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Name: Ruien Amuraien Position:Second Fighting Style:Corrupted Potiental Quote: " Fear is a natural response to the unknown..." Style/Character description A demon warrior from the ancient city of Zanarkand. Its not really known where Ruien actually originated from ( all Demons/ Lucavi have to be summoned to the mortal realm) however it is known that this was the first place where he made his mark on the world. He seems to have family issues with his father and his brothers, most of them resorting to kin slaying for one reason or another. Ruien was finally set to rest by his brother Celt, however with the help of a mysterious Cetran spirit the dark warrior returned to the mortal realm.
Its speculated that his investigation into gateway XXVI is actually what led the warriors to this dimension. However answers are still to be gotten as to just why they are here. Ruien's fighting style is something completely unseen before in this dimension. His fighting style is based around the mysterious demonic power known as the VII Flame. Despite its name these flames arn't actually anything to do with the fire element, but are rather a physical incarnation of an otherwordly power. His weapons and magical power are both made of this strange power. His enhanced regeneration abilities are also a site to behold. Able to regenerate wounds relatively quickly.
Team Second Conflict
Bexurc, the Steadfast Alchemist---Number III in the Organization, and user of the earth element. Bexurc fights with his bare fists, and a collection of potions of his own creation that enables a variety of multi-elemental effects. Both the brains and the brawn of the Organization, his alignment with the earth element gives him hard-as-stone skin and extremely high physical strength. His potions have had a variety of effects in the past, including setting his own fists on fire, creating an electric barrier around him, giving the ability to magnetically rip weapons out of his opponent’s hands, and the ability to float through the air. You never know what exactly to expect when fighting this Organization member.
Fight Background
After the mysterious events at Radiant Garden, Bexurc made off to find out just what was happening. After the blackflames seemed to weaken, using one of his potions he managed to walk through unharmed. On the otherside, he found a gateway, curiousity led him inside. Behind the gateway he found something beyond his imagination. What appeared to be a new world.
Ruins as far as the eyes could see...and what appeared to be ghosts floating in the air. After collecting a few samples he went to return to the gateway, only to find his path barred by Black flames...and a silver haired swordsman. With nothing more than a smirk from the silver haired one...the battle began..
Ruien could hardly imagine a more fitting scene, the ruins of the place he had once called home for the sight of a grand scale fight. well at least that's what the boy had called it. So far Ruien had found himself bored, sat at the top of one of the tallest buildings left standing, juggling small orbs he had created from the VII Flame, clearly not something the power was intended for, yet he was stood here waiting on someone that may or may not appear. he had stood with his eyes transfixed on the pool of light coming from the ground, positioned roughly at the entrance of the ruins.
"Hmph. I swear, if this guy doesn't show-" he did not have the time to finish the statement, almost as if on cue someone emerged from the depths of that unnatural light, Ruien frowned to himself remembering the words of the boy as he watched this figure cautiously advance into the ruins of Zanarkand.
"Psh. Lucky guess boy." He uttered calmly, he had only a few moments to act, immediately he released his grip on the VII Flame and began bounding from rooftop to rooftop, from rooftop to ruined wall and then back to a rooftop. Within moments Ruien was stood on the rooftop of a dilapidated building, not among the tallest, but tall enough, and looking down at the pool of light, the entrance to that otherworld. A small smirk twisted its way across his face as he stood in silence for a long while.
"I do hate interruptions." He murmured, and then with no effort at all, gripped the VII Flame and created a wall of black fire, barring not only the pool of light from the figure, but the exit from the city altogether, now all he had to do was play the waiting game. Hell, he had already been waiting long enough, so there was no harm in waiting a few more moments. He stood, on the rooftop of this building and dusted his trench coat off. Ran his hand through his slivery hair, making sure that it was still slicked back and readied himself by gripping the familiar presence of his weapon, knowing that he would need to draw it at a moments notice.
"Yes, come to me." He muttered, waiting patiently, his eyes never moving from that distant figure as he slowly moved around, observing. Everything.
"Tch. Just my luck. Any time you're ready." He uttered darkly. He was thankful that he had taken the time to clear the immediate area of and fiends wandering about, they would only serve to hinder the upcoming battle. He stood in silence for a few moments longer and then.
"At last." Came the almost sarcastic undertone as the figure began making its way back toward the pool of light. Ruien could hardly wait, already, the anticipation of an upcoming battle was building, and it was going to be glorious. Only a few seconds to wait now.
"Yes." He whispered to himself as the figured rounded that final corner and observed to Black Flames barring his path, Ruien took a calm step forward, casually walking off of the roof of the twenty-something storey building he was stood on. the fall was brief and the landing was soft. landing soundlessly in a crouched position Ruien took his time in standing up straight and looking at his foe. A smirk twisted its way across his face, a smirk of confidence, almost of arrogance. in one fluid motion he thrust an open palm into the air causing Black Flames to launch themselves up from beneath the feet of this man. He did not care much if the initial attack hit, this first strike was merely for show, just to let his foe know exactly what he was getting himself into.
[OOC: Just to rectify a single mistake in Mals otherwise epic opening here, Ruien doesn't actually have a sword >.>]
((OOC: It was a very epic opening, even without a sword. Let the games BEGIN!))
The ruins of a long forgotten city lay bare in front of him. This was not the Radiant Gardens that he had began in, instead it was an apparent barren land filled with toppled buildings, scarred monuments and…completely empty. Bexurc adjusted his monocle to make sure that it wasn't sitting cockeyed, and continued forward. With as many strange events as there were in the universe, Bexurc had few occurrences like this one. Beginning in Radiant Gardens then taking a leap of faith into the unknown and ending up in a completely foreign landscape.
Was this an undiscovered portion of Radiant Gardens? He walked through the ruins rubbing his chin in thought, memorizing his pathway back to the portal. There wasn't much to be said about the events right now, aside that he didn't know anything about this. Research; that would be the key to discovery.
Turning the corner around some building, Bexurc couldn't help but be bothered by the lights that slowly waltzed through the air. They seemed to flow across the spectrum of colors never being able to decide whether they wanted to be red, green, blue or an amalgamation of colors. They certainly seemed worthy of his time. Bexurc opened his palm and the swirl of black dust took the shape of a decent sized bag. From it he removed several vials and took steps to contain the wandering lights. After collecting four different samples, he placed them inside of the bag and the bag scattered into the wind as it returned to dust.
It took another moment to look around and obtain a truer understanding of the grandeur of where he was. It must have been a metropolis at one point, with skyscrapers that would dwarf the ones in the World That Never Was. Bexurc tried to imagine what the city would have looked like, but after several seconds of trying, he understood that he would not be able to do it justice.
It would be time to return now. The portal he entered was different from the Corridors of Darkness he utilized to maneuver quickly between destinations. Though the darkness did not radiate from it, the portal felt much more violent and require Bexurc to take extra steps to avoid being consumed all together by it. He called forth the Corridors of Darkness and stepped through, walking on for a few steps and then exited, but something was not right. He was in a different spot, but the world was supposed to be Castle Oblivion, not this city still. Apparently the only exit was the portal he had entered from, generating even more urgency to leave now than before.
Making his way back to the path he descended on, Bexurc trekked back up to the portal, however his deduction about the city being completely empty of life was now void. Bexurc stopped a bit away from the gateway as he began to feel the tremors of steps being taken. They were muffled as if something was between the composed steps and the earth, but then stopped. A young man landed deftly in front of Bexurc. Slowly he composed himself and stood upright and quite defiantly in Bexurc's path. In silence, Bexurc looked the man over, trying to piece together any intelligence that the Organization might have on him, but nothing came immediately to mind. Was he a new collaborator of the Keybearers? Looking past him, Bexurc caught view of black flames that now blocked the entrance to the portal, ready to incinerate anybody who attempted to pass through them. Making eye contact with the stranger, Bexurc noticed his malevolent grin. What did he want? His appearance didn't suggest much, he stood a few inches beneath Bexurc's own height with a very similar body build to his own and wore garments similar to the Organization cloak, but sleeveless. His ears stood out the most as they were pointed suggesting that he might not be human, but something else entirely.
