almost involuntarily as the scenery just 'melted' away and stood in almost complete shock as he beheld the war he had fought in so often. He put a hand to his forehead and wondered. Wondered just how long it had been since he had fought this war. Wondered what became of the people caught by the wrath of the colossal creature on what was his last day in Zanarkand. He span as a soldier took aim with an almost primal scream and then backed away a step as what he could only see as a shadow landed before the soldier. Seconds later the soldier was dead and Ruien found himself looking into the eyes of another strange creature. He stood in silence for a long while as the creature spoke.
Lucavi, or Demon. Ruien knew of them, he was after all a half-breed, to some extent anyway, the demonic genes were the dominant ones, meaning that in retrospect he was less than half human. Ruien drew in a deep breath as this creature continued speaking, showing Ruien the full effect of this 'virus' the JENOVA cells as Ruien currently understood them to be. Which was when he finished up by asking Ruien why he was here.
He took a long pause, he honestly had no idea. Thinking back to his last moments in Zanarkand he tried to remember his fight with Celt and merely shook his head once.
"In all honesty. I don't know exactly why I am here. I have assumed that I am at least dead or dying in some way. I did not come here of my own choosing, I can remember having a fight with my brother and waking here after he impaled me and then shot me three times with his gunblade. Soon after I defeated the three sisters of fate and took their thread from them, allowing me to channel my power through it at will.... However, as for the reason. there. Isn't one. I'm here for reasons unknown, my only desire of this place is to escape it." Ruien spoke, almost rambled in a monotone. He stood in silence again, the weight of unanswered questions bearing down on him, not truly knowing why he was here while at the same time having lost the concept of time, it felt almost like a kind of unbearable torture. Perhaps, this creature would hold at least something he desired.
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[OOC: Apologies for the very late post, and for the small size of this one, I've had a bad week in terms of sleep.]
The creature was silent for a moment, however this did not last long. " And in that lies your answer ". His enigmatic words would mean nothing to you right now. But he moved onto explain them. " The how is that your brother put you in a state of half death....the how......now that is something you'll need to figure out on your own.....". He smirked lightly, and in that smirk you caught the glimpse of something. Another face? " There is a way out of here....you need simply wish to leave, and if your body is in a state that allows it...then you shall leave...".
He walked over the body of the man he had killed just previously and stalked ever closer to you. " But when is it ever as easy as it sounds....I have spent more years than I can count here...my body...although still gripping onto life due to the virus that inhabits it.....is beyond the return of my mind.....the virus and the years have left it so that even this body that you see....". He gestured to himself. " Is less horrifying than what awaits me should I return....". He shook his head. " No I have learned...that although in my early years here...I may have thought I wanted freedom...truely it is the last thing I wish...."He stared up at the sky as it started to rain. " To walk upon the mother planet.....as an abomination....a walking plague....that is not my wish, nor the wish of my people...".
His eyes turned to you. " There is however, something keeping you here...I can feel it...like chains draped around your shoulders....it is not by your own will...rather by someone elses....". He sat down on a rock and then thought. " I can take you from this place demon spawn.....however I will require something in return....". His yellow eyes burned into yours. " By taking you out of this place...you will awaken, in flesh alongside me....however like you I will have returned to my flesh....I feel that if I were to do such a thing...I would have no control over myself....that the years of corruption would make me more monster than man...". He stood. " If you agree to this, I must only ask that you kill my body, it will be a fight, that I assure you.....but I have longed for true death for far too long.....".
Choice Event: 1, Take him up on his offer 2, Find another way out
Ruien listened, almost intently to the creature as it spoke and what he heard he would say very nearly astounded him. He began to wonder just if it really was as simple as this thing said it was, although Ruien highly doubted it, moments later, however, he was proved to be almost correct. As this creature finished speaking Ruien stood in silence for a long while, more or less offered a free pathway out of here, provided that he killed the body that this creature had previously inhabited. Ruien had a feeling that the creature already knew what the answer was going to be and merely offered a mere illusion of choice beforehand, and of course this was the chance Ruien had been waiting for.
"Years unknown by now." Ruien half muttered to himself. He allowed himself a small smirk, he was well trained in combat and had a power most others could only wish for. Even if the fight was a difficult one, it was of no matter, what did not kill him would only make him stronger, it was at that very moment in which Ruien had made up his mind.
"You say that all you desire from me if I were to accept your offer is to kill your previous body. Very well, I accept your terms. I shall kill your body." Ruien said calmly, summoning fragments of his weapon around his right fist and endowing them with the power of the VII Flame. For a short moment he watched as the black flames licked at the air from the small bead-like objects they were now emanating from. It was quite suddenly that he felt the excitement of an impending battle, the thrill of having a challenging task. Once more he allowed his lips to twist into a small smirk and then sent both the power of the VII Flame and his weapon back into oblivion.
