Saga: Salvation and Damnation

[kihaku]

((OOC: Please note, the post has been edited due to time constraints of the saga.))

Things were not going well for the baddie, his movements were being quickly countered, and his dark forms were being rendered worse than useless. Things seemed to be going in the exact opposite direction one would have wanted them to go in battle against the vampire, but this warrior seemed to have more than simply unorthodox talents.

The dark form that'd interrupted Reiaz and Gorgon quickly stumbled to it's feet and ran back towards the fray. The second dark form, now with legs a short distance from their usual spot. The form gave a wave of it's arms and the momentum managed to position itself within reaching distance of it's missing limbs, smooshing the severed edges together. With a sickly sucking sound, the gap between them closed, and it stood immediately after, checking for balance and making sure the legs were on the right sides.

While his dark forms fooled about and worried about themselves, Hydra was busy fighting off the persistently powerful darkling. His electrically charged thrust had been parried, so he used that momentum to spin the staff about, the dull end managing to bat away the nine blows, which spun the weapon once more the way it had come, jeweled end aiming to smash against the pale, sneering face and wipe the smug look of arrogance from the pasty complexion.

The whip-like attack was followed by a spin, multiplied by the velocity of the staff to increase the power of a vicious kick he threw at Zolomon's right arm. The winded dark from finally arrived, leaping high and coming down atop the vampire with legs outstretched, heels aimed right at his crown.

Hit or miss now was beyond abort or retraction, as the original Hydra suddenly stopped in his tracks. Whispers flowed into his breast, his mind reverberating with their soft commands; tendrils of black energy slid out of his back along his spinal column, and began to wrap around every limb, every inch of frame they could lay their dark touch upon. Soon, when not a single iota of visible persona remained, the long arms flattened to make a perfectly symmetrical, oblong cocoon, black in color, with no sheen to speak of. The dark pair stood and ran at the chrysallis, disappearing into it as if it didn't exist.

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Minotaur was fairing slightly better, though things managed to change for him just as quickly as it was for his companions. The soul shots were making little holes in the rock which let in shafts of light, almost as if someone were poking holes with a stick through a soft pastry crust. Still, the shots were off by just enough to miss, but unfortunately so was his spire attack. The vibrations sent up through the earth and into his body told him that Dimitri was charging, which ordinarily wouldn't be a problem; however, he'd had quite a bit of time to prepare for an attack, and even a breif few moments on this plane of existence can be more than enough to charge up a powerful attack.

Before he could counter anything, the soul wave slashed through the rock, cutting deep into the toned flesh of the warrior within. Before he could attempt to escape, a second crashed through from above, slicing deep into skin and muscle, eliciting a grunt of pain from the bulk of muscle. With the two gashes in the rock dome already compromising structural integrity, the third slash finally dashed it's ability to stand alone to bits, collapsing in upon the warrior within and sending up a plume of dust.

A moment later, when the stillness was still in it's infant stages, the rocks shifted, and Minotaur stood, blood seeping down his arms and chest from several deep gashes and wounds. Still, things grew strange as the dust suddenly shoved itself into the wounds, rock liquefied and filled in the gaps in flesh, and the bleeding stopped. Eyes glazed with a haze of pain, his mind was given over to instinctual impulses of battle, and when he threw his arms to his sides, spinning shards of rock were released from his hands, sending a dozen stone shurikens in Dimitri's direction.

Just as the weapons were launched, the very same black energy wrapped itself around Minotaur to form his own version of a pupae-like state. Even Gorgon, who'd been flying through the air only a moment ago, landed with a thud, burying the very tip of his oblong cocoon into the soft soil. The trio were now still and silent, though if one got close enough, they would be able to hear the sounds of bones being popped out of place, of flesh being ripped, and of sinister hisses, growls, and grumbles as these monsters began their final transformation.

[dimitri]

(OOC: Normally, I'm a big fan of order, thus waiting for Zolomon to post, but since I'm also kind of impatient, so sorry Zolomon!)

It would appear at first glance that the goliath of an opponent had taken such a severe beating that he would most likely be done if he didn't stop. Still, Dimitri held his sword straight forward, the tip of the blade pointed towards the beast's neck. He was in a solid fighting stance and was about to tell him to give up and he would let him go, but that seemed to be pushed into the back of his mind as the insuing events transpired.

The dust cloud around him began to solidify on his wounds in order to stop his bleeding. It was a very piculiar healing technique considering what he was using to cover his wounds. Suddenly, he had a thought that would work well for him as long as he played his cards right. If his assumption was correct, he was filling his body with the rock and since he was pleeding, that means he's all flesh and organs, just like any other creature. If he could do enough damage, he would eventually clog himself with enough earth that it would stop the flow of his blood like normal, slow him down, and make him easier to bring down.

He was just about to get ready to attack when he saw yet another offensive movement from the battered minotaur. His quick reaction to bring the blade perfectly angled 90 degrees to the ground and form a soul shield saved him from the last 10, but the first two hit him, one skinning his right arm and the other his left side. Angry that he was caught off guard, he transferred the energy from the shield into his sword and was about to fire one more soul wave, but that was stopped soon after it began.