It didn't matter, Bexurc would simply push him out of his way and attempt to find a means of nullifying the black fire, but as he took his first step forward the man flicked his palm out the floor grew hot. He looked down to his feet to notice black fire sprouting from the ground and then erupt beneath him. He leapt to escape, but the blast threw him up into the air and Bexurc was forced to twist and maneuver himself in a landing position on one of the nearby buildings.
He landed and he felt the foundation of the building falter a bit. It still stood, but the question would be for how long. He hadn't landed very far from his original spot, but the effect of the attack was enough to throw him off his feet, and that was with the man simply waving his wrist about. Had he intended to taunt Bexurc?
"Ignorance is unacceptable." Bexurc spoke out from his makeshift platform, his back boots were smoking slightly. This man was a fool for challenging Bexurc like he did. The attack was very similar in appearance to the black flame that block the portal, however black fire was unnatural and the sudden experience after running into this man, lead to the belief that this was not a random occurrence, but a blatant attack or challenge. If that was the case, then Bexurc would oblige this ignorant silver haired man. "However, I will enlighten you and provide you with experience and discipline so that you will not repeat the same mistake again." He made a leap forcing some of his strength into his jump, pushing down the building even more and breaking its foundations completely. He landed in the dust that settled. In the cover of the cloud of dirt, Bexurc clinched his fist tightly. Over near the man was a wall that should be out of his peripheral vision. When Bexurc clenched his fist it summoned an upheaval of stone from behind the wall and rammed it into the block, causing the wall to explode in debris behind this punk. The stone would fall back to earth after the effects to cover up the earth involved in the attack. It was a simple maneuver, but one that should make this man to think about what he was getting himself into.
As he had expected the initial attack was dodged, or at least to an extent it seemed to be so, what he had not been expected, however, was the sudden verbal retort and counter-attack from this man. On reflex Ruien first turned and then attempted to dodge to debris, for the most part he succeeded, yet one piece of what had formerly been a wall managed to slip beyond his notice and catch him in the ribs. He felt the impact and tried his best to ignore it as he danced to the side in order to avoid any further debris. He stood up straight once more and smirked again, dusting his coat off as a silence once more fell. He was lucky so far, he was able to hide the fact that his ribs had been broken, so he still had a shock-tactic for the guy should the need arise.
"So. It speaks." Ruien said calmly, his smirk broadening ever so slightly, this was an interesting encounter, a man from the world that he and the other four had stormed, there was one thing he had noticed about this man in particular which he really liked.
"That's a nice coat." He said it out loud, mostly just to rattle the man, after all, Ruien knew that he would be shocked to hear someone comment on his coat had they just managed to overcome a small display of power like that. However, he continued simply delivering a mocking smirk, he thought nothing of this guy, a couple of broken ribs was nothing for Ruien to worry about, so he would have to try harder than that.
"What do you say we skip the warm-up stage and just get straight to it? I grew bored waiting for you." He mocked calmly, cracking his knuckles and then moving his head stiffly in order to make his neck crack. He checked everything mentally, the main thing was that he still had the connection with his weapon intact, he was going to need to summon that soon. But not yet.
He stood still, smirking for a long while, gripping the VII Flame he enveloped both of his hands and feet with the otherworldly power and took up a relaxed fist-fighting stance. In one fluid motion he crouched and then ran forward, kicking the air several times with a flowing combo of kicks, missing intentionally. Of course that was not merely for show, his kicks had left trails of black fire simply hovering in the air at the locations he had kicked. Calmly he walked through the trails and loosened himself up for the fight.
"I'd advise against touching them." he said, only vaguely gesturing the trails of black fire marking the air just behind him. And then, he started for real. He ran forward, drawing his hand back as an open palm, and then as he drew near to his foe. He quickly feinted, acting as though he was going to strike his foes chest and the lowering his stance and rapidly spinning and moving around his foes form and then aiming that open palmed strike for the base of his spine. He increased the outward flow of the power he was holding on to so that if the palm strike connected it would knock the guy forward and into the hovering black fire he had left only moments earlier. regardless of the hit-or-miss situation of the attack ruien stepped back, laughing lightly.
"Of course I'm just mocking you. You'll have to earn my effort." Came the cocky statement, he gave a small wink to make what he just said sound as though it meant something completely different, just to add to the mocking gesture even further ruien ended his small display with an over-the-top bow, adding in yet another mock.
Bexurc's challenger daftly dodged the debris. ((OOC: Say that three times fast)) If nothing the man was quick on his feet. He seemed unaffected by the attack, to Bexurc's surprise. The attack would have slammed bricks and shrapnel into most individuals who would not have been so aware or quick on their feet. A trait Bexurc would take into consideration.
With arrogance in full tow, the man commented on the aesthetics of Bexurc's uniform. It was apparent that this man was complimenting himself more so than Bexurc, however it didn't matter in the long run. The man jeered and taunted Bexurc with words, trying goad him into frustration. Was this man unaware that Bexurc was a Nobody? Did he even know what a Nobody was? Bexurc was the very essence of a man save one thing, a heart, and in so, lacked the capacity to accept emotions, rendering the man's taunts useless aside from whatever self gratifying effects it had for himself. A waste of breath.
"Such egregious movements." Bexurc commented on the mans exhibition kicks into the air, however what appeared to simply be a mild display turned into waves of black flames that followed an invisible trail of what could only be assumed as the desired direction of the attack. Still they were never to reach him, showing that they were either a meant as a distraction or his enemy was setting up something else entirely.
The man was on the ground again. He motioned to the flames giving Bexurc the advice not to touch them. Curiosity sparked in Bexurc's mind, What were the effects of touching the flame? Bexurc now wanted examine the effects of the black flame. However, there were rules to scientific research and one of them was never put yourself in harms way it there is no need to. He would find some sort of object to "test the waters" first.
The man was on the offensive. He charged Bexurc weaponless, prepared to strike at Bexurc's chest with whatever power he held. Bexurc reached inside his cloak and pulled a vial from one of the pockets. Still hiding the vial inside his cloak, the man made a move at the last minute. Instead of striking him in the chest, he was at Bexurc's back. Bexurc crushed the vial in his hand and the element of thunder coursed through his body. Cords of electricity sporadically popped out of his limbs, but when the moment of impact came from the attack, a burst of electricity lit up and would discharge into the palm of the man.
Of course this meant that Bexurc took the blow to the back head on and was thrust forward into the black flames he was so curious about now. Though he was pushed forward, Bexurc decided to take an ungraceful dive and tumble over the ground beneath the black flames hanging in the air.
The man still had words to say to Bexurc. Meaningless taunts to egg him on into showing him something. Bexurc was the Steadfast Alchemist, as sturdy and strong as the earth he commanded, his brain a formidable weapon to compliment his talents. There was no need to "Give as much effort as you desire, stranger. However you need to comprehend that…" Unintentionally he completed his sentence the same time as the man gave his little quip, "…This has only just started." The electricity cracked and arced over his arms as they went through a standoff.
A flash and suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the ground where the smug assailant stood, several more flashes and the ground came alive with lightning and loud cracks of thunder that covering the expanse of where the man stood. Pockets of earth sizzled red and burned the intense transfer of heat from the lightning striking. Bexurc adjusted his monocle nonchalantly, if the man would act blasé, then so would he. Bexurc monitored the man's movements through the tremors he created if he dodged, calling down a lightning bolt immediately where he landed if he managed to dodge the previous one.
Ruiens little tact seemed to have worked as his strike hit home, he felt a small surge travel up his arm, numbing it for a matter of seconds and sighed inwardly, he knew that even if he had taken the full force of that electrical discharge his body would have already healed it, but it was a distraction he could have done without. Needless to say, the VII Flame was beginning to show Ruien the true depth of its power and he had to say, he liked it, although some of its uses were somewhat, unexpected. The man took a dive forward, intentionally falling to the ground as he avoided the Black Fire still hanging in the air. Well, well, he certainly was a clever one. Perhaps the tactical prowess of this one would give even Ruien a run for his money, and oh-did he hope that would be the case. The man managed to stagger back to his feet, speaking, and at the same time they both stated the obvious.