"Yes, I think a fight such as you described would be the perfect way to return to the real world, no matter how much the fight may test my limits. I will at least give you my word that I will kill your previous body." Ruien spoke, almost struggling to maintain his usual monotone as his anticipation for the oncoming fight grew. And for the first time in a long time he began to consider what else he would do once he was back in the real world, most of his thoughts revolved around getting even with his brother Celt, but something told him that it would not be that simple, perhaps one day his chance would come, but it would not be as soon as he wanted.
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[OOC: Apologies for the late post. But as you know. Dissidia stole my life >.>]
Awakened. Already it seemed that the fading dream world that had been the mid life was leaving you. You would awaken somewhere... mud in your face, next to you an ancient corpse, worms squirming in the eyes. Then...the corpse coughed. The eyes rolled around in the sockets, the worms fleeing the body. How horrible it had to be, to awaken in such a state. The body next to you started to convulse, teeth chttering, horrible inhuman sounds coming from the gaping mouth.
"Kill me now!...".
A groaning ancient voice that sounded like a ghost, an echo of the man you had met within the half life world. The body suddenly shot upwards its body twisted and began to mutate horribly, claws replacing its hands, and yet retaining some of its corpse like quality. Once again the voice called out.
Boss Battle VS THANATOS BGM: Otherworld
Information: A man mutated by the Jenova virus over hundreds of years. His body has unfortunatly gone uner quick mutation after his soul returned. Mutating his corpse into a terrible monster. It is incredibly strong, its skin is as hard as rock, and it is extremely resistant to ice magic.
Ruien had figured that returning to the real world would have been just a little bit more spectacular, however, when he suddenly came to his senses lying on the hard ground under a pile of rubble he felt a strange sense of anti-climax. With barely any effort at all Ruien shifted the rubble directly from on top of him and around him. Gingerly he moved his hand up to the area he had been struck by his brother and felt a tightly knotted scar there. His body had healed itself that much was obvious. He flinched as he touched the wound, it was still tender, so his wound had more or less only just healed itself.
That was when he looked over and saw it, he had no need to recoil from the sight, however, he had been expecting something hideous. But what he saw right now was only roughly a humanoid. It was so mutated, so deformed that Ruien guessed that the virus which had caused such a radical alteration must have been very potent. He got to his feet and retreated from the thing a few steps as it managed to push itself back to its feet. That was when Ruien was able to take in the whole intimidating sight.
"You weren't kidding were you?" Ruien said calmly, his eyes narrowing as he tried to make out as many potential weak points as possible. That was when he sighed to himself, there seemed to be a single weak point and a single one only, between the rock-like skin and the massive claws this creature seemed just about every advantage going in its favor.
"Kill me now!" The worlds echoed, almost chillingly throughout the ruins of this once great city.
"The final words of a man losing the last of his sanity. I gave you my word. So, you've nothing to worry about." Ruien said calmly, this is where the fight was to begin. In mere seconds Ruien had his weapon ready, a further second later he had endowed certain parts of the weapon with the VII Flame, this was going to get good, Ruien could feel it.
There was a long pause as the creature stood menacingly, emitting strange growling noises as it stood simply glaring at Ruien. Ruien, however, never lost himself in the heat to come before the opening of a fight, even now. He was content to finally feel the breeze of the real world gently lift his hair from his face.
It then began, quite suddenly. The creature pounced, jumping high and then crashing down with great force. Ruien was not a combat rookie and had dodged before the creature had closed little less than half the gap between the two of them. The force of the struck was felt in the ground after the creature had struck it. The ground trembled and the remaining half of a nearby building collapsed, and, although somewhat amazed by the creatures brute strength Ruien was not about to stand dumbstruck by it. He stood in a ready position, waiting to see how the thing recovered after each attack and much to his surprise it had managed to get its claw struck in the ancient asphalt ground.
"One hit from that and I'm more than likely going to die, got to be cautious with this one." Ruien uttered calmly, as more of a mental note than anything else. This probably would not happen more than this one time, so Ruien would have to make the most of this single advantage. He sprang forward and ran toward the creature, flicking one of the small beads at the eyes of the creature as he did so. A small jump and he was running up the arm, dropping even more of his weapon around the frontal area of its torso, he reached the shoulder and planted yet another bead there before performing a front flip and landing on the ground behind the creature. With a finger snap he released a large amount of the VII Flame into the pieces of his weapon that he had left scattered around the creature, causing a relatively large explosion of the black flames. A second finger snap and the pieces of his weapon returned from their positions and rejoined the rest of it.
"Hmph, indeed. Seems as though this one is going to be much stronger than anything in that other world." With the sound of breaking concrete the creature pulled itself free and wheeled around and let out an almost ear piercing screech. He took a step away from the thing, in order to assess the damage he had managed to inflict on the thing. Indeed it was minimal, but it meant that this thing was not completely indestructible. But it looked as though it had been brought around just before it was, which would only make the fight that much more testing.
Ruien quickly ducked under the creatures arm as it tore forwards at an extreme pace. He stopped as the creature struggled to correct itself and stood calmly. A small smile twisted its way across his lips as he cracked his knuckles and neck.