He stood there, his blade glowing with the soul energy he had just gathered only to observe that Minotaur was now cocooned in something. By the horrific sound of it, it was some kind of transformation that was altering his body. Either that or whoever he was working for didn't like the job he was doing and sent the thing down to kill him. In his mind, he voted for the first one, but only time would tell at this point.

[kihaku]

((In the meantime...))

After a moment or two, Reiaz landed just to the right of Zolomon, staring intently at the cocoons that contained their adversaries. His sapphire gaze was fixed upon the one that held Gorgon within it's inky black clutches, the growls and murmurs that emanated from their chrysallis' setting his nerves on edge.

There wasn't a scratch on his flawless skin, despite the great number of welts and cuts that'd been visible on his enemy just prior to his encapsulation. The large ring that he normally had situated on his back was now slung over his shoulder, crossing over his chest like one might carry a bow. He gave a deep breath to calm himself, and looked over at the other two, Hydra's not far off, and Minotaur's sitting amongst a pile of rock. Not entirely unexpected.

"Their master has seen fit to empower them further... the Priest of Chaos is infusing his minions with the power of the Beast, to give them forms that befit their names, which they in turn were given due to their particular fighting style."

Just as it seemed he was about to speak again, there was an audible ripping sound, and from Gorgon's cocoon, a single sharp nail protruded, jet black and from all appearances, razor sharp. There was a malignant hissing as the dagger-like talon continued downwards, and when it was drawn slowly back in, the hissing turned into a serpentine laughter.

A dozen feet off or so, Hydra's was too moving about, though in an entirely different manner. The formed a large lump in the very top, like a head was pressing against it, and only a moment later, two others made similar movements. The surface of the cocoon stretched and slowly gave way, a dull rumbling growl heard from beneath the opaque surface.

Within the ring of stone, Minotaur's too began to shift about, only this one had two pointy spots that attemted to press out, pushing higher and harder. At head heigh, two other lumps formed, these ones with five points, as if fingers were scratching at the womb-like walls.

Reiaz took a step forward, now two feet in front of Zolomon and within view of Dimitri, not looking at either, but still fully aware of their presence. Raising the ring to the height of his shoulder, a bright sapphire blue aura flared angrily about him, his power level rising to such a height it seemed impossible that someone so small could contain so much power. "As I hold this Promise dear, I must break it to protect those in need," The metal ring, now revealed as the Promise, gave a loud metallic snapping sound, like iron broken in two, the golden metallic bands disappeared, and in his hand were five rings of similar dimensions, though thinner.

Grabbing two with his free hand and resting the remaining three on his right shoulder, his face was set in a fierce glare as a reptilian hand, with long, sharp nails began to slide out of the cocoon. "You monsters will not take my new home again. This time, you face my Broken Promises."

[zolomon]

(OOC: Yayzorz for being back!!)

It seemed Zolomon's speed when attacking his opponent's vital points was for naught, as his blows were easily batted away, followed be a counter-attack to his face. Zolomon ducked and leaned to the side, the jewel blade nicking his cheek and leaving a tiny scratch mark, a drop of blood slowly made its way down his pale features. He had fed recently, so a miniscule amount of the so-called 'juice of life' could be found in his system.

Though he had leaned back in a manner that one would usually fall down, his body stood up erect, almost like his feet were glued to the ground and he was immobile. He didn't follow the other two forms of Hydra with his eyes, but he was aware of their movements and actions, including the one that had jumped to the air. He parried the kick with his arm, though the sheer power of the blow caused his otherwise unmoving body to skid along the ground, leaving two albeit short marks where his feet slid across.

Zolomon suddenly leaped back and swung his Halberd of the Damned in a vertical chop with full force. Hydra's dark form had come close enough, and now it was time to take it down. Hopefully the blade would make its way into the humanoid's back, crushing his spine or putting a great, big gaping hole in his lung, smashing him into the ground along with the blade as a finisher.

He was about to deliver another blow, perhaps chopping off an arm or leg, but his attention was averted by what was going on a bit before him. Hydra had been consumed by some sort of black cocoon, which seemed to come from his own back. 'Black must be in this year...' the vampire thought to himself, but said nothing. Suddenly he noticed the two dark forms enter the chrysalis and berated himself for his lack of attention.

Reiaz appeared next to him and said something about some Priest of Chaos increasing their power even further. For a split second Zolomon just stood there, looking at Reiaz with a look of slight confusion on his face, but it was soon changed into a sinister smirk, the vampire truly smiling for the first time in this battle. He saw Hydra's cocoon shifting and moving about, as it seemed his opponent wanted out. If there had been any blood in his body to speak of, it would be pumping with adrenaline and excitement as he felt the vampyric bloodlust kick in, urging him to battle this... new-and-improved Hydra. He noticed, not so much as felt, Reiaz's power surging and growing and he felt his own power restraints unwillingly slipping, though he still kept his strength in check. Yet he truly hoped he'd get a chance to go all-out. "Come on Hydra... don't fail me now..." he murmured, audible only to himself, then took his usual stance, holding the Halberd in both hands. His knees bent in as he saw the shell finally give way and a dark form rise from it. Zolomon chuckled. "COME!"