"This has only just started." Well that was somewhat ironic, it seemed that the two of them were on a similar mindset, something of which Ruien was. Happy. With, he did not wanting his foe to think that the end had come quite this quickly, after all, it would have given a major sense of anti-climax. He saw the flash of lightning and once again was fast to react, he gripped the VII Flame he had enveloped his feet with earlier and expanded into a small circle. As Long as he was stood within the circle the VII Flame would keep the small expanse of the ground it covered unaffected by any attacks. His instincts were exact, while tremors rocked the world around him, Ruien stood still with his arms folded over his chest, merely observing from the safety of his little spot. There was a second flash and another bolt of lighting made its presence known, this was it. Time for the real battle to begin, he finally pulled on his weapon, summoning only a single spherical gem-like object into the air and using it to intercept the lightning bolt fired at him.
"Impressive." Ruien said, almost honestly as that single sphere took the lightning and sent it flying in all directions, another small smirk twisted its way across Ruiens features, he had learned to utilize the almost prism-like effect of The Thread of Fate years ago, and now, was just one such example of how many times its complex design and structure had come in handy. The bolts of lightning dispersed, leaving a small charge within that single sphere Ruien had already summoned, well it was time to get things rolling. He moved the ring of Black Flames at his feet and placed them within that single sphere, eliminating the previous charge the lighting had left. And then, with an almost dismissive wave of his hand, sent a small wave of the VII Flame across the opening, removing the effects of the mans previous attacks.
"Not bad. You may be worth the effort after all. I'm impressed that you haven't fallen to the taunting. Not many people keep their cool like that." He said calmly, finally summoning more spherical diamond-like orbs to levitate in the air around his body. He allowed himself another small smirk as he kept a close eye on his foe, he had the advantage of knowledge right this second, he had a limitless supply of these orbs, after all, they were the segments of an endless thread, once used to make sure the lives of all living beings were being played out properly. He imbued only half of the orbs with the power of the Black Flames he commanded this time. His foe was something he had never fought before and Ruien knew that the Prism-like structure that these unaltered orbs offered were likely to be invaluable in the not-too-distant future.
"However, I do hope my observations of you so far remain consistent throughout the rest of the fight. You may prove to be the first fun thing I've had to fight in years." He organised the altered and unaltered orbs in a seemingly random way about his body, and cracked his knuckles once more, he kept reminding himself that this fight had only just begun and was beginning to hope, beyond all else that this fight would turn out to be fun.
Now it was time, his foe was getting his undivided attention, Ruien grabbed the Black fire and pulled it into this world, almost instantly he felt their strength increase as he refined it into something a little bit more useful. From his feet two orbs of Black Fire span rapidly around his body and then shot up into the air, looped back around and hurled themselves at his foe. Now He took complete control and began guiding them, unless his foe did something to force Ruien to break tact these orbs would continue to seek out the man in black. However, Ruien was not simply one to give his foe an easy time, no, he followed up with a finger snap, causing a small non-damaging burst of Black Flame to spontaneously appear directly in front of his opponents eyes, it would merely burn the image of those Black Flames into his vision for a few seconds, and with any luck, throw his foe off guard long enough for Ruien to land a hit with the previously released orbs of Black Fire.
“An inconvenient set of events, to say the least.” Bexurc mentioned to himself. He had simply desired to do a slight amount of research inside this foreign portal and now he was consumed in a battle of supremacy with a punk. It became more and more apparent that this wouldn’t end without one of them falling either from exhaustion or complete elimination first. This battle served no purpose and would eventually consume valuable amounts of time away from his laboratory inside Castle Oblivion.
His thoughts on the longevity of the battle were reinforced when Bexurc noticed the small lightning storm had no effect on the silver-haired man at all. He simply stood there, in the midst of the lightning striking around him, something protecting him from any harm. It appeared that these dark flames were the major component of his arsenal. Would there be a way to negate the black fire? Bexurc would have to observe the effect of it a while longer, in order to find any true or semi-plausible deduction. Pehaps…
In the midst of his unnecessary self gratifying dialogue, Bexurc summoned his bag to him in a swirl of black dust. It traveled around his hand for a few seconds and then took form in the shape of a black mid-sized traveler’s bag. Bexurc opened it slightly and looked up to see if the man was doing anything. No, still talking about having fun and spawning brightly colored gems over him. Bexurc reached into his bag with his eyes still on the man, dipping his entire arm into it, pulling it up to his shoulder joint, before he found what he needed. Bexurc pulled his arm from the bag with a tiny, shining scalpel in hand. The scalpel was very ordinary in appearance, however, it granted Bexurc the ability to corporeally divide magic from itself. It was one of his most basic of tools being an alchemist of magic and he immediately used it to the black flame he had fallen under before. The fire seemed to separate like warm butter from the rest of itself when Bexurc slid the scalpel across the edge of it, and it was immediately contained in a vial. This entire process was nothing new to Bexurc and took mere seconds to execute. So by the time Bexurc had stored the vial away in his bag and noticed a couple orbs floating towards him at a quick pace, Bexurc had already accomplished the first step in research: Collection.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t move on to step two quite yet, he had to deal with the orbs that were headed in his direction. Suddenly something caught his attention dangerously close to his eyes, and the near precognitive abilities of the eyelids automatically slammed shut over his eyeballs. No sooner than had he done that was a flash of light, bright enough to provide a little light even inside the darkened corridors of a shut eyelid. When Bexurc deemed it worthy to open his eyes again, he attempted to scan for the orbs, however little dots could be seen over the landscape of vision, making it difficult to discern the orbs from points of light.
Movement. Bexurc caught to lights that were moving even when all the others were still and he flung his hand with bag in hand, knocking the first orb away and leaned slightly to the right to let the other pass on by. Unfortunately, the orb that wasn’t knocked away made a quick stop and changed its direction back to Bexurc. Sidestepping again, the lights in his eyes seemed to fade as they seemed to heal over quickly from the burnt impression. No doubt, the regen he received from being conjoined to his natural element, could be attributed to their recovery. Bexurc let out a small discharge of electricity from his palm at the, once again, returning orb, using his own magic to dampen the opposing magical energy required to maneuver the orb. It didn’t completely nullify it however, which suggest to Bexurc that it had to be receiving a constant source, and provided at how it was homing in on Bexurc only, logic suggested that the energy being transmitted from the man. Removing or breaking the connection, or train of thought required would prevent the swift orb from homing in.
“Very well…” Was all Bexurc mentioned, ducking under the orb, dodging it (hopefully) for the last time. It was a response to his own thought, but also to whatever the man had been trying to say to Bexurc while he ignored him a half a minute ago. With a flick of the wrist, Bexurc utilized simple earth control to move the ground beneath his assailant, causing a pulling the rub from underneath him effect. Without delay he threw his bag into the air and is vaporized into black dust, traveling off with the little wind that carried it. He lifted his palm and threw a lightning bolt from his hand at the face of the man and with his other hand pulled the earth up and rammed it into another wall that was behind him, causing another explosive effect exactly like the one he produced before, guiding shrapnel and large chunks or brick and stone towards the man. He ended it with a quick quip of his own, “I have never been one to disappoint.”
Ruien kept himself stood still, feigning intense concentration as he kept the orbs of Black Fire chasing his foe, he had felt a dip in power which had soon vanished. He had to stop himself from smirking again, this was excellent, Ruien could not have just been granted a bigger trump card, even if he wanted to. Never-the-less, he had a great deal of trouble hiding the almost triumphant look on his face, he knew that he had slipped up for a mere second but was able to regain his facade, he hoped that his foe had not noticed, but he had no time to ponder the matter. His foe once more tried to strike back, a bolt of lightning came toward him once more, Ruien was prepared.
"Again?" He quickly maneuvered several of the diamond-esque forms to intercept the bolt of lightning. He arranged them into a rough triangle form, with a single orb in the center, there he knew the prism structures would pass the charge from orb to orb, thus increasing the power each one would hold on to. Ruien felt an ominous shifting and had reacted faster than he had been able to the first time, maneuvering the orbs to hover higher into the air Ruien leaped up after them and then twisted in the air. He once again coated his feet with the VII Flame just as he landed upright on the side of the nearest building. Well, what remained of that building anyway. And there he stood, glancing at his foe, seemingly defying physics, a smug look on his face.