"Good... Good. This'll be the first real challenge I've had in ages. At least this one won't end with a sense of anti-climax. Not like those creatures in the other world." He spoke aloud, unsure of whether or not the creature was even able to understand any more, yet he cared little for the finer points. The creature charged once more, however, as Ruien prepared to dodge it moved swiftly to the left and then feigned a strike aimed at his head and attempted to slash at his abdomen. caught by surprise Ruien only just managed to stagger out of the way, those massive claws missing him by mere inches. Ruien landed on the floor and quickly rolled to the side in order to avoid being caught while he was on the floor. He made sure that he was out of the creatures range before he pushed himself off of the ground and then continued rolling through the air until he was stood on his feet once more.
"Hmph. Not entirely stupid. I think this one may actually make me sweat." Ruien said, his facial expression impassive as he finally readied himself for a real fight. He had learned all he needed to from this thing, and it was about time that he fought back. There was an intense silence, it seemed to Ruien that even the creature felt as though it was time that this battle got underway. The silence continued, Ruien watching for the tiniest twitch, waiting for it to betray the first signs of movement. The creature stood tense, almost impassive for a long while, and then, it pounced.
"This could be fun." Ruien half yelled as he readied his weapon. Endowing it with the power of the VII Flame once more, he trust an open palm forward, creating a thin line of pure black flames appear in the air just as the creature began to gain momentum. It ran into the flames, which was the only kind of advantage Ruien needed. He intensified the power of the flames causing them to become a large black fire. The creature screamed, this one, however, sounded very nearly human.
"Heh. This is what you wanted. I'm just granting your wish." Ruien said calmly in response to the howl of pain. Once more he intensified the amount of outward power. There was an explosion of black flames, knocking the creature back several feet, in which a silence fell over the fight once more. This time, however, the thin layer of rock-like skin on its chest crumbled away, revealing the large pulsating hernia underneath. Now its weakness was exposed, all Ruien needed to do was strike it with enough force to kill it.
The creature once again let out a screech. This time Ruien was able to tell that is was born of rage, yes this was close to ending, the angrier something got, the easier it was to control, especially in the tide of battle. It charged once more, this time swinging its claws around wildly as it did so. Ruien allowed himself a small smirk, as he had predicted, this is where the fight began to decrease in difficulty. He had to wonder just how intelligent this thing was and found himself wondering whether or not it would try to keep its heart protected or whether or not it would try to kill Ruien before he had a chance to take advantage of the obvious weakness.
The gap began to close, however, this time Ruien was more than ready for anything the creature would try. He endowed his weapon with the VII Flame, this time willing it not to harm whatever it touched he threw it at the creature and changed its form at the precise moment he needed. Seconds later he had one of the creatures arms held in the air by the VII Flame which was now acting as some kind of rope. He hoisted the creature off of its feet and into the air by the only arm he had restrained. The creature began thrashing around, trying its very best to break free, however, the VII Flame was not direct magic from Ruien, he felt nothing as the creature struggled against its restraint.
"Struggle as much as you like. This power isn't typical magic." Ruien said in an almost mocking monotone, he coated his hands with the VII Flame and ran forward, grabbing the creatures free claw with one hand he plunged the other one forward, directly at the herniated heart. He was surprised to hear a loud crunch as the pulsating material gave way and his hand merely touched the things actual heart. By this time, however, the creature had composed itself and had flung the claw Ruien was holding around, and managed to slam Ruien into a wall.
The VII Flame dissipated and the creature fell to the ground on its back. Ruien staggered his way back into a standing position, needing to lean against the very side of the building he had just been slammed into. His vision swam briefly but he managed to compose himself. Yes, through the hole he had created in the chest of this creature he could just about see the pulsating heart. This fight was nearing its conclusion and relatively quickly as well.
"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Ruien said calmly as he staggered his was forwards, his body trying its best to heal the impact inflicted wounds. It was going very slowly, needless to say Ruien was still very much disoriented, but not in a bad enough condition to have this fight instantly turn on him.
The creature was slowly beginning to stand up, obviously injured by Ruiens hand. This was it, the final curtain was about to fall, and it would be Ruien bowing by the end of this performance. He began to run at the creature, his vision clearing with every second that passed. He took hold of his weapon and threw it once more, this time aiming for the hole in the creatures chest. The beads thrown forward creating a line and going right through the creatures body. Ruien smirked lightly.
"It's over." He said calmly. For what would be the final time in this fight he ignited the VII Flame, piercing a small hole through the creatures heart. This time, however, he put as much force as he could into those black flames. They expanded, filling the hole in the creatures chest entirely. The effort of the attack, this time, took its toll and Ruiens vision once again began to blur. He was forced to release his grip on the VII Flame and call his weapon back. This time the creature collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
He staggered over to the fallen body, blood pooling on the ground on which it now lie. What was left of its eyes rolled in the sockets and its expression was contorted between pain and thankfulness. Ruien knelt by its side and delivered one final blow, severing its head completely. He Staggered away from the body and Lent against the wall, his head spinning, his ears ringing. Well, first time back in the real world and he was tired out. But the fight had been a rood one, though the chances of finding a rest here were slim, he'd have to keep going.