[kihaku]

With a serpentine hiss, Gorgon finally emerged from within his black chrysallis, completely transformed and nearly unrecognizeable. His lower body had been metamorphosed into a eight foot long tail, which lead up into a humanoid torso. His upper body was much more defined than it had been, muscle tone and size visibly increased. His face was still generally the same, though his mouth, when smiling, revaled rows of sharp, needle like teeth, numbering in the dozens. His eyes were a putrid, rot yellow, with reptilian slits setting the black contrast. His head, instead of the greasy hair that'd been present, was replaced with a dozen writhing snakes, their bodies fused to his skull and skin, the point where head ended and snake began indistinguishable. Their bodies intertwined and slithered about, hisses emanating from their mouth, beady red eyes looking for prey. His entire body was coated in night black scales, except for on his back where there was a design in blood red bits of reptilian mail. Black, four inch long nails shone threateningly in the sun's rays as his eyes fixated on Reiaz, a serpentine hissing laugh slithering from his throat.

Hydra's emergence wasn't quite so subtle and calm. The embryotic sac gave way with very loud ripping noises, as three heads pushed their way out of the black material. They looked about for a moment before the rest of his body followed, a huge mass of reptilian bulk squeezing out of so little a space, it seemed impossible so big a monster could have fit. When the shoulders were scooched out, two more heads appeared, fixed onto the body as the previous three were. The five heads were destinctly draconic in appearance, lizard-like slits set into the sapphire eyes. Sharp yellow fangs were apparent as each head moved about independantly, hissing, growling, and roaring of their own accord. The body too was reptilian, set on four legs, a lithe, muscular body that ended in two tails, each moving about freely of it's brother. The entire body was covered in reptilian armor, sapphire blue with a black design drawn upon it's scaly hide. All at once, the five heads reared back and gave an earth-shaking roar, deafening sound erupting from their throats, while at the same time lighting, bright blue and in a constant stream, shot out of their mouths like lazer cannons.

The one containing Minotaur ceased it's movements all together. There was a slight crackling sound, and suddenly it shattered into a million pieces, black shards flying in every direction as the monster trudged forward through the pile of rock. His body seemed now to be made of the very rock encircling him, bovine legs with brown shaggy hair that ended in hooves as black as night. Each was the size of a watermelon, the rest of the body proportionally large. The powerful legs moved upwards to a bare chest, increadibly huge and muscled, arms as thick around as a person's body, and a head that was distinctly bull-like. The head was crowned with a pair of long ivory horns that ended in sharp tips. Beady black eyes glared at the area just around it, before finally spotting his adversary. With a quick jerk of it's right arm, the thick, meaty hand transformed into a huge double-bladed axe, with a sharp point crowning the top. With a loud, bellowing roar, the monster charged Dimitri, axe pulled back to cleave him in two.

Gorgon shot forward, blindingly fast for being half snake, the hissing growing louder as he drew nearer.

Four of the five heads reared back again, firing continuous streams of lightning directly at the vampiric warrior, electricity arcing from the gigantic maws with it's characteristic crackling.

[dimitri]

There was a soft smile on his face as Minotaur emerged from the cocoon like prison that held him and transformed him into this monstrosity. It was kind of sad, he was ready to reply to Reiaz's heart warming commitment to the battle at hand and his advice to his knew found allies. But time was of the essence, especially now with a goliath of a beast charging at him aiming to tear him into pieces. It was finally time to stop being the child he was pretending to be and add in all he had learned while with Sofia.

His eyes glazed over a crystal blue as he looked directly towards the minotaur, only to see that there was nothing for him to take view on. Before he knew it, however, Minotaur was on him and he needed to move. Dashing towards the side of minotaur and jumping back, flipping onto the branch of a tree he smiled as he looked down at the beast who threatened his life. The smile he had on his face was slightly disconserting to anyone else around considering the substance of the smile in the face of such a problem.

His crystal blue eyes stared directly at Minotaur as he whispered a prayer to the sky. "Wandering souls from far away, from the past and present and future. Connect with the beast who threatens me, the one who seeks to liberate your spirits. Aid my struggles so that you may be redeemed." There was a pleasant motion that only he could see as several, rather large souls compared to most he had seen, came on and covered Minotaur.

Souls cling to things all the time as it is convenient for them. Some cling to a love they've lost, some cling to the blade they wielded, and others just roamed. These are clingig to their redemption, their hope at a chance to live a happy and prosperous life in the heaven that awaited them. It was enough to make any soul come when a Joshuen called them, seeking the freedom and escape from a terra they could no longer be of any use on. There was, however, no physical limitation or the view of the souls to anyone outside of Dimitri with his soul vision on now. All it did, was grant him just one advantage.