"Same trick won't work twice." Came the tart comment. He maneuvered the several orbs, still passing that same bolt of lightning between them to the side and the arranged the orbs augmented with the VII Flame around his chest and rapidly, yet carefully planned out the specifics of his next set of moves. He knew that at some point he would have to get close enough in order to test the limits of this mans tolerance to physical pain, however, such a time was not presenting itself, and Ruien did not want to go rushing forward without being suitably prepared.
"Here's where things get serious. Just try to keep up." Was the only other thing Ruien said. He snapped his fingers and watched the black spark of energy dance across the rapidly growing gap between his thumb and middle finger. Once more that burst of stunning Black Fire would do its job, mere centimeters from the face of his opponent, but Ruien saw no need to stop there, no, since the last one had very nearly disoriented his foe long enough for him to pull the fight to an early victory he figured that more than one might just do the trick. So he snapped his fingers again, and again. And again.. And again. He hardly gave the previous burst time to finish its job before calling the next one into action, making sure that he was keeping the pressure on he sent the orbs charging with electricity into the fray and had them form a rough square formation around his foe.
"Heh." He almost laughed as he turned the orbs in wards, sending the charged bolts at his foe, the formation could not have been any better, the four segments of his weapons were firing the charged bolts of lightning at his foe, while another bolt of lightning continued to pass from orb to orb, giving it enough charge to fire off another bolt of lightning, he knew that, that would soon disperse, so he would have to act swiftly. As the lightning continued to pass from orb to orb he elevated their position slightly and then turned them down wards, then he sent a single orb, augmented with the VII Flame into the fray and positioned that in the exact center of the formation.
"Don't let this end yet. I'm starting to enjoy myself." He said calmly as he released the VII Flame from the orb it had been confined to and spread it out evenly between the four already assaulting his foe. With that help the lightning became black in color, allowing Ruien a great degree of control over it. So far, if any of the lightning bolts actually hit his foe it would have been down to luck. Now was the time to move things into overdrive, He directed only a single augmented bolt of lighting at his foe and then forced the rest of the charge into the sky, where for now, it would remain.
Uncaring if any of the previous electrical attacks had hit his foe Ruien carried on his ranged assault, this time in a more complex fashion. Once more he thrust an open palm in the direction of his foe, and once more summoned a pillar of Black Fire from the ground directly underneath his opponent. Regardless if the attack hit or if the attack missed Ruien then spread the power and created another four pillars of Black Fire a short distance from where the original had been called into existence, and then another four pillars of Black Fire further out to cover the opening for escape he had left his foe. Out of the lot of that he had left only four safe spots to stand, again uncaring if any of the nine pillars actually hit his foe, he then called another four into existence, which would cover the "Safe-spots" his previous pillars had left once they had died down. He smirked once more, and then uttered to himself.
"That's right. Give them the delusion of slight hope and then crush it." His face twisted with a mask of sadistic pleasure he turned his back on the ground and walked further up the side of the building he was still stood on, turning back to face the ground and look up to where his opponent was either dodging frantically, or being struck endlessly and yelled.
"Just submit! That'll make the last few moments of your life so much easier!"
Perhaps he should have paid more attention to the gems that encompassed that mans body earlier. It seemed to provide him with even more defensive measures than anticipated, but the thought process of the man seemed to falter slightly as he attempted to now turn the electricity of the lightning bolts into a counterattack onto Bexurc. Such a foolish decision, the lightning danced around Bexurc between prisms that acted like conduits passing the lightning through Bexurc and onto the next one, continually cycling through until the charge of the bolt dissipated and would soon die out completely. Bexurc stood defiant unaffected by the element that he currently possessed and looked watched the man plot on the side of the building. The lightning element wouldn’t last for much longer so before Bexurc lost it completely, he sent several potent charges into each of the prisms for when the man would call them back. Then while the lightning was still passing through, Bexurc began to change the charges inside each prism, building both negative positive energy inside. When the man brought his precious defensive prisms back to him the charge would eventually build to an amount that couldn't be contained and explode in a chaotic blast. With as close as he had kept them to him before he attacked and considering that he surrounded himself them before he had attacked with them, the blasts would come from all sides and explode in a radius that couldn't be evaded so easily. Bexurc stood still the entire time, this would have made it appear that he was simply taking the hit and letting it pass through him unaffected. His eyes on his opponent the entire time, while he bent the lightning to his will.
All while attempt to charge the prisms, flashes of light started to dance around his head again, especially near his eyes. Bexurc closed them and reached inside his cloaks inside pocket. He felt through his notepad and pen and removed a pair of shaded safety glasses. A very appropriate measure for a scientist when working with elements such as lightning and light. You could never tell what would happen when you experimented with different theories for the first time and these provide the appropriate shade for dealing with abnormal responses from the magical elements. The old axiom came to mind when he put them over his eyes to protect them from the blasts of light. "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me." Dots of light seemed to dance about from the several blasts of light that had burned into his retinas, but now he could see that it was actually black fire that was being flashed in quick bursts. This man's control over the black flame was now dangerous in Bexurc's mind.
No sooner had that thought come into existence, had it been reinforced. Heat formed underneath Bexurc. The same heat that had started when he first met the man. He was attempting to use the same maneuver after chastising Bexurc for doing the same. Though lights danced about in his eyes, Bexurc noticed other black flames "spots" forms o his side. Reaction was key here and instead of leaping to safety, Bexurc opened the earth beneath him and he fell into the safety of the underground as the fire exploded, disguising his escape and hopefully leading the man to a suspicion of complete incineration.
He hadn't come out unharmed though and much of his upper body and clothes were singed, scarred or burned. The darkness of the tunnel was slightly illuminated by the potions Bexurc carried inside his cloak and Bexurc eyes didn't need to adjust completely. He did after all need to go back up to the surface and it wouldn't help if he needed to readjust his eyes again. He felt the slight vibrations of the man in the earth, though they appeared muffled, as if he wasn't exactly on the earth, but instead connected to it through some other platform. That's right; he had dodged the attack and landed on the side of one of the ruins.
The dirt in front of Bexurc started to push aside from itself, opening a tunnel ahead of Bexurc. He made his way to the general location of the vibrations and found his path block by the foundation of a building. If the man was here, and was still in the same place like the tremors suggested… Bexurc brought both of his hand to his chest and then threw them out side. The earth in front of him did the very same and now the building had nothing to support its foundation. The building immediately started to crumble and fall to the ground. Due to the massive shaking in the earth from the building, Bexurc couldn't tell if the man had gotten away or not, but he opened a corridor of darkness and left the tunnel.
Emerging behind a wall in the same world, Bexurc sighed and feigned disappointment. He had attempted to get back to Castle Oblivion again, but it was to no avail.
"Fishsticks…." Bexurc muttered to himself.
He made a quick examination of himself. He had completely healed from his burns now and though his coat wasn't as fortunate. It still smelt burnt and the smell was not pleasant. Bexurc had emerged in a secluded area. Bexurc summoned his bag and opened it up completely. It revealed a miniature portable laboratory, with everything require by Bexurc to experiment and research in the field. Already set up was the vial of black fire he had managed to separate earlier. Bunsen burners already lit a compliment of different colored vials prepped and an assortment of tools at his disposal. He poured the magic into a fresh vials, splitting it into quarters and set two of them off to the side and the other two over Bunsen burners, and though it was black fire, the magic it is was melted almost instantly turning the black fire into a gelatinous goo ((OOC: A very scientific term)). He would continue the experiment until interrupted.
Ruien felt the position of the building he had been stood on alter slightly and was fast to react, he turned and ran up the wall as it fell, jumping and flipping as he reached the top, there was a moment where time felt as though it slowed as Ruien landed on the top of a slanted roof some meters away, stood perfectly straight due to the VII Flame he looked over to where his previous assault had taken place, there was nothing there, Ruien stood in silence for a moment, it was definitely not going to be that simple, he was not going to delude himself into thinking otherwise. However, he did have a one-up on his foe here, he silenced his power for only a second and found what he was looking for.
"Hmph. Not going to find out much like that." Ruien uttered to himself as he took note of the sudden and rapid changes within the VII Flame the man had taken for himself, he wondered if the man had even planned out that little tact or merely panicked and come up with it, regardless, this would merely serve as something to shock his foe. He faced the direction of the small amount of the VII Flame and ran for it, racing over the rooftops of the ruined city, drawing closer and closer in mere seconds. In fact, it took Ruien next to no time at all to find the guy, since the energy signature of the VII Flame was constantly guiding Ruien toward it, He stood in silence for a few seconds on the wall nearest the man, looking at him.
"You know, you're not going to find out much doing that." He said calmly, overlooking the man as he tried to find out something, anything by the looks of it. He smirked lightly and dropped to the floor, landing softly.
"In fact, chances are that you'll find out nothing at all by trying to force it to give its secrets to you. So to save you the time of multiple failures why don't I simply explain it to you? You might learn something, after all I believe it was you that stated as we began our fight that ignorance was unacceptable." He paused for a moment, merely looking at what he had managed to do to the VII Flame he had gotten a hold of, no big deal, it was easily rectified.
"This power, the VII Flame as it is commonly known is not magical, in fact, it's not even a power that was constructed, it was found. It is a power so raw, so absolute that it is commonly perceived as fire, though its properties are what their masters want it to be. For you see, no matter what you do to this power, it will always revert back into its most easily perceived state. Fire." With a finger snap, Ruien returned the VII Flame the man had already been working on back into what he had managed to capture it as, he allowed himself a small smirk as he paced back and fourth for a few silent moments and then drew it back into his hand from the various tubes he had the VII Flame in and held it silently in his palm.
"Only certain people get this power entrusted to them, normally from blood relations. Which is where I myself inherited my control over this power from. But this has allowed me, one thousand years to perfect my control over this power, and even I don't know everything about it. The best part is, that this power can only be refined by those it's entrusted to. To try and use this power with it being entrusted to you, it would destroy you. As for me, I am able to refine this power into anything I need. I hope that I have provided you with enough insight into what is not even the very basic workings of this power. But now professor, school's out." He grasped the Black Fire in his hand and then thrust it forward, in the direction of the man, the equipment he had previously set up was scattered as the VII Flame tore through the air toward him, however, at the last second Ruien split the orb and had two smaller orbs of Black Fire hit the wall harmlessly just inches away from his foes head, he took a step back wards holding his arms outstretched, he sent the remaining orbs into the sky to join the rest that would still be charging and stood still.
"Tell you what. I'll even give you a free attack. Go on, hit me with a bolt of lightning, make it as powerful as you like. After all, I can only assume that you've figured out that this is nothing shorter than a fight to the death. This is the only time I'm going to offer you this kindness, so. Make it count." He said calmly, his face straight as he continued to stand with his arms outstretched, inviting his foe to throw a free attack, right now he had effectively disarmed himself, and had dismissed the VII Flame entirely, if his foe was going to take the bait, this would be where things got good.
"Well what are you waiting for? I said this one's free."
((OOC: Sorry for the late reply. Weekends are very good for me to be online, so I hope to give you a fair warning for the future. But after the wait, here I go.))
"Well, that was quite short-lived." Bexurc commented out loud to the ruins and the man as he completely annihilated the equipment before him. He looked towards his enemy, a man who appeared to have stepped out of a clichéd action film. For all attempts and purposes he had displayed an arrogance that was befitting of the clothes he wore, but for a brief moment, though his arrogance remained intact, Bexurc was able to see a new side to him. It was a side that was fearful of a powerful intellect, a man who abhorred the concept that something like his family heirloom was capable of being manipulated by someone else.
Bexurc took steps forward, slow steps that were in tempo with each other. He began to make his way to the man in the black. Bexurc wished that he was capable of enjoying this moment, but it appeared that the man didn’t wield the Keyblade and was unable to provide any sort of emotional projection for him. That was fine; Bexurc would make do without, like he had done for most of his existence. As his slow pace began to bring him closer and closer to his grounded adversary, Bexurc couldn't help but wander if his arrogance was simply a façade to cover up insecurities about himself. He had opened himself to a "free attack", discarding his weapon and "fire", or whatever he had meant it to be when he was explaining it. Unfortunately, nothing was free, and the price to be paid could end up severe. Bexurc wouldn't falter in his pace though.
"A convenient step you executed." Bexurc eyes took note of the orbs levitating above them. Each step he took caused a miniscule upheaval around his feet. If it was to be a fight to the death like this man suggested, then Bexurc would oblige the request. "A face is only a good as the one who can maintain it, stranger." Bexurc looked his opponent in the eyes with a cold stare that represented his existence as a Nobody. "You speak of powerful family heirlooms, which can only be harnessed by certain individuals, but I beg to differ." Bexurc was now inches away from the man's face. Unsurprisingly he had not faltered at all and was steady in his pose, complimented by a smug grin on his face. Bexurc reached in his own black cloak and pulled a red vial from it and slipped it inside the man's inside breast pocket, making sure to pat it in softly to ensure it was safely and securely inside and intact. "You see, there are only two realms in which we live in," The man had called him a professor earlier and Bexurc would act the part for a moment, "…the physical and metaphysical. There is no escaping either of these. I am a scientist, an alchemist, of both, capable of breaking down, understanding and rearranging the molecular structure of anything I deem appropriate."
Bexurc moved to the man's side and brushed along his arm, pushing it out of the way with his chest, not bothering to raise a finger. "It is understandable to try and prevent me from doing the same to your "VII Flame". If I had a family heirloom, I would like to perceive it as something special, unique or perhaps delude myself into believing it was all-powerful." Discretely another red vial fell from his sleeve into his arm. "Do not preach to me about ignorance, when you have no idea of the world before you. Your "VII Flame" may be considered potent, however against my mind it is nothing but an infant's device for amusement."
With that, Bexurc spun around and slammed his palm into the side of the man's cheek. The fraction of the strength Bexurc used was enough to crush the reinforced vial in his hand causing the reaction inside to explode against the man's head. A ball of fire erupted between the two of them; the heat from it would have melted skin as Bexurc's hand received severe burns from it as well as being forced to stagger back slightly. Had Bexurc made contact, the force from Bexurc hand combined with the explosion would have embedded glass inside the brain cavity and caused severe trauma to the entire side of his head, moving down to the top of the shoulder. He would have been sent flying backwards through several walls before he stopped.
Bexurc was knocked on his ass, as he examined his hand. The skin itself was scarred and burnt, however his resilient skin provided enough of a buffer to leave it at a mild burn and it would quickly heal over itself with a new patch of skin. He stood up with his palm being held by the other hand.
"It is a dangerous occurrence to go against my intellect."
Ruien stood in silence, maintaining the stance he had taken as this man spoke, the man took the bait as he placed. Ruien blinked as he discreetly kept his eye on it, a vial in one of the pockets on Ruiens trench coat, it was at that point in which Ruien figured it out, so an alchemist, this was indeed a step in an unforeseen direction. The man continued speaking and then. Although he had known it was coming the impact still shocked him, he found himself enveloped by an intense heat and then the world was spinning around him. He felt his body weight fly over his head and then under his legs as he flew awkwardly through the air. His scalp and hair were thrown from his head, the skin on the rest of his head, on his shoulders and the entire arm on the side of the body that the man had struck him was gone almost entirely, while the skin on his lower torso was burned to an almost charcoal-like state.
His, face, neck, chest and arms stung as the muscle beneath the skin was exposed to the air, however, Ruien had now really learned everything he needed to, all that was left was to wait for the impact he had aligned himself for. The pain rushed through his body as he struck the corner of a still standing building, a pain that intensified as another burst of heated pain bloomed in his chest, he looked down for a moment to observe one of the rusty metallic poles that had once been used to give the building structure protruded from the left of his chest, skewering his lung as it did so. Now was the time of the best part of this fight. the building had been shaken alarmingly but remained standing, and as Ruien had planned not been too far away from his foe. He looked down at his foe from his painful perch, and allowed some blood to trickle out of the corners of his mouth, he made a strange gurgling noise and then fell limp on the side of the building, feigning death with a blank stare down at his foe, allowing him to look up at the force of the attack. In fact Ruien kept his act up for some moments, until his foe figured that victory was his and then began to turn his back and then he dropped it all, laughing out loudly. Making sure that his foe was able to hear him, his laughter was genuine, ringing out loudly in the deserted husk of this city.