He had to buy about a minute for the stray souls to sync with his body and for him to be able to get any use from them. All they did at the moment was highlight the creature, making him stand out in a bright blue to him compared to the other surroundings. But soon enough, they would give him the few milliseconds he needed to predict the goliath's movements enough for him to find a clear opening and end this with as little effort as possible. After all, this on its own was quite draining. It's much easier when the person has a soul to watch already.

[zolomon]

(OOC: I'm really, really sorry, guys, for all the trouble I've been causing. I'm such a pain... I'll just post Zolomon doing pretty much what you said, so you don't need to go through the hassle of rewriting your post.)

Zolomon's eyes widened slightly as the cocoon gave way to a monstrous creature, whose size seemed illogically huge, when compared to the decidedly small space it emerged from. All in all, five heads, four legs and two tails came out, all attached to a rather intimidating blue body. 'So... this is what he had been holding back... nice...' Zolomon pondered to himself, an involuntary yet slight grin creeping onto his face. "You look cute, Hydra. The heads suit you well!" This was going to be fun after all.

The vampire observed the muscular, massive reptilian body and the black design on it, pondering if its owner would make a good pet. It had everything he liked about an animal. Impressive, frightening feature, a superior deadliness and, well, it was downright cool. He simply HAD to get one of those someday. The constant hisses and growls were suddenly cut short as the heads let out a monstrous roar, the volume almost loud enough to bust Zolomon's sensitive ears.

With that, five bright blue beams of electricity emerged from the depths of their bowels, and burst forth, tearing up the ground as they ran over. Something about this reminded Zolomon of an ancient monster movie he had seen a long time ago, back on his home world, but it mattered not. This one was a lot cooler and, which was a very big plus, he could kill this one! Two beams seemingly unintentionally ran over his position in an X-shaped movement, but he stepped back as the two frighteningly powerful lightning beams ran just past him. He could feel the lightning split the air, creating ozone, just like a thunderstorm.

Hydra suddenly stopped its aimless roaring and the five pairs of sapphire eyes were now locked on him. With a smirk Zolomon took his fighting stance again and motioned with his arm for the supernatural reptile to come at him. And it did. A lightning beam, unbelievably fast and precise, appeared from one of the heads, headed straight for the vampire, who leaped into the air as the blast went just past his feet. As soon as he took his eyes off the beam pulsing and crackling beneath him and brought his sights back to his opponent, he noticed another beam at arms reach, headed straight for him. Using his somewhat recently obtained Bukujutsu technique he kicked in the air and seemingly jumped again, the second beam going just under him as the first did. With another leap he moved above the third blast, and dashing left in mid-air saved his skin from the fourth. Suddenly he was overcome by a blue light and all he managed to do was bring the Halberd of the Damned between him and the blast as it struck him dead-on. The vampire was flung backward by the force of the beam like a rag doll and he crashed to the ground some sixty feet away, the powerful electric charge inhibiting his nervous system and confusing the impulses his brain sent to his body. 'Nothing a little Black Matter can't fix,' he spoke in his mind as he sent the mythical vampire energy through his own veins, bringing order back to his body.

The vampire stood up, brushed the dust and sand off his coat and took a new fighting stance. His left leg was bent in the knee, while his right was straight, his foot planted firmly in the ground behind him. His entire body was parallel to the right leg, as were his arms, held slightly away from his torso. In his right had was the halberd, held upside down, the blade beginning just a few inches past the upper side of his palm, the handle reaching upwards form the opposite end of his clenched fist. "Here I come," Zolomon said, though the words he uttered were little more than a whisper.

Suddenly the darkly dressed white-skinned man disappeared, his image remaining for a second behind him, then vanishing. The five heads were doing their best to keep up with the vampire's speed as they began another electric assault at him. However, he was faster than the beams now and the monster he was fighting was growing bigger very, very rapidly. Dodging every attempted attack with formidable effort, Zolomon suddenly vaulted upwards, right between the five heads and just above the creature's back, his goal: to deliver an extremely painful, if not lethal blow (or chop, if you prefer) to Hydra's back, hopefully crushing a portion of its spine. If that didn't work, then... well... he'd just have to wait and see.

[kihaku]

Minotaur was completely unaware of anything the souls about him were doing, oblivious to their congregation about his form, and ignorant of whatever plans Dimitri might have. The only things it knew for sure was that the target was now not where he had been, and was still within striking distance. Dislodging his weapon from the dirt and shaking it off, it's hand reverted back to normal. Looking up at Dimitri, it gave a loud snort before jumping straight up, at least four feet. When it's hooves slammed back into the earth, two pillars of rock shot up before him shoulder distance apart. They reached at least ten feet high, and with a grunt of aggression, a fist crashed into either pillar, and like some modern-day rocket system, dozens of rock shurikens launched at the warrior at a blazing speed. Each one whizzed angrily through the air, a perfect disk an inch in diameter with a wickedly serrated edge.

Zolomon, with his increadible speed and strength as a warrior and undead, managed to dodge the river of lightning without any ill effects, and was now coming down from above with a killing stroke aimed to the middle of Hydra's back. This, however, was not meant to be, as the single head that'd held back suddenly whipped about, snapping at the vampire with it's ivory white jaws. The teeth managed to grab the blade of the weapon, and use the iron grip Zolomon had on it to literally fling him back into danger, the other four heads growling as the body as a whole turned with dangerous agility. Two heads once again blasted lightning at Zolomon, while the remaining three tracked him, all six eyes trained perfectly on the pale figure.

[zolomon]

(OOC: And here's the second Yay for having a PC back!)

Well, it didn't work. Just as the vampire drew his weapon back for the blow, with a sound that would send shivers down your spine, one of the heads locked its razor teeth around his blade and stopping him from delivering the attack. "Ah... shit..." Zolomon swore as he was sent flying through the air once more. At least this time he landed on his feet, but it was of little help as suddenly one of the lightning blasts struck Zolomon's right arm, knocking his Halberd out of it, making it slide along the ground for a considerable distance. He whipped his head around, looking for his blade, but he hadn't enough time to go for it, as he needed to dodge left not to get fried by another one of Hydra's beams.

The vampire was in constant movement, so as not to get fried by the two heads firing powerful electric blasts at him. He had seen the huge reptile body whipping around with much more speed than he had thought it was capable of, but it mattered little, as Hydra seemed incapable of doing or, perhaps, unwilling to do anything besides fire his beams at his undead opponent. For a moment Zolomon pondered his options and choices as to how act now. As he kept dashing, running from the electric blasts that were hot on his heels, chasing him down, his lips curled into an intimidating grin. 'Fine... so this is how we're going to do it... monster versus monster.' As the final words were uttered in his mind his grin grew wider and more menacing, his nails and ears growing longer and more pointed. A bright beam ran over his position, but the vampire was no longer there.

Appearing in only blurred images of himself for a split second, it seemed Zolomon was darting all over the place, his position in relation to Hydra constantly changing, yet the distance between the two supernatural creatures shrinking by the minute. The three heads which weren't attacking him seemed to be dead-locked on his frame, so the only option he really had to get out of his opponent's sights was to move faster than the eye could follow. With a sudden burst of Black Matter he disappeared, and it was not magic trick. Only a puff of black vapor remained where he had been moments ago, and even that was soon wisped away be the crisp, cool wind. Unless Hydra's eyes were truly magnificent or Zolomon had screwed up somewhere along the way, the giant reptile would soon get to experience the sensation of an undead fist, fueled by the ancient force of the true vampiric bloodline, forcing its way into the creature's stomach from below, as Zolomon executed a sudden and frighteningly powerful uppercut. If successful, his assault wouldn't end there, as, with several quick movements, Zolomon aimed a number of slashes utilizing his lethal claws at the legs of Hydra, hoping to, perhaps, inhibit the creature's movements, though, if what he had seen the human forms could do was anything to go by, it would only be a momentary hindrance, if at all.

As he bolted out from underneath the goliath reptile, Zolomon skidded to a halt and leaned down, his combat stance resembling something more of a feral animal than that of a trained and experienced fighter. The monsters were going at it for real.

[dimitri]

The souls continued to wrap themselves around his body, syncing with his mind and thought pattern, but it was still a bit farther off than he had hoped. A smaller person would be done by now, but for the moment he was still on the defensive until he was ready to move in. Minotaur, on the other hand, wanted to go into the offensive and try to take down Dimitri as soon as he could. It almost felt as though the beast was stressed for time and needed to do something about him sooner rather than later.

Sadly, in Minotaurs case, certain things and actions were becoming predictable. Standing up in the branch, he knew that distance would be a factor, but with the emergence of two stone pillars shoulder length apart, he had a pretty general idea of what was coming. Turning his body to the side, inbetween the two pillars, they began to launch the stone shirukens towards a supposedly unexpecting Dimitri. Thanks to the fact that minotaurs frame was bigger than his, he stood inbetween the shirukens without a scratch. Still, he quickly brought up a flat blade and formed a shield around his body that altered the flow of the projectiles outward.

[kihaku]

Just as the shurikens whizzed to either side of Dimitri, a rather horrifying sight was unfolding just out of view of the Joshuen, though Zolomon, if not too distracted with Hydra, would be able to sense the sudden flux in power in Gorgon's general area. The black, serpentine abomination had Reiaz by the throat, his limp body not even resisting or fighting for breath, the Promise back in one single ring on his back. His sapphire eyes were closed, his power level barely registering. The monster was hissing with laughter, the black hand that held him pulled back, and threw him with a mighty heave.

The poor boy flew through the air towards Minotaur's area, and in a few moments would cross right through the line of fire of the hail of stone. To make matters worse, Minotaur, seeing his error, immediately stomped his right foot to bring up a third pillar, and gave it a slight kick, a third stream of sharp rock whizzing directly at Dimitri, and further threatening to rip into the limp form if it should enter the cross-fire.