"They say ignorance is bliss. Tell me, have I changed your perception of ignorance yet?" Ruien asked breathlessly through frequent bursts of laughter. He raised one of his hands up and enveloped it in the VII Flame to cut the excess pole sticking through the front of his chest away before laboriously pushing himself off of the building and landing softly on the ground. His Trench coat was only half the garment it used to be by now, falling to the floor in tatters. He could already feel his body healing itself, pushing shards of glass from his body, his skin and hair regrowing rapidly, the charcoal black skin falling from his body only to be replaced by skin without so much as a scratch on it. Ruien began walking toward his foe, making sure that he was seeing this, by the time his body had finished healing Ruien had a malevolent smirk twisted across his face.
"Well done there Alchemist" He spat the word "Alchemist", adding some obvious sarcasm to it.
"That one nearly stung." Ruien said, his smirk broadening as he continued to walk toward his adversary. In actual truth enduring that entire experience had been fairly painful, yet Ruien wanted to see if he could demoralise his foe even further, after all, it was not every day one would see a foe recover from an attack like that so quickly without even casting a spell. Ruien waved a dismissive hand, creating a large ring of black fire around himself and his foe. He covered the ground of the ring with it as well, making sure that what they were stood on would not harm his foe, no, he wanted this fight to be at its best. So he began moving them to another part of the city so that they could continue this fight in a more. Drastic light.
"Understand this. From now, we'll be fighting for our very lives. I expect you to keep this performance up to par, try not to make this anti-climactic." He said calmly, dismissing the VII Flame to reveal their location. The exact center of the city, on the roof of the highest building left standing, but he was yet to complete the final setting, he had intended for the fight to eventually make its way here over the course of the fight, however, the circumstances had forced his hand here.
"You have to admit, the view here is spectacular isn't it? When I was younger, I would often sit up here and simply watch the city in wonder. A marvel of human ingenuity, but when I look at it now. It seems to be a much more marvelous sight, perhaps its the pyreflies, those multi-colored lights roaming around the city, or perhaps it's the new found peace that this city has found, regardless, I am still proud to call this place 'home.'" He said, the arrogance gone from his voice for the duration of that monologue, however, soon after he raised both of his arms into the air, Black Fire enveloping his entire body only seconds later. At his feet the VII Flame gathered in a small pool and shot down through the building and began to spread among the grounds of the city.
"Just let me destroy the view for your benefit, obviously your eyes are not welcome to behold such a majestic sight." And with that Ruien increased the power of the Black Flames around the city, within seconds the city would look to those outside to be a towering inferno of Black Flames, most of them tall enough to cover the roofs of other buildings, some roughly half the size of the building that they were now stood on. Ruien allowed his smirk to broaden yet again and then. The foundations of the building gave way and the building itself toppled, in its place was now a tower of Black Fire, on the top of that tower, the roof of the building they had been stood on, Ruien laughed again.
"Now! We fight, suspended in the air by the power you underestimate so. To fall now, for you, would more than likely result in death. So come! Show me what it is to fight for your life when the odds are so drastically against you!" Ruien half yelled, he took a step forward, the VII Flame enveloping his form leaving a slight after-image of itself in the air for only a second as he did so, now. Ruien knew that now his movements would be a slight bit more difficult to read, but not by much. His hair flowed as if on a non-existent breeze, his face an expression of pure enjoyment as he took yet another step forward. All he needed to do now was try to get his foe to fall off of the scrap of the roof that they were stood on and he could have the towering inferno-VII Flame that was now holding the roof in place take care of the rest. Of course now Ruien only had a few uses of the VII Flame left in reserve for the battle, but they were all he would need should the need arise.
"Get ready Alchemist, this is where the epoch scale of power I hold should make you question everything you've seen as science up until this point. After all, is it scientifically possible for one being to hold this much power!?" He asked in an over-the-top mock, he took another step forward, raising his arms into the air as he had done so before when telling his foe that he was allowing him a free attack.
"This is it. Everything we have both been waiting for. Just try not to disappoint me!" Now he was showing this man his true finesse when it came to controlling this power, everything else up until this point had been merely a taster to see if this man could handle what was about to happen, Ruien had judged that this would be the best way to truly determine his foes grit and dedication, to see if he would still continue the fight despite the seemingly insurmountable odds before him, though Ruien was not about to underestimate his foe, he had already shown that he was an intelligent force to be reckoned with, he would just have to see how the rest of the fight would play out. Especially since now most of the ruins were not going to be accessible for this man, probably for the rest of the fight.
"Now. Have at you!" Ruien was rapidly growing bored of having to keep up this enforced act of bravado and arrogance, he was eager to have this over and done with as soon as possible. Though he had wondered how the gateway was able to tell when enough blood had been shed to prevent the final, grisly conclusion. But despite that he was actually beginning to really enjoy himself, he then took a burst step forward in an attempt to catch his foe off guard, he spread the VII Flame enveloping his hand as he performed another open palm strike toward his foe, sending off a wave of Black Fire at him as he did so, hit-or-miss Ruien followed up with a whirl-wind kick, sending off a further two waves of Black Fire in rapid succession, once more regardless of the hit-or-miss situation he followed up with a second open palm strike sending off a fourth wave of Black Fire. He landed in a defensive stance, the Black Fire enveloping his body giving him increased tolerance to attacks. He stayed stood in his defencive stance, not daring to make another move for fear of a well planned counter attack, at this point, being caught off guard would be a serious knock to Ruiens confidence.
[OOC: It's cool. You seem to have understood the majority of what was said as well, so good on you ^^; that said though. I uhh, think I might have gone a bit over-the-top with this post when trying for that epic feel >.>]
As expected the man flew off in what Bexurc believed to be a random direction. He crashed through multiple surfaces, leaving pieces of himself on them, before he finally was stopped by a wall and extended piece of a metal bar. Bexurc pushed himself up and examined his clothing. The Organization cloaks were intended to withstand large amounts of damage, but the proximity of the explosion had, definitely taken its toll on his uniform. The arm he had used had the sleeve disintegrated and portions of the clothing had melted onto his skin. Other areas were singed to different degrees and a portion of the zipper that closed his cloak was melted leaving him unable to close it up for the duration of its use, but whatever damage Bexurc had taken began to heal over. His burnt and dead skin was replaced with new skin and the scars that formed would soon leave as well.
He brought his glance over to the man who was his enemy, he had the audacity to provide Bexurc with a free attack and he paid the price. Something wasn't right though, a gut feeling perhaps that when he said "free attack" he had intended to not move a muscle. Why? To what end would it serve to provide your opponent with a complimentary strike? Bexurc rubbed his hand against his chin to think about it. He wasn't moving, but something was. There was a small tremor in the ground. Bexurc stared with cocked eyebrows as he tried to discern where the beat was coming from. It was a rapid beat coming from the same direction of the man, but he laid there. The beat was a heartbeat! A ruse? Unless there was someone behind the wall he was propped against, there could be no other assumption, then he was not completely dead yet and was attempting to bring Bexurc off his guard.
He turned his back to the man's motionless body. If he wanted Bexurc to believe that he was dead then he would let him live his fantasy of cleverness. He walked away, but his senses became fine tuned to any abnormality that may suddenly appear. And then there was laughter behind him. Of course there was laughter, what else did that man do, but smile, laugh and throw around his VII Flame? The heartbeat that Bexurc could feel through the tremors had increased now. It was beating at an even quicker pace than before, much like when the body was overworking to compensate of recover. Bexurc turned around to find the man freeing himself from his lodged arrangement.
"Of course." Bexurc spoke softly to himself, reminding himself again that there was no such thing as "free". He freed himself eventually and his wounds began to heal over at an alarming rate. Deep gashes and tears in the flesh closed up within a short span of time as burns were replaced with living tissue. It was a disgusting sight to see, but informative none the less. The man for lack of a better term was "immortal". The man returned to a normal state quickly and began spouting off more gibberish about his power and tried to turn Bexurc's word against him. He still thought he had the upper hand here.