Hydra had not expected the vampire to change so suddenly, and the burst in speed had the monster dazzled for a moment. As a reptile, it was able to sense heat through a set of pits within the nostril region, and formed an almost mental picture imprinted over it's already stellar vision. However, Zolomon moved so quickly that the heat trail he gave off didn't help at all, though it did allow the beast to see where he'd been, and predict some of his movements. However, the multi-headed monster just wasn't quick enough to escape the blow to the gut, and was forced to arch it's back in pain as the fist crashed into it's scaled body. Gasping for breath, the lungs quickly refilled from five sets of gaping mouths, and with it's back arched, allowed itself another mode of attack.

The scales were very tough, and were withstanding the brunt of the slashing attacks. Still, they weren't impermeable, and showed deep gashes in the steel-like mail, and a few even tore right off, black blood seeping from the wounds. However, with the extra room, the two tails flicked in from either side, attempting to whiplash the vampire before it could escape. Just before he made contact, Zolomon was gone, just to the left and behind the creature. With a quick calculation and integrating the now-cocked motion of it's tails, they whipped back in the other direction, aiming to land a pair of vicious blows on either of the vampire's sides.

[zolomon]

As it seemed, Hydra was taken by surprise at Zolomon's sudden change and burst of speed. Though the five-headed beasty tried its best to follow the vampire's movements, it couldn't, as he disappeared beneath it, bringing up a powerful blow to the unprotected belly of the monster. Hydra was also helpless against Zolomon's slashes to its legs, thick black blood trailing from his death-ridden nails as he moved, though he felt his fingers bruised slightly from the incredibly hard reptilian scales of his opponent.

Just as he moved further, the two deadly tails swing in to crush him, but he was gone before they even touched the undead fighter's frame. As he appeared, he turned around, only to notice the very same two tails headed back at him. In a reflexive movement, without thinking, his body leaned back so that his entire body except his lower leg was parallel to the ground, the two tails crashing into each other just above his nose with a deafening boom. That would have most probably hurt. Either way, it wasn't common sense to be under a huge lizard's two tails when it's trying to crush you with said limbs, so he quickly rolled out of the way, moving just outside the creature's reach. If he had any manner of luck at all, Hydra's wounded legs wouldn't be able to carry it too far or too fast, thus bringing the vampire successfully out of direct range. But just as he began to ponder his next move, he felt something was amiss.

The boy's, Reiaz's, presence was almost gone. Zolomon couldn't sense Ki, but he could always feel the presence of any other being, and Reiaz's was almost gone now. It was then that he glimpsed his limp body being flung through the air, in the direction of a dangerous-looking crossfire. Zolomon leaped, his great speed compensating for the distance, and reached the rain of stone blades before the boy, rebounding off one of the shurikens to switch his trajectory and grab the boy by his collar.

Zolomon raised the kid up, looking at him closely. "Hey, Reiaz! Where did all that spunk go? What? Are you telling me you already lost to that piece of slithering shit?" he asked, shaking the body in his hands and motioning towards Gorgon as he spoke. "Now you can't mean to tell me that's all you have!" then came a loud slap to Reiaz's face. Zolomon was disappointed. And he had such high hopes for the kid.

He indifferently dropped the barely conscious boy on the ground, turning to face both Hydra and Gorgon. Just as he was to say something, he felt the very last remains of warmth in his body slip away like they had never existed. Zolomon's eyes widened as he realized what happened. 'What the hell? This shouldn't have happened this soon...' The last vestiges of dragonian blood were consumed and the vampire's body was undergoing changes once more. His body became bulkier and, with a gust of wind, his straight, tidy hair became different, like that of a wild beast. His fangs painfully stretched even longer as did his claws. "What... the fuck... is going ON!?!!?!" Zolomon screamed, the last word coming as a terrifying roar, easily rivaling that of Hydra's. The vampire's energy output suddenly exploded, and the air around him was swept into a spiraling vortex of power, kicking up dust and sand that thoroughly inhibited vision.

Soon the wind lessened and the dust began to settle, but before that happened, a black blur burst from it, straight at Hydra. Zolomon's movements were at their peak, both in terms of speed and strength, and he himself could be barely visible, except only as a dark, menacing figure with a pair of black yet clearly discernible, consuming eyes. Zolomon flew straight at Hydra, appearing between two of the five heads, at which point he kicked sideways with both feet, though his movement forward hadn't slowed. He instantly spun around and landed on the reptile's back, skidding on the scale hide, while attempting to sink his blooded claws into Hydra's back, so as to leave ten long, most probably painful marks.

Successful or not, the vampire jumped high into the air and threw a punch downwards, even though his opponent was far beyond reach. Suddenly a black, pulsing energy poured out of him, engulfing his arm. The black mass grew and suddenly took the shape of a dragon's head. The dragon and Zolomon both opened their jaws and let out another deafening roar, which by itself caused an avalanche in the far away mountains. With that, the dragon's head bolted down, headed straight for Hydra. The Black Matter-created attack was almost as large as the targeted monster itself, and its power was beyond measure.

As the vampire slowly descended, the ground beneath him shaking and rumbling from the impact of his attack, he slowly drifted towards the ground, finally landing as softly as a feather. Only now could he be clearly seen, his hair covering most of his face, yet not hiding his burning, raging eyes and petrifying grin. This was not the ancient aristocratic warrior known as Zolomon Beowulve, this really was a monster. His form was hunched, as he was almost standing on all fours, his fingers dug deep into the ground beneath him. The only reason left in him resounded in his mind as an echo. 'What... is happening to me?'

(OOC: Wow... went on an ad-lib here and suddenly created a whole new side to Zolomon's history and present. Damn.)

[kihaku]

((*sigh* and yet I am forced to auto once more))

Hydra had been unprepared for such a sudden change in his prey, and when his power level skyrocketed as it had, the reptile instantly charged up another volley of thunder attacks. However, it wasn’t meant to be, for the psychotic vampire was now on the offensive, and did so with such blinding speed and strength that the dragon had little time to react. The two heads that were being assaulted loosed their shots, but the target was so fast that they missed by mere inches. Zolomon’s claws suddenly dug deeply into the Hydra’s back, ripping scales from their fleshy moorings and blooding the beast something fierce.

The monster bucked backwards instinctively in response to the searing pain, heads coiling back to roar at the sky, but the ten pairs of eyes instead found themselves staring into the eyes of an immense black dragon head, roaring it’s rage down at the creature that was almost as large as the offending head. Without any more ceremony or warning, the head rushed downwards. The final three heads loosed their thunder bolts, but it was to no effect, and when the attack impacted the monster, the roar was instead replaced by an ear-piercing shriek of mortal pain. It didn’t take long for this screaming to die down, the bloody and broken body of the once proud Kraken now lay dead in the crater formed by the vampire’s singular attack.

The screaming and roaring had managed to rouse Reiaz from his comatose state, but when his eyes opened, they weren’t anything like they had been. They were dull, listless, glazed over in some sort of trance. The small boy stood up slowly, his aura flaring and from behind him, a huge black form darted forth. The lupine body and head that of some kind of werewolf. The Inner Demon rushed forward, surprising the serpentine abomination with its strength and speed. Gorgon, with a shriek of surprise, was lifted bodily from the ground and thrown with enough force to crash against Minotaur, who barely even shifted from the impact.

The two monsters growled and hissed at one another in anger and frustration, Minotaur at Gorgon’s uselessness, Gorgon at Minotaur only going after Dimitri and not helping the others. Without warning, Reiaz was suddenly latched onto Minotaur’s back, and an eerie silence pervaded the air.

Three seconds passed before there was a sudden triple reverberation in the area, successive concussive blasts like thunder without sound. It took a moment before anyone would be able to realize that the sounds they were hearing were reminiscent of a heartbeat, a triple-beat of some enormous monster that sounded as if it were just out of sight. Gorgon tried to scramble out of the way, Minotaur’s meaty hands rushed to grab the boy in a panic, while the only thing Reiaz did… was sigh.

With a blast that exceeded Zolomon’s primeval roar in sound, and dwarfed the dragonic attack that’d been launched at Hydra, there was an explosion of black and deep indigo Chaos energy that seemed to blast from Reiaz’s small frame. The explosion of energy rocked the earth, tore apart the heavens, and threw debris in every direction, the sheer violence and ferocity of the detonation an unbelievable sight.

Thirty seconds later, the blast subsided, and in the middle of a crater twenty feet deep, stood Reiaz, the small boy all by himself, kneeling upon his knees with a look of abject terror written across his features. A few moments later, he collapsed backwards in a small bundle, curled almost into a fetal position. His aura and power level were nearly non-existent, but at least he was still alive.

A light wind blew across the wide, hilly expanse, ruffling the hair of the small boy laying in amongst the chaos. The three pillars were gone, destroyed by the force of the explosion, and other than the corpse of the expired lizard in its grave, there were no remains of the monsters to be seen, as if they’d never existed.

[zolomon]

(OOC: Looks like me and Dimitri were taking turns doing a disappearing act )

Zolomon was completely overwhelming his opponent, the unexpected surge in power letting him loose like a wild, rampaging beast. The huge, albeit five-headed monstrosity could do little to stop or even slow its much smaller, much faster 'prey'. Hydra's beams were set loose in his direction, but before they even reached his position, he was in a different place altogether. Right now it seemed more like the vampire was the predator, and the dragon was the prey, as Zolomon's lethal claws tore up the sturdy scale hide of his opponent, ripping it up like a tablecloth.

The beast jerked backwards in response to the sudden and great pain, the raging heads arching back, only to see Zolomon's next attack coming at them. Yet it was too late, and the dragon, hailing from the vampire, consumed the beast of chaos with a single blow. Zolomon touched down to the ground softly, beside the now dead body of his opponent, which hadn't proved to bring the desired challenge after all. But Zolomon had other troubles at hand. This form, albeit almost as powerful as his transformed Black Matter form, brought with it an unseen blood-lust and rage, which even the ancient creature found incredibly difficult to channel in the right direction, not to mention control.