Bexurc took a few steps forward, but suddenly black fire encompassed the land between him and his opponent promptly. Bexurc prepared himself for an attack, but it never came. Instead, seconds later they were on the rooftops of the ruins. One in specific, but there were several in close proximity.
A strange phenomenon took place next. The man seemed to lose a bit of his previous personality. Instead of the smug and haughty tone he tended to speak with, he exchanged it for something, perhaps...softer. He was talking about his home. This was his home. Of course it was, did this man feel the need to defend it from intruders, and was that his intention all along? Was Bexurc on sacred ground? Was this man the guardian of these ruins? It didn't matter, he had attacked him and Bexurc would make sure that he ended up paying the ultimate price.
Never mind. Bexurc discarded the previous thoughts as the man sent a rampaging fire throughout the city and engulfed it in flames. He was now repeating the same state of mind he held since the beginning. Laughing as building toppled around them, even the building underneath them was now crumbling to a massive pile of rubble. Bexurc eyed the man suspiciously. Did he simply live for destruction of anything? Obviously the sentiment of home didn't hold much value to him if he cast it aside to fight Bexurc. It was an unfortunate advantage that Bexurc could have taken if that wasn't the case.
Suspended high in the sky, did he think that would scare Bexurc? There were so many more effects that he could summon to himself if it was necessary. Bexurc reached inside his cloak once more and pulled a black vial from inside and rested his hand to the side. The vial held the effect of the darkness element, since Bexurc was cornered in such a place right now. This would be a perfect place to set an example of his ingenuity and prowess over magic, especially since he wanted Bexurc to question everything he knew simply because he said so. What a ridiculous notion. It was a scientist duty to question everything. Was it possible for a being to hold so much power…perhaps, it all depended on how much power he was speaking about. He had the power to decimate a city that was already falling apart; with enough energy Bexurc could do the exact same by destroying the foundations of all the buildings. It was nothing as special as this man wanted it to appear.
Bexurc threw the vial at his feet and the glass shattered, releasing the formula inside. The darkness instantly reached up and wrapped itself around him in long tendrils. They covered his entire body within seconds. With the effect of the darkness gave Bexurc a malleable body that presented a sort of anti-form. Yellow eyes picked up variations in the environment and soon the attacks began. His now slouched body began to move with the blows, reducing the force behind them to nothing, unfortunately, the black fire acted as a projectile and struck Bexurc dead on from the first attack. There was no time to reflect on the strike though as he continued his assault The next attack came from further away in the form of a 360 degree kick, emitting waves of the dark flame from his person, Bexurc slimmed his body and leaped in between the flames in an arc where the fire went underneath his head and torso and his feet pulled up and between the flames as they sped at them. Another attack from an open palm followed the flames and as expected, the fire was used as a projectile once again. This time, Bexurc simply dove into the ground into a circle of darkness completely evading the attack altogether.
The dark circle rippled a bit like a pool of water until it vanished, reappearing instantly behind the man. Silent like the creeping darkness inside ones bedroom at night, the pool became whole and Bexurc whipped out with a speed that he had yet to show. In truth the darkness made his movement fluid and quick. His limbs extended and whipped around in a circle aimed at the torso of the man in quick succession, a whirlwind of darkness infused limbs overbearing onto his opponent. If the attack struck or was eluded, Bexurc leapt onto his hand and rolled into a smooth orb only to reappear in a second to a humanoid form, which began to throw punches from far away in quick succession. The blows would appear as if multiple arms were striking at once, but from the distance that Bexurc was at, it was an impossibility for any sort of arm, even a primate to reach. When he had finished his attack, his arms snapped back to there form and forced him to flip backwards to recover correctly. He extended his arms once more in a wide arc, bringing them around the entire arena set up by the man. The limbs were placed to attack the feet and the upper torso or head, whether he leaped or ducked to dodge, the attacks would strike at the same time, forcing him to choose the point of impact. The sudden barrage that had exploded from Bexurc would have caught anybody by surprise. Until this point he had remained in a composed nature never exert much movement with his attacks aside from the flick of the wrist or the sweep of an arm.
After his final sweeping attack, Bexurc took a slouched position. His body looked normal again, aside from the darkness that still covered his body and bright yellow eyes that gazed at his opponent. The monotone glare was met with a distorted voice. It sounded as if Bexurc was speaking through multiple filters. "Understand this; you face the entire spectrum of elements when you face me. If you believe that you have power, then I am a god in my own right." He knew that even if the blow landed he would heal from them, but this was a measure to see the amount of time necessary it took. An experiment of sorts….
Ruien kept his defensive stance as his foe vanished, he thought for a brief second, yes, the most obvious and logical choice would have been an attack from behind, that was very basic combat strategy, something Ruien had learned at the age of fifteen, so he would need to be ready for this. From the pool of Black Fire at his feet he extended several thin lines of the VII Flame and placed them exactly. His thoughts had been correct, within moments he was maneuvering these thin "beams" of Black Fire around his back, blocking each strike as it came, his attempts had not been entirely successful, some of the strike hit home, yet Ruien kept his defensive game going and soon enough his foe was stood in front of him again.
The next attack, or flurry of attacks in this case was not something Ruien had expected, the speed and range of these melee strikes had not been encountered by Ruien before and he did have a difficult time dodging each strike as it came his way, however, he had his plan and he was sticking to it, he dodged each strike to the best of his ability, allowing certain strikes to clip his slightly as he moved back wards, toward the edge of the roof. The man stopped his attack briefly to flip away from Ruien, this was his chance, he closed the gap between himself and the very edge of the roof with two hurried leaps and soon found himself standing at the very edge of the roof. Just in time as well as the man show cased another unique trait of his, luckily Ruien was not restricted to his own created arena and promptly took another leap back wards and off the edge of the roof.
There he manipulated part of the VII Flame holding up the roof and had two relatively thick "beams" come from its side and under his feet, holding him up in the air as he looked at his foe, he was not at an elevated position, just stood off of the roof. He watched as the final attack missed him and stood in silence, clapping slowly.
"Do you know what the hardest part of this fight has been?" He asked, dropping all traces of sarcasm and arrogance from his voice, reverting to his usual monotone voice, just looking straight into the eyes of his foe, it was odd, they held nothing, as if they were empty, as if this man himself was empty, Ruien began to wonder if such a thing was even possible, he had heard, hell, known various people that had been detached, but never seen anyone that looked as though they were dead inside. However, he dismissed the thought, it was not as if he was going to be able to sit down and have a chat with this guy, they had to fight to the death, it was the only way to prevent the catastrophic conclusion that awaited everyone on both worlds if this fight did not see a conclusion.
"The hardest part of this fight has been keeping up the act of feigned arrogance and partial madness. The Clown and that boy claiming apparent leadership over us may both be mad, and are more than definitely merciless. But I. I am just a strategist, albeit more powerful than most I'm still nothing more than a planner, I mean, look at where you stand now." He gestured to the roof on which his foe was still stood, just in time as well, parts of the edge on which Ruien had positioned himself before leaping from it crumbled away, only to be destroyed in seconds by the Black Fire holding the rest of it up, Ruien stood in silence for only a moment longer before continuing.
"It was a necessary step in trying to secure myself a good chance of victory here. I had to act as though I was an arrogant, cocksure and perhaps slightly gormless individual all in order to lure you here. I'm not sure how much longer that roof will remain intact, and once it falls you have nowhere to go, look around. You could move to one of the roofs not already covered with the VII Flame, however, I'll be able to have that engulfed within seconds." He spoke, keeping his voice steady and monotone as he spoke, still he was not going to make the mistake that he had made against his brother, no, he had learned from that. He allowed himself a small smirk nodding his head as his foe mentioned he had the entire spectrum of elemental prowess on his side, to which Ruien nodded slowly.
"Yes, I gathered as much when you began throwing lightning at me, but had to be sure that it would benefit me in the long run. You don't think that the charged lightning I sent your way earlier was merely for show did you? I've been planning this moment since I first stepped off of that building before our fight began." Ruien snapped his fingers, the sky darkened as a flash of Black Lightning shot across the sky, however, unlike "natural" lightning there was no roar of thunder to follow. He ran his hand through his hair as seconds later a small orb of Black Fire hit the roof of one of the smaller buildings that was not yet completely engulfed by the VII Flame. That was soon followed by another and then another until they were rapidly falling, missing the roof his foe was stood on entirely, but making a trip off of that roof even more hazardous for him.
"Fight for survival. Not Honor." He said calmly, walking back onto the roof, the scene was set, this was to be the most intense part of the fight now, this roof only had a limited time until it fell apart completely so Ruien figured that his foe would be giving it his all now, after all, people fought so much harder if their very life was under threat, it was the fight of a lifetime, one that Ruien wanted to win.
"I wasn't lying earlier when I said I was beginning to enjoy myself." He said calmly with a small smirk, this one Bourne not of arrogance, but of appreciation.
"This is the first real test of strength I've truly had since I returned to life. And so far, you've been a good adversary." He said, he raised the index and middle finger of his right hand, creating another thin "beam" of the VII Flame and concentrating it to a fine edge. There he placed it against his chest and drew it down wards, cutting himself, allowing his foe to watch as the wound instantly healed as he drew the makeshift blade of Black Fire down his chest. He waved the blade away to reveal no wound, not even a scar but a small trickle of blood traveling down his torso.
"Now you've learned all you need to. You'll be fighting for your life as the clock slowly ticks away at the amount of time you have left on this final spot of safety. Fight your hardest and bear in mind. The VII Flame is not attributed to an element, none of your cocktails will save you should time expire." He said in a calm tone, once again taking up a defensive stance, simply looking at his foe. This was it, the fiercest part of the battle, he was going to have to watch every move carefully. He opened both his palms once more, however, this time he did not instantly rush forward, he focused the VII Flame around his hands into concentrated points, creating a further two makeshift weapons that he would be able to fight with. Then he ran forward for a single moment before rapidly changing direction to the left and then sharply weaving to the right, he span, slashing out wards with the two blades of Black Fire, aiming one directly at his foes chest while he had the other stretch aiming for his gut and then following up with a strike to the chest and then neck area of his foe with the more whip-like of the two blades of Black Fire. Hit or miss Ruien followed up by sweeping his foot across the ground, sending a wave of Black Fire to wards the feet of his opponent. Should that attack hit his foe would be knocked down, Ruien the thrust his palm down into the ground, creating a blade of Black Fire should his previous attack hit and knock his foe to the ground, that blade of fire would then thrust upwards through the ground in a straight line, if his foe was unable to dodge that attack it would wound him severely.
Oh fishstick… Bexurc thought to himself as he saw the flame gather and shape into dual blades in the mans hands. It was apparent that the makeshift swords were quite capable of cutting, as just moments ago he displayed the enhanced healing he had shown off earlier in the fight. It was a problem because under the darkness element, while his strength still remained his stone skin had to be sacrificed for its polymer capabilities. Bexurc already knew that the man was quick from before so caution was required for the next steps. The darkness effects were about to wear off as Bexurc took a step forward. He extended his arm to strike the charging man. The straight on hit was quick and would hit like a freight train, but he already changed his direction. It was a near hit, but still a miss. His arm recoiled back as the blades now came into striking distance. A swipe at his chest forced Bexurc to flatten himself. And he it was fortunate that he did as the man took another swipe into where his stomach would have been.
Like the Shadow Heartless he moved along the ground as a shadow, impervious to physical attacks as he stayed flattened. It was unfortunate that he couldn't attack in this position either, but as with all things in the universe, one thing must be compromised in order for the enhancement of another. He was behind his enemy again, though further away than the last time he attempted. His arms hung to his side as he stood their behind the man. The distorted voice he had now sounded far away as there was very little for sound to bounce of with the man's lightning charged destruction. It was a shame that Bexurc had provided the power for it, but it was simply one more item to list in the man's abilities.
"Strategist. Schemer. Conniver. Conspirator. There are many more names for someone of that nature, however, I do not believe you are appropriately identifying yourself. You have power, I recognize that, but from what I understand, you think that it is the be all and end all of power, unable to fully understand that there are forces out there that can destroy you. Your flippant masochism of yourself, shows me that." The darkness began to melt off his body and onto the building where they stood. Bexurc paused for a moment. He began calling out to the earth. All of his potions, were mere augmentations to his greatest ability. The ground rumbled like an angry giant, but the two were unable to feel it as they were suspended in mid air by the VII Flame. His final attack was making its way to the surface.
"You may consider yourself immortal, but you are not invincible. There are numerous methods quite capable of ending the life of an immortal." He adjusted his monocle again as it had become a bit displaced in the battle and then finally he just put it away in his cloaks pocket, at least what was left of it. It didn't matter, he would simply acquire a new one when he was capable of returning. "I am your end. Should you choose to consider this a fight to the death, then I will indulge you to the fullest."
He jumped into the air and came back down with his foot tearing through the building rooftop. It crumbled in seconds as Bexurc passed through and into the VII Flame holding it up. He would not let the man think that his VII Flame was all powerful for long as s block of earth raised up at sonic speeds to meet Bexurc. He landed on it, still amongst the fire until the earth left it. Telekinetic control of the powers of earth was a mighty ability. In essence it covered not only earth, but metals and stones as well. It was the most complete combination of magic meeting the physical incarnation of it.
Bexurc was covered in burns, but now that he was in contact with his element once again, they started to heal at an incredible rate. It may not have been the same as his enemies, but it was nothing to scoff at. He brought himself up to Ruien, showing off his own ability to heal and shrug off incapacitating wounds. Bexurc now had shown him that his strategy held no effect over him. If he had truly began planning before he even met Bexurc and understood him completely then it was a fools errand to try and attempt anything like he just did. Plates of earth rose from the ground amidst the sea of black flames and now provided new platforms to be accessed. The enemy had nothing Bexurc couldn't replicate.
Bexurc stood his face, was finally healing over from the 3rd degree burns he suffered. With his hands together behind his back he watched and waited for his opponent's next speech. There was nothing more for Bexurc to say, until he crushed his enemy completely
Few things, the nature of the VII flame isn't actually fire elemental, so burn wouldn't be the right word. Also certain enviromental factors were ignored in Bexurc's last post. As a result, in the next post Bexurc must be injured.
Ruien could only cock an eyebrow as his adversary dove through what would be the final piece of safety offered to him and through the spire of Black Fire that was holding the roof up, or what remained of the roof after the guy had just broken through it. He began to wonder if this man was insane or had just completely ignored the effects of the VII Flame when it was used as a weapon, he shrugged inwardly, regardless of what the answer was he would be finding out just what kind of effect the power had on flesh, no matter how strong. The longer he spent within the VII Flame the worse things would become for him, and then he was back, a large chunk of the earth below with him, which was of course, still covered with the VII Flame.
"Was that a death wish or stupidity?" He asked calmly, snapping his fingers once, this time, however, that was merely for show, he had no need to use his hands to direct the VII Flame. The spire of Black Fire suddenly decreased to half the height it had been, and from there Ruien expanded the top of the spire into something of a wide open platform with the VII Flame forming a semi-transparent dome over the moderately sized field, this time his control over the VII Flame was once again absolute, beforehand it had been stretched to the limit, there was nowhere he could run now, nowhere he could hide, after all, even if he did managed to shed the layer of earth that was covered in the VII Flame that would only make it fall apart faster in the long run.
"I wouldn't try that again, you're on a strict schedule now." He said calmly, pointing down at the large arena composed of the VII Flame that the two of them were now confined to. Ruien was still stood on what was left of the room he had originally been unable to destroy, his foe on his large chunk of earth, which would be imitating the roof fairly soon. He stiffly craned his head from one side to the other, causing his neck to crack loudly and then lowered his stance, the black fire still raining from the sky creating the perfect battle setting.
"Fight your best, most things often try their hardest when their time is limited. Even now, with all the control you have over that rock. Your time is rapidly expiring." He figured that, that would be the biggest clue yet, soon that rock would fall apart completely and he would be fighting in the VII Flame, something which Ruien could move around in freely, but to his foe. Well, Ruien had yet to see the end result.
[OOC: Accepted by Mal previously] -[Number of posts left before all solid objects fall apart completely: 5]-