There was only one idea in Zolomon's mind on how to regain control over his body, and it was to cut the vampiric power to a minimum. His hands shaking, as if some power was trying to hold them still, he grabbed the edge of his coat and, with a swing, whipped it around himself, so that nothing but the coat could be seen. Suddenly it dropped, as if the vampire beneath it had disappeared, then expanded just a moment after. The two wings parted, revealing a calm, collected Zolomon once more. His black kimono pants, shorter-than-average vest top, black armbands and black wings, seemingly growing out of his vest, were a bit unorthodox look for the usually elegant undead aristocrat, but it did the job, as he was finally back to himself. It was quite simple, really. When the blood of his prey had been consumed entirely, albeit, for some strange reason, prematurely, he had run out of energy reserves, which means that he relied basically on his vampiric power. That, however, for some reason seemed to bring out the monster in Zolomon much more than usual. So, by switching his power source to his inner Black Matter, he bypassed the savagery of his pure vampire form. Yet this is only a temporary solution, and he knows he needs to get to the bottom of this.

As Zolomon pondered the reason behind the strange occurrences and transformed, he almost didn't notice the happenings around him. Only out of the corner of his eye did Zolomon notice that Reiaz had grabbed onto Minotaur's back, and then his keen ears picked up a strange sound, coming from a large distance away, just about where the four fighters were. Zolomon's Black Matter-emitting eyes widened and he shielded himself with his wings as the earth and sky were torn apart by a sudden explosion, coming from the small fighter. The transformed vampire could barely hold his position, lodging both wings into the ground in front of him to keep from being pushed backwards by the typhoon-like power of the wind. 'Damn... what bizarre power... I knew the kid had it in him!' he uttered in his mind, a grin creeping onto his face once more. Larger and smaller rocks were crashing against the sleek, tarnished black dragon wings, but the two seemingly out-of-place extremities were unphased.

Finally the wind died down and Zolomon saw the boy collapse in the middle of a large pit, which he himself created. There was no sign of Gorgon or Minotaur, the two obviously pulverized by the blast. With a sigh, Zolomon wanned his wings once, kicking up a wind behind him and flying over to the comatose boy's position. He reached down, picked him up by his shirt and held him with his left arm. Throwing Dimitri a quick glance and smirk, the vampire picked up from the ground and flew away, aiming for the nearest city.

He looked at the boy under his arm and smiled. As long as he was around this kid, he'd most probably find more powerful foes, which meant that, at least for now, they would be inseparable. Soaring over the scarcely, yet increasingly inhabited plains, Zolomon swooped down and impaled a man that had been picking berries from his garden. His scream was muffled when the vampire sank his fangs into his neck, consuming the dragonian's blood in a matter of seconds. He needed more. Rising higher into the clouds, Zolomon let go of the man, who fell into the back yard of a small kindergarten, children bursting into tears and screams. Holding Reiaz tight in his grasp, Zolomon was quickly nearing the city. He could feel it. Licking his bloody fangs, Zolomon chuckled. A feast was upcoming.

(OOC: I hope you don't mind me doing this, Kihaku. I'm just trying to keep Zolomon in the saga, as well as keep Reiaz relatively safe. If there's a problem with my actions, I'll edit my post accordingly.)

[dimitri]

(OOC: Yeah, I'm sorry for my missingness, but between work, church, and 2 birthdays, I had no chance to post on here. That and running crimson is no easy task either. So to the both of you, I sincerely apologize.)

Most of the events that took place he failed to notice. The Minotaurs constant onslaught on his shield as well as trying to make sure the souls attached to him was draining at best. So much so that he had to fall to one knee just to maintain the shield that protected him from the shirukens that threatened to rip his body apart should he drop the shield at all. Between the planning and planning, he missed a lot of things. He couldn't even turn to see Reiaz being seemingly beaten for the need of concentration to maintain the shield for as long as he did. But all that seemed to be unnecessary in the long run.

Moments later, the shirukens stopped and he dropped the shield. He looked around to take in the entire surrounding and tried to figure out what exactly was going on. Noticing Reiaz on the ground barely breathing and Zolomon coming in to pick him up and fly away with him. At this point, he had no reason to follow him. He was just caught up in this due to a curious feeling that had led him over to the two of them to begin with. With a soft sigh, he jumped down from the tree he was on just as Zolomon and Reiaz disappeared into the distance. Looking down towards the ground, he shook his head, feeling like he had accomplished nothing. Then again, the battle was so short lived that he didn't have the chance to explore his full potential in his training thus far.

He looked up towards where the two of them disappeared as he pondered his next move. The way he figured, he had two options at the moment. He could follow them and hope that more warriors would appear in Reiaz's path, or he could seek out more answers about the energy he wielded. The wind blew and kicked up some of the dirt and ash that mixed here on the Lavertian and Bedoan border. They headed north and whether he chose the first or second option, he too would have to head north. He would use this trip north to decide which of the two options he would take.